It’s about time to start thinking about business goals for 2009, and efficiency is always high on my list. One topic that I often think about but have never really acted on is outsourcing. To hear books like The 4-Hour Work Week (imagine yourself in that hammock on the cover!) tell it, outsourcing is one of the keys to increased business efficiency, even if you’re a one-person shop. On a more tongue-in-cheek note, my absolute favorite piece of writing about outsourcing is A.J. Jacobs’ article My Outsourced Life, which originally appeared in Esquire.
Outsourcing is big business these days; a recent NPR story on outsourcing reported that the U.S. Government now outsources so much work (including the production of U.S. passports, which is mostly done in Thailand), that it even outsources the management of its outsourced operations. So, are we translators missing out here, or do we just not have that much work that is outsource-able?
It seems to me that there are two possible goals of outsourcing: 1) freeing up your work time so that you can either generate more income or work less and 2) freeing yourself from tasks you aren’t good at or don’t enjoy doing. So far, I outsource a few tasks that fall into category 2: although my accountant, at $150 an hour, isn’t exactly a cut-rate worker, I think that outsourcing my taxes is a good business investment because they’re a task that I neither enjoy nor do well. Likewise, I sometimes hire other translators to edit/proofread my work for direct clients because I’m a much stronger translator than I am an editor.
When it comes to category 1, I’m a little stumped. I’m acquainted with a few very responsible high school students in my neighborhood who would probably do a good job at administrative tasks and charge a lot less than what I make per hour, but I’m not sure what I could ask them to do. I don’t take appointments from clients, send out paper invoices, do mass mailings or maintain a large database of contacts, so I have a hard time identifying lower-level work that I could trust someone else to do. In addition, it would seem odd to remove my personal touch from certain aspects of the business, for example by hiring someone to write holiday cards to my clients.
As my base of direct clients grows, one option I’ve thought of is hiring a very competent but not very experienced translator (for example a recent graduate with top-notch skills) to work with me, and paying that person by the hour for a guaranteed number of hours per week. This would free me from being dependent on someone else’s availability, and could work well for direct client projects where profit margins are higher.
Any pro/con ideas out there about outsourcing?
A couple of “low level” jobs come to mind:
Converting PDFs to editable documents, which can be a very time consuming task even though it doesn’t require too many skills
Transcribing audio tapes or files, which can also be very time consuming especially if the audio is in your non-native language
Aligning files, even though this is a little more involved but can possibly done by someone who just has basic knowledge of the languages involved
Ditto on the taxes; I outsource these, too. My accountant is a bit cheaper, though. 😉 I think you could also outsource bookkeeping tasks if you don’t like them. For some reason, I do enjoy some brainless work once in a while, so it works for me.
In terms of hiring a up-and-coming translator, consider having her/him do quotes for new projects after giving the person the tools needed: quote template, standard language, standard responses to basic questions (about your rates, etc.) I do realize I spend quite a bit of time a day doing quotes for prospective clients; that would be a good one to outsource. I like Susanne’s suggestion about PDF to Word conversion.
Amazing that U.S. passports are done in Thailand…
I knew that you guys would have some great ideas! Susanne, I especially like the suggestion about PDF to Word conversion; this is a task I really despise and one that doesn’t require the person to be bilingual, excellent tip! Judy, I agree that I don’t want to outsource all of my mindless work (like entering receipts into my accounting program) because it’s a nice break from translating. But I think that preparing quotes or prospective client packages is another excellent suggestion, thanks!
We outsource the housecleaning, a small amount of childcare, bookkeeping, past due invoices collections work, tax preparation, and a lot of handyman sorts of tasks. It’s an easy decision sometimes. If someone else can do a task I don’t like for less than my hourly rate, it makes financial sense to outsource it. The only reason not to outsource is if I enjoy the task (some cooking, dog walking, gardening, a lot of the childcare, etc.).
One thing I could be outsourcing that I don’t is booking my schedule and receptionist tasks. Someone else could certainly do all the phone and e-mail work to line up my schedule so that I’m booked with, say, 2,000 or so words per day of the highest paying, best subject matter for me, most copacetic client, least nitpicky, cushiest deadline work that can be gotten. Then I would just come into the office each morning and not have to turn down all the offers for jobs that suck or are in the wrong direction or are icky. I’d just work…
I’ll only say this if you all promise NOT to laugh, but the IRS actually does have a provision for employing your children. Granted, this is many moons away for many of us, but I have to confess that in 2008, I paid my very responsible almost 11-year old for cleaning my home office (vaccuming, dusting, cleaning window inside and out and blinds) and filing (he was amazingly accurate, thanks to some alphabetical order exercises they make kids do in 4th grade). I imagine that in 5 years, there’s some true potential for him to be my intern. Corinne, maybe you’re right, my children really are junior linguists :)!
@MT, great point: we shouldn’t just limit the outsourcing possibilities to our direct work; anything that frees up time is a good option. And I love the idea of a scheduler who sets up your work schedule (and negotiates the rates!!).
@Cris, I’m not laughing at all, I think that’s a great idea! Actually another (anonymous!) Colorado person said that his teenage daughter is his best proofreader and her rates are very reasonable 🙂
I know of at least one translator who dictates his work and pays someone to type it up. He says this boosts his speed dramatically. I imagine he could do something similar with voice-recognition software, but that would require him to be sitting in front of his computer, not his text, and making all the corrections and adjustments to the output himself, rather than relying on a talented transcriptionist to clean things up during that part of the process.
Hi Corinne,
Thank you for a good post! The problem with outsourcing is that you can’t just throw materials over the wall. For most tasks, it takes a while to find, train, and get into a rhythm with an outsourcing partner.
Having said that, the following three items can be outsourced (relatively) easily:
1. Typing – Like Durf, I know a linguist who dictates a translation and then gets a transcriptionist to type it. It’s a huge productivity booster for him. Whether or not this is feasible depends on the type of text to be translated.
2. Marketing – A lot of marketing work can be subcontracted: generating marketing lists, writing, web site updates, mailing campaigns.
3. Virtual assistant – Scheduling, email correspondence, routine questions, and even standard proposals (as suggested earlier) can be outsourced to a virtual assistant. There are several services that provide this kind of service.
Thanks to the Internet, all of these outsourcing services are readily available and very reasonably priced. It takes a bit of time to organize but once setup, they will allow you to find more time for work and/or fun in 2009 🙂
Best,
Andres
blog.fxtrans.com