How I made $100K as a Freelancer on Upwork |10 easy steps
Summary
TLDRIn this video, a successful Upwork freelancer shares her journey from earning $100,000 and achieving a 100% job success score. She offers top tips for new freelancers, including crafting cover letters, applying for jobs, and growing on the platform. She also reveals her first cover letter that secured her first job and emphasizes the importance of personalization and persistence in client communication.
Takeaways
- 😀 Upwork is a marketplace for businesses and individuals to find and hire freelancers for various projects.
- 📈 The speaker has made $100,000 as a social media marketer on Upwork and has a 100% job success score as a top-rated Plus freelancer.
- 📝 The video shares 10 crucial tips for success on Upwork, including writing a portfolio, applying for jobs, and crafting cover letters.
- 🔍 The speaker suggests studying successful freelancers in your niche on Upwork for inspiration on how to present yourself.
- 😄 Adopting a friendly and approachable tone rather than strictly professional can be more effective in communication.
- 🛠 Offering a wide range of services within your profession can increase the number of jobs you can apply for.
- 🔑 In the beginning, applying to a large number of jobs is essential to get noticed on Upwork.
- 🚫 As a beginner, only apply for jobs appropriate for your skill level to avoid wasting connects on overly competitive positions.
- 💰 Starting with lower rates can attract clients who prioritize affordability over experience, which can lead to more opportunities.
- 📧 Personalizing cover letters by addressing the client by name and showing genuine interest in their business can improve responses.
- 🔄 Following up with potential clients who have gone quiet can lead to securing jobs, as it shows continued interest and enthusiasm.
Q & A
What is Upwork and how does it function?
-Upwork is a marketplace where businesses and individuals can find and hire freelancers for a wide range of projects. It connects clients with professionals who offer various services, such as social media marketing, graphic design, and copywriting.
How much money has the speaker made on Upwork?
-The speaker has officially made $100,000 on Upwork as a social media marketer.
What was the speaker's initial experience with social media marketing before joining Upwork?
-Before joining Upwork, the speaker had experience working with about three very small and local businesses in their area, and was still getting started in the world of social media marketing.
Why did the speaker decide to join Upwork?
-The speaker joined Upwork after getting married and moving to Jordan, needing a process that would allow them to do everything online and get clients in a new location.
What are some tips the speaker suggests for beginners on Upwork?
-The speaker suggests looking at successful freelancers in your niche for inspiration, being friendly and approachable rather than overly formal, offering a wide range of services, applying for a lot of jobs, and starting with affordable rates to gain experience and credibility.
How did the speaker approach their initial applications on Upwork?
-The speaker bought connects, which are points needed to apply for jobs, and applied for many jobs in the beginning. They also emphasized the importance of applying for jobs that match your skill level as a beginner.
What is the significance of using the client's name in cover letters on Upwork?
-Using the client's name in cover letters adds a personal touch and shows that you have taken the time to address them specifically, rather than using a generic approach.
Why is it important to respond to every part of a job post on Upwork?
-Responding to every part of a job post is crucial because it shows that you have read and understood the requirements, and that you can meet each specific request made by the client.
What is the speaker's advice for following up with potential clients on Upwork?
-The speaker advises sending a follow-up message if you haven't heard back after an initial conversation or meeting, to show continued interest and enthusiasm for the role.
What was the speaker's first job on Upwork and how much did they earn from it?
-The speaker's first job on Upwork was a social media design job for a small skincare brand, and they earned $978 from it.
How has the speaker's experience on Upwork evolved since their first job?
-Since their first job, the speaker has worked with over 31 brands on Upwork, earning over $100,000 on the platform, with one brand alone contributing over $40,000.
Outlines
😀 Introduction to Upwork Success Story
The speaker introduces Upwork as a marketplace for businesses and freelancers and shares their personal success story as a social media marketer. They have earned $100,000 on the platform, achieved a top-rated Plus freelancer status with a 100% job success score, and plan to share their top 10 tips for success. The tips will cover portfolio writing, job applications, cover letter crafting, and personal hacks. The speaker also reveals their first cover letter and the earnings from their first job, highlighting their journey starting from September 2021 after moving to Jordan and transitioning to online work due to the pandemic.
😉 Top Tips for Upwork Beginners
The speaker provides a series of tips for new freelancers on Upwork, emphasizing the importance of studying successful profiles, adopting a friendly and approachable tone, offering a wide range of services, and applying for many jobs to increase visibility. They also stress the importance of targeting beginner jobs to avoid intense competition with more experienced freelancers. Additionally, the speaker suggests starting with lower rates to gain credibility and experience, and then gradually increasing rates as one becomes more established on the platform.
