DATE: 2-12-2021
Vision (Greg)
Pioneers
Define – Going somewhere new (explorers / first person to climb Mt Kilamanjaro); doing something new (entrepreneurs)
Examples: Nelson Mandela, Dr Mukwege, Richard Lugano, Murhula
You are pioneers. First to explore opportunities on Upwork.
Greg has hired many people on Upwork. These people are from different countries from all over the world.
There is one person who does Excel in South Africa.
There is another person who does Excel in UAE.
There is one person who does Wordpress website in Philippines.
There is one person who does SQL Server Reports in India.
There are three things you must do to be successful on Upwork:
- Pray for opportunity
- Do a good job – happy customer
- Show that you have done much work
There are two ways to show that you have done much work:
- Include your work history in your profile.
- Through clients’ reviews.
There are four things to do to get a job on Upwork:
- Pray.
- Work on your profile.
- Set your hourly rate low. Suggestion: $5-10/hr. (If you have a highly specialized skill that people are seeking on Upwork, you may set your pay rate higher.) As you get work and positive reviews, you can increase your rate slowly.
How to Make your Upwork Profile Stand Out (Karen)
When a client on Upwork does a search on a specific skill, they see a list of freelancers who list that skill on their profile.
That lists only shows a few things about the freelancers. It is a brief version of your profile. It contains only 7 lines of your profile.
Example: When we do a skill search. Several brief profiles show up. But only 7 lines of each profile show.
First three lines: Photo, your Name, your Job Title, Country
- Use high quality, professional looking photo.
It is the first thing clients see.
Use high quality, professional looking, and friendly photo.
A client does not want to hire someone who looks grumpy or in a bad mood.
Upwork even says, “Freelancers with a friendly, professional-looking portrait are hired 5 times more often than those without a photo.”
- Capture attention with your job title.
Title is another thing that clients first see. In searches, it’s important to have key words.
Be simple and unique. But also be specific about the skills you have.
More precise and specific you can be in the title, the more likely you are to grab their attention.
Example: When we type “clerical” for skill search. Several brief profiles show up. Their job titles include: “Virtual Assistant”, “Business Services”, “Data Assistant”
Second line: Hourly rate, How much you earned, Job Success (How many jobs completed)
Third and four lines: The first two lines of your profile (2 or 3 sentences)
Since clients only see the first two lines of your overview profile, list the most important thing you want the client to see on those first two lines. It does not even need to be a sentence. You want something that will stand out.
Do not write, “Hi, my name is …” Because they already know that. Your name is already listed at the top.
Do not write, “Thank you for looking at my profile…” When clients do a search, they will quickly scan the page for what they want to see.
You want them to see the most important thing about you. You want to list skills that clients will want to see. They want people who will make their jobs easier.
For the rest of your overview profile, list your most important skills and experience with some kind of dashes, and briefly describing each one. Do not write one long paragraph. Make your overview profile easy to read.
Make sure you proofread your profile, or ask someone else to look at your profile. Make sure you do not have spelling or grammar errors. There are a couple of websites that can help: dictionary.com and grammarly.com. Those are both free.
In summary: 1. Add a warm, friendly photo.
2. Include a Job Title that captures attention.
3. Use the first two sentences to list your most important skills.
Alain’s talk
You have to think long term. Don’t think about what you are going to win now. Think about what you will do in the long run. I remain open to interacting with each of you individually to help you improve your profile on UpWork. One important thing I have to tell you is that in the United States it is rare that you are asked for the degree you have. Often Americans will want to know what you can do. This is why you should avoid being a generalist. Look for an area in which you will specialize in order to master what you are presenting to your customers.
Greg ended the meeting in prayer.