The Ultimate Freelancing Guide for Level 3 Freelancers in 2020

• total words: 3,835
• total reading time: 20 minutes 54 seconds

Note: This is the 3rd gear of my freelancing course drive for New Freelancers so it’s for level III freelancers. If you are new to freelancing and just starting a freelance career, you are advised to read the following guide E-Books below and then read this guide. 

1. Start freelancing from Zero! Basic Freelancing Guide for Level 1 Freelancers
2. Step ahead in Freelancing! Beginners Guide for Level 2 Freelancers

After reading this professional freelancer guide you will be able to:

1. Understand the best freelance jobs marketplace
2. Create a shining profile with 100% complete details
3. Search the easy-to-do freelance jobs that match your skills
4. Create a professional Proposal addressing the client’s requirements
5. Communicate to the client like a professional freelancer
6. Win freelance jobs with a 70% possible success rate

How to win freelance jobs on Jobs Marketplaces?

First thing first, I am sure you have now already joined a top jobs marketplaces after reading previous parts of this course where I suggested the top freelance jobs marketplaces which are listed here again for your consideration.

Before I list the top “jobs marketplaces” here I want to share an interesting story.

In the beginner guide for level 2 freelancers, I mentioned a couple of top and most popular job boards including upwork.com freelancer.com guru.com fiverr.com peopleperhour.com to give basic information to beginner freelancers.

The next day an Editorial Team Member of another popular freelance job portal toptal.com sent me an email and appreciated my Guide (Step Ahead in Freelancing – Beginners Guide for Level 2 Freelancers) and requested to add their marketplace link to my guide EBook as well.

So I considered the request feeling an honor for me and happily added the “Toptal.com” link to the guide as a top freelance jobs marketplace. Later, then send me Thank you email for this cooperation_”

Ok, so now let’s come to the topic once again. This is the 3rd part of my 5 levels series for freelancers.

I assumed all of you are now well-knowledgeable about freelance services and job searches.

Also, you know which job marketplace should you join and you may have already joined 1 or more jobs marketplace to start a successful freelancing career as a freelancer in 2020.

This guide covers the most important freelance questions and suggestions that are given below:

1. How to win “freelance jobs” in the jobs marketplace?
2. Special Tip for new freelancers 70% worked for me to get hired
3. How much price should a freelancer select for a job that has a $500 budget?
4. Freelance Job hiring formula that 70% worked for me to win.
5. How many chances are you to be hired when the clients reply to your submitted proposal?
6. What should I do when a client replies to my submitted proposal?
7. What should a freelancer do if the client didn’t hire after the interview
8. What is the best time to apply for an Upwork job? A very Special Tip for freelancers.

If you are thinking that this is going to be very difficult and frustrating in the presence of the crowd of freelancers already in the competition, then you are on the wrong side of the success path.

Literally, it seems difficult but success always comes after the difficulties you can make it possible with some essentials that I already have discussed in my previous freelancing guides so let’s go ahead to take the challenges and see how well you are armed with the weapons to win the freelance battle.

There is no rocket science besides that you read the mind of your freelance client when you actually go through the freelance job posting on upwork guru.com  freelancer.com etc.

Most important questions for freelancers

Do you intend to get some earnings from the Internet but are tired to go through a plethora of documents, E-Books, blogs, forums etc?

Lost your money by purchasing stuff kind of “tips to becoming a millionaire overnight or something like that?

No way, don’t find the way out. You’re still in the game as you are now in the right place to know what actually freelance is.

Now take a sigh of relief, sit back, and answer my question honestly.

1. How much information and knowledge do you have to become a freelancer?
2. What category do you want to select for your earning potential?
3. Are you interested in using your skill & experience in the relevant field?
4. Do you believe in an automated earning source from which you may have a regular income with less effort?

Well, let me start with the first question.

It’s hard to believe that nobody could make money from any Internet source unless they know some basics for freelancing.

There is nothing like that if somebody told you that he or she had been earning from the internet since the very first day.

Absolutely wrong. Because unless you know the basics of the internet, have knowledge about searching the required material, have skills to have success on the digital market, and have access to get earnings from a certain source, you can claim to be even a freelancer.

