The key question to ask yourself: “Have I tried it?”

It’s a weird time in the freelance world and in the language professions in general. As I wrote in a past newsletter, I continue to talk to people who are looking for another career, people whose businesses are doing better than ever, and not that much in between. 

Most people don’t deal that well with change, and many of us are pretty risk-averse people (part of why we’re good at the job). When we think about trying something new, we often talk ourselves out of it before we even begin, by telling ourselves things like:

• “Nudging dormant clients will only annoy them. They know where to find me if they need me.” 
• “The clients I want to work with would never pay higher rates.”
• “Direct clients all want multiple languages, and I don’t want to subcontract work to other people.” 
• “Everyone at client-side conferences wants to talk to other people who do what they do. No one wants to talk to a translator or interpreter.” 
• “E-mail marketing doesn’t work. Everyone gets too much e-mail as it is.” 

The only question that matters

Here’s the *one* question to ask yourself in those situations:
-Have I tried it?

Let me repeat that: Have you tried these things? Have you nudged a bunch of dormant clients who told you, “You’re annoying, stop contacting us”? Have you attended five client-side events, and at each one, no one would talk to you? Have multiple direct clients told you that they don’t work with solo freelancers? Or are you making predictions based on what you think might happen, could happen, or will happen when (at some unknown point in the future) you try these things?

If you haven’t tried it, *you literally don’t know* how it’s going to go. Do your potential clients respond to “cold” e-mails? Who knows! Is it worth spending money on client-side conferences? Literally you don’t know unless you’ve tried it. Can you find your first direct clients if you’ve only ever worked for agencies? I definitely think so, but you won’t know for sure until you market to a bunch of direct clients.

Once you’ve tried something, you can assess:
-Was it effective?
-Did you enjoy it?
-Is it worth repeating?
-Should you tweak it (market to a different type of client, attend a different type of conference, word your e-mails differently)? 

But before that, *you just don’t know.* So, ask yourself, “Have I tried it?” and if the answer is no, the next step is…to try.

To get our weekly posts directly in your inbox, sign up for the Training for Translators mailing list!