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Welcome to Fast Track: How to win work without experience

Getting hired on Upwork when you’re brand new is a catch-22. You have no history or
positive reviews yet; you may not have any quality portfolio samples to show to potential
clients; you may not even have any experience doing the type of work you want to do -- and
yet you need to gain a client’s trust in order for them to hire you. If you’re in this situation,
don’t worry -- I’ve got you covered. I started with ALL of the challenges of being new and
inexperienced, and I was able to overcome them very quickly using the exact approach that
I’m going to teach you in this lesson. If you’ve heard my story at all, you know that I quit my
quote-unquote “real” job on a Friday morning, and started bidding on freelancing jobs
online that very same day, with absolutely no clue what I was doing. Yet, even with the
entire deck stacked against me, I was still able to secure several paid gigs in just my first
week, with many more to follow. To do that, I used something I call my Crystal Ball
Technique. As you’ll see, it’s something that virtually anyone can do in order to win work
quickly, regardless of where you’re at. I’ve also taught this approach to thousands of
freelancers and aspiring freelancers -- and we’ve seen it work, predictably, time and again.

Many freelancers try to overcome the disadvantage of being new, by presenting themselves
to clients as the cheapest option. But high quality clients aren’t looking for the cheapest
option. Hiring a freelancer isn’t like buying a potato peeler, where all of their options are
mostly the same, and so they just automatically go with the least expensive one. On the
contrary, the high quality client knows that the quality of the work they receive can vary
big time, depending on which freelancer they go with. So their primary concern is picking
someone who gives them confidence that the job will get done right. Just like you don’t
choose restaurants based on what’s cheapest. If you did, you’d only ever eat from the
burger king dollar menu, right? Price is far from being the strongest human motivator, and
there’s nothing peculiar about freelance bidding sites that makes this universal truth any
less real. As we discussed earlier in the course, the only time good clients start to price
shop is when they view your freelancing services as a ​ commodity​ ; in other words, when
they perceive that you’re just like everyone else. But as you’ll see, the Crystal Ball Strategy
actually prevents that from happening in the first place. More on that in just a bit.

Another mistake many new freelancers make, is that they decide to create portfolio
samples out of thin air, in order to make it look like they have previous experience. These
are essentially just dummy pieces, that exist only to show off their skills. But, this never
works. And I’ll tell you why. Freelancers who take this path almost always end up creating
samples that don’t interest clients in the least. For instance, a new freelance writer might
write a blog post about their own neighborhood. Or they might might create a brochure for
their best friend’s business. The problem with this approach is that they usually end up

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with a bunch of samples that no one cares about. Clients don’t want to see RANDOM
samples of work. They want to see examples that are SIMILAR to what they need. Because
that takes the guesswork out of the equation for them. It PROVES to them that you can get
their job done -- which is all high quality clients really care about. This idea of RELEVANCE
is SO important, that -- all else being equal -- a high quality client will generally hire the
freelancer who’s able to produce an example of work that is MOST similar to what they
need. To fully understand the psychology behind this, let’s look at an example...from the
wedding cake business.

Imagine a bride-to-be looking for a very specific flavor of wedding cake. Mentally, she
knows exactly what she wants it to taste like. So she starts describing it to wedding cake
designers. The first two she meets with, both assure her they can create exactly what she’s
looking for. They go on and on about their credentials, and experience. They even let her
taste a few of their sample wedding cakes. But neither of them have been able to SHOW her
a cake that’s really similar to what SHE wants. So she goes and talks to a third baker. This
time, she has a totally different experience. This confectioner surprises her by opening up
his refrigerator, and pulling out a cake that’s nearly identical to what she’s described​ .​
She
takes a taste and, lo and behold, she likes it! Now, what do you suppose is going to happen
next? Do you think she’s going to go back and take a gamble with one of the previous
bakers, having no idea if they’re really capable of producing what she wants? Of course not.
She’s already found a baker who’s PROVEN that he can get the job done​ .​
Even if it’s not the
most amazing cake she’s ever tasted, there’s simply no way she’s going to sweat it out by
choosing one of the first two bakers--because she KNOWS the third baker can deliver.

