#141 · Simple way to add 3-5% to your margins (AI agencies only)
The reason I recommend a distinct profile picture color is that many freelancers on Upwork have cluttered backgrounds that don't stand out. Using an unnatural or natural contrasting color (like Harsh or Frank) makes your profile pop when scrolling through proposals, helping you get noticed.
Using Loom videos in cold emails works and can be effective, but it lowers deliverability because links and media trigger spam filters. You trade volume for personalization—send fewer, highly tailored emails with a Loom video that shows you’ve already built the asset, which creates a pattern break and raises perceived value. To compensate for lower deliverability, reduce volume or improve mailbox practices. It’s not fully scalable like pure text cold email, but it’s a valuable tactic when you need to stand out.
On Upwork definitely use your real face—it's a corporate platform and clients want to work with you not a cartoon avatar. Your profile picture matters less if your presentation is strong but a genuine photo builds trust. Recording custom Loom videos for proposals makes a huge difference; aim to maximize the success chance of each individual proposal. Two reasons: first for newcomers custom Looms let you practice and deliver your value proposition without the cost or stress of live calls or cold outreach effectively giving you free sales‑rep practice. Second personalized outreach maximizes the return on every dollar you spend on Upwork connects—if someone watches your video you want the highest chance they'll convert. In short use a real face and invest in tailored Loom videos to get the most out of your Upwork spending.
The Loom video approach was terrible for me. My other approach was sending a lead magnet (a Google doc). To reconcile scale with customization, there are two approaches: low volume, high customization—sending a personalized Loom video that solves a problem, delivers value, and builds a warm connection to maybe 10‑30 people a day; and high volume, low result—blasting a generic “do you mind if I send you a Loom video?” to a million people and only recording when they reply. The latter is overdone and saturated; it’s not effective anymore.
Treat personalized video outreach as a separate campaign from your regular cold email. For the video campaign, gather prospects using Apollo or social‑media scrapers, then send customized DMs that reference specifics from their profiles or websites so it’s clearly not a template. Keep your standard cold email process distinct. Within that flow, I’d record a Loom video for about five to twenty prospects per day — enough to add a personal touch without overwhelming your workload — and run the video outreach alongside your usual cold email sequence.