You’re feeling stressed out with Upwork, I get it, typically that stress comes from not achieving the potential you know you are capable of.

Today, we’re going to take a few steps towards your potential by building big improvements with small actions you can do today.

To make this easier on you, I’m going for the low hanging fruit here and giving you the 3 things I have optimized, that you can change today to make your profile stand out like a freelancing beacon.

With over 10,000 hours worked on Upwork over the last three years, I’ve learned a thing or two about how to stand out on Upwork and get hired.

One major lesson I’ve learned is that continually making small adjustments, is easier and more effective than trying to improve in leaps and bounds.

As an avid cyclist, I’ve had this lesson reinforced in me by following coach Dave Brailsford as performance director to Great Britain’s professional cycling team.

It is the concept of “marginal gains.”

This lesson of how to stand out on Upwork will follow those same principles, making numerous tiny adjustments to build large performance gains.

If we can improve everything by just 1%, we gain massive improvements in a small time frame and a significant improvement when all of these 1% improvements are multiplied.

What we won’t be focusing on are things you can’t change.

You can’t adjust things like Upwork Earnings, Job Success Score, and Ratings, so I’m not going to talk about those because those will happen on their own. Just try your best to keep clients as happy as possible as you go and you will build a reputation.

So let’s focus on what we can change!

The first thing a potential client sees when you send a proposal is a list of all of the other freelancers that have sent proposals. I also hire freelancers, and although I have earned almost half a million dollars in the last 3 years on Upwork, I’ve spent tens of thousands on the platform hiring freelancers just like you.

There are three things that grab my attention first, when selecting freelancers to work with, all of these three things are the “marginal gains” that you can improve today!

Let’s get started optimizing your proposal to nail that first impression, and get you picked out of the crowd:

1. Your profile picture - Upwork doesn’t allow illustrations or digital avatars, but changing the background colour to a striking solid colour seems perfectly fine. Ensuring that your profile picture is up to date, clear, and professional gives a great first impression and allows the potential client to see who they will be working with.
2. Your profile intro - The next thing I see when looking at freelancer profiles is actually the first line of their profile, in this first line of my freelancer profile, I’ve added some emojis that relate to the content which is another way to make your profile pop just a little more than all the rest, and any way you can attract eyeballs to your proposal the better.
3. Your message intro - When you send your proposal message to a potential client on Upwork they will see the opening line. This opening line is critical to getting you hired. I always ensure that I use the client’s name, and the name of their project along with the solution I provide to highlight that I’ve done my research.

Now that you have the three quick fixes you can implement today, make sure to add your Upwork profile in the comments and I will choose a few to do a full review and give you some tips and tricks to take your freelancing to the next level. Learn how to level up your Upwork profile here.

Check out these next videos on how to write an Upwork Proposal, and optimize your Upwork Profile to build your freelance business into the rocket ship it can be. If you are running out of connects, check out how to get more Upwork connects for free?

How to Stand Out & Get Hired On Upwork