Now, let’s talk about how this applies to freelancing. Let’s take the wedding cake analogy,
and replace the bride to be with a client, who’s looking for someone to write a blog post on
the most romantic places to kiss in New York City. Naturally, the client gets a bunch of
proposals from various freelancers; a handful of them may contain samples that are
somewhat​ relevant -- maybe they have to do with New York, or maybe they’re about some
romantic topic. But what happens if you come along with an example of a blog post you’ve
written, about the most romantic places to go on a date in Paris. Like our wedding cake
designer, you would have done a great job of matching the ​ flavor​
the client is looking for;
while your competitors are likely not going to produce anything nearly as relevant. And,
also like our wedding cake designer, you’ll have significantly increased your chances of
getting hired, REGARDLESS of your experience level. I know this because, as a new
freelancer, I won jobs over freelancers with more technical know-how and experience --
and in many cases I was even able to charge more! -- because I was able to show the client
portfolio samples that were VERY relevant to what they wanted. And I didn’t have to read
their minds to do it...all I had to do was read their job posts!

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So the way the Crystal Ball Technique works is that you create and use portfolio samples
that are SIMILAR -- though not IDENTICAL -- to what actual clients are asking for. This last
point is very important -- by keeping your sample a LITTLE different, you won’t tempt
unscrupulous clients to plagiarize from you. So, for example, let’s say a client needs
copywriting for an About Us page for a dental practice website. In this case, I might create a
sample About Us page for a fictitious chiropractic office. It’s not something that the client
can just take and use, so I’m totally safe. Yet, at the same time, it does a great job of
matching the ​ flavor​of the work the client is looking for. And because of that, it gives me an
excellent chance of being hired, because it shows the client that I have the skills necessary
to complete the job---and by the way, we’ll talk more about how to get those skills shortly.
So, what we’re doing here is creating a portfolio from scratch. But we’re doing it very
strategically, in a way that gives us the best chance of getting work as quickly as possible --
rather than the traditional method, where you’re just creating random samples and
throwing them against a wall, hoping that one of them sticks. This is what I call, a Minimum
Viable Portfolio; or MVP.

Okay now, if you’re brand new to freelancing, some of this might still seem a little bit
intimidating. If you’re like me, you might not even know ​ how ​to create any samples to
begin with. Well don’t worry, because I’m going to walk you through exactly how I did this
over and over again in my first couple of months. Personally, I had no clue what a portfolio
sample even ​ looked ​like when I first started applying to freelancing jobs. So, my strategy
was to look for small writing jobs that didn’t necessarily require any previous experience
or technical knowledge--and then use google to figure out how to complete these. For
example, it’s really easy to google something like, “How to write a blog post,” and walk
away with an understanding of exactly how to do this, in just a few minutes. Or you can
Google something like, “Best About Us pages”, and get great examples to use as a guide.
Sometimes, clients even provide examples themselves, which can give you a blueprint for
doing the work exactly how they want it. These approaches worked really well for me
when I was just starting out. It helped me get real, paying work done, without much
pressure. And, with each small job I did, I gained experience that helped me win and
complete jobs that were incrementally more substantial, and better paying.

By the way, one of the best features of the Crystal Ball Technique, is that it has a built-in fail
safe. Here’s what I mean by that. Some new freelancers are worried that, even if clients hire
them, they may not be able to properly deliver the work. But with the Crystal Ball
Technique, you never have to worry about that, because it ​ automatically​prevents you from
getting in over your head. Think about it: If a client is hiring you, that means they’ve
already seen one of your Minimum Viable Portfolio sample. It also means that they LIKED

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your sample. Because otherwise, they wouldn’t be hiring you as a result of seeing it. And
remember that your sample is ALMOST IDENTICAL to the type of work they’re hiring you
for. And, YOU created that sample, to their liking! Which means that now, your job is as
simple as just DOING IT AGAIN! When you think about it, there’s virtually no way you can
fail. You’ve essentially already proven that you’re capable of getting the job done. You’ve
not only proven it to the client...you’ve also proven it to YOURSELF. So, as you can see, the
Crystal Ball Technique is a very safe, low pressure way to ease yourself into freelancing, or
a new niche. Let’s talk about how I won my first-ever freelancing job using this approach.

