Joining a marketplace with an empty profile feels like arriving late to a party where everyone already knows each other. The good news: on Deal, clients do not hire profiles — they hire the best response to their task. That means a brand-new provider who bids well can win jobs from day one. This playbook covers the first two weeks: setting up, finding tasks, and converting your first bids into paid work.
Day one: build a profile worth clicking
When a client reads your bid, their next move is opening your profile. Set it up before you send a single bid.
Bio. Three to five sentences: what you do, how long you have done it, and how you work. "I've renovated apartments for eight years, I quote a fixed price after seeing photos, and I clean up after myself" tells a client more than any slogan.
Categories and skills. Deal's catalog covers nine major areas — construction, auto services, tech repairs, events, beauty, education, pet care, home services, transportation — with specific skills under each. Pick the categories you genuinely work in, then add the specific skills. Tasks are filtered by category, so this determines which tasks you see and which clients find you.
Portfolio. Add real photos or files of past work, tagged to the right categories. Work done before joining Deal counts — a renovation from last year is still proof you can renovate. Aim for at least three to five items in your main category. If you have nothing, photograph your next job (with the client's permission), even if it comes from outside the platform.
Rate. If you charge hourly, list your rate. It filters out mismatched clients before anyone wastes time.
Day two onward: find the right tasks to bid on
Open the task feed and filter by your categories and your city or region. Resist the urge to bid on everything. Instead, pick tasks where:
The description is detailed. Clients who write clearly tend to decide quickly and pay fairly. A well-described task is also easier to bid on accurately.
Your portfolio directly applies. Early on, only bid where you can point to proof. Your close rate matters more than your bid volume right now.
The task is fresh. Bids arriving in the first hours get read while the client is still engaged. Check the feed daily — or ask the built-in AI assistant to search open tasks in your categories and city for you.
Five careful bids beat twenty templates. You are optimizing for wins, not activity.
Writing the bids that land
Every bid on Deal opens a direct conversation with the client, so write the first message like the professional you are: reference a specific detail from their task, give a price and what it includes, name when you can start, and ask one clarifying question. Then respond quickly when they answer — early on, responsiveness is your biggest competitive edge, because it costs nothing and most people are slow.
Two tactics specific to being new:
Acknowledge it, once, strategically. "I'm new on Deal, but here are photos of three similar jobs" converts skepticism into a look at your portfolio.
Consider a launch price. A modest discount, framed as such, is a legitimate way to buy your first wins. An unexplained cheap price, by contrast, reads as a red flag.
Treat the first five jobs as marketing
Your early jobs are worth more than their price: they generate portfolio items, chat histories with satisfied clients, and rehires. So over-deliver visibly — arrive when you said, keep the client informed in the chat, and leave the result photographable. Then, with permission, photograph it and add it to your portfolio the same day.
After each job, the client relationship stays alive: conversations on Deal are not locked to a single task, so a happy client can message you directly next month without posting publicly at all. Several providers' steadiest income eventually comes from exactly these direct rehires — the marketplace finds you the client once, and good work keeps them.
A simple weekly rhythm
While you build momentum, run a loop:
Daily: check new tasks in your categories, bid on the two or three best fits.
Within the hour: answer every client reply.
After each job: update the portfolio, and note what the winning bid looked like.
Weekly: review numbers — bids sent, replies received, jobs won. If replies are low, your bids need work; if replies are fine but wins are low, look at pricing or your profile.
What not to worry about
Deal is in beta, which cuts both ways in your favor: bidding and messaging are free, so experimenting costs nothing, and the provider pool is still forming — meaning less entrenched competition than on mature platforms. There is also a public feedback board; as an active early provider, your feature requests carry real weight.
The first client is the hardest, and it is mostly won by showing up prepared: a complete profile, a handful of genuinely attentive bids, and fast replies. Everything after that compounds.