Narrowing down, when you want to do everything

Greetings, Training for Translators readers! I’ve really been enjoying working with all of you who are doing March Marketing Madness this month (150 participants; a new record!), and the April T4T master class is open for registration:

• On April 10, I’ll be teaching a two-hour master class on Aiming for six figures as a freelancer (even in the age of AI and MT), using real-world examples from my own business. I started as a freelancer earning $9,000 in 2003, and I’ve earned US $100,000 or more, every year since 2017. Even in the face of AI and MT (which I agree are factors affecting us all), I earned my highest-ever freelance income in 2023. Registration is $75 and includes the recording.

Now, on to this week’s topic: How to narrow down, when you want to do everything? I don’t think I’m the only freelancer with this characteristic (I refuse to call it a problem, it’s just a characteristic!). I always tell my family that my whole thing in life is that I want to do Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

For me, this shows up in many areas of my life, not just work. When I thought about what I wanted to do this summer, I honestly thought, I want to spend July on a workcation in British Columbia (as planned), but while we’re there, I want to fly to California for a week to attend my online cello group’s in-person camp. Then in August, I want to go to at least two Renaissance/Baroque music festivals in Europe (one in Italy, one in Holland), and as long as I’m paying for the plane ticket (are you rolling on the floor laughing at me yet??) why not walk the Camino de Santiago for a month? That’s literally how my brain works.

Here’s how this shows up in my work life. I’m a big believer in diversification, and also in following the money, and I love learning new skills. As an example, over the past five years or so, I’ve had the spontaneous thought:

• Maybe I should go to law school!
• Maybe I should become a subtitler!
• Maybe I should get into grant writing!

These thoughts weren’t just random squirrel brain/shiny object moments (although I’m certainly not immune to those, either!). They had a rational basis.

• I love court interpreting, I even loved studying for the court interpreter certification exam, and I find the legal system fascinating. So maybe I’m meant to be an attorney!
• I really like audio-based work; subtitling seems like a cool combination of interpreting and translation, and a good way to diversify.
• I do some low-stakes volunteer grant writing for our animal rescue group, and we’ve actually been awarded all of the grants that I’ve written. Maybe this could be a good line of business!

The key here, if you know that you have this tendency, is to ask yourself some questions for discernment. This is different than talking yourself out of something that could actually be a good idea. When I decided to do a conference interpreting Master’s (MCI) during COVID, I honestly wasn’t sure how I was going to use it, because there’s very little French conference interpreting work where I live, I’m not interested in moving to a major city, and I assumed (incorrectly) that remote interpreting wouldn’t last past the peak of the pandemic. But the MCI ticked a lot of boxes:

• I had been interpreting-curious for a long time
• The opportunity to do an MCI online presented itself, which saved me from having to relocate for 1-2 years
• I theorized, correctly, that I would love interpreting
• I theorized, correctly, that interpreting was a good business line to get into, from the work volume, job satisfaction, and financial points of view

Here’s how I gave myself a reality check on those other goals; these are big-picture questions that you can ask yourself in a similar situation.

• Is this goal aligned with the parts of my current work that I like the most, or that I like the least? This is how I talked myself out of going to law school. I realized that, honestly, I enjoy being the messenger. I love court interpreting because I’m immersed in the case, while being relatively detached from the outcome, whereas the public defender literally has someone’s life hanging in their hands. I realized that I would not relish that feeling, and that as a relatively self-critical person and an empath, I would always be asking, How else could I have helped this person? What did I miss? What more could I have done?
• Does this goal put me at risk of burnout, in an area of my current work that I really enjoy? This is how I talked myself out of a significant commitment to subtitling. I volunteer for Ted Translators and I enjoy it. But I also realized that, particularly when I do a full-day interpreting job, I’m so done with listening to words. I love (love) interpreting, and if I interpret for a full day or close to it, I can’t even bring myself to listen to a podcast on the bus on the way home. I just need something like low-fi instrumental music that uses my brain in a different way. So, adding subtitling didn’t seem like a great idea.
• Does this goal involve more job stress than I want to take on? I’ve really enjoyed the grant writing I’ve done for our animal rescue group, and it’s been gratifying when we’ve been awarded the grants. But, I’ve done this work as a volunteer and the grants have been small, like $1,500. It’s a big help to the rescue group, but it’s not a make-or-break amount of money. This made me realize that what I enjoy about this grant-writing work is the lack of pressure. And if I were getting paid, and if the amounts were larger, it wouldn’t be “just for funsies,” “yayyyy we got $1,500” any more.

I think that this I want to do everything mindset is common to freelancers; we’re good at the job because have busy brains, and yet, diving head first into a new venture without thinking it through can be a real time and money pit. I hope that these tips are helpful if you, too, suffer from Everything, Everywhere, All at Once-itis!!
Have a great day. Just reply to this e-mail if there’s anything you want to tell me.

Corinne McKay (classes@trainingfortranslators.com) is the founder of Training for Translators, and has been a full-time freelancer since 2002. She holds a Master of Conference Interpreting from Glendon College, is an ATA-certified French to English translator, and is Colorado court-certified for French interpreting. If you enjoy her posts, consider joining the Training for Translators mailing list!