Documente Academic
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FOR TRANSLATORS
LESSONS
INTRODUCTION
Between 2012 and 2016 I published articles amounting to around 92,000 words, all on my
Business School for Translators blog. Structured in lessons, theyre a good source of business
knowledge for translators and interpreters. Sometimes I even give you homework assignments!
This ebook is a compilation of 139 lessons in business, marketing, branding, economics,
networking and other freelance essentials. In this format, it may be easier for you to navigate
through the lessons, work on them offline and make progress through the different areas
covered.
This collection has a huge value to me. On average, I take about an hour to write 250 words. This
means that the next 300 pages took me some 460 hours to write over the period of four years. It
will also take you a considerable amount of time to read all these lessons. I promise its going to
be time well invested, as long as you dont just read, but also act.
I hope this ebook will help you advance your career as a freelance translator. Use it, share it and
recommend it to others.
Marta Stelmaszak
school@wantwords.co.uk
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LESSON 1
1. Communication skills
Marta loves writing and always tries to personalise every message or at least show a bit
of her style in it. She always responds fast. When she has any questions, she just grabs
her mobile and call. Shes a born networker: every other translator in town knows her,
shes active in two professional organisations. She also runs her own blog.
Magda loves writing as well, but she doesnt consider writing an e-mail any true sort of
writing. Its just plain business communication. Before she responds, she takes her time
to think what to write and to show them shes not on every call. She takes phones, but
only if they last over 3 ring tones. Networking? Well, only with people that she already
knows.
2. Financial management
Marta decided not to have an accountant, but she did some reading on book keeping to
be able to deal with the paper work. Shes also monitoring her income and expenses and
planning her money throughout the year.
Magda doesnt have an accountant either, but she is all mess with papers and she hates
doing that. When comes to dealing with the tax people, shes always stressed for a few
days and cant work. She usually spends all the money she has.
3. Services management
Marta is constantly monitoring her competitors and her clients. Shes adjusting her rates
to be more competitive, but she also asks her clients about possible improvements in
her services. Only recently she introduced a new SEO Translation service and it won her
lucrative clients!
Magda doesnt want to be like everyone else, thats why she doesnt even go to her
competitors websites. Shes been doing translation and proofreading since she
graduated, thats what she knows and thats what shes going to stick to.
4. Business planning
Marta has a detailed, 6-months business plan that sets goals and allows her to develop
her business. She knows how much she can translate per day to keep the same quality,
how much time she needs to do proofreading and when to do marketing. Shes also
being selective about jobs and she never accepts assignments that make her actually
lose money.
Magda lets her business drive her. When she has plenty of offers, she accepts them all. It
very often ends up in stress and missed deadlines, but at least she has a lot to do. Shes
not really sure whats her daily turnover, but once she managed to do 7,345 words one
day!
5. Marketing skills
Marta spends some of her working time reading about marketing techniques and she
experiments with new marketing ideas. She usually spends half an hour a day writing to
agencies, potential clients and other translators. Shes keen on IT, new technologies and
creative solutions.
Magda is convinced that a single freelancer doesnt actually need any marketing.
Marketing is something for companies, but not for freelancers. Besides, she always says
that she doesnt know how to do that anyway. And theres thousands of other
translators out there doing that already.
We will be watching how Marta and Magda are doing with their businesses. They have
also helped us to identify essential business skills that make the difference between an
overworked and underpaid translator and a really successful freelancer.
6. Homework
Try to identify what areas of your business skills for translators need improvement and
how do you plan to go about that. If you need any further help, get in touch!
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LESSON 2
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3. What kind of services they need?
Think what do they actually need to translate or interpret. Lawyers will need contracts,
agreements, perhaps even some previous cases translated into other language. This step
may require a bit of researching, but youll end up with a comprehensive list of your
clients needs. Time for even a bigger circle.
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LESSON 3
1. Make a list of your fears. Simply write them down, as I did at the top of this page.
Very often this simple step helps a lot. We dont usually use any logical means to cope
with our fears, while formulating them and writing them down is a way of pronouncing
them and pinning them down. Its much easier to fight your freelancing fears when you
know your enemy.
3. Think of actions you have to take to remove the basis of each fear.
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After you identify your fears, it is essential that you think of actions you can take to
remove them. If you feel that youre not qualified enough, find a certification course that
can help! If youre struggling with business administration, find online resources to
learn from them. Every fear disappears as soon as you start doing something about it.
5. Concentrate on points from your plan and make them happen here and now.
Most of our fears are linked with what happened in the past (and we fear it will happen
again) or with what can happen in the future. Its very easy to realise that HERE and
NOW theres nothing to be scared of. If you wish you started your own blog, but you fear
that people will laugh at you, theres nothing to fear about now. If they will laugh at you,
they will do it in the future. But the only thing that matters is what you can do in this
moment. And when you have no fears that hold you back, you can do anything. Even
start as a freelance translator!
Over to you
What are or were your biggest fears about going freelance in translation? How did you
manage to overcome them?
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LESSON 4
Take a piece of paper and write down all that you already have: education, certifications,
courses, webinars, experience, CV, good network, translation software, reliable PC. Also, make a
list of things that youre missing: website, marketing plan, brochures, self-employment. Making
such a list shows you that you already did the most time-consuming part of preparing to run
your own business, and quite a lot of things to do can be outsourced.
You cant drive too far if you dont have a steering wheel. One could say that running a business
without a clear direction is a bit insensible, isnt it? Write down what do you want to achieve by
the end of this month, in the next 6 months, after one year and in two years time. And then
simply add what do you have to do to make your goals happen.
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It also makes you more disciplined and you dont waste that much time pretending that you
work.
If you have to, get a new desk. Remove all private and distracting items. Buy folders and files. Go
through old papers and documents that youve dashed away months ago. Clean and arrange
your hard drive into folders, and make sure to keep your data tidy.
Day 7: Launch
Officially and openly confess that you are an independent professional from now on. Change
your online profiles, update your CV, tell everyone you know that from today you are a business
person. You can even make a small startup campaign online, just to make everyone know about
you. Chat with people on Twitter, post your update on Facebook, ceremonially like your change
of status. Write to your close friends and tell them that youre now running your own business.
It will make you feel proud and brave. But also, you will be surprised how much good energy
youll receive, and how much support youll get from everyone around you. Couldnt imagine a
better start!
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LESSON 5
You definitely know other translators that you admire for this or that reason, but you never tell
them that. Well, today is a good occasion to write to them. You can use the International
Translation Day as an excuse.
If you were only reading their blog up till now, change your habits! Give something back, even if
you comment is a simple thank you note. It still matters!
3. Recommend them
Jot down just a few words about them for others to see. If you cant recommend them for their
translation services, find another thing: brilliant customer service, quality proofreading, good
time management.
Connect with them everywhere: on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Show attention, tell them that
theres someone out there who takes care!
If you have a nice collection of glossaries or reference materials, share it with others! They will
love you, but also the profession will gain in general.
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6. Talk to them
Find someone to talk to, or chat on Twitter. Exchange thoughts and points of view, even with
someone you dont know and just met on Proz conference.
Take some time and write down a comprehensive answer. If you share something you know, its
two people making use of it!
Over to you!
Make a list of 5 colleagues you can help in the next week. What is that you can do for them?
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LESSON 6
Recognise products: Oh look, they have these beans that we liked so much
last time!
Associate qualities: This washing in a blue box with flowers smells really
nice and leaves fabrics so heavenly soft!
Buy the same product: Weve tried this hummus and it was delicious. Why
should we look for anything else?
Now, give me one logical explanation why you dont have a brand even if you know you should
develop one. I know you wont come up with any reason good enough, so wed better move on
to working on your new shiny brand this is introduction to branding for freelance translators.
Brand is
As a freelance translator, you are your business, and your business reflects who you really are.
Isnt it a bit spooky to realise that your clients get to know you? That they see who you are and
they get to meet you? You are not invisible; you are really there, as a part of the product. Your
personality, your approach and your attitude are the packaging for your services. How youre
going to use that?
Go on, you can be just a freelance translator from X to Y, charging basement rates and hiding
behind your screen. But you can also turn your world around and be proud of your business
(yes, you have a business), enjoy it and engage in it. And your clients will feel that.
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3. How do you present your business to others?
Come on, be honest with yourself and examine your own brand. Be your own client for a
moment, and have a look at these aspects of your presence:
Online profiles
Website
Rates
Business communication
Documents
Over to you
How do you think freelance translators could benefit from having their own brands?
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LESSON 7
Apart from your professional knowledge on translation, you need to know how to create and
send invoices, what to include in your terms and conditions, how to operate your brand new fax
machine. You also should find out what are the biggest agencies around, who are their managers
and where to meet them.
3. Responsiveness to events
You need to be open and watchful, as there is a lot of opportunities out there. Successful
freelance translators know whats going up in their language pairs and learn how to analyse
events. They plan the future based on whats happening now.
4. Decision-making skills
Face it: you are wholly responsible for all your decisions. If you forgot to invoice a client and
now you have to wait another light years to be paid while bills cant really wait, theres no-one
else to blame for that. You must develop your own system of judgement and decision making to
be able to carefully select projects, clients and go about rates.
5. Social skills
Translation is, after all, about communication. You need to know how to communicate with your
clients, how to talk to them on the phone explaining delays, how to negotiate. These days when
translators could be these antisocial alienated creatures are gone. Time to prepare your
socialising kit!
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6. Emotional resilience
No, freelance translation is not this easy, stress-free job you do in your pyjamas. You actually
need much more emotional strength to be able to cope with various situations managing self-
control and not panicking. Do you know how would you react if your client tells you that your
translation is rubbish and wants you to spend another 2 days on it? Or when they refuse to pay?
Or when another translator undermines your reputation just for the sake of it?
7. Proactivity
Successful freelance translators perform. They are always planning and getting the best out of
every situation. Theres your regional shop opening in the area? Go there and talk with the
owner, suggest co-operation and help with translating documents. A conference somewhere
around on the topic of interest, but you cant be a speaker? Volunteer to help with organisation
and take your business cards with you. Managers dont just sit and wait.
8. Creativity
Competition is tough, but creativity is what makes you stand out. Have ideas, share them, talk
about them. Ever wanted to translate a book? Think of some marketing tricks you could suggest
to the publisher. Want to be more recognised? Start doing something unique and special. Take a
new approach!
9. Mental agility
Multitasking is the pillar of any freelance profession. In translation, you cant be just a decent
translator. You have to be a good accountant, sales person, marketer, manager and strategist.
You need to have brains for that! Train your mind to act quickly and to switch rapidly from task
to task. Anyone can do it.
10. Self-knowledge
Be aware why you are here as a freelance translator and where do you want to go in your
career. Make sure that you understand how your values, feelings, strengths, habits shape your
professional profile.
Over to you
How do you feel about these skills? Do you need to work on any of them?
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LESSON 8
Translators read and write a lot, so they must all be wearing glasses! Perhaps those of them who
dont are less experienced and educated? Your sight has to deteriorate after that many books!
How to fight that: If you dont wear glasses, publish your photo and write a blog post!
Come on, it takes years to get educated, learn languages and get enough experience. Most of
translators enter the profession when they are at least 40!
How to fight that: If youre a young translator, tell everyone about your young age and success
in the field. Your energy and enthusiasm will count in your favour!
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5. Translators wear old-fashioned clothes.
Since translators dont go out too often, they have no interest in clothes and fashion. They all
wear black or grey suits and white, shapeless shirts. Thats all they need when they go out.
How to fight that: Dont be afraid to share your style, publish interesting photos or run a fashion
blog if you like it. Also, dont try to hide your style when meeting clients professional doesnt
have to be boring!
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LESSON 9
It was the most recent project when someone actually asked: Why dont we do it for real? And
thats how I got a company: Websites for Translators (heartily recommended, go and visit the
website).
My point here is to prove that just because we are translators, it doesnt mean that we cant do
anything else. We are talented, and we learn a lot while we translate. If we only want to, we can
make use of our long forgotten talents.
Why would you want to do it?
For others: Can you do something to help a case you support?
For your development: Do you feel stuck with what youre doing now? Would a change boost
your motivation?
For money: You can develop a complementary service to win more clients.
How to do it?
If you would like to start off with something else than what youre doing now, dig out all your
talents and assess them. Decide which of them you would like to use. Then either simply start
doing something about that step by step, or find people who are as enthusiastic about the idea
as you are and start building a bigger boat with them. Things just start happening then.
Update
After a few years of successful collaboration, in 2013 I parted ways with the company. It now
remains in the hands of Meg.
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LESSON 10
1. Time
Dear translator, I know that you are a busy person, but you cant really expect me to wait a week
or two for 1,000 words. Im not asking you to work all evening, you can simply tell me you are
not able to take this project on. Were all in business and TIME is the only thing we cant buy. Be
prompt and timely, as my company needs to act fast.
2. Completeness
If I do clothes, I do clothes, I dont know anything about languages and I dont have time to sort
out some linguistic problems. You are the expert here, so use your expertise and make decisions
to deliver a complete service. Im not asking my clients what sort of strings I should use in their
dress.
3. Courtesy
Just be nice! Our B2B relations need both of us to be kind and courteous. Dont just get angry or
irritated, dont treat me like an idiot just because I sell clothes and youve translated a thesis on
quantum physics.
4. Consistency
I need you to be available: online, on Skype, via e-mail, over the phone. You cant just lock
yourself in your office and stop replying to my e-mails. I have to know whats going on with my
texts and if everythings ok.
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6. Accuracy
I care about my business and everything has to be just perfect. I cant read Spanish, French or
German, thats why I expect you to be accurate and faultless.
This is working with SMEs for freelance translators. Could you do business with John? Do you
have these steps incorporated in your freelance business strategy?
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LESSON 11
The process of creative thinking requires you to let your thoughts fly. Its not a good time for
finding lapses and disadvantages, or even for trying to structure your idea. Logical thinking is
the opposite of intuition, and intuition is an irreplaceable component of creativity.
Not everything has to be useful from the beginning. Sometimes suspending practicality and
playing with ideas is the only way forward. Try to take your concepts and place them in
impractical what if scenarios.
If you take a too serious approach to your creative process, youll end up hating it and treating it
like yet another annoying chore. Have fun, learn from it, evaluate your new knowledge and
corroborate it with other things you know.
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6. Becoming too specialised
When your profession requires you to specialise (as very often in translation), youre at risk of
becoming too specialised. You forget how it is to think outside your box and simply cant
generate anything creative. If everything is centred around your legal translation field, try
taking a more general approach. Look for ideas in your hobbies, private life, outside your
specialisation.
7. Avoiding ambiguity
The good thing about ambiguity (hated so much by translators!) is that we really have to
consider at least two different options. In ambiguous situations we have to use our minds
outside their normal boundaries. Try to have more than one option open when youre trying to
come up with something creative.
Being wrong is as dreadful to humans as being dead. Death may be more certain (depending on
your beliefs), but mistakes are never the end of the story. Making a mistake is only a proof of
doing something and there is no such thing as an ultimate failure. If the formula of your blog
didnt work out, just think of changing it.
Are you guilty of any of these blocks? Are you ready to work on them and develop your own
creativity? Do you think creativity is important in doing business in translation?
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LESSON 12
1. Access problems
The first thing that happened was the internet. Having way too much devices around, I dreamt
of having a better and faster connection. Called them, arranged for the new broadband, got a box
and forgot about it. 4 days later they decided to disconnect my old broadband without even
letting me know, and I woke up 6:15am to revise and send my project. No, it wasnt going to
happen. I reported problems to my client and waited till all cafes were open. In the meantime, I
was preparing for my interpreting assignment for business people visiting London; we were
supposed to meet 10:45am. 9am I run to the caf, where they tell me they dont do wi-fi
anymore. I live in a rather quiet area with not that much wi-fi places around. 9:30am Im on the
tube. 10:10am Im in one of the biggest shopping centres in Europe and I simply want to use
their wi-fi. No, my laptop wouldnt connect with BTOpenZone. 10:20am I try to use my 3g to
create a portable hotspot, but my phone wouldnt connect to the internet. 10:33am I catch the
train to meet with my clients. 1:40pm I get to the library and send the files, 2 hours overdue.
2. Illness
No, not just being cold and using too many tissues. Sick like enslaved in your own bed and
feeling dizzy anytime you want to go further than a toilet. I tried to put myself together and start
work at 10am. No, 11am. Well, Id better get rest first, lets make it 12. By 3pm I still couldnt
even read because all letters were blurred. I ended up moving the most important things around
and I managed to cope, but 3 days are lost. Cant do anything about that, can I?
3. No resources
A funny little translation that was all very simple and should have taken about 2 hours took 5
because of a bunch of technical words that appeared in the legal text. Im not a technical
translator, I had no resources, no dictionaries, not even a specialist at hand. Ive spent one hour
trying Google Images, then I was trying to describe this item in my own words in Polish, I tried
generating label translations, then I moved on to reading tons of reference material. I got it, in
the 5th hour. 3 hours lost.
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4. Family crisis
Sometimes you just cant tell your family to have their problems later, after your deadline. They
will come up to you partly because they think you work from home so you can be flexible.
Especially if you work over the weekend because you were sick during the week, your family
wont wait. Yes, I had a crisis that was about me working too much over the weekend and why-
oh-why I cant do it any other day. And it always ends up in a few hours lost.
5. Reviewing work
One of my clients has this annoying habit of sending me my work back for review with his notes.
He is entirely happy with my translation, but he only has a few suggestions to make the text look
better. Suggestions such as: could you make this bit sound more modern? or We decided to
use different terminology on this occasion, please refer to my comments not to the glossary. I
usually allow some time to implement suggestions, but re-writing takes much more time than
any translator would wish for.
Homework:
List all possible emergency events that can ruin your work schedule. And then prepare a plan B
and do some translation problem-solving.
What other unforeseen situations happened to you and how did you cope?
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LESSON 13
Grab these useful tips on letting your creativity free step by step every day.
3. Watch others
Well, you can treat other translators as competitors, but you may well simply use them to
generate your creative ideas. Get inspired by them, learn from them, enjoy their articles and
blogs, talk to them on Twitter, list down things you like about their education and website.
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Or something that reminds you of your childhood, the most creative period in your life. If its a
toy and you can play with it, thats even better. Talking to a child also works.
It is essential to have time off when you dont really use your brain (learning French or going
through articles on translation doesnt count!). It is somewhat ironical that brain works best
when we dont think, but when our thoughts wander in different directions. Our brains need
this time to subconsciously deal with problems and generate ideas. Having regular breaks is as
important for translators as having regular working hours.
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LESSON 14
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Time planning improves your performance
Youre not that stressed, you sleep better, you eat, go to the gym. You dont make that many
mistakes, you have enough time to proofread. And thats how you become a good, successful and
happy translator!
A bunch of tips
Plan your tasks even it is obvious for you how to get it done
10 Common Time Management Mistakes
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LESSON 15
True, it is much easier to buy something for a singer, a designer or a painter. I kept on sending
links of books I wanted, but it makes no sense anymore. I can buy books myself, and its no such
fun! My idea for this year is to save my dear friends some trouble and give them some ideas on
gifts for translators. And you can use it also, just to get something else than yet another
dictionary.
Dear Santa
1. Fountain pen
Even though I work with computers, I am pretty classy and getting me a beautiful set of pens is
always a great idea. Most of the translators I know have this thing for fountain pens, so go and
pick one.
I do read a lot, and I appreciate the structure of paper. I have quite a lot of bookmarks already,
but there are some unconventional accessories Id never buy myself, such as booklights or
bookholers.
As a freelancer, Im deprived of usual office coffee breaks. But I still need coffee! Getting me a
coffee mill and a bag of quality coffee from Peru can do as well (Fairtrade, please), but if you
want to go bold, get me one of those!
4. Bed table
Thats a real gift! Its always so difficult to find a good reading position in bed, with all these
pillows behaving really nasty. A bed table is a touch of luxury and comfort Ive been craving
for
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5. Ebook reader
Ok, I have all these computers, laptops and Macs, but I dont really have an ebook reader. And
believe me, sometimes I really do want to read a book fullstop. With no browsers, skypes and
facebooks in the background.
6. Massage session
Thats one of these things I keep promising to myself to do after this project. And it never
happens. If you want to make me really happy and relaxed, get me a massage session, with all
these fragrant oils and calm music
What are your Christmas wishes? Do you like getting translation-related gifts, or do you want
something not work-related?
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LESSON 16
Cost
If you live in London and want to do your MA in translation going to uni 2-3 days a week, you
have to be prepared to spend at least 6000. If you live in London and you want to do your MA
in translation in distance learning, youll spend a half of that sum, and youll make huge savings
on travel. Not to mention the fact that distance learning fits into your workload almost
seamlessly.
Pace
Most distance learning courses allow you to decide how much time you spend on reading,
practicing and expanding your knowledge. You can easily go back to previous materials and
redo them. Or you can divide the whole material into suitable chunks, instead of having a 3-
hours long session.
Consistency
It happens all too often that the same uni offers drastically different learning experience for
readers of the same course. E-learning offers a consistent message and doesnt depend on
tutors ability to deliver on time or to spend half of the lecture on telling stories about one
conference in 1998 when
Currency
Distance, or e-learning, courses are the most up-to-date ones. Any changes to materials can be
introduced immediately, and discussions on various topics can take place. Even traditional
universities open on-line discussion forums for students to exchange views on certain topics
(some courses even mark you for your discussions).
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Global access
Well, translators work from all these weird and fascinating locations with wild orchids,
waterfalls or polar bears around. Thats one of our perks. And there may be no option to do a
specialist course, or to carry on with your CPD, locally. But you can always access the internet
and simply do your MA in the meantime
It makes sense
The most important benefit of distance learning for translators is, in my opinion, that it reflects
our profession. In distance learning we dont see many people, we just get bits of material to
work on, we just need to deliver our exercises on time. We can do research, we can write, and
we dont need the university environment to do that. And most of all, who if not translators can
be determined and motivated enough to keep up with the freedom of distance learning?
Do you know any reliable distance learning options worth looking at?
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LESSON 17
Practical thinking
This type of thinking focuses on the actual process of happening. You use your previous
experience in translation and you try to solve practical problems based on your existing
knowledge. It happens very often, doesnt it? We use our experience to tackle new translation
problems; we compare new problems with our library of already tested solutions.
Convergent thinking
This kind of thinking uses all information and thinking processes from different domains and
brings them to a common point. It is most commonly used when there are too many possible
solutions and differing ideas, while you need to come up with only one choice. Its like with
some translation problems we come across: theres so many procedures we can use, so many
differing theories, while we have to find only one equivalent.
Divergent thinking
Its the other way round. You start with a translation problem and you move further away from
it to find more and more creative and diverse solutions. This type of thinking lets you leave
traditional (practical) ways of solving problems (that didnt work out for some reason) and look
for new ideas and perspectives. So, if youre stuck with a really tough translation problem, start
harvesting ideas from different domains or areas of your experience.
Critical thinking
It uses convergent thinking as a starting point, but then uses our experience, context, and
criteria to assess ideas and choose the most appropriate solution. In critical thinking, you
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actually have to take a stand and be able to explain why you assumed that this solution is the
best one. It happens very often during our translation degrees: were asked to translate and
then critically explain our translation choices.
Inductive thinking
In this type of thinking, we start with parts of the issue and we work our way towards the
whole. Its like with understanding a complex sentence in legal English (my oyster): you cant
get it in one attempt, you need to go bit by bit in order to understand the whole sentence.
Deductive thinking
This one works the other way round. It very often happens that we read a text were supposed
to translate, we understand it all in general, but then we move on to analysing specific problems
or solving particular dilemmas. And we solve them in the light of the whole text, using the most
appropriate translation method.
Comprehension thinking
This is our most commonly used type of thinking. It relates to understanding what on Earth the
text is about. We concentrate and use all our powers to understand.
Reflective thinking
Reflective thinking concentrates on what we know and believe. Being reflective makes us weigh
up the reasons for our choices. And it also helps us in assessing our development, leads to
improvement and introduces change.
Investigative thinking
Well, from time to time something goes wrong. If you delivered a text with an unusual number
of mistakes and its been sent back to you, you need to act as a detective and investigate why so
many things went wrong.
Social thinking
Its related to emotions, thoughts and beliefs of others. And this is what translation is largely
about, isnt it? We translate for certain audience and we need to know at least a bit about them
to prepare a text that will fit into their society.
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LESSON 18
Not doing your research can cost you priceless years of your career. Dont even start writing up
your CV or adding content to your website before identifying major agencies or clients in your
specialist area. Dont try to guess your rates research your competition (some translators even
call their competitors pretending to be potential clients to spy on rates what do you think
about that?). Stay on top of news in your area of interest. As I told some students yesterday,
following the information on economy and development of your language pair countries is
essential to know which way to go. Try checking out public procurement or tenders websites
they are usually full of foreign companies competing for your home market. Also, look for
networking events around.
I am discovering the importance of CPD more and more every day. Translation is not like riding
a bike (and even that need constant practice and hardware upgrades) or reading skills. If you
ever stop in your CPD, your career will stop as well.
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5. Look out and plan learning opportunities
New Year is a perfect occasion to go through all learning opportunities around you and to
decide which of them youre going to take up. Learning makes sense only with a strong
curriculum. Were not at school anymore, so we have to develop our own plans.
Most of the translation organisations make us do that anyway in our CPD files, but if you dont
have one, youd better start straight away. Even a simple document with all the events that
helped you in developing your skills can do. Having a written history of your learning and
experience is very rewarding and motivating.