On a regular basis I come across the advertisments on the internet specially on social media about fake claims of eaning just to cheat the innocent freelancers who want to make real money but after getting cheated, the simply abuse to the internet and consider everything a fraud.

Be aware of such advertisements saying, learn so and so program and earn $1000 in a week or month or something like that.

They are just for wasting your time and money.

Do you believe and accept such a source where you do nothing and somebody pays you for no reason?

It might be staggering if you accept such a venture without going into the depth that what actually is going on behind the scene.

You might have slipped already on such an advertisement and spent money to get nothing except losing your confidence and determination to become a freelancer.

A negative impression is not excluded at all.

Remember! Freelancing is nothing except choosing the right direction with knowledge, interest, determination & honesty.

 Freelancers must know these Golden Rules! 

There are simple rules to follow for getting started earning from freelancing.

• Get started from scratch. Search for freelance basics to know freelance fields and categories.

• Select your area of interest and find the relevant information on blogs, forums & search engines. Find Articles, and subscribe to blogs or websites that distribute free e-books. If you wish to earn money from Google, then go directly to Google’s advertisement program like Google Adsense rather than getting information from any third-party sources.

• Selecting a category for freelancing is a bit confusing, especially for those who don’t have Computer skills and experience but don’t worry there are thousands of videos available on Youtube or similar video sites to stimulate your interest. It’s not speculation. It’s confirmed. Just check it out. 

• See Videos and read Articles with a focus on any particular category. That’s very important to concentrate on a specific Niche that you think is suitable for you to earn money online. For example, if you want to be a web designer, the easiest way to learn Web design in a very short time is, WordPress.  You may get more information about Learning WordPress from top Pakistani professional freelancers in my previously written Freelance Articles on this website. 

• Another important thing that surpasses all over is, You sell your skills and experience to those who need these. There are millions of people around the World who looking for skilled and experienced professionals to get their job done virtually. For instance, if you are interested in getting online jobs in Graphic design, You must find a platform where people are waiting for the same job to provide someone. These platforms are Freelance Web Sites that act as the middleman. These Websites connect you to the buyer or Job provider against a minor percentage of the total cost of the job. Some of these popular sites are already discussed above.

Nothing to lose in this type of freelancing. Just kill your fear, scrub your skills, rekindle the wish to go beyond the circle of becoming a millionaire overnight, tweak your profile, uphold the idea, and jump to any freelance job providing website as there is a crowd waiting for your services for their projects that match your skill set and experience.

 Submit a proposal to bid on freelance jobs! Best Successful Tips 

You have been learning about

• how to become a freelancer.
• how to find the best platform for freelance jobs.
• how to create a killer profile?
• what are the essential tools and rules a new freelancer must need to know about?
• how to find your Niche and What to do for developing your skills and experience for a relevant job.

Now is the time to take the first step towards getting freelance jobs from a potential client on freelance jobs provider websites like Upwork.com and some others I have already discussed.

Now as you have created a profile after choosing a best-suited category that matches your skill set and experience, it’s time to find a job from any potential client so you need to browse the jobs by your particular category.

For instance, if you have selected the Web designing category, you must find the jobs through this category rather than looking for them in Sales & Marketing category.

Browse the category and try to find the close one that matches at least about 70% of your skill set so that you could comprehensively analyze the exact job description and design an appropriate proposal that addresses all the requirements desired by the client.

Your proposal should be based on a job analysis and a perspective solution that fulfills the exact requirement of the said job.

You need to concentrate on finding the best job from the category. Don’t rush for every job rather just find a close one.

If you have some expertise in designing websites in traditional style by using the editors like Dreamweaver, Flash & any other tool, you need to know every aspect and every technical method that you could use to provide the best-required solution.

For example, you need to know how to create an HTML page, CSS style sheet, JavaScript, Multimedia options, and so on.

Similarly, if you have skills in CMS (Content Management System) type web designing then you must know about WordPress, Joomla, and other relevant CMS platforms.

The tools and essentials like Plugins especially for WordPress so that you could answer every question that is asked in the job description by the potential client.

