So far, the language services industry seems to be holding up well in the ailing economy. Although I haven’t had as many inquiries from clients in the past three months, the size of my projects lately has been larger than usual; I finished 26,000 words this week and will start another large project next week. Posts such as Jill Sommer’s ‘Tis the season…to be overworked suggest that other freelancers have work stacking up as well.
Still, I have this ongoing sense that I should be doing more to prepare for a big event, such as a major client going bankrupt or a large invoice being unpaid. My favorite personal finance blog, Get Rich Slowly, ran a great guest post on this topic. Although it’s aimed largely at in-house employees, 10 essential steps to take BEFORE you’re laid off applies to freelancers as well. Note especially tip number three, “Start a blog that contains at least 50% professional material.”
Corinne –
I couldn’t agree more that starting a professional blog is a great step toward “recession-proofing” your career. A carefully-thought-out blog with really useful content (like yours) is great insurance against lay-offs and works as a fabulous extended resume if you’re job-hunting.
Beth
Thanks for the link, very interesting.
Great link with nice, constructive advice. Another thing for translators to keep in mind is that your services may be useful in more than one country. How many Japanese to French translators are working full time in Estonia? Ok, bad example. But they’re not all in Japan, I guarantee you that. When you follow the tips on http://www.getrichslowly.com, remember to do it not just for the country you live in, but also for the countries where your translation services are in demand. How do translators in Estonia (or wherever) network? What sites do they visit? What blogs and networking forums do they post comment on? What organizations do they belong do? Do you need business cards in that culture? Little business presents? The whole world is really the translator’s oyster and yet it’s easy to forget that and focus just on the one country where most of your current clients are located….
Great advice and article; I will definitely check out that website more frequently. And I agree with MT about targeting your services to specific countries, something I really haven’t done in the past beyond Austria and the U.S. Ah, the opportunities. I will start looking into some strategies for clients living in Mexico.
And for the record: the best thing about being a freelancer is that we are not getting laid off.