The big news for me over the last week is that we finally have a trailer for Top Gun II: Maverick.
I don’t have high hopes.
The original Top Gun, which came out some 30 years ago, is my favorite movie of all time.
But I can’t imagine that today’s metoo Hollywood could make a worthy sequel to that hyper-chaddy, testosterone-dripping circle jerk.
Even so, I’m sure I’ll go see the movie when it comes out in 2020.
For today, I have the original Top Gun in mind.
Because a few days ago, I was talking to a a fellow freelance copywriter who lives in the fine city of Manchester.
He was asking what I thought of the recent changes on Upwork.
In a nutshell, freelancers now have to pay around $1 to apply for a job.
I’m not on Upwork any more, but if I were, I wouldn’t care about this.
Because of my “bogey.”
No, it’s not a MIG-29 that suddenly blipped up on the radar. Instead, a bogey in direct marketing is the maximum price you are willing to pay for a customer.
Let me give you an example:
Many summers ago, when I was starting out on Upwork, an average first-time client would net me around $200.
At the same time, I’d get on average 3 new clients from each 30 applications I sent in.
If my math is right, that means each targeted and smart application I submitted was effectively worth $20 in business for that month.
In other words, $20 was my “bogey.”
And so, if Upwork had been charging me $1 to apply to a job, it would basically be a no-brainer to keep applying to any jobs that I thought were a good fit.
And that’s not even counting knock-on effects such as repeat business, a plumper portfolio, spontaneous referrals, or awakening the Upwork recommendation algorithm.
So here’s my tip for you for today:
Whether you are on Upwork or you are after other clients or customers, it makes sense to calculate your bogey.
And if it’s at least as great as your cost of acquiring those customers or clients…
Then get in that dogfight and engage, Maverick.
By the way, I still haven’t put up my Upwork book for sale since taking it off Amazon. While it’s in the hangar, if you do have any Upwork questions, send me an email and I’ll help if I can.