Most beginning translators I talk to have similar goals for their nascent freelance businesses; they currently have a full-time job and they want to start freelancing part time, then gradually ramp up to full time freelancing as their work volume increases. Lately, I’ve come across a few beginning freelancers who have a different goal: they want to freelance very part time on a long-term basis. One of these individuals wants to freelance only in the summers (in combination with a teaching job), one wants to freelance only at night (in combination with being an at-home parent) and another wants to freelance only on the weekends. All of these people asked “is this possible?” and it would be interesting to get other translators’ takes on this too.
Here’s my take: I think that if you want to work on an “odd” schedule, you have to a) market to clients to whom this type of schedule would be an asset or a necessity and b) convince yourself that your unconventional schedule is a selling point, not a deficit. For example, it seems to me that many translation buyers (be they agencies or direct clients) struggle to find translators during the summer months, when many of their regulars are on vacation. Particularly in the month of August, when it can seem that every person who lives in or is originally from Europe is out on a beach chair somewhere, the translator pickings can be slim, which could open the door to a summer-only translator. However, I think that the challenge lies in reminding clients that you, the summer-only translator, exist between September and May so that come June, they’ll send you work. At a large agency, a significant portion of the project management staff could have turned over during this time, and even a small client will have handled reams of work during the winter months. So, I think that the summer-only translator has to keep up a steady flow of contact, even if he or she really only wants to work in June, July and August.
I think that people who work off-hours have it a little easier. For starters, these people can use time zones to their advantage and mount a “the end of your day is the beginning of mine” or “send me your documents on Friday afternoon and the translations will be in your in-box on Monday morning” marketing campaign. Translators who work off-hours might also do well, once they have some experience, to market themselves as “pinch hitters” for translators who work with direct clients. In my experience, translators are much more reluctant to turn down work from a regular direct client than from a regular agency client, because the direct client may find another option and stick with it. So, an off-hours translator could be a lifesaver when a translator needs some work done at the last minute; of course this involves a high degree of trust between the regular translator and the pinch hitter!
Any other ideas/experiences out there for translators who want to work while the rest of us are sleeping or playing?
The big problem with working seasonally is that translation buyers like to get “go-to” translators. It’s so hard to find a good and reliable translator, that once they get them they tend to want to send all their work that way.
Working only part of the year would make that really hard. Also, with the high turnover at most agencies, you’d almost be starting from scratch each year.
Working part time in the evenings would be much more doable, I think, especially if you work with clients on another continent.
Weekends might also be doable, if you can get long deadlines. A lot of companies especially like to dump off translation work on Friday and get it back on Monday.
Hi Corinne,
I found this post particularly relevant as I am in this category of beginning freelance translator. I also work as a professional musician in Mexico, so my freelance translating work fits around that. Ideally, I’d only like to work about 15 hours per week. This would normally be weekday mornings as I am usually busy nights and weekends with music-related activities. My main problem is that I move around a lot, so if a translation client wants to contact me by phone, it’s a bit tricky to keep track of which phone number to use.
I think that what Ryan says has a lot of truth in it though. It might be hard to keep clients for work on particular months of the year. Unless they were a direct client with an activity that only requires translations at a certain time of year… such as tax time, or something similar…
As a manager of a translation agency, I have nothing against part-time freelancers. If they work well, delivering professional translations, everything is ok. The only problem is that, if I don’t know when I can rely on a certain translator, I will tend to forget him or her, and I will end calling a translator who works on a full-day basis and who is always (or nearly) available when I contact him/her…
Marina
I agree with Ryan. As a translation buyer, I would find it very hard to work with someone who is not available most of the time.
I am building a relationship with a translator, and every time I have to go to someone else it wastes my time. I have to explain things again that my “regulars” already know, I have to accommodate to other ways of invoicing, I have to recalculate prices and my overall way of communication.
I have one translator, who is more “difficult” to work with just because he/she is not available as much as the others. He/she has a lot of private commitments, stay at home parents and doesn’t check his/her emails as much. I sometimes receive a question about the text, and send back an answer half an hour later, he/she may have actually finished for the day. Of course the time difference plays a big role in this but I don’t have this issue with others. This has only developed in the recent year, so now here I am – what to do?
Overall, it may work a little better if they are working for agencies. Most agencies have various translators available and can easily find someone else, but even there I would say you have to be able to offer major perks (ie. lower price, exotic languages, difficult specialty) for someone to deal with the odd availability.
I would compare it to a store – how would you like it if your bakery was only open in the Summer or in the evening? That has to be a kickass bakery if I stick with it even though I cannot get my bread when I need it. I recently tried to get an eye doctor appointment and they told me they can fit me in 6 weeks from now. Needless to say, I found another eye doctor who did a marvelous job and was able to schedule me within a few days.
Corinne,
A very worthwhile topic. Whenever I mention I’m in translation, someone says “… oh that would be perfect for me … I’m good with languages and I could probably fit some work in on weekends or when the baby’s asleep.” Where to begin?
I’m sure I’ve underestimated other professions in this way, but many people who think it can be just a little part time job don’t understand the serious professionals they’ll be competing with. I agree with the comments above. Finding go-to people just cuts down on the work. I have one regular translator who works only Tuesday through Friday, and even that I find a bit difficult to get used to.
Very good points made all around.
Glenn
Great post. I love Susanne III’s point about the bakery!
If you just want to “dabble” in translation, people will not want to hire you because this is a serious profession with a lot of the standard professional types of expectations (be super good at what you do, don’t spread a virus to your client, turn things in on time, format/proofread as necessary, deal with bumps in the road in an honest, forthright, professional, manner, etc.). If you’re only available a few hours a week that would usually make it sound like you’re not good enough to get more work or your heart isn’t in it.
That said, Sigrid Undset won a Nobel Prize in Literature and wrote mostly only after her kids went to bed at night. And J.K. Rowling wrote much of the Harry Potter series while caring for kids. A schedule like the one proposed would be great for literary translation work done on spec.
For non-literary, better paying translation work, *IF* the translator is very good and very professional, the way this could work is subcontract out work from other freelancers. Even freelancers want to take vacations or need to take a few sick days. If I had someone super competent to pinch hit for me, I would definitely consider using them. Or if I came down with the flu…
Interesting post! In my experience, agencies (in particular, but also direct clients) count on, and appreciate, responsive translators who then become their go-to translators. They don’t want to waste any time trying to get in touch with someone who may or may not respond to their inquiry when they have a project that needs to be taken care of.
I think it is important to be able to respond to mail immediately or within an hour or two at the latest, at least if the sender and recipient are on the same continent. Though there might a market for the “odd hours” translator, I can only imagine that these odd hours will not be filled as much as they would like because of the delay in communication.