Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Freelancing


Corinne McKay

Break on through: some more tips

People posted such great suggestions in the Comments section for Break on Through that I think they deserve their own post.

Jill Sommer made a number of really helpful points. First, I should have clarified in the post that although working as an FBI Contract Linguist was the job that allowed me to get through the “in-between” phase of freelancing, the application process is in fact very long. In my case, the application, testing and background check process took over two years, and it was only because I applied on probably my third day of freelancing that the job worked out. If you are looking for a supplemental job starting immediately, FBI Contract Linguist is not a good option.

Jill offers a great suggestion about volunteering, which was seconded by Janine Libbey. Janine comments that volunteering your translation services “will create good will and [you] can also use these organizations as references. My experience has been that these “freebies” often produce referrals to paying clients.”

Another sideline business for translators that I didn’t mention is transcription. Most translators are excellent typists and already have the computer setup required to do transcription. Whether you are a native speaker of English or of another language, transcription could be a great way to supplement your income.

Ryan Ginstrom perceptively said “I think that specializing is the best overall way to earn more money: you work faster (because you’re familiar with the subject and have to do less research) and your work is better, so you can charge higher rates,” and also emphasized the importance of choosing a specialization that is in demand.

Thanks for these helpful comments!


Corinne McKay

Translator, unplugged

Credit for the new header image: “Cambodian Sanskrit in the temples of Angkor” by iStock member Yangshuo.

Michelle Rafter has a great post this morning called Time Out, on the merits of unplugging from your computer. In the post, Michelle references another blog post from a writer who takes a “technology sabbath” from Friday evening to Saturday evening, during which time he doesn’t use his computer or cell phone for work-related purposes. Michelle writes that she likes to get out of the office and go for a hike to decompress.

I will say that I agree wholeheartedly with this advice. There are times when being immediately available has its bonuses; if a client needs to call at a specific time with an update or question, it’s nice to be able to take the cell phone to the park, answer the call and then continue with the hike. But I do feel that more often, being “always on” is more a result of our own fantasies of indispensability than anything else, and that the vast majority of the time, we actually can afford to unplug for a few hours and get out from in front of the screen. In my own case, I take at least one computer-free vacation a year (and by vacation I mean ten days to two weeks, not a long weekend) and make sure to get outside and away from the computer for part of every day. Lately, my family has been experimenting with growing a lot of our own food, and I’ve found that there’s nothing like an hour of pulling weeds to really clear the brain!

Interestingly enough, many freelancers don’t seem to feel this way. Last year I was talking to another translator at the American Translators Association conference in San Francisco and the subject of vacations came up. When I told the other person that my family would be taking a two-week “beach and wildlife” trip to Baja over Christmas and punctuated it with “Two weeks without phone or e-mail, can’t wait!,” this person paused for a moment and then said “I didn’t know people still did that.” Granted, this vacation was during a time of year when many people take time off and business often slows to a crawl, but I have to say that my business didn’t suffer any ill effects, I really didn’t check e-mail or phone messages for two weeks, and best of all I was excited to get back to work at the end of the trip.

Unplugging: try it, you’ll like it!


Corinne McKay

Tracking your freelance income

After reading Jill Sommer’s post on job tracking systems for freelancers (for what it’s worth, I used to use a white board, then I switched to post-it notes, now I use a paper planner, but I agree that some sort of system is imperative), I thought I would write something about income tracking systems.

As with job tracking systems, there are various ways to track your income and outstanding invoices. I used to use a white board to write down the details of every invoice I issued. I liked this system because it kept everything in front of my eyes, and it was easy to see when invoices were overdue. There are also various programs like Translation Office 3000 that will track your invoices and income as well. TO3000 isn’t cheap (150 euros), but I think I might buy it if they produced a Linux version (yes, that’s a hint!). I’ve always used the open source accounting software GnuCash for my business accounting, and I’ve been quite happy with it.

I abandoned my white board invoice tracking system because I wanted a way to track my total outstanding invoices. Although this is obviously possible using the white board system and a calculator, it’s much easier if you use a spreadsheet, because you can just write a sum formula for the upper (or lower) cell in the column where you record the invoice amounts. My thought on this was that by tracking my total outstanding invoices (and assuming that clients pay on time, which most of mine thankfully do!), I would have an objective data point on which to base my project acceptance decisions. For example, if I want to earn a gross amount of $5,500-$6,000 a month and I see that I currently have only $4,500 in outstanding invoices, I know that I can’t be picky about accepting new work. On the other hand, if I have $7,000 outstanding, I know that I have at least a week of wiggle room and I can afford to either plan some days off or work on non-paying projects such as my blog, book and translation-related volunteer work.

I use a simple OpenOffice.org spreadsheet (like an Excel sheet) and record the invoice number in the A column, the issue date in the B column, the client in the C column, the invoice amount in the D column (and the top cell in the D column is the sum of all of the D cells below it) and the date paid in the E column. In the E column I also record follow-up to any overdue invoices i.e. “first reminder sent 6/5” or “certified letter with request for payment within 30 days sent 5/5.”

I find this system useful because it’s easy; every time I issue an invoice, I just record the details in the spreadsheet, and when I receive checks I delete the amount of that invoice so that it’s no longer included in my outstanding total. Also, this system makes it very easy to see whether I’m reaching my income goals; “no paid vacation” is one of the elements of freelancing that’s quite different from a salaried job, and often the major cost of a vacation is not the trip itself but the loss of income associated with it. I find that using an income tracking system helps me objectively decide when I need to hit the grindstone and when I can afford to spend an afternoon outdoors!


Corinne McKay

An interesting post on "end of day"

Jill Sommer’s blog “Musings from an overworked translator” has a great post on the definition of “end of day.” This is a subject that’s a frequent subject of jokes between myself and a friend of mine, who is also a freelance translator and also has a young family, since our “end of day” is often 10PM, 11PM, you get the picture! As Jill says, it’s yet another reason to clarify all of the terms of a translation project in order to avoid misunderstandings. Even if you don’t work odd hours, “end of day” varies widely when you’re in one time zone, your client is in another, and their client is in yet another!