Paste the last freelance job proposal you sent, the kind you write on Upwork or in reply to a client’s job post. It gets checked against five things, all of them lifted from my own proposals, and you get the fix for whatever is missing. Nothing is uploaded anywhere and nothing is saved.
Optional, and it makes the first check a lot sharper.
Takes a second. Be honest with the paste, there is no scoreboard.
The five checks, and what passes
The Proposal Teardown checks your proposal against five things lifted from my own proposals: whether line one shows you read the post, whether line two has real proof, whether there's a plan, whether you close on a real question, and whether you answered every screening question. Your score is how many you pass, out of 5.
Want a score out of 100 and your proposal rewritten? That is Pitch to Paid, a separate tool. The Proposal Teardown is the free five-check version.
- Line one: did you show you read the post? Passes when your first two sentences share three or more real words with the job post. Opening on "I" or "my" misses. Fix: open on their goal, in your own words.
- Line two: is there one piece of real proof? Passes when there's a number and a past-tense action verb, like built, cut or shipped. A number with no verb only half counts. Fix: one similar project with an outcome.
- Line three: is there a plan? Passes with two or more steps ("first I," "then I," "week one") or a short list. Fix: three short steps is plenty.
- The close: does it end on a smart question? Passes when the last sentence is a specific question. "Any questions?" doesn't count. Fix: ask something only their project would make you ask.
- The screening questions. Passes when you answered every one the client asked. Skipping them is the fastest way to get ignored.
What your score means
5: This one is ready. 4: One line short. 3: This is why it got skimmed. 2: It reads like a template. 0 or 1: Start over, and it will be quicker than you think.
The tool also flags copy-paste tells like "Dear Sir or Madam." Nothing you paste is uploaded or saved.