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This lesson is called how to create winning proposals, and it will show you how to separate yourself

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from the competition so you can stand out and land clients.

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I'm so excited for this lesson because this will be where I show you exactly how I structure my proposals

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and how I land clients on a consistent basis.

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The reason this lesson is important is because in order to be a profitable freelancer, you need to

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create proposals that actually work.

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So many people don't have success with freelancing because they don't know how to send proposals that

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get the attention of clients.

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It's all about being able to stand out and to make the client want to get in touch with you to learn

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more.

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From there you go through the rest of the freelance sales process that I taught.

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You will be competing with a bunch of other freelancers on every project that you go after.

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So if you don't separate yourself, you're just going to be wasting your time with these proposals.

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I learned this the hard way because I used to not put the amount of time required into each proposal

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because I thought the more I sent out, the better.

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But in reality, that's not the way it is.

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You need to spend the time and you need to focus on quality over quantity.

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And that is exactly what I'm going to teach you in this lesson.

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We're going to show you step by step how to create winning proposals so you can go out there and land

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clients on Upwork on a consistent basis.

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We will be covering the overall proposal format, the cover letter, the winning proposal formula.

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Client questions, proposal attachments.

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Key success factors.

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How proposals look from the client side.

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And examples of proposals.

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Everything I cover in this lesson is also included in the winning proposal formula handout.

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Make sure to refer to this whenever you need guidance on how to craft a winning proposal.

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First, let's go over the proposal settings.

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This is where you choose, what profile you want to use to submit the proposal with, as well as what

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specialized profile you want to use.

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If you want to go that route.

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This is what this section looks like.

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You won't see the agency option unless you're part of an agency.

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The reason I have that is because I also have my digital agency attached.

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So you'll just see the top part so you can just keep that as is.

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And then you get to choose whether you want to submit the proposal from your general profile or from

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a specialized profile.

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And then it'll show you the amount of Connect's required to submit that project.

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A cool feature that they have is that if a job doesn't get filled, it gets refunded, so you get those

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connects back.

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What that means is if a client doesn't end up hiring a freelancer on the platform, you'll get those

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connects back so you can use those to apply to other jobs.

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Next, the job details section is the actual job post itself, which contains the description of what

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the client's looking for, the time frame and the type of freelancer needed for the project.

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That is this section, as we went over in the Upwork job search demonstration.

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You can see that this is where they either go above and beyond and describe the project in detail,

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or they just list out a couple of things because they're in a rush.

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Make sure you're only applying to those jobs that they took the time to fill out the job description

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and make sure you're referring to all of the job details when you go and build out that winning proposal.

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Next is the term section in the term section is where you place the bid for the job.

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So if it's hourly, you choose an hourly rate and if it's the fixed price, you choose your overall

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bid for the fixed price along with the different milestones you on offer.

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So this is what it looks like on the hourly basis, and it'll show you what your profile rate is just

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to remind you and you get to pick.

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So this is where I said in the beginning, you don't need to charge or bid on projects with your profile,

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right?

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You can bid any amount you want.

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And then Upwork will show you the Upwork service fee that they take out, and it'll show you how much

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you'll actually get in your pocket, which is just a nice little calculation that they do for you.

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And remember, those amounts go down.

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The more you earn with a client.

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So this is the data for the first five hundred you make with the client.

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Then in the additional detail section, that's where the entire proposal actually lives.

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So that is where you put in your cover letter, you answer all the questions that the client asked.

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And then last but not least, you can attach up to 10 files to supplement your proposal.

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This is yet again another way you can separate yourself from the pack.

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A lot of freelancers aren't taking the time to put together files and attachments to send with their

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proposals.

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So we're going to go over what that looks like and what type of attachments you can use to really stand

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out.

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Inland clients.

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This is what the additional detail section looks like when there aren't any client questions that are

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asked.

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It'll just show you a cover letter section and then an attachment section.

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From there, you can just drag and drop, or you can click the Upload project files and you can attach

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up to 10 files under 25 megabytes each.

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And then once you're ready, you just click Submit Proposal and your proposal gets sent to the job post

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to that client.

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And now I'm going to show you how to craft a winning proposal using the winning proposal formula.

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This is how you can create cover letters and answer client questions in a way that differentiates yourself

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and provides tremendous value right from the start.

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Follow this formula when you're writing your cover letters, when you're answering your client questions.

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If you want to succeed, I spent years coming up with this formula and the cover letter is what you

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mainly use this formula for because the cover letter is the bulk of what the client sees when you apply

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to a job.

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It's important to thoroughly read the job post because a lot of times clients will also sneak, in certain

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words, they want you to use.

