Time for a holiday availability nudge

Greetings, Training for Translators subscribers! A quick tip for this week because I’m taking the week off for U.S. Thanksgiving (wishing a great holiday to those who celebrate!). 

December classes open for registration 

This month’s educational offerings are open for registration! Thanks to everyone who signed up for this month’s session of Breaking into the subtitling market, with guest instructor Molly Yurick. Reply to this e-mail if you’d like to be on the wait list for the next session!

• Master class on December 9: Aiming for six figures, in the age of AI and MT. A two-hour master class for freelancers who want to aim for an income of US $100,000 or the part-time equivalent, with an emphasis on how to do this in the age of AI and MT. Registration is $75 and includes the recording.
• Free webinar on December 11: Getting started as a book translator. A one-hour webinar on the basics of translating fiction and non-fiction books for traditional publishers or for self-published authors. Free! Use coupon code FREE at checkout; everyone who registers will receive the recording. 
• Reply to this e-mail if you’d like to be on the wait list for the December/January session of Direct client research lab, my personalized direct client marketing class. You’ll receive the current price ($160) instead of $170 when regular registration opens. 

This week’s topic: It’s time for a holiday availability nudge!

Particularly if you’re just starting out as a freelancer, or if you need more work, being available over the holidays (in the U.S., we’re primarily talking Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s) can be a really good way to land new clients, or more work from an existing client. It’s a time of year when some clients have no choice but to try a new translator or interpreter, because many of their experienced people are taking time off. Here’s how to do it:

• Prepare a list of every client you’ve worked with (and liked!) in 2025. Send them a message like this:

“Hello [name], I hope you’re doing well! Ahead of the upcoming holiday season, I wanted to let you know my availability for work” [Then tell them when you’re working, with emphasis on times that other people are probably not working] “Thank you for the interesting projects that you’ve sent me in the past, and I hope that you and your loved ones have a wonderful holiday season!”

• Then go back to dormant clients who you liked working with, but who you haven’t heard from in at least three months. Send a similar message, but between the first and second sentence, say something like “In looking over my records, I noticed that we haven’t worked together since [describe the last project]. I really enjoyed working with you on that, and wondered if you might have any similar projects in the pipeline?” Then continue with the holiday availability message. 
• Finally, apply this to any prospective clients who’ve expressed an interest in working with you but who haven’t yet sent you anything. Send a similar message, but between the first and second sentence, say something like, “In looking over my records, I see that [then describe what happened: “We had talked about me potentially translating your annual report.” “You had mentioned that you might need a Japanese interpreter for your upcoming focus groups.”] Then continue with the holiday availability message, but remove the reference to “interesting projects that you’ve sent me in the past.” 

This is a simple technique that has resulted in work for a lot of freelancers I’ve talked to lately! Let me know how it goes if you try it!

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