Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Clients


Corinne McKay

How to fire a client

Numerous students have asked me: “I motivate myself to work on marketing by looking at my bottom-rung client, and thinking that I wouldn’t have to work for them anymore if I brought in a better client to replace them. But once that happens, how do I actually fire the bottom-rung client?” Definitely worth discussing, so here are some thoughts.

First, if a client acts unethically, repeatedly harangues you to take on work you’ve told them you don’t want, does something really egregious or is highly unpleasant to work with, just fire them. “Please remove me from your list of available freelancers,” or something like that. But here we’re talking about something more nuanced: this is the client you’ve been holding onto only because you really needed their work, and now that situation has changed. For a lot of translators, I think that anxiety about this kind of situation is wrapped up in fears about their business overall: what if I cut the cord and then my work volume from other clients decreases, and I really need that client again? In my experience, that rarely happens, but that’s why the situation is stressful.

If you’re really and truly done with this client but you don’t want to burn a bridge with them, take the “firm but kind” route. “I’ve really enjoyed working with you over the years, but over time I’ve also started working with other, higher-paying clients. In order to save your time, you don’t need to contact me for work that pays less than X cents; but if you ever have projects with that type of budget, definitely keep me in mind.” That lets the client know that the issue is purely money, not that you don’t enjoy working with them. If the client still sends you low-paying work, with a request that you consider it “just this once,” you may need to get firmer. “As I mentioned, my minimum rate is now X cents per word. If you contact me for future projects, I will be happy to consider them, with the assumption that that rate is fine with you.”

If you want to leave a crack in the door, try something like this. “I’ve really enjoyed working with you over the years, but over time I’ve also started working with other, higher-paying clients. In looking over my accounting, I noticed that the majority of my clients now pay X cents per word, so I am prioritizing my work with them. I may be available to work with you occasionally when I have breaks in my work with other clients. If that works for you, feel free to continue sending inquiries, and if not, of course I understand.”

Or, if you really don’t want to get into the specifics of the situation (which, as a freelancer, aren’t really the client’s business), just become “too busy” whenever the client contacts you. “That project looks interesting, but unfortunately I’m busy with something else right now.” “Thanks so much for contacting me, but unfortunately I’m not available.” Try just leaving it at that, and I can tell you from experience that sometimes the client will never ask for more information. For example I recently spoke with two translators who took extended (months) periods of time off, and successfully used the “not available” explanation the whole time.

Readers, any thoughts on this?


Corinne McKay

Working with individuals: why do so many translators avoid it?

The individual client market–working directly with people who need anything from a birth certificate to a book translated–is a legitimate segment of the direct client market. But still, lots of translators avoid it. Let’s take a closer look.

I do quite a bit of work for/with individual clients; mostly certified translations of official documents, but I’ve also translated business plans, real estate purchase and sale documents, and yes, even a book, for individual clients. I like this kind of work because (in no particular order):

  • It’s gratifying; people need the service and appreciate it. Sometimes they really, really appreciate it–I once received a lovely bottle of wine from an individual client who needed a translation in a pinch!
  • It’s usually very straightforward. For certified translations, I charge a flat fee per page, I do not negotiate that rate at all, and I do not do the translation until the person pays via PayPal. So there’s zero quoting or haggling, and zero risk of non-payment.
  • It’s lucrative as compared to the time investment. These small, one-off projects are generally projects that agencies don’t want, or for which agencies would have to impose a very high minimum charge in order to justify their overhead. As a freelancer, you can also create templates for the kinds of documents that you translate over and over again, to further streamline the process.
  • Not that many freelancers are interested in the individual client market, so you can generate quite a bit of business simply by putting up a dedicated web page for this kind of service.

My sense is that most freelancers avoid the individual client market for two reasons: they’re afraid of not getting paid, and they don’t want to spend a lot of time negotiating a rate and turnaround time for a $100 job. I would argue that the solution is simple: require that individuals pay in advance, and don’t negotiate. If they don’t want to pay your rate, they can look for another translator; or if they don’t want to pay in advance, they can look for another translator. And for the record, even the individual for whom I translated a book did pay in full, in advance.

I do agree that when you work with individuals:

  • You have to have some patience with people who know nothing about translation. Can you also translate my Lithuanian driver’s license? Can you convert my grades from the French to the US system? Can you just leave out the classes that I failed? You can’t blame people for asking, so you have to be willing to explain these things.
  • A fair number of people will ask if you can “just certify” the translation that they already did. “I already translated it, so how much would it cost to just put your certified translator stamp on it?” My response to this is always “The certification statement requires me to certify that I translated the document, so for liability reasons, I cannot certify a document that I didn’t translate myself.”
  • You need a way to take payments online, and that costs money. Lots of people love to gripe and moan about PayPal, and I agree that their fees are annoying on large amounts. But I’m willing to pay $3.50 to collect $100 from someone, and I’ve never had issues with things like chargebacks (where the client complains to PayPal and then gets a refund). Additionally, lots of people already have a PayPal account, so it’s easy for them to send you money. You could also try Square, Stripe, etc. My sense is that the fees for all of the online payment services is about the same.

Readers, any other thoughts on this?


Corinne McKay

An atypical dilemma: "I need less work"

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?


