5 Common Characteristics of People Who Cannot Get Projects

Hello, this is JobScope.

"I apply for many jobs on crowdsourcing sites every day, but I never get a reply." "I keep studying to improve my skills, but for some reason, it never leads to the next step." "I'm stuck in a vicious cycle where I can't get projects because I don't have a track record, and I can't build a track record because I can't get projects."

The biggest hurdle you face when you start working as a freelancer is this problem of "not being able to get projects." When you see other freelancers posting glamorously on social media, saying, "I'm fully booked with projects again this month!", it's easy to feel crushed by impatience and anxiety.

Many people think, "It's because I lack skills," and rush to get certifications for new programming languages or tools, but in reality, the fundamental reason you can't get projects is not a low skill level.

Based on my experience consulting with many "freelancers struggling to get projects," there is a clear commonality among those who cannot land work. It is not a problem of ability, but rather errors in "how you present yourself to clients" and "the structure of your sales approach."

In this article, I will thoroughly dissect the five characteristics that people who cannot get projects fall into unconsciously, and provide a concrete prescription for how to break out of them.

Characteristic 1: Proposals are limited to "performing tasks"

The most common characteristic is sending proposals with a task-delegation stance, saying things like "I can do X" or "I will perform task X" to the client.

What clients really want to solve, even if they have to pay for it, is not just "having someone do a task." It is the resolution of underlying issues such as "wanting to streamline operations," "wanting to increase sales," or "wanting to eliminate the hassle of manual work."

【Differences in proposals between those who can't get projects and those who can】

× Proposal from someone who can't get projects (offering tasks)
"I can use Python. I will handle data collection tasks from websites. I will check them manually one by one and summarize them in a spreadsheet."

〇 Proposal from someone who can get projects (offering solutions)
"To streamline your company's research operations, I will build a scraping system using Python. I will create a mechanism that automatically extracts data at specified times every day and automatically synchronizes and organizes it into a Notion database. This will significantly reduce your monthly work hours."

Clients are looking for a "partner" who will improve their business, not just "labor." Unless you shift from a self-centered mindset of "I can do this" to an other-centered perspective of "what benefits (profit, time savings) this will bring to you," you will continue to be tossed about by the waves of price competition.

Characteristic 2: The portfolio is just a "collection of works"

When I look at portfolio sites or PDFs sent with the message "Here is my track record," it is very common to see designs, source code, or past articles simply listed in chronological order.

From the client's perspective, this just ends with, "Hmm, that's pretty."

What clients really want to see in a portfolio are the following three points:

• What kind of problems the customer had (background)

• What kind of technology and ingenuity were used in the approach (process)

• As a result, what kind of achievements or numerical changes were brought about (results)

Even if it is a fictional project, if you logically describe the concrete added value through technical intervention—such as "I created a system that automates existing inefficient data management by linking MySQL and GAS, reducing work time by 80%"—it will look overwhelmingly attractive to clients, even if you have few actual achievements. You need to change the structure to appeal to functions and effects, rather than just visual aesthetics.

Characteristic 3: Relying on the "spray and pray" sales approach on platforms

Are you just checking for new projects on crowdsourcing sites and sending out multiple copy-paste proposals every day that could be used by anyone?

Platforms are very convenient for building initial achievements, but by design, they are a red ocean where the "cheapest and seemingly decent person" is easily chosen. If you continue the spray and pray sales approach there, even if you are lucky enough to get work, you will end up exhausted by incredibly low unit prices.

Freelancers who consistently win projects always have their own "inbound (inquiry) flow."

• Strategic blog/website operation: Analyze keywords that your target audience is likely to search for (search volume and needs), grow your own media's domain power, and create a mechanism where inquiries come directly from top search results.

• Sharing insights on note or social media: Instead of just a diary, share specific know-how and monetization frameworks to spread awareness that you are a "professional in this field."

If you neglect to build a foundation to shift from passive sales to proactive inbound, you will continue to be at the mercy of platform algorithms and other people's platform rules forever.

Characteristic 4: Blindly following the narrow price competition of the Japanese market

Many freelancers are engaged in a cutthroat price war within the very narrow pipeline of the Japanese domestic market, specifically crowdsourcing.

"Since the competitor is applying at 0.5 yen per character, I will make it 0.4 yen." "Since others are saying they will build the system for 50,000 yen, I will do it for 30,000 yen."

This is a countdown to total ruin. If you broaden your perspective a little, you don't have to fight only in the domestic market.

If you remove the Japanese framework and look at the global market, starting with the English-speaking world, the budget scale and project unit prices are completely different. It is a waste to give up from the start by saying "I can't speak English." Today, there are advanced AI translation tools and automated content generation pipelines. If you make full use of these, there are countless areas where you can overcome the language barrier and compete at high unit prices, such as developing e-books (KDP) targeting overseas markets or selling Notion templates and database packages for international users.

Failing to notice the error in market selection and staying in a cheap place where everyone crowds is often the biggest factor in why you cannot get projects (or cannot make a living even if you do).

Characteristic 5: Not "systematizing" project acquisition actions

Sending sales emails in a panic only when work stops, and stopping sales abruptly when work gets busy. This "whimsical sales activity" is also a typical characteristic common to people who cannot get projects.

To stabilize a freelancer's revenue, you must systematize sales activities themselves as a daily routine.

【Approaches to systematizing sales and customer acquisition】

1. Time Blocking
   Completely lock in the first hour of every morning for "blog writing," "portfolio improvement," or "valuable social media posting." No matter how busy your main tasks are, do not cut into this time.
   

2. Regular Data Analysis
   Create a dashboard in a spreadsheet or Notion to track access numbers to your media, as well as the open and reply rates of your proposals, and check where the bottlenecks are every week using the numbers.
   

3. Adopting Automation Tools
   For tasks that take time when done manually, such as gathering information or listing potential clients, use scraping or API integration to automate them as much as possible, creating time to focus on essential proposal activities.
   

As long as you rely on "luck" or "your motivation for the day" to land projects, your income will continue to fluctuate wildly. It is essential to have the mindset of incorporating the actions required to generate sales into your own work system.

Things you can do starting today to break the vicious cycle of not landing projects

If you felt that even one of the characteristics introduced here hit home, it means you have a huge amount of room for growth. Once you know the cause, all that's left is to implement the countermeasures.

First, try reviewing the proposal you are planning to send today.

Start by deleting all descriptions that say "I can do this" and rewrite them into a structure that says, "I will solve this specific problem for your company using my skills (automation, systemization, data construction, etc.) in this way. As a result, these benefits will be generated."

Change where you sell, change how you present yourself, and update the quality of your proposals from "tasks" to "systems." This accumulation of small shifts should transform you from a "freelancer struggling to land projects" into a "professional requested by clients."

Does the proposal or portfolio you are currently sending to clients contain content that can solve their "specific problems"? Start by taking an objective look at how you present yourself.