- Barefoot Consultants® Portable Income
- Posts
- What If Your Most Valuable Skills Are Under A Bushel Basket?
What If Your Most Valuable Skills Are Under A Bushel Basket?
Make the most of your human-centric skills.
Winton Churchill & Heidi Craig
July 19, 2025
Welcome Freelancer!
Next Tuesday, Winton is cracking open a truth bomb you don’t want to miss: The skills clients are clamoring for in 2025?
They’re not flashy. They’re human.
According to Upwork, demand for human-centric skills—like empathy, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and communication—is up 74% and climbing fast.
🚀 You’ll walk away from this call with:
10 categories of hidden-in-plain-sight skills you may already have
Tips on how to position them powerfully in your profile and proposals
The confidence to charge more and go after better clients
You may be sitting on the gold clients are paying extra for—join us and learn how to cash it in.
👉 Don’t miss this one. Your next opportunity could already be in your back pocket.
Make sure you’re registered for the calls!
🧲You Already Have the Skills—Now Use the Right Words
This week’s Tuesday Night Call dove deep into one of the most powerful (yet often overlooked) tools in your freelancing toolkit: keywords.
These aren’t just buzzwords—they’re the secret handshake between your profile, your proposals, and your dream clients.
Here’s a quick hit of what you missed—and what you can start using now:
🔑 Your Keywords = Your Connections
The words you use in your profile, searches, and proposals act like magnets. When your keywords match a client’s job post, you rise to the top. When they don’t? You disappear from view—even if you're the perfect fit.
🔍 Where to Put Them (And Why It Matters)
Your proposal is prime real estate—use keywords early and often. Then echo them in your profile and portfolio. Upwork’s search tool doesn’t scan for charm—it scans for matches.
🧠 How to Find the Right Ones
Use Upwork’s own skill suggestion tool. Start with a word like “office,” “customer,” or “project” and see what specific skills appear. Think past jobs, hobbies, volunteer roles—even that software you haven’t touched in a while could be the hook for your next opportunity.
🎣Add More Lines in the Water
Each of your 15 profile skills is a lure. Every portfolio piece adds five more. The more relevant keywords you use authentically, the more chances you have to be discovered.
🪞 Challenge for the Week:
👉 Do a keyword checkup on your profile
👉 Add keywords to at least one proposal
👉 Start a running list of your top personal and professional skills—you’ll be amazed how much gold is already there!
✨ Remember: your lived experience is already full of value. You just need to describe it in the language your clients are searching for.
🎥 [Watch the Replay] And we’ll see you next Tuesday!
Now here’s the news from the Barefoot Consultants’ world,
See you next week!
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
“What is the best way to speed up the proposal writing process, so that I don't always feel like I'm starting from scratch when I'm bidding on a new job?”
Winton used this week’s AI Lab to answer and demonstrate exactly that—walking us through a real Upwork job, breaking it down step-by-step in ChatGPT, and building a reusable, high-converting proposal from scratch. But if you missed it, don’t worry—we’ve got the shortcuts.
🧠 Try this now: Your 5-Minute Proposal Jumpstart
Choose a real job you want to apply to. Copy the job post link.
Paste the following prompt into ChatGPT:
“Help me write an Upwork proposal. Here’s the job post: [insert link]. I’m offering [insert service], and my background is [insert key strengths]. Use a friendly, expert tone.”Refine what it gives you by swapping in your real-world examples, tone, and a strong call-to-action like:
“Let’s get this off your to-do list and onto mine.”
💡 Bonus Tips:
Avoid “Hi there” or “I’d love to throw my hat in the ring.” Buyers skip right over them.
Start by addressing what the client wants, not “I did this/I did that.”
Use “Make sense?” at the end—it’s more powerful than you think.
🧰 Pro tip: Once you’ve got a good version, save it as a template and tweak for each job. You’ll cut your proposal time in half and still sound 100% you.
🖥️ Want to see how it’s done live? Catch the replay and watch Winton work his magic. 💥
 | Can’t quite see the online-income angle in your story?Meet Coach Heidi —Berkeley grad, globetrotting freelancer, and 20-year marketing & biz-dev pro who can spot monetizable skills faster than her Jack Russell spots a squirrel. From training show horses to marketing real-estate teams, Heidi’s done the career pivoting (and the passport‐stamping) so you don’t have to guess. Ready to uncover your portable-income sweet spot? |
Portland sunset skyline with view of Mount Hood.
✈️Come to Portland with Us!
From August 30–September 1, we’ll be on the ground at International Living’s Ultimate Go Overseas Bootcamp 2025—their only U.S.-based event of the year—and we’d love for you to join us!
This isn’t just another conference. It’s a powerful launchpad designed to fast-track your overseas dreams with practical roadmaps, expert advice, and connections that matter.
You’ll meet IL’s trusted country correspondents, real estate pros, legal and tax experts, expats who’ve already made the leap, and resource partners from around the world—all gathered in one place to help you make smart, informed moves abroad.
Whether you're craving beach life in Portugal, a jungle escape in Costa Rica, or a city adventure in Italy or Mexico, this is where the possibilities get real.
🎟 800+ attendees, 3 jam-packed days, and 1 unforgettable path to your future abroad.
Come hang out with us and get inspired!
Early bird pricing ends July 31st—don't wait! | Ultimate Go Overseas Bootcamp 2025 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 1, 2025 |
📆 OUR NEXT AFTER-PARTY: July 29th, 8pm CDT
(right after the Tuesday Night Call)
Looking for the JOIN link? 👉 REGISTER HERE
Whether you played last month or you’re joining for the first time, this is your chance to challenge yourself, connect with other freelancers, and have a blast while picking up valuable freelancing insights!
You only need to register once and you will automatically get the link for the rest of the year—no need to update again!
Mark your calendar and join us July 29! 🎉
⭐️ Until then, |
