Earlier this week, Get Rich Slowly had a great post on finding the balance between time and money. The author (and site owner, J.D.) relates the story of an old friend of his who radically changed his priorities in life after the death of his wife and infant daughter, and J.D. then goes on to apply this “time or money” analysis to his own rapidly expanding freelance business.

This post made me realize that one of the most important exercises in planning your freelance translation business is to firmly establish why exactly you’re doing this; what’s making you so eager to give up a steady paycheck (at least when the economy is strong!), benefits, paid vacation and an office door that closes at the end of the day? The answers to that question will be as varied as we translators are; some of us want to work extra-long hours, earn as much as possible and retire early. Some of us are heavily involved in personal projects that don’t fit well with an office schedule. Many of us want more time, or at least flexible time, to devote to our families and friends. Others want to live in a rural or remote area where in-house jobs for translators simply don’t exist. The important thing is to have your eye on your prize, and to remind yourself to get back on track when you lose sight of that goal.

My own “lightbulb moment” came when I was in the self-checkout line at the grocery store (because isn’t that where all life-changing realizations occur?) when my daughter was a few months old. At that point I was still thinking that I would translate very part time until my daughter was about a year old, at which point I would go back to teaching full time. An older woman in line behind me struck up a conversation and while she was cooing over my daughter, said “You know, I wish that when I was your age, someone had told me that everything else in life will wait for you, but your kids won’t. Everything else in life will still be there when your kids don’t need you anymore, but they’ll be off on their own.” Not that my family is my only reason for freelancing, because other issues (like living in an area where in-house jobs in my language combination are few to nonexistent) enter into it too. But many times since that day, I’ve wished I could thank that chatty woman in the supermarket line for helping me figure out my priorities. So, why do you do this?

For reasons unknown to me, I suddenly started receiving a subscription to BusinessWeek (my guess is that this is related to buying a Newsweek subscription…anyway!) and although I find the quality of their articles a bit uneven, some of them have great tips for businesspeople, even if the business operates out of your living room. This week’s issue highlights “The 50 Best Performers,” including their insights on surviving the recession. Following are a few tips that I gleaned, which I think apply to freelance translators as well:

• Sell an essential product. Market leader Colgate-Palmolive points out that of the many things consumers have given up in the bad economy, “Brushing their teeth is not one of them.” In general, I think that businesses view translation services as fairly essential; while they might have an unpaid intern write their web copy, it’s unlikely that they either can or would trust the mail clerk with translating documents for a lawsuit. However, within our industry, I think it’s important to concentrate your marketing efforts on industries that have to translate (for example law firms, patent firms, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, companies that produce multilingual annual reports, etc.) rather than those that choose to translate (for example hotels, luxury goods companies, etc.).
• DIY and update. Steel giant Nucor hasn’t laid off a single employee, despite a decrease in business. One of its key strategies is having employees do tasks that either used to be done by contractors (mow the lawns, clean the bathrooms) or get ahead on projects that are often put on the back burner (rewriting safety manuals, doing preventive maintenance). Now is a great time to look at the work that you either outsource or put off; think about taking a web design course so that you can create or update an excellent website to promote your translation services, or take webinars to brush up your translation-related software skills.
• Hold on to the clients you’ve got. I’m usually the first one to advocate marketing as a business development tool, but this is a great point; it’s generally cheaper to maintain an existing client than it is to find a new one. IT outsourcer Cognizant Technology Solutions is now getting 90% of its business from repeat clients, thanks in part to its team of “relationship managers” who check in regularly with existing clients. So, be your own relationship manager; check in with your existing clients and ask them how business is going, is there anything you can do to better meet their needs, have they been happy with your recent work? My only beef with this point in general is that in my unscientific experience, it’s much easier to charge a new client a higher rate than it is to raise your rates with existing clients.
• Set yourself up to be first off the blocks. Throughout this article, many companies conveyed that they’re making changes now so that they’re poised to strike when the economy rebounds. For some, this means expanding into new international markets (Avon in China, anyone?), for others, it means diversification (crane manufacturers buying kitchen equipment companies). Whatever the case, now is definitely the time to think about where you want your business to be in the year after the economy rebounds!