7. Develop relationships
Not only with your clients. Translators need to have meaningful relationships with their peers. I
would be a very poor and miserable translator but for my long-term relationships with others in
my language pair. It brings intellectual stimulation, rewarding discussions, and healthy
motivation. Dont forget about your relationships with others who influence your business:
accountants, IT, coaches.
8. Prioritise
We need, or is it only me?, to understand that we cant get it all at once. Career is a process and
we have to understand how to organise it and prioritise these actions that will be most
profitable for us in this particular moment. Im struggling with putting off some ideas, because
they seem to be so great. And here they are, written down on a piece of paper and stuck in my
Thinking Box.
9. Invest in yourself
Plan how much time and money you need to spend to get to your goals and get over it. You are a
company and you cant just accept your status quo in anything. If you had a restaurant, would
you dare not to buy new plates, cutlery, or table linens? We dont own restaurants, but we have
to invest to maintain a desirable level of our services. And its not particular to translators. Its
what developing career is about.
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LESSON 19
Delivery arrangements (what if they suddenly change their mind and want it
in Trados when youre almost finished)
Payment terms (what if its a 50,000 word project and you want half of your
money before you start)
Credit limits and periods (what if they want to pay you within the next 150
days)
Managing late payments (what will happen if they wont pay you when you
asked them to)
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Confidentiality (youre not going to tell the whole world what they want to
do next)
Liability (what if they want to blame YOU for their failed 1,000,000
negotiations)
It may seem daunting, but hey great news! There are model terms and conditions prepared
specifically for translators out there. ATAs website contains a Model Contract for Translators
which can be used as it is, or changed into a terms and conditions document. Also, the Institute
of Translation and Interpreting issued their recommended Model General Terms of Business for
commissioned Translation Work. You can use them as they are, or adapt them to your own
business.
So you have your brand new shiny terms and conditions ready, but they wont be of use if you
dont communicate them to your client. Remember that they need to be aware of your terms of
business before they accept your offer. How do you do that?
Send your terms and conditions to your client as a separate document with
your quote and make them aware that theyre bound to abide by them on
accepting your offer
Present your own T&Cs to agencies before you agree to work for them
Over to you! What about your T&Cs? Do you have them in place?
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LESSON 20
Before you even start dreaming about becoming a project management, take into account your
future responsibilities. Youll have to negotiate with the clients, issue quotes, assign jobs to
translators, punish them for typos or late deliveries and find good excuses for your clients, give
answers to any questions translators may have, call here and there, have a broad smile during
skype conferences with clients on the other side of the world. If youre lucky enough, youll get
to read or revise the final text, but very well you may end up managing a project into a language
you have no idea about.
Ive browsed some PM job offers in London, and here are their responsibilities:
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Its not that theres anything wrong about management skills. Theyre just different from those
that you need to become a translator.
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Dont be a translator to start with. Go and do your management or business degree, get a couple
of years of experience in any kind of management (ok, apart from your local coffee shop. But
wait! Customer service counts.). Speak another language, but proficiency is not required.
Practice your customer service, as well as all soft skills (everything that ends with management:
time management, office management, self-management, people management, etc). Be a good
manager, develop your managerial skills. Then try in translation.
Is it that bad?
There are still decent agencies out there that want project managers with translation
background, and they are prepared to pay at least 30,000 pa. If you are a manager, and happen
to be a translator at the same time, you have best chances to get a respectable project
management position.
I had almost no time to translate at all, or I had to ruin nights. I didnt enjoy the ok-its-10:30-
lets-have-a-coffee atmosphere and the fact that I had to stay in the office even after Ive finished
with all my duties. I am used to making the most of my time.
About a week after I quit I told my friend: If I have to do that once more in my life, it will be for
my own company.
What are your views on translation project management? Do you see it as a natural
consequence of becoming a better and better translator?
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LESSON 21
TRANSLATORS BLOCK
I was sitting and staring at a blank piece of paper for some time.
Around 5 weeks, to be precise. Its not that I didnt know what to
write, I just had to translate. But believe me, even though I am just a
translator, I have just experienced the longest and most terrifying
writers block I ever had. And its time to admit that translators do
get their blocks as well.
Lack of inspiration
Whatever they say, translation IS a creative activity, and you need at least a bit of motivation or
flow to make it tick. I didnt have my inspiration, and I knew I was totally flat and boring in my
translations. And it was the first time in my life I wished I didnt have to translate. Oh, just to be
a lawyer or an accountant (even in January), or just lock myself up in a cosy chalet with no
internet at all
Personal problems
Stress, illness, finances. Perhaps that has no influence on solicitors or accountants (I doubt it),
but translators suffer a lot. And its all connected. If youre sick, you cant work. You cant work,
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you dont earn. You dont earn, youre stressed. Youre stressed, so your immune system cant
cope.
Time
It doesnt work with me, but I know a few people who get their blocks with short deadlines.
Low quality is one of them. And its not so much about proofreading, or mistranslations, but
about boring and mediocre texts. And it drives me crazy that I cant do better than that!
Stress. During this dreadful period I wanted to die at least once a week. And I couldnt work too
much either, as I was sure that my translations are too poor.
Thinking of changing careers.
Neglecting your blog.
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LESSON 22
That started me off thinking about our favourite translation marketplaces, including Proz,
Translators caf, or GoTranslators. There is also a whole range of non-translation specific
marketplaces, where freelancers of all sorts can compete for outsourced jobs. For the purposes
of this article (and out of my personal interest in online marketplaces and translators), I decided
to create my profiles on a number of them. Heres where you can now find me (apart from Proz,
Translators Caf, GoTranslators, and Language123):
PeoplePerHour
Skillpages
Translators Town
Elance
Freelancersupport
(the rest was too dodgy to register)
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I was contacted by a nice lady from a small or medium enterprise somewhere in the United
Kingdom. She said she found me on PeoplePerHour and kindly sent me a sample text and asked
about my rates. Well, she never replied after I gave her my estimated charge for 5,000 words.
This very same evening Ive received a digest e-mail from PeoplePerHour and her job in there.
She wanted someone for 120-180 (for 5,000 words). She already had 5 bidders.
Besides, non-translation specific marketplaces rarely have relevant jobs posted. I usually come
across Polish translations once a week.
By the way, have you ever heard of solicitors competing on price at GoSolicitors, Solicitors Caf,
or Solicitors Town?
Why bother?
Ive set up my PeoplePerHour account ages ago, when I was looking for someone to practice my
Norwegian with. Importing all data from LinkedIn took as long as 10 seconds. After about half a
year I was contacted by someone who needed 25,000 words translated in my language pair. I
offered him my normal rates thinking that it will be a massive deterrent, but the client agreed
and secured a few hundred pounds on the deposit account. We no longer use PeoplePerHour, as
our relationship grew and we started to trust each other. One in a million.
With a reasonable amount of time and energy invested, you can hope for:
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Your experience?
Ill keep you updated on jobs posted and my success with offers. I am definitely not going to
agree for anything lower than my usual rates, but I may well meet another client ready to accept
them. What is your experience with online marketplaces? Are you registered with them? Have
you ever received any jobs through them?
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LESSON 23
References anyone struggling to substantiate or prove their experience when references are
needed (for example of you do translation for agencies only) could consider translating for free
and asking for references. Potential pitfalls: getting exploited.
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CPD If for any reason my stream of translations stops, Id turn to charities and translate for
them, just to keep my skills sharp. Even though for free, Id still translate without feeling useless
or abandoned. Potential pitfalls: getting into pro bono translation and missing out on paid
assignments.
Ive run a Google search and found a number of cultural and educational organisations in
London that I could send my CV to. Then there are charities Im personally interested in, or
organisations I find appealing. Theres also a list of charities that welcome translators, just to
name a few:
Ashoka
International Childrens Digital Library (ICDL)
Rosetta Foundation
Apart from those, look for charities that interest you and that youd simply like to support. Send
them an e-mail with your CV and cover letter.
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LESSON 24
I made a list of all instances where my clients meet me and where theres some place to tell
them about the quality of my work. In your case there may be more opportunities, but the
following is good to start with (order of importance, I think):
CV/Business profile
Whichever of these two you prefer, they are usually going to make the first impression. How to
communicate quality here? Thorough proofreading, by another pair of eyes, a bit of knowledge
on CV-writing (as in my e-book), and no funky fonts. You may also consider having a designer to
set the layout, colours, and suggest a logo. Professionally-looking CV will be a good start to
communicate quality.
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Website
If you dont have one yet, youd better visit http://www.websitesfortranslators.co.uk and get
one as soon as you can. If you do have a website, make sure its up to the professional standard.
Its a good idea to think of services immediately conjuring up an image of quality, such as law
firms, jewellers, banking and finance institutions. Go and browse their websites. What
communicates quality there? Great content, impressive portfolio, professional design, certain
colours, and pictures with glass buildings. Not all of that will work for translation, but at least
we know which areas to consider. On my own website, I went with minimalism and vivid red
colour. A bit shocking, but same as a few banks and quality airlines.
E-mail
Quality in e-mail relates not only to spelling mistakes, but also to promptness, relevance, and
politeness. Dont forget about your e-mail signature: it should contain as much information on
your professional profile as possible, at least state your name and surname, professional
headline, and means of contact. Replying within reasonable time and answering to all questions
will communicate that you are thorough in your translations as well.
Professional picture
If you have a picture taken by a professional photographer in a studio, it screams quality! If you
care enough about your image, then you probably care enough about your work. Not to mention
the fact that you look much better than on a DIY portrait (like me!).
Online profiles
Sharing quality content instead of rubbish, or even private stuff, tells every client that you are a
professional who is truly devoted to quality. Anything you share, say, write, like, follow, will get
back to you sooner or later. All scandalous pictures or blog posts from when you were 17 will
jeopardise any attempt at communicating quality.
Business cards
Definitely worth investing. Only last week I have received a business card oh it was somewhere
in my bag, Im sure, all tattered and with a handwritten phone number. On the other side it
invited me to get some business cards from VistaPrint. I would not ever believe this person
provides high quality service. Cheap yes, but not quality. Still, I could forget that because it was
a newcomer to the profession, young and not really experienced. But what on Earth thought that
guy who sent me a cheque for an interpreting assignment who simply crossed out old e-mail
and website addresses from his with compliments slip? I mean, youve been in business for a
while you should know better than use cheap paper and cross out mistakes on your business
stationery.
Dress code
People dont judge by appearances in romantic relationships, or so they say. But business is
much more cruel than that. Id always be rather overdressed than underdressed, but plain
minimalism has never betrayed me yet. If you do happen to meet your clients, or you do
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interpreting, or you have a conference on skype do dress properly. And never fall into thinking
that youre just a translator, you dont have to look like a business person.
Ive just ordered a pack of extra-thick luxurious business cards, and Ive sent my brochure to a
designer. Im planning to approach high quality direct clients and I want them to know that I can
perform to their standards. In these cases, I dont think that my CV and portfolio would make
any impression on prospective clients. These business people out there are real beasts, and
theyll laugh in your face if you dont support your statement of quality with facts.
Quality, as any other marketing slogan, has to be communicated and enforced, not just written
down. We cant just rest hoping that our clients will miraculously notice how brilliant and top-
quality our texts are. They may not even be able to speak our target language.
It just reminded me of a shabby food place with old plastic chairs, paint flaking off the walls,
dirty floors and a huge blackboard saying: Quality organic food! I didnt buy that. Would you?
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LESSON 25
Whenever I log to my account (ok, I never log off, but thats another thing), I have this handy tab
showing other Gmail users who ever wrote to me being online. Now thats great for a quick
follow-up, or for just being nice and small-talking. Gmail takes e-mail further, allowing for closer
interactions.
Applications
I cant possibly imagine my translation business without Google Calendar and Google Docs. And
thanks to synchronisation with Android, I have my calendar and docs available on my mobile
and tablet, so I can carry my office around without any fuss. I do get enquiries when Im on the
go, and I cant imagine remembering about them all, or making notes in a paper calendar. Its so
easy with Google Calendar! And Im always reminded about my deadlines as well. Google Docs
saves so much time when Im co-operating with someone on a project! Google Reader is more
than handy as well: I can keep all my subscriptions in one place.
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Ease of access
I was visiting my family some time ago, but as a compulsive workaholic, I wanted to check all my
e-mail accounts when I was away. I thought: nothing easier than configuring Outlook on my
laptop. Wrong. When I did configure it, apparently only some accounts worked, the others
didnt. And one account was fine to download e-mails sent to me, but wouldnt let me reply (no,
because no, because you cant even my Dad didnt know whats wrong. It was probably due to
a huge difference in location and sending protocols). I dont want to think how I would end up if
that was my main translation business account. Luckily, Gmail works everywhere. It may ask
you about your phone number to confirm that its really you whos logging from another
country.
Applications Gmail allows me to keep a lot of business things in one place. Add Dropbox and
you can work anywhere!
What do you think? Are you in favour of free e-mail accounts? If not, why?
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LESSON 26
Accept the fact that youve been trained as a translator and interpreter, therefore you simply
know how to do it. If you still have serious doubts, find a mentor who will happily assess your
work and cheer you up. Or find translations done by professionals that you know you couldve
done better. You know how to translate or interpret and you should take that for granted.
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2. If you accept that you can do it, you do it better. Works great with samples sent to you by
prospective clients! You can either approach this task fearful of failure and fail, or just do your
job, as usual. Dont question your basic skills and dont take one no as a proof that you cant do
it. Actors are rejected dozens of times. Does that make them worse actors?
3. If youre confident, others will sense it. Be proud of your achievements, be impressed by your
own CV, enjoy your work. Whenever you send your application to a new client, visualise them
opening your e-mail, reading your cover letter, and being impressed with your CV. Your
confidence will convince them of hiring you.
4. Be proud, and business will come your way. Confident and optimistic people attract more
business. Since I started trusting in my ability to translate, Ive gained a few wonderful clients
and met interesting people out there.
5. Confidence enhances your USP. We all know we need something to stand out from the crowd.
In business, its called a Unique Selling Point the differentiation factor. If youre confident
enough in your basic skills, you can concentrate on growing your business and earning more.
Youre not just a translator anymore, but youre someone worthy of attention.
Even though there are no Oscars for translators and interpreters, I still think theres a lot to win
in our profession. And if confidence in our basic skills is the factor that makes the difference, its
better to have it and deliver confident translation and interpreting. In the end, you do have
these skills anyway, dont you?
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LESSON 27
It just happened about 2 weeks ago. I got trapped with the same text
for 7 hours a day from Monday to Friday (almost 9 to 5!), and I
noticed that my brain starts to slip. It doesnt happen that often if texts are different, or if you
can be more flexible and move your activities around. But how to deal with block translating?
How to really take care of your translating brain?
1. Breaks
It was very tempting for me to spend the first couple of hours translating all the time, thinking:
the more I manage to translate now, the sooner Ill finish. Not a great idea. It is much better to
take a break every hour and to let your brain breathe for a while. I translated for 55 minutes,
and then took a 5 minutes long break, closing my eyes and listening to my favourite, soul-
brightening Norwegian music. Thinking about green slopes, calm fiords and white sheep
Anything but policies, regulations and penalties for infringement.
2. Water
I used to think that a quick coffee in a morning is a must to start me off. Well, one cup sounds
fine. But in my own experience, problems start when youre trying to stay awake after 2-3 hours
of translating slurping yet another large black. Coffee worked against me, leaving my brain fed
up and my translating self bored and dumb. Water works much better, with a slice of lemon.
Keeping my body hydrated allowed me to keep my hourly turnover steady.
3. Food
I avoid large and heavy on a stomach food anyway, but you may want to try eating light while
you work. I usually eat fruit and nuts to get more sugar and energy, instead of eating bread and
dairy products. Oh, and chocolate really helps.
4. Planning
For large projects, I always have a daily planned turnover and I know I have to keep up to
translate according to it. Make sure that it is reasonable, and that youre not left with too much
time on your hands. At first, I estimated Ill translate much slower and I ended up cheating: if I
can do it in 5 hours, not 7, I can spend these 2 hours killing time Wrong. Im sure that a habit
like that would impact my overall capacity and after some time Id end up translating a half or a
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third of what I can do now. My best tactics: plan to translate enough to rush a bit. If you have
time to check your e-mail or Facebook, that means not enough work. (By the way: checking e-
mail during small breaks is a NO GO. Before you realise, youll end up wasting away at least half
an hour).
5. Exercise
Dont laugh at me, but I couldnt work without that. A quick series of stand-ups, or energetic
dance (to the very same Norwegian music), or a healthy stretch can do wonders with your levels
of concentration. I also try to go to the gym every other day, and I find it really beneficial for my
translation work.
6. Diversity
Long projects taking days are mind-bogging. I was getting mad in front of my computer, so I
used crime stories and thrillers to exercise my mind. Dont let your mind get too engrossed in
one topic, or youll end up completely exhausted and brain dead by the end of the project.
7. Gratification
Were all only human and wed do everything for a treat. If youre struggling with a project and
you wish you studied accountancy or law, think of a nice motivational bonus. Sometimes little
things work, and sometimes we need massive gratification. I made an official promise that if I
manage to keep up with my plan till the end of June, Im going for my great Scandinavian trip:
Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Turku, Oslo, and Bergen. Playing Norwegian music in the
background reminds me of my bonus. But again, chocolate works almost equally great!
I appreciate this certain stability that long projects provide us with, but I may suffer from a sort
of professional over activeness, and I cant imagine myself translating the same texts for longer
than 2 weeks. It becomes too mechanical, taking away my most favourite part. But well, no-one
can be too picky nowadays.
How do you take care of your brain? How do you deal with large and heavy projects? Do you
have any secrets that keep you carry on for ages?
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LESSON 28
There's plenty of CPD events available for translators and interpreters in London. Usually
organised by universities or translation organisations, these events are always in my calendar.
CPD events vary from high profile courses (like interpreting in courts or English legal system for
translators), through workshops (EU Translation Workshop), to regular CPD events held by
professional organisations (Meet the Client). Prices of such events usually vary from as little as
10 pounds to 200-300 hundreds. It's also a good idea to think of other, related courses or events
you could attend to add extra skills. For example, I did a course on creative writing. Not directly
translation-related, but I managed to practice writing and I'm sure it helped my blog.
What are the benefits of such events?
knowledge
CPD
additional skills
CV looks better
networking
Every year there are several conferences around the world I'd love to attend, and it's so difficult
to make a wise choice. The main issue with conferences are costs. Two or three such events can
be more expensive than 2-weeks-long holidays. I don't want to be cheeky here, but that's one of
these great advantages of living in London. Language shows or exhibitions are a great source of
inspiration.
conference atmosphere
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3. Specialisation-related events
I can't imagine a better place to network and build relationships! I know it may be hard to find a
law-related event, but I'm sure there are plenty of events held among professionals in various
fields. There's nothing wrong in you going to an IT or programming event and being "just an IT
translator". As an outsider, you will surely attract attention and people will talk to you.
4. Business events
There's nothing out there to prevent you from grabbing a handful of business cards and leaflets,
preparing your elevator pitch, and joining other business people in your area. Translators tend
to be shy or coy, and they think that the great world of business is not about them. Well, you
don't have to employ people or have several retail points. But they do. And they may already
know they'll need translations, or you may convince them why translating a website may bring
huge Return on Investment. Business events and networking meetings are usually free of
charge, and the benefits are great.
What are the benefits of such events?
5. Online events
On the 30th of September, the Institute of Translation and Interpreting together with eCPD
Webinars organised a virtual coffee morning for translators and interpreters. Sometime later
there was a virtual conference held on Translation Process Research by Aston University. Online
events are becoming more and more popular!
What are the benefits of such events?
easy to attend
convenience of your own home
international networking
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6. Networking events and meetings
Either organised by institutions, or just a few colleagues meeting up for a quick coffee, informal
networking events are great. Its so hard to meet a translator by chance, and sometimes we all
crave for a friendly soul to complain about low rates or tough deadlines.
What are the benefits of such events?
friendly atmosphere
chatting with colleagues
I'm trying to plan at least one of those events a month. Having said that, I must warn you all: if
you're not selective enough, or you're too enthusiastic and visit them all, you'll soon end up
having no time left to work (been there, done that). There's a wide range of events available, and
we all should strive to find our best mix. What kind of events or meetings do you find most
useful?
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LESSON 29
There are some logos out there which I think are particularly great
(among others!). Here are some examples for inspiration:
1) Rainy London Translations: It's very modern, and I love this subtle reference to one of the
most iconic tourist attractions in London. The name and graphics go together great.
2) Lingua Greca: Fresh, light, and modern. Suggests that people behind it are professional and
creative.
3) Franco American Quill: I like the classy simplicity of this logo: very little colour, but tells you
so much about the business!
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4) Ignacio Hermo: Simple and clean typography, intense and energetic colour. This logo is a
great example of minimalism in action!
5) SFM Traduction: a word tree? Genius! Clever and subtle logo with a great colour scheme.
6) Babeliane Traductions: Subtle, compelling, and wonderfully simple. I also like its delicate and
feminine character, goes great with the way "Babeliane" sounds!
Why should you get a logo when you start a translation business?
To be recognised: its much easier for a human brain to digest and store images, as
opposed to text. Potential clients will be more likely to associate your services with a
graphic element, rather than your name.
To be more professional: with all this competition around, being more professional
than others may win you a number of clients. Consistent branding is a must.
To be more motivated: when you get a logo, theres no turning back. You have to act like
a full-time business person!
To stand out: any logo is a plus, but a creative and catchy one will definitely make the
difference.
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Where to put your logo?
Website
Business cards
Brochures
CV/Profile
Gadgets (cups, mugs, Oyster card holders, pens, mouse pads...)
Invoices and quotes
Letterhead
Social media
So now you're wondering how to get a logo? If youre happy with nice typography (as I am at the
moment), you can design something all by yourself. I found mine here - you can pick and choose,
and it's all free! All you need to do is to download a font and install it on your computer. Then
just open MS Publisher (or PowerPoint), type your business name, add colours, and hit "Save as
picture". You can also get one done professionally, but it's not a definite must. The professional
solution saves you time, and is great if you want something more visual and creative.
What are your favourite logos used by freelance translators? Add links in comments!
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LESSON 30
And by the way, it's been quite popular on SlideShare when I uploaded it: Your document
"Practical guide to social media for translators" is being talked about on Facebook more than
anything else on SlideShare right now. So we've put it on the homepage of SlideShare (in the
"Hot on Facebook" section).
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LESSON 31
Translation and business still too often go together only in terms of specialist fields. There is
only a handful of successful entrepreneurial translators (a number of them setting up agencies
as soon as they can), but I believe that it's not due to the fact that it is difficult to succeed. I am
deeply convinced that too few of us even try.
There's been a survey conducted in the USA asking people: what is the easiest way to become a
millionaire? Some 40% believed the easiest way is to win a lottery, some considered robbing a
bank. Only about 4% answered that the easiest way to have a million dollars is to set up own
business. Surprisingly, another research showed that the number of millionaires in States
oscillates around... 4%. Something tells me that if we counted the number of the most successful
translators, we would get a similar proportion.
Since there seems to be a direct relation between entrepreneurship and earning millions (or at
least a decent salary to start with), why so many of us, translators, just don't go that way? Why
so many of us see ourselves separate from daredevil entrepreneurs?
The world changes, my dear friend. We can no longer afford to be these geeky and detached
linguists convinced that our intelligence and subtle knowledge will prove to be enough. We are
used to be one step behind, or in a booth, or never mentioned on a cover. But the world doesn't
hire shy but studious secretaries anymore. Clients don't want coy but diligent proofreaders.
Agencies don't contact proud and always-too-busy to respond translators. Recession means that
everyone becomes competitive, everyone needs to have business cards, everyone needs to dare
to be entrepreneurial. Is it really everyone?
Theres much talking about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship at the moment. Who is an
entrepreneur and can every translator be one? There are some qualities we have in common by
definition, such as:
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Search for new ideas and innovation
Accepting constructive criticism and rejection
Self-discipline
Strong work ethic
Good organisation
But that doesnt make an entrepreneur. There are some dangerous areas, skills we would have
to work on, such as:
People skills
Selling skills
Leadership qualities
Strong belief in ourselves
Competitiveness
If that's the only strategy that can keep you afloat in the translation business, would you become
one of these daredevil entrepreneurs? Or are you going to stick to your usual translator-self?
Where do you stand: no place for traditional translators, or entrepreneurship is good for
daredevils?
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LESSON 32
Peace of mind
First and foremost, we dont want to be even more stressed. At least we know that whatever
happens, were covered. Apparently, a lot of interpreters strongly believe that professional
indemnity is essential. Why? Because if they participate in multi-million negotiations they
simply wouldnt be able to sleep properly for a couple of days after the assignment.
Accept responsibility
No-one (hopefully) makes mistakes on purpose. But we have to accept the fact that were just
humans and something can go wrong. In that case, it is our responsibility to react and redress
the loss. For the very same reasons building owners are insured against falling tiles. Nothing
they can take control over, but they accept their responsibility.
Professionalism
I specialise in law and business, and I know that my insurance is an added value for my clients.
In terms of working with law firms, they do start co-operation with asking you for insurance.
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During one of business courses I attended Ive been told that anyone who would like to provide
professional services should get insurance. Good practice!
Marketing matters
Were all trying to figure out how to be better than our competitors, and how to attract more
clients. I thought that if I had a choice between an insured accountant and one without any
cover (can they do that, by the way?), I wouldnt hesitate for too long. And I have a feeling that
some direct clients may think the same in terms of translation.
