230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

230 Characters Pure Curiosity

The Proposal Headline Guide

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

Let’s make your proposal stick like gum.

Whenever you write a cover letter, keep in mind that you are selling your service. Your
potential client has a problem. Not enough time to do certain tasks themselves, or they lack
the skill. When a prospect hires you, a transaction occurs. Your client trades their money for
your time so you can solve their problem.

Your client has a problem. You provide a solution. Let me illustrate this a little more vividly:
Imagine you have a toothache. What do you do? You lack the ability to solve your problem
yourself, right? So, you look for a trustworthy person who can help you. What do you do?
You ask friends, and relatives, read reviews and go to the doctor's office in person to get an
idea about him. Dentist A has crooked, discolored teeth. Dentist B has gleaming white teeth.
Which doctor inspires more confidence in you?

Every client wants to know why they should hire you over any other freelancer that applies
for their project. Then they pick the candidate who inspires the most amount of trust in them.
Just like you’d probably go to the dentist with the gleaming white teeth, right? Twenty to fifty
or more freelancers submit proposals for a single project. You need to stand out from the
crowd. You need to get the client to click on your cover letter. What you truly need to stand
out from the crowd is a well-written proposal.

What is an Upwork proposal?

An Upwork proposal gives you the chance to submit a message with your application to
convince clients that you’re the perfect fit for the job. This quick and concise introduction —
similar to a cover letter or an elevator pitch — explains why the client should hire you. It
allows you to spark a client’s interest in your services and mention critical points on how you
can solve their problem.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

Every day, the Upwork platform posts thousands of new jobs for a wide range of skill sets.
The number of posted jobs may appear to indicate that you are likely to land work, but keep
in mind that other freelancers using this platform are also competing for those same jobs.

Proposals are an important part of securing projects through Upwork's global work
marketplace. It's the first step in getting in touch with a potential client, and your proposal
must be designed to catch their attention.

After submitting my proposal, what do clients see?

You’ll be listed together with all the other applicants in the client's inbox. They’ll see:

1. Your name
2. Your profile headline
3. Your location
4. Your profile picture
5. Your bid
6. Your total Upwork earnings
7. Your job success score
8. Your Upwork batch and
9. A 230 characters preview of your cover letter.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

That’s all. They don’t see your total cover letter. They don’t see attachments or links to your
portfolio. Four of the listed points you cannot even influence. Your location, your total Upwork
earnings, your job success score, and your Upwork batch are elements you cannot directly
adjust. That leaves only 4 variables that you can directly influence.

Let’s look at how to utilize them.

Pique the client's interest

Typically, you'll be competing with more than a dozen other freelancers for the same project
offer. Your proposal will most likely only have a few seconds to make an impression before
the client moves on to another. This means that creating a catchy first few sentences is
critical to ensuring that your proposal is not ignored.

The point of your proposal, from the client's perspective, is to find the freelancer who can
best assist them. When you get right to the issues that matter to the client, you increase
interest and with that your chances of getting the job.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

Clients on Upwork archive 90% of applicants without ever opening their cover letter. They send
+200 applications a week and buy hundreds of Connects but their inbox remains empty because
all their applications are archived.

The first step to ensuring that your cover letter is read is the basics.

1. Avoid spelling mistakes. Make sure you have eliminated all spelling and grammatical errors in
your letter. It is unprofessional and unnecessary and it prevents any chance of creating a sense
of trust with the client.

2. Redundancy. Avoid redundancy or unnecessary words. You don’t need to introduce yourself,
repeat the title of the job post, or highlight your interest in the job.

3. Carelessness. Some clients hide keywords in their postings, and sometimes those hints are
hidden at the end of the job description or in the attachments. Do not forget to add those
keywords. Do not misspell the client's name or the company name. Check your application 2-3
times before submitting it.

How do you expect the client to believe that you will do their job accurately if you don't even put
any effort into the application? It is better to send 3 or 4 perfectly accurate applications rather
than hundreds of bad ones.

Testing different cover letter intro options is an important step at the start of your freelancing
journey, and it is the difference between those who land their first gig and those who give up.
Competition can be difficult, especially for new freelancers just getting started.

Without an effective proposal, you may end up sending dozens of proposals that are all
ignored. When it comes down to it, getting your first client necessitates writing an enticing
proposal intro.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

So, let’s summarize: We can influence our profile picture, profile headline, bid, and the 230
characters' cover letter headline. To pique the client's interest you need to avoid basic
mistakes.

