The one thing that actually helped me win gigs on Upwork was copying my proposal format from a top rated freelancer

I was getting maybe 1 response out of 20 proposals for months. Then I looked at a guy who had like 50 five star reviews and noticed his proposals were super short, like 3 sentences, and he always mentioned something specific from the job post in the first line. Tried it last Thursday and got 3 replies out of 5 bids. Has anyone else had luck stealing someone else's format?

2 comments

2 Comments

sanchez.ivan10h ago

Respectfully, copying someone's format can work short term but it's a trap. The reason that guy's short proposals work is because he already has 50 reviews and a reputation on the platform. His name alone gets him replies. If you use the same format without the track record, clients might just see it as lazy. Did you try adjusting his style to match your own voice at all?

aaronroberts9h ago

Wait, so you're telling me that guy actually landed $5k jobs with just three lines of text? That's wild. I don't buy it for a second without the reputation to back it up. @sanchez.ivan you're spot on - those reviews are doing all the heavy lifting. I've seen people try to copy that minimalist style and they just look like they couldn't be bothered to write a real proposal. The format only works when the client already trusts you. You gotta earn that trust first. That's why I always write at least a paragraph showing I actually read their project details. Shortcuts backfire more often than not.