Insurance seems to be an important issue if you work for direct clients. But what about
agencies? We would like to assume that if we work for an agency, it will be its responsibility
when things go wrong. But this is not always the case. Some agencies, in their terms and
conditions or agreements, include a part where they cunningly shift the responsibility to get
insurance on their suppliers (meaning: translators). If were dealing with more honest
agencies, they will require their translators to be insured openly and overtly. And some agencies
dont care.
For further reading, heres a link to a blog post on this topic by the Translation Journal and an
academic article on the translators responsibilities and liability in the Journal of Specialised
Translation.
What are your views? Have you ever heard of a translator being sued? Do you think that
insurance is necessary? Do you need to have insurance in your country?
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LESSON 33
And its even worse with perfectionists. If you are one, you know how hard it is to finish and
send off a job. Youre followed by this feeling that something must be wrong, that you made a
mistake somewhere. When you dont get any complains, you start making up weird scenarios,
like they were so upset with my mistake that they wont talk to me again.
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There always will be someone more experienced or more educated. Accepting this fact is
necessary to be able to develop your own career. Believe or not, there isnt a closed circle of
good translators and the rest is not admitted. Neither there is a benchmark to show that that
much experience and this university is required to become a good translator.
But we keep comparing. Its in our blood. And its not essentially bad, as long as its not
destructive. The same colleague of mine I mentioned above almost gave up interpreting because
she discovered Proz and developed low self-esteem. She asked for help, and I told her not to
look at Proz, or not to research other translators until she gets a couple of clients. She did,
despite the fact that she wasnt the best one.
Ambition, is that what causes this irrational thought that we have to be better than someone? I
dont think so. You can be an ambitious translator, and never suffer from this self-esteem issue.
Id say that we want to be better than others simply to survive on the market. We think that only
the best ones will be spared, and were struggling to be in this circle. Wait, there is no circle of
the greatest of the greatest translators.
What paranoid thoughts you had to deal with? How did you manage to leave them behind? Do
you think theyre linked to some turns of our careers?
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LESSON 34
Skill
Not everyone could be a literary translator, try as they may. Not everyone may do well with
legal texts. Some people, like me, could never become medical interpreters (tried once, no thank
you). Theres nothing shameful about being good at one kind of text, and refuse the other. Our
own skills and predispositions are crucial.
Money
Rates are not equal across the domains. Generally speaking, the richer the area of business, the
more money there is to spend on translations. With this assumption in mind, its not hard to
identify potential leaders in terms of high rates. If we dont want to end up complaining about
low income, we should keep this factor in mind.
Personal interest
We cant go against our own preferences, can we? If I had to translate a text I didnt enjoy, or on
a subject I find unpleasant, or even something that goes against my beliefs, Id struggle. I would
be able to deliver correct translation, but wheres the flair? Wheres the little ingenuity that I
could be proud of? It must have stayed with the texts I like.
Personally, I decided to mix these two when choosing my specialist areas. Theres something I
do for money (legal), something Im skilled in (business), and something I really enjoy (IT).
Thats a good starting point, and I have the balance I need.
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1. Plan
First of all, think of these three factors Ive mentioned above and try to come up with ideas on
your specialist areas. Dont forget to consider them against the demand in your language pair
and in your country (for example: not every country exports or imports oil, while gas and oil
industry pays well).
2. Portfolio
You should have your specialist areas in mind when creating your portfolio of translations. Then
youd be able to support your claims with hard evidence. Also, it will be a chance for you to
check whether you can really cope with these domains.
Read, in both (all?) languages. Subscribe to professional publications within the field, read
professional blogs, sign up to newsletters. This is the best way to become an expert within the
field. You get subject-related knowledge, but also you build up your terminology base.
5. Target customers
Try finding clients who would appreciate your specialist areas and dont be too scared to say
that you work only in these domains. Even agencies are now far from having a bunch of
translators doing everything for everyone, and you can negotiate a higher rate as an expert in a
field.
How did your journey to being a specialist look like? Did you have to plan for it, or it just sort of
happened?
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LESSON 35
On the last occasion I was confronted with a surprisingly honest answer, translated roughly as:
Youre the first Polish translator I meet whos not turning her back away, looking down at me,
or rushing away scared of competition. In this particular translators experience, it was normal
to treat every other colleague as a dangerous competitor. My only reply at that time was: Why
would I do that?
Obviously, I know many reasons to be scared of competitors, even more if they work in the
same language pair. I can imagine people being scared of others taking their jobs, or having their
skills confronted with another professional. But I was still shocked.
I asked for your opinion on my Facebook page, and I got some reassuring answers. So how is it,
really? Do we compete or co-operate? Or both?
Co-operating can take many forms: from sharing posts that help other translators, through
posting info on Twitter, to presenting and giving webinars on professional topics. Co-operating
is also the support we give to each other, both emotional during tougher periods, and practical
when problems arise. Co-operating also means joining our forces for the whole profession, as
opposed to working on our own and discrediting colleagues.
And competition? Have you ever witnessed or experienced competitive behaviour from your
colleagues? Or maybe competition is not always bad? What do you think, translation
competition, co-operation, or both?
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LESSON 36
What is it then that makes someone a successful translator? What do we take into account when
we talk about success, and how do we measure it?
1. Money
Money is important when talking about professional success. But I find it hard to determine the
scale. Someone could work too long hours and make decent money is that still a success? Or is
there a certain cut-off point of income that helps us determine if someone is successful or not?
Or should it rather be our per word/hourly rate? And how much money should we make to be
successful compared to other professions?
2. Time
If we were considering time as one of the factors of success, what would we consider successful
then? Im not hiding the fact that I love my profession and I dont mind committing and
dedicating a lot of my time to work. My work is my passion and my life, and I end up working on
Sundays, like today. But I know colleagues who decided that they will work only 8 hours a day
and have weekends off and they are still successful.
3. Types of texts
Maybe it is about what do we translate and interpret? If we get texts we like, we are successful
then? But then, from time to time we all get our hands on texts wed rather leave and we still do
it. What if the ability to translate less exciting texts is one of the ingredients of success?
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4. Recognition
Someone may suggest that recognition and approval among colleagues is the measure of
success. Is it really? Is recognition necessary to deem someone successful? I think its the other
way round: recognition comes after success.
5. Self-perception
This point is the most troublesome for me, and crucial to our profession. I know many
translators who are simply miserable in their professional lives, complaining about poor rates,
long hours, no weekends, and little respect from clients. This is the opposite of success.
It seems to me that success in translation depends on mind-set. Problems like market
saturation, low rates, long payment terms, and astonishing discounts for repetitions are
obstacles, but not excuses. It is always down to us whether we think of ourselves as successful
translators and we do all we can to get there, or we just stand by and watch rates drop. Money,
time, types of texts and recognition may help to measure ones success from the outside. But I
strongly believe they all are just effects of our success-thinking.
Now question over to you: What does it mean to be a successful translator to you?
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LESSON 37
Reliable laptop
You can't work without a laptop, can you? I recommend checking it up, updating and running
scans before taking off. Believe me, realising that your battery is permanently dead on board of
a plane is not too nice, especially if you assumed you will spend these three hours translating to
deliver the file on time. And if you use Trados, just run it once before departing, as it has the
annoying habit of breaking down just like that. Anti-virus scans are needed, the same as anti-
virus software. Another point to remember: if you're used to your two 22 inch screens, wrist
foam and sensitive mouse pad, you will be much slower on a 13 inch laptop with a touchpad.
Cloud solutions
Make sure to upload your essentials to a cloud storage system. USB keys or flash drives get lost
or damaged, or yeah you took the wrong one. This year I used my mobile as an emergency drive,
but stored all my files on Dropbox. Convenient, but see below.
Internet
If a hotel in Wales states they have wi-fi, expect it in the lounge only. If the connection breaks
down for no reason and you ask the staff where free wi-fi is available, you will surely get a
difficult explanation how to get to a place with free wi-fi that's only 20 minutes by bus from
here. Oh but it's Sunday evening, there are no busses there today. Don't expect even the most
globalised places to have wi-fi. Berlin train station doesn't, or am I just so unlucky? I
recommend using wi-fi wherever possible, but also check data roaming packages with your
mobile operator. Mine had a cheap and convenient package covering whole Europe. If only there
was signal in Wales...
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Time
It is very useful to decide how much time a day you are going to spend on working. Because Im
an early bird, I didnt mind waking up at my usual 6 a.m. and working until 9 a.m. in peace. I had
it all planned and knew how many words I had to translate each day to deliver on time. I had no
mercy for myself and I really did work when I was supposed to, even if it meant missing out on a
dinner, or an early morning walk. You also have to realise that holiday time is different from
office time. Every minute spent translating runs either two times faster (when youre really
close to the deadline) or ten times slower (when you just want to be done and stroll down the
beach). I was dreadfully slower in just about anything during my working holidays.
Understanding
Most of you are freelancers as well, so you can understand me. I cant just go away for 3 or 4
weeks without doing any work, checking my email or answering calls. Im a business, I cant
casually disappear from the translation horizon and then rebuild my professional connections.
But try explaining that to your partner, who conveniently left his business phone behind, or
your friends and family, who are all in the holiday mood. Be ready to repeat and educate.
Survival mode
Because of the reduced working hours, you have to be very selective about what youre going to
spend your time on. I call it a survival mode. It explains no blog posts and scarce updates online.
At some point you have to make a decision what is essential for you to carry on with your
business (accounting, invoicing, replying to enquiries, emailing, translating), and what can wait.
You should also have a plan for your return, in order to be able to cope with all these things that
were put on hold for so long.
Business cards
You would be amazed by the variety of settings and situations you can use your business cards
on working holidays. For example, you can meet a Polish family near the Snowdon summit, or
realise that your acquaintance wifes friend is doing some business in Poland and struggles to
communicate with his business partners.
Summing up
Ive always been rather a 3-days-away-holiday fan, and I think Ill stick to this model. The
amount of issues to deal with after my return was overwhelming. And I simply missed
WantWords.
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LESSON 38
Holidays I had a few holiday breaks and I managed to get a fresh view on some of the most
important things in my life. I also realised some things about our job, and how important
translation is. I also practiced working holidays. May come handy next year!
Rearranging the office I finally had the right circumstances to set up my office the way I want
it. I have a lot of space now: two desks, 4 bookcases, a sofa, two whiteboards and a fireplace. My
productivity has already increased!
Redesigning branding I worked closely with my designers to reflect what I think about
translation and how I want to provide my services. Some aspects are still being developed, but
the major change is from red to brown. Thats it, I like it this way.
Networking A bit hard to do when everyones on holidays! But I planned to do things I didnt
manage to do in the end. And I think my online networking couldve been better.
Learning CPD during holidays is a real challenge! First of all, there are very few events and
opportunities for development in summer. And with this weather its really hard to keep your
motivation and self-discipline up to the same level.
Blogging I found it difficult to keep to my routine and write one blog post a week. Why? I
guess it was the summery atmosphere out there, and spending much more time outside.
Unexpected trips didnt help either.
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Qualifications I decided to take DipTrans. Im also starting a Postgraduate Certificate in Law.
So far so good!
Presentations and webinars Theres a lot of them planned! Follow my Facebook page not to
miss anything. The first one is about social media 25th of September.
Learning Im doing two or three free courses at Coursera, and I cannot recommend them
enough! I was very disappointed when I had to stop one of them last year due to other
commitments. Im determined to keep up with them this year.
Business development some nice things on the horizon here! Ive planned a serious business
development strategy and prepared a real marketing plan.
Languages Originally I was supposed to be taking some language exams in September. Sadly, I
dont see it happening this year. I tried very hard to spend Saturdays working on my French and
Norwegian, but theres always something more pressing. If its not the right time, Ill wait.
Moving I really wanted to move this year, but it is very unlikely now. I will have to stay where
I am for now, even though its not the best location business-wise (I should move closer to the
Polish cultural centre!).
Why dont you look back over your shoulder and summarise the last quarter? Track your
translation business development!
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LESSON 39
25 September
Who's invited: Enthusiasts and critics of the social media. Why dont you sign up and challenge
us?
1 October
Working Successfully as a Freelance Translator series: Marketing, networking and social media
for translators (London)
Im a guest speaker at a well-established series of workshops run by Karen Stokes and offered
by the Chartered Institute of Linguists. The first part of the workshop covers marketing your
services through your own website and the professional bodies, and also how to develop
professional profile and branding. My part is all about using the social media techniques.
Whos invited: Freelance translators wishing to learn more about marketing in the real world
and online. (Psst Booking deadline is on the 17th of September)
6th October
If youre in London, dont miss this great event! Its a perfect way to celebrate the International
Translation Day. Come over to attend the prestigious Threlford Memorial Lecture, this year
given by The Baroness Garden of Frognal, and to participate in a selection of seminars, including
mine: "Using Social Media in the Languages Industry: Tips, Strategies and Best Practice".
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Whos invited: Everyone related to the languages industry.
19 21st of October
Whos invited: Its a great family event, and weve seen everyone from professional
interpreters to high school students. Its always good to learn more about marketing, isnt it? (PS
Its all free!)
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LESSON 40
Secondly, as they say: if it aint broke Old branding worked just fine. I gave a consistent and
strong image on every platform and through all means of communication (including my
invoices). Why would I ever need anything else?
Thirdly, I had to deal with a natural stress related to changes. Weighting up pros and cons was a
never-ending nightmare. What if I dont like the new design? What if others dont like it? What if
it doesnt work with my clients? At some point, I was about to call the whole re-branding off.
I realised that WantWords is my own business and its always up to me how it looks like and
what it does. Its all about the person behind it. A change of colour cannot confuse my audience
or my clients, because its only the colour that changes I stay the same. And because I am my
business, it should please me. If I like brown and old typewriters, I should use brown and old
typewriters. If I changed and grew up, I can leave bright red and strawberries behind. And in the
end, business is never about the colour or the logo. To a certain extent it doesnt matter if you
have your website in shades of red of brown. Youll translate equally well.
Im happy with all the changes, and I would like to talk you through them.
Idea
The idea is to create the image of old-school reliability and professionalism. You know, these
days when translators used typewriters, knew spelling by heart and went to libraries to do
research. Something was telling me that were missing these roots in the offline reality. I
decided that I would like to use the feel of the past and combine it with new technologies. I also
want to promote my country.
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Colours
Brown is not popular online. Im well aware of it and I know why. Back in the old days, when I
received my training in public speaking, we were told that if we want to attract attention to
ourselves, we should wear flashy colours. Thats how people stand out. But if were delivering a
workshop or a training session, we should wear brown. Brown attracts people to what youve
got to say. Besides, brown is serious, stable and structured. Just like me.
Logo
The essential part of the logo stayed the same. Sometimes youll see it with a typewriter, like on
my business cards, just to add a bit of spice to it. But no major changes there. I really like it the
way it is.
Slogan
Surprise, surprise: my slogan is partly in Polish. Its a part of a wider campaign Im rolling out
trying to make people interested in my native language by facing them with words they can
make out of the context. Its also a great hook. Whenever I meet someone new and give out my
business card, they try to read the bit in Polish and always make jokes about their
pronunciation. Po polsku is easy enough to learn it in 3 seconds, and I can always congratulate
my interlocutor on being such a fast learner. Does the trick for me.
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Business cards
Stickers
Letterhead
Ink
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LESSON 41
MUST-HAVES OF A TRANSLATOR'S CV
Its been some time since I published my How to write a
translators CV and taking into account the number of downloads a
day you still think its relevant. Im very happy that I could help
some of you with my advice.
But the industry changes and were bound to try new things to get
more clients. I always review my CVs (yes, more than one!) every
three months, and this time they called for a major overhaul (yes,
you can overhaul your CV). I jotted down all my ideas and Id love to
share them with you now. To do that, I printed out a copy of my CV and I recommend you to do
the same. Well go through them at the same time.
Lets start with the structure. Make sure that you have all of these sections on your CV. I have a
pencil in my hand and Im ticking them off as well.
Translators put a whole range of details on their CVs, from obvious telephone numbers, through
addresses, to places of birth. I use a simple rule to determine which details should be there: does
my potential client need this information? My clients need my telephone number, my email
address, my website address and a rough idea about my location. Id never ever include: my
exact address, my date and place of birth, my photo and my marital status on my CV. Why? Im
concerned about identity thefts and I think these details are not relevant at all. Do you agree?
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4. Summary tick.
This part is a summary of you as a professional. Dont forget to mention all the good things
about you: experience, abilities, knowledge, USP, maybe availability and daily output? And I
think its a good place to mention your areas of specialisation. I use bullet points to make them
more visible.
5. Key Achievements on my CV
This bit may be quite controversial. Not every translator agrees that it is relevant. I think its a
good pitch. Well, you start with telling your reader that you have something called key
achievements it subconsciously says youre good. And its a good place to show your
involvement with the profession. All bloggers, Twitterers, or Facebookers can mention their
activities here. Why not? It counts as long as it makes you stand out.
6. Experience of course!
This section of our CVs is always crucial. In there the reader decides if youre up to the job and if
theyre going to give you this project. Make sure that your experience is relevant, rich, and
impressive. If you dont want to or cant mention your clients (privacy, NDAs, confidentiality),
you can always list your most recent (or most relevant) projects in a given domain. I also add
word count of my projects, because I believe that numbers work best with convincing clients.
7. Memberships done
Is it just me, or do you always try to find peoples memberships as well? In my opinion it is a
very important point in a freelancers career, because it shows that youre affiliated with a
regulatory/advisory/statutory body and youre representing similar values as these
organisations do. Im not that sure of putting logos of organisations on your CV. What do you
think?
8. Education as well
Some of you may disagree with listing education so far down on your CV. However, in
translation more than in any other domain, its not our education that is the decisive aspect. It is
relevant and sometimes required, but in most of the cases were assessed based on our
experience. In my education, I always try to give some examples of modules I took.
9. Software not on my CV
I still think its a very important issue on our CVs, but I decided to leave it out for now. I mention
that I use Trados in my summary and thats it. The rest is mentioned on my website, but I
assume that my clients know Im a proficient user of MS Office, Windows, some Mac knowledge,
etc. Were bound to be tech-savvy, arent we?
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11. Professional development carefully selected
I picked those events and training sessions that are relevant to the domain on which a specific
version of my CV concentrates. To make it simpler, my legal translation CV gives only my legal
CPD. Clear, easy, and works wonders.
Just in case someone gets to the end of my CV and is still hesitant, I add a section on my
publications and presentations. Wouldnt you hire someone whos giving talks? Everything
counts, from an article written to a language-related publication to a presentation on just about
anything. Try to impress them!
Online CV tips
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LESSON 42
I guess there are many of you out there whose ways into the translation business were different.
But we all have some things in common: some qualifications, some experience, some dedication,
and some rules we never break.
But imagine theres an easy way. Much easier than you imagine, and it could potentially bring
you much more money. I am going to share this secret with you now, and you should read
carefully until the very end to make money in translation.
You absolutely mustnt have any translation qualifications. Languages are ok, but still look
suspicious. If you accidentally have any language-related background, you better erase it from
your CV and forget about everything youve learned. You must be an entrepreneur and a born
marketer, preferably thinking only about your business. Youve got to be passionate about
networking, talking to people, and making good impression. Be great, good looking, and smart.
2. Setting up a company
The first and most important aspect of setting up your company is to make sure that it looks
bigger and more complex than it really is. Pretend that you have five departments and a whole
team to support you. You could even create imaginary personalities and make your clients
believe that someone elses on Twitter, someone elses dealing with invoices, and you as the CEO
- you work only 5 hours a day.
You must stress that youre providing top-quality translations in 170 languages both ways,
complex services, telephone interpretation, video conferencing, transcreation, subtitling, voice
over, private tuition, translation certifications and all these other services you have no idea
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about, but youll be able to find a freelancer who does. When describing your services, use the
following adjectives: professional, outstanding quality, native-only translators, 24 hours a day,
top quality, in-house proofreaders (tip: meaning you), etc.
4. Setting prices
If you think theres a healthy business model to tell you how much to charge to your clients,
youre wrong. The easiest way to do it is as follows (and its really easy because it allows you to
do two things at the same time). Find a directory of translators online, write a dull email that
youre expanding your base of providers and youre recruiting freelancers in this language pair
(please note: use recruit freelancers again and again it doesnt make sense and is a great
example of an oxymoron, and never try to specify the language pair it could get you into
trouble because youre sending this email to all language pairs on earth). Ask for the best rate
and invite them to send their CVs. Dont forget to send this email from a gmail or any other free
mailing service. Oh and by the way: always, but always start your emails with Dear Linguist.
Youll receive a range of replies, so just find the lowest possible best rate offered. Thats how
much youre going to pay your service providers. Now multiply this fee by 8.852 (thats the
translation income rate I just invented) and there you go. Thats how much you charge your
clients.
5. Finding providers
But you already found them! All these emails you received to find out the lowest prices did the
job for you. Without looking at CVs, delete these emails that state a fee twice higher than your
minimum. Still without looking at CVs, create folders for different language pairs and copy the
documents there. Create a mailing list to all people whore in your folders and congratulate
them on joining your successful company and agreeing to work for your rates. Job done!
6. Marketing
As I said, you must be smart and good looking. Your website has to be brilliant. Dont hesitate to
invest loads of money in making your company look international and global (nice words to add
to your copy, by the way). It doesnt matter what colours are used, or if your copy makes sense.
Just be there and remember about SEO and social media. You could have someone blogging, but
its much easier to use this funny piece of software that changes some words in existing articles
online to give you a brand new text. If you dont like the hassle, simply steal some articles from
freelance translators.
I don't have to mention that it's a satire, do I? The number of agencies/companies operating this
way is increasing. Im always fishing for dodgy websites, but Im under the impression that
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theres more and more of them popping up. People who call themselves entrepreneurs use the
slimiest, ugliest, and easiest model to earn some money and then get rid of the body. This model
stands against everything we value in our profession and is insulting to our skills. Theres one
thing we can do to stop it: never, never agree to work for the bottom feeders and their
ridiculous rates.
Even if thats far from easy, Im prepared to take up the challenge. Are you?
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LESSON 43
Paper
I know that its an ordeal for some of us to order business cards from a printing company. In the
end, were just translators, right? Wrong! Printing business cards on your own printer is not
such a great idea because you dont want your business cards to crumple within seconds. And
please if you really have to print them at home, dont use scissors buy a guillotine. If youre
ordering business cards from a printing company, it doesnt really matter if its thick or thin,
glossy or matte. Were not CEOs of multimillion companies. Unless you want to make a
statement and use 100% recycled paper because you translate about recycled materials.
Size
Id recommend against anything of non-standard size. Of course there may be slight variations,
but if you go for something really different, youre risking not fitting in any business card holder.
If your business card is causing problems, it may be left somewhere loose in a drawer and
forgotten forever.
Details
So what should we have on our business cards? The absolute essentials are: name and surname
(almost everyone got it), professional headline (what do you do), languages (something not to
forget), telephone, email and website address (if you have a website). Some people give their
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postal addresses. I dont, would anyone care to tell me why I should? Regarding additional
information, most of the business cards Im looking at right now contain details such as degrees
obtained, qualifications gained, memberships, etc. Good!
Graphics
I support adding some life to your business cards. Even a small graphical element brings some
life and spice to your card. As long as its relevant. You can only imagine whats not relevant and
Im not going to give examples, as I dont want anyone to recognise their business cards here.
The safest move is to add your logo.
Colours
Im a traditionalist and minimalist when comes to colours. My business cards are brown and
white and thats it. Always dark text on bright background and no funky colours. But I know
some of you arent! You love experimenting with colours, and I have nothing against it, as long
as I can read the text.
How many business cards do you use a year? Do you think we still need business cards at all?
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LESSON 44
Networking is, in simple terms, building your network of connections. In the simplest terms,
getting to know people. You come to an event and meet new people. That's it. I used to be a very
lousy event attendee. In the past, I would just listen to the presentation and then run home as
soon as I could. Terrible, I know. But I made significant progress since then, and now I know
how to use these events to the fullest. So here are some of my doubts I managed to get rid of and
pieces of advice about what to do before, during, and after each networking event.
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What should I take with me?
Make sure that you have enough business cards and that theyre suitable for this kind of event. I
have two types of business cards: One specifically for my colleagues, inviting them to visit my
blog and Facebook page, and the other one for my prospective clients, giving my essential
details. I always carry both of them with me. On average, I'm giving out between 5 to 15
business cards on one event; unless, of course I'm presenting. Then I need many more of them. A
camera is recommended to take pictures and share them with colleagues later. You could also
consider taking your smartphone to tweet and update your Facebook.
A few days before the event think of what you're going to wear. I have a few classics that I'm
comfortable with and I know nothing can go wrong with them. Unless it's a very short event, I'm
not wearing too-high heels. The crucial point for me in terms of clothing is feeling good.
On the day
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one of your colleagues. Try some of these conversation starters: How did you like this
presentation? Do you agree with the speaker? Are you into this topic? And you'll see how easily
it flows. Of course, don't forget to introduce yourself.
If a person you wanted to meet or talk to is chatting with a whole group of colleagues, you can
definitely approach the group, listen to the conversation for a while. Usually one of the persons
in the group will notice you and try to interact. If they don't, you can wait for a pause in a
conversation, say that you're sorry to interrupt, but you really wanted to thank the speaker, or
ask them a question.
Do you have some good strategies or points to add? Or perhaps questions? Write to me and I'll
try to answer some of them!
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LESSON 45
You can have a look at some photos in here and you can like the page as well!
It was great to talk about online marketing and social media for translators. Valeria covered
branding (no wonder why!), Megan presented on blogging (expert knowledge), and I covered
websites, social media and CVs.