Corinne McKay

Tips for translators in small languages

There are languages like Spanish (tons of work, lots of translators), and languages like French and German (good amount of work, not a surplus of translators), and then there are languages like Tagalog, Nepali, Bulgarian, Amharic, Icelandic, and so on. What are some pathways to a viable freelance business if you do one of those languages of lesser diffusion?

  • Assess the demand. You only need enough work for one person, but in some languages, that may be a struggle. Consider adding additional services like interpreting, editing, voiceover, etc. You may have to be a little more open to offbeat jobs than someone who translates German or Japanese.
  • Expect to be asked to translate anything and everything in your language. You don’t have to say yes; never take on anything that’s outside your capabilities. But expect that clients will think of you as “the Haitian Creole translator,” not “the Haitian Creole pharmaceutical translator.”
  • If you want to work with agencies, blanket the field. Get a membership to Payment Practices (not an affiliate deal) and sort out the highly-rated agencies; for example those rated 4.0 or higher in the two factors that PP rates. Then start cranking out the applications; aim for three to five per day. Every agency that could potentially use you, anywhere in the world, should have your resume on file.
  • If you want to work with direct clients, look for trade ties between your non-English country and the US, the UK, or other English-speaking countries. Most countries have some sort of economic development authority, foreign direct investment authority, or similar entity. Look there for ideas, then contact companies related to those industries that might need you.
  • Consider translating into English with a native English-speaking proofreader. Normally I don’t recommend going anywhere near translations into your non-native language. But for small-diffusion languages into English, I think it can work, and sometimes it’s the only option. First, there just aren’t that many native English speakers who translate from Lingala or Khmer. Second, lots of these niche countries are fairly major tourist destinations for English speakers, very few of whom speak a word of the local language. So you might find work translating for, say, resorts in Indonesia or the Philippines or Thailand that want to attract English-speakers.

Readers, especially those of you who translate in these smaller-diffusion languages…any thoughts on this?


Corinne McKay

How to make more money without having a breakdown

Among the amorphous goals that many of us have for our freelance business, “I want/need to make more money” often heads the list. It’s often joined by other amorphous goals such as “I want/need more work,” or “I need some better clients.” The problem with “I want/need to make more money” is that most translators pursue it in a brute force way: by simply taking on more of the work that’s not generating enough income to start out with. Instead of translating 3,000 words a day, many people decide to double their income by translating 6,000 words a day. In my online courses, I routinely talk to translators who are *translating* 10-12 hours per day, then doing their administrative work on top of that. That may work for a while; but it’s a grind, a recipe for burnout, and it’s not sustainable. Freelance truth: if you choose to work for clients whose primary decision-making factor is price, don’t be surprised when they drop you for someone cheaper. You knew what was important to them, right?

So, if we’re not going to bump up our income by working twice as much, how are we going to do it? A few ideas:

  • Pitch a “make this worth my while” rate to all new clients. When you’re already busy, you have nothing to lose by floating a higher rate to all new clients, especially if you have to work overtime to fit them in. And if/when the new client accepts the higher rate, you know that at least some of your target market will bear that rate.
  • Stop looking for work in low-rate places. Online job marketplaces are an entry point into the industry; they may be a good entry point or a horrible entry point, depending on your languages and specializations. But by advertising on, say, Fiverr, you’re inherently appealing to people who only want to spend $5. By bidding on online job boards, you’re inherently dealing with clients whose main decision-making point is price. Quit that. No more reverse auctions for your time, period.
  • Look where other people aren’t looking. Lots of freelancers are hanging out with other freelancers and lamenting that they never meet any good direct clients. Hanging out with other freelancers has its appeal: you can learn a lot, you can build a good network, and you can meet people who may refer work to you. Freelance translators are generally awesome people. But the good direct clients aren’t looking at online haunts for freelance translators when they want to find someone to translate their annual report. You have to go to them: join *their* LinkedIn groups; set up a website with information about *what you will do for them,* attend *their* conferences.
  • Don’t make translation cheap; make it easy. When I ask my direct clients for feedback or testimonials, I’m always hoping to hear about the quality of my translations; how they got the French message across just right, but in English. And hopefully they do that! But when I get that client feedback, it’s almost always about the ease of the process. “You always respond to our e-mails right away.” “When you say we’ll get it by 5PM, we know we’ll have it by 4:30.” “When we make suggestions, you don’t act like a diva, you give us your honest opinion.” Make your clients’ lives easy, and you’re worth a lot to them.
  • Be ready to accept the hard truths. When experienced translators tell you that good clients aren’t going to bang on your door, and you have to bang on theirs, they’re right. When experienced translators tell you that mega-agencies couldn’t get away with pittance rates if no one would work for them, they’re right. When experienced translators tell you that you have to invest in the required tools for the business, and you can’t be using a ten year-old laptop with Windows XP as your main work computer, they’re right. If you want higher-level clients, you have to be a higher-level translation professional.
  • Always have your eye on your “next out the door” client. As someone with a soft spot for nearly all of my clients, this is a tough one, but it’s necessary. Identifying the client you’ll eliminate once you get a better paying one at the top of the list is a good motivator. Be ruthless here: what low-paying client could you drop if you had a better-paying one to replace them?

Readers, over to you: best suggestions for making more money while staying sane?