I am using upwork but, I didn't have any project yet. So what is the strategy of creating proposals to get high acceptance rate?
2 Answers
I'm a top-rated freelancer on Upwork and now only take on very lucrative projects. It took about 3-5 months of hard work for relatively little money to build up my portfolio and grow my client base.
First, I find that the approach that worked for me is to start with a number of small, short term projects in my core area of expertise and to bid very competitively. For example, let's say I'm a DevOps expert and someone needs help with their NGINX configuration. I now would charge at least $80/hr for this, but when I started, I did jobs in the range of $20-$30/hr. This helped me get these jobs and build up a track record.
Second, I find that Upwork is a great place to expand your skillset while at the same time making some money and building up a good reputation. Here is how this worked for me: I'd bid very competitively on jobs just outside of my area of expertise. So when applying, I still knew what I was talking about, but clearly knew that I'd need to learn new things to do the job I was applying for. In this way, because I was learning on the job, getting paid a low rate, wasn't so bad.
I still go back to doing the second thing. It's fun to learn and get paid some money! With these two approaches combined, and, of course, being reliable, responsive, and doing good work, I got to my currently hourly rate of $80-$120/hr (depending on the job, less for DevOps more for Data Science) within a few months and maybe 20 completed jobs (I wasn't doing it full time). I also have repeat clients.
Here are some of the key points that may benefit you on Upwork:
Don't ever use the same proposals every time (some people just copy and paste their proposals everywhere). Read the job details completely and just write a dynamic proposal that is completely related to that job.
Try to choose fields which have less competition (I would suggest not to go for logo design or poster design if you are a newbie). Because there's already very fine competition in designing on Upwork.
Try to stay active most of the time so that you can apply for the job that best suits your skills.
Communication skills matter a lot in Freelancing. Work on that.
While in a discussion with a client, think longer term and try to provide as much better quality of work as possible. I would suggest to offer multiple revisions to the client if you are comfortable with that.
Just keep your price low in the start as you are building clients at that time. You can increase the price later.
I hope these points can help you somehow.