Meg also prepared a handout with some very important points, and she gave some guidelines to
preparing and executing online marketing strategies. Grab a copy!
Language show live career boosting social media for linguists from Marta Stelmaszak
I was also giving handouts with essential resources on social media. Make sure you get your
own copy below!
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LESSON 46
Popular freelancers have more work. They are well-known, recommended, referred to when
needed. This sense of professional popularity, or fame, boosts productivity, self-confidence, and
in the end: income. Who wouldnt like that?
The best news is that we all start from zero. We all come to the profession at some point and
have to work hard to gain recognition. We need some courage, good branding, and a list of
things we have to do. Below you can find a list of things I did and I recommend every freelance
translator should do, inspired by this article on Freelance Folder. The best thing about items on
this list is that theyre all interconnected: one causes the other. A colleague inspired by this
lesson run a survey among translators and interpreters and presented her results in a great
infographics. Have a look!
1) Attend an event
Theres much to be said in favour of attending events. The general rule is: go to as many events
as you can without negative impact on your work. Appear here and there, network with some
people, look out for opportunities.
What I did: I went to an event organised by the Interpreting Division of the Chartered Institute
of Linguists on interpreting for the media. It led to 4, 6, 8 and 9.
Being on the other side of an event is a great experience. Youll learn how things work, but youll
also meet many people behind such events who are always worth knowing. As an organiser,
youre also perceived as more experienced and more knowledgeable.
What I did: Only recently, I volunteered to help at Websites for Translators stand during
Language Show Live. It led to 8, 5.
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3) Join an organisation
Becoming a member of an organisation is a very wise step. Youre joining a group of like-minded
people and you can add your expertise to their experience. It doesnt have to be a translation or
language-related organisation. Perhaps you could add an extra angle to other markets?
What I did: Ive just joined Chartered Institute of Marketing. Im hoping to do 1, 2 and 4 with
them to start with.
4) Write an article
By researching a certain field needed to write an article, you already become richer in
knowledge and experience. It becomes your field of expertise. When the article gets published,
youre also acknowledged. It drives publicity. Theres a wide range of options, from online to
printed.
What I did: I wrote an article for The Linguist on social media following 1. It lead me to 8, 9 and
10.
5) Write an ebook
Whether you want them to pay for it or not, writing an ebook is a great marketing opportunity.
There are so many unexplored areas of translation (or working as a translator), that writing a
short text can be exciting! Youll also be able to prove that youre an expert in your field.
What I did: I wrote an ebook on CVs for freelance translators. It led me to 4, 7 and 9.
6) Join a committee
Many organisations rely on help of their members. By joining a management committee you get
involved in important aspects of the profession, you can bring change and have impact on your
industry. It also makes you look more professional in the eyes of your clients.
What I did: I was invited to become a member of the management committee of the
Interpreting Division of the Chartered Institute of Linguists following 1 and a co-head of the UK
Chapter of IAPTI. So far, it led me to 1, 2, 8.
If youre not blogging yourself, writing a guest post to be published on somebody elses blog can
bring more traffic to your website and more attention to you. Its an excellent way of showing
that you know what youre doing. In the end, someone else published something you wrote.
What I did: I wrote a guest post for Wordyrama lately. Considerably more traffic on my own
website!
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8) Give a presentation
It has a range of benefits to a freelancer. First, you become recognisable. Second, they take
pictures of you that you can use to market yourself. Third, you practice public speaking (boosts
confidence needed to talk to clients).
What I did: Following 1, I approached one organisation and gave a presentation on social media
in the languages industry. It led me to even more presentations, 4, 9 and 10.
9) Run a seminar
Running a workshop or a seminar is a great idea to earn more money. Theres nothing bad or
wrong about monetising (or capitalising) on your skills and knowledge. If you have unique
knowledge or experience, share it.
What I did: I run a few workshops on social media in the languages industry, both online and
offline. It led to 8, 10.
After youve done things from 1 to 9, Im sure someone somewhere will notice you and want to
interview you. Its a brilliant opportunity to present your whole profile and experience, and use
it later in your marketing. Well, I dont know a client whod turn down a translator who has
been INTERVIEWED by someone.
What I did: I was interviewed last week in a Rock the industry series. Im still thinking what to
do with it, besides bragging about it to my clients!
Now you tell me, what did you do to become more popular and capitalise on that?
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LESSON 47
What makes clients chose one agency over another? What makes
them go to an agency in the first place? Were all wondering about
that and were trying to find our own marketing advantages.
Competing with giants is much easier on the internet. You get
yourself a website, spice it up with custom-made design and write
some texts. Yes, Im going to talk about texts agencies and freelance
translators use on their websites. Im not interested in SEO, because
its for the crawlers. I just want to have a look at words that people
read. What if that is our secret weapon?
Believe me, Im a linguist. I compiled a corpus of 10,000 words taken from home pages of 40
translation agencies. Texts excluded menus, footers and blog posts. The agencies are all fairly
well-known, mostly UK-based, not page 1 on Google, but the agencies that I and my colleagues
work for (i.e. mostly not bottom feeders). I then used Word Counter to check for word
popularity and I used roots (variations together, i.e. translate, translator, translation, translating
will be listed as one word). Then I used another tool to check what the most frequently used
words on whole websites are, not only home pages. Im not claiming its academic research, or
that the findings deadly accurate, but they may be helpful. This lesson on agencies' websites will
be followed by the analysis of freelance translators websites, and the final post will cover the
conclusions.
Translation. It shouldnt come as a surprise to anybody, but translation was used 302 times
out of 10,000 words. The second most popular word was service 188 times. The third most
popular word was language a total of 157 occurrences. Pretty good as for home pages:
translation, service, and language identify what the businesses are about.
Apart from translation, service, and language, other high-ranking nouns were: company (44),
business (43), interpreter (40), work (40), translator (35), client (27), project (26), time (26),
(market). When I switched the variations together option, I was surprised to see that top 5
words used on home pages were nouns: translation, services, language, interpreting, service.
And theyre all quite long!
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Verbs?
Its very interesting. First verbs appear further down the list, and its already quite telling:
translation may not be seen as a process or action, but as a product. We dont like this approach
too much, do we? Well, it turns out that provide (49) and offer (40) win. Other verbs used
on home pages: need, help, train, include, call.
Adjectives
Now, thats an interesting one. I asked my colleagues on my Facebook page about their guesses.
We, translators and interpreters, assumed that agencies would use: fast, reliable, affordable,
good, great, cheap, professional, accurate
So, what do they say? Professional is an absolute winner 67 appearances. Quality is next,
with 37 hits. International has 28 occurrences. Experienced popped out 23 times, and
cultural 23 times.
Grammatical words
I also went hunting for non-content words to check if theres something interesting happening
there. And was used a whopping 388 times, followed by the 317. We was used 197
times, our 150. I dont want to draw any conclusions too early, but its not a great marketing
strategy to concentrate on we or us on home pages. Your was used 133 times and you
124.
Then I moved to looking for the most frequent word on each website. Now I know that SEO
attempts may influence the results, but we can still learn something useful. I analysed 10
websites and looked at first 5 words.
Agency number 9 is the biggest out of all that I checked, and you can see that 4 out of 5 top used
words are content words relevant to our industry. Now, thats quite telling! Number 10 is a well-
known localization company. All of the agencies I looked at got their first content word right.
Some of them, like number 2, 4, and 5, didnt get it quite right there are too many grammatical
words on their websites.
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Well, time to work on your texts, Marta!
Heres the link to the checker I used. What about running your own website through it and
writing down the top 5 words?
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LESSON 48
We all translate
When I checked the corpus against grammatical words as well, it turned out that the most
popular personal pronoun was I (70 repetitions) and my (58 repetitions). The results are
quite understandable, since were all freelancers. But according to the golden rule of marketing,
our advertising (including web copy) should be for them (clients) not about us (providers).
You appeared only 30 times.
Professional was used 18 times. Freelance popped out 11 times. Experienced was used 11
times. And thats about it. Id have expected us to do a bit better
How to do it well
I checked some websites that are popular both with people and search engines. Look at that:
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So many keywords related to our industry!
It turns out that the most relevant keywords are: translation, needs, business, projects. I also
looked at some websites that werent appealing either to me or to search engines. The checker
found that lower ranking websites use grammatical words much more frequently than content
words. One website that I looked at had 12 grammatical words before translation even
appeared. Certainly something worth working on
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LESSON 49
I was rather happy to see that the majority of freelancers realise the power of an individual
approach. Most of us are open and honest about being freelancers and hey, thats great! We
cant compete with translation agencies, so being individual is our true benefit. Freelancers
quite naturally adopt I and dont use weird third persons or plurals.
However, freelancers seem to lack some basic copywriting knowledge. Almost 9 of 10 pages
start with Welcome, Im a Swahili to Hindi translator with 66 years of experience. Ive been
translating for various industries. Having lived in etc. Its all fine and impressive, but your
client doesnt care. Really. The only thing they care about is if you can translate their document
and for how much. One of the other striking examples is trying to explain what translation is.
The home page is not the best place to elucidate the intricacies of our profession, or to say that
translation is not only the transfer of words from one language to another, but it also involves
the cultural and pragmatic aspects of the message. Lets not do that.
But how to make a copy look and work better? Here are some basic copywriting tips for
translators to improve your own web copy, and other communications.
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1. The audience
You really cant start writing without analysing and defining your audience. Whos going to read
your website? Its not likely to be a PM in a translation agency they dont have that much time.
It can be a direct client: a company or an individual. Depending on your areas of specialisation,
various people will be looking at your website. If youre working in legal translation, just
imagine a lawyer browsing through your pages. Whats the language this lawyer would use?
Whats going to appeal to him or her? How do you impress a lawyer? You know all that anyway
youve been translating their language for years! If youre working in the creative industry,
youre more likely to gain a client if youre equally creative. If I were translating for the music
industry, Id probably try to tell my story using songs and musical metaphors. Keep your
audience in mind when writing, or even pretend that youre talking to a potential client. Imagine
that youre at a trade show, theres this one lawyer who works for an international company and
whos in charge of translations. Imagine the way hes dressed, the way he moves, how he talks to
others, and then imagine that you approach him, you introduce yourself and start a
conversation. And start writing this conversation down now.
2. The purpose
While writing, dont ever stop thinking of what your ultimate goal is. Every sentence of your
copy should take you closer to the goal (which is, Id presume, getting a client on board for more
than just one translation). Check every sentence for achieving your purpose.
3. The needs
After youve established who is going to read your copy, think of their needs. To a certain extent,
it is about the types of documents your clients may want to get translated, but most of all its
about everything around the service. Lawyers are very likely to need something certified, very
accurate, in compliance with regulations, etc. Marketers will need something for yesterday, but
creative, something to impress their clients. I know that its heart-breaking, but your client
wont probably care about your translation, but about their own job. Maybe their boss told them
to have it translated and they dont want to fail? Or is it a nervous speaker who needs copies of
his presentation translated before the speech so as not to look like an ignorant? Learn as much
as you can about your audience and their needs.
Now, this is a very difficult one. Ill use my own profile as an example. Im a Polish English
translator living in London. Ive been translating for more than 6 years in law and business. I use
SDL Trados. Im a member of CIOL and ITI. Im also a member of the Chartered Institute of
Marketing. Oh, and I graduated in translation. These are all features; just a pure (and quite
boring) description of my professional profile. Nothing in here is really useful or even
convincing for my potential clients. The greatest task you have when writing about your
services is to talk about the benefits to the reader. Just a little example:
Feature: Im also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Benefit: Your marketing copies are likely to be very effective in Polish, because I have
experience in marketing gained from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
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5. Everything is a copy
A final point I want to make is that every piece of communication is your copy. The principles I
talked about above apply not only to websites, but also to emails, cover letters, brochures, social
media, or even invoices.
I know I have plenty to improve on myself. Changes are good both for human readers and for
your SEO.
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LESSON 50
There are some steps that we can make that will obviously help us:
have clear objectives, know your goal, or develop skills. The article I read recommended three
steps that I think are the most productive, though.
One: Identify what you didnt like about 2012.
Celebrating our successes, exams passed, new clients acquired, or helpful colleagues found is
important. But it seems to me that its equally important to realise what made 2012 worse than
it could be. My personal dislike list is as follows:
1. I didnt like low rates. I had a number of offers I had to turn down because of insulting rates.
We all know that.
2. I didnt like long payment terms either. For me, NET45 is really the maximum I can stretch
to. I had to reject a few offers because they thought NET60 was fine. No, it wasnt.
3. I didnt like the way I was treated by my clients. From dear linguist emails, through not
bothering to confirm the receipt, to very forgetful accountants Id do without all that.
Of course, there are other points I didnt like too much in my professional life, but the rest of
them was purely my fault (if I agreed to work long hours or do a rush job, theres only me to
blame).
Two: Find the reason for the things you didnt like about 2012.
The second step that the article recommended in relation to things that bothered us in the
previous year was to find their cause. It occurred to me that the sole reason for all the things I
didnt like in 2012 was that the industry is no longer in our hands. I know its nothing ground-
breaking, but when you think of it We, translators, do the translation. Its not our clients, not
the agencies, not CAT-tools, but translators. So how did we end up handling the steering wheel
of the industry over to people who dont even translate?
Three: Have a plan how to fix it.
Again, its not rocket science or a Nobel-winning invention, but if we manage to give the power
back to translators, maybe we could fix the things we dont like about the industry? If we want
2013 to be the best year in translation, why dont we just make it so?
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LESSON 51
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LESSON 52
1. Get it designed
Its the most expensive and time-consuming option, but hey, have a look here. Arent they just
amazing? And you dont have to be a graphic designer to use one. Copywriters and editors use
them, too.
(One of our colleagues on the Facebook page, Ftima Lpez Sevilla, brought this post to my
attention, where a great example of a translator using a visual CV is used. In Spanish, though).
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2. Turn it into an infographic
The more adventurous translators and interpreters may want to try turning their CV into an
infographic. In here you can have a look at what Im talking about. This one talks about nurses,
but why not come up with something similar about your own translation business? If you like
one of their designs, you can get in touch with the author and work on visualising your CV.
3. Vizualize.me
This tool is free and allows you to turn your LinkedIn data into a visual CV. Like mine in
here: (and you can even add a badge to your website!). What I like about it is that I can
customise the background and the colours, and I think experience looks much better, too. And
the map of languages you cover is brilliant in our profession!
4. Seelio.com
This is a startup for student builders and doers, but Im currently looking at its potential to
showcase our experience. Seelio.com allows you to put up projects youve worked on online and
add some details about them. I think it would be great to put some projects up there and link to
them from my CV.
5. About.me
Heres another useful tool, and you may appreciate it even more if you dont have your own
website (yet). About.me allows you to upload some details about you and keep them online.
Heres how Valeria Aliperta uses it. Looks cool!
What do you think? Are you going to try getting some new clients with a visual CV?
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LESSON 53
113
5. In-house professional translator does the translation
Finally, some companies appreciate the value of translation so much that they hire in-house
translators to cope with the workload and ensure quality. Exhibitors working with in-house
translators emphasise that they are happy with the quality and are ready to reward their
professional translators accordingly.
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LESSON 54
Translation theory
Understanding different translation theories helps me grasp the variety of approaches to source
and target texts. I can also better understand the expectations translation users had throughout
the ages and I can identify which broader cultural trends have impact on your text.
Translation tools
Contrary to the popular belief, translators need much more than just pen, paper and dictionary.
Studying translation tools makes me better equipped to do the job for you, and as a result, I can
translate better, faster and more consistently.
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Intercultural communication
I was also lucky enough to study the basics of intercultural communication. I know the cultural
dimensions and main differences between the cultures I translate. It means that your texts are
not only correct from the linguistic point of view, but my translation also covers cultural
differences.
Translation process
Of course, I also studied the process of translating, from the first reading, through research, to
polishing the final text. It means that I am competent enough to handle your translation because
I know whats involved in producing the final text.
Translation procedures
I am aware of different translation problems and I also have the right tools to solve them. It
means that if your text contains words of phrases without direct equivalents in the target
language, I will be able to use the correct translation procedure to find the best solution.
I hope you now feel more confident talking about what you learnt as part of your translation
degree. Think about your education and see if you can turn it into benefits for your clients.
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LESSON 55
117
How to create your own case study?
I know this is going to be the most frightening part of the whole game. Very often were not even
contacting end clients, and now Im telling you to reach out to them AND invite them to become
your case study. Right.
There are no shortcuts here, but I have a couple of tips on how to pick the right client to do it.
First of all, think strategically of your case study: which sorts of clients do you want to convince
to buy more translations from you? To use an example, if you do medical translation, create a
case study with a client who has something to do with this field. Write down a handful of
potential case study material clients.
Then just write to them explaining what you want to do and what theyre going to get in return,
which takes us to
- Youll help the client promote the translated material in the target language
- Youll do some market research in the target language country for them
If the client sees the benefit in taking part in your case study, theyre more likely to agree to do
it. Youre more likely to be successful if youre really genuinely willing to help the client out, for
example youve noticed a great offer they have and you think that people in your target
language may be likely to buy it, or be interested in reading it.
Before: use client testimonials or data (such as Google Analytics) to present the situation in
their business before using your services.
During: describe the process of translation/localisation/interpreting from the clients
perspective
After: present the proof and real data on how translation impacted their business (for example,
Google Analytics data related to their localised website or article).
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You also want to add some screenshots, or an infographic of the process of translating and
mention all the additional services youve provided. Dont forget about a call to action inviting
your prospects to try it out themselves.
I do suggest having a look at how others prepare their case studies, for example in web design
or development, or in copywriting. I also wanted to share a few links to some resources I found
useful:
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/creating-a-great-case-study/
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33282/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Creating-
Compelling-Case-Studies.aspx
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LESSON 56
120
What I would like you to do now is to draw these circles (or use this worksheet), listen to me
talking about The Golden Circle and define your why.
A couple of weeks after I published the post this lesson is based on, I received the following
email:
Dear Marta,
I thought you might appreciate some feedback on your post Why do you translate?.
As you already know, I was so inspired by your post that I threw everything over board I had
prepared for my class and decided to ask my students exactly this question: Why do you translate?
Why do you want to be translator? And not a plumber? Or an economist?
As you had done in Spain, I gave them five minutes to brainstorm and begin to answer that
question and I was overwhelmed by the result. Please have a look at the attached picture and see
what my beautiful, creative and talented students have done. You cant actually read the texts (and
its in German), but I think it is clear from the mere picture that they were excited about the task
and the answers they gave were incredibly accurate bearing in mind that we are talking about
first and second years here.
I told them I would send you a picture of their work. Do you think you could post it on one of your
pages? I would be great if they could see how easy it is to connect with other translators and, above
all, that their opinion and contribution (however small) to the community does matter. They know
that you did a similar exercise in Spain and seemed to like the idea that they were part of a bigger
picture. It would be great if we could encourage them.
Actually, this task inspired them so much that, when we moved on to work on a text, they were
more enthusiastic than I had ever seem then (and I had thought they were showing some
enthusiasm before; boy, was I wrong!) and we went on to have the best class of this term so far
lots of discussion, great vibe, extremely active. Thank you so much for inspiring me so I could
inspire them.
Lisa
I was very moved when I received this email and the photo. Thank you for being so involved. It's
great to know we're connected by ideas, even if we live and work far away.
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LESSON 57
Since then Ive also helped over 500 translators and interpreters to
improve their CVs. Many wrote to me saying that they saw a real
increase in positive responses and projects as a result. This revised
guide reflects what Ive learned in the past two years and will hopefully help you get a CV that
works. I believe that with a large number of clients, CVs are still our most basic marketing tool.
Its better to get this right rather than lose a project.
The long-awaited (by you and me) updated version of my ebook on CV-writing in translation
industry is finally here. Apart from a section-by-section review of what to include on your CV,
you'll also find tips and suggestions from translation companies and some most troubling
questions answered.
In this guide youll find information that will help you to:
Preview
http://www.slideshare.net/MartaStelmaszak/you-need-a-cv-that-works-first-chapter
Apart from the preparation and planning, you'll have a chance to look at CV section-by-section,
language that works, the benefit of online CVs, layout and design, tips from translation
companies, questions answered and a printable CV checklist.
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LESSON 58
On a skills-based CV youd come up with a few main skill sets (what about: translation, editing,
project management) and under these headlines, youd include bullet points explaining specific
skills that you have and how youve developed them. Quite clearly, within this format youd
include both bits of experience and education under specific skills. You should still include a
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section on education and employment (if any), but you may move it almost to the end of your
CV. This approach will help you to highlight the extensiveness of your skills.
It seems that this format is more suitable for linguists for life, i.e. those colleagues whove been
working with languages forever and their education is linked to this field of work, too. If this is
your case, youd agree that it actually makes sense to show your career pathway in an ordered
manner. Your past experience will act in your favour and strengthen your profile.
I started playing around with it, and heres what Im planning to include on my skills-based CV:
Translated over 1,000,000 words of legal texts, including contracts, agreements, articles
of association, witness statements and cautions.
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Worked on criminal and civil law cases with top UK-based lawyers.
Currently working towards an MSc degree in Forensic Linguistics which focuses in
particular on spoken and written legal language.
Thats my first draft. What do you think? Are you planning to work on your skills-based
CV? If youre not convinced yet, read the next lesson where I discuss whether we should be
using CVs at all and what the alternatives are.
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LESSON 59
126
I think Cvs are important for translators, but we have to adapt it to our needs, the type of
vacancy/job and even to the area in the translation industry. I created my own "style" or
type of CV and some months ago I was invited to have an interview because of the
originality of my CV. So, I really think it is very important to rely on a (good and original)
CV.
My opinion is, whatever you work with, CVs are our presentation to the work world.
Another thing to remember is that many of our clients are simply used to selecting based on
CVs. As I explain in my ebook, the CV format is a mental shortcut to help assess the person for
his or her suitability to do the job well. This is certainly true with translation companies, and
with a number of direct clients, too. Sending a well-crafted and convincing CV to a client whos
been assessing others on this basis forever may help you land the job.
But Im sure some of you will say: if you go to a doctor (or a lawyer), you dont ask for a CV.
True, you dont ask for it, but they certainly have their CVs. In a discussion I had with a good
colleague of mine who also happens to be a lawyer, he said that we should make a mental shift
from thinking about employees CVs to directors CVs. In other words, we should stop
thinking that were asked for our CV because the person on the other side of the relationship
doubts our skills or wants to have a proof of our experience (both cases implying the lack of
trust) and start thinking that our CVs are there to help the other party make an informed
decision by showcasing our background, we may. No doubt, CEOs have CVs, so whats wrong
with translators having them, too?
In the survey, I asked "What is your opinion on the role of CVs in the translation industry?
Should they serve as a basis for considering?" and I had a few responses. You can see them
below. If you click on the image, it will become bigger and easier to read.
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I really think the CVs are one of the most important marketing tools. I think that it is the
best way to demonstrate skills and experience and CVs address more clients as it is the
most traditional way.
CVs should be considered very important because they reflect how professional translators
are.
I think Cvs are important for translators, but we have to adapt it to our needs, the type of
vacancy/job and even to the area in the translation industry. I created my own "style" or
type of CV and some months ago I was invited to have an interview because of the
originality of my CV. So, I really think it is very important to rely on a (good and original)
CV.
As I am still a translation and interpreting student, so little water has passed over the
bridge so far, but I think a cv is really important for all professionals and especially for
translators and interpreters. Through this one, we show our skills, capacities, competences
and all what we can do as human beings.
What is your opinion on CVs for translators? Are you using a CV? Do you think there are other,
more effective tools?
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Website
More and more freelance translators and interpreters invest in websites and its certainly a
decision that brings good return on investment. Almost two years ago, I wrote a blog post
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outlining the reasons to have a website and these reasons still remain valid. You should have a
strong profile page on your website and refer your clients to visit it, rather than sending your
CV. You could also consider having targeted landing pages for your client segments.
Who does it work with? Just about anybody.
Video
In high competition, something off the beaten track, for example a short video where you
present your profile, may be the thing to win you a project. Ive seen quite good videos where
freelancers sit at their desks and present their background, or alternatively, short clips
advertising their services. As a word of caution, these videos should be professionally shoot.
When I looked at professional studios in London, it was a cost of about 60 pounds per hour plus
an artist to produce the video. Research shows that people will only watch between 20 and 40
seconds if theyre coming across the piece randomly, or up to 5 minutes if theyre actually
expecting to watch a video (thats why I keep my WantWords TV clips under 5 minutes). If your
video isnt professional, it can only harm your reputation.
Who does it work with? Videos will work in all things creative. If youre pitching for a specific
marketing translation project, recording a short video explaining why youre the best person to
do the job may be the right thing.
Leaflet
When I participated in a workshop on writing effective leaflets, I was told that a leaflet should
contain as little information as possible to convince a prospect. In other words, a good and
catchy slogan, outline of the problem or clients need, benefits for the client and your services as
a solution. It was explained to me that a leaflet is not the right medium to go into details or
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present your background. Its only purpose is to make the client think they cant possibly
continue running their business without you, and I quite like this purpose, I must admit! Dont
forget that a leaflet should contain a clear call to action. Take a look at these two resources for
writing leaflets as a starting point: article, presentation. In the majority of cases, youll be
sending your leaflet as a PDF, so the only investment is actually related to the design.
Who does it work with? Small and medium business owners like leaflets. Their suppliers usually
communicate with them on leaflets first, so thats something theyll appreciate.
