Lesson six, this lesson is called freelancing key success factors, and it will show you how to focus
on the right things that have a direct impact to your success as a freelancer.
This lesson is important because ultimately your success is what is going to provide lasting happiness
and freedom in all areas of your life.
So being a freelancer not only has the ability to create a profitable business for yourself, but it
also has the ability to create freedom, and that leads to true happiness.
So this lesson is very important because it's going to break down the things that have the biggest impact
towards your success as a freelancer.
The first key success factor when it comes to freelancing.
Is the importance of speed?
Speed is incredibly important in today's marketplace.
Consumers are doing so many different things, clients are working on projects, they're looking at
other freelancers work, they're comparing many different freelancers before making a decision.
But by focusing on speed, you can have a major advantage over the pack over the competition.
Because when your first two jobs, when you're the one who responds first, you're the one who's the
first one to send their proposal in.
In my experience, I've seen that has a massive impact on how many jobs you actually close and how many
clients even respond to you.
Because if you wait too long or you don't get back right away, a lot of times the client or the buyer
will move on.
They'll move on to the next person, to the next product that solves their needs.
So with everything you do, speed is so important, and the reason it's a key success factor is because
speed applies to every aspect of freelancing, whether it's sending proposals out, responding to proposals,
speaking with clients, getting back to them to schedule time to speak with them, delivering work for
the client.
Following up with the client, every area of freelancing requires speed to be the most successful freelancer
possible.
It just requires being disciplined and always ready to provide that next level of value for the potential
client when needed.
That is how you're going to rise through the ranks, and that is how you can become the most profitable
freelancer possible.
So with everything you do?
Make sure you focus on doing it with speed, with doing it with urgency, because this also lets the
client know that no one you were available to deliver the service you are.
You say you are.
And number two, it shows them that you care.
So who do you think is going to land the job?
If the client offers it to two freelancers, probably the one that gets back first, that shows that
they're the most interested and wants to help the client out the quickest.
Customer experience is when you take customer service to the next level, and this is the next key success
factor with freelancing because you need to go above and beyond with this, your reputation is vital.
So when you go above and beyond and you don't just provide good customer service, but you provide a
customer experience, that is how you start to separate yourself from the pack.
And that's how you get good reviews.
That's how you get referrals.
And that's how you retain these clients long term.
So this is one of the biggest key success factors after speed, because most times clients are going
to be on guard, especially in the beginning of your relationship.
So when you take the attention off of the money and you place it on all the value you're going to provide,
you focus on providing the best customer experience.
You build that trust with them.
You build that credibility.
That's when you stand out because customers remember how you make them feel so.
Customer experience can be remembered as making the customer or the client feel like you truly care
about them and their project and their business.
Next, your reputation is everything.
Your reputation in the freelance world consists of all the jobs you've worked on.
All of the reviews you have on Upwork and other freelancing websites.
Any social media reviews or testimonials that are about you?
Everything contributes to your overall online reputation.
So if you don't have a reputation yet, that's no problem.
But make the commitment and then decision to building that because that is what is going to help you
build a profitable freelance business.
Your reputation is what gets you future deals.
It's what helps you get referrals from your current clients, and it's also what helps you upsell in
charge clients more.
The longer your relationship goes on with them.
So make sure you always do everything you can to get a good five star review and that goes back to qualifying
clients.
You do not want to work with clients that are a threat to your reputation.
So if you're getting a bad feeling, a gut feeling about a client that they're just not a good fit for
you or the product isn't right for you.
I strongly suggest you listen to that feeling and you move on to the next opportunity because your reputation
is everything and it only takes, unfortunately, one bad job, one bad review to break that cycle and
to start negatively impacting your business.
So reputation is the third key success factor, and it is vital for your success along every step of
your journey.
Next, understanding good clients versus bad clients is the other factor to success.
Not all clients are created equal.
Not even close to that.
It's just like not all freelancers are created equal.
