Master freelance interviews with this ONE trick ​👀

Another fantastic Wednesday has arrived, and that means that the Freelance Income Accelerator newsletter has landed!

In this newsletter, Anthony Muhye, your favorite freelance guide, covers one burning ❤️‍🔥​ freelance topic in depth - and by the time you’re done reading, you will be at least 1% better at Upwork and LinkedIn freelancing!

In this issue, you will learn:

• Why interviews usually go wrong for freelancers

• How to dominate an interview like a total boss!!!

• and finally, a Loom video at the end about my typical approach to interviews both as a client and as a freelancer.

Total Reading Time: 6.5 minutes.

Are you ready? The only valid answer is YES. Let’s dive in!

The Beauty and Ugliness of Freelance Interviews

Freelancing is almost always great. Like 99% at least. It’s practically flawless.

But then you have to jump on an interview with a sour-faced client and you know, you just know that you’ve found the 1% of freelancing suckiness.

Because, unlike proposals, you have zero control over interviews. Or so it seems.

The client usually starts asking you questions from a negative POV:

• It’s not “Oh, so you’re good at X”, it’s usually “Okay, but are you good at Y?”

• They never say “Awesome, your CV is impressive”. Instead, they say “Sounds good, can you tell me about your experience with (that one precise niche you’ve never worked in)”

• And don’t expect to get a very straightforward role these days. Most writers need to have been content managers. Marketers need to do design and copywriting. Virtual assistants should also be marketers. What happened with niching down?!

And that’s not the worst part - it’s that they usually leave the rate/budget to the very end of the call.

So that job that seemed so attractive to you suddenly deflates before your eyes.

But that’s where I want to stop you:

Interviews don’t have to be painful or challenging.

It’s a matter of mindset, and people approach interviews with the wrong one.

When being interviewed, you aren’t trying to convince the client that you’re a top candidate. They already saw that when you applied.

Instead, you’re just trying to push past the finish line…

…and prove that you’re the one with the solution.

I think that’s the biggest weakness: people believe that clients have this massive list of great candidates every single time.

Imposter syndrome kicks in. Fear floods the mind. Terror clutches the heart.

But at the end of the day, most clients don’t even have more than 4-5 shortlisted candidates, including you.

And that puts you on a very exclusive list that you can easily dominate.

Talking of domination, an interview is a power struggle. You must take the power.

But how do you take it? Let me tell you what I do, and how freelancers have managed to do it with me, as well!

How to dominate interviews on Upwork (and LinkedIn)

Here’s a few tips that will serve you well:

• Don’t send proposals to jobs you know you can’t do. This takes power out of your hands and puts it in the client’s. You also close doors with them if they realize you just sent a proposal for the sake of it.

• Don’t act desperate. Act unavailable. Like this is just another interview and another job that you’ll have today. Clients are looking for scarcity in a candidate, not abundance.

• Don’t give your budget too easily or freely. Sure, you can shut up for most of the interview, but eventually they will want a number. Estimate a very broad ballpark figure and tell them it will likely change.

• Study the job post for questions you can ask and definitely look for something that stands out in their work history. Use this in their favor - not just their name but previous job titles, etc.

• Research their company and/or them if you can. Look at their website. Their social media. How people react to them.

• Smile often. Even when being intimidated, smile. Use an assertive tone, look often into the camera. And about that…

• Finally, if you don’t like being on camera, either think of an excuse (broken camera) or don’t enable it at all. It will become a distraction.

These tips, and others I will add in my upcoming workshop, will definitely give you a huge advantage ahead of your competitors for the job.

As clients, we love it when someone comes prepared to an interview.

As freelancers, it will open so many more doors. Be ready. It’s all you’ll need.

But before we get to today’s episode, IMPORTANT:

I’m planning a paid workshop of 5-7 days that will cover interview mastery, proposal perfection, and priceless positioning for Upwork and LinkedIn freelancers, among other things.

There will be the opportunity to bring some friends and get discounts (or even a free pass) for it - if you’re interested in this opportunity, please let me know. I’ll probably do it towards the end of October.

P.S. The cost of this workshop will be under $100. Probably around the $50-75 range.

Finally, today’s Loom video is about an interview lesson I received myself. You’ll enjoy it and take valuable insights from them.

Subscribe | The Freelance Income Accelerator - 27 September 2023 - Watch Video

Find the video »» HERE ««

Did you enjoy the video? Do you want to say thank you? Feel free to do it on my latest post on LinkedIn: URL

That’s all for today, don’t forget to rate the newsletter!

See you next Wednesday, and if you don’t follow me yet, find me on LinkedIn!