₦airaland Forum

lonelydora:
One condom would have stopped this comment. I don't blame you. Mumu.

You actually sound like the bigger mumu here.

free2ryhme:
It is a pity that people like you are easily deceived. This same woman you are uselessly defending referred to Tompolo as my Oga, not only that she also gave him her car to take him out of the Airport for a meet outside the Airport as the vehicle conveying them was not enough. Okonjo Iweala is a corrupt woman forget the charade and drama you see on TV.

You are the biggest fool ever

You are so funny dear. So funny. And in your mind you think you're smart?

Armaggedon:
why won't she?
Since you're destroying English language in your own little way.

But his english was spot on sha.

ribbit:
After looting the country dry some people still employ this fat lips biatch ... Smh

I was going to get seriously pissed, but then I looked down and saw your signature, behold it says all about how foolish you really are. How could you say there's no God and think it's joke? For your own good, dare to read Psalms 14:1

victor101:
Shalom!

Thanks @Victor101

Your points are great. In fact I do NOT submmit long proposals anymore, but that's mainly because I now have a strong profile that speaks louder than a thousand words. But I'd also like to say that when it comes to proposals, neither long form nor short form is the key to winnig a contract at Upwork. Both forms can land the job if you write them well enough. But what matters really is how relevant and engaging your proposal is. That said, two things I want to highlight about the sample proposal above are:

1. I jumped right into the problem solving mode. Notice that 90% of the proposal was FOCUSED on the client and her project. FACT is the only thing the client cares about is the success of her project, not your many paper qaulifications.

Please take note of this: The very moment I focused on the client and started proffering ACTIONABLE solutions to her immediate and perceived problems, I INSTANTLY DEPARTED FROM THE ROLE OF A JOB APPLICANT AND MOVED INTO THE ROLE OF A SEASONED CONSULTANT. I did not try to talk her into giving me the job (that shows that I respect her sense of judgement), but I also SUBTLY and simply talked as though I AM ALREADY A MEMBER OF HER TEAM who wants nothing else but the success of her project EVEN IF I'M NOT THE ONE THAT'D EVENTUALLY BE COMMISSIONED TO DO IT. I even offered to do a custom no-strings-attached white-paper (at absolutely no cost) to assist whomever she hires.

If you're the client, which freelancer would you rather talk to in this scenario?

2. I was able to cut off all the fine speaks (you don't really impress anyone with those) and spoke to her like a buddy (I did not overdo it though) which is exactly what most folks look for in writing. Even scientific and academic consumers are coming up too, but they are not there yet. So when applying for academic writing gig, it may still be more advantageous to sound like a professor rather than sounding like Aunty Joy. Besides that, learnig to write like you'd normally speak with good friends is a great plus.

That's it folks.

P.S

PLEASE DON'T EVER DESCEND SO LOW AS TO PAINT OTHER FREELANCERS BAD. THAT'S PROBABLY ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS TO LET THE POTENTIAL CLIENT KNOW THAT YOU REALLY SUCK SO BAD. Let the client hire whomsoever she feels is best fit for her job, and IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE YOU.

P.S 2

Always REread your proposal OVER and Over again before hitting submmit. For example I've lost counts of how many times I edited this very post. But you don't have that luxury at Upwork. Once you hit the submmit button the proposal is gone for good and so are the connects you used to send it. And if you decide to withdraw it and resubmmit you'd be spending twice the connects it would have cost you if you took the time to proofread it before submmiting it the first time.

01ghostmode:
Hi, house I jst got paid for my first work on upwork (jst $5 though), plz how do I go abt the necessary claiming cos the thing is still sitting at my pending money.
Thanks.

Congrats dear.

Please make sure to remind your client to give you a review and feedback score if s/he has not done so already. Please keep it coming.

Nice one. It depends on the country you are from. The word hustler in Naija (forget your dictionary and stick with Olamide) means, "Someone who strives to become successful"

Spot on bro.