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For example, I'll show you later on one client wanted me to use the word avocado in the first line

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of the cover letter to show that I read the whole post.

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So always make sure you're paying attention to detail.

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And that's number one to create a winning proposal.

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Number to start to look at ways, you can do some further research on what the client needs.

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A lot of people are just copying and pasting their cover letters over.

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And if you take the time as a freelancer to really do some research and come up with a thoughtful way,

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you can portray what you're going to offer them.

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That is how you can start to differentiate yourself again from the pack.

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So don't copy and paste anything.

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Spend time on every single proposal you send out.

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Make sure they're 100 percent unique.

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And now I'm going to show you how a profitable cover letter is structured.

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So it all starts with the attention snagging opener.

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This is also known as a pattern interrupt.

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And what this does is it separates what your proposal looks like from the rest of the proposals.

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So a lot of people use the same words.

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They're very monotonous and nothing stands out, especially when you're sifting through a bunch of different

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job applications.

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A lot of people will just go on Google search.

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What the best thing to say in a cover letter is, and they'll paste that right into their cover letter.

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So you need to make sure you do the opposite of this.

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You need to use the words that get attention from potential clients.

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They need to open up your proposal.

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So if you don't do this part correctly, the rest of your proposal doesn't matter.

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That is why this is the first part of a winning cover letter and of a winning proposal.

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You need to make sure you get this formula down correctly in the right order so you can have the most

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success possible.

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The attention stacking opener can be a sentence all the way up to a paragraph, and it's a way for you

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to separate yourself by showing that you are different.

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You can provide value, and you were the one that they should without a doubt get in touch with first.

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And then you are going to start delivering some of the work for the client.

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This is the most impactful part of a winning proposal and this is one of the biggest secrets that I

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will be sharing with you.

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This helps you separate yourself immensely.

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Your whole goal is to engage with the client and to get a conversation started.

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You want to have a conversation with them because that lets you qualify them and see if you're a good

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fit for each other.

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But in order to even have that convo, you need to separate yourself from the pack.

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The truth is, every freelancer out there is talking about how great they are, how much experience

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they have and why the client should choose them.

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However, I don't suggest going that same route.

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You're just going to blend in with the pack.

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Instead, I say, take a turn, go on the unbeaten path and don't talk about how great you are, but

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show the client how good you are.

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Show them by delivering some of the project for them.

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Now, this doesn't mean you go out and you complete the full project and spend a full day on it.

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But what it does mean is you take some time to show the client.

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You're not just using words, you're also using action to show them why you're the best fit.

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When you start to think of it from the client's perspective and you understand that they're comparing

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multiple different freelancers.

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It's very easy to understand how easy it is to overlook a freelancer, even if they might be a good

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fit.

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There's just so much competition out there.

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But in order to be a profitable freelancer, you need to have a way to break through that competition.

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And when you're able to deliver value and start to deliver some of the work for the client in your proposal,

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that's when you will start to have the most success.

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And it took me so long to figure this out, but once I started to show the client not just in it for

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the money, I'm not just saying how good I am, I'm showing the client by getting some of the work started.

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That's when clients started reaching out to me on a much more consistent basis.

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Now you might be asking yourself, what does delivering the work look like?

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The answer is it looks different based on what skill you're providing.

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So a couple examples are number one.

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If you're providing copywriting and the client is looking for a blog or an article written, you can

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write the introduction for that article and you can still follow the formula that I'm laying out and

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grab their attention with an attention snagging opener and then go right into what you would deliver

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as the intro to that article.

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This is a great way to show the client what kind of work you're able to deliver them, and it will separate

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yourself and increase the likelihood that they'll get in touch with you for an interview.

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Another example is if it's a Google ads project and they're looking to build a search campaign, you

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can do some of the keyword research for them and you can reach out with that keyword research and a

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couple suggestions of how you would structured the campaigns.

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All of these examples are supposed to start to shift your thinking.

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Don't just write a cover letter like it's your resumé and you're just talking about how good you are.

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Focus directly on the clients project that they need done and how you're going to solve their problem.

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Another example is if the client is looking for a website or a landing page bill, what you can do is

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put together a preview.

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A mock up or some wireframes and send that over to them as an attachment with the proposal.

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This will help them get an idea once again.

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If you're a good fit for them and if you deliver high quality work, chances are they'll be very likely

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to hire you over another freelancer that didn't do any work up.

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Because in today's marketplace, everyone is very hyper focused about the money, how much it's going

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to cost, and if you can put that aside for a second and focus on the value.

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Like we covered in the price myth, once that value is at a high enough amount, the client will be

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happy to pay you whatever your fee is because you're solving their problem and delivering value.