Draft 230 characters pure curiosity

Writing an Upwork proposal intro is a skill in and of itself, and practice, like any other skill,
can improve your techniques. One of the most important aspects to consider when writing a
good proposal intro is – like mentioned before – to awaken interest. While each proposal
should be tailored to the freelancer and job description, most good proposals include a brief,
direct greeting and a hook, followed by a succinct restatement of the client's primary need or
problem.

GREETING + MOTIVATION (PROBLEM) + SOLUTION

Let’s dive deeper.

The Greeting: Say, Hi!

Recruiters have read cover letters that begin with lines like "I'm excited to apply for the
front-end engineering position," or "I came across your job posting and..." so many times that
they could wallpaper their homes with them. That’s redundancy. Avoid it.

People enjoy reading interesting, engaging material, so be lively and personable. The kind
that draws them in, tells them a story, and maybe even makes them smile. People
appreciate it when you are genuine, human, and memorable. Don’t be afraid to experiment
and to be bold. Overall we can say that we have to be likable.

But we don't know the client, right? How am I supposed to know what he likes? Take a close
look at the client and find out who they are. When applying, one trick is to look at the
feedback on the client's Upwork profile; other freelancers will refer to them by their first name
in the feedback. Now you know if you are addressing a woman or a man. Maybe you even
find a company name; great – hop to their website and find out something about the
company philosophy.

This allows us to begin our application with their first name. You can safely leave out a sir or
madam. We must not waste space to make our statement. A simple ‘Hello Maria’ or ‘Hi

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

Maria’ will do. Finding out the client's name will pique the client's curiosity about how we
know their name. It may lead them to your profile to see if they recognize you. It also
demonstrates that you are very interested in the job and collaborating with THEM; you read
their job description and looked further. Finally, it personalizes the application. If you can't find
any clues in their reviews, it's time to get creative. The first 5 that come to mind can be discarded
immediately.

With these 5 greetings, you'll never get hired:

1. Dear hiring manager

2. To whom it may concern
3. Dear prospect
4. To the recruiter
5. Hello Sir/Madame

Your Client’s Problem: The Motivation

Look closely at the job post. Is it long and detailed? Then the author will surely be happy with
a longer cover letter. Is the offer short, and concise with bullet points or lists? Is there a
greeting, or do they get right to it? Are they using a corporate- or casual voice? What sector
are they working in? A real-estate agency surely needs a more formal approach than a
graphic design agency. You need to imitate the client's style to a certain degree, and this is
why.

The Chameleon Effect: The Power of Mirroring

Some people are just lucky: They immediately like the person they're talking to. Everyone
else either has bad luck – or has to help their luck along a bit with the so-called mirror
technique, also known as the chameleon effect. You've probably observed this effect many
times in everyday life: with couples in love in a restaurant, with colleagues in the cafeteria,
with new acquaintances at a trade fair…

And this is how it works.

The chameleon effect occurs unconsciously with many likable people: words and body
language synchronize. She runs her hand through her hair, and he quickly wipes a strand
from his brow. He crosses his legs, and she follows suit a few moments later. He frequently
uses the word "fascinating," and now she incorporates it into her sentences as well….Micro

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

gestures, such as smiling, yawning, scratching the nose, or taking a sip, are especially
contagious.

But why is this important when writing proposals?

We find people with similar interests and behaviors more likable. We have to take advantage
of this hack when we write a cover letter. Let's take a closer look at the psychology behind it.
Psychology distinguishes between three types of behavior:

1. Matching
The partner's body language is analyzed and initially only reflected by one's own to a
maximum of 50 percent.
2. Pacing
Body language, gestures, facial expressions, and speech are increasingly
synchronized.
3. Rapport
Almost complete symmetry - both partners refer to each other every time through
their behavior.

Matching and Rapport will not get us anywhere in the digital world. But let’s take a closer
look at Pacing. Pacing (from the verb "to pace") allows one to adapt to one's counterpart
respectfully - in various areas of communication. And those you got to use to your
advantage.

Posture, movement, gestures, facial expressions, …

Voice pitch, speaking volume, speaking rate, sentence melody, …
Breathing frequency, depth of breath, coughing, throat clearing, yawning, …
The tone of voice, favorite words, linguistic peculiarities, technical terms, …
Dress style, gadgets, affiliation symbols, …
Cheerfulness, thoughtfulness, stiffness, ...