It's not only in Naija. Hustler is the word used almost universally for a lone whiz hustling to score the corporate entity feat.

fxbot:
Please, do you have any sample cover letter used? please share.

NOTE: Pleaee everyone should know that the worst mistake you can make at Upwork is to copy a generic proposal and submmit it to all available job offers. That's so dumb. Please do not do it. And do NOT copy this one and paste it as your proposal. The only reason I'm posting this here is for EDUCATIONAL purpose, coupled with the fact that it was specifically requested for.

So just learn from it, and create your own unique version for each contract you wish to bid for. That's the right way to go. And having said that, it's my pleasure to now present to the house here the very proposal that landed me my very first contract at oDesk which is now known as Upwork.

Here you go.... (proposal begins from the next line, enjoyy!)

_______

Few Observations On Your Project Brief

------------------------------
By-the-way, my name is Paschal Chukwudi. I'm a Nigerian non-fiction writer. It's funny, but people always seem to describe me with such fine adjectives, like " talented", "persistent", skillful" and so on (which is cool), but really, I like to see myself as a regular guy who has the tendency to get obsessed with the notion that things ought to be done exceptionally well all the time. (Please don't get me wrong, I'm not a perfectionist, I swear!) Details about my skills and qualifications can be found on my profile.

--------------------------------

Enough Of Me! Please Let's Talk About Your Project Now!

I love the fact that you took time to provide many details, and some clear descriptions of what you expect from us on this project. I really appreciate the effort; however, I made the following observations after reading the brief (they are nothing much; just few things I think you need to clarify, for better understanding and more qualitative project execution).

1. eBook Format Not Specified

We need to know what we are facing here. This is necessary because editing a Microsoft Word document is not the same as editing a PDF file. And this is very basic. I believe that just making the format of the original document known from the beginning will make your job easier in the hiring process and also help to attract the right contractors.

2. Unit Volume Not Very Clear

Yes, I know you said, and I quote, " 5000 words", but you did not specify whether the 5000 words benchmark will be for the whole 5-6 ebooks or just for one eBook alone (in which case the collective volume of each batch would be 25,000 - 30,000 words).

And, talking about the batches, I also feel that you need to make your expectations for the second batch of the assignment very clear. Yes, you did mention that the second batch of the assignment will consist of works that will be already edited which we need to make perfect, but you were not very specific as per what you will really want us to do, or not to do with the documents.

For example, would you want us to give the already edited documents a passive review, with the intention of finding and correcting grammar errors and typos (if any) while leaving the original style and structures exactly the way they are. ( I think this will be OK). But on the other hand, could it be that you will like us to actually drill each of the documents in the second batch as we would those of the first batch - changing all the things that do not fit our style and writing preferences, even when these things are not necessarily wrong? ( I think this will be redundant, and may eventually reduce the overall quality of the project.)

Finally, you also did not make it clear whether the required 200 words description will be written for the second batch of documents too, which in that case, will amount to writing a total of 2000-2400 words description for the two batches.

3. Writing Genre Not Specified

This one is big! I think you should specify the genres of the ebooks you want edited. Are they going to be fiction, verifiable non-fiction texts, or just a collection of some unverified opinions?

The job may be somewhat easy if it's going to be fiction ( all that the contractor is going to need will be a sharp imagination and some good literary skills). It will even be easier if it were to be simply a collection of unverified opinions (all that the contractor will need in this case will be just a relevant knowledge of the subject matter and a firm grasp of the English language). But those would not be the case if we are talking about creating a number of great verifiable nonfiction ebooks. It will take more than great grammar to create a great verifiable nonfiction text.

For that reason, I've decided to prepare a small custom white-paper on this topic for you alone.Thus, I think it's a good Idea for yuo to see the (free) white-paper when it's done, which I believe, will be very useful for this project even if you choose to hire a different contractor for the job.

Please reply to this message promptly to let me know whether to go ahead with the white-paper.

