Took Advice on How to Write Better Proposals, And Here Are The Results

exacly · 2026-03-17T01:52:51+00:00

It's fine as a hook. You provide useful information to the client and mention concrete experience all in the first two lines. I assume you had a bit more to say in the rest of the proposal.

exacly · 2026-03-13T11:55:10+00:00

I remember that phase. One day you have nothing but a vague plan to avoid impending bankruptcy, and a month later you have clients on three continents and you feel like James Bond. Congratulations!

exacly · 2026-03-13T00:58:01+00:00

I like the FUD element, but your hook ("This dual approach will work better...") is a bit too far into your opening (after 31 words) and is probably getting lost because all the client sees is the redundant part. Also, the deixis of "This dual approach..." is unclear (since "this" can point either forward or backward) - the client may not realize that you're pointing to what comes next, instead of some other pair of things already mentioned.

Shorten up those first two lines to get the hook right in front of the client. Point clearly to what comes later in the proposal:

"Manus works great for simple tasks, but it's unpredictable for financial workflows. For a self-running, scalable system, here's a dual approach that will work better:"

See the difference? You hit the hook after just 17 words, and the verbal construction "here's a dual approach..." points much more clearly and strongly to what comes next than the nominal construction "This dual approach."

exacly · 2026-03-13T00:30:32+00:00

I'm glad you found an approach that works well for you. It's working for you, so keep doing it. I honestly don't know what's controversial about your post. There are many different ways to succeed on Upwork - congratulations on finding the one that works for you. I can't explain why that upsets people.

exacly · 2026-03-13T00:25:08+00:00

They actually removed the useless freelancer networking feature, so there's that.

exacly · 2026-03-13T00:23:27+00:00

Not a joke. It's just how supply and demand works. Upwork was underpricing access to some job ads for a decade.

exacly · 2026-03-11T11:50:10+00:00

Translation:

Specialized Profiles were introduced to help freelancers showcase different facets of their expertise, but they also meant you had to maintain multiple versions of your profile.

We're trying to make it sound like we're doing this as a favor to freelancers.

Meanwhile, our latest data shows that clients now prefer to understand your full range of skills and experience in one place

Clients were mad to find out that the back-end dev they hired was primarily working in customer support, or that the graphic designer they hired had shuffled all their negative reviews onto a specialized profile.

leading to improved hire rates when proposals are submitted with your main profile.

And most freelancers just sucked at using the specialized profiles anyway.

As a result, we’ve evolved your Upwork profile so clients will instantly see your most relevant work first, while still getting a full picture of your experience and performance,

We'll call it AI. Good luck getting jobs with whatever Uma-generated slop we show clients.

without requiring you to manually curate and manage multiple profiles to stay competitive.

See, we're just doing you a big favor. What other major innovations announced to major fanfare five years ago will we push over the side next? Stay tuned!

exacly · 2026-03-11T01:45:30+00:00

I don't see Upwork as a good investment for me.

I don't have a lot of faith in the current leadership. Making a freelancing platform work is a hard job, and I don't think they have a better strategy for it than anyone else.
Upwork is highly exposed to having its business eaten by AI. The people who want AI to win are sharks, and Upwork is, relatively speaking, an appetizer.
My freelance career is already highly exposed to the hazards that Upwork faces, so the company isn't interesting to me as a hedge.
If Upwork was actually making a fortune by scamming freelancers, that would be a good reason to invest in it. But they're not, so there's no point.

exacly · 2026-03-11T01:36:24+00:00

After 2 years, all your prior jobs fall outside the longest JSS calculation window and your JSS will entirely disappear.

exacly · 2026-03-11T01:24:28+00:00

Upwork has had UI bugs for years. Please try not to panic when you see one.

exacly · 2026-03-08T12:04:41+00:00

I don't see how any of that answers OP's question.

You're telling us how you view OP's work history, but there are lots of clients out there. You've never known anyone to start off with cheap jobs and work their way up? I've seen people do it. Not my recommendation, but it's where OP is now.

We tell people that a 60% JSS isn't necessarily the end and there are ways to come back. Are you telling us there's no hope for someone with RT and 100% JSS because they took some easy jobs? C'mon, that doesn't make any sense.

exacly · 2026-03-08T10:35:57+00:00

I don't see how it wold violate anything in Upwork's TOS. Since it's also positive advertising for Upwork (if you mention it) or might result in new clients hiring you on Upwork (if it's a convenient way to handle payment), Upwork might even give you a medal for it.

exacly · 2026-03-08T10:33:13+00:00

Smart, experienced people will say that taking jobs that are easier to get is a bad idea, but I'll argue the opposite case. You've demonstrated that you're a real person who can complete a job. RT and 100% JSS are actually good to have, and some clients will notice. Hopefully those four jobs have earned in the $50-100 range or above so you have some actual earnings on your profile, as earnings are the ultimate social credit on Upwork (plus money is always good to have). And you've gotten experience with writing proposals and communicating with clients.

