Tip #1: Ignore the Bad Posts

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2 How to build a sustainable and profitable freelance track record on Upwork The purpose of this report is to give you as much information as possible to succeed on the popular online job work site known as Upwork. Upwork can be an excellent source of new work when you're a freelance writer, but it can also be a great place to return to when your private writing business is slow. When you know how to utilize Upwork properly, you'll be able to get the maximum benefit out of using this site. Read on to learn more about my five key tips. As a freelance writer since 2012, and after having been the number five ranked writer on Upwork's predecessor Elance, I can speak confidently about the best way to establish a writing career using both of these popular sites. Keeping these things in the back of your mind will be able to help you whether you're a new writer hoping to make $500 a month on Elance or whether you ultimately hope to succeed as a writer making $10,000 a month or more on Upwork just like me. Tip #1: Ignore the Bad Posts It goes without saying that many online job work sites are a breeding ground for low wage jobs. There are so many jobs posted on sites like Upwork advertising $5 for a 500-word article or even lower pay. The sad thing is that there are many writers out there that are willing to accept this. Unfortunately, part of the challenge with Upwork and sites like it is that you need to weed through all of these potentially poor fits for you in order to find the gems. Before you get frustrated and think that every job that is posted on Upwork is one that is asking for the lowest possible price, I want to share with you that during my second year on this site I landed a $50,000 five-month writing project from Upwork's predecessor Elance. All that involved was submitting a job proposal and getting on the phone with a client for 30 minutes and I had nailed the job.

3 The reality is that there are gems out there on sites like Upwork, but you have to know how to find them and you have to be willing to put up with some of the frustration of digging through the poor quality job ads. I wish Upwork had a better system for being able to hide those jobs you find that are simply not a good fit, but for the short term you just have to get comfortable with the process of weeding through a whole bunch of requests for proposals some of which will be absolutely poor fits for you. Why Ignoring Can Work For You There is a thumbs up and thumbs down feature that you can use. I don t know to what extent Upwork uses these metrics to impact job postings, but I do recommend that you hunt through the job proposals in your particular category (i.e. graphic design, writing, etc) in order to narrow down to find the one that is best for you. Not every job is going to be right for you and realistically you don t want every client so you just have to get in the business of narrowing down your target market by ignoring these low job ads. Don t let them overwhelm you. It goes without saying that at some point in time one of these clients will reach out to you personally by inviting you to a job or perhaps sending you a message to see if you'd be interested. It can be really tempting as a new freelance writer to say yes to one of these opportunities because you won t have the experience just yet to be confident in saying no. Perhaps you have been working as a freelance writer for a while and don t want as many clients, or this month's income looks a little low so you'd like to bring on some new opportunities. I really encourage you to say no to these low paying opportunities even when a client reaches out to you directly. Getting in the habit of giving people something for nothing is really a poor way to succeed as a freelance writer. It keeps you from being able to bring on bigger clients because you're filling up your time and you're wasting your energy on people who don t value what you do. When they reach out to you directly, hold firm on your price.

4 One of the things that I talk about in my Six Figure Writing Secrets course is how to determine your absolute bottom rate and how to stand strong on that, even when clients try to push the envelope. If someone is trying to push your boundaries, just be really firm and say I can t work within the budget of this job. The more you focus on high end clients and platinum offers in your freelance writing business, the easier it will become to attract more of them. Tip #2 Be Consistent One of the most mistakes I see people making with Upwork is they do not make a consistent marketing effort. If you only spend one day a week going in and putting job proposals in during this time, you re not going to get the kind of feedback or bring on the kind of new clients that you would like. Your efforts just would not be consistent enough and remember, it was my consistency that helped me land that $50,000 contract. It s also been my consistency that has allowed me to bring on a number of high end clients who order recurring content every month. As a freelance writer, recurring content and platinum clients are the fastest way to bring your business to the six figure mark and allow you to really succeed and feel motivated about continuing. Commit to a certain number of hours per week that you'll work on submitting proposals on a site like Upwork. Commit several hours to fine tuning your profile, your resume, and your writing samples. The more consistent you are with putting in bits for proposals, the more likely you are to succeed. It takes a while to get your first client, but frequently once you land that client it opens the flood gates because you can use the good feedback that you have received from your first client to move into other jobs. This is the exact procedure I used to bring my company to the top 1% of providers in just three months, and I surpassed the five figure a month mark much more quickly than I thought I would by implementing this strategy, so stick with it.