Thanks.

Paschal Chukwudi

end of proposal.
____________

Honestly, would you be able to say NO to that kind of proposal if you were the client?

Well, this very client could not sleep after reading that proposal.

For starters, she was looking for an editor (which I was not). So I was not qaulified for the job and she knew it. As at that time I had not done even a single job on the platform. So the woman at first told me nicely that my proposal rocks but she could not hire me because I was not a good fit for the job. However, the goodness of my proposal won't let her rest. So the following day, she hired me against all odds to do a trial contract for her, which was my first ever, plus it got me a glowing 5 star review from her.

adeiza4u:
thank you sir, will research on the apps I can use to try it and see

You're welcome dear. Please go ahead and do that.

ranson:
How save are works kept in my portfolio? I know they samples, but they are also well researched works.

Sorry folks, my kid sister got wedded today, that's why I could post no response all along.

@ranson If you own the copyright to your portfilio I don't think it's necessary to bother about its safety and all that. Just see it as a free content for all. It's just like a fisher's bait.

adeiza4u:
@paschu and others, please i'm interested in this freelance biz but have no pc, can it be done successfuly on android phone?

I started with a tab and it was very successful for me. I don't know about phone though. I think the best option is to give it a try, and see what happens.

Good luck.

fxbot:
paschu, I saw wordpress job and I know I can do it. But I don't have any samples to show at the moment. Should I still submit a proposal?

Of course, you may submmit your proposal.

But I'd suggest you take time to ensure you really understood the job brief before writing the proposal. And since you actually know what the job entails it might be better to go ahead and give the prospect a very specific LIST of the steps that need to be taken to complete the project, and the potential trouble-spots to avoid (just as though you're teaching someone how to do the job). This is better than just making an EMPTY promise (like everyone else) without verifiable proofs. It'd also make you stand out from the rest.

However, you must realize that some folks won't even look at a freelancer's proposal if it does not include a sample of his previous work. That's normal. So it should not discourage you if you're not taken. But make sure you submit at least one well written and very targetd proposal EACH DAY. You may also consider doing some dummy but well executed projects to feature on your portfolio as samples.

I wish you the best. And plesse do let the house know how it turns out.

Akjwyzepal:
you mis-understood what he is saying. What he means is doze siting down in 1place glue to their mobile devices giving orders in their own advantages nt minding d disadvanges, e.g if a rich man driver kills sum1 nd d man just kall d d.p.o 2 release im cus of d influence, he doesnt mean other-wise. He isnt realy meaning money frm social networking bla bla bla

I know all that. No one is a daft here. My point is that he made a very wrong analogy. You may not get it because you're probably not geeky.

Akjwyzepal:
sha no forget me if u don get alert frm her. Make u send some 2 me. It doesnt matter if ur generation yet unborn wallow in povert. Nah make u sha don jaiye b d koko. #Trutalk

My generation born and yet to be born are BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE. We swim in wealth and affluence unquestionably. Poverty can only recoil on the heads of those who imagine it and wish it to others. So you see, my life is beautiful, and much more beautiful are the lives of my children's children to a billion generation.

Go figure.

pocoapoco88:
bro pls repost dis link,it ain't opening.me equally need cheaper bt reliable internet data.

The link is working. Just copy it to google. Or just close the gaps near the two dots. Simple.

Please NOTE that this is NOT an endorsement o. I do not know anything about that site. And you know I did not post the link. Just to be clear.

pocoapoco88:
if am correct,dis 60 connects each month r not bin paid 4 right?

Yes, the 60 monthly connects are totally free.

Boland:
Common don't give me that bullshitt.. You and I know exactly what her crimes are, so don't play dumb...

No o, seriously I don't. All I hear are baseless accusations and baseless hate speeches against her. No hint of any tangible crime.

youngalex:
I say this with every sense of sincerity,it is in the best interest of Nigeria to avoid further currency devaluation, the way out is to continue to defend the Naira by any means possible while injecting finds through the bank of industry for rapid industrialization.Any devaluation now will lead to a serious financial crisis.

