Here’s a question I received from a colleague: “You’re always writing about how to find new clients and get more work. I have the opposite problem: I have work coming out of my ears and I’m trying to cut back.” OK! Thoughts on Translation is committed to addressing issues at all points on the freelance spectrum, so let’s give this one a try.
This actually is not the first time I’ve heard this question, primarily from translators in their 60s and 70s who still want to work, but not full-time and not under stressful conditions. But it also applies to some translators with young kids, or people with other jobs. Definitely worth a look.
If you’re in the “I need less work” boat, first you have to accept that maybe 1% of freelancers have just the right amount of work. The other 99% of us have to choose between a little too little work and a little too much work. And because I hate worrying about money, my preference is to have a little too much work, then take longish vacations where I don’t work at all. But if you’re bound and determined to cut down on your work flow, first ask yourself:
- What do you want and not want out of your work situation? For example I’d say the typical person in this category says, “I want some income, I want some professional activity in my life, but I don’t want to be stressed out and I want a significant amount of free time.” Even if your answer is radically different, make sure to answer that question. What’s your priority? What do you not want to deal with?
- How much of a factor is money? If you’re on the semi-retired end of the spectrum, money might be less of a factor; you might have the luxury of working for clients you really like, rather than the clients who pay the most. If you have young kids, it may be the opposite situation: money is paramount, because you need to earn a semi-full-time income while working around your family’s schedule.
- How much of a factor is job satisfaction? Again, this varies from individual to individual. Perhaps you’re that semi-retired translator who’s working primarily or even exclusively because you enjoy it; perhaps you’re that new parent thinking “$%&^& satisfaction…the point is to make money.”
Then, pick a strategy. Of course, the path of least resistance is to raise your rates. A lot. Own it; tell clients, “If you’re looking for an inexpensive option, it’s not me,” or “I only work with the very high end of the market,” or “Call me when you have a bigger budget.” That should do the trick pretty quickly, but it may also eliminate clients you want to keep working with, especially if job satisfaction is a priority for you. So you could also try:
–Putting some parameters on your availability or your working conditions. You don’t work on Fridays, or you don’t work with clients who require you to work in their online TM portal, or you don’t work with clients who send out work offers via mass e-mail.
–Taking longer vacations so that you’re working less overall. I’ll be honest: I’ve tried the “I need to work less” system a few times (I’m going to take Friday afternoons off, I’m not checking e-mail after 5, I’m not finishing stuff up in the evenings, etc.), and it’s never really worked. So my preferred solution is to take longer vacations where I may be checking e-mail, but I am not actively working. By timing these to coincide with most of my clients’ slow periods (Christmas/New Years, July and August), I don’t know that I actually lose a lot of income, but I definitely gain sanity. Each year I take about six weeks completely off, which is pretty normal outside the US but almost unheard of within the US. So that’s my recommendation if you’re in a decent financial position: give yourself a month off this summer and do some digital detox.
–Doing the “does this spark joy” test on every project. If you get that knot in your stomach, turn it down, or stop working with that client. Only work on projects that make you feel excited about working.
Readers, over to you! Any thoughts on this?
Send them my way! 😉 Great blog. I love all of the well-thought-out ideas that come from this site.
Yup. It’s a supply-and-demand balancing scenario where you have some advantage you can leverage to reaise your rates or get the clients to back off a bit from undesirable conditions or job specs.
Alternatively, you could simply embrace semi-retired status (if applicable) or go on a semi-leave (e.g. maternal or sick leave if applicable) or drop whatever isn’t your core work, or just pick what’s really important to you and drop the rest.
However, if you have more than enough work, can afford to lose some and you know you won’t lose all, then I don’t see any reason why you should continue to accept conditions you don’t like.
And yeah, I’d put more emphasis on conditions than rates. Time-wasting jobs and high-maintenance clients probably cost you more than a slightly lower rate (even supposing they actually pay extra, which is far from a given.
Excellent post as always. I had too much work last year, which also produced my best income year ever. This year I am applying all of your suggested strategies, choosing the method depending on the situation and the client. So far I am much happier….
99% percent of businesses would probably embrace the challenge not as “too much work”, but as “too high a demand”. I doubt a regular company would approach this problem trying to curb the demand rather than expand its business. Why not team up with your colleagues and partners you can trust, share more of your work, but remain available to your clients?
I had a lovely colleague in exactly this situation – instead of saying no, he passed on contacts to me as he downsized and was a great help in establishing me in Finland when I moved here 4 years ago. Worth considering if you have someone you work with well and can ‘entrust your legacy’ to, as was our case.
It’s my current problem too. My solution: raise your rates and subcontract the least interesting stuff.
An excellent perspective IMNSHO 🙂
Great post! Thank you!
I second the pass-it-on suggestions. Find trusted contacts to work with, outsource to, pass the job to or pass the client to, as your situation or preference dictates.
I guess we can apply another thing you mentioned some time in the past: always have a client ready to be replaced with a better client (in terms of payment, satisfaction, or whatever). But instead of replacing this client with another one, the client can be replaced with free time.
But to decide which client is the next-to-go is one of the hardest things for a freelancer, because sometimes the next-to-go might be a client that takes up 50% of your time. It’s always a pickle.
These are some great suggestions. Putting parameters around working conditions and availability really makes a big difference in the quality of our work lives.
Thank you!
Corinne, I remember you saying elsewhere that you try to translate about 30 hours a week. When you say here that your preference is to have a little too much work, does that mean that in practice you usually spend much more than 30 hours a week translating, or that your preference would be to translate less than 30 hours a week? (I’ve admired the 30 hours as very sane, & am wondering to what degree you’re able to stick to that.)
Thanks Ellen! I actually aim for more like 20 billable hours per week, but I put a fair amount of time into non-billable activities (blogging, ATA stuff, etc.). I would say that I *generally* stick to that rule, because then if a client has an urgent request, I can usually fit it in without going crazy.
Ellen, another caveat here is that it’s taken me 13-14 years of freelancing to get to the “pretty much like a regular job, but where I set the hours and rates” level. During my first 3ish years of freelancing, I was more in the “Any work is good work” category; over time I’ve been able to become more selective and raise my rates, but it’s a process!
It seems a pretty simple issue to me. As Elaine says, raising your rates (strategically) will eliminate some clients and/or increase your income. And you refer or subcontract jobs you don’t fancy. What’s not to like about higher rates ;)?
I enjoyed this post. I occasionally complain that I have too much work but really it is more of a half truth. My schedule will be overloaded and busy for a week and then slow for another week or two, because in my case I have a mildly consistent but unpredictable workflow. In working with mostly direct clients, I never know exactly when someone will send me work (even if they give me a date it almost always changes, which is understandable). I suppose I consider this to be part of the freelance lifestyle, which is funny in the sense that people associate freelancing with freedom, yet you still are very much dependent on your clients and work flow. It is certainly a different kind of freedom and may be frustrating… but of course, every industry has it’s pros and cons.