5 In the beginning, it might be tempting to quit because it feels like you have to spend money on the connects or the bids that you need to use to submit to the particular jobs but this is an investment well worth it. I would say my first month I spent over $100 on extra connects on jobs and it paid me back at least fivefold on that with new clients. Over time, you won t need to spend as much money on the connects with the bids inside Upwork because you'll have a steady stable of recurring clients and you'll also be invited to more jobs. When you get invited to more jobs, you don t actually have to spend the connects in your particular account. It's free to submit to jobs you've been invited to, but at the beginning you almost have to blitz the market by consistent applications because you need to build a reputation, you need to the feedback to grow, and ultimately you can use the groundwork you've laid during these first several months to be really successful and decrease your marketing budget in the future. Tip #3: Use High Quality Samples and a Profile I feel this should go without saying, but the number of writers that I see using poor quality work samples or a profile that looks like it was thrown together in five minutes is astounding. The same goes for graphic designers and web developers sometimes, too! The only way this client knows you is through your work samples that you submit and your profile. Both should present you as a high quality freelancer. Revise those work samples over and over. Make sure that they truly represent the best of you. If you submit a work sample that has a spelling error in it, that is a huge no-no and is easily going to get you off the client s shortlist. I ve done hiring for major freelance digital teams, including those like True Car and Microsoft, and I was amazed at how many people submitted materials to me that had mistakes or poor writing. A lot of people worry about the fact that they don t have freelance writing samples when they first get started. They ve never been paid for work before and it doesn t make sense to submit something for a client when you have

6 signed a non-disclosure agreement with someone else promising not to reveal that you created that item. If you don t have work samples, create them. It does not take that much of your time to create a few top quality samples. If you're an ebook writer, you don t need to write a whole ebook, just write a chapter of an ebook. If you re a blog writer, come up with a couple of top quality blogs that represent that best that you have to offer or the highest quality SEO techniques that you can use for clients because it takes a lot of trust to hire someone that you don t know. There s no question that you should be providing high quality work in your profile and your samples. Tip #4: Stand Out From the Crowd The easiest ways to stand out from the crowd are to make your pitch unique or to make it so easy to work with you that the client can t refuse your offer. As someone who has been on the hiring end of brining digital teams together on sites like Upwork, I am amazed at how many people will submit 20 different writing samples. No client has time to look at 20 different writing samples, especially if they are in individual downloads. It s very easy to pass over people to make this mistake of overwhelming the client because remember, you are just one proposal among many. It is essential that you submit materials that are very easy for the client to download. Another way to standout is to have a really unique pitch. I know some people who use audio bits or video files where they're actually talking on the video and submit it to the client. It s a personalized pitch. It s only going to take you a couple of minutes to record something like this but it shows the client that you should really care.

7 Personally, I have not found video to be that successful for me as a writer. The best way that you can stand out is with really good quality writing, a well-crafted proposal and an awesome profile but if you want to stand out from the crowd you could get more attention from a client just by being willing to get on camera or put together a personalized audio for them of what you would do if you were hired. That being said, video editors, graphic designers, and web developers all feel as though video is their chance to shine. It s really essential to stand out from the crowd because you'll always going to be competing against other people. Even as an established and successful freelance writer, I'm always up against the best that Upwork has to offer, so you need to have a unique value proposition that sets you apart. Tip #5: Use Past Success to Achieve Future Success Once you've had the opportunity to lock down your first job or you re well into your freelance writing career and you landed a really job, use that past experience to get other people to hire you. You could be talking about how you're ranked on Upwork. Perhaps you used a testimonial from the first client whoever hired you or if you land really cool and well-paying gigs. You want to almost brag about that to clients. For example, when I landed my $50,000 writing and editing gig my second year as a full time researcher, I used the generic information about that to pitch to future clients. I would say I just wrapped up a $50,000 project. Why would I say that? Even if it was unrelated to my client's current project that indicates that someone saw me as enough of expert to pay that, had no questions or qualms about hiring me on contract to do that. It indicates professionalism. It indicates quality. Someone wouldn t work with you if they weren't committed to the quality that you were providing. I ve done the same whenever I have the opportunity to work for a well-recognized client.

8 I strongly recommend that you use your past successes to achieve future success. If you have never written before professionally or been paid to write, perhaps you can get a one liner feedback from those people who have given you information, given you jobs in the past so that you have something to start with. It can be very nervewracking for someone who has never met you to create something for their business. You need materials that telegraph professionalism and commitment. To recap the key elements you need for success on Upwork, follow these tips: Tip #1: Ignore the Bad Posts Tip #2 Be Consistent Tip #3: Use High Quality Samples and a Profile Tip #4: Stand Out From the Crowd Tip #5: Use Past Success to Achieve Future Success As you can see success on Upwork is all about knowing how to work the system. If you know how to work the system properly, you can set yourself up for success easily and quickly. To learn more about succeeding as a freelance writer whether you are new or emerging, visit