I recommend you go through the job description at least thrice so that you could consider every point that is asked to be addressed in the job description.

Don’t ignore any single question or query as it’ll leave a neglectful feel to the client.

So in case you don’t have enough knowledge about a particular query, Just jump to Google search or Youtube and try to get enough information about the said.

Try to elaborate your suggestions on every point that is written by the client.

You can format the proposal with Headings, subheadings, Bullets, and numbering, and don’t forget to use punctuation where ever required for giving a professional look to your proposal.

Most important Tips while submitting a job proposal

You should address the client by his name if the job has the client name instead of ID number. Try to be personalized with the client rather using a traditional method of presenting a proposal this is because you are not a traditional service provider so try to personalize so that Client could feel free to consider your proposal and you for his project insider.

I recommend you not use any industry jargon or technical language that could be beyond the client’s vocabulary or knowledge.

Because he might get confused and jump to another proposal that is closer to his knowledge and written in simple words and pretty much easy in understanding rather than going to search the technical words.

You should provide all the references if required for any particular aspect as well as the time allocation and available time so that clients comfortably contact you to discuss the project.

Wrapping up the section, I want to suggest you keep your proposal lowest in cost.

Because if you are new to freelance service providing, You need to build your profile first with some good feedback from the client.

You need to have samples to show the other customers so don’t try to bid with high costing rather just give the room to the client for selecting your proposal instead of declining just because of high cost without any prior job or experience to show in your profile.

So these are the simple rules and suggestions for a new freelancer while going to bid with a newly created profile for submitting a proposal to a freelance online job.

My Secret Tips of 8 years in Freelance jobs that 70% worked

This is the most profitable part of this Guide for freelancers who want to get hired on Upwork or any other freelance marketplaces.

All you need to do is just a selection of the best suitable job. No doubt Upwork is a monster job marketplace where jobs are coming almost every second, So there is no need to be in a hurry. Just do the following professionally.

• Go to the job search page.
• Filter the coming jobs according to your preferences like budget limit, hourly of fixed priced, beginner level, intermediate or expert level, etc.
• type the keyword in the search box to find the best job. For instance, type “WordPress” so that you can see only WordPress web design & development jobs.

 Special Tip for new freelancers 70% worked for me to get hired

I’m going to reveal my secret of getting hired most of the time for the jobs I submitted the proposal for.

You got 60 connects at Upwork but since at least 2 connects are required for each job, it is supposed to be 30 connects which means you can submit the proposals on 30 jobs.

Consider every connection is worth $5 to $5000 because it depends on the job you are submitting the proposal on. If you submit on a low-budget job, the connection worth is low otherwise these connections make you huge money. But don’t just apply for big-budget jobs because all the giant freelance agencies and highly expert professional freelancers also looking for it and ready to catch the big piece of the pie so your chances to win the job are minimum.

How much price should a freelancer select for a job that has a $500 budget?

Try to find a job that has a budget between $100 to $500 initially but doesn’t submit the proposal for the full price. 95% chances are to be rejected because there will be lots of people from around the world, especially from Bangladesh and India who submit the lowest price just to get the job so you should calculate the job budget using the following.

For Example, there is a job with a maximum budget of $500.

• Budget: $500
• Upwork commission: $100 ( 20% )
• Upwork Withdrawal fee: $2
• Payoneer immediate card load fee: $5 (calculate PayPal or bank transfer fee accordingly)
• ATM cash withdrawal fee: $3
• Total: $110 – $500 = $390
• So you will get $390 if you apply for the full price of $500 but now reduce that to 70% and apply with the price of $275. So simply don’t care what amount is Upwork cutting and what are the charges of withdrawal.
• The client will be billed: $343.75
• The Upwork commission will be: 68.75
• You will be paid: $275 – $10 =  $265 net cash (Around 27,000 PKR)

This is the best and fair price a client can consider and seems a standard rate so I got the reply rate of 60% from the clients. (Reply means not hiring but the client comes to you and you have a chance to get hired)

How many chances are you to be hired when the clients reply to your submitted proposal?

