Speaker 1: For those of you that are new to Upwork, 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 Upwork as a social media marketer. I'm also a top rated 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 where 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 Upwork. It was truly a platform I didn't expect to have much success on because of all the contradictory reviews that I found online. 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 Upwork and was a complete waste of time. But being newly married, unemployed, and without clients, 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 Upwork, I would highly recommend you take a look at other successful freelancers in your niche on the platform and take some inspiration from their accounts. What kind of things are they saying 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 bounce 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 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. Luckily 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 Upwork, 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 copywriter and you're applying for copywriting 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 league. 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 Upwork. 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 effective and is a little bit of a secret, but I'm going to tell you anyway, is that I would start off one of my cover letters with the client's name. When applying for a job, you're often going to be able 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, hey John, using someone's name as 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 Upwork 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 you're 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 Premiere Pro and After Effects, and that are experienced in short form content. 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 five 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 of, this job post really stuck out to me because I've been an advocate for clean beauty for a really 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 liked you, 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 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 Upwork, 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 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 Naila, 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 Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I have been using these softwares for over three years. I can do graphic content and video editing. You can check out my portfolio for my previous work. I am 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. Naila. At the end of my cover letter, I'd 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 clients 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 unique. I believe a well 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 two 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 posts, sales posts, 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 a contact lens 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 Upwork 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 their 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.