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First, it helps to understand that at its core, Asana is fundamentally a group communication tool, designed to center team communication and collaboration around tasks. While Asana works fairly well as an individual task management/GTD app, that is not the use case we are targeting, so if you're looking for a tool to manage only your own tasks, there are a number of purpose-built apps that might serve you better.With that in mind, here are a number of great ways to use Asana, based on how we use Asana, ourselves, and how some of our customers use it:Broad Use Cases:Communication. While we still use email for broadcasting messages to the entire team and IM for one-to-one chat, Asana serves as our company's communication hub. The vast majority of communication about the work our team is doing happens in Asana, mostly as comments on tasks. Asana's Inbox makes this a much easier process.General Project Management. Most projects can be broken down into a set of tasks and milestones that need to be prioritized, completed in a certain order, by a certain date, and by a range of people. In Asana, you can quickly build that set of tasks, use priority headings to group them into milestones (just add a ":" at the end of a task), then assign each task to the person owns it. For big tasks that require a number of steps (and/or different people) to complete, you can use subtasks.Feature Suggestions/Requests. At Asana, we have a project called "Product Opportunities" that serves as the master list of feature requests and suggestions from the entire team. Every so often, one of our two PMs will dive into this list, cherry pick the best/most practical ideas and add them to the roadmap and/or sprint plans. Other, lower priority but still enticing ideas might get tagged for "Polish Week."Bug Tracking. We have a "Bugs" project and any time we find a bug in Asana, we add it here. We use priority headings (P0-P4) to indicate the severity of the bug and the importance of fixing it (P0 means: FIX NOW!). The high-priority bugs get assigned to an Engineer immediately, and the rest are there for picking-and-choosing during the one-week periods between sprints (which we call "Off-Sprints").Applicant Tracking. Though Asana is not a purpose-built applicant tracking system, our recruiters swear by it. We have separate projects for each functional category (Engineers, Designers, Marketing, etc). When a candidate lands on our radar (either via referral or direct application), we create a task with their name and add it to the relevant project. The candidate's cover letter and links to their internet presence (LinkedIn, GitHub, Behance, etc) go into the notes field and their resumes get attached to their task. Our recruiters will then add tags to capture the phase of the process ("intro requested"; "phone interview"; "on-site") and categorize by role ("data eng"; "content marketing"; etc). When a candidate has interviewed, we use subtasks to ask his/her interviewers for their feedback.CRM. We also use Asana as our CRM. Whenever a customer upgrades to a premium workspace, we use Zapier to push data from our payment platform into an "Upgrades" project with the company name as the task and the account owner's contact details in the notes. Our sales team (all of one, Senor Michael Spradlin) will use this project for customer outreach and to segment our paid customers by industry type and/or use-case. I will pick the most recognizable companies and add them to the "Customer Marketing" project for later. Some of our customers have devised much more advanced ways to use Asana as a CRM (with all sorts of tags and stages), but since our sales cycle is very low-touch, this way has served our needs (for now).Product Launches. We have a "Product Launch Template" that contains the list of tasks we are likely to do every time we prepare to launch a signficant new product or feature. In the lead-up to one of these launches, we make a copy of the project, rename it for the feature that is launching, set due dates for every task and sub-task and split up the work. If any PR is inovlved, we use Guest Accounts to bring our PR team into the project and collaborate with them on media outreach plans, messaging, etc.Better Meetings. We use Asana to create meeting agendas, to take notes on each item on the agenda when the meeting is happening, and then to delegate any follow up tasks after the meeting is done. We use Asana for board meetings, for roadmap plannning meetings, for design reviews and 1:1s – pretty much any and every kind of meeting.Client Work. While we don't use Asana for working directly with clients (we aren't a consulting shop), a number of our customers do. There are at least two main ways we've seen this done. The first way is to use totally separate workspaces for each client, fill each workspace with the projects and tasks specific to each, then invite the stakeholders from the client into the workspace you set up for them. The second way is to keep everything in a single workspace and use Guest Accounts, only giving each client access to the projects relevant to them.Some specific ways I use Asana, myself:Editorial Calendar. I use a "Marketing Content Roadmap" project to capture every single content idea (blog post, video, Quora answer, marketing email) that anyone on the team has. Each piece of content is its own task, with the rough working title as the task name. I prioritize this list based on mostly subjective expectations of value/impact, add dates for things with definite deadlines (like feature launch announcements) and then add things from the list to my sprint plan project. I put links to drafts in the notes field and solicit feedback via task comments. For content that requires many steps (like a marketing email that needs writing, designing and coding), I use subtasks.Media Production. For the bigger and more complicated content production work (specifically, videos), I'll create a project dedicated to that piece of content and break it down into phases (pre-production; production; post-production) and tasks in those phases (e.g. write script, hire videographer, set filming date, etc).Note: This list is just a sample of the many ways we Asana at Asana, and it only scratches the surface of the many ways our different kinds of customers use Asana for their own particular needs. If you have any unique ways you'd like me to add, feel free to elaborate in the comments!

