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Lesson six, this lesson is called freelancing key success factors, and it will show you how to focus

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on the right things that have a direct impact to your success as a freelancer.

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This lesson is important because ultimately your success is what is going to provide lasting happiness

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and freedom in all areas of your life.

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So being a freelancer not only has the ability to create a profitable business for yourself, but it

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also has the ability to create freedom, and that leads to true happiness.

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So this lesson is very important because it's going to break down the things that have the biggest impact

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towards your success as a freelancer.

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The first key success factor when it comes to freelancing.

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Is the importance of speed?

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Speed is incredibly important in today's marketplace.

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Consumers are doing so many different things, clients are working on projects, they're looking at

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other freelancers work, they're comparing many different freelancers before making a decision.

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But by focusing on speed, you can have a major advantage over the pack over the competition.

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Because when your first two jobs, when you're the one who responds first, you're the one who's the

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first one to send their proposal in.

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In my experience, I've seen that has a massive impact on how many jobs you actually close and how many

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clients even respond to you.

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Because if you wait too long or you don't get back right away, a lot of times the client or the buyer

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will move on.

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They'll move on to the next person, to the next product that solves their needs.

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So with everything you do, speed is so important, and the reason it's a key success factor is because

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speed applies to every aspect of freelancing, whether it's sending proposals out, responding to proposals,

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speaking with clients, getting back to them to schedule time to speak with them, delivering work for

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the client.

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Following up with the client, every area of freelancing requires speed to be the most successful freelancer

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possible.

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It just requires being disciplined and always ready to provide that next level of value for the potential

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client when needed.

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That is how you're going to rise through the ranks, and that is how you can become the most profitable

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freelancer possible.

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So with everything you do?

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Make sure you focus on doing it with speed, with doing it with urgency, because this also lets the

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client know that no one you were available to deliver the service you are.

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You say you are.

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And number two, it shows them that you care.

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So who do you think is going to land the job?

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If the client offers it to two freelancers, probably the one that gets back first, that shows that

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they're the most interested and wants to help the client out the quickest.

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Customer experience is when you take customer service to the next level, and this is the next key success

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factor with freelancing because you need to go above and beyond with this, your reputation is vital.

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So when you go above and beyond and you don't just provide good customer service, but you provide a

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customer experience, that is how you start to separate yourself from the pack.

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And that's how you get good reviews.

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That's how you get referrals.

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And that's how you retain these clients long term.

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So this is one of the biggest key success factors after speed, because most times clients are going

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to be on guard, especially in the beginning of your relationship.

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So when you take the attention off of the money and you place it on all the value you're going to provide,

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you focus on providing the best customer experience.

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You build that trust with them.

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You build that credibility.

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That's when you stand out because customers remember how you make them feel so.

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Customer experience can be remembered as making the customer or the client feel like you truly care

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about them and their project and their business.

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Next, your reputation is everything.

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Your reputation in the freelance world consists of all the jobs you've worked on.

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All of the reviews you have on Upwork and other freelancing websites.

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Any social media reviews or testimonials that are about you?

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Everything contributes to your overall online reputation.

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So if you don't have a reputation yet, that's no problem.

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But make the commitment and then decision to building that because that is what is going to help you

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build a profitable freelance business.

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Your reputation is what gets you future deals.

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It's what helps you get referrals from your current clients, and it's also what helps you upsell in

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charge clients more.

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The longer your relationship goes on with them.

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So make sure you always do everything you can to get a good five star review and that goes back to qualifying

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clients.

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You do not want to work with clients that are a threat to your reputation.

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So if you're getting a bad feeling, a gut feeling about a client that they're just not a good fit for

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you or the product isn't right for you.

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I strongly suggest you listen to that feeling and you move on to the next opportunity because your reputation

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is everything and it only takes, unfortunately, one bad job, one bad review to break that cycle and

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to start negatively impacting your business.

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So reputation is the third key success factor, and it is vital for your success along every step of

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your journey.

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Next, understanding good clients versus bad clients is the other factor to success.

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Not all clients are created equal.

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Not even close to that.

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It's just like not all freelancers are created equal.