📬 Effective Communication and Cover Letter Strategies
The speaker shares strategies for writing effective cover letters, such as addressing the client by name, ensuring responses are personalized and passionate, and showing genuine interest in the client's business. They also discuss the importance of following up with potential clients who have gone silent after initial contact, as this can lead to securing the job. The speaker provides an example of their own successful cover letter that landed them their first client on Upwork, detailing the content and the subsequent client interaction that led to a job.
🎓 Leveraging Education and Past Experience
The speaker discusses how they leveraged their educational background in English and creative writing to enhance their credibility as a freelancer. They also share how they utilized past work experience, even if it was with a family business, to demonstrate their capability to handle similar projects. The speaker emphasizes the importance of tailoring responses to job descriptions and showcasing a genuine understanding of the client's needs.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Upwork
💡Freelancer
💡Social Media Marketer
💡Portfolio
💡Cover Letter
💡Job Success Score
💡Connects
💡Affordability
💡Personalization
💡Follow-up
💡Passion
Highlights
Introduction to Upwork as a marketplace for hiring freelancers for various projects.
Achievement of earning $100,000 as a social media marketer on Upwork with a 100% job success score.
Sharing of top 10 crucial tips for success on Upwork, from portfolio writing to crafting cover letters.
Personal story of starting on Upwork after marriage and relocation, with little prior experience.
Discovery of Upwork as a platform during the pandemic, leading to a shift to online work.
Tip 1: Observing successful freelancers on Upwork for inspiration and strategy.
Tip 2: Adopting a friendly and approachable tone rather than strictly professional in communications.
Tip 3: Offering a wide range of services within one's profession to increase job opportunities.
Tip 4: The importance of applying for many jobs at the beginning to increase visibility on Upwork.
Tip 5: Advising beginners to only apply for jobs suitable for their skill level to avoid tough competition.
Tip 6: The strategy of starting with lower rates to gain experience and credibility on the platform.
Tip 7: Personalizing cover letters by addressing the client by name for a more engaging approach.
Tip 8: Reading and responding to every part of a job post to show understanding and capability.
Tip 9: Writing personalized responses to show passion and interest in the specific job role.
Tip 10: The importance of following up with potential clients who have gone silent after initial contact.
Sharing the first cover letter that secured the first job on Upwork, including the process and outcome.
Reflection on the evolution of strategies and approaches since the beginning of the journey on Upwork.
Encouragement for beginners to apply these tips and seek further content on freelancing and Upwork.
Invitation for viewers to engage by commenting 'Upwork 2024' if they watched the entire video.
Transcripts
for those of you that are new to upw
work it's essentially a marketplace
where businesses and individuals can
find and hire Freelancers for a wide
range of projects I have officially made
$100,000 on upw work as a social media
marketer I'm also a toprated Plus
freelancer on the platform with a 100%
job success score and today I'm going to
share with you my top 10 crucial tips
that have led me this far from writing
your portfolio applying to jobs and
crafting killer cover letters I'll also
be sharing some hacks that I've learned
along the way that will have a huge
impact on your result and right at the
end of this video I'm going to actually
reveal my first cover letter that I sent
on upwork that secured me my first job
and how much that first job made me I
opened my upwork account in September of
2021 I have just gotten married and
moved to Jordan to be with my husband
before that my only experience as a
social media marketer was working with
about three very small and local
businesses in my area I was still just
getting my feet wear in the world of
social media and had very little
experience now being in Jordan I had to
think of new ways to get clients I
needed a process that would allow me to
do everything online because beforehand
I would obviously go in store and meet
these brands in person which of course
for me was no longer possible one of the
benefits of covid if you could even call
it a benefit was that working online and
meeting people through zoom and Google
meets had become more socially
acceptable after some YouTube videos and
Google searches I discovered upw work it
was truly a platform I didn't expect to
have much success on because of all the
contradictory reviews that I found on
some people were saying it's a great
platform to work on and then there were
others that were saying it's so
difficult to get clients on upw work and
was a complete waste of time but being
newly married unemployed and without
client I didn't really have a choice
that was my superpower I guess I was
desperate I created an account and got
to applying for jobs straight away my
first tip that I would give you if
you're beginning your journey on upw
work I would highly recommend you take a
look at other successful Freelancers in
your Niche on the platform and take some
inspiration from their account what kind
of things are they seeing and how are
they presenting themselves and their
work on the platform of course it's
important that you're not copying them
but take note of their layout and their
tone this really helped me at the start
because upwork was a platform I was
completely new to and had no idea how to
use I was able to balance off the
success of other Freelancers and have a
more informed strategy when creating an
attractive and interesting profile tip