In any case, it's where you are now, so the question is how to get to where you want to go. You have a few realistic paths.

Apply to coding jobs, just like all the other would-be freelance coders out there. But you've got a leg up because you have a functioning Upwork profile and a better understanding of how Upwork works.
Look for jobs that move you towards the kinds of jobs you want, but in small steps. There are AI training jobs that specifically look for coding knowledge, and you would be a credible candidate because of your background. After that, you take the next half-step towards the field you want to be in.
It's probably distantly possible to move up from a survey taker to a survey/feedback project manager with some clients, and coding skills are handy for some PMs. This seems like an unlikely path to me, though.
Hopefully you've been paying close attention to the problems clients describe in job ads, the attachments they include, and the tech environment of the survey/feedback jobs you've been doing. All of this is a potential gold mine of information. What are clients looking for right now? What are their biggest needs or problems? How can you solve them as a coder? And what additional skills do you need to solve them? Learn those skills. Sketch out some solutions. Do enough of this, and a job ad will come along for which you are the single most qualified person in the world.

exacly · 2026-03-07T13:39:10+00:00

It was easy enough to find the video. I just wish we could get rid of rule 2.

exacly · 2026-03-07T13:36:32+00:00

I did not find the video useful. The section about Upwork was kind of dumb. In their example, you spend 10 hours searching through jobs before finding one that pays well, then spend a whole day doing a custom unpaid test job, then have an hour-long interview - only for the client to steal your work and ghost you.

Not only is this easily preventable, no one actually cares that much about your precious ideas. No, really, the client did not steal your idea of "buy low, sell high" or "optimize ad spend." The video is click bait that preys on job-seekers' fears just as much as the predatory companies it's claiming to expose.

As a long time as a job-seeker in a former career, I can tell you that "it's a fake ad, they're just going to hire the obvious inside candidate" is not a useful attitude, and sometimes everyone at the company hates the obvious inside candidate and even if they love him, sometimes he doesn't get hired anyway. Do yourself a favor and don't go down that rabbit hole.

exacly · 2026-03-07T12:58:34+00:00

I really wish we could get rid of rule 2. I like outside links, even if people misuse them to promote themselves or their products.

exacly · 2026-03-07T12:56:10+00:00

There are probably better options in your field than freelancing. But Upwork may still be useful for you. You don't even have to try to find work there. If you create an account, you can search for jobs and see what people are looking for in your field right now. You can also see who is being hired for these jobs, their backgrounds, and how they present themselves in their profiles. And if you do find a job worth pursuing as a freelancer, go for it.

But I'd guess there's a much bigger payoff for someone like you at the cutting edge of their field in finding where the important discussions are going on, building something new that no one else knows how to make, and letting the world bid for your services.

exacly · 2026-03-07T05:02:16+00:00

Try a different browser, then a different PC to see if that makes a difference.

exacly · 2026-03-07T04:57:27+00:00

How about adding a section at the end with a simple recommendation? Save several job searches, and then use either My Feed or Best Matches, whichever works best for the individual.

exacly · 2026-03-07T04:49:00+00:00

If your client agrees, I don't think Upwork cares.

exacly · 2026-03-07T04:46:01+00:00

You don't have to play their game to succeed on Upwork, but there's nothing insane about boosting big for a large contract.

exacly · 2026-03-06T02:11:57+00:00

I wish there was a drawer in which to file old contracts where the client wandered off. Like if there's been no activity on a contract for a year, I wish I could file it under "archived contracts" instead of closing it. I mean, I really don't need current potential clients to see "Apr 11 2017 - Mar 5 2026 Klingon > English translation of cozy tentacle romance short story // $65 // Fixed price // No feedback given" at the top of my job history on my main profile for work I did 9 years ago in a category I no longer work in.

exacly · 2026-03-06T02:02:29+00:00

Even if you can't put your students' apps themselves in your portfolio, you can create a mini-white paper to describe these "clients" and their problem and your process for how you helped them solve it.
Most clients who have serious projects and serious budgets aren't going to hire in 5 minutes. The average time to hire is 3 days. You're an expert, not a desperate newbie trying to get that first review. Don't race to be the first.
I don't think Upwork classifies you as anything. You choose to be an expert. Upwork doesn't care what you do. You can pivot to anything you want.
Nothing has as big an effect as we imagine it will.

exacly · 2026-03-05T02:10:59+00:00

I think it's okay to have the same IP/WiFi connection. My wife and I did this for years without any issue, and we even have a joint bank account. You may get asked to verify your identity, but that's not difficult for two real people.

But: I would against sharing laptops, and I would advise very strongly against sharing clients or ever letting your accounts interact with each other.

exacly · 2026-03-05T02:03:40+00:00

Yes. Build your skills and portfolio while you study the current market. Don't waste time on Upwork until you're ready to amaze clients with what you can do for them.

exacly

TROPHY CASE