It works both ways.
So Upwork is awesome because they provide stats just like they do with freelancers.
Upwork provides those same stats for clients, so you can see how many jobs they've posted in the past.
How many people they have hired.
If they have a payment method that is verified, how much they spend on average when they hire clients,
and you can even dig into the reviews that freelancers left for that client.
So as you go through this process, as you go through this profitable freelance academy, you only want
to work with high Typekit clients.
High ticket clients are clients that have problems that are big enough that you can charge monthly to
solve.
You don't want to work with clients that are a threat to your reputation that are going to cause you
problems and that aren't going to lead to a long term relationship.
So every job you apply to keep this in mind.
Ask yourself, Is this a good client or is this a bad client?
Why are you applying to the job?
Are you applying just because the title looks good?
Or are you applying because the title drew you in?
But they also have good reviews from other freelancers.
They have a full explanation of what they're expecting, and they also have a payment method verified,
let's say.
So that's how you can start to look at what a good client is and what a bad client is.
We're going to jump much more into that, looking directly on the platform to help you distinguish this.
But as you start out, it's important to keep this in the back of your head that not all client is created
equal and you're only looking to cherry pick the best ones.
That is how you will be the most profitable freelancer as you go through your journey.
The effort in.
Equals the results out at the end of the day, the amount of effort you put in with freelancing will
come back eventually.
So you cannot get discouraged, especially when you're starting out.
This is a key success factor I included because it's easy to get discouraged when you send a couple
of jobs out.
You don't hear back or let's say you get on the phone with a couple of clients.
They decide to go another route.
That happens, that's part of business.
And it's not personal.
Just look at it as part of business and tell yourself you need to put in more effort and the results
will come later on.
Apply that cherry picking model that I spoke about.
Make sure you're only picking those good clients versus the bad clients.
And understand that.
Upwork gives you the ability to find those clients, and it gives you the ability to put in that effort
in the form of sending proposals out.
So everything I'm showing you has a system in place to execute on.
So these key success factors are the main pillars to what will determine if you are profitable or if
you are not profitable.
When you start to apply these methods, you're going to ensure you have the best chance possible to
actually get a response back, which is your ultimate goal when you're sending proposals out.
Lastly, communication is key.
So I included this key success factor as well, because your communication with clients is one of the
biggest factors that impact your success.
How you communicate with potential clients is what will set you apart from 99 percent of the other freelancers
you are competing with.
I'm going to show you specific tactics as we progress.
But just remember separating yourself from the masses is your goal.
Do that by expert communication.
Creative follow up.
Separating yourself from the pack and delivering that exceptional customer experience.
So when you reach out, be different.
Go for the clothes you speed and follow my step by step plans to do so.
The ultimate badge of success on Upwork.
Is this top rated badge followed by the job success score?
So on Upwork, everyone has a job success score, but not everyone is top rated.
Only a very small percentage of the Upwork freelance population is top rated, and what that means is
that I have ratings and reviews that are in the top 10 percent of all the freelancers on Upwork.
Everything you do remember, your reputation is directly proportionate to how much success you will
have freelancing.
So on Upwork, every job you work on is going to contribute to your job success, and every good review
you get will put you one step closer towards getting the same top rated badge like me.
And it's amazing because once you have a profile set up like I do, you have the job success score of
100.
You have top rated and you also have all of these amazing five star reviews and thousands and thousands
of dollars earned from clients like I do.
That's when clients start to reach out to you, and that's the position on that.
And that is where I want every freelancer to be because I know the reason you're in this profitable
freelancer academy is, you know, you can create this for yourself and you know, you have the skills
to provide for business owners and to solve their problems.
This is your ultimate goal.
You want to build all of these amazing testimonials so you can close more clients.
It all builds off of each other.
It all starts with one project and then the next and then the next.
So now you understand what the key success factors of freelancing are and how you can put them into
action to put you in the best position to succeed.