3 years ago I couldn’t get a client on Upwork to save my life.I’d tried every method out there, from writing “professional” cover letters to creating videos for each individual client…But after wasting countless hours and getting no results, I knew something had to change.At first, I blamed it on Upwork and all the “cheap” clients on there…But seeing how I’d already failed at every other type of marketing (i.e. content marketing, paid advertising, etc.) — I didn’t know where else to turn.This led me onto a rabbit hole of research, and after days of combing through information, then weeks of testing…I’d finally found a proven strategy that started landing me clients right away, in various industries:Which is what I’m going to share with you today.Our exampleAs with every “how-to” article I write, I’ve learned it always works best when we have an example we can relate to, so let’s use this job posting for our example today.As you can see, this job posting is looking for somebody who can create a vehicle that’ll capture email leads, that way they can email them when their crowdfunding campaign is ready.And if you’re not familiar with this process, they’re essentially looking for somebody who can setup a landing page that converts like crazy, then drive traffic to that landing with Facebook Ads — which happens to be one of my primary specialties.Anyway, now that we have our job posting in front of us and know this is something we can do, let’s jump into the actual proposal.Step #1 — EngagementSo the first thing you want to do with any proposal is simply making sure you get their attention right away.This is extremely important in a crowded marketplace, especially when there’s 20+ other freelancers who are also competing for their attention…And the best part is that it’s really not that hard to do.As sad as it sounds, simply showing the client that you read their job posting is enough to stand out on Upwork anymore (as most freelancers use template proposals)…So to start things off, I always just acknowledge that I read their job posting.There’s a few ways to do this, but in this case, I’d start off with:Hey there, I see you’re looking for somebody to create a highly-converting landing page…One that’ll not only capture leads right away and keep your ad costs low, but also build a list of targeted leads for your upcoming crowdfunding campaign.Why this works so well:When clients look at the list of applicants, they only see the first sentence of a proposal…So to start things off, it’s always important to acknowledge that you see what they’re looking for.This should be enough to get them to click on your proposal, then after they do, they’ll immediately read the second sentence…Which is essentially showing them that you know EXACTLY what they’re looking for.I guess you could look at this as a form of mindreading, where you’re acknowledging the underlying request…But either way, this is always enough to grab their attention and that’s when I jump into:Step #2 — AuthorityI’m not sure how familiar you are with “ethical persuasion”, but one of the most important parts of sales (i.e. ethical persuasion) is showing that you know what you’re doing.There’s always more than one way to do this, but either way, in the authority section — it’s important to display your expertise.This is also the one area where a lot of people mess up, even if they’re aware of this concept…As they think it’s a time where they need to talk themselves up, but as the first rule of marketing goes…Clients don’t care about you, they care about what you can do for them.So how do you do this?By simply sharing a portfolio item that’s relevant to their job.The only thing to remember with this is that there’s two types of “portfolios” in the freelance world, and that’s:Results based, orNon-results basedNow I know the difference looks pretty straigthforward on the surface, and it really is, but you’d be surprised how many people confuse this…So let’s give a quick overview on the two.When it comes to results based, that’s going to include any skill where the client measures results over cosmetics or job completion.To give you an example of this, when I first started as a landing page copywriter…I had zero clients or experience under my belt, so I simply built a landing page of my own, drove traffic to that page, took a screenshot of my results:Put it on a Google Doc, shared it with the client — and had my first landing page gig a few days later.I’ll actually share that with you later on, but before we get there, the other form of portfolio is “non-results” based…And that’s going to contain everything that can’t be directly measured.A few examples of this would be blog articles (as the client just wants to see your writing style), ebook covers (as they want to see design your design capabilities) or Wordpress websites (as they want to see how advanced you are).To give you an example of this, I actually won my first content writing job without any experience, education or client reviews…By simply writing a 637 word article on a Google Doc, then sharing it with the client and landing my first role a few days