Can't get my first client in Odesk.

Hi Jeff,

Seems like you can't find your very first client in Odesk.
I will message you a sample cover letter.

And also, please work on your portfolios.

Lastly, just apply and apply and don't be discouraged.

Hi Jeff,

I would recommend you to apply to ANY job if you are qualified well for it, no matter how much you get paid. Accept a few contracts even if they are low priced. Your goal is to get feedback and portfolio.

I'm not an oDesk worker, but I often hire people in oDesk and sometimes I'm lucky to get a great contractor for cheep just because he or she don't have any feedback or oDesk hours. I see that these contractors have much higher hourly rate in their profiles than they are agree to work for me and I realize that they do it just to get their first job. If the job is completed successfully and IN TIME (it's very important for me), I tend to leave a great feedback and recommendations. This, I believe, helps my contractors to find more jobs which are good paid. I think there are other employers who have same approach as me, so use this info to design your own strategy on marketing your service on oDesk.

Hope it helps.

Jeff,

Remember you're competing with a LOT of other people all vying for the same jobs and many are probably happy to take less money than you too.
Check out other sites instead of only focusing on one site. It will increase your odds of getting work.

Simply stated: You are asking for too much money!

Lowball yourself for your first 3-5 clients to build up your reputation there... Give $20/hr service for $5/hr and you will have no problem landing your first clients. Then, go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure you get 5 star ratings and positive reviews.

Those ratings and reviews will help you land $8/hr clients for $20/hr work and then $10 and then $15... By the time you hit your target price per hour, you should have 100+ hours logged and 4.90 rating or higher... Then you will stand out in the crowd!

An analogy for you here would be in the real estate world. No matter what people say, there is only one reason that a house will ever not sell and remain on the market... Because it is overpriced.

Keep it simple and remember that your simply paying it forward to yourself... We spend tens of thousands of dollars on oDesk as an employer each year, so we are speaking from experience here.

I've hired quite a few providers on oDesk so I'll give you a quick rundown of what I look for.

1. Applications that respond to my posting. I usually post information to give an overview of what I need done. Then look for qualified applicants that don't submit a clearly generic application. Those applications automatically get ignored.
2. Positive reviews. Rarely have I hired anyone that didn't have a few positive reviews. Only when it's a very simple task do I even consider it.
3. Decent portfolio. Always prefer someone who has done something similar to what I want done.

Really, that's all I look for.

I look for:

1. Good rep
2. Good English
3. Good understanding of the service I am after

Perhaps start on Fiverr, build your reputation then move up in price. You could trade work for testimonials and build your portfolio.

Hope this helps.

Lower your price. Establish a track record. Increase your price accordingly.

I have been working on Odesk for a while now and my experience tells me that you have to do your first few jobs at dirt cheap rate in order to get feedback. After couple of feedback, you can go back to your normal rate. Offer your services in such a cheap rate that the buyer cannot ignore your bid.

~ Worked for me.

Oh.. Good to see a lot of information, I wanted to start with O'desk, I got good client from dp, fiverr and some others. Will try out in O'desk soon and will try to give a good service...

1. Do not create a "over-hyped" portfolio with lot of things in there. The clients are not stupid. The moment they see your portfolio has a lot of good stuff, they will wonder if you are so good, then how come you have no work ?

2. The cover letter is VERY important. Do NOT use copy paste generic cover letters explaining your life history and boasting about your skills. Keep it short and to the point. They want to see whether you have understood the work or not. And since you are starting out as new, you shouldn't boast of your service also.

3. Make sure you specify to the client what the client wants you to do. Read the job posting carefully, some clients ask for "phrases" to include in cover letters just to check whether you have read the whole description or not. Also specify the time you will take to finish the work.

4. Try to keep the time frame within 24 hours. But this doesn't mean you rush and give him crap work. You are starting out a new career in a way. Make sure you give enough time to it.

5. Do NOT fake yourself. Be yourself. Be honest ! If you can't do anything, let the client know. Don't just take the work and then think that you will somehow "manage" to get it done.

6. Price: Don't keep it too high, don't keep it too low.

7. Communication is very important. Sometimes a client might reply to you immediately. Make sure you are there in front of your computer to answer them. If a client replies to you and you reply him back after 2-3 hours, consider that you will not get the job.

8. Subscribe to their RSS feeds, so that you get updates about the latest job postings. 60-70% clients prefer people who post their offer first. Go to Find Work, enter a keyword in the search form, keep that page open, keep refreshing it after 5 minutes or 2 minutes, since RSS feeds come a little later than than the original time of job posting.

9. Keep bidding, it might take time to get your first job. But if you follow the above points, then you will get it fast. The first time I started freelancing almost 5 years ago, I got a job in the first day itself.

10. Make sure you take work which you really can do. Good Luck.

It can be hard on oDesk especially if you are asking to high a price.

Perhaps this short tutorial might help????

Odesk Tips For Applying For Work

These freelancing sites takes a lot of time to get you a new or first client. These aren't easy these days to get clients that easy. You should offer some free services or kind of thing so that you can acquire some reviews over them. Never mind if they come for no money, but they are going to attract new clients easily.

There's really no secret formula..

Apply for a lot of jobs and work for cheap until you get some rep..

Then increase your price.

Cheers,

Gary

"I prefer the WTT section on SEOClerk instead of Odesk. Great place to get many clients!

Write an unique application and don't copy & paste the same to every job. It's so annoying because you have no idea if the applicant actually read and understood your job description. A good trick for showing this is to repeat some information from the job description in your own words.

I don't get why people are pricing their work so low. I hire people to create things for me all the time and the low bids I stay away from completely.

Though I must say from a business stand point it is great because I can hire someone that is charging these low ball gutter prices and offer them say $200 instead of the $50 they were charging and get decent work and still make money on the deal. I love the built-in self loathing and self-esteem killing atmosphere these places put on people and the peer pressure to charge $5 for what normally one would pay $150 to $300 for, it is great business for buyers. Please, please PLEASE keep that atmosphere up it is greatly saving my pocket book.

As someone who also has done freelancing I have had ZERO problems getting clients but I do NOT ever work through these type of sites and get involved in the gutter slinging of who can offer the lowest price for the best feed back game.

My rates are typical among those that can produce high quality and customers flock, they absolutely FLOCK to me especially after dealing with all you that low ball themselves through the freelance sites.

I was critical and gave my personal experience of dealing with these sites in another thread and it got deleted so I am guessing any type of critical against these type of sites will be moderated out now since Freelancer owns the joint.

I am just sharing my own personal experience as a Buyer of hiring outsource labor.

If I shared with you what I make when I freelance you would not believe it and think I am a delusional american with a "sense of entitlement." Thing is, I have no problems charging high fees and getting clients to pay whatever that fee is. Only problems I ever get both on the labor and the client end is when paying or charging too little so I have learned by necessity to stay out of the low ball realm.

How do I do this? I expect to make what I am worth and I market to those that expect to get the results of what they would receive from paying me. None of that will work in the outsourcing sites though so I don't know what I can say to help you there.

To get clients you would actually want to deal with and earn a decent living from, learn to market yourself and target the level of client you want to have.