Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. - Business (25)

Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. - Business (25) - Nairaland

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Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by adeiza4u(m): 5:45pm On Oct 10, 2015

paschu:
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.

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

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by paschu: 7:01pm On Oct 10, 2015*

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. cheesy

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by paschu: 7:03pm On Oct 10, 2015

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.

1 Like

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by paschu: 7:18pm On Oct 10, 2015

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!) cheesy

_______

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.

15 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by paschu: 7:54pm On Oct 10, 2015

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. grin

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by victor101(op): 5:41am On Oct 11, 2015

paschu:
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.

Hi Paschu,

Nice proposal sample, in summary, What every bidder should take note of is to read a job post and analyse it carefully, most importantly ask questions when you aren't clear. Also, try as much as possible to make your proposal short and relevant to the job post. even if you typically do copy paste, take time to edit it to fit into what the client want. I will say long proposal will fly if you are among the first two to bid for the job, from my observation, I think the client gets a minimum of 4 bid proposals delivered to his/her personal email. in a nutshell, Use indirect speech like: You said in you post that "djvdvdkjvdvdbvdbvbvdbvbdbvdvbd" also cut all the formal dear cleint, or dear hiring manager . Your first sentence can be, "website to help people alleviate their suffering" with reference the aforementioned I indicate my strong interest in ..................... -You are expected to sound informal yet professional. Also for guys in the writing niche, it is wise you include in your proposal that you'll be wiling to sign a NDA form and assure them you can treat their work in strict confidentiality.

Being a new freelancer also is an advantage when you know how to exploit this advantage, there is nothing wrong to let the client know your are new to the platform, which means you can give their work all the attention it deserves. See guys your success is in your hands be creative and try not to do what all others do, most times I talk about how other bidders are less qualified and how they should be qualified for the job thereby letting the client know am grounded. Also talk about your experience and how it can help the client and the project." while I was in xyz company there are times had to finish editing a book from scratch in less than 24 hours" etc. More importantly, refer clients to your profile. That's if you are sure sample(s) in your portfolio or experience is best suited for the job.

Lastly, stay online, so you don't miss client feedback. I just missed one yesterday, and it's a bit saddening, after my carefully crafted proposal, then after my reply to her mail, she goes " This job is unavailable but I will save your contact".

Shalom!

6 Likes

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by paschu: 8:14am On Oct 11, 2015*

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.

9 Likes 1 Share

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by G12(m): 5:55pm On Oct 11, 2015

pocoapoco88:
i once used simple server 2 access some sites bt was denied access e.g craigslists,bet365 etc.so if i may ask,dis dia subscription wit VPN,does it safely access sites dat normal subscription does?

I've not had any restriction with accessing any site. The VPN has different country servers you can choose from.

Please, go to site and communicate with the site admin. You can even get him on WhatsApp.

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by G12(m): 6:02pm On Oct 11, 2015

@FXbot
Bros, something is cooking here www.nairaland.com/2632838/how-start-profitable-mobile-app

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 7:56pm On Oct 11, 2015

G12:
@FXbot
Bros, something is cooking here www.nairaland.com/2632838/how-start-profitable-mobile-app

lol... I have been to that thread long before now. He seems to be using same method in the links i dropped weeks ago-- drag and drop.

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by Nobody: 12:13am On Oct 12, 2015

paschu:
Hello sir, i would like to work on upwork as a writer but unfortunately am not a very good writer. I want you teach me how to be a good writer like you sir
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.

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by G12(m): 4:08am On Oct 12, 2015

fxbot:
lol... I have been to that thread long before now. He seems to be using same method in the links i dropped weeks ago-- drag and drop.

Yeah, really interested and signing up soon. Learning and adaptation will be done with the remaining part of this year, this will be my major focus in 2016

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by 01ghostmode: 5:31am On Oct 12, 2015

G12:
Yeah, really interested and signing up soon. Learning and adaptation will be done with the remaining part of this year, this will be my major focus in 2016

bros keep us posted on dis.

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by G12(m): 9:12am On Oct 12, 2015

01ghostmode:
bros keep us posted on dis.