later.Okay, so now that’s all out of the way, let’s jump back into our current example.As I explained a second ago, this type of skill is always going to be results based, so I’m going to take a couple screenshot of my results, then share them in the proposal — as shown below:Hey there, I see you’re looking for somebody who can create a highly-converting landing page…One that’ll not only capture leads right away and keep your ad costs low, but also build a list of targeted leads for your upcoming crowdfunding campaign.I understand exactly what you’re looking for, and to give you an example of my previous results — here’s a few similar campaigns that I’ve recently completed:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wfcu6GOrFOeDKtq266LRaBU1rq_OKI6EyCWQkmD6Y-8/edit?usp=sharingWhy this works so well:As you can see, I spend zero time bragging myself up and instead, let the results speak for themselves.This works well for many reasons, like how I’m not bragging myself up…But it also works well as I’m keeping the proposal short and to the point.Instead of wasting their time with my credentials, experience and how amazing I am..I simply give them 2 results to look at, and trust me, that’s all they really want to see.Bonus hint: Always give them a URL that leads to 1 (maybe 2) portfolio items. I’ve seen a lot of freelancers do this but instead of giving 1–2 relevant items, they give them their entire portfolio…And that’s counter intuitive to our goal right now, as clients don’t want to search through an entire portfolio — which will likely make them run away.Okay, so now that we have that completed…It’s time to:Step #3 — Finish the proposalSo this is quite possibly the best advice I can give you, as very few freelancers actually understand this…But whenever you’re contacting somebody for the first time, you NEVER want to go for the sale right away.No matter how helpful you’re trying to be or how good your intentions are, if you don’t warm up to the client first, they’ll always (subconsciously) view sales as a low-guard threat…So the purpose of a cover letter should be one thing and one thing only, getting them to respond.This is why you always want to end with a question, as that’s what’s most likely going to get them to respond…And that part is self-explanatory, but here’s a few rules you want to follow:Make sure the question prompts a “knee-jerk” response. In other words, you don’t want to ask something that’s way too difficult (i.e. do you plan on using lookalike audiences followed up with retargeting ads and building a funnel?), but at the same time — you don’t want to ask something that’s blatantly obvious (so are you going to do this with a landing page?)When possible, ask a question that’s relevant to their product or service. People love talking about themselvesIf you can get them on a phone call, that always works best. I’d say I honestly close 90% of clients that I get on the phone, but if you’re an international freelancer — I realize that’s not always possibleLastly, if you can do this in a way that shows your expertise — then that’s always going to work best (I’ll show you this in a sec)…So for our example, there’s actually a lot of ways we can do this, but in this case — I’d put:Hey there, I see you’re looking for somebody who can create a highly-converting landing page…One that’ll not only capture leads right away and keep your ad costs low, but also build a list of targeted leads for your upcoming crowdfunding campaign.I understand exactly what you’re looking for, and to give you an example of my previous results — here’s a few similar campaigns that I’ve recently completed:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wfcu6GOrFOeDKtq266LRaBU1rq_OKI6EyCWQkmD6Y-8/edit?usp=sharingAnd you did a good job of explaining the role, but just curious — are you using a lead nurturing funnel right after the landing page, or are you simply building an audience so you can send out an email when the campaign is live?Why this works so well:It’s essentially a form of “hidden authority”, as we’re showing them we understand what happens after the email address is collected as well.This will either:Give us the opportunity for more work (i.e. creating the funnel), orAt least show them that we completely understand the project, and skyrocket our chances of landing the roleThen after this happens, the client will generally respond with some form of answer…And after that, they’ll usually ask how long you think it’ll take you to complete this role (if they posted the job as hourly, and if so, that honestly happens 90% of the time).Then once they do, just tell them your honest answer…But here’s the key, offer to mitigate their concerns with a fixed price contract.This works extremely well as nobody likes the uncertainty of hourly billing, and even though it won’t benefit you much in the beginning stages of your freelance career…Once you get some experience under your belt and turn projects around 2x as quick, then those contracts get profitable — real quick.To recap:Always start your proposals with engagement. This doesn’t need to be too complex, just tell them