This lesson is called how to land your first clients, and it will teach you how to secure your first
jobs as a freelancer and get those five star reviews that will propel you forward.
This lesson is important because landing your first clients as a freelancer is one of the most challenging
parts of the entire journey.
And I'm talking from experience here because there was a while where I was without a first client and
I was trying to figure out how I can secure that first client that will open the door to my future.
And that is exactly what I'm going to be teaching you in this lesson.
I'm going to be showing you how you can get over that obstacle fast of not having any experience.
And use a freelancing hack that I've learned to help you get those very first clients.
This will help you secure those first good reviews, which will open up the pathway to your future freelance
success.
We will be going over how to land your first trial clients, your first jobs as a freelancer, next
how to do the math, and this is all about the success rates and how to plan for success as a freelancer.
And lastly, we will cover how to use the power of massive action as it relates to landing your first
clients.
It all comes full circle here as we went over this in the beginning modules of the course.
Now I'll be showing you how to apply this so you can get those first few deals.
And now I am going to reveal how you can get your first client.
And I like to call it the trial client.
What this means is you're bringing someone on to the Upwork platform so you can get that first good
review.
The reason is a trial client is because it's a one time project to start.
The goal of the trial client is so you can secure that five star review on Upwork that will kick start
your freelance business.
You can use this to scale to multiple clients in the future.
But without having at least a couple client reviews on your profile, you are going to severely limit
your potential on Upwork.
So a trial client, is you going out into the marketplace and getting a client to pay you on the Upwork
platform?
This way, you get to secure that good review.
Upwork gets to make the money through the platform, and the client gets to have that service that you're
offering for a discounted rate.
You can use a script like this to get your first child clients, so you can post this on Facebook and
have your friend share it, or you can send it directly to business owners, you know they can even
be friends or family or friends of friends, et cetera.
The whole goal here is to reach out to a business owner that needs a problem solved.
And you are the one that is the curious student.
So you were the one that is going to say something to the effect of Hi everyone, I'm currently learning
Google ads right now, and so far I'm getting some awesome results.
But before I can start charging full price for my services, I need to find a business willing to let
me practice everything I've learned so far.
In return, I will offer a massive discount on my monthly Google ad package.
Please comment below if interested.
So for this example, I filled it in with the skill I provide, which is Google ad services.
But you can just put in whatever skill you want to provide and that you've been studying and learning.
You can always go back to the skill demonstration lessons if you want to expand your skill set or look
for the most profitable skills you can offer.
Once you've posted this, you can go through all of the responses and you can choose who is the best
fit for you from there.
It's super simple.
All you need to do is just tell them to sign up for Upwork as a client, and it will walk them through
if they want to invite freelancers to that specific project or if they want it to just be a public project.
And from there, you can do everything through the platform, submit the work and get that first good
review.
That's a great way you can secure your first few clients on Upwork, and it's something that I wish
I knew when I was first starting out because when I was starting out, it took me months to get my first
recurring client.
I would have a couple of small projects here and there, but it wasn't anything that bill any credibility
on my profile.
But when you get this trial client and you get a couple of them, it not only shows that you've earned
money on the platform, but it also shows five star reviews, so that shows that you're delivering amazing
service.
In addition to that, you can also use that to create portfolio items such as case studies using the
case study blueprint, which will help your profile stand out even more.
Lastly, by doing this and getting a trial client and building case studies, it all helps you in the
Upwork algorithm.
They will start to serve you and your profile to more potential clients because they see that you're
having success, and that's their whole goal.
They want to match up high tech business owners with freelancers who know what they're doing.
So go out there.
Post this script on your social media.
Don't hold anything back.
You have nothing to lose here.
And if it gets a lot of engagement, remember you don't want to take on a lot of these.
Your goal is quality, not quantity.
Start with the ones you know.
You can deliver great service and value to and great results so you can show that off and get those
first good reviews.
As you get out there in the marketplace and you begin to send out those proposals and you're working
on those first few jobs, I suggest starting with a one time projects.
This is a fixed price project that you can help provide exceptional value on that will help you get
those five star reviews in start to build your profile.
I don't suggest going out there and starting with an hourly long term project right from the start,
because what you want to do is you want to be able to get those good reviews if you're working on a
long term project right when you begin freelancing.
That is not going to allow you to get that five star review quickly because you only get that review
after the project is completed.
So that's why with the trial clients and with your first few jobs, I highly suggest going after some
intermediate level work that is a one time project.
This way, you can deliver exceptional value.
Get that five star review and move on to the next client to continue building your profile.
No, to use those previous results that you begin to get to land more clients.
So with all those trial clients and the first jobs, you get billed out as many case studies, testimonials
and portfolio items, you can, it's all about momentum and getting the ball moving forward.
So think about it like pushing a car.
If your car ever ran out of gas, you know how hard it is to get it moving at first.
But once it starts rolling, AKA, once you start getting some trial clients and some jobs on your profile,
everything starts to become easier.
The car starts to roll along.
You start to land more clients.
All you need is a little push to help that car start going, and that's what those trial clients are
for you.
So the more people you get to help push that car, a.k.a., the more jobs you land on Upwork and the
more reviews you have to expand your portfolio and your profile before you know it, the car is moving
at such a high speed that you're well on your way to a profitable freelance business.
So think about that metaphor as you begin this journey.
And number three, go after jobs, you know you can crush.
That means, you know, you can do well on.
You need perfect scores here.
