Upwork Proposals: 8 Golden Rules for Writing Upwork Cover Letters to Get Top-Level Jobs

95% Of Upwork freelancers get their job proposals instantly archived. I'm going to show you the 8 hilariously wrong things that they're doing so that you can be in the 5% that land the big jobs. What's up guys, I'm Evan Fisher, Upwork freelancer-turned-founder of Unicorn Capital.

In the past four years, I've earned over $1. 5 million on Upwork, and I want to help you do the same. Your goal is to win jobs with great clients that pay lots of money.

Comment with the dollar sign down below if that's your goal on Upwork. My goal is to show you how to do that with a simple, repeatable process. So I'm about to break down the 8 things to avoid at all costs within your proposals, the golden rules to follow to get 3x the replies, and the one secret that no one else is telling you.

Let's go. Full disclosure: I'm not a sales copywriter. I haven't read all the books.

All I know is what consistently worked for me in attracting awesome Upwork clients who are a blast to work with and who pay top dollar. The path of the job is pretty straightforward and we are on step one. People winning jobs on Upwork starts with a high-converting cover letter.

So first, let's look at what people are doing wrong in their cover letter: Dear Sir / Madam. I am very Confusion right now. I am certain that I fully understand your job requirements.

Oh really, do you now? Although it is true that I do not have much professional experience. Yeah, don't do that.

I promise that I will. . .

Oh, you're making promises already? ! Please consider my proposal.

. . If it was good, you wouldn't be writing that.

You asked for two relevant work examples - I included four. So you don't listen, or what. .

. ? I have already done a draft of your job.

You definitely don't listen. Here are my questions about your job. Thank you, bye-bye!

If you have done any of those, then you must leave a comment down below. It is physically impossible not to. About that last one: Yes, you should be asking questions, but now is not the time to do it.

Not in your proposal. Let's talk about where you should be asking questions. As we get into the golden rules for proposals, wherever possible, use the client's first name.

It shows that the message is clearly personalized. You can find it in the feedback history along those same lines. If you have the information, Google the business, because industry experience plays.

But if you've worked with someone extremely similar, then do not mention them. Instead, here's what you should be doing: I've worked with another client in this space, and I think you might find it very interesting to have a chat. That's it.

Keep your proposals short and sweet. Surprise! The highest paying clients don't have time to read long messages!

Then hit them with authority and social proof. You have to show them your value. What I like to do to establish authority is use client quotes from your profile.

You also then have to be offering a very clear CTA. There should be only one thing that that client has to do. And that CTA, that call-to-action, should be to book a call with you.

Yes, you're going to have questions. You ask those questions either in a call form or on that call itself. Remember: the P.

S. Plays. People will skim through an entire message, not even click your links, but will read the "P.

S. " On the bottom of the message. It is scientifically proven by someone that I can't even remember their name.

You've got to keep experimenting - you're going to find that you're going to put in a lot more work when you're early on in your freelance journey, but the more work and more track record that you have with clients, the more that your work, examples and projects, feedback is going to do the heavy lifting for you. So, think you're ready to go? Hold on a second.

The number one thing that no one else will tell you, you have to read Upwork's terms of service in full. This is not optional, people. Every single $1 million+ freelancer knows the terms of service like the back of their hand.

The better you know the terms of service, the more money you're going to make, because not doing this is like not reading an employment contract for $10,000. You show up on Monday, you work like a dog all week and on Friday, you show up with the work and ask to be paid, and the CEO's response is like, "thanks for the work. I'll take that, but we didn't approve for you to do that.

So we're not going to be paying you. " That is literally what you're setting yourself up for. And if you're sitting there nodding your head, thinking, "Evan, I know the exact situation of how that can happen on Upwork," then I want you to comment with a 100 emoji down below.

But don't spoil it for everyone! If you're kind of fuzzy or sitting there thinking like, "yeah, I'm lost," Then the item at the top of your to-do list is take an hour, read through and understand the Upwork Terms of Service. I guarantee you it'll help you get your next job faster, which is what we're going to talk about in this video right here.

(Outtakes) Let's do another take though. Don't even. Okay.

So you, okay. So let's just, let's just like. .

. OK, sank you bye. .

. OK sank you bye. .

. . Thank you, bye-bye.

Okay, sank you bye-byeeeeeeeeeee. . .

!