YOU CANNOT USE TECHNICS TO IMPOSE VALUES WHERE THERE'S NONE. THE MARKET FORCES CANNOT BE CONTROLLED BY HUMAN HANDS ELSE IT'S NO LONGER A FREE MARKET.

Boland:
Lmao.. But you shouldn't have posted your first comment, the woman deserves no pity..
Punishing her will send a message to other potential thieves that, amassing wealth through that means will put them in same shoes...

PUNISHING HER FOR WHAT EXACTLY?
FOR BEING THE PETROLEUM MINISTER?
FOR BEING MUCH MORE EDUCATED THAN MANY MEN?
OR FOR BEIGN SO BEUTIFUL YET SO ASSERTIVE THAN MOST MEN CAN HANDLE, RIGHT?

Andy86:
What have u benefited from her so far? Let's stop painting wrong doings as right things. She will be found guilty of plunging Nigeria the way it is today.

WHAT EXACTLY HAS SHE DONE WRONG? BESIDES ALL THE BASELESS HYPERBOLIC AND UNVERIFIABLE WILD CLAIMS FROM THE BUNCH OF LOOSERS?

vorigan:
“People are regaining sanity, human rationality is returning and the idle class that makes money without office or business address, whose only address is an iPad and cell phone with appropriate phone numbers, are all lamenting and not sure of tomorrow.”

THIS IS THE HEIGHT OF BACKWARD THINKING AND CLUELESSNESS IN DIGITAL ECONONY. IN FACT I THINK THIS IS AN AIR OF ANTI-TECH POINT OF VIEW. A SHAME THAT IT IS COMING FROM A SO CALLED GOVERNOR

CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHERE NAIRALAND'S OFFICE IS IN NIGERIA, OR WHERE APPLE HAS ITS PLANT HERE?

IT'S THE BIGOTED IDEAS OF SUCH BUNCH OF EDUCATED ILLITERATES THAT'S HOLDING THIS COUNTRY DOWN. A SHAME.

Keneking:
Sai Buhari

- i support this move as it enable us to get a domestic hold on this issue.
- there is already a local funding headed by Lt. Gen. T.Y Danjuma
- we need a military hold on all these issues related to BH & ISIS others
- radicalizing terrorists requires a local approach
- we plan to give amnesty as a "carrot and stick" approach
- President Muhammadu Buhari is the only man to close this case once and for all

JESUS CHRIST!!! You mean you were so BLINDED by partisan frivolities not to COMPREHEND the core point and message contained in that piece. Man, you guys are SERIOUSLY SICK.

KBrown:
In Buhari we trust.
What people like you do not realise is that even if Buhari decide to use the exact ministers that served under Jonathan, they would have no choice but to work in line standards being set by Buhari. The same goes with all those presently on the ministerial list. Any misbehaviours on anybody's part will attract commensurate reprimands.
May God bless Nigeria.

FOR YOUR MIND. So naive. A pity.

modath:
He should come back when he marries his baby mama.

Ethics dictates that he marries a woman first before impregnating her, or he doesn't know his little princess is the definition of a bastard.

At least his pa married his ma even if she was part of a 27 low self esteem, zero dignity women harem..

Since he is throwing stones with that his male pattern baldness he has going on... mtcheeeww

Man you are a foolish bigot!!!

Inspectahdeck:
My take on this case and the seized money is that £10,000 is the maximum amount an individual can bring into the UK and hold @ hand. So let's slow down on this news about seized money in a system (country) that works.

You are spot on bro. This is the stuff most of the funny folks in-here with wide mouths and peanut brains don't have any clue about. With the recent CBN's restrictions on forex cash deposites coupled with the ridiculous limitation on the use of naira card abroad, how do you expect a person of that calibre to survive let alone maintaining her lifestyle in the UK, without getting ripped off by the local banks if she's to opt for credit purchases?