So if we imitate the behavior of our counterparts, we can score points right away. When we
find a job posting that we would like to apply for, we first have to take a close look at it and
figure out who we’re writing to.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

A: B:

Client A provides a more keyword-driven brief. While client B expresses himself in complete
sentences. Client A is looking for support for their personal brand, while Client B offers
legal/financial services. Both are seeking a logo, but need completely different approaches.
Try to see through the job description and understand what the person behind it looks like. Is
she wearing a suit or loose-fitting cord pants? T-shirt or tie?

By the way, the same works for facial expressions and speech during video job interviews.

Your Solution

Give a clear statement informing clients that you can solve their problems and that you can
begin immediately. Don’t be vague. Make every word count. Remember, we only have 230
characters to get them hooked. Communicate that you’ll bring something to the company: Of
course, you will become more detailed after your opening. However, instead of saying, "I will
help your business to do the translation," your cover letter opener should say, "With my help,
your business will enter a new market.” Again, be precise. It doesn’t only show that you’ve
read the job post. It shows sincere interest and understanding for the task you’re about to be
hired to do.

Stick to the point: While your opener should be creative, it should also be relevant to the job.
Don't start with an unrelated accomplishment or anecdote that has nothing to do with why
you're applying for the job. Find a different way to say "To Whom It May Concern." Remove
those five words from your cover letter vocabulary for good.

Demonstrate Knowledge of the Client's Goals and Job Description.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

The first few sentences should highlight that you fully comprehend the client's requirements.
Potential clients on Upwork want to know you'll be on their side. They want to know you have
the necessary skills and are eager to assist them in their success. Always begin by restating
the main issues or commenting on something about the job. This demonstrates that you
read the project description thoroughly and possess the necessary expertise.

Understanding what the job entails before beginning a proposal for that project is always the
key to creating a winning proposal.

That being said, there are a few things to avoid when submitting proposals for Upwork jobs.

Do Not Use Proposal Templates

Your proposal will not get you a job if it is poorly written. When time is limited, many
freelancers, particularly beginners, use copied and pasted templates to save time writing
proposals. While this method may save you many hours of writing, you tend to skip the job
description and apply robotically. This is a bad idea because each client and job is unique.

A pre-made proposal is easily identified by clients because it usually fails to connect with
their needs on a deeper level. Using a template can reduce your chances of landing a job
because it provides less personalized ideas and suggestions. Using templates also puts you
at risk of developing the habit of failing to fully understand the client's needs and the scope
of the project.

Be that as it may. Feel free to save a few sentences or paragraphs of your cover letters to
reuse when suitable. I personally have +25 different proposal templates to match the
different industries, and fields I work in.

Don’t Make It All About You

One other critical issue to avoid is talking about yourself rather than the client. Remember
that clients are interested in finding solutions to their problems, which is why they posted the
project on Upwork in the first place. Your proposal must focus on your clients, their problems,

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

and the solutions you can provide.

Don’t Include Unnecessary Fillers

Writing unnecessary details that aren't relevant to the job risks making you appear
unprofessional. Clients don't have time for filler or fluff. Write personalized, concise, and
impactful proposals to demonstrate to clients that you value their time.

Avoid Redundancy and False Claims

Again, there are plenty of topics not worth mentioning. “I came across your posts in the job
feed.” Yes, of course, where else?

“I am interested in the job described.” Well, I know. That’s why you’re sending a proposal in
the first place, right?

“SEO is a service that will help to get a better Google ranking.” Don’t you think the client
knows that? That’s why he’s looking for professional help.

Be careful what statements you make. When clients are looking for a specific service, they
already know what the job entails. Dig a little deeper for benefits.

“My translation service will help you to educate more people.” Wrong, your translation
doesn’t educate, it expands the audience. Rather say something like: After translating your
content to English, your audience AND your sales will increase.

Don’t be too casual or overly professional

When it comes to writing winning proposal openings, making a good first impression on
potential clients is always a good idea. Avoid comments or statements that attempt to be
entertaining. As more often than not, these have the opposite effect of what you intended.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

While work communication has become less formal, especially with online collaboration
tools, your perception of acceptable professional settings should not be clouded.