Brochure
Whats the difference between a leaflet and a brochure? A leaflet is a short (usually one page)
document which attracts interest, while a brochure is a longer document containing detailed
descriptions of the company and products (or services) offered. Some useful resources for
brochure-writing: article, article.
Who does it work with? If your prospect, usually a direct client, expressed interest in your
services, its a good moment to send them a comprehensive brochure. It will also work with
bigger companies who may not immediately need your services, but would like to have a piece
of literature to refer to in the future.
Business profile
This is a new tool for me and Ive spent some time researching it. SMEs use business profiles to
offer services to each other and these profiles are primarily intended for slightly bigger
companies. Can freelancers make use of business profiles, too? Im definitely designing one for
myself this autumn and Ill feed back to you. A business profile should contain:
Basic contact details
Capability information what you do and what you are good at
Track record
Risk management (Quality Assurance!)
Customer service and market response
Working with industry and others
As you can see, its a more elaborate document outlining your profile and your relations with
other stakeholders on the market. More resources here: PDF document, article.
Who does it work with? Ill be sending my business profile to bigger companies who are used to
seeing them.
What do you think of business profiles? Do you think they could be useful?
And next lesson, we'll be discussing the benefits and threats of uploading your CV online!
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Identity theft
Despite many warnings from a variety of sources, people are still amazingly careless about their
details shared online. Almost every day I receive a translators CV with a date of birth, place of
birth, full address, etc. It is extremely dangerous to reveal such personal details to strangers, not
to even mention including them in a document available online. Providing as few as three pieces
of personal details, youre running a risk of ending up with unwanted credit cards, loans or
cleared bank accounts. Just dont do that. More info in this article and this presentation.
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reputation. I must admit, Ive been careless about this issue in the past, but now Im much more
aware and alert. Below, Im presenting a number of measures you can introduce to protect your
work and reputation.
3. Keep records
Set up a simple spread sheet where you can keep records of who youre sending your CV to,
when and with which result. By doing that, youll not only have a better control over who has
received a copy of your CV, but youll also be better at following up.
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Adding a line saying: Marta Stelmaszak. Sent to Sample Agency, London, 01/04/2013. Void
after 01/06/2013. Not for further distribution or reproduction without consent. (as
suggested here).
9. Add a watermark
As suggested by Rose Newell and in a few other sources, you may want to add a watermark to
your document, for example containing your logo. More info from Microsoft here.
12. In Word, add your name and surname in the author box
When working on your CV, check the Properties of your document and make sure that your
name and surname are added in the author box (more info).
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17. Use brochures or leaflets online
Instead of a full CV, you can always prepare a short brochure or a leaflet and upload it instead.
They will be more secure, and can even help your marketing!
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freelancers, we never exist on our own. Were always linked to, or we even depend, on our
markets. Wouldnt you agree that its very dangerous, or even impossible, to enter a market
without knowing a lot about it first?
To give you an example, when I was still toying with the idea of becoming a Polish English
translator, I wanted to translate Polish poetry and literature into English. Apart from being very
nave, I was also very careless. I just had this idea for my business, with a beautiful literature-
themed website and candle-lit photos, without any serious insights. I am very grateful I never
had to fail to realise you cant really be a successful freelance translator or interpreter without
any (even subconscious) market research.
By using market research methods (which Ill describe in the upcoming posts), I managed to
discover the most lucrative areas of specialisation in Polish and English translation, and I have
also identified sources of good interpreting clients in the UK. But most importantly, market
research has helped me to make informed business decisions, based on solid data. And Im
happy with the results.
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As I said, the biggest risk is failure as a freelancer. We cant technically speaking go bankrupt,
but we can simply not make enough money as freelancers. Researching your market will help
you ensure that you dont invest your time and energy into a business which will fail.
Moreover, by looking at your competition, youll be able to provide better services and get your
pricing right.
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Clients
Of course, clients keep your business going. Market research should look at your existing clients
and prospects. When comes to existing clients, you may want to find out if theyre getting the
right level of service, whether they need anything else translated or maybe if they appreciated
additional services. Researching your prospects means finding out who they are, what they do
and what they need. By looking into this area, youre more likely to know where to find clients
and how to convince them to use your services.
Competition
By saying competition, I mean healthy competition, in other words other suppliers providing
similar services to your potential clients. It doesnt always mean theyre enemies (and I think
this calls for a separate article, dont you think?). By researching your competition, you can find
out what theyre up to and even more importantly what they ARENT up to. This knowledge is
likely to help you improve the scope of your business. When looking at competitors, you can
often find
Partners
Im sure youll agree with me: as freelance translators or interpreters were not always able to
provide to our clients just by ourselves. There are bigger projects, multilingual projects,
requests in other directions, or even other languages. By researching potential partners, were
building a network of reliable co-operators we can turn to. For example, I know who to refer for
medical translation, sworn translation, websites, SEO, etc.
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Rates and charges
From a more practical perspective, market research can be truly enlightening when comes to
rates and charges for translation and interpreting services. You can look at existing resources
(more about them next week), or you can try to do your own little research. To learn whether
youre charging enough, take a look at websites of colleagues or agencies, or even arrange a
Mystery Shopping experiment. All you need to do is to set up a simple Excel spread sheet to
compare the data.
Professional organisations
I strongly believe that researching all professional organisations (translation-related and in our
fields of expertise) is a must. Its important to look at the costs involved, benefits, events Just
to make sure youre not missing out. When I was starting in the profession, I felt the urge to join
every professional association I could find. It was only because a very structured approach I
forced myself into that I actually wrote down all pros and cons of each organisation and got
myself a plan of action.
Legal/regulatory/tax requirements
Even if translation or interpreting seemingly doesnt expose us to lawsuits, its essential for
every business and in every domain to do a basic research on the legal, regulatory and taxation
provisions. This includes business formation, insurance, tax-deductible expenses, etc. When
comes to these serious matters, I do recommend you actually get professional help, but Ill be
exploring this topic more in detail next week.
Right, so these are my essential market research areas. What would you add?
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Clients
Looking outside our own industry, you may want to look at your international Chamber of
Commerce. These institutions, apart from organising promising events, often research and
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survey their members and bilateral business relations. In terms of our fields of specialisation,
look into industry-specific publications, trade directories, governmental reports and studies on
these specific fields, export reports, or even commercial market research reports (still related to
the field you specialise in). Examples of resources are listed here and here.
Competition
To learn more about competition, I recommend the same EU reports to start with. Many more of
them are available here. Youll find plenty of information on websites of translation agencies or
other translators in your language combination, for that matter. You may also want to look at
internet fora for translators or LinkedIn discussion groups. Youll find plenty of news
on ELIA, ATC and GALA websites (for example member surveys).
Partners
As I mentioned in the last post, it seems to me that finding reliable partners in providing our
services is one of key areas of running a business. The best way to do that Ive discovered are
industry events, where you can meet people face to face. If you cant, internet fora or mailing
lists are a good solution, too.
Professional organisations
A thorough analysis of translation-related professional organisations is contained in The Status
of the Translation Profession in the European Union report. However, its equally important that
you look into your regional associations, too. What Id like to underline in this point is that we
should be researching associations related to the fields of our expertise, too. They are a good
starting point for familiarising ourselves with the markets we operate on, and often contain
invaluable market data on our potential clients.
Legal/regulatory/tax requirements
Professional organisations are again quite reliable when comes to providing legal, regulatory
and tax information. However, I do recommend looking at official governmental sources, too,
like gov.uk for the UK.
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existing clients, youll surely gain eye-opening insights, while asking the right questions to your
potential clients can help you understand their needs better.
Mystery shopping is another way of doing your own research. The idea is to shop around for
quotes for translation services to assess what others are charging, how they are selling their
services, or how their customer service is like. While sometimes debatable or questionable, this
exercise will surely help you benchmark your offer against others, especially agencies. This may
be a real eye-opener.
As a freelancer, you can also invest a bit of time and money into organising a focus group. Its
just a matter of getting people who could be your potential clients together and ask the right
questions. In a focus group, you also get to listen to the language your potential clients use and
the way they behave. There are many advantages to that!
Observing people and asking questions on LinkedIn groups related to your areas of expertise is
a cost-effective half-measure when you cant run a survey or set up a focus group.
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Avatars and Im certainly exploring it in my Business School course. If not, let me just introduce
this concept briefly: based on market research, we can build models that reflect our desired
customer profiles which then lead to easier and better identification of their needs and
motivations. To be able to present translation as a valuable investment, you need to know your
client first: Who is he or she? What does he or she do? What problems does he or she need to
solve? What are his or her values?
Know others
Of course researching other players in the market is important, but the key point here is to find
out how your offering is different from others. How does your translation create more value?
If you take them all together, you can start turning these arguments into a Value Proposition
a piece of text you can use to convince your clients that translation is worth it.
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The second level is to look at the advantages that these features give you, i.e. what features do.
To give you an example, if I say that Ive never missed a deadline (a feature), the advantage to
my client will be that theyll get the translation on time without the hassle. Hardly a benefit, is
it?
Level three is all about creating benefits, where we related the feature and advantage to the
clients own situation or concern. According to some marketers, its fine to get a bit emotional
here (and by that I dont mean crying or shouting, but appealing to emotions). To do that, we
have to know which emotions motivate our clients choices. I, for that matter, know that my
business clients are obsessed with their business goals and delivering them on time, thats why
a translation that doesnt delay these goals has a benefit that appeals to them. If I wanted to be
even more emotional, I could say that with my Polish English translation delivered on time,
youll avoid the risk of failing to meet your quarterly business goals and having to explain the
problem to the board.
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So how do we do that?
This tool is based on four actions: eliminating, reducing, raising and creating. When thinking
about Value Innovation, we have to ask ourselves the following questions:
What factors can be eliminated that the industry has taken for granted?
What factors can be reduced well below the industrys standard?
What factors can be raised well above the industrys standard?
What factors can be created that the industry has never offered?
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Im sure that just by looking at these questions, youre already beginning to think about how
youd reply in relation to your own business. This exercise calls for a quite detailed analysis of
the environment you work in, dont you think?
Answering these questions will help you come up with a Four Actions Framework to create a
new value curve to apply in your business.
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There's plenty of additional reading here, here and here.
This strategy is relatively easy to use and it can provide you with immediate benefits. Would
you agree? In the next lesson we're going to look at a complementary strategy.
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As you can see, the canvas maps out different factors and how theyre present in the ordinary
web hosting provider (red) and how is YouTube different (blue). The line connecting the dots is
called the value curve.
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run your business are different (for example, your payment terms are significantly shorter or
you specialise only in a selected range of areas). Mark your dots with another colour and
connect them to form the value curve.
This is how it's used in another industry, as presented by the authors of the Blue Ocean Strategy.
And why would you want to use this strategy, or even want to engage with value creation? By
doing that, you're better equipped to create services which are compelling to your clients and
different from what others are offering as well. For example, I was able to identify what other
Polish English translators were not offering, but also where I could stretch the clients a bit more.
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What is competition?
Reading a few definitions of competition may be quite helpful. I do believe that we all know
what it is, but reading closely, we can identify some presupposed qualities of competition that
we dont think about on a day-to-day (or project-to-project) basis. OED says competition is the
activity or condition of striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing
superiority over others. So you can already see that competition implies fighting, defeating and
an enormous power struggle. Merriam-Websters definition (the act or process of trying to get
or win something (such as a prize or a higher level of success) that someone else is also trying to
get or win) places a similar emphasis on competing and defeating as the previous one. In a
more business-oriented dictionary, we can read that competition is rivalry in which every
seller tries to get what other sellers are seeking at the same time: sales, profit, and market share
by offering the best practicable combination of price, quality, and service.
All these definitions assume rivalry, competing, fighting and defeating. The most basic form of
competition is direct competition, in which providers of the same product (or service) fight to
obtain buyers. Indirect competition, however, assumes that providers offer substitute
(different) services to cater for the same need.
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We could add many more examples of both direct and indirect competition, but you get my
point. If we look at the profession this way, the first claim in the title certainly holds true:
translation is a very competitive profession. But theres an alternative way of looking at the
whole situation.
What do you think about that? Can you make competition irrelevant in your case?
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Discover new ways of marketing
Another approach to making translation competition irrelevant is to discover and engage with
new ways of marketing your business. Look across other industries to look for inspiration. How
lawyers are marketing their services? How do accountants do that? What about web designers?
By discovering new marketing tools and channels, youre yet again escaping your competition.
For example, when I started using Twitter a few years back, there were hardly any Polish
English translators or interpreters using it regularly. I worked hard on gaining visibility there,
which in turn brought me a number of good clients and many more leads.
Join forces
Sometimes making your competitors irrelevant is a matter of looking at them from a whole new
perspective. We all know some freelance translators and interpreters working in co-ops and
loving it. Maybe you can team up with a colleague to be able to reach to clients who are out of
your reach now?
I hope that this brief overview of approaches to making translation irrelevant will help you start
working on your differentiation strategy. Which of these approaches you think youll be able to
implement?
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Specialist knowledge
By competing on specialist knowledge I mean going deeper and deeper into our areas of
specialisation because there are others out there who have more of this knowledge. If I look at
my career, I know that there are Polish English legal translators out there who know more
about the law or have even completed law-related degrees. I want to compete with them in
terms of this specialist legal knowledge and Ill be studying more to bring up my understanding
of this area to their level and beyond. I want to compete with them in terms of how much I
know. And then my clients can choose.
Hows that beneficial for the entire profession? If we compete on specialist knowledge, were
quite naturally increasing the level of professionalism and education in the entire profession.
Were raising the standard overall.
Customer service
Im a big fan of perfecting customer service and doing more for my clients, in pre-purchase,
during purchase and in after-care. I like hearing that my clients are delighted and I believe that
customer service is a factor we could start first benchmarking against and then trying to match
what our competitors are doing. It can only be good for me: happier clients bring more clients,
even if thats not my sole motivator.
In a macro-perspective, raising the levels of customer service will eventually benefit the entire
profession. Excellent customer service is something we can use to justify (even if
subconsciously) higher prices. Isnt thats why were prepared to pay more for a better service
at a five star hotel?
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Personality
And no, in here I dont mean competing on our personality traits, but on the level to which we
infuse our businesses with our personalities. Ive been advocating for that forever, and Im not
the only one saying we need to let our personalities shine through. Putting my personality in
how I run my business is satisfying for a number of reasons. First, I feel closer to my business
and my clients. Second, I work with clients who understand and accept my values and I dont
have to deal with those whore guided by other principles. Third, Im having much more fun in
business. So what about competing on getting this personality in business thing right?
On the level of the whole profession, I dare say that the more personality we see, the more
personalised the service becomes. If we have more translators and interpreters showing their
personalities in the way they run their businesses, we may end up educating clients that
translation is not just about chunking out words which could be done by anybody.
Flexibility
I dont necessarily agree with competing on deadlines and delivery dates, but maybe competing
on flexibility could be a good idea. Im still trying to get my head around it, but maybe the fact
that I can work on a Saturday could help me compete with translators who dont work on
Saturdays. Or maybe an hour or two of overtime in the evening could help me win a client.
Maybe increasing flexibility (not only in relation to deadlines or working time) could be a good
way of differentiating from competition? However, the reverse could be true as well: maybe by
decreasing our flexibility in comparison with the industry standard could work.
In terms of the overall profession, increased flexibility could improve the image our clients have
of translators and interpreters. If we, collectively, become more flexible, the clients may stop
thinking that translation is this weird service delivered by people wholl always find an excuse
not to do it (Ive heard that for a number of times).
Exclusivity
This is a whole new concept in my understanding of business. There are companies out there in
other industries that managed to build their businesses only on the grounds of increasing (or
conversely decreasing) exclusivity around their products or services. So for me, I could try to
say no (even) more often and become a more exclusive service provider, as compared do my
competitors. In fact, Ive been instinctively doing that for a while now.
Im not yet sure of the impact of increasing exclusivity on the entire profession. On one hand, if
we all start being a bit more exclusive and say no more often, we may redefine some of the
recurrent problems (low rates, poor treatment, tight deadlines). But partial exclusivity could
lead to even a wider division between what we now call the bulk and premium markets. Is
that something that we want?
Additional services
If we want to compete, we may look into offering additional services that not many other
professionals offer. I keep repeating that its worked great with me and using Adobe InDesign to
do basic DTP for my clients. This is not something that is widely offered by my competitors.
Maybe finding an additional service you could offer would win you some clients over your
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competitors? And it doesnt have to be about offering as many additional services as possible. It
can be simply about offering the right service that your clients may need.
On the industry level, this could result in diversifying our portfolio and pulling other services
under translation, yet again justifying higher pricing.
What do you think about these factors? Is there anything you compete on that I havent thought
about? Id love to hear your thoughts!
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decluttering my mind and allowing myself to concentrate on the work at hand. Third, it was all
in one place when I was opening the box in early January to plan for the upcoming year.
The idea of a box is quite powerful, and thats why The Freelance Box is called the way it is and
thats why were giving out boxes to our participants. Maybe you could get a box for yourself,
too?
Resources: Article, Article, Article.
Im sure you can already see how this change in how I write stuff down may have a direct
impact on actually doing these things. Just by changing how you set your business goals youre
more likely to achieve them. And it has certainly worked for me.
I recommend you go through the following resources on SMART:
Using SMART technique to achieve your small business goals
SMART technique
SMART criteria
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A few years back I heard somebody say that adding things to her calendar prepares her
mentally for the task to be done: more subconscious thinking takes place and when you sit
down to do the task, youre in the right mindset. I definitely agree and what Id also add to
support the idea of adding business goals to your calendar is that doing things always takes as
much time as you plan for it (ok, within a reason). If I plan to write a blog post in one hour, it
will take one hour. If I plan to write it in two, the task will expand (with me procrastinating
more and reading more articles as I go), and take two hours indeed. The real problem occurs
when we dont plan how much time we intend to spend on a task thats when things go on and
on and we never finish them. Go, calendars, go!
I use Google Calendar to do that and Im very happy with it. Because I often work with others,
and with my assistant on a day-to-day basis, I also use Teambox (free for up to 5 projects),
where I can plan things, assign deadlines and see the progress. I even have a theory why
Teambox and Dropbox are called the way they are: it all links back to the idea of a box.
So what I encourage you to do is to start writing things down (and putting them in a box, of
course!), using the SMART technique and then adding SMART goals to your calendar.
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things change on weekly basis, and generally a business plan may not allow for so much change.
This is when it becomes useless in the real world which it no longer reflects.
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3) Use mind mapping and many drawings to identify the areas I want to plan
4) Rather than having one very formal document, I play around with text, images, drawings,
maps and sticky notes.
5) Find the right time to work on different parts. Usually, I spend a couple of hours here and
there to put ideas on my whiteboard and let them stay there for some time.
6) Use SMART goals to make sure that my business plan is actionable.
Resources
You'll find an example of a translator's take on a business plan here. Sensible advice on business
planning for copywriters (not too far from translators) is given here.
How do you do your business planning? Do you do it at all? Do you think freelance translators
need business plans?
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Executive summary
Even though this section is usually in the beginning of your business plan, you should write it
last. Executive summary should contain a summary of what does your business do, what do you
want to achieve with your translation business, what is the reason why youre translating and
whats your vision for the future.
General description
In here, you want to write as if you were presenting your company to outsiders. I found this
exercise very useful because it forced me to think about big questions about my business and
then I could use some of the ideas or even sentences in my marketing copy. This section should
contain your mission statement (what is the reason for existing of your business?), your goals
and objectives, and business philosophy. Apart from these statements, summarise your client
segments, the translation industry and your strengths and competencies. Of course, youre very
unlikely to have to show this document to anybody, but it will help you clarify these points for
yourself.
Owners background
Because youre a freelance translator or interpreter, its very important that you outline your
key competencies and background, rather than talking about staff, operations and management
(as often present in traditional business plans). Use this section for your own benefit: write
down everything that acts in your favour, turn features into benefits, do a SWOT analysis.
Services
Describe in depth what youre offering as if you were talking to somebody who knows nothing
about translation or interpreting. Doing that will give you ready-made answers to some of your
potential clients questions. Look at factors that will give you competitive advantage and think
about the best way of showcasing them in your services. What is your pricing strategy?
Market: customers
For the purposes of your business, not only your business plan, identify main segments of your
customers, their demographics, geographic locations, and as many characteristics as you can
find. If youre translating or interpreting for individuals, try to find out their age, location,
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income level, occupation, education, etc. If youre working mostly with businesses, describe
their industry, locations, size, quality, etc.
Market: competitors
The way I went about this section is as follows. I prepared a simple table where I listed my main
competitors (or, as I prefer to call them, other players on the market), added their website
addresses and noted the main things I think theyre doing right. You may also compare yourself
against competition according to the following criteria: services offered, price, quality, customer
service, reliability, expertise, reputation, location, or image. Is there anything theyre doing that
you could be doing better? This section of a business plan will help you identify that.
Marketing plan
In this section, analyse how youre going to let your prospective customers know youre here.
Start by identifying low-cost methods you can use to promote your business. When comes to
expenses, try to justify every investment and estimate how much business it has to bring you to
make it worthwhile. Plan your marketing for the whole year.
Financial plan
This is perhaps the most challenging section of a business plan that many freelance translators
struggle with. I suggest you go about it in the following way. Estimate the worst case scenario
for the whole year, writing down all the expenses and minimum income you have to bring in to
make sure you stay afloat. It will give you a feeling of security, so much needed for freelancers.
By estimating what is the lowest amount of money you have to make a month, youre going to
feel much more confident and youll sleep better. Then make the desirable financial prognosis
where you actually see how much money youd like to be making. In turn, this may act as a
motivator and youre quite likely to start thinking how you can reach this goal.
Resources
Business plan template
Sample business plan for freelancers
How to Write a Business Plan for a Freelance Writer
Sample business plan
What to include in a business plan
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Build a professional network
If you have a good blog, people will want to read it and inevitably, theyll get to know you.
Blogging is good if you want to build a network (but its not the only way you can do that). Your
blog can become a focal point for a community of like-minded people.
Low-cost marketing
Out of all marketing tools available, blogging is a relatively low-cost solution to promote your
business. You only need to invest your time.
Generate leads
A well-written and, more importantly, well-targeted blog will generate leads (i.e. potential
clients). Its true that you cant measure it very easily, but one good, long-term, repeat direct
client is likely to make up for all hours you spent writing your blog, believe me on that.
Help others
On a more human level, your blog may actually help others. If you write valuable, thought-
through articles that result in positive actions for others, youre helping the community. Hows
that for a benefit?
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2. How to be found?
After setting up your blog, its important to make sure that its actually found by people youre
writing for. When I was starting out, I made sure that my content was interesting for other
translators to increase the likelihood of them sharing it. I also made sure that my posts were
SEO-friendly, using the right keywords among others. I shared my posts on social media
(especially Twitter, Facebook and Google+). Commenting under posts on other blogs will also
draw attention to your own blog.
If youre interested in making your blog more popular, you should definitely check this
article out. Youll find some great tips there, including adding a link to your blog in your email
signature, signing up to Help-a-reporter-out, or using business cards to promote your blog.
Resources:
21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic
5 Ways to Make Your Blog Appear in Search Engines
57 Ways to Boost Your Blog Traffic
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But if you blog for professional purposes, you want these leads to subscribe so you can stay in
touch with them and remind them of the services you provide every now and then.
On my blog, you can either subscribe through an RSS reader or sign up to my newsletter with a
monthly digest of posts. I used Feedburner for my RSS, and I use Aweber to handle my email
subscriptions.
Resources:
Setting up Feedburner RSS and Email subscription for your blog
How to Convert Casual Blog Visitors Into Dedicated Subscribers
How to Get a Ton of New Subscribers to Your Blog
20 Simple Ways to Generate More Blog Subscribers
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7. Where to take images from?
A real problem for some bloggers, finding images youre free to use on your blog doesnt have to
be difficult. There are many resources where you can find images for non-commercial use. I
recommend finding free images with Googles advanced image search.
There are other resources, too:
Flickr Creative Commons
5 Places to Find Free Images for Your Blog
Top 6 Sites to Find Free Photos to Use on Your Blog
I hope you'll find these resources useful!
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LESSON 78
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What youre going to write about?
Of course, if youre blogging for translators, it will be much easier for you to come up with ideas
for posts. We all have interesting insights or different angles that we could turn into a blog.
Thats exactly what I did.
However, when comes to blogging for your (potential) clients, discovering what interests them
should be your first step. Our prospects are generally unlikely to be interested in the issues of
translation, so we should rather concentrate on what translation may give them (i.e. the
markets they can access) or on a wider business context they exist in. My new client-focused
blog is all about doing business in Poland and doesnt sell my translation services directly.
Finding out what to write will involve some market research and stepping into your clients
shoes.
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LESSON 79
There are so many leaflets and brochures out there that its practically spam.
I think that it is true in a way, but were not talking about spamming your whole street with
leaflets promoting your freelance business. If targeted right at the right people, leaflets or
brochures are a very sensible way of reaching out to those who are interested in your
translation services.
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A4-sized with some text and plain images or icons, often printed in black and white. They serve
an informational purpose.
Leaflet
Leaflets are more complex documents with more design elements, usually smaller than A4,
combining images, graphics and text with different typography. Theyre mainly there to grab the
readers attention and raise interest.
Brochure
Longer, 2 or 3-fold pieces giving more information than flyers or leaflets, yet still combining the
advertising edge with informational purposes. While flyers or leaflets are meant just to be
looked at (and often thrown out), brochures are there to be kept and referred to when your
services are needed.
Booklet
If youre into longer documents outlining your services, values and offering in detail, a booklet
will serve this purpose. Usually containing more text than images, a booklet is a good point of
reference for your clients who want to have all information they need in one place.
