To get jobs, you usually have to send cover letters with your proposals. 1
These are just, you know, small email or a message that you send to a client, 2
when you're kinda sending them a proposal. On Upwork and freelancing platforms there's usually a field 3
that you fill out and you send that. On outside of the platforms, that's usually an email that you send 4
to them with your proposal. 5
That' it. Freelancing didn't teach me how to write good cover letters. 6
Hiring freelancers did. I've had, as a client, I've had experience of receiving cover letters that were 7
great, because they were working well on me, as a client. And there was a lot of pile of crap that I was 8
receiving, that made a lot of freelancers completely unhireable. 9
Here are some tips on writing damn good cover letters. 10
A cover letter that puts me to sleep instantly is where the freelancer is talking about themselves. 11
I post a job, describe my problem and the solution that I'm looking for, and you respond with how amazing 12
you are? 13
Nearly all of these freelancers are talking about themself. I am this and I have that, I have this amount 14
of experience and I've done this in the past. 15
Frankly, dear, I don't care. 16
Tell me how you're going to solve my problem. 17
Talk to me about the project. 18
How can you help me. Show me that you're amazing. 19
Don't brag about it. 20
Okay. 21
If you can't talk about yourself, then what do you say? 22
Very easy. 23
Start giving ideas. 24
Imagine that they already hired you and start brainstorming their project. 25
How are you going to design it? 26
What would be some fun things to do? 27
Send links to example websites and say you could do these sort of interactions or this sort of 28
hero section. 29
Nobody does this. If I saw a proposal with ideas and examples, I'd be like, "Thank you. 30
Those are great ideas. 31
You get me. 32
That's what I want. 33
Done. You are hired." 34
Want real examples? 35
Here is an actual cover letter that I've sent on Upwork, which got me a job right away, without an interview. 36
I start by linking example pages. I took landing page templates, not even my work and showed him as examples. 37
I showed him what I was going to do. Now he can see with his own eyes, and I made his life easier. 38
Then I give him a quick rundown of the process. How I was going to do all that. Told him it will look 39
good and we'll convert effectively. That's his goal, isn't it? 40
Now he knows I understand his goal. 41
Then I ask some meaningful questions, that shows that I'm not painting the picture pink. And I've considered 42
the specifics of the project. 43
Notice, how I only start talking about myself after all of that. In the very end where it says "About me". 44
There is a little more blah blah blah about me. But I've cropped that out, because today I wouldn't even 45
do that. 46
I would just keep it without that paragraph. 47
Here's another example of a good cover letter, that I received on one of my job ads. 48
This person has more than 50 k earnings on Upwork and it shows why. He is straight to the point, he is helpful. 49
He is even going to show me how to get visitors for my page. 50
He understands my goals and asks me meaningful questions. 51
The message is short and sweet. 52
Not wasting my time with bunch of canned fluff. 53
Don't try to save time by sending template cover letters and canned cover letters. I hate canned letters. Screw 54
them and screw people who send them to me. 55
Saving your time, but wasting mine? 56
No thanks. 57
Good clients, notice canned letters miles away and they're not even going to bother reading them. Sometimes 58
inside cover letters, you want to give examples of your past work. 59
Right? 60
So, you know, a lot of freelancers what they're going to do is they are going to refer to and link their 61
portfolio work within the Upwork. 62
But what you can do and because you have a website. You can send them links to your website. Because 63
portfolio pieces on Upwork, they're not displayed in the most flattering way. 64
However, on the Web site, they look very attractive. Because it's your website, it's your style. 65
Right? 66
Everything is kind of organized nicely. And you have a bit more content. And it's your opportunity to 67
use it, that you know, to show that you're actually, not just Upwork, but you're kinda very professional, 68
have your own website. And kinda impress them with the whole presentation that you have. But only, if 69
you are going to publish that website on your personal, custom domain. 70
Because 71
myportfolio/123.webflow.io 72
Doesn't 73
look very professional. 74
It looks amateur. And I don't take anybody, any freelancers, seriously, who sends me their portfolio, which is 75
on .webflow or something. Or .weebly, or wix.com, because that doesn't look like you're 76
taking your profession seriously. 77
So cough up $15 per month for Webflow's first month of subscription, and you're gonna look miles 78
ahead of other freelancers, who are on Upwork. And you just need to pay for the first month. 79
Once you start making money, it's just gonna pay for itself. 80
Almost half of the proposals that you submit, will have an extra field called Additional Questions. 81
First field is cover letter. 82
That's where you write your main message to the client. 83
Then if client added an extra questions to the job, you'll get those fields below. 84
When I posted a job on Upwork and I got proposals, I noticed something very strange. On the clients 85
side, 86
the order of these fields was reversed. 87
I was seeing answers to the question first and then answers to the cover letter 88
second. Most freelancers had no idea about this. 89
So, they were writing things like, "As I mentioned above in my cover letter". 90
What's above? Embarrassing. And I was like, "Oh my God, that's what I've been doing too. Writing a cover letter 91
first and then questions." 92
So, here's a hidden tip, that most freelancers don't know about. When there is a field for additional questions, 93
and sometimes there isn't, right? 94
Sometimes it's just a cover letter. But sometimes there are. 95
So whenever there are additional questions fields, write them upside down. Because that's what the person, 96
that's what the client is going to see first. 97
The additional questions answered first and then cover letter later. On the page, where a client receives 98
all proposals, they can already see a few beginning lines of a cover letter from the freelancer. 99
Many freelancers start by something like, "Dear Sir/Madam". Is that how people connect? 100
Dear Sir/Madam? Sounds so impersonal and just plain weird. 101
I often see this one, "Dear hiring manager". What the hell? Hiring manager? Who, Me? 102
Why are you calling me random names? And who talks like that? 103
This one is actually Upwork's fault. Because in one of their blog posts, they advise to use that, "Dear 104
hiring manager". Which was probably written by one of their employees, who has never been a freelancer, 105
and/or a client. Because that's the stupidest advice I've ever heard. 106
So, be careful when reading advises from Upwork itself. 107
So, if you can't say that, then what do you say? 108
Well let me solve a big mystery. 109
What do you say when you greet somebody in your work environment? 110
Do you say, 111
"Dear Sir/Madam" or you say "Hi", 112
"Hello", 113
"Good morning", 114
"Hi there"? 115
Simple as that. 116
Why complicate this? 117
All of those are professional and polite too. 118
Don't be weird. 119
Just be natural and friendly. 120
That's all. 121
Now some of you probably come from other countries and cultures, where use of words "Sir" is sort of required 122
to be polite. 123
This is, for example, a case in India. And when I work with freelancers from India, 124
they always call me "Sir". 125
They go, "Hi Sir", 126
"Yes, Sir", 127
"Thank you, Sir". 128
I get a little weirded out when this, when they do that. Don't you sir with everybody around the world, 129
because it's not part of everybody's culture. 130
For example, in North America, Britain and Australia, 131
The word Sir, is used in very impersonal situations. For example, when you want to grab a stranger's attention 132
like, "Oh excuse me, sir, you dropped something". But work environment in these countries, it is more friendly. 133
There is no honorific, status distance between people, because of their age or job position. 134
So never an employee would call their boss "sir", even if that boss was Bill Gates. 135
They would probably say something like "Bill" or "Mr. Gates" but not "sir". 136
So, you're gonna come across a little strange and impersonal. 137
If you use this with people, who are not used to this sort of courtesy. 138
Check where they're from and use "sir", 139
only if it's expected in that country.