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After you start to deliver the work for them, that's when you want to go into including relevant experience

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or any testimonials that you have.

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This is another important part because after you've grabbed your attention and then after you've started

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to deliver the work for them, now you need to directly include some outside data in your proposal so

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that can build more credibility with the client for you.

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And even though Upwork does show your profile and if you have some reviews on there, they will show

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up.

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That's not until later down on the page.

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So the cover letter is the first thing the client sees.

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And if you can include some relevant experience right after you've already delivered the work, that

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is just another way you're standing out and you're reinforcing that you're a good fit with the client.

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If you're just starting out, don't worry.

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You don't need to have this, necessarily.

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Instead, you can use some third party data.

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So back to our example before, if you're speaking about copywriting, then you can give some third

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party data about why you wrote the intro the way you did.

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Maybe you can write about how you use the keyword a certain amount of times and how that can benefit.

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Get creative here.

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But the goal is ultimately to include some outside data or outside testimonial that helps you look better.

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You can say that you're the best.

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You can even start delivering the work.

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But until you start to nail all of these different things down, you won't have the most amount of clients

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reaching back to you as you could if you follow these steps.

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Another way you can include third party data is, for example, if you're doing the web design example,

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you could also reach out in addition to with your wireframe or your markup.

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But also why you designed the project the way you did.

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Maybe you will increase conversion rates, or maybe you have a different mobile design that you have

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for them that will help get more people in touch with the company.

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It doesn't matter.

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What matters is you're providing some sort of outside data.

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After that, then you want to summarize your overall approach to the job.

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This is meant to be a brief overview and helps build even more credibility by summarizing how you want

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to go about the project and how you're going to approach it.

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You're not only showing the client that you're thinking ahead, but you're also showing them that you

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have the ability to think critically and to plan a project out in multiple phases.

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So many freelancers are just so excited to get a client's money and get the project started, and not

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many of them are thinking about the long term.

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So once again, if you can break down the project into multiple phases and show the client not just

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in it for the money, but you're in it to provide them value for the long term and create a relationship

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that's profitable on both sides.

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This is the type of thing you need to do.

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This is how you can start to structure your proposals so you start winning jobs and you don't have to

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waste their time and get frustrated, sending dozens of proposals out and never hearing back.

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To end a winning proposal, you always need to finish with a clear call to action that builds urgency.

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And the way I do it is, I always ask them if they're available to speak today.

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Does it matter if I apply to a proposal at 10 o'clock at night?

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I'm always going to ask them if they're available to speak as soon as possible.

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Every time you send a proposal out, it needs to have that call to action at the end, and that's what

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tells them what to do next.

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Even though it might be obvious you need to literally ask them in your proposal, When can we talk?

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When can we meet?

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I think I'm a great fit.

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When can I show you what kind of work I can deliver?

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When you start to act like this and you build urgency with the client, you provide a clear call to

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action.

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It also shows them that you don't beat around the bush, you're there to help them.

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And it also shows that you're available and you're ready.

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A lot of freelancers don't always spend enough time building that urgency with their potential clients.

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And what happens is you might have a good conversation with the client, but nothing is finished and

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nothing is finalized until they actually signed the deal.

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And the money's in your account.

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When you build more urgency, you're able to win more jobs because you show them you're hungry for their

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business.

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It also lets the client know you're ready to start right away.

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A lot of freelancers, especially once they get more experienced and busy.

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Forget about how important speed is.

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And that's another way you can differentiate yourself, even if you don't have much experience.

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Focus on speed it is vital in every area of freelancing.

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So now, you know, the winning proposal formula, and this is all dependent on you taking action and

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putting this into work.

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Don't copy and paste your proposals, break them out into these five sections.

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And this is all in the winning proposal formula PDF Handout.

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So have this open next to you as you're filling proposals out as your answering client questions.

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You can also separate some different parts of this into different client questions if they ask a bunch

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of them.

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The goal is to put together a proposal that has so much value in it, the client almost feels obligated

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to reach out to you.

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That is the way you can land more jobs on Upwork in send out winning proposals.

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Going over in more detail, the client questions in the proposal for these, what I like to do is to

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be sure you're spending the time that's necessary to answer them to the best of your ability.

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I like to write at least a paragraph or two for each question because it shows the client that I took

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the time to fully answer all of their questions.

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There's a reason they included them in the first place.

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And when you separate yourself from the pack by answering these in an in-depth way where you're not

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rushing through them, it's another way to stand apart from all of the lazy freelancers who answered

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in a one word sentence or just one word.

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If there's not enough information provided in the question, what I like to do is reach out with my

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initial thoughts and then ask for any additional info, I need to answer that question.