Resources
Take a look at these useful articles:
Between flyers, brochures, leaflets, pamphlets & newsletters
Designing a flyer or leaflet
Six ways you can use leaflets
For some examples of how Im using brochures and leaflets, visit my main website.
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LESSON 80
Front cover
If youre going for a tri-fold design, your front cover will be the first thing the readers going to
look at. It is recommended to limit the amount of text on the front cover to the absolute
minimum, preferably just containing your logo, slogan and an appealing graphic or image. If
youre designing a one-page leaflet, make sure that your header follows the same principle.
The goal of this section: to make your reader interested enough to open the brochure and read
the text inside.
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Call to action
As every marketing document, a brochure or a leaflet must have a call to action. If youre
wondering what it is, think about all these leaflets telling you what to do: call now, buy now,
order before the end of the week, etc. Make sure that your brochure or leaflet has just one clear
call to action. Creating multiple calls to action will only confuse your reader. Dont forget to
make your CTA visible. The best place to include it is the bottom of a one-page leaflet or the
second or third inner page in a tri-fold brochure.
The goal of this section: to tell your reader what to do with all the information you presented
them with.
Contact information
Usually at the bottom or last page, this section should contain all your contact information,
including your company name, website address, telephone number, email and website address.
You can also consider adding your Twitter or LinkedIn account details.
The goal of this section: to ensure that a prospect has all the details they need to contact you.
Resources
Creating Brochures
Create the Best Brochure
How to Write Brochures
How to Put Together an Effective Sales Brochure
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LESSON 81
Bring to meetings
If youve been working on setting up a meeting with a potential client and you finally managed
to get the date, make sure you bring some company materials with you, not just a business card.
The B2B world has its own rules and coming prepared with brochures is one of them.
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Bring to networking events
Because networking events are not the same as conferences or trade fairs, dont hand out your
leaflet the first thing. But if your interlocutor shows interest in what youre doing, offer it then.
Incidentally, this is what happened to me at a networking meeting not long ago when I was on
the receiving end of it. It definitely made me remember the person I spoke with much more.
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LESSON 82
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How to write the central section?
While writing the insides of your brochure or the central section of your leaflet, remember that
you have to convince the reader and tell them whats in it for them. Ask yourself what is your
primary message, or if they remember just one thing what is it? In here, its very important
to talk about the benefits (see Lesson 67) arising out of the use of your translation services
rather than features. If youre using quotes or testimonials on your brochure, put them in bold
or italics and use real people. Its important to remember about chunking, that is breaking your
copy into manageable parts. Use subheads and sections, play with space, use bullet points. Avoid
large paragraphs. When using bullet points, start with an active verb and maintain consistency.
Brochures and leaflets are about combining the visual impact with text. Make sure your
brochure or leaflet is not too text-heavy, but also make sure the design is professional. There
should be a link between the images you use and what youre talking about. Avoid clutter.
How to end?
If your reader skips some parts of your brochure or leaflet, theyre surely going to look at the
end of it. Some people say this is where the decision whether your reader is interested or not
really takes place. The sole purpose of this section is to make your reader do something. To
ensure the desired effect, include a short summary of benefits at the end and dont forget about
a call to action. Call to action is a single strong message telling your reader what to do, such as
visit my website or order now. Im sure youve seen many of them in the past!
Now that we covered leaflets and brochures extensively and finished at this very brief
introduction to the basics of copywriting, next lessons could be dedicated to writing effective
copy.
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LESSON 83
Boost creativity
This may be just me, but sometimes, especially if translating very dense or institutional
documents, by the end of a week I just feel like I need a rebound. Writing just about anything
creative that comes from my head, not from the source language, feels like stretching the muscle
in the opposite direction. Even writing this article makes me feel like different areas of my brain
light up with activity. I remember when doing one of the copywriting courses, we were given
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assignments (similar to here is a black pen, sell it to me in fewer than 100 words) that really
made me think out of the box.
Improve findability
Especially when coupled with SEO training, now often included in standard copywriting
courses, web copywriting can have a great impact on your website being found online. Having
attended a training session on copywriting for the web, I can recommend it enough. Apart from
learning the basics of copywriting, you can find out how to play with text and image, how to
create good headlines that work online and how to write for the crawlers without annoying
people.
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LESSON 84
Website
In this article, HubSpot explains what the essential copywriting tips for the three most
important pages are. I can also recommend this Beginners Guide to Website Copywriting, and
the Quick Course on Effective Website Copywriting from Smashing Magazine (including a
detailed overview of the process of writing great copy). Finally, take a look at how you
can improve your home page.
Email
Let's start with writing better subject lines, followed by some tips on how to develop email
marketing copy. Then the essential 37 email marketing tips. You should also go through this
very good article from HubSpot.
Brochure
Having gone through that quite in detail last month, I just wanted to share two most important
articles on how to write great brochures. The first one gives you 8 tips to a great brochure, and
the second one includes a great range of resources.
Social media
While there are plenty of articles on how to use social media, it's more difficult to find tips on
good social media *writing*. The first article takes a more strategic angle and invites you to
reconsider your strategy and align it with copywriting. Copyshoppy gives us some useful and
simple tips, and Koozai discusses other issues around social media copywriting.
Business writing
Perhaps the most valuable part of this article for you lies in the following articles on business
writing. This is what we're doing pretty much all the time in our day-to-day professional lives.
Start with picture tips from Forbes on how to improve your business writing. Then go through 7
tips from Inc. Harvard Business Review offers some insights, too. On this page you'll find some
very practical tips to change your writing. And finally, take a look at a huge collection of
business writing tips here.
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LESSON 85
The first and most important point is to write for your reader and with your reader in mind.
One of the best pieces of training that I received was to imagine the reader sitting in their office
on that day, drinking (cold) coffee, going through some paperwork and probably heading to a
meeting later on. Take the readers perspective and try to see the world through his or her eyes.
This technique, apart from helping you visualise the reader, also makes it easier to write for
them rather than about you.
Second, make sure your letter or email is neat and organised. Draw a plan of what you should
write and make sure the text has a logical flow.
Third, before you start writing, make sure you know what is the email or letters goal. One of
the most common mistake in copywriting in general is that we write without knowing what we
want to achieve. So, in our case its quite simple: land this particular translation project.
Now that weve done some groundwork, were ready to write it!
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Offer a solution
Of course, after alerting your reader to a potential problem or issue, you have to offer a solution.
And this solution, no surprises here, is your translation or interpreting services. In this part of
your letter outline what you can do for them.
Call to action
We all have this itch to finish a letter with Im looking forward to working with you in the
future or similar. Endings like that dont work, are flat and predictable. Would you feel incited
to work with somebody after they finished their email like that? Perhaps, but its much more
effective when we finish by telling our reader what we want them to do with all this
information. Prompt your reader to act or suggest some sort of action: why dont you take a
look at the proposal I drafted for you and Ill give you a call next week?. Including a call to action
is also something that needs practice, thats why I suggest you draft a few possible endings to
your direct mail up front.
What are your ideas for direct letters or emails? What do you usually do that works?
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LESSON 86
Title tags
Though theyre not visible on our pages, theyre most
important on-site SEO factors. A title tag is this little
description of your page that is displayed on the tab in
your browser or as a title in searches. Of course, title tags
should be customised to reflect the content as well as
possible and include keywords. If you hover over the tab
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on this website, youll see that it displays the post title and my websites name.
Meta descriptions
Meta description is the short summary text displayed under the title in searches. Descriptions
should match the content on your website and you should try to include keywords in it. We
should also try to write in such a way that the reader feels invited to click and read on.
Page headings
Now this is where were getting a bit technical, but if you know a bit of HTML or are using
Wordpress, youll get it quickly. Robots see headings and titles with H1 as the most important
on the page (therefore you should use just one and make sure your keywords is there), and H2-
H5 as slightly less important (so include secondary keywords there). Of course, this is just a
recipe, and as you can see in my own posts I dont always follow this rule. Readability and ease
of access is more important for me.
Keywords
Youve probably heard of keywords and the first thing that comes to your mind must be a paid
keyword campaign. But keywords are not only about Google AdSense, but also (or perhaps even
most importantly) about placing relevant phrases on your website. The simplest explanation is
that your website wont rank for Polish English marketing translator in Google unless you
mention this phrase on your website (many times). Think and research which key phrases you
should be targeting and use them on your website.
Internal linking
This one took me a while to grasp, but now I know that the more links I include between my
own articles and pages on my own website, the more coherent it looks for the search robots. Im
still not brilliant at it, but the golden rule is to try to cross-link your own content to provide
additional information where available.
Images
Two most important tips that I came across related to images are the following. First, if you
upload an image to your website or post, name it using keywords (using a hyphen to separate
keywords). Second, use the alt attribute (HMTL and Wordpress people know what I mean for
sure) and describe the contents of an image using relevant keywords again.
To sum it up, if youre using any Content Management System (like Wordpress), a lot of these
functions are already built-in, or you can download user-friendly plugins to help you make the
most of your website. Anyway, what matters the most is writing useful and engaging content.
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LESSON 87
As you can see from the definitions above, its all about sending emails to potential or existing
clients informing them of our services. Youre probably getting a handful (or much more) of
these direct emails every day from companies and brands you subscribed to.
If used properly by the advertisers, theyre a good way to stay in touch with clients. One of the
companies selling sports clothes Im a client of always manages to send me a good, engaging
newsletter. Apart from advertising their new items, theyre always sharing tips on workout and
diet. But weve all also experienced the really, really bad spamy emails.
The real question is, though, whether we can sell professional services to other businesses using
email marketing. Lets consider three possible uses.
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Of course, you may say that even if you keep the recipients first names, emails sent en masse
would still be just mass emails, without any personalisation or individual touch.
Targeted emailing
What Im currently doing with the help of my assistant is preparing lists of businesses who
could potentially be interested in my Polish English translation services. We always categorise
them by industries and fields and draft dedicated messages of interest, including some valuable
pieces of information. We then manually send messages to the prospects weve identified,
oftentimes inviting them to join my mailing list to receive more information if this subject is of
interest to them. Its never about making direct sales, but rather about making potential clients
interested in what youre doing.
Do you think you could try email marketing to promote your translation business?
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LESSON 88
2) Offer value
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Here comes the tricky one. If you want to invite a visitor to join your mailing list, you need to
offer something of value to them. In my case, I want to write about Polish business culture and
doing business in Poland. Im pretty sure that my audience would consider these articles
valuable.
7) Dont sell
The biggest secret of email marketing is here: dont sell. Dont use your newsletter for hard sale
or intrusive promotion or people will just unsubscribe. Your email is there to deliver value to
your visitors even if theyre not your clients yet, give them something interesting, something
helpful and useful. And at the same time youre just reminding them that youre out there and
you can help when they need you.
How does that sound?
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LESSON 89
2) LinkedIn contacts
By now youve probably developed a strong network on LinkedIn. You may even be in a similar
situation to me: every now and then you connect with somebody who could be a prospect, but
you dont want to jump at them and offer your services the first thing. Instead, its a good idea to
invite them to join your mailing list.
3) Networking contacts
When you go to a networking event or a conference and youre exchanging business cards with
a potential customer, let them know that youre running a monthly newsletter on a topic that
may be of interest to them. If they indeed show interest, drop them a line after the event and
invite them to subscribe. If you have access to the attendee list, you may try following up with
all attendees and offering subscribing to your list but only if you know theyd be interested (e.g.
based on the theme of the event).
4) Careful targeting
Going back to my Polish English legal translation example, if youre writing content that you
know would be of interest to lawyers in London, you can approach potential companies indeed.
Drafting an email inviting them to join your mailing list and pointing out how theyre going to
benefit from it will surely get you a few sign-ups.
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5) Guest blogging
In terms of acquiring leads online, guest blogging is a good idea to build your mailing list. Using
the same example, a Polish English translator can write a guest post for a legal blog on the
importance of professional translation with a mention of her excellent newsletter.
7) Use QR codes
QR codes are a very handy way of encouraging sign-up offline. You can give out minicards with a
QR code printed and just a short call to action explaining why your lead should subscribe.
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LESSON 90
Im really looking forward to your comments. Id love this book to be as great as possible, so I
appreciate your feedback. You can drop me an email or leave a comment below.
But thats not the end of news. If you pre-order the book now, youll receive exclusive access to
one of the chapters Ive already written up, as well as other early releases. You can pre-order
directly here:
Its such an exciting project and definitely a highlight in my career. Sharing what Ive learned
and experienced across many domains is the best use of my time I could possibly imagine. Ill
keep you posted!
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LESSON 91
This time I offer a rather simple list of points for you to consider, especially when working with
direct clients.
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1. Acknowledge translation as a tailored-made service.
Its not about churning out words, its about putting your intellectual powers, experience and
expertise into a piece of text that has to serve a certain purpose for your client.
4. Make suggestions.
As I said at a recent workshop in Madrid, some of my clients rely on my expertise to translate
but also to suggest how they could improve their message for its target audience and purpose.
Im not hesitating to tell my clients that this font/colour/image/metaphor/slogan/campaign
may not work in Poland.
Do you have any other ideas how we could turn translation into a more tailored-made service?
Like I said, this is the first step towards customer segmentation, so youll see why this is so
important.
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LESSON 92
This image is also a very simple explanation why we need to segment our customers:
But how all this can help us in selling translation and marketing our services?
Increased effectiveness
We all have limited resources and budgets for marketing. With customer segmentation, you can
make sure that the money and time you invest is well spent and reaches the right people.
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Knowing the distinct segments that your potential customers belong to helps you create a more
targeted message corresponding with their needs and values.
Increased profitability
We often struggle with increasing our rates. Many of our colleagues fear that a flat increase may
leave them out of work for some time, before they find better paying clients. Customer
segmentation helps you separate clients with higher price inelasticity (meaning likely to pay
more if you ask for more) from clients who wont accept your increase.
Business development
Segmenting customers is very helpful when comes to prospecting and growing your customer
base. Its so much easier to concentrate on developing just one, well-defined segment, rather
than just trying to find more clients. Clearly defined groups will also help you identify whos
also competing for their attention.
Brand development
By segmenting your clients and discovering their needs youre much more likely to develop a
brand that resonates with them.
What do you think about customer segmentation? In the next lesson Ill share how to segment
your customers and introduce a segmentation strategy.
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LESSON 93
2) Setting an objective
Segmentation is just a tool to help you achieve your objectives, therefore its paramount to
establish clear goals you want to achieve with each segment. For example, in my business
segment, I may want to gain more high profit customers, while in the legal translation sector I
may want to boost customer retention (so make sure they keep coming back for more).
4) Segment profiling
If youve ever been to any of my talks or done my School course, youve heard me talk about
Ideal Customer Avatars (and yes, theres a month coming up on this topic, too). The main idea
here is that each of your segments should have a profile of an ideal (representative) customer,
outlining demographical and behavioural elements.
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5) Selecting segments to target
As I said in point 2, you need to have clear objectives and match them with segments. The key
part in here is to select segments to target in some sort of an order, so that you dont just try to
target everybody at the same time. Look at your objectives against feasibility and start with
segments where all actions are more likely to bring the desired return.
Happy segmenting! In the next lesson we're going to cover mistakes to avoid when segmenting
your market.
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LESSON 94
1. NOT negotiating
The most common goal is just never even attempting to negotiate with a client. You give a price,
the client says its too much, and thats the end of it. Theres not really much discussion to reach
an agreement here.
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5. Not asking the client for a budget first
Of course, asking if a client has a budget in mind doesnt mean that theyre going to tell us what
it is. But asking for their budget has two strong benefits. First, if you see that their budget is way
too low, you can already decide if you want to take the exchange further or just stop there.
Second, youll be surprised how many clients are prepared to pay more than you initially had in
mind.
My question now is, of course, what negotiation mistakes have you committed or came across?
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LESSON 95
2. Do the research
Ok, ok, I am a research freak and I do believe business is largely about knowing stuff on the
other party. This is especially true in negotiation. If you manage to find out as many details
about your potential client as possible, youre increasing the likelihood of making an attractive
offer, but also presenting convincing arguments. Before you reply to a clients request, start as
simple as taking a look at their website, LinkedIn profile, do some sniffing online, try to build an
image of them as a potential client. The more information you have, the easier it is for you to
gauge the value of this particular translation to the client.
The most important question at this stage is: what does the client want the most?
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Client: We can pay 0.07 per word for this project.
Translator: I was thinking more along the lines of 0.09 per word.
Client: Oh no, we can only pay 0.07 per word.
Translator: Ok.
Im also guilty of having done similar things in the past. But you know what? At least we tried.
But it took me some time to realise, and I want to share it with you now, that in order to
negotiate effectively and professionally, we need to know our *trades*. In other words, we need
to know what we can remove from our offer if we want to accept a lower price.
Let me give you an example from my business.
Me: Based on what we discussed, the estimated price of the project is 800.
Client: This is a bit steep for us for this project, Im afraid.
Me: Ok, so lets look at how we could make it acceptable for both of us. I included preparing a
glossary for your future reference and I assumed youll need me to do a final proof before this
goes to print. I strongly recommend the final proofing and it will take me around 3 hours to do
it, but we can remove the glossary and terminology element, and then I can offer it for 700.
As you can see now, trades are the elements we use to justify an increase or decrease of the
price. Here are some trades that Ive used in the past: shorter/longer deadline, additional
services, discount for up-front payment, bundled services, etc. Are there any other trades
coming to your mind?
The most important question at this stage is: what can you trade in exchange for a lower price?
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The most important question at this stage is: what are you going to tell your client to convince
them to your offer?
6. Seek agreement
As I mentioned in the beginning, negotiation is not about you winning and them losing, but
about arriving at a solution thats acceptable to both parties. It helps to spell it out in your
exchange with a potential client to reassure them that youre working on an offer good for them,
too. Theres nothing wrong in saying: I really want to work on this project with you, but I have
to make sure its profitable for me as well. Lets discuss how to make it work. Using trades and
arguments, but also understanding the client and genuinely willing to help, youre likely to
arrive at an acceptable solution.
The most important question at this stage is: whats the offer acceptable to both parties?
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LESSON 96
Logos is based on the logical appeal. It often employs facts and figures to support the claims. For
example, Im using the logical appeal on my home page with my slogan: 83% of buyers are
more likely to choose your product if I do the translation. Its a statement of fact further
underlined by the use of a tangible figure. A similar effect can be achieved if you tell the client
how many words youve translated, or how many clients have trusted you so far. But logos is
not only about numbers, it also involves the clarity of your argument and its value. If you
manage to make a strong case based on facts, logos will have a great impact on your persuasive
appeal.
Pathos is, in other words, the appeal to emotions. And by the way, I think its one of the most
underused tools available to us when selling translation. Of course, pathos doesnt mean that we
want to make our clients cry or experience strong emotions. Its all about appealing to the
emotional, not just the cold rational side of a potential client. It can take the form of a metaphor,
simile, a play on words, or anything that makes your client feel connected with you. To give
you an example from my practice, once I convinced a client to work with me because I casually
mentioned that a member of my family used to work in the same business and I remembered
some facts about how they worked. A little thing, and perhaps in some cultures borderline
acceptable in the business context, made me connect with this particular prospect.
Ethos, the third foundation of persuasion, is an appeal to the authority or credibility. Youre
using ethos if youre a notable figure in the field or when clients recognise your authority. Its
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often based on your experience and education and how you manage to communicate your
expertise to clients. At times, ethos is tacit and comes attached with reputation. If youve been
recommended to a particular client, theyre accepting your ethos because others have found you
credible and trustworthy. Displaying recommendations on your websites or using case studies
can reinforce your ethos.
The challenge, of course, is to find the right balance between these three forms of appeal,
especially in a negotiation process. We should start with ethos when negotiating, because if
clients accept our authority, its much easier for us to persuade them to accept our terms. Then
Id suggest using logos to present the client with a series of strong, irrefutable arguments,
followed by pathos to make the client feel good about the decision.
What Id recommend you to do now is to prepare a list of what you could say or write under
logos, pathos and ethos, and also what actions you can take now to increase the appeal.
These of course are very broad foundations of persuasion. There are also some techniques I
think you should know.
Reciprocity
According to the principle of reciprocity, if we give something to another person for free, they
feel obliged to repay in kind. Its a very powerful tool and Id suggest you to think about how you
could implement it in negotiating with direct clients especially. Sometimes even writing a blog
and sharing useful information with clients through newsletters may create a sense of
obligation, or at least loyalty, in them. This is also the reason why free translation samples work,
or if you translate a few sentences from a potential clients website and send it to them with a
friendly note, theyre more willing to reply.
Social proof
Related to ethos, social proof is based on the assumption that we want to be doing what
everybody else, also in business. This is the way you work, too, if you think about it. We all like
the most popular apps, the best accountants in town, we want to go to events that everybody
else goes to. If you manage to convince your potential clients that youre a sought-after expert,
either through your reputation or a collection of testimonials, youll be using social proof to
persuade.
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Liking
Whether we like it or not, liking plays a huge role in persuasion. People say yes to people they
like. In general, the theory says that liking is based on two factors: physical appeal and
similarity. Leaving physical appeal aside, similarity means that if a potential client finds you
similar in a certain way, theyre more likely to want to work with you. How can you use this
technique?
Authority
We all tend to believe that if an expert says something, it must be true. Stemming from ethos,
authority is based on knowledge and trustworthiness. Again, if you manage to build them up,
youre likely to be more successful in persuasion.
Scarcity
Scarcity is all about limited availability. According to Cialdini, another prominent figure in the
art of persuasion, people want more of what they cannot have. Letting your customers know
youre busy or that your time is limited, youre more likely to make them want to use your
services. This also works when you put time constraints on estimates and quotes youre
sending.
Of course, the whole challenge around persuasion is knowing which appeal to use, when and
with which client. It also takes some time and practice to start using these techniques. Like I
said, I do recommend you to brainstorm and write down which arguments and tactics come to
your mind under each of those tactics.
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LESSON 97
The whole idea behind the bootcamp is to spend a very intense week
early in September this year on narrowing your specialism down, on
carving out a niche for your business and developing your expert presence. The course starts on
the 8th of September and runs through to the 15th, it consists of 3 online modules 90 minutes
each, including live Q&A and a mastermind group with other colleagues.
Ive prepared a special, dedicated page with all the details about the course, including module
contents and plans and pricing, take a look! If youre interested, leave your contact details there.
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LESSON 98
4 weeks ahead
Let your clients know as far in advance as possible that you'll be off and plan alternative
solutions
Realign deadlines if necessary
Try to finish all big projects before leaving
Talk to your team & collaborators about what will happen while you're gone
Find colleagues who could take on work from direct clients while youre away
3 weeks ahead
Plan maintenance and routine tasks such as invoicing and replying to emails
Draft a list of everything that could go wrong while youre away and plan how youre
going to deal with it
Consider hiring a temporary virtual assistant to handle emails
2 weeks ahead
Tie up loose ends and wrap up current gigs, where possible
Dont accept any new projects, unless theyre really short ones
Choose a date when you'll begin new projects that arise, which could be even before you
return to make sure you can get back straight to work
Ask all prospects if they can wait until your return date
Plan your marketing actions for when youre away
1 week ahead
Implement marketing actions to take place when youre away (schedule blog posts,
release of articles, following-up with clients)
Create an auto-responder
Update contact forms with your return date
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Set up an email blast to clients a few days before you return to remind them that youre
coming back
4 2 days ahead
Talk to your clients again to wrap up projects, last changes, and remind them youre
going away
Set clear communication boundaries (e.g. that you wont be checking your email during
the day, but they can call you in emergencies)
Prepare your desk and to-do lists for return
Like I said, some of it will be happening in my case, too. You go ahead and make the most
of it!
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LESSON 99
British Museum
Visiting British Museum is a must if youre coming to the UK. Immerse yourself in English
literature and culture its a very moving experience! Dont forget to check the list of events, as
there may be something related to translation scheduled.
Shakespeares Globe
Check whats on in advance and book tickets for as little as 10 pounds. Watching a play at The
Globe is a great experience, but make sure you have a raincoat in your bag just in case: the
central part has no roof.
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Check university websites
Theres a range of universities in the UK offering translation degrees and many of them schedule
events and training courses in the summer.
Summer schools
Many universities offer summer schools in translation or interpreting, but its also worth
checking out the British Centre for Literary Translation and English Pen.
Go to a literary festival
Many of them feature literature in translation, not to mention making potential contacts with
publishing houses. Heres a list of 300+ festivals in the UK.
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LESSON 100
Rest
I kid you not, take a few days off and just rest. I thought making sure you take weekends off
regularly is enough to keep your brain rested, but I only realised how tired I was when I went to
the mountains for a few days and I just switched off.
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Organise
You probably have a set of processes and some sort of organisation strategy in place, but what
happened to me is that the system Ive envisaged to organise projects, files and folders was too
small to manage the complexity of work that soon arose. And then, mid-way through a busy
project, I didn't have enough time to tweak my organisation. Its going to change soon!
Network
Without much time pressure, I find it much easier to go to networking events and enjoy
conversations there. Plan to attend some of those.
Get creative
I don't know about you, but every now and then I feel I miss doing creative things. I enjoy
drawing and painting (for my eyes only!), and I know it has a positive impact on my creativity at
work, too.