The client needed short children’s stories -- I’d never written one before, but it didn’t
require any imagination or special skills -- because the stories all followed a specific
formula. They were all about a young boy, who would visit famous places with his parents.
And, he always learned 3 things about the destinations they visited. So for each story, all I
had to do was look up a few facts about a tourist site, like the grand canyon for instance.
And then I basically just plugged that information into the story’s template. Luckily, the
client posted an example of one of the stories right in their job post, so I was able to use the
Crystal Ball Technique to win the gig. Because of that, the client didn’t even ask about my
work history, my experience level, or anything else. Showing him that I was capable of
completing a short formulaic story was enough. By the way, in case you’re wondering, I was
paid 20 dollars for each story. And they only took about 45 minutes to complete. It’s not a
ton of money, and it certainly isn’t very sexy, but not bad either, when you consider that I
had no experience whatsoever, and it was only my first week. I made $340 writing these,
and I was totally stoked. But I didn’t stop there...let me show you a couple more examples.

Okay so, one of the very next jobs I won, was writing job advertisements for a
service-based company in Australia. All they were asking for in their original post was
someone who could write their job ads with some creativity and flair -- again, no special
experience or technical knowledge was required. In fact it’s easy to go to sites like
Indeed.com, find some ads that you really like, see what makes them powerful, and just
apply that knowledge -- along with some creativity and common sense -- to create an MVP
sample that the client will probably like, using the Crystal Ball Technique. In this case, I just
wrote up a sample ad to send to the client, and it worked like a charm. I won the job at $40
per hour -- which was the highest bid out of the 8 freelancers who applied. Mind you, this
was still my first month freelancing, so I was totally new. And, the client even became a
repeat customer. Okay, soon, I’m going to show you how you can apply the Crystal Ball
Technique to a service based business, where samples either aren’t feasible, or don’t carry
as much weight as they do in a creative area like writing. But first, let’s talk about 1 more
job I won in those very early days using the Crystal Ball Technique -- this one for email
copywriting...

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Okay now, this is a useful story, because it was sort of a breakthrough for me. I’d noticed a
couple of weeks earlier that some email copywriting jobs tended to pay pretty well. So I
was determined to get in on this niche. There was just one problem: I had no idea how to
write a marketing email! So I did a google search for “How to write a marketing email.”
Pretty simple, right? Next, I read some of the articles that popped up -- and I jotted down a
few of the simplest best practices I could find. Then I did another google search, this time to
research the topic I wanted to write the email about -- which at the time was health and
fitness related. I put these two pieces of newfound knowledge together, and wrote my first
ever email copywriting sample. It was really short and simple -- I’ll even show you the
actual email I wrote in a couple of minutes, so you can see how UNcomplicated this really
is. And I used that MVP sample to land a job writing a series of 18 marketing emails. Again,
this was in just my 5th week -- and I was the highest bidder for the project. I even ended up
getting over $6500 in work from this client over the next couple of years -- and it all came
from just that one short sample!

Now that you have a good understanding of how the Crystal Ball Technique works, I want
to explain a couple of key points. First, the Crystal Ball Technique is meant to be a short
term approach only. As you complete more and more jobs over time, you’ll end up with a
wider and wider range of work samples to show to clients who have various needs. Plus, as
you build up your job history and client reviews, it becomes much easier to win jobs. So you
can often get away with samples that are a bit less relevant, as time goes on. For example,
remember that fitness marketing email sample I told you about earlier? I used that same
sample over and over again, to win many different email writing jobs that had nothing to do
with fitness. So you want to get to a point where you don’t have to rely on the Crystal Ball
Technique to win plenty of work. In fact, I can win jobs today without ever showing the
client a portfolio sample at all; they often hire me based only on my Upwork history and
client reviews. So remember, don’t rely on the Crystal Ball Technique for longer than you
need to. You can always use it down the road, if you happen to fall into a slump, or if you
want to break into a new niche.