On the other hand, being overly professional can sometimes cause more harm than good.
Many freelancers believe that in order to appear knowledgeable and competent, they must
sound extremely formal in their pitches. However, this can harm their chances of getting an
interview. Being overly professional may irritate clients and give the impression that you're
stiff and difficult to connect with personally.

To avoid these two extremes, find the middle ground to ensure you connect with the client in
the best way possible. Remember that everything you write will leave an impression, and
you want it to be a good one.

So, to summarize, you can see the first 230 characters of your cover letter are the most
important factor, along with your profile picture and profile heading. After closely examining
the job posting, try to imagine the person you are dealing with. Imitate the tone of voice and
way of writing while listing the numerous benefits to solve the client's problem.

A real-life example and application

Let's take a look at how to properly implement everything we've learned. Now, read through
this job posting and note down any aspects that you think will help you with your first 230
characters. Pay attention to formatting, client goals, writing style, etc. Take the time to read
the piece 2 or 3 times. Ask yourself, who is the author? What are his or her goals?
Go grab a pen and paper and join in the exercise. Write down a possible proposal intro,
using all the new things you’ve learned. Take your time. And don’t worry, there is no right or
wrong.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

‍Here is what I was able to filter out of the content:

Passion
The client is looking for a freelancer with passion. But what exactly is passion? Passion is a
strong, enthusiastic affinity for something; a preference, a fascination. Passion is expressed
by a great level of energy and excitement. These are the qualities we can note down for the
style of writing we can use for how we propose to sound. So, to impress the client, our
speech must reflect passion, we must be inspirational, innovative, and excited.

Tourism/Sport
Here the client gives us important and clear information about the niche in which his
company operates. Let's pick this up again to convey to the client that we have been paying

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

attention and have read all the information carefully.

Attention: Never copy the entire job title. Simple copy & paste shows laziness, and we
certainly don't want the client to think we're lazy.

“The goal is to substantially increase the number of outdoor activities offers in Italian”
Here the client tells us his goal. More offers for the Italian customers. More offers mean
satisfied customers. Satisfied customers mean more money. So, his goal is to increase
sales.

“a great experience” “Italian-speaking”

He wants to give his customers ‘a great experience’, in other words: So he wants to stand out
from the competition and not get lost in the mass of providers. The client can only achieve this if
you convince them through quality. Your skills must ensure that his customers keep coming
back to him.

In 90% of cases, the goal of a client is to generate more sales. However, if we highlight this
as a benefit in our hook, we are being a little too simplistic. Instead, we can pick up on his
wording and demonstrate an understanding of his problem.

“Passionate”
A recap. A repetition always means that it is particularly important. So again, we need to be
passionate and reflect that in our offer.
Be careful: don't make it too easy for yourself, and just pick up the word 'passion' again.
Anyone can copy and paste words and phrases. Think about how you can reflect passion
with the word choices in your writing.

“;)”
The client is using emojis. This means that you are welcome to use a less formal, more
experimental writing style. And again, don't make it too easy for yourself by including emojis
yourself. Be creative with your writing style. The more effort you put into your proposal, the
better your chances.

“winter and summer holiday activities”

The offer was published in June, it is in the Italian market and the client already mentioned 'ski
experience'. Now I can assume that the project is for winter tourism. But summer activities were
also mentioned. So it is a year-round project. Now that we know that, we can refer to both
winter and summer in our proposal to show that we’ve developed a deeper understanding of
the project.

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

1.
The Greeting. Say, Hi: Of course, all the other information mentioned in the job post,
besides the ones I highlighted, are also important. The company name is mentioned
below in the last section. So, to show that we have read the job post to the end, we
should cleverly include the company name in our Greeting. We must be passionate, and
make it clear that we have understood that it is about tourism and travel.

GREETING + …

2.
The Hook. After you have greeted your client, the next step is to make him
understand that you have understood his goal. Communicate that you are on the
same page, and that you are willing to work TOGETHER. Show that you are
motivated to help your client reach his goal by motivating him.

GREETING + MOTIVATION (PROBLEM) + …

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230 Characters Pure Curiosity – The Upwork Proposal Headline Guide by Maria Britze

3.
Take the points you have discovered from the job description and form a meaningful
sentence that reflects all the insights in the matching tone of voice.

GREETING + MOTIVATION (PROBLEM) + SOLUTION

Mission accomplished.

Did you find this guide helpful? Or do you have ideas on how it could be improved in the
future? I would be grateful if you could leave some feedback here.

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