number two an approach I took early on
as well was to be more friendly and
chill rather than formal and
professional it's always been my motto
if you could call it that that
friendliness and being approachable is
10 times more effective than trying to
come across as professional at the end
of the day they are just normal people
on the other side of that screen no
matter how well established and esteemed
their business is they're still just
another person that you're connecting to
coming across as more friendly could
mean using emojis in your cover letters
or even your profile adding light jokes
or being super positive and encouraging
or talking with more passion saying hey
instead of of hello those are just some
examples the next few tips were what
really generated a lot of success for me
personally in my beginning stages on the
platform the first being I offered a
much wider range of services within my
profession of course so as a social
media marketer we offered copywriting
video editing graphic design social
media strategy plans hashtag research
and a few others looking for me my
husband and I both worked on the
platform together from the same account
so we had a wider range of skills
between us the way I thought about it
was the more things I could offer at
that stage meant the more jobs I could
apply for so if you're a copywriter for
example try to be more Broad in your
services you can offer copy for blog
writing a copy for websites copy for
social media content and so on tip
number four which is another thing that
I did which was apply for a ton of jobs
in the beginning I bought a bunch of
connects for around £50 connects are
basically like points you need to apply
for jobs and then I applied for loads
and loads of jobs I'm talking about
hours and hours applying for different
roles you really have to grind in those
beginning stages to get noticed on upw
workk you need to put yourself in front
of more people's eyes I think in my
first week alone I applied for like 50
different jobs another really important
tip for you for when you're applying to
these jobs is if you're a beginner in
your profession please only apply for
jobs that are for beginners if you're a
beginner copyrighter and you're applying
for copyrighting jobs that are for
experts you are going to be no match for
the competition and more than likely
your proposal is not even going to be
considered as the experts that are also
applying for those jobs are going to
outdo You by far so please don't waste
your connects on jobs that are way out
of your leak tip number six and probably
one of the most important ones that
you're not going to want to hear but you
need to is to grow on the platform
pretty fast in those beginning stages
you need to be cheap not too cheap but
cheap enough most of the time when
businesses are looking for Freelancers
they're looking for Freelancers with
experience they're looking at your
reviews your success score and your
credibility because a lot of the time
it's pretty easy to get scammed on upw
work so businesses are quite wary when
looking for these types of Freelancers
and obviously when you're starting out
you're not going to have that so if you
do want a chance to win over these
clients you have to offer affordability
instead because there are businesses out
there willing to risk a lack of all the
other things for an affordable service
it may not feel nice in the beginning it
didn't for me but it's worth it in the
long run I started out by charging
around $15 an hour for the first couple
of months and now I'm charging $40 per
hour which is probably due for an
increase if I'm being completely honest
and now I'm going to share my top tips
for when you're actually applying to
these jobs and writing your cover
letters one thing that I found really
affable and is a little bit of a secret
but I'm going to tell you anyway is that
I would start off all of my cover
letters with the client's name when
applying for a job you're often going to
be able to to see reviews given by other
Freelancers that have worked with this
client and a lot of the time these
Freelancers will mention their client's
name in the review for example a
freelancer might say John was a great
client to work with he was super
straightforward easy and fair if you see
that same name pop up in a few of the
reviews it's a pretty solid sign that
that account owner's name is John so
what I would do to start off my cover
letter would be something like a hey
John using someone's name adds a
personal touch to your communication it
shows that you've taken the time to
address them specifically rather than
just using a generic approach which a
lot of people on op work do they just
copy and paste cover letters onto
different jobs for my next tip it should
be pretty obvious but I've seen this
mistake happen before is that it's super
important your Reading and Responding to
every single part of the job so for
example a lot of jobs will require
multiple things in their job post they
might be asking for a video editor that
can use Adobe Premier Pro and after
effects and that are experienced in
short form content it's a it's important
that in a response to a post like that
you clarify every single request that
they make so your response should be
something like I personally love short
form content that's why I specialize in
it and I have been using After Effects
and Adobe Premiere Pro for 5 plus years
so it will be no problem for me to use
them platforms another practice that I
found super effective when I'm sending
out cover letters is that I will have
super personalized responses it's
important to make the client feel that
you're really passionate and super
interested in that specific role more
than likely they're a business owner
that is super passionate themselves
about their business so to also show
that same passion and excitement for
their business will almost always have a
really positive response for example