Bros, just follow the thread. My head is full

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 2:48pm On Oct 12, 2015

For those who may need to learn graphic designs, this may be of tremendous help to you.

http://learn.corel.com/graphics/courses/welcome

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by ferhyntorlah(f): 6:10pm On Oct 12, 2015

fxbot:
For those who may need to learn graphic designs, this may be of tremendous help to you.

http://learn.corel.com/graphics/courses/welcome

Fxbot, thank you for posting this link. It came just at the right time. Thanks again!

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 6:18pm On Oct 12, 2015

ferhyntorlah:
Fxbot, thank you for posting this link. It came just at the right time. Thanks again!

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by ferhyntorlah(f): 6:24pm On Oct 12, 2015

fxbot:

Sofly sofly dey shine teeth oh. Lol

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 6:48pm On Oct 12, 2015

ferhyntorlah:
Sofly sofly dey shine teeth oh. Lol

Go and buy 200 CD on corel draw

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 6:59pm On Oct 12, 2015

ferhyntorlah:
Sofly sofly dey shine teeth oh. Lol

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 7:13pm On Oct 12, 2015

ferhyntorlah:
Sofly sofly dey shine teeth oh. Lol

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by ferhyntorlah(f): 10:38pm On Oct 12, 2015

fxbot:
Go and buy 200 CD on corel draw

Thanks!

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by justi4jesu(f): 3:37am On Oct 13, 2015

fxbot:
For those who may need to learn graphic designs, this may be of tremendous help to you.

http://learn.corel.com/graphics/courses/welcome

Corel Draw is stale please. No client that is Techy will accept a graphic design made from Corel draw, advice them to go for photoshop CS6.

It's like advising someone to continue using iOS 8 version when iOS 9.0.2 is available. cheesy

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by Sammig1(m): 4:27am On Oct 13, 2015

.We buy your PayPal funds at a very good rate. We can meet up with you to clear your doubts. Pm me asap for details

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 6:30am On Oct 13, 2015

justi4jesu:
Corel Draw is stale please. No client that is Techy will accept a graphic design made from Corel draw, advice them to go for photoshop CS6.

It's like advising someone to continue using iOS 8 version when iOS 9.0.2 is available.

madam, everything for beginners oooo. If anyone can use corel, I believe they can use photoshop. I am talking about starting and dropped the link as soon as I came across it.

I have photoshop cs6

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by pocoapoco88: 9:46am On Oct 13, 2015

justi4jesu:
Corel Draw is stale please. No client that is Techy will accept a graphic design made from Corel draw, advice them to go for photoshop CS6.

It's like advising someone to continue using iOS 8 version when iOS 9.0.2 is available.

illustrator seems d best of dem all; so i heard doh

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by justi4jesu(f): 10:11am On Oct 13, 2015

pocoapoco88:
illustrator seems d best of dem all; so i heard doh

Yes Illustrator can provide many advantages that Photoshop cannot. But if you know how to work with photoshop already then illustrator will be an icing on the cake.

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by An0nimus: 5:29pm On Oct 13, 2015*

Can one use an alias instead of real names on upwork?
cc: paschu, victor101, fxbot

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by paschu: 9:16pm On Oct 13, 2015

An0nimus:
Can one use an alias instead of real names on upwork?
cc: paschu, victor101, fxbot

Wrong move. Upwork requires that you use your legal name which must match the one in your payment details. You may contact their support department for more details though. To be clear, no one would stop you from using a pen name there, just that if you go that way you may be required to verify your identitiy when you want to withdraw your money.

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by fxbot: 7:46am On Oct 14, 2015

G12 ooo. MTN has finished me. What I subscribed to has been decleared exhausted, 4,5gb. I didn't watch videos but just downloaded themes and plugins which where about 25MB each. Na wa o.

Re: Elance.com, Upwork.com And Other Freelancing Site: How To Succeed Guide. by G12(m): 8:40am On Oct 14, 2015

fxbot:
G12 ooo. MTN has finished me. What I subscribed to has been decleared exhausted, 4,5gb. I didn't watch videos but just downloaded themes and plugins which where about 25MB each. Na wa o.

LOL... Sorry sir, me I dey download and stream with peace of mind.

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