It's time for our weekly WIN THREAD! Big or small, share your victories from the past week! Let's support each other and spread some positivity! 👇
Mine is the fact that we went from an idea to actually setting up our first local event on Freelancer Forum, the upcoming Argentina event hosted by our own @Andrea and @FloConMate.
I talked to a prospect yesterday about some software architecture and although the whole conversation was good it was clear because I had not done the exact thing that he needed he wasn't interested in having me do this (a very common, frustrating problem). I was really only interested in doing it to actually build out the software if I am honest, a lot more money in that, but the conversation kept going and I was talking about what I do and how I do it and he was like "well I don't want you to do the architecture because you haven't done this but would you like to build the software?"
Nothing is set in stone yet but still feels like a win.
Yay, @Mark ! That's wonderful how the client sees and appreciates your true value for him.
Well, for me on UW it was back to the usual... nearly invisible.
That's not a win, unfortunately. I hoped it was something new about UW—views for pros, like it's 2022! —but I guess it was just too good to last.
And I got my second contact in two weeks that was also not a win: People write long elaborate listings, right up my alley. Good, but not suspicious pay. I send detailed proposals as always, really laying out how I can bring the goods for them. Then they get in touch, and (Charlie Brown reference) they pull the football away as I'm about to kick: "Well, we've decided to do [project that's way tinier than I ever would have sent a proposal for] and we love your work so we'd like you to do it for [half my rate or less]." I've never gotten contacts like this before, now two in two weeks. Is it a new scam technique that's making the rounds?
It seems the idea is to rope in big, experienced fish with a big project scope, then flatter them about how lucky they are to be kissed by their interest and browbeat them simultaneously, saying "don't I know about the competition in my field" etc.
The win ABOUT this situation is that last time, I just said a big fat NO to the job-lister—but this time, I really enjoyed putting together a polite, professional response about the expert they had asked for in the job title, the value I had laid out for them, and that even (or especially!) on a suddenly-small job, I have more respect for my time and my paying clients than to enter a race to the bottom as a desperate discounter.
They wrote back totally nasty, which I expected, but I really needed to "hear" my voice sticking up for professional pay for professional work, and I was expecting no less than what I got in their response.
(I also went back through my proposal looking at whether I'm not phrasing the value I've provided to past clients well enough—but I've decided that these two weird contacts are either an anomaly or a new scam. I've been doing this for almost 20 years and I know I get across what I've done and what I can do, in prospect-centered language.)
...
The more obvious win is that I've had some really warm contacts on LinkedIn, where I am a brand-new babe in the woods, and I am truly wondering why it took Christine (from Upwork forums) to prod me into it last month. I have my feed tightly curated, of course, and that helps. I'm finding it to be such a positive place! Maybe I should have been exploring LI long ago.
Best time to start is yesterday, second-best time is now...
Kelly_E The thing I do not like about Christine is she is not Irish. I am not entirely sure why I feel she should be but it turns out she isn't. I used to have a whole thing about her and Renata being Stealth Canadians but I have to drop it because of certain actions by certain US Presidents I do not want to appear like any of this is serious.
I've been waiting for this all week! Ha. On Tuesday morning for me (which was Monday afternoon for most of my clients), my phone started pinging and dinging and jostled me out of my sleep.
I had a client reach out to me with more work, another client who had paused a project wants to start again, and an invite to interview! Opportunities were popping up left, right, and center. The icing on the cake for that day was another client told me that I was doing a good job and THANKED me for doing such a good job. I really appreciate when clients or anyone in general says thank you or just says something nice.
It was a day of good news and I guess everyone was hitting the ground running on Monday? I'm here for it!
Kelly_E The strange incident with the client you described sounds familiar to me. There seems to be a new fashion for companies to make contact, claiming 'your profile and feedback suggests that you are a great fit' and saying 'we would love to work with you', only to then reduce the project scope to a small 'sample'. The reason given usually has to do with them not trusting you ('We had other freelancers sending us AI-generated translations'), but the real reason is something else: expert backup. Most of these platform users are keen to impress their clients with the freelancer pool they have at their disposal. So, the whole point of making contact through the platform is not to get a project done (using the generous review and refund functions) but to build a directory of freelance professionals. It probably makes more sense for them than twiddling their thumbs.
Communication is still the one thing that is free and achievable for all clients on the platform, so that is what I will continue to rely on. It was admirable how you restated your main points for the client; I don't think I have the patience. Way to go!
Alexandra It's no exaggeration—it really felt like such a win, especially compared to how the exact same thing happened a week ago and all I said was a polite but indignant No, which left me sort of wounded and befuddled.
These folks are claiming to be looking for true experts to do massive work, then turning it around and hoping we lack self-esteem. No money (and especially not tiny money!) is worth working for someone who treats you like that—being able to choose GOOD matches is why we all do freelance work!
For me, 2025 Chapter 2 started really good.
Kelly_E Good for you for standing up for yourself! It sounds like you were professional yet firm and in my opinion, when you send a message like that, you're standing up for all freelancers.
I've also been trying to figure out the art of warming pitching on LinkedIn. I signed up for a free 30-minute webinar that included some good templates for sending messages in it. Here's the link if you want to check it out: https://freelancemagic.co/resources/#free
Kansas City Chiefs got destroyed in the Super Bowl. I had nothing to do with it but still feels like a win to me.
Mark Go Birds!