That means five out of five reviews, and that means good testimonials that are well thought out with
multiple sentences there.
If you don't provide exceptional service in the job, just turns out OK, the client is not going to
want to leave you a lengthy review.
They might give you a five star review, but your goal is an exceptional review, and that's how I've
built my profile.
And I also ask the clients after each project is complete.
I make sure to tell them.
Mark the job as completed successfully, and I let them know how important that perfect score is to
me.
When you make that clear and you make that understood during the scope of work of the project, the
client knows that you're working very hard for that good review.
So make sure you let the client know you're not just in this for the money, you're in this for the
long term relationship and to secure a good review for them in return for providing exceptional work.
Now it's time to do the freelance math.
The freelance math is how you can start to project your success rates if you do the freelance math and
you begin to plan ahead for the proposals you need to set out in the meetings and the client calls you
need to have.
You will set yourself up for success.
It all does depend on your market, the skill you're providing and your capabilities.
But it is also dependent on how hard you work.
So this is where that law of massive action starts to kick in, because if you don't fall fairly close
to the stats I'm about to reveal, you need to go back and look at what you're doing.
Because as you execute the law of massive action, you also need to make sure that you're focusing on
that quality.
Some markets are going to be much more competitive than others in the freelance space.
But take into account these stats to see if you're on the right track.
Let's say you send out 20 proposals, and this is 20 proposals using the winning formula.
So that means you're doing the work, you're getting that attention in that opener, you're providing
reviews.
20 proposals should gets you on average, about six responses.
Our response is just a client reaching back out to you after you send that proposal.
So they'll send you a message on Upwork and they might ask you a question, or they might ask you to
schedule an interview call.
So out of those six client responses, you can expect on average to get about four client calls slash
sales demos out of those.
And the reason for that is because there's always a drop off at every level, even though six people
got back to you.
It doesn't mean that you're going to get all six of those people on the phone.
On average, a couple of people and a couple of potential clients will fall out along the way.
So it's important to do this math and understand this journey so you don't get discouraged at any stage.
After those four client calls and sales demos, if you're doing everything that I teach in this academy,
you should end up with about two closed deals.
And that means you're closing about 50 percent, which is very, very good.
But that is easily achievable when you're going above and beyond and when you're using all of the profitable
freelance sales principles that I teach in this academy now, it's time to start to assign some time
to this equation.
Those 20 proposals should take you about 20 hours to complete.
Now it's time to start to do the math and get realistic with yourself.
If it's not taking you about an hour per proposal, you're not doing it the right way.
You're not putting the research in, and you're definitely not providing the level of quality of relevance
and actually showing some of the work that's needed to stand out.
It takes a lot of time in the beginning, especially when you're new to creating these proposals.
But as you go forward and you get better, you will get more efficient over time.
So even if the proposals take you an hour to start, that's 20 hours to begin with, and that is what
is needed to get to that level of six client responses.
Those six client responses will take you about another two hours of time.
And that's because you're going to need to reach out to them.
You might need to go back and forth with messaging and scheduling.
They might even want to have a quick five 10 minute preview call before they even schedule an in-depth
interview.
Call with you.
So all of those things take time when you get those for client calls slash demos out of those six responses.
Those will take about eight hours.
The reason I gave that eight hours is because each client call and demo should take at least an hour
of research and prep beforehand and then an hour allocated towards the call.
So if for every call you're doing an hour of research before planning it out, putting together your
call script and HubSpot like you should be doing and doing that client research on the back end, you
should be spending at least an hour doing that and then an hour speaking with the client and actually
conducting the call or the demo.
So that's another eight hours right there.
So to get those two close deals, you should understand.
The freelance math says it takes about 40 hours to get there.
This is very important to understand.
That means it takes about a full workweek to land two clients.
Of course, remember these numbers may vary, but this is just a general baseline of what success can
and should look like.
When you use all of my teachings, once you do the work, it will start to pay off.
But you need to remember the big picture here.
So be careful spending your time on those tiny jobs that are not worth your time.
You need to work with high Typekit clients.
That's the whole goal.
When you work with those high tech clients, you're able to turn those into long term projects.
That makes that 40 hours of initial work well worth it.
Also, remember that when you send out those proposals and don't get a response back in my journey,
I used to get very discouraged at first.
But when you understand the freelance math, you know that that proposal got you one step closer to
that final close deal.
So remember this freelance math as you go out there into the marketplace?
And the truth is, one good week can create a thriving freelance business, as we discussed in the beginning
of this academy, massive action is needed to have sustainable success.
But full time freelancing could be much closer than you think.
So many clients are out there looking to fill opportunity and jobs and problems they need solved.
So many people always complain about the economy and no jobs and no opportunity.
But those people often don't ever change their perspective and go out there and find the opportunity.
There's always clients hiring.
There is no risk to get started as a freelancer, but be aware of any.
Get rich quick scheme to anyone that says that building a profitable business is super easy and can
happen overnight because it is not.
However, if you understand the freelance math like we just learned in this lesson, you will be putting
yourself at a much greater chance for having success.
Use the law of massive action here.
Make sure you're only putting your all into everything you do.
And once you start to combine all of those things together, you can see how a good week of massive
action can change your life and build a profitable business.
That is the end of the finding and closing high ticket clients module.
Now you understand everything that goes into the freelance sales process.
How you can go out there, find those clients execute everything I taught you and close them.
I look forward to seeing you in the next module.