Happy Monday! It’s a new week and a fresh perspective.
Today, I have been considering how I talk about myself to potential clients. Do I present myself in a way that is appealing and sparks their confidence in me?
I have been on Upwork for about a year. If you’re not familiar with Upwork, it is a site that connects freelance workers to potential customers. The customer posts a project listing, explaining what service they need and what their budget is. The services needed can range from graphic design to a virtual assistant. I submitted a lot of proposals without having any luck. No customers followed up with me about their proposals, and I was getting pretty frustrated. So I went back over my sales pitch and my profile details, and I made some changes.
I was raised being told that honesty is the best policy. This is true, however honesty does not mean you have to tell everyone absolutely everything. In my Upwork profile and proposals, I had presented myself as someone just starting out in proofreading who is absolutely clueless and I didn’t highlight my strong points very well. I thought I was just being straightforward with potential clients, but I finally realized that my blatant honesty made me look timid and incapable of providing competent services.
In a way, I was sending them a message that I didn’t believe in myself. If a complete stranger doesn’t have confident in their talents and skills, would you trust them to work for you? If a pilot stepped onto a Boeing 737 full of travelers, and said “well, I’m pretty new at this, so the ride’s going to be really bumpy,” that would not spark confidence in the passengers. Most people would immediately snatch their bags and head for the gangway. It doesn’t matter whether the pilot is actually capable of getting them safely to their destination, because now his customers think he cannot do his job.
My focus was on what I could not provide to my customers (previous experience with proofreading), instead of on what I can provide to them (attention to detail, hard work, knowledge of grammar and punctuation, quick turn-around time, etc.). When I changed my narrative of myself, I started getting messages in response to my proposals. I had persuaded these customers to give my proposal a second look because my self-confidence was represented in my sales pitch.
Now, does this breakthrough mean that I am very confident all the time now? Definitely not. I still have to work hard to be conscious of the way I present myself to clients. However, I think my change in perspective is a step in the right direction toward a full and successful freelance career.
Here’s to a confident and successful week!
Clarity with Clara 