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LESSON 101
EnMast started following recently, I like it for a strong focus on an individual and the
importance of leadership in business
Freelancer Blog a large collection of strategies, tips and tutorials
The Freelancer, By Contently slightly more on the tech and design side, good tips for
online marketing and social media
The Freelancery written by a real freelancer, very good pieces of advice
Work Awesome useful and quick 5 ways to articles you can scan in 30 seconds
Copyblogger a useful copywriting tip a day, always something new to tweak your sales
letter
Freelance Advisor UK-based portal with freelance advice, including tax and legal issues
Freelance Switch a collection of tips, some of it more technical
Freelancing Matters well-researched articles, often offering deeper insight than just
tips and tricks (now migrated to tuts+)
Guerrilla Freelancing no-nonsense articles, often about payments, expenses and
money
Freelancers Union interesting and quick articles, many polls regarding how
freelancers work
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LESSON 102
Feedly an RSS reader that gives me access to all stored sources from any device, very
handy for categorising all blogs and websites. I dont have to worry Ill lose track of any
of the excellent blogs out there.
Hootsuite social media management tool that keeps all my profiles in one place and I
can use it from my smartphone, too. It helps me see all new messages and I dont need to
browse through too many platforms.
Google products Im relying on Gmail as my email client, and even though I tried a
range of other tools, I always found Gmail to be the most user friendly, available and
easy to configure of all. Google Calendar works wonders for me (Im a bit obsessed with
planning and time slots) and its synching between my desktop, laptop and smartphone.
I can also create shared calendars for collaborative projects. Google Drive is excellent to
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work on some files at the same time at a distance; I used it to work on presentations.
Hangouts prove sometimes more reliable than Skype (which has recently moved to the
cloud, too, so you no longer have to wait for the other person to be logged in at the same
time as you are to leave them a message, which really was a big pain).
Dropbox this is a bit like stating the obvious, but Dropbox is immensely helpful if
youre on the move. I store everything on Dropbox, apart from my archived projects. For
example, I have access to all my dictionaries and glossaries when Im out interpreting, or
I can always send a file from my smartphone.
FreeAgent my favourite tool to manage estimates, invoices and payments. I can access
it on the go to issue or modify an invoice and its linked with my bank account,
automatically recognising and matching transactions. It really does save a lot of time. To
run my personal expenses, I use Splitwise.
Redbooth and Trello help me organise projects that Im working on and run efficient to-
do lists. Redbooth works well if youre often collaborating and you need a good record of
progress and changes within projects, while Trello is perhaps the most user-friendly to-
do service out there.
Capsule CRM I use Capsule to streamline my customer relationship management and
keep all existing and potential clients in one place. I can track my follow-ups and
communications with them.
Pocket whenever I come across an interesting article that I cant read in this very
moment (happens every day), I quickly add it to Pocket. I can do the same from my
smartphone, desktop and laptop and it all goes to one place. No article is ever lost.
Audible and Kindle even though I do like my printed books, sometimes you just cant
take everything with you even for a train ride to do some interpreting. Kindle app on my
laptop is working wonders, and Audible gives me access to my favourite novels when
my eyes are just too tired, or when Im working out. Audible has proven to be a great
choice to work on my French.
What are your tools?
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LESSON 103
Short and sweet. What are your favourite and most useful e-books out there?
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LESSON 104
Document expenses
Always keep receipts and invoices for every purchase you make for your business, even if youre
not sure it counts as a business expense. Youre much better off asking an accountant to find out
rather than not being able to claim it later.
Draw a budget
Perhaps the single most useful piece of advice I took away from my business training was to
draw a budget for my business, covering training, marketing and operational expenses.
Personally, my budget is allocated as percentage of my revenue, so the more I make, the more I
spend on CPD and marketing my services.
Track everything
Theres one thing you should know about me: Im obsessed with planning and measuring.
Budgeting is one thing, but then tracking all expenses is the other essential element. I may be a
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bit extreme, but I track how much I spend on everything each month (Im a bit of a control freak
and this gives me a feeling of security and stability). It doesnt mean Im saving, it means I know
precisely how much I spent on take away coffee or eating out last month. I believe that tracking
expenses, both personal and professional, is a good habit that we could safely adopt from the
world of big corporations.
This is my list of 10 financial tips for freelance translators and interpreters. What would you
add?
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LESSON 105
First, analyse which areas of your business need investment. Maybe you could do with a
training course? Perhaps a new, better CAT tool? Or going to a conference? Identify the different
areas where youre going to need some investment.
Second, draw a budget. Keep separate budgets for professional development, marketing and
operations. Allocate how much money you can spend on these each year.
Third, establish the level of return youre going to be satisfied with. Is it enough to break even
on the training course youve attended, or would you rather have double the return? How much
in terms of orders placed you need from attending a client event to make it worthwhile? Set
yourself these goals and track the return. This will help you assess which investment was good
and which one not so.
But why, in the first place, would you like to invest in your freelance business?
To achieve your goals. Very often our goals require specific investments. To give you an
example, I had to invest in website development to have web presence I needed to target
specific groups of clients I wanted to work with.
To exceed your limitations. You may not have the skills you want or need yet, but
through investing in your career, you can develop them. For example, you can learn
another language, or you can study copywriting.
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To make yourself more marketable. If you invest in marketing your business or in
gaining new skills, youre not only getting your return, but also becoming more valuable
on the market.
To grow. Stagnation is not good for any business, and one of the ways to beat it is to
invest.
To connect with your passions. Perhaps the biggest benefit of freelancing is the
possibility to fine-tune our businesses and align it with your passions. Through
investment, you can fully realise your potential.
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LESSON 106
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LESSON 107
http://wantwords.co.uk/school/business-checklist-book-translators/
I'm proud to invite you to the book's dedicated page. It's one of my biggest achievements (in
self-discipline, too!) so far. Apart from the overview, you can also see what others said about the
book.
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LESSON 108
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Polish village in Chicago
Look up people and events from your country related to the destination
I find this to be a good ice breaker when youre visiting another country. All locals will be
interested in knowing how your countrys culture and people contributed to the local
community, and will surely be impressed by your knowledge on the topic. Its a good way to
start a conversation, too!
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In Buenos Aires, Witold Gombrowicz's old house
Run a project
I like spending time actively, even while on holidays. Usually, the trips I take include little
projects I run related to the place Im visiting. It can be following in the footsteps of a famous
writer, doing a literary tour, or similar, where you document your project and share it with the
community (or even clients).
What are your ideas for making the most of your travelling translator trips?
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LESSON 109
1. Dont start the conference thinking that youll have to make an extra effort to be
sociable. Im sure you know what Im talking about: this feeling of being sort of happy and
excited to be here, but at the same time worrying that networking and talking to people will
take up a lot of your energy. Just worrying about it sets you in a negative mood and then every
conversation really does take a lot of effort.
2. Dont try to fake being more sociable than you really are. I dont know about you, but I
can fake it maybe for a couple of hours and then Im drained. What I grew to realise was that its
perfectly fine to be as sociable as you feel like, even if it means being slightly withdrawn.
3. Prepare a list of questions you can ask the other person to keep the conversation
going. One of my biggest fears is the moment when you meet a new person, you introduce
yourselves to each other, and then you have no idea what to talk about next. My hack: think
about some standard questions you can ask anybody at any conference: what languages do you
work with, where are you based, how do you like the conference, what was your favourite
session so far, did you do anything interesting in the city, how do you like the venue See, Im
getting really good at it!
4. Prepare a few things you can say apart from your elevator pitch. Be ready to say a few
things about yourself and your work that you feel comfortable with. And its perfectly ok to say
just a few things to the other person and then say you have to go to another session and youll
see them around.
5. Book downtime. Make sure you select sessions and events in such a way that you have
enough time for yourself. I find these periods very important to replenish my energy.
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6. Dont feel uneasy about spending time by yourself. With everybody around sitting and
chatting in small groups you may feel the pressure to find somebody to be your pair. If you
end up meeting somebody interesting, thats great, but dont force yourself; theres nothing
wrong in strolling around by yourself.
7. Find time to go outside. Dont spend the whole time in the conference venue. Find
interesting things to do outside and plan enough time to do some sightseeing.
8. Instead of aiming to talk to everybody, make a list of people you really want to or
should chat to. Its unrealistic to expect youll be able to talk to the majority of attendees. A
better strategy is to concentrate on meeting with people who youve identified.
9. Make time to do your thing. I find it important to keep my balance and my introvert at bay
by doing things I enjoy, even if Im in a hotel in a different country. It may be reading a book,
going to the gym, playing a computer game: whatever works for you, just dont neglect it during
the conference days.
10. Dont feel guilty for skipping sessions. Usually, at any conference, the programme is tight
and packed with sessions. Personally, I could never attend all of them, but Id feel guilty for not
making the most of it. It took me a while to understand that forcing myself was having the
opposite effect than just letting it go and enjoying the conference, city and my time in a different
way. As long as its not too many sessions skipped, that is!
What are the challenges in attending conferences that you identified? What freaks you out? How
do you replenish your energy?
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LESSON 110
Professionalism
Having a Code of Conduct that youre abiding by lends a lot of professionalism to your business -
starting from your own perspective on it. To me, it feels a bit like having a structure, a set of
guidelines that make a good translator or interpreter, or even like holding a few pages that set
the best standard for work.
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Protection
Something I experienced personally as an interpreter is related to the protection I could find in
my Code of Conduct. If a client would ask for something ethically or morally unacceptable, I
could always say that I cant do it in line with my Code of Conduct. The same applies to
translation, when the client objects to questions being asked or pointing out mistakes in the
source text.
Marketing
Codes of Conduct are also, believe it or not, a good marketing tool. If you tell your client you
have to abide by this and this code of conduct, referring them the the whole text, theyre more
likely to find you professional and trustworthy. Codes also do great when comes to client
education: many clients may not realise that our work is regulated and structured.
Doubts
Codes of Conduct, and in my case especially the code of the National Register of Public Service
Interpreters, are great irreplaceable guides whenever Im in doubt or coming across ethical
dilemmas. If I dont know if something is appropriate or allowed, I can always refer to the Code
of Conduct.
What do you think? Did you find codes of conduct useful in your career?
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LESSON 111
Ethics of finance
Its easy to think that moral or ethical issues in finance apply only to huge companies, while
freelancers concentrate on making enough to cover their own needs. While were hardly ever
exposed to bribery, anti-corruption laws or tax avoidance, were still facing a number of ethical
challenges in finance. Careful budgeting is, in my opinion, a matter of ethics. For me, having a
proper budget incorporating CPD and business development is a matter of ethical growth. Any
business oriented primarily at money-making, without regard to its other elements, is ethically
imbalanced, be it an international corporation or a freelance gig.
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Ethics of production
Perhaps most difficult to transfer to the world of services, the ethics of production usually
concerns the quality of materials, processes and final outcomes. But the process of translating or
interpreting itself can also be exposed to unethical behaviours. What about confidentiality,
impartiality, or using Google Translate in this boring agreement? Is using a free online OCR tool
just a matter of convenience, or is it becoming an unethical behaviour exposing clients files?
Ethics of technology
Outside of my translation-related work, Im always researching and learning about technology.
One thing is certain: neither the law nor the ethical standards have figured out how to treat
technology yet. We could start from a very theoretical argument: is using any technology on
texts without the clients knowledge ethical? Or does it become unethical only when the clients
files are exposed? If your technology isnt protected (e.g. you dont have anti-virus software), is
that only dangerous or also unethical?
I hope that I pointed you to some relevant questions here. What I propose is as follows:
Carry out a thorough ethics audit in these six domains
Mark areas for improvement and write down how youre going to work on them
Write up your own business code of ethics
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LESSON 112
Try to find value statements of other players in the industry, from associations to big translation
agencies and see what theyve included. Then, think about whats most important for you and
your business, and narrow all ideas down to the essential core values. Allocate some time to
write it all up, leave it on a side and come back to your value statement a few days later. Using
your value statement as a base, now you can develop your code of ethics to see how you can
turn them into practice. Look into areas such as:
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These points should contain practical actions that guide what you do and dont do. Once again,
allocate some time to write up your translation code of ethics. After youve written up your
code, you can use it internally, meaning that you can refer to it and abide by it yourself, or you
can put it up on your website to send signals out to other stakeholders and clients.
What do you think? Would you find a code of ethics useful? Internally or externally?
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LESSON 113
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First, its extremely important to realise that your core expert profile is already there. You feel
like your degree in translation (or similar) didnt give you anything expertly because youve
been surrounded with fellow students and colleagues being notoriously good at it for at least 3,
5 years of your life. In a room full of translator, everybody is just another translator. Its very
easy to slip into thinking that everybody knows what you know, that its not so difficult or
special. Add to this spending time on translator fora, attending translator conferences and
hanging out with translators. You, an expert? Impossible. Everybody knows how to do what
youre doing.
Nothing further from the truth. The moment I started going to events where I was the only
translator in the room, I discovered that people are genuinely impressed by the work were
doing. The more time you spend in an environment where your skills are rare, the more you
realise that you do, in fact, do something that not everyone can.
Moreover, at certain point you realise that real people, companies, institutions benefit from
your work, that it carries certain value that can in fact be calculated in terms of profits or return
on investment.
Further, another important step is to realise that your work is to a large extent in-imitable: you
write with a certain style, you have specific background knowledge, your translations are not
exactly the same as your colleagues (unless they are, but that means trouble).
If you agree that what you do is rare, valuable and in-imitable, youre very close to realising
youre providing an expertly service (or youre on the right path to do that). Realising the power
that comes from your linguistic background in front of your clients is essential. Hey, you may
not know everything there is about accounting, finance or IT, but you know the language of it
this narrow hyperspecialisation that researchers are talking about.
But this is just one part of the expert story. As I hinted at in the previous paragraph, your
linguistic expertise has to be set in within a particular industry. In other words, you need to be
an expert in the language of finance/business/marketing luxury goods/fashion/technical
communication, etc, etc. Now how do you do that?
It all starts with a broader specialisation. Say, you specialise in three fields, work mostly in
those, but with time you develop particular expertise in one narrow domain, either through
selecting jobs on this topic or through a conscious process of specialising (as in my case). The
more narrow the domain, the more expertly your positioning is.
This, of course, requires a lot of work. Just translating texts in this domain will take you so far.
Relentless pursuit of knowledge within this field, actively learning about it and becoming one
of them is essential to say: Im an expert in the language of marketing luxury goods, for
example. Hyperspecialising at its best.
My question to you now is as follows. Do you think any of this is new, or is it just taking
specialisation a step further? Or is it all the same just calling it an expert profile rather than a
specialised translator? Do you think that this approach could work?
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LESSON 114
"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can
be made, in a narrow field." - Niels Bohr
"An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions
and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay
attention to and what to ignore." - Edward de Bono
"The top experts in the world are ardent students. The day you stop learning, you're
definitely not an expert." - Brendon Burchard
Masters and highly successful people are in a romantic relationships with their work -
Desmond Oshifeso
An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less - Nicholas Butler
If everyone waited to become an expert before starting, no one would become an
expert. To become an EXPERT, you must have EXPERIENCE. To get EXPERIENCE, you
must EXPERIMENT! Stop waiting. Start stuff. - Richie Norton
Quite often, when an idea that could be helpful presents itself, we do not appreciate it,
for it is so inconspicuous. The expert has, perhaps, no more ideas than the
inexperienced, but appreciates more what he has and uses it better. - George Plya
Oh and here's one from Ralf Lemster, when I asked him about becoming an expert
translator: "Becoming an expert takes more than just 'learning the ropes': you need to get
immersed in your target area." What's your take on this topic?
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LESSON 115
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Deliver results
Experts are more likely to be listened to and respected. If as a translator you deliver your
language expertise and advice, you can advise clients on the best solutions and youre more
likely to convince them. This results from the authority that clients see in you. With an expert
profile, you're much more likely to say good-bye to all these frustrating situations when your
client changes little things in the text without even asking you.
Gain partnerships
Experts are more visible in their fields and this leads to more exposure and potential
partnerships with other colleagues in the same industry or across other industries. As a
translator, you can partner with designers, web developers, content managers, copywriters
There are many opportunities out there!
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LESSON 116
2. Focus
As scary as it may seem, cutting down the areas I work in is an inevitable step for me in 2015. I
used to do a lot of legal, business and marketing translations, but now its time to narrow down
only to Polish-English online communication. This is going to be my main field. During the
preparation for this cut, I came across some useful tips on how to find your main point of focus,
for example:
- Make a list of things you do best and the skills theyre based on,
- List your achievements,
- Look for patterns in your work.
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Every business, service or product starts with a customers problem. Have you ever thought
about translation from this perspective? I havent from the very beginning and it was only one of
the courses I took in 2012 that made me think like this.
4. Synthesise
With my new translation niche taking shape, there were some useful pointers that I found out to
make sure Im on the right track. Make sure that your niche:
- Is in line with your long-term vision
- There is a market for it
- Your niche and strategy is planned
- Its one-of-a-kind service
Here are a few points of homework Id recommend if youre interested in finding your niche.
Browse through your clients websites and make a wishlist of who you want to work
with.
Focus on a specific service for specific needs (For example, a retail clothing business is
not a niche but a field. A more specific niche may be "maternity clothes for executive
women.")
Do customer research.
Synthesise your vision.
Test and evaluate your niche.
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LESSON 117
Select a segment of the market that has a specific problem you can fix. Its hard to speak
about niche marketing if there is no niche (see my previous article). Finding out about a specific
need or problem that a group of customers has leads to identifying a niche. For example, right
now Im working on a new niche for my business: Polish technology start-ups. I know that this
niche has a special need, which is communicating with potential clients abroad, and a specific
problem: they don't have the time to write content for their websites, blogs, or other online
communication.
Carry out market research. After youve identified the segment with a specific need or
problem, its time to test whether your offer is feasible and whether there is enough interest for
it. I suggest contacting 10 industry leaders within this niche to talk to them, as well as looking
for 20 potential partners, and finally sending your new offer to 50 prospects. What are your
results? For now, I contacted 3 industry leaders and asked them questions (lucky me, two of
them are my old high school friends). I managed to confirm the market need with them and got
an idea about feasibility. Of course, this is still very little so Im embarking on a longer research
process.
Prepare a promotional plan. If your idea and niche prove feasible, sit down to write a
promotional plan aimed at targeting this specific group. Take into account different channels
and tools that you can use to reach this niche best. This still lies ahead of me and is planned until
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the end of January. What I'm currently working on is looking for the most appropriate channels
to reach my niche.
Implement the plan. Of course, the next step is to start promoting your offer to the niche
identified, as well as to continuously monitor results. This is definitely planned throughout the
year and Im still working on putting dates against tasks.
There are three very important, in my opinion, elements when comes to niche marketing for
translators. Careful targeting and learning as much as possible about the selected niche is
absolutely the most important part of this strategy. Then, its also essential to meet unique
needs (taking your USP a step further). Finally, niche marketing has a very narrow scope, so
careful and continuous testing is key.
While preparing to write this article, I came across several interesting decks on Slideshare. Take
a look!
If youre interested in developing your own niche marketing strategy, here are some steps to
consider:
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LESSON 118
Youre not an expert if you just use positioning, but have no real expert knowledge
As pointed out in comments to previous articles, its important to make a difference between
just positioning yourself as an expert, and really gaining expertise and being one (and then,
wheres the line?). Be it in translation or in all business things related to translation, an expert
doesnt just position herself or himself as one, but has results and background to prove the
value of her or his work. Our profession has some great examples of people who really are
experts, either linguists turned subject-matter experts, or some really knowledgeable industry
professionals turned freelancers. I think we should all learn from them!
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Youre not an expert if you think you know it all
I believe that true experts never stop learning. I think its dangerous to stop and say that hey,
now Ive learned it all and I can just concentrate on doing. A real expert is dedicated to
Continuing Professional Development do you agree?
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LESSON 119
Translation
Being an introvert, I pride myself in great attention to detail and unparalleled abilities to focus
on the task at hand. I dont mind locking myself up for six hours without any human contact to
get the job done, and I have absolutely no problems with logging off Facebook and Twitter for
that time. Yes, most likely I do finish the job quicker and maybe I make fewer mistakes, so there
is some impact on my translation career.
But I need your inputs here, extroverts! How do you translate? Are you able to concentrate on
one task? Do you work better if you are on Facebook and can shift focus to a different task for a
few seconds only to get back to translating with a new bout of energy?
On a more general note, would you agree that translators tend to be introverted? And is that
reflected in the end product? The impact of personality on translation is open to a debate.
Interpreting
Once more often, now I only occasionally do interpreting. When I do, I feel the pressure the
evening before, I feel even more pressure on my way there, and also a bit of disorientation when
I finally get to the place. I know Im prepared, but I also know Im going to meet strangers, I
dont know how theyre going to react and whether everything is going to go smoothly. I also
feel Im not in my own environment so I cant control it, but this may have nothing to do with
introversion, this may be just my control issue.
In turn, when I asked my good colleague whos interpreting much more often than I do (one of
those born interpreters, you see), she doesnt feel any of this. Stage fright doesnt exist, shes
used to hearing her own voice and she doesnt mind, she enjoys the thrill of travelling and
staying at a different hotel every time.
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Do you think that this is the case and extroverts are simply better suited to do interpreting?
Customer service
Im very bad at phone calls and Id never do any cold calling unless I absolutely had to. My
aversion to telephone calls used to be so big that Id rather go and visit my relatives to pass a
message on from my parents than actually make a phone call. Of course, this got better over the
years, but I still cant imagine calling strangers. Sometimes I also write abrupt emails that may
come across cold or rude. I attribute this to my introversion. I also find it hard to be nice or
friendly on demand.
Do extroverts do any better? I think they may be in a winning position here. Extroverts I know
like talking to others, don't mind strangers, and often are open in their approach. They tend to
be friendly and seen as easy-going. Would you agree? And would that impact their translation
career?
Marketing
Inbound marketing, or attracting visitors to my website using content, is what I do best. Id
much rather write three articles in a night than send out offers to potential clients, even though I
know I have to reach out to prospects to see some results. I feel Im better at creating useful
content than promoting it all over the place.
Extroverts I came across, to a large extent, are the opposite. Theyre great at promoting, sharing,
publicising, inviting, reaching out, but cant really sit down to write this short article they
promised themselves to publish last month. Would you say this is the case? And if it is, whats
better?
Networking
If youre an introvert like me, you probably have a weird relationship with the word
networking. This is definitely something I had to learn and I still remember the first
professional networking event I went to (an innocent Tweetup!), where I was feeling so
awkward that I almost never made it. Its not like Im avoiding social situations, but they just
drain my energy levels to zero. Every event, every conference, every workshop, I go back home
exhausted and need at least two days to regain my balance.
Extroverts seem to be the opposite. They thrive during translation conferences and events, and
feel great when they go to network with potential clients. They feel even more energised after
such a social event. In there, I think theyre definitely in a better situation then introverts and
their translation career may benefit.
Where do you fit? Would you say youre an introvert or extrovert? And do you think it impacts
your translation career?
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LESSON 120
Analysts embrace rationality and impartiality, excel in intellectual debates and scientific or
technological fields. Analysts engage in strategic thinking and try to find solutions that work for
everybody (at the cost of social and romantic pursuits, apparently). Analysts work great in
terms of systems thinking, that is seeing the situation as a whole. When comes to the translation
industry, my theory is that analysts quickly turn into consultants that help companies
implement or improve their existing language management processes, or if they stay
translators, they take on jobs that require analysing the situation as a whole and suggesting the
most appropriate course of action perhaps transcreation?
Sentinels are cooperative and highly practical, embracing and creating order, security and
stability wherever they go. Must be those who organise translation conferences, since theyre
also great in logistical and administrative tasks. It seems to me that there arent that many
sentinels in our industry, at least I didnt come across many of them.
Explorers seem to be on the opposite end of the scale from me. Theyre most spontaneous and
adapt quickly with ability to react. Theyre the ones who start using new tools straight away and
know how to act in crisis. Theyre great at selling. In my opinion, we do have a strong group of
explorers in our industry, people who always welcome new tools and try them out before
anybody else. The daredevils, if you like, often becoming tool vendors or trainers.
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LESSON 121
The Perfectionist is, according to the author somebody who is constantly finding fault with
his/her own work and the work of others. Perfectionists set very high standards and are detail-
oriented. One of the problems that the author identified is that perfectionist cant let work go
when its good enough and constant revisions often lead to missing deadlines.
Now, while this isnt happening all that often for translators (can you imagine missing a
deadline and telling the client oh, Im a perfectionist, thats why?), we tend to sacrifice other
things just to meet this deadline, dont we? For example, we keep working nights or weekends,
or we cancel appointments. In my opinion, this isnt really handling being a perfectionist, this is
just letting it take over.
Of course, perhaps its perfectionism that makes us so good at what were doing, so we dont
want to get rid of it, but where do you set yourself a limit? Ive created a QA checklist and after I
check the work against this checklist, I send it out. I dont dwell, I dont go back to it. Thats how
Im managing my perfectionist.
The People Person is someone who, according to the author, seem to make friends with
everyone they meet. These types of freelancers often have huge networks and know how to
network easily. The main drawback is that for people persons, its actually difficult to sit down
and get some work done.
This is totally not me. Im not a people person that much and I always can just sit down and start
working. Facebook or Twitter arent that tempting because I know theyre there to distract, so I
dont look at them while working. But if you are a people person and you work from home with
others around, how do you deal with it? How do you set yourself boundaries?
The Rebels became freelancers because they couldnt stand the rules and restrictions of a
more long-term working arrangement. They sometimes come up with great ideas, but tend to
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lack patience, especially in communicating these ideas to others. Rebels often diverge into side
projects to keep them interested and alive.