Is it that when you hear this chicken change of £27,000 your poverty stricken peanut brain starts wailling bullshit about corruption? Funny folks.

Of course holding a large sum of cash at hand may be an indication that someone plans to bribe someone else. But this woman has not been charged, let alone being convicted for bribery - NOT EVEN FOR AN ATTEMPT TO BRIBE.

So what's all the silly noise and defamation about, if not due to baseless hate, vain jealousy and foolish disregard for our elites?

G12:
Yeah! Thanks.
I'll try it out and maybe just take my arbitrage on any niche to Craigslist.

When I was charging $5/500 words article, I had many orders and I was delivering late. The clients weren't bothered about the late delivery, they always encourage me to take my time since they were sure of getting quality job. Since I increased my rate to $10/500 words, the orders reduced but I'm making a little bit more than I was at $5 with less effort.

Writing is a challenging task, yet many clients still want to pay peanuts. It's somehow annoying. That's why I want to try other things.

You're totally welcome @G12

Well, it depends on who you write for, where else you write (that's outside the freelnace platform) and most importantly, how you market and brand your writing skills. Some writers are really hitting it big. And no matter what else you do, I think that great writing skill is, and will continue to be, a foundational key to success in this digital age.

And, yes, it's true that the more you write the better you get at writing.

G12:
Bros, thanks for the inputs here.

I do my freelancing job as a writer on Fiverr and registered on Upwork as a graphics designer. I wanted to approach that niche using the arbitrage system, i.e I get jobs fromUpwork and outsource on Fiverr for lesser amount. Honestly, I've never won a project there. I've actually been busy with other things at the moment, hence the lack of concentration to submit proposals.

I've been thinking twice lately. Maybe I should just focus on writing at Upwork too. One thing that really makes Fiverr unique is the "buyer meeting seller" it is reputable for. Sometimes, I wake up in the morning to see orders without the client sending a message first not to talk of me bidding.

Since you're a writer at UPWORK, I'd like to find out a few things from you. Is the demand for writers high? How easy is it to get clients? What is the average rate you charge for your writing?

Upwork is built on reputation. In other words, the key to success at Upwork is high reputation. But high reputation is a result of the sum of three things as follows:

Awesome Skill + Savvy Marketing/Branding + Consistent Client Satisfaction = High Reputation.

Now coming to your question, yes, there is HIGH demand for GOOD/GREAT writers at Upwork, but there's HUGE competition too, hence the need for savviness in marketing and consistency in client satisfaction. The platform is meant for hardworking professionals.

Regarding my charges, I seriously felt like keeping quiet on this, but I guess some folks here would benefit from the transparency. So here you go:

My first project on Upwork was a book editing test gig for 5 hours at $3 per hour. After the test assignment the woman was pleased with my passion (and even gave me a 5 star rating and amazing feedback) but she also felt I was NOT a good fit for the main assignment. So she did not continue the project with me as we both hoped.

After that experience, I increased my hourly rate to $5.56 per hour, and someone hired me on that basis. I later increased to $8 an hour, someone also hired me. I then increased again to $10 per hour, I was hired again. And recently because of HIGH DEMAND I skyrocketed my rate to $28 per hour. No one has been bold enough to hire me on that rate yet. ;-)

I've also done some fixed projects ( specifically I've ghostwritten a number of ebooks for clients, many of which hit #1 spots in various categories in the Kindle Bestseller lists).

The first book I wrote was 5000 words for $40 and the most recent one was 24,000 words for $400.

So that's it laid out for you as plainly as it gets. Hope it helps.

Mcslize:
Thanks Bro, wil download dem frm Playstore Asap.Tho I already hav WPS, text editor n Office Suit. Don't hav lappy yet . I'll b makin use of a Tab 4 now. So dat writely pro is solely for previewing?

You are totally welcome. The Writely Pro is a plain text editor just like ColorNote but with added benefit of Markdown preview.

