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Summary: Want to get freelance work? Write a proposal.

Category: Writing

Words: 700

How To Write A Proposal To Get Freelance Work

Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth

** This article is adapted from my new email workshop, Writing To Sell In The Internet Age. If you want to get a taste of workshop, you can sign up for free mini-course based on Writing To Sell In The Internet Age, on Web site ---

http://www.digital-e.biz/

If you're a freelancer looking for work, drop that CV! Your primary tool for generating work is a proposal, not a CV.

Some of your proposals will be written in response to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), where businesses put out a call for proposals to provide solutions to problems.

The proposals you generate on your own, after you've identified a need client has, are called Unsolicited Proposals. By creating lots of proposals, you get lots of work.

When I'm soliciting copywriting work, I write mini-proposals, of around a page, or 300 words. I send out these mini-proposals either as an introduction to my services, or as a follow-up to an initial call I've made to business.

Whenever you're going through a slow period, turn out a few proposals. I promise you, within a week or two, you'll have more work than you can handle. Businesses are used to receiving proposals, so no one will think it odd when you submit one.

So what does a mini-proposal contain? A single page, with:

* a description of a problem (or need) you conceive business has;

* an outline of solution;

* why you're person to solve this problem --- what skills you have.

Simple, right?

When you start sending out mini-proposals regularly, you WILL get work. Lots of work. Everyone has problems; everyone is looking for solutions.

You market yourself to businesses as someone who can solve their problems.

==> Spotting a need

Start by training yourself to spot problems (call them challenges when you're communicating with businesses) and needs that businesses have. You're going to become Mr or Ms Fixit.

How would you know if this is true for you? There are many indicators. Foremost among them is that you go home from work each day...EACH day...feeling frustrated. You may not even be able to pinpoint what it is about your work that leaves you with this feeling but, it's there...and it's mounting.

A close second to frustration is reluctance to go to work in morning. Sounds simple, doesn't it? This is more than your garden variety reluctance. It persists. Sunday nights a cloud seems to be gathering over your head as you consider Monday morning. You may feel tension rising in your body. You know, your shoulders making their way persistently towards your ear lobes.

You feel misunderstood or undervalued at work. Although you bring excellent skills and experience to company, you are asked to do things that do not allow you to shine...repeatedly. Certainly, you know that you must continuously develop and adapt your style to fit changing economic, legal and workplace cultures. If you are asked to change, your style, though, you may very well be in wrong place for your success and well-being.

Sometimes, you may need to shift your style to meet needs of certain situations. Though uncomfortable, everyone needs to be somewhat flexible most of time. The good news about generally retaining your flexibility is that when you do need to remain firm, folks know you are very serious. This is a good thing.

What needs do you want met by your work? Of course, each style has its challenges and 'stretches'. Let's look at four major styles.

Do you prefer to be visionary? You like to have a new idea, think it through until you know that it can be accomplished and, then, pass it on to someone else to do. If so, it is likely that you are also intolerant of excuses or reasons why deadlines for its completion are not met. True?

Do you really like to sink your teeth into an issue and wrestle it to ground? You like to gather facts and parameters and create solutions to difficult problems. If so, it is also likely that you are also a bit of a perfectionist, unwilling to say that you are finished with your solution. Why? Because, with just a few more facts, you could find a more perfect solution.

Are you at your best when you are establishing and nurturing relationships? You consider yourself a real 'people person' and you will go out of your way to find solutions that keep most people happy. You are very uncomfortable if folks around you are not kept happy. If so, it is likely, too, that you find it difficult to make tough decisions regarding clients’ and co-worker's needs and wants.

Do you like to be one who collects and conserves facts, research, background for a project or department? Folks have to come to you for answers, and, they can depend on you to have them at hand. If so, it is likely that you would prefer there to be no one else who could provide them but you. Your power can be exercised then by withholding information.