This is so me. I need a few other things going on apart from translating or Id just go nuts. A
small thing here, a little job there, a blog post here, I need to work on a few things at the same
time to keep my energy and adrenaline high. What about you?
The Controller, as the author says freaks out if he/she doesnt know exactly whats going on
with business and projects at any given time. Someone close to me is a total controller. He is an
excellent project manager with outstanding organisational skills, but at the same time he tries to
do too much, never mind trying to delegate work. Plus, Controllers will have an issue with
unpredictability.
To a certain extent, Im a Controller myself. I need a plan and structure for everything (do you
remember my five year plans?), and my every single week is planned out in advance. But, at the
same time, I enjoy unpredictability and the challenges it poses. What about you?
The Shy One, according to the author, is less outgoing than others, a sympathetic listener and
can be very loyal to clients. Yet, the problem with the shy ones is that often marketing is a
struggle for them.
When comes to this aspect, Im a naturally shy person, but when comes to business, I leave it all
behind. I find super strength and courage somewhere and I can market away. One of the ways
Im dealing with managing my shy side is that when comes to business, I tell myself that Im now
working for a business so its not about me, its about the external brand. I see myself as an
employee, rather than the individual concerned, and I carry out work as if I was doing it for
someone else. The shyness seems to go away. What about you, if youre the shy one?
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LESSON 122
All translation service providers (agencies and freelancers) offer translations that are
All freelance translators offer translations that are
Some translators offer translations that are
Few translators offer translations that are
My translation services are different because.
I know that the last question is the most difficult one. When answering, think about the
following aspects. What is that youre adding to the service youre delivering? Whats individual
about your work, style, business? What comes from your personality, education, experience in
the translations that you provide?
All translation service providers offer translations that are good quality and on time.
All freelance translators offer translations that are often better quality than translation
agencies, more polished and with more style.
Some translators offer translations that are really good because they specialise in a few
areas only, so they can really master the topic.
Few translators offer translations that are value-adding for specific industries because
theyre linked with more comprehensive services.
My translation services are different because I provide complex communication services
from content authoring to distribution.
Of course, this is just the first attempt and you can see that it needs work, but its the first step to
developing a USP focusing on my added value. How can this help you? Do you want to have a go
at these questions? Try them in comments below.
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LESSON 123
Thats a challenge, no? First, looking at the promise, what are the things that come to your mind
that you could promise your clients? Superior quality, personal approach, individual attention
The problem is that were all saying that, including translation agencies, and some of us are
miserably failing at it. I havent ever met a translator whod say they deliver poor quality, yet the
universe is full of bad translations. Is this promise really going to work? Even from the clients
perspective it seems unclear. Do they understand the issue of quality in translation? Do they
know what its value for them? Do they realise how much it can cost them (e.g. in lost sales) to
cut corners and save on translation? I dont think so.
Perhaps we all got this promise thing wrong. Perhaps quality isnt what we should be promising
to make our services stand out. Perhaps a good USP should aim at looking for a promise that
matters more or is clearer to the client. I went almost full-on into promising better conversions
and sales, thus higher monetary return.
Uniqueness is an issue in our industry, I dare say. Only this year Ive heard of several cases of
colleagues being too inspired by websites belonging to other, established translators, from
design to copy. Others try to replicate USPs of others, and yet others seem to think that
copywriting means copying somebodys writing. Maybe, just maybe, this comes from the fact
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that were so used to taking the ideas drawn up by others and working on recasting those into
other languages. Maybe this is what makes some of us think that we can transcreate
somebodys USP and appropriate the results.
I know its a challenge to be unique in a profession where you have to be invisible. But there are
ways of doing it. Why dont you try to leverage on your personality, interests, or developing a
unique approach? If its hard to make the service itself seem unique (which I also think isnt
entirely true), be more innovative when comes to the packaging.
Finally, compelling. I dont know about you, but for me it is a challenge to make my translation
services so attractive to prospects that they simply cant walk away. Translation to a large
extent is still seen as an expense, not an investment. With the little client education that Im
doing on my end, I can see that its hard to convince businesses that translation can bring them
good returns. For them, it seems to be an ancillary, necessary cost of expanding abroad. Is there
a way of making it compelling?
Id say its doable if you use the emotional approach in your USP, not only the hard-core rational
were so used to. What about discovering what your prospects aspirations are and using this to
talk about translation? Or is it impossible?
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LESSON 124
Translators mentality
First of all, once youve figured out what makes you stand out, hold on to it and keep repeating it
in the mirror until you finally learn it and make the switch in your thinking. Your USP should be
first and foremost used in the way you think about your work.
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Quotes and estimates
If youre building a funky and energetic translator branding based on a well-aligned USP, and
then you send out a totally boring and flat quote, this may be the reason why clients dont accept
it. Make sure that your more formal documents: quotes, estimates, terms and conditions,
agreements, are still in line with your USP.
So, your homework for today: review your existing materials that I mention above and check if
theyre aligned with your USP.
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Ill get sick
This may be just me, perhaps not all translators. As a sole breadwinner for years, I developed a
real fear of getting sick and not being able to work. This fear applies to anything from a slight
cold to imagining serious, chronic conditions. My head (and my business continuity plan) is full
of scenarios and emergency measures to deal with sickness, accidents or unforeseen
circumstances. Am I alone in this?
Im wrong
The fear of being wrong, applying much wider than just to freelance translation, often underpins
many behaviours and reactions. Im scared Im wrong when Im proofreading or editing
somebody elses work, Im scared Im wrong when Im giving advice, Im scared Im wrong when
Im approaching new clients. The good side of this fear is motivating and pushes me to be better.
The dark side of this fear turns some of us aggressive and defensive.
Have you experienced any of these fears? Do you have anything else youve experienced
yourself or observed in others?
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LESSON 126
Volunteer
If Im feeling generally uninspired about what Im doing, I volunteer using my skills to see the
real impact of my work on peoples lives. I used to volunteer for Victim Support and now Ive
just finished interpreting as a volunteer at a centre for migrants in need of support. Apart from
doing the obvious good, volunteering for those who really need help puts your life into a specific
perspective and its easier to reconnect with what drives you.
Mentor a newcomer
One of the biggest sources of motivation and strength is sharing your passion with another
person and talking about your profession. Helping a colleague out is again a good thing in itself,
but it also forces you to think about creative solutions and pieces of advice directing you to a
path of self-reflection.
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Go to a translation event
I remember a particularly gloomy period when I had lots of rather uninteresting work (or I
believe I just lost interest in it because I was feeling uninspired in general) and I saw a reminder
in my calendar about a translation duel taking place in London. I went there and it was so
amazing to see two translators who worked on the same piece of text discuss each sentence,
each preposition, each choice they made with so much passion and dedication. Its infectious.
Going to translation events or conferences gives you that kind of a boost.
Where do you take your motivation and strength to work as a freelance translator from? Whats
keeping you going?
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LESSON 127
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of ten steps to succeeding in the industry (I know, I wrote one and it was one of the most
frequently shared posts on this blog). It all makes it look like success happens overnight if you
simply follow a list of steps.
Heres the truth: success as a freelance translator comes after a few years of the hardest work of
your life.
After years of studying, learning and working, I discovered that there are no shortcuts, there are
no checklists, and there are no universal keys that open all doors. There are no articles that will
genuinely make you successful in ten short steps, there are no logos that will attract a stream of
clients to you, and there are certainly no business courses that will turn you into an overnight
success.
Of course, the promise of instant success is always more appealing and attracts more attention
than the truth. Of course its more fun to read an article with five steps to a successful freelance
career than, for example, how to use Porters five forces for your business. Of course its easier
to listen to gurus who suggest five quick-solution passive income streams to boost your income
than to a patient, more senior colleague who suggests improving your translation skills for the
third time.
And what Ive learned from the most successful colleagues is that they never stop working hard.
Its precisely this attitude that keeps them on top of the game.
If someone ever asks me How to find direct clients?, Ill probably start by saying that first they
need to learn how to write well, very well, in their own language, then Well, see above.
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LESSON 128
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havent been making notes during the conference itself is to go through the programme again
and remind yourself what each talk you went to offered.
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LESSON 129
1. Answer this question: why did I want to learn about it in the first place?
From being attracted to an article headline to jumping and signing up to an interesting
workshop, theres always something that attracts us to this particular new bit of knowledge.
Why did you read it in the first place? What made you register? Thinking about and focusing on
our motivations helps us discover the pain were trying to heal in our business.
Acknowledging this pain or shortcoming or need is the first step to defining whats missing or
what needs fixing in your translation business. Accepting that something needs a mend or
improvement is the first step to changing it.
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3. Formulate the new approach.
This was exactly the reason why I spoke to Marie Jackson from Looking-glass Translations who
kindly offered productivity consultancy sessions to her blog readers. We had a great
conversation via Skype and then Marie sent loads of follow-up documents. I also read up on the
topic. And of course it all couldve ended here, with me being painfully aware of my problem and
knowing what to do to fix it but never doing it. Instead, I decided to use all of this knowledge to
formulate my new approach. I even narrowed it down to one sentence: ignore shiny objects.
This was my new attitude to managing my own time and I created a set of rules that came
attached to this approach. I knew that from then on, this was how I was going to manage my
time.
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LESSON 130
1) Capture: write all your ideas, to-dos and tasks down on paper or on your device. The idea is
that you have to make it easy to capture information so you dont put things off for later. I use
my whiteboard to collect ideas and plans, I just write them down the moment they come to my
mind. If Im away, I use my smartphone or tablet to send emails to myself (the founder of this
methodology would probably tell me off for adding to my never-ending pile of emails, but it
works for me) to act as reminders.
2) Clarify: GTD puts a lot of emphasis on actually breaking your to-do points into actionable
steps. This is often complemented with the 2 minute rule: if you can do it in 2 minutes, do it
now, but if its going to take longer, schedule some time to do it later. If you can delegate
something, do it. Ive been delegating a range of tasks for 2 years now and this has freed up a
considerable amount of time in my diary.
3) Organise: put actionable items in categories and by priority, plus assign due dates and set
reminders. Its easy to feel overwhelmed if you have dozens of plans, ideas and to-do lists, so
actually spreading it across a period of time and prioritising can help you get out of the paralysis
mode.
4) Reflect: look at to-dos to figure out the next step, improve existing points and pick things you
have time and energy to do right now. This is an important step for me as I usually have a
variety of tasks on my plate that require different skills and levels of engagement. Its essential
for me to identify what I feel like doing right now and picking the right type of task. On a Friday
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afternoon, I may not feel like writing a blog article or doing marketing, but I can certainly go
through a pile of documents to shred.
5) Engage: choose your next action and get to it. If things are well-described and organised, it
becomes much easier to pick up any task, starting with smaller items, to work on them. I usually
prepare my list for the day in the morning when I can estimate requirements and my energy
levels.
Kanban
With its origins in the manufacturing industry, Kanban has been widely adopted in many project
management environments. In its most basic form, Kanban urges you to use cards or post-it
notes, something to stick them onto and a pen. Your Kanban board should be divided into: To
do, Doing and Done. The idea is to write down all steps in each project on post-its and move
them from To do, to Doing and to Done. This gives you a visual representation of what youre
working on and whats in the pipeline. Ive worked using my Kanban and a whiteboard up until
last year when I started travelling more and it became increasingly harder to keep the
whiteboard updated.
Gantt charts
Beautiful in their simplicity and deadline-oriented, Gantt charts allow for representation of your
projects on a timeline showing the logical sequence of all tasks. I personally find Gantt charts
great for marketing projects where I know what I have to do first so I can move on to the next
stage.
When it comes to overall business management for the whole year, you may also enjoy the
article I wrote for CTA blog on getting things done for translators.
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LESSON 131
The first step in the translation process is to read the brief. Wait, what?
It was an important lesson for me and I think it still remains a real shock to any graduating
translation student. Many aspects of what were being taught at universities or courses doesnt
really happen in the real life. For example, getting translation briefs.
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If youre just transitioning into freelance translation, youll surely be faced with this unsolvable
conundrum. At a first sight, you cant really break the cycle. Many newcomers are indeed stuck
and give up. Is there a way out of it?
If you want to find work, start working at lower rates and raise them with experience.
False! One of the most credible paradoxes because from the outset, it kind of makes sense. If
youre hired, youre usually earning less as a newcomer and then progress through the stages of
your career, earning more and more. However, its a fallacy in business. If you start charging less
now, youll never break out of this pattern.
I dont have money to invest but I wont have money without investing.
If youre not investing, youre less likely to make more money. If youre waiting to invest in a
new PC, CAT tool or training, hoping youll soon start earning more, youre falling a victim of this
fallacious thinking. Invest first, reap rewards later.
I do lots of outbound marketing but I dont pick up the phone when it rings.
Guilty as charged a few years back, much better now. Maybe this pattern is familiar to you, too:
go out there to an event, hand out business cards, follow-up and then just dodge a hint at
meeting up. Or just dont pick up the phone. Isnt that the most paradoxical of behaviours for a
business owner?
You need to see the value of your work to make others see the value of your work.
Just thinking that clients need to value/appreciate/reward translation work more is hardly ever
going to work. It takes being convinced yourself first.
Stage 4: Business-as-usual
I need technology; technology threatens to replace me.
Some colleagues (let me know if its not you in comments below) seem to be caught in this tricky
situation where they do realise they cannot work without technology and at the same time are
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afraid its going to replace them anyway. How to balance these two? Or is this position justified
at all?
The more you criticise someone for something, the more likely youre to be guilty of it
yourself.
This is perhaps one of my most recent lessons learned. We often see, especially on social media,
certain groups criticising others for doing this or that, or failing to do this or that. It also boils
down to individuals. It has only dawned on me recently that those who criticise the loudest
sometimes (not always) are those whore guilty themselves.
What are the paradoxes that you came across? How did you manage to solve them?
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LESSON 132
1. The more you fail, the more likely you are to succeed.
As business people, as translators, as perfectionists, were very tough on ourselves when it
comes to failure. Were often doing all we can to avoid it or even putting ourselves in situations
where we may be risking failing. And of course, were doing that because we want to succeed,
not fail. But what if failing more equals, in fact, succeeding more?
2. The more something scares you, the more you should probably do it.
Of course marketing is scary! Of course going to client events is intimidating! Of course giving a
talk gets you out of your comfort zone. What I learned with time was that the more scared I feel
in business, the more I should do it. And it pays.
3. The more you try to argue with someone, the less likely you are to convince them of
your perspective.
As seen on social media, endless arguments make both sides only more adamant about their
own views. One of the most important lessons in business for me was to understand that letting
go may not be the quickest, but its by far the surest way of getting heard.
4. The more choices you have, the less satisfied you are with each one.
Applies to me, but also my clients. The sooner I get the client before he or she looks at several
providers and collects quotes from a number of them, the happier they are. Its subconscious.
This one is for the ladies: a few weeks ago I really wanted a new clutch (as in: REALLY). I found
the perfect one online and went off to get it at the weekend. Of course, when I got to the
department store and I wandered around looking at all the other bags, I ended up liking my
perfect bag a bit less. Not that I liked any other one more. I just had too much choice. Simple
psychology.
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5. The best way to learn how to become a better translator is to become a client.
Believe me, one of the most important lesson in business for me was to buy a few translations
from others. You can learn the bad sides, of course, seeing colleagues you trusted before miss
deadlines or make typos, or just behave unprofesh. But the amount of positive learning
experience you can take away from seeing marvellous work is worth it.
6. If we want to educate our clients about translation, we must first educate ourselves
about our clients.
Over the years, Ive heard many colleagues claim that we need to educate clients. Of course, its
true, but we shouldnt attempt at doing it knowing very little about clients ourselves, or were
risking boring the other side or worse misadvising them. If we want to educate, we need to
know the audience first.
7. If we want to make money as a translator, we must concentrate on the work not the
money.
Perhaps quite controversially, in the light of the heated debate on translation rates, Id like to
reiterate: if you want to make money as a translator, concentrate on the work, not the money. Of
course, Im the first person to tell you that you need to do your maths, have your financial goals
and track them, but dont let that make you lose sight of the actual work. Time and time again,
analysing my income, I see that I make much more when I focus on translation than when I
focus on chasing big bucks.
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LESSON 133
Change nothing.
Of course, you can just keep doing what youve been doing and enjoy your stability. It will work
for some translators in some language pairs in some niches. If youre one of them and youre
enjoying the sameness theres no need to change anything.
Move up market.
For the majority of businesses, a plateau is a place where they re-group and think of strategies
to give them a boost to jump upwards in terms of sales and revenue. While as a translator you
cant really work more hours, the only viable way of increasing your revenue is to start charging
more. This is where all the conversations about the premium market come in.
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market for years, and in the beginning of this year I added content marketing, copywriting and
A/B testing services to my portfolio, just to name a few.
Work in a team.
Where you cant break in as a freelancer (and many companies have valid or less so reasons
why they cant or wont work with freelancers), you may have a better shot at it in a team.
Getting together with the right people and branding your team services can get you where you
couldnt have gone by yourself. This includes forming teams not only with translators, but for
example with web designers or programmers, or DTP specialists.
Start outsourcing.
Some colleagues, when overflowing with work, start outsourcing translations to others and then
proofread them before delivering to their clients, paying the actual translator and keeping a
margin for themselves. My personal preference in terms of outsourcing is to outsource non-core
tasks in my business (since my unique style and knowledge is what Im implicitly selling in my
translations) to free up time to translate more. In the past, Ive outsourced: accounting and
taxes, administration, market research, some marketing, social media, DTP, website creation
and maintenance, file organisation and cleanup, among others.
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LESSON 135
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Been there, done that attitude
After being in the industry for a few years, its quite easy to get the been there, done that
attitude: youve read similar articles, heard similar discussions, been to similar events or even
worked on similar projects, so its nothing new for you, you no longer see why anyone would be
excited about a conference, an opportunity or a project, its all becoming very casual, almost
pedestrian. Nothing surprises you anymore, very few things really get you interested and
inspired.
To a certain extent, feeling like this is normal. But sometimes we can go a step too far and
discourage a younger colleague or undermine their enthusiasm by insisting that everythings
the same. Its hard to get the same novice-like attitude, but letting this been there, done that
approach influence your thinking is likely to make work less fun for you. Or sometimes we may
end up even neglecting the useful ideas with could add to our repertoire because they're hidden
in the midst of things we already know.
Rosy retrospection
Dont we all get the feeling that things were better in the past every now and then? Im certainly
guilty of that. Rates used to be higher, we were treated better, translation agencies used to be
nicer to work with, and everything that we have now is worse or somewhat lacking. The same
principle applies to some bigger mechanisms in the industry: were now threatened more than
ever, its now easier for unqualified people to claim theyre translators, and so on. Its a fallacy
in general things are getting better but our sentiment tells us were in a worse and worse
situation.
This thinking affects us in a negative way, but sometimes it can also lead us to discouraging
younger colleagues: things arent as good as they were before, so maybe you want to think
about it twice.
At the end of the day, we should know that aging is inevitable, maturing is optional. Hopefully,
by being aware that we sometimes make these mistakes, we become not only more experienced
translators, but wiser ones as well.
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Maxim of Relevance: be relevant
Ive seen many discussions like this and I think youll agree where the curious inquirer asks a
precise question and in return receives dozens of contributions either missing the point, or
simply offering unwanted and unasked for advice or criticism. This is tiring (or readers, and
even more so for moderators) and unproductive. Grice would suggest separating threads and
discussions and keeping them to the point. Otherwise, how can we have a dialogue if were
constantly changing the topic? I feel strongly about this maxim and I think this is the reason why
mass chat platforms such as Whatsapp never did it for me.
Id risk saying that sometimes, in some circles and some situations (now, this is a caveat!) we,
translators and interpreters, are like shoemakers children going barefoot. Do we really use up
all of our communicative capacity in client-facing situations and theres so little left for other
modes of activity? To what extent is this just fine? Or perhaps theres something we should
remind ourselves following Grice?
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LESSON 137
At the highest level, any modelling exercise will involve looking at the context in which you
operate. One of the tools I found most useful to grasp the context is Harmons alternative view of
an organisation, see below.
In this view, you can see how your business relates to the external environment (and a very
good idea in here is to conduct a PESTLE analysis!), but also you can map out your customers,
competition and perhaps suppliers. Of course, the number of insights you get from this exercise
will be plenty.
A step lower, youre encouraged to draw a process map, which is an outline of processes that
make up your business together with dependencies between them. In here you can see a rough
draft of a process map of my business which I drew today.
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What have I learned from it? Mapping my processes out has definitely helped me to realise that I
need all of these elements to function properly as a business (ok, not that I didnt realise this
before it reminded me of this fact). But I was definitely forced to think whether I was
neglecting any of these core processes
At an ever more granular level, process modelling gets down to documenting the flow of
specific tasks within each process. Such a view, also called a swimlane diagram, outlines all
actors, key decisions and business rules, as well as step by step tasks that need to happen for
each project to finish.
Ive just started drawing my swim lane for Acquire Customers from above. It will take me a
while to document it, but Ive already noticed some interesting elements, for example inefficient
communication and handovers between me and my assistant and the horror bottlenecks
that I was creating myself!
My next step will be to document the Translate and Proofread Texts process. Why do I think its
important? I believe in documenting undocumented processes. This is how I do business and its
important for me to be clear on the next step, but I can also use a process diagram to explain to
clients how working with me looks like. That way I can also ensure consistency, especially when
working with others. I can also look for potential problems or see how I can improve my
customer service. If you work with others, documenting your processes is likely to improve
collaboration and bring efficiency gains. Of course, my article barely scratches the surface here,
but I gave you an idea and a few keywords to carry on researching.
Or am I going over the top here? Do you see yourself mapping your business processes in such a
rigorous way or am I alone in my madness? :)
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LESSON 138
Dear Marta,
Thank you so much for your message. Its wonderful to see a young and dedicated student working
hard with the aim of ultimately entering and succeeding in the translation and interpreting
profession.
You asked me for some advice and Im glad to share my experience. I think its great that you
approached a more established translator for their insights we all benefit from learning from our
peers and those with more experience. Thanks for also outlining your background, as that makes it
much easier for me to respond. Now to get to your main question: Which things do I wish I knew
or did back when I was starting my career?
First, I wish I had translated more from day one. I read somewhere that if you are a writer you
write, and I think the same applies to translation. You are a translator if you translate, and I wish I
was stubborn and persistent enough to translate a short text, any text, of around 200 to 300
hundred words, every day, even at the start. This is an excellent exercise that grants you experience
and exposure to a variety of texts, while also helping to improve your confidence. Better still, Id
have tried to find people to join me in this, and regularly meet up to discuss our respective
translations and opinion of the text. Not only is this fun (I chose translation for a reason I do
enjoy it!), but it helps to establish good practices and improve your skills, even before youve gone
professional.
Second, and somewhat related, remember that you should be striving to get better every day, with
every job. Dont settle once youve finished your degree and think thats it, and you dont need to
keep working on your skills. Quite the contrary, you should be working more and more to get
better over time. This is necessary if you want to move upmarket.
There is no course, no webinar, no book, no professional association, and certainly no Facebook
group that will turn you into an established translator overnight. No level of business or marketing
expertise can ever make up for deficiencies in core skills. By all means, work on getting better at
the business side of things, but never ever stop working on becoming a better translator.
The other thing I wish Id known from the very beginning is the value of my work as a translator.
You will get belittled by big business people, you will be asked to work at borderline offensive rates,
and you will see surprised faces when you say that yes, you entered this profession intentionally
and it wasnt an unfortunate accident. Dont let any of this affect you in any way other than
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making you stronger and more determined. Translation plays an important role in the world of
business and its up to all of us to make this clear to ourselves, our clients, and the economy at
large.
Dont be afraid if you are not a perfect fit to the ideal profile of a translator, if there is such a
thing. Make the most out of your passions and talents, and if you have a related skill and are in a
position to offer this service professionally to your clients, go out there and see if there are any
potential clients looking for this service combined with translation. Dont feel that there is a rigid
job description that you have to fit. There isnt one, and this is part of the beauty of this
profession But at the same time, dont ever promise you can do something that you cant, and
dont ever stop asking for feedback. Accept your limitations, admit mistakes, and most of all keep
learning.
One thing I acknowledged from the very beginning was that it is hard work starting out and
getting established. But its a different kind of hard work to the work we did at university, or in any
standard 9-5 position. There are no grades, no promotions, and (usually!) no bonuses if you do a
good job. You work very hard and your reward is your freedom. First, the freedom to leave
commuting and the office environment behind. Then, the freedom to travel and live wherever you
like. And the more established you get, the more time you win back, having freedom to do what and
when you choose. But yes, you have to put the work in.
Finally, listen to your colleagues, but listen to your clients even more. Theyre the ultimate
indicator of how good you are or not and whether your educational efforts, marketing,
branding, website, attitude and so on are really working for you.
I hope youll find this feedback useful, and good luck! This is an exciting time to enter the
translation and interpreting industry. I wish you all the best and let me know how you get on!
Marta
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LESSON 139
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even 20-30 minutes a day. This is an important lesson for professional translators as well. Its
easy to think that we all need to spice up our websites, get better at business skills, or go to a yet
another conference. Truth be told, honing our core skills should always come first.
Im sure youve heard the saying that those who can, do, those who cant, teach. Give teaching
in any form a try, and youll be surprised how much you can learn. Id like to think that
perhaps those who can, do, those who cant teach, find it harder to do.
LESSON 140
THANK YOU!
Youve reached the end of our journey through business skills for translators. I hope you
enjoyed the process and you started implementing what youve learned already. Keep up the
good work and come back to this ebook whenever you need a bit of a boost.
Marta
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