you read their job posting and essentially repeat what they’re looking forThe next step is always authority, and with this step — you want to show them you know what you’re doing. Again, this doesn’t need to be complicated as you really just want to share a relevant portfolio item (or results)End the proposal with a question, as you want them to respond (main goal of the cover letter)Once they’ve responded, that’s when the sales starts…and the good news with this is that since they’ve already responded to you, then your chances of landing the job has already skyrocketedLong story short…Getting clients on Upwork really isn’t that hard, you just have to understand strategies that work.Trust me, as somebody who’s landed jobs in a bunch of different categories:I can assure you, these principles work for any skill.P.S. If you’re interested, I actually have a free training event that talks about 3 Upwork hacks you can use to expedite your results even more. It won’t be around for much longer, so if you’re interested — please check it out

Once you have a list of potential clients, it's time to reach out. Here are some ideas.Over The Phone: Cold calling scares many people, but if you lead by asking what they need and then present your product or service as a solution, you'll have better results. Use an easy flowing, conversational script to introduce your product or purpose for calling. Remember, telling isn’t selling. If you are doing all the talking, the likelihood of convincing someone they need your product or service isn't going to be high. Asking questions and presenting your product or services benefits turns the focus of the call onto them instead of you.Close with a call-to-action, such as asking them to commit to a trial period or giving you an email or physical address,so you can send additional information. Finally, if an individual says they are not interested, ask them if they know of someone who might be and get a referral.Email: While email isn't as effective as a direct conversation, it's less scary and often a great way to introduce yourself. The trick is to not simply send a "buy" email, but instead, offer something of value. Give a brief explanation of who you are, then provide a coupon or a free article on a relevant topic. Review the anti-spam laws, which require you to include an unsubscribe option to every contact. Here are some additional resources on email marketing.In-Person: There are many ways to meet potential clients and customers in person. For B2B, you can walk into their business. Or you can call and make an appointment to meet for B2B or B2C. In many cases, you can meet prospects while you're out and about at the grocery store or on an airplane, or wherever you may be.It's important to remember a few key points to effective in-person selling. Don't tell them everything all at once. Instead, find out their wants and needs and tailor your presentation to show how your produce or service is the solution to their problem. Always have sales material on hand to help you in this process (such as samples or catalogs). Make sure and end with a call to action and a promise to follow-up.Traditional Mail: Like email, direct mail doesn't have as high of an effective rate, but it's a great way to increase awareness of your business. Create the piece you plan to send, whether that is a postcard, brochure, letter etc. Once you have the finished piece in hand, you can either address and stamp them yourself, or hire a fulfillment house to do it for you. If you are mailing many pieces, there are both time and cost benefits to using a fulfillment house to address, stuff, and stamp. A fulfillment house is able to get a bulk stamp rate, which can save up to 40% off the postage price.However, a hand placed stamp may be less likely to look like junk mail.STEP 4: Follow-Up and then Follow-Up AgainThe fortune is in the follow-up. You're going to hear “no” a lot. For some people, that “no” is firm. But for others, the “no” is only “no” for now. Many business owners hear “no” and give up. But 80% of sales are not made on the first, second, or even a third contact! It can take five or more contacts to achieve a sale.Finding customers and clients requires a thick skin and a strong belief in what you're selling. Just because someone tells you “no” today doesn’t mean it will be a “no” tomorrow. The trick is to have a non-annoying system of follow-up such as an email list, or agreement to call again in six months.Keep track of your communication with various leads and prospects by using some sort of free CRM database. Create calendar reminders to follow-up in the future with those who said no.The system for getting clients and customer is straight forward. You need a way to entice them to learn about you through your marketing efforts, then you need to build a relationship with them that will hopefully lead to a sale. During the process, you'll want to get their contact information either through an email follow up system or keeping your own contact management list. Finally, you want a system for staying in touch for as long as they're open to hearing from you.