NOTE: I seriously reccommend that you should use www.grammarly.com to review and edit your text to ensure topnotch grammar and style. The WPS Office does not have any GRAMMAR checker, and even the spell checker it has is not efficient at all. That's why I use ColorNote most of the times. But that one too can only check for misspellings BUT NOT GRAMMAR.

UPDATE

For those who may not afford the premium feature at grammarly.com you may check out this totally free (no need to signup) alternative: http://www.hemingwayapp.com

01ghostmode:
Hi guys, on upwork, if u finish d first 40 connects given to you. how do u greet another one?
Thanks.

The MONTHLY connects given to you should be 60 each month. And that SHOULD be enough for a starter. If it's not then that could be due to one or more of basically four reasons:

1. You are not applying to the right jobs rightly.

2. Your proposals are not properly written.

3. You spam the system by submitting proposals without any plan or strategy.

4. You don't read the job briefs carefully and follw the instructions strictly when submitting your proposals.

Newbies are usually guilty of much of the above. And one of the main reasons the connect system was introduced ealier this year was specifically to discurage and possibly curb the
above scenarios.

In fact, right now, I've not been using more than 2 or 4 connects in a month. But that's mainly because I'm kind of established already ( Top Rated status with 100% client satisfaction and 4.98 stars rating).

Matter of fact, a vast majority of my contracts in the last three months were initiated by my clients. They simply invited me to interviews after seeing my profile via Upwork search engine. Being invited to a job by a prospective client means that you can get the job without spending any connects. So sometimes I may go for an entire month without submitting a single proposal for a job; which means my 60 connects usually go largely untouched month after month.

Upwork did a lot of research before introducing the connects system. And one basic rule of thumb is that 60 connects/month should be enough for a responsible freelancer who knows what she's doing.

Mcslize:
Hi Bro, which of the freelancer site do u run as a writer and what app do u make use of for ur writing?

Upwork is the only freelance platform I'm using.

I do most of my writings with ColorNote ( a free android plain text app),
thereafter, I convert them to Ms Word or TXT files using WPS Office (another free
android app that's just like Ms Office suite). I also write on Markdown using
the plain text editor, but I usually preview the syntax on Writely Pro (another free adroid
app for Markdown editing and live preview).

NOTE: I seriously reccommend that you should use www.grammarly.com to review and edit your text to ensure topnotch grammar and style. The WPS Office does not have any GRAMMAR checker, and even the spell checker it has is not efficient at all. That's why I use ColorNote most of the times. But that one too can only check for misspellings BUT NOT GRAMMAR.


UPDATE

For those who may not afford the premium feature at grammarly.com you may check out this totally free (no need to signup) alternative: http://www.hemingwayapp.com

spacechuks:
I think all you guys dragging the names of various banks here should be sued for that. No bank can steal your money, the financial system is under control in such a way that you can know the details of every transaction that transpired in your account. Many customers on their own compromised their atm pin, token numbers etc and they end up crying fowl that the bank has defrauded them. @OP...... kindly ask for the narration of that debit, if it is an atm withdrawal, you will know the location, time of that debit. you can go further to ask for the footage if it is an atm withdrawal..... note.. if the footage reveals somebody you know who might have used your card..... the bank would have you arrested first for divulging your pin before dealing with the fraudster. Also many a times most ppl use their cards for online purchase and by so doing revealing their card details online... they end up get debited subsequently for no service rendered or product delivered by merchants involved... the customer would just open his/her mouth spewing gibberish on nairaland....... my advice ask questions, get clarification before jumping into conclusion.

Which law gives the banks RIGHT to arrest someone that divulges her pin to someone else? Are you saying this matter of factly? Or are you just being judgemental and wishing you're in the position to intimidate or punish anyone that behaves in ways that don't tickle your fancy?

vivoge:
Thanks a lot for this wonderful piece of advise. It has saved me a great deal.

You are welcome dear. All the best.