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And this is something else I like to do in the proposal.

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If there's any missing info because it also shows the client, you're not just there to say that you're

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a great fit no matter what, but you're also making sure that you have all the info needed to make sure

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you're a good fit and to give them an accurate quote.

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So every question a client asks with the proposal, make sure to go in-depth on it.

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And if you don't have any experience with what they're asking.

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Make sure you still provide an alternative experience or something that shows them that you're a good

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fit.

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This is how you can set yourself up for success as you go through your proposal and answer the potential

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clients questions.

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So the next part we are going to go over is winning proposal attachments.

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And what I have to say about this is that you always, always, always need to include attachments with

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every proposal you send and especially if you're just starting out.

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This is how you can separate yourself from the freelancers that don't take the time to do this.

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Once again, our goal is to stand out as much as possible and build as much trust and credibility as

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we can.

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The potential clients don't know us yet.

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We need to show them why we're the best fit.

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So if you skip this and you don't send attachments, there's no excuse for not hearing back from clients.

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So if you want to be a profitable freelancer, take this part seriously.

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And clients will then start to take you seriously.

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And there are many different types of attachments you can include.

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One of them here, my favorite is just holding up the phone, taking a selfie video and speaking about

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the specific job posting that they posted.

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This is a huge differentiator and will help you get more jobs and build more credibility, even if you

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don't have any reviews yet on Upwork.

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By sending proposals with attachments and a fully written now cover letter and answering all of the

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client questions.

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It shows them how much attention to detail you spend on a project, and that is how much attention to

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detail you'll spend if the client hires you.

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Another type of attachment I like to use in my proposals is including a screen share or a screen recording

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of my computer.

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And for this, I use CAMTASIA, which is in the profitable tools and apps.

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And I love this because you can become a great video editor without any experience at all.

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And you can easily record your screen.

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You can record yourself speaking about things.

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You can navigate through different websites and different softwares and explain things to clients,

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and it helps you become more memorable because so many freelancers aren't doing this, they're not taking

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advantage of going above and beyond and including multiple attachments, including screen recordings.

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You can also include your portfolio, so case studies do show up on your profile when you submit proposals,

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but they're not in the actual proposal section, so the client might miss out on them.

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And that's why I love to include them in the winning proposal attachment.

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And what you can do is send screenshots or you can even just attach the PDF of a case study that you've

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built.

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This is another way that you can build more credibility and more trust with the potential client.

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And if you have a project that is very similar to the one you're reaching out to, then make sure you

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mention that in your cover letter as well and talk about why you attach the attachments you did.

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That is another way you can start to build even stronger proposals that are intertwined in delivering

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value in every single section.

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Lastly, you can also send reports that you have from past clients that you've helped, or if you're

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just starting out, you can send third party data of clients that are in the same industry.

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This is how you can leverage that third party data that social proof that is so needed in today's ecosystem

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reviews are vital.

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That's why Amazon and Google my business all rely on reviews because customer proof and social proof

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is a huge buying factor that people use in the marketplace.

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Knowing this, you can send reports with every proposal that you send out.

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This will help you stand out and build even more credibility than you had before.

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Once you start to combine all of these different things together, you go through the five steps of

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the winning proposal cover letter.

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You answer every question to the best of your ability and your including multiple different types of

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attachments, such as reports and videos and screen shares and case studies.

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There's no way you can fail if you're doing all of this and you're doing it the right way.

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And this is your online reputation.

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This is what you're going to start, including in your proposals moving forward.

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So the level I'm personally on allows me to just get jobs based on my previous successes I've had.

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It allows me to use Upwork's platform that has all of that building credibility and show clients previous

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projects I've worked on and show them why I'm a good fit as you go through this process.

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And as you start to build more of a reputation and you start to learn your skills and become an expert,

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this process will become easier and easier.

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So don't get discouraged when you start.

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Put the time into every proposal and you can be where I'm at quicker than it took me.

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You just have to listen to everything I'm teaching.

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In addition to creating winning proposals using the formula provided, it's also crucial that you follow

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these key success factors so you can have the most success possible as a profitable freelancer.

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The first is to remember to price yourself competitively and forbidding just under the top bids and

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higher than the medium bids.

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That's that sweet spot I showed you in the demonstration portion.

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You do need the pro plan to see these bids, and that's why it's so worth it if you're dedicated to

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your success, which I know you are.

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Then only applied to jobs using speed.

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So once a job has 20 to 50 proposals, most likely it's too late because the winning proposal formula

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I teach takes a lot of time and a lot of effort.

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It doesn't make sense to apply to jobs that already have 50 proposals.