Luckily, According to my experience of the last couple of years at Upwork, the chances to get the job are 90% that you would get hired but if there is a question from a client that you are not able to address or you are not available at the time of hiring. Also if you failed to satisfy the clients to meet the given deadline otherwise you would get hired I’m sure.

What should I do when a client replies to my submitted proposal?

Well, You are lucky if a client replies in response to your submitted proposals that means He has made up his mind 80% to hire you out of more than 20 to 50 or even 100 freelancers on Upwork. So now it’s time to finalize the hiring process but make sure you are not going to make any mistakes because the “client is on your table” and if you don’t get the job, it would be your failure.

Read his question carefully and try responding as soon as possible because according to my experience, the clients from USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK have extremely quick responses,s and that is supposed to be your professional freelancer who can be relied upon.

Suggest the best options to your prospective Customer

Don’t hesitate if you have any better suggestions regarding the job description so the client could consider you a “Go to” man with fewer instructions required from him. For example, you can ask the client if he already has a “Hosting” and “Domain” registered if he is going to hire you for “Web Designing or Development”, if He doesn’t have any, offer him a hosting package from an affiliate link that you can get easily any time. (read my article on how to become a hosting reseller)

If the client asks you to have a quick chat instead of typing messages, You should be prepared with a Microphone and/or video attached “Skype interview. “Again according to my experience if the client comes on Skype then You are almost hired. Say 99% of clients come to Skype interviews with the shortlisted or finalized freelancers.

What should a freelancer do if the client didn’t hire after the interview

If your client talked to you on Upwork and/or Skype but still did not hire, You can send him/her a friendly reminder with the following:

Hi, I hope you doing well, Just to let you know that I’m now all set to go for this job with all my skills and experience so please finalize the hiring process at upwork so that I can start immediately to meet the deadline you set as I don’t like to cross the deadlines you can see my job history :). Please feel free to ask any question you may have regarding the job or hiring process. I’ll be more than happy to help you. Thanks

Upwork is a large-scale freelance jobs marketplace with millions of individual clients and corporate firms that post freelance jobs almost every second under 100s of freelance categories but there are millions of freelancers and agencies are also active every time including beginner freelancers, intermediate-level freelancers, and expert level freelancers so there are normally 20 to 50 proposals submitted on a single job but it can be more than 100 if the job has a high budget. So in this situation what you should do?

Try submitting the proposal on Sunday which is recommended day to submit freelance proposals on Upwork.

Why Sunday is the best day for submitting the job proposals?

Suppose there are 50 Freelance Agencies and 50 individual freelancers on Upwork including

• 20 new freelancers
• 20 intermediate-level freelancers and
• 10 expert freelancers.

Sunday is the best day because the freelancers agencies do not work on Sunday and their offices remain closed so that means 50% crowd is less than the normal working days.

Now from the remaining 50% of individual freelancers, Mostly expert freelancers 10 also do not work on Sunday because they have a number of jobs in their hands with a team of subcontractors most of the time so they usually don’t care about Sunday.

20 “New freelancers” and 20 intermediate freelancers have a chance to submit and win the jobs on Sunday but there comes different factors and since intermediate-level freelancers also have jobs in their hands or a bit high rate based on their skills and experience, they don’t submit the proposals for low price jobs or the ratio of those freelancers is very low so now new freelancers have a very good chance to submit their proposals on the best suitable jobs on Upwork.

The response rate from the clients was around 60%.  Because those are who don’t have the time to post the job on normal working days and You are the service providers who are available to get started on Sunday.

These simple tips are the big secrets of my 5 years freelancing career with Upwork so try using these tips and tricks to get hired. Remember these are the best-tested tips but not 100% guaranteed because it still depends on your skills, experience, communication, and availability so be a professional and prepared with all the tools you need to be a successful freelancer on the top jobs marketplaces.

This Ebook is level 3 for professional freelancers who already have an account on the top jobs marketplaces but looking for jobs.

So they can use the tips explained in this freelancing guide with confidence to get the best results.

I hope if you learn things from this EBook, it will be a boost in your freelancing career. So try the tips and tricks I revealed to you for getting more freelance jobs and making money online.

Please do write a comment below about the things you learned and how it helps you to become a successful freelance in Pakistan.