let's say that there's a client that has
a clean Beauty brand and they're looking
for a Blog writer and let's say that you
like clean Beauty yourself you could
really go in and say something along the
lines on this job post really stuck out
to me because I've been an advocate for
clean Beauty for a really long long time
I've converted my entire family to clean
beauty products and I would love to work
with a brand that I'm super passionate
about myself and then you can give them
a compliment I love how your brand uses
minimal ingredients because I've always
been of the opinion that less is more
throwing in a little compliment always
goes a long way for tip number 10 I
really want you to open your ears
because this is important information
that I wish I knew when I started out
let's say you've had a response from a
business after you've sent out a cover
letter let's say you get talking to them
and there's a little bit of back and
forth maybe you even go as far as having
a zoom call with them but then suddenly
after the zoom meeting or after some
conversation they go dark and you don't
hear from them again you're often left
wondering if they like to or maybe they
just found someone else for the role
what I'd highly suggest for you to do is
follow up with them just drop another
message something like hey insert their
name it's been a while since I've heard
back are you still looking to fill this
role if so I'm super interested a lot of
the times it's not that they're not
interested Ed in you it's that running a
business takes a lot of time take it
from me and sometimes these potential
clients get sidetracked and busy and a
lot of the time they will Circle back
when they get a chance but the best part
is when they do decide to come back to
upw work your message is going to be at
the top of the inbox list and your
enthusiasm is going to shine through
because you're still showing interest
and you're super keen and eager I have
signed a good five to six clients by
just chasing them up weekly until they
respond trust me this hack is is golden
and now to show you my cover letter that
landed me my first client on upwork
which made me exactly
$978 it was a social media design job
for a very small skincare brand and this
is what I said in my cover letter Hi and
then I mentioned their name but I'm just
blanking it out here I hope you're doing
well and are in the best of health my
name is Nyla and I'm a social media
manager and content creator firstly I
would like to say good luck on starting
your business I wish you the best on the
job post of this particular client they
did mention that they're a new business
owner I believe I am the most suitable
candidate for this job role as I have
the skills required and more I am able
to create great content on Adobe premere
Pro Photoshop and illustrator I have
been using these softwares for over 3
years I can do graphic content and video
editing you can check out my portfolio
for my previous work I'm a native
English speaker I remember they did also
ask that they wanted a native English
speaker and also have a ba degree in
English and creative writing so I can be
counted on for any writing task I always
throw my degree in there it's just a
little bit of icing on the cake I look
forward to hearing from you and thank
you for your consideration Nyla at the
end of my cover letter it always say
something like I'm more than happy to
answer any more questions you may have
and then I'll say something I really
look forward to hearing back from you I
feel like it makes client feel more
inclined to reply could be in my head I
don't know but it works for me and then
this client had a few follow-up
questions that they wanted to ask so
they asked me do you have access to
Adobe Illustrator and you have
experience using it I said yes do you
have suggestions to make this project
run successfully my response was to keep
it creative and and unique I believe a
wellth thought out strategy and
execution is necessary for a start out
business content needs to be well
thought out and organized to fit the
Brand's image mind you this was 2 years
ago I wrote this I could do a much
better job now but this is not bad
content should also vary from
information posts engagement post sales
post and entertainment and then next
question was what past project or job
have you had that is most like this one
and why I responded with I have
experience working for an eye contact
lens company I believe the role was
similar as the target audience was women
interested in beauty products I was in
charge of running ad campaigns for this
business and targeting a specific
audience do you have any questions about
the job description no so I did actually
work for contact Lan company it was my
cousin's company and I did some work
experience there but you see how I just
slid that in there not bad you know
looking at this now it does feel like
I'm answering a very exam style I
definitely would do this completely
differently now if I had the chance but
it still got me the job so not bad it
just proves you can be a beginner and
still get clients ever since then I've
worked with now over 31 brands on OFW
and I've made over $100,000 on the
platform one brand I'm still working
with at the moment I've made over
$40,000 with them and the other brands
are in there tens of thousands and
thousands I really hope you found this
video useful if you like these tips and
you want me to make more content around
upwork and being a freelancer please let
me know in the comments I'd be more than
happy to do that if there's an interest
for it and if you made it all the way to
the end of this video please comment
upwork 2024 in the comments below so I
can see who made it to the end of this
video and we can have a little chat in
the comment section below as always
please like And subscribe because I post
content every single week until next
time
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