How to Write a Freelance Proposal

A client with fifteen proposals is not reading them, they are sorting them. The first two lines decide which pile yours lands in, and almost every proposal spends those two lines on the author. The fix is not a better introduction; it is not having one.

What the client is reading for

Underneath the polite language, they are checking four things: did this person read the brief, have they done something like it, do they understand what makes it hard, and can I work with them. Everything in a proposal should serve one of those.

A structure that fits on one screen

1. 1Their problem, in your words. One or two lines showing you understood what they are trying to achieve.
2. 2How you would approach it. The shape of the work, not a lecture. Three or four lines.
3. 3Relevant proof. Two examples close to their situation, with your part in each made clear.
4. 4The question. The thing the brief left open that would change your estimate.
5. 5Price and timing. Broken into parts, with what each assumes.
6. 6One next step. What happens if they reply.

Six paragraphs. If it runs longer, it is usually a template with the client's name dropped in, and that reads exactly as it sounds.

Openings

Ask one real question

Every brief has a gap. Finding it is the strongest signal you can send, because it shows you have already started thinking about the work. Ask about the thing that would actually change your estimate: which system it connects to, who approves, whether the content exists, what happens to the old data.

One question, not five. A list of questions reads like a form, and it moves the work of replying onto them.

Price so it can be discussed

A single number can only be accepted or refused. A breakdown can be negotiated, trimmed or expanded, and it shows you thought about the parts instead of picking a figure.

Say what the price assumes, in one line: designs final, content supplied, access on day one. That sentence is what protects you later when one of those turns out not to be true. How to price freelance work covers setting the numbers themselves.

What to leave out

• Your life story, your degree, and how passionate you are.
• A portfolio link with no explanation of which piece is relevant.
• Promises of unlimited revisions, which price the worst client into every job.
• Guarantees about results you do not control.
• Anything you would have sent to a different job unchanged.

Applying without wasting your budget

On Open Lance a proposal costs bids from your balance. The number depends on the type of job rather than its budget, so a large fixed-price job costs the same to apply for as a small one, and nothing can be bought to push a proposal above yours. Current costs are on the pricing page, and finding work and bids explains where bids come from.

The arithmetic follows: applying to everything is expensive, applying carefully is not. Ten considered proposals beat fifty copies of the same one, and cost less to send.

After you send it

If a client shortlists you or opens a conversation, they are interested. Reply with the same specificity you opened with, and do not reprice the job in the chat before you understand what changed. If you hear nothing, one short follow-up after a few days is reasonable, and then leave it.