Another important point I want to make about the Crystal Ball Technique, is that you
should focus on creating high quality MVP samples. You don’t need to be a perfectionist and
spend hours on each one, but you shouldn’t be afraid to put some work into them either. I
recommend creating ​ short ​
samples -- that’s what I did, and it assured that I wasn’t pouring
too much time into each one. But they need to look good. This takes a little more time and
work up front, but if done right, it can really pay off. Remember the marketing email client
who ended up paying me over $6500 after I showed him just one single email sample? Also
remember that, if you write up a good sample, it doesn’t go to waste, even if you happen to

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NOT get the job, because you can continue to use that sample over and over again over
time. Like the fitness email I used to get hired for many different jobs. And again, you don’t
need to rely on the Crystal Ball Technique for very long. As you gain more and more
experience, it becomes much easier to win jobs with the portfolio of work that you
naturally create over time; especially since you’ll also be building up a good history and
good client reviews. Alright--now, let’s look at that fitness email I’ve been telling you
about...

[See video lesson for images]

The reason I’m showing this to you is because I want you to see that it’s so simple, and so
straightforward, that virtually anyone could have done it. It didn’t require any special skills
whatsoever. Again, I simply searched google for best practices on how to write a marketing
email. And I also searched for how to burn fat, and came up with an interesting angle for a
simple little marketing email. Now I will tell you that my writing and my style have both
evolved since I wrote this, so this isn’t necessarily a how-to lesson on how to write a
marketing email. Though it really isn’t bad either. But the point is that I was able to use this
sample to win thousands of dollars worth of real jobs for email copywriting--even ones that
weren’t related to fitness. Remember, the point isn’t to give the client what they need on a
silver platter, but rather to show them that you have the ability to get their job done well.
Also keep in mind that the Crystal Ball Technique can be applied to just about any type of
work -- it doesn’t have to be email copywriting -- in fact, it doesn’t have to be writing at all!
I’ve had students use this approach to win work across all different industries and niches.
Including graphic design, marketing, finance, engineering, and much more.

Let’s do a quick recap of what we’ve covered in this lesson. Winning jobs on Upwork can be
tricky, especially if you’re brand new. Creating work samples that address clients’ SPECIFIC
needs helps you to jump to the front of the line, because it shows clients you can do their
work, even if you’re lacking experience. Your should have a “flavor” that’s similar to what
real clients are looking for, be sure to make them different enough that there’s no way the
client can actually use them. When you create samples using this technique, focus on
quality, but keep them short, so they don’t suck up all your time. Keep in mind that the
Crystal Ball Technique is a short term approach; as your portfolio and client reviews grow,
winning work becomes easier and easier, without having to rely on it. Though you may still
choose to use it again in the future, if you ever need to get yourself out of a slump, or break
into a new niche.

Now, it’s time for some action steps. Here’s what I want you to do right after you’re done
watching this video. First, go to Upwork’s job listings, and start identifying job posts that

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look like they might be good candidates for the crystal ball technique. You can save these to
your favorites list if you want to. Once you’ve got a few job posts to work with, pick out the
one that has the most potential, and create a portfolio sample that has a similar flavor to it,
but is still different enough that the client can’t use it. Then, submit it to the client along
with a proposal. Next, go do the same for every job you added to your watch list. And
finally, continue to repeat this process until clients start to message you back with
compliments on your samples--that’s how you’ll know you’ve nailed it. Remember, when
the deck is stacked against you, you need to do everything you can to turn the tables, and
give yourself the advantage you need to win--and on that topic, like all the ones in this
course, I speak from personal experience. Thank you for watching.

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