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It works both ways.

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So Upwork is awesome because they provide stats just like they do with freelancers.

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Upwork provides those same stats for clients, so you can see how many jobs they've posted in the past.

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How many people they have hired.

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If they have a payment method that is verified, how much they spend on average when they hire clients,

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and you can even dig into the reviews that freelancers left for that client.

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So as you go through this process, as you go through this profitable freelance academy, you only want

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to work with high Typekit clients.

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High ticket clients are clients that have problems that are big enough that you can charge monthly to

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solve.

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You don't want to work with clients that are a threat to your reputation that are going to cause you

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problems and that aren't going to lead to a long term relationship.

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So every job you apply to keep this in mind.

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Ask yourself, Is this a good client or is this a bad client?

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Why are you applying to the job?

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Are you applying just because the title looks good?

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Or are you applying because the title drew you in?

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But they also have good reviews from other freelancers.

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They have a full explanation of what they're expecting, and they also have a payment method verified,

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let's say.

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So that's how you can start to look at what a good client is and what a bad client is.

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We're going to jump much more into that, looking directly on the platform to help you distinguish this.

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But as you start out, it's important to keep this in the back of your head that not all client is created

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equal and you're only looking to cherry pick the best ones.

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That is how you will be the most profitable freelancer as you go through your journey.

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The effort in.

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Equals the results out at the end of the day, the amount of effort you put in with freelancing will

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come back eventually.

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So you cannot get discouraged, especially when you're starting out.

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This is a key success factor I included because it's easy to get discouraged when you send a couple

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of jobs out.

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You don't hear back or let's say you get on the phone with a couple of clients.

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They decide to go another route.

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That happens, that's part of business.

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And it's not personal.

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Just look at it as part of business and tell yourself you need to put in more effort and the results

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will come later on.

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Apply that cherry picking model that I spoke about.

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Make sure you're only picking those good clients versus the bad clients.

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And understand that.

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Upwork gives you the ability to find those clients, and it gives you the ability to put in that effort

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in the form of sending proposals out.

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So everything I'm showing you has a system in place to execute on.

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So these key success factors are the main pillars to what will determine if you are profitable or if

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you are not profitable.

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When you start to apply these methods, you're going to ensure you have the best chance possible to

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actually get a response back, which is your ultimate goal when you're sending proposals out.

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Lastly, communication is key.

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So I included this key success factor as well, because your communication with clients is one of the

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biggest factors that impact your success.

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How you communicate with potential clients is what will set you apart from 99 percent of the other freelancers

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you are competing with.

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I'm going to show you specific tactics as we progress.

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But just remember separating yourself from the masses is your goal.

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Do that by expert communication.

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Creative follow up.

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Separating yourself from the pack and delivering that exceptional customer experience.

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So when you reach out, be different.

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Go for the clothes you speed and follow my step by step plans to do so.

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The ultimate badge of success on Upwork.

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Is this top rated badge followed by the job success score?

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So on Upwork, everyone has a job success score, but not everyone is top rated.

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Only a very small percentage of the Upwork freelance population is top rated, and what that means is

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that I have ratings and reviews that are in the top 10 percent of all the freelancers on Upwork.

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Everything you do remember, your reputation is directly proportionate to how much success you will

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have freelancing.

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So on Upwork, every job you work on is going to contribute to your job success, and every good review

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you get will put you one step closer towards getting the same top rated badge like me.

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And it's amazing because once you have a profile set up like I do, you have the job success score of

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100.

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You have top rated and you also have all of these amazing five star reviews and thousands and thousands

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of dollars earned from clients like I do.

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That's when clients start to reach out to you, and that's the position on that.

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And that is where I want every freelancer to be because I know the reason you're in this profitable

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freelancer academy is, you know, you can create this for yourself and you know, you have the skills

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to provide for business owners and to solve their problems.

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This is your ultimate goal.

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You want to build all of these amazing testimonials so you can close more clients.

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It all builds off of each other.

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It all starts with one project and then the next and then the next.

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So now you understand what the key success factors of freelancing are and how you can put them into

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action to put you in the best position to succeed.