My Name is Muhammad Zia Ullah aka Zia Geek. I belong to Okara, Pakistan. I started my learning process at an early age when I use to play games and change their attributes by code.
I did my Bachelor’s degree in 2018 and worked as a full-time software developer in a software house. Always wanting to go for self-empowerment, I came across the YouTube channel of Hisham Sarwar a couple of years back. His training changed my perspective on online business. I decided not only to create an account on a freelance marketplace but also to give back to the community.
Today, I am a successful freelancer with over $70k in earnings on Upwork and I am paying back to my country by teaching how to do freelancing and winning projects by sending effective proposals on my Youtube Channel.
Upwork Success
I reckon I was lucky enough to figure out that on Upwork, the two most challenging parts were to complete my profile 100% and to write an eye-catching proposal.
I started applying the famous Satrangi formula to my proposals and it started doing wonders. I began to win small to medium-sized projects. Like any new journey, I experience highs and lows. I had my Ups and Downs but the dark days even the dropped shoulders when I was unable to get a response from my bids did not let me lose my enthusiasm for freelance work. I guess the drive is very important as it generates enthusiasm to keep doing what you love to do.
I also realized that consistency and communication skill is the key to becoming a successful freelance. If you do not learn how to convey your point of view to your client and convince them to choose you for their project, you do not stand tall in saturated competition. Similarly, consistency is the key. You’ve got to keep looking for projects that best match your expertise and keep bidding regularly.
Of course, you do not have a chance if you do not show up.
Fast forward, courtesy consistency, communication skill, and prayers of my parents, today I have completed 150+ jobs with 5 stars and most importantly. I have long-term working relationships with my clients. In order to ace freelance work, client retention is very important as it is hard to win new projects every single day but if you look after your existing clients, and pamper them to the best of your ability, they keep coming back to you and also refer more people to do business with you. With a couple of clients, I also own equity (that means, I am an official partner of their businesses as well in the USA & Canada)
Future Goals.
As a self-taught programmer who joined the university to seek an environment where I could groom myself in a disciplined way, I am optimistic to share my experience with aspiring freelancers, and programmers so they can also pick this field and pursue an online career. I aspire to teach free on my YouTube channel and I have made my self accessible to anybody who approaches me for any kind of help regarding Upwork, Programming or successful freelancing
How Can I help you (free forever)?
If you are facing trouble with getting your first client. If you do not know how to write a proposal, I am right here willing to help you out.
You can watch my Upwork series where you will find the pattern of writing proposals, Profile Optimizations, and I also narrated a proposal that got me $11K, worth of clients. Also, If you want to learn technologies like nodejs/reactjs/vuejs/angularjs, you will be able to learn these emerging skills on my YouTube channel.
At the time of writing this article, I have already completed 12 episodes of the WordPress series. You can learn that in a couple of days and can start earning.
You can learn everything for Free on my Youtube channel. The link is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJo9AuvDp8CFJakaNRh_ODg?sub_confirmation=1
Final Takeaway:
Great things take time. Today on the internet. almost all resources are available for free. Make Youtube your best friend. Listen, do not rush. You are at the right place at a right time but work hard on your communication skill as well as your technical skill.
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