What belongs in a freelance proposal

A proposal is not a brochure. It is the client's problem, restated in their words, followed by a plan they can check and a price they can trace. Everything else is decoration.

The seven parts, in order

Their problem, restated in their own words from their own emails. This is the part that decides whether they keep reading; if the first paragraph is about you, they mostly do not.
The plan, in phases, each with a deliverable and a date. Phases let a client say yes to the shape before agreeing to the price.
The price, with the arithmetic shown - built up from the phases, not asserted from the air.
The timeline, with the client's own tasks on it. Most delays are waiting for inputs, and saying so up front is not rude, it is true.
What you need from them to start: access, materials, a decision, a deposit.
The terms: payment schedule, revision rounds, and the change rule.
One next step, exactly one. 'Reply to this with go-ahead and I send the invoice and the start date.' Two next steps are zero next steps.

What never belongs

Your company story. They are buying a solution to their problem, not a biography.
Twenty portfolio pieces. Three, chosen for work like theirs; the rest is a link.
Jargon as armor. If a smart fourteen-year-old cannot follow the plan, the plan is not clear yet.
A discount with a countdown. Pressure reads as weakness and ages badly in an inbox.
Options you do not want them to pick. Two or three real options, each one priced to be worth your while.

The paragraph that prevents the arguments

Somewhere near the terms, put the change rule in plain words, because this paragraph is the difference between a project that holds its price and one that quietly becomes two projects for the price of one.

'Anything not listed in the scope above is a change. Changes are welcome; they are quoted separately, in writing, before the work is done.'
It is not a no. It prices the yes - which is exactly what a good client wants to know.
Said once, in the proposal, it is a term. Said for the first time in week three, it is a confrontation.

Assemble it in one sitting

Open your template and paste their problem paragraph from their email at the top.
Turn your plan into three to five phases, each with a deliverable, a date and what you need from them.
Price the phases with the arithmetic shown, add the buffer line by name, and total it.
Add the terms, the change paragraph and the single next step.
Delete every sentence that is about you instead of their problem. There are always some.

The free tool for this

A project price from the work you actually listed - A project price from the work you actually listed. It runs in the page, asks for your own numbers, and sends nothing anywhere.

If you would rather not build it yourself

The Proposal System carries the proposal and SOW templates with these sections already in them, plus the change-order template for when the work changes. Proposal System is $49. See it on the shop, and there is a plain page about it here: what it holds.

Questions people actually ask

How long should a proposal be?

Long enough to hold the seven parts and short enough that nothing is there to impress. For most freelance work that is two to four pages; if it needs a table of contents, it is two proposals wearing one.

PDF or a document they can edit?

PDF, or a page, unless they ask otherwise. An editable file invites line-edits of your price; the format you send is part of the frame you set.

What belongs in a freelance proposal (and what never does)