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It's likely just going to get lost in the bunch.

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And you can also look at how many freelancers the client is interviewing at the time if they're interviewing

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multiple freelancers, even if the job doesn't have that many proposals.

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Once again, it's likely too late.

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If you focus on building winning proposals and only applying to jobs that were posted recently, you

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will skyrocket your chances for success.

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And as you go through this process and as you start to speak with clients, keep this in the back of

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your head that your entire goal is to build long term profitable relationships.

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You can even see this in your proposals and in your cover letters and on the phone with clients.

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Let them know that you're not just looking for that next project and that next payday and that you're

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looking to build a profitable relationship and you want to build just that, a relationship that's good

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on both ends.

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That is how you build a client for the long term.

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And as tempting as it may be.

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Never copy and paste anything that goes for your cover letters, client questions, whatever it is,

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even if you think you can get away with it and it's similar.

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Chances are the client will know it's not directly to them.

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I like to write every single proposal from scratch, starting from a unique basis.

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I make sure to individually craft each proposal.

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Treat it with care and it will flourish for you.

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Just copy and paste and rush, and it will wilt.

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Then also, that gets into quality versus quantity, in my opinion, when you're doing proposals the

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right way and you're looking for a job the right way and you're only applying to the jobs that are the

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best fit, three proposals done the right way are better than 20 that were just rushed.

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That's just the way it is.

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Nothing in life is free and nothing good comes quick or easy.

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So when you start to put the time in and you start to provide the best proposals possible by delivering

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value and starting the work on each one, you don't need to send out.

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20 all you need to do is send out less that are much more valuable.

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Now, let's get into what the Upwork platform looks like from the client's perspective.

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This was for a job post that I hired a freelancer for for one of my clients that I needed some help

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with.

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And I was just looking to hire a blog writer.

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What happened was I got 26 different freelancers, some proposals out of the job.

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So this just shows you you're obviously going to be competing with other freelancers.

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And as you can see, this is what it looks like.

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It shows your photo, your name, the bid that you bid on the project, the location you're located

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in, how much you've earned.

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And then it shows you the first line or two of the cover letter when you're sending proposals out.

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Keep this in mind.

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Take a screenshot of this if you need to, because this is why the first sentence of your cover letter

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is so important and it needs to grab as much attention as possible.

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Remember when I said if that first attention grabbing intro wasn't good enough, your whole proposal

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doesn't matter.

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This is what I mean by that, because if you're reaching out, especially if you don't have any money

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earned yet on the platform and you are not making yourself stand out in that first sentence or two,

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you're just going to get brushed over.

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And that's what I had to do.

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I had to archive 23 different freelancers.

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And it wasn't because some of them weren't good.

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It was just because I had so many to choose from.

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So the ones I already started interviewing that stood out to me in the beginning.

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Those were the ones that had a much higher likelihood of getting hired.

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Keep this in mind as you start to craft those winning proposals.

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Now here is a screenshot of what a winning proposal looks like.

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This is just an example.

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And I don't intend for this to be the holy grail or to read every word of it.

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But in general, just look at it.

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Look at what a winning proposal looks like.

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Look at how my cover letter is substantially written, and there's much more room to scroll down and

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read the other things I wrote.

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And when they asked a question, I went into full detail.

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I also noted previous successes I've had that relate directly to the job I was applying to, and then

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I included two attachments that directly show the value I provided on those previous projects in the

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cover letter.

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I also started to deliver some of the work, and I told them how I recommended structuring their retargeting

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campaigns.

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This is what every proposal you send out should look like.

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You need to spend the time on this, and I promise you you will be happy you did because you'll have

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much more success and now will keep you more motivated on your freelance journey.

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Once you've built a rock star upward profile like I have, clients will want to start to work with you.

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And when a client sends you an invite to a job, you don't have to spend any connects to apply to it.

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And you also have a much higher likelihood of closing the deal and landing that client because they

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already express interest to you and reached out to you for invitations.

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I make sure to read their full job post.

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The one I'm showing you right now starts with the word avocado in all capitals.

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You might be asking yourself why that's in there, but if you read the job description, you would have

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seen that the client said, Please say avocado as the first word, or I won't read your proposal.

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So this was one of those hidden examples of even when a client invited me to the job, I still had to

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pay attention to detail.

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I still attached my good reviews that made sense for this project, and I still took the time to give

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them a little bit of a background on how I would structure their YouTube ads based on what their job

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post said.

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So now you know how to craft a winning proposal if you follow these steps.

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You make sure to provide as much value as you can on every proposal you send out.

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You will be putting yourself in the best position possible on the road to freelance success.

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I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson.