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Heidi [00:00:00]: If you're just starting your freelance career in the fashion industry, you might be wondering what are the best platforms out there? What are the best websites to find clients? And if you want to go somewhere where there are actual, air quote, freelance job postings, The one and only site that I recommend and that my students recommend, this is data after serving over 500 students inside my freelance accelerator program. The one and only site that we have found over and over that offers good, possibly good freelance opportunities is Upwork. Now I say possibly good because there's a disclaimer here. The reality is that there are still junk opportunities on Upwork. There are still junky PETA clients. PETA pain in the ass. Literally, p I t a. That's what that stands for if you don't know that acronym. Heidi [00:00:49]: There are still pain in the ass and cheap clients on Upwork, but we do find students. And of our students, what they reported back to us is that they have the best luck on Upwork, across all the other platforms. Fiverr is junk. Don't spend any time there. People per hour, we do hear a little bit of success from there from the European, at the beginning, just a minute ago, I said true remote freelance work, or if you wanna go somewhere and find, air quote, true remote freelancing opportunities, that's gonna happen on Upwork. Now you can find freelance, air quote, freelance opportunities on platforms temp jobs in temp jobs in disguise. I call them permalance jobs, and they're jobs where you are required to show up on-site, whether that's 5 days a week or 3 days a week or what have you, but you're required to essentially show up, work on-site, work the scheduled hours that they have for you. And you're basically showing up and acting and looking like an employee, but you're not getting the benefits of an employee. Heidi [00:02:04]: And this is technically illegal in a lot of places and, in my opinion, extremely abusive and exploitive to our industry. It's very, very advantageous to the brand. They get someone, an employee, an air quote employee at their beck and call to work when and where they want and be on demand, yet they're not paying any of the benefits, the health insurance, the paydays off, etcetera. And so I don't support this type of work, and that is the type of work that you typically find listed under air quote freelance opportunities on these big job boards. And so the only site that we recommend that based off of all the data from my students and all the the experience that I've seen with my students over the years is Upwork to find true remote freelance gigs. So the reality is, like I mentioned, you can find junk work junk work on Upwork, but you can find good stuff. And so a few things to think about when you're looking on Upwork in terms of how to find good quality clients. So you wanna take a look at the budget. Heidi [00:03:04]: Right? Like, money is not everything, but a higher budget can often indicate a serious client. I always joke that cheap clients expect a tech pack for $5, but the reality is that those fashion brands are out there, and there's there's a fine line between them not knowing the value of the work if they're not experienced in fashion and then just being cheap. So you need to use your judgment and use your gut or offer some education about what goes into the work, in your proposal if their budget expectations are too low. The second thing you're gonna wanna look at is to review the project descriptions. You're gonna wanna look for detailed project briefs with specific questions and requests. They don't necessarily need to be fashion industry perfect because many startups, you know, might not know the right terms and abbreviations, but make sure that they're giving you enough detail to show you that they're serious. And last, I would definitely avoid bidding wars. Projects that have too many proposals often are just gonna lead to high competition and lower bids, And there's a good chance that they've already hired someone or have stopped looking at candidates because they just have too many options already. Heidi [00:04:05]: So I suggest moving on and looking for opportunities that have less competition. And, yes, this does mean setting alerts and jumping on gigs right when they're posted. One thing I've heard from our students over and over is that the reality is when it comes to Upwork, and maybe people per hour if you're in the UK, is that you have a much better chance at getting the opportunity if you jump in there right away. So this does mean kind of being on top of it, and and I know Upwork has some pretty heavy duty email reminder options to set up. So definitely get in there and and create your settings. Next thing, you're gonna want to, increase your once you feel like you've found, like, a quality client, you're gonna want to, create a profile that's professional, and it's going to attract the ideal fashion brands. So on your profile, you wanna be super niche. Most brands are not looking for someone who does everything. Heidi [00:04:59]: They want someone who does the exact thing that they need. You don't wanna be what I call the mall food court of freelancers where you're like, I do swim, and I do lingerie, and I do denim, and I do kids, and I do handbags, and I do all the things. And I do social media too. You wanna be the fashion designer who exclusively does, cashmere sweaters, or maybe the technical designer who only offers tech packs. Being super, super niche in your Upwork profile is one of the number one ways to get ahead to attract attention and to land those exact perfect clients that are for you. Yes. This does mean you're gonna turn some clients and some brands away, but it also means that the clients that are right for you are going to be 10 times more attracted to you than they are to the other generic freelancers that are out there. The next thing you're gonna wanna think about with your profile is that making it more, you want it to be a little bit more about your client and less about you. Heidi [00:05:51]: So most people's Upwork profiles look like a resume. I have 3 years of experience, and I did this, and I did this, and I did that. And the reality is that you wanna kinda flip it, and you wanna talk a little bit more about your client than yourself. Like, what problems are your clients facing, and how can you solve those, and what results can you deliver, and how does the client benefit? You wanna speak their language and focus more on them than just about listing your experience. The last thing you're gonna wanna do is that make sure that you've got some portfolio examples that are relevant to that niche we talked about earlier. Right? So if you're doing cashmere sweaters, you want portfolio pieces in there that are relevant to cashmere sweaters. The the truth is you don't need a ton of project in your Upwork portfolio. You just need a couple relevant ones. Heidi [00:06:35]: I have a whole book on fashion portfolios that we'll link to in the show notes where you can learn more about building out your portfolio. But the truth is you really need, like, 2 to 3 projects. They can be either real life projects or they can be self directed that are specific to your niche. What you essentially want is to show the brand at a glance that you are the right person for the job. And then last thing you're gonna wanna do is write a standout proposal letter, cover letter for Upwork. I have a full article on how to do this, so we'll link to that in the show notes as well. But I'll highlight a few key points, and I'll I'll tell you from the hiring side of Upwork, because I have hired a fair amount of people on Upwork, most people's proposals are garbage. Nobody puts in any time to make them personalized or customized. Heidi [00:07:21]: They typically are very copy and paste. They don't address any of the specific questions that I might have put in my job listing. So you can automatically float to the top, like, 10 or 20% of proposals just by making it specific and personalized to the job posting. Look at what they put in there. Look at some of the things they talked about. Look at some of the specific requirements they're asking for, and then build that into your proposal. Right? You don't need to write a novel. You can keep it pretty short and sweet. Heidi [00:07:53]: Just make sure it is personalized based off of the original job listing. You're also gonna wanna highlight any relevant skills and work experience that relate back to the skills that they're asking for. And make sure that you're addressing any of the things that they've referenced in, whatever their needs might be. Right? Like, if they're in a timeline if they have a timeline crunch and they're like, I need this done in 2 weeks, address that in your proposal. It is unbelievable how many people send super generic copy and paste proposals out there on Upwork. So like I mentioned, check out the show notes for some more tips on writing a great proposal, cover letter letter for Upwork, putting together a professional portfolio, which you can translate over to Upwork as well, and go out there and land those clients. Even if you're starting from 0 in Upwork, it is attainable. We also have a couple other episodes on the podcast with interviews from freelancers who've had great success on Upwork, so we'll link to those as well. Heidi [00:08:51]: Hit play and get started.