Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

work-life balance for freelancers


Corinne McKay

In the Balance: tips for perfectionists and overachievers

If you’re a successful freelancer, chances are that you’re a perfectionist, an overachiever, or both. These traits have a lot of pluses: no one wants to work with someone who’s sloppy, late and doesn’t sweat the details. But they can also have some negative consequences, such as causing you misery and chipping away at your relationships with other people.

In this installment of In the Balance, I suggest five ways to mitigate the negative effects of being a perfectionist and/or overachiever. Enjoy!


Corinne McKay

In the Balance, Episode 8: Boundaries

Here’s Episode 8 of In the Balance, the series of work-life balance videos I’ve been doing for the Standing Out Facebook group. This episode focuses on boundaries: why you need them and how to set them. I mention three types of boundaries that freelancers need to think about, plus a bonus tip on knowing when to give up on certain boundaries! In the comments, let us know a) a boundary that you’d like to set in 2016, or b) a boundary-setting technique that works well for you. Enjoy!


Corinne McKay

In the Balance, episode 7: work-life balance and money

Here’s episode 7 of In the Balance, the series of work-life balance videos that I’m doing for the Standing Out Facebook group (this ‘season’ will feature 10 episodes, then I’ll go on hiatus for a bit). First, let me say that I know the lighting in this episode is really dark and grainy, and I apologize (prepare for excuse…). Normally I film them in the conference room at my office, which was occupied all day, and it was dark by the time I got home, and it turns out that normal home lighting looks really bad on video, but I really wanted to submit this for its usual Friday air time. Anyway…

We often think of money as a “serious” topic and work-life balance as a “soft” topic, but they’re actually quite interconnected. Without a healthy perspective on both of these, you can easily end up with a lot of money and no time, or a lot of time and no money. In this video, I offer various tips on how to align your financial philosophy and your work-life balance philosophy. Enjoy (in the dark)!


Corinne McKay

In the Balance: applying your non-work interests to your work life

I’ll be in Miami at the ATA conference for the rest of the week, so in the meantime, here’s the fifth episode of In the Balance, the work-life balance video series that I host for the Standing Out Facebook group. This episode focuses on taking the lessons you learn from your non-work interests and applying them to your work life. Because my non-work interests are very important to me, I’ve found over the years that my “hobbies” aren’t just a way to have fun or occupy my free time; they actually teach me a lot about being a translator and running my own business. Enjoy! And then add your own “crossover lessons” in the comments!


Corinne McKay

Work/life balance advice for beginners: pace yourself

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been enjoying hosting In the Balance (video series on work-life balance). It’s a topic I think about a lot, probably not least of all because I live in a “lifestyle town” (an expression that I learned only recently!) where prioritizing one’s non-work interests is very much the norm.

Today, a student in my class for beginning translators asked an interesting question: how would this advice apply (or not apply) to beginning freelancers, who want to have time to sleep, exercise, etc. outside of work, but who also need to actively build up their businesses.

Here’s the two-word answer: pace yourself. The advice that applies to experienced translators applies a little differently to you, but the goal is the same: don’t burn out, and let yourself enjoy some of the “free” in freelancing. Here’s what I mean: for experienced translators, work-life balance is largely about setting boundaries; it’s about achieving a similar level of financial security to someone who has a traditional job, but with the flexibility and independence of freelancing rolled into the mix. So for example I leave work at 2:30 three days a week so that I can be home when my daughter gets home; every Sunday night I sign up for my exercise classes for the week, and I treat them as I would a client appointment–I do not change them unless it’s absolutely unavoidable; I don’t work on weekends, even for my A-list clients; I try to avoid answering e-mail outside of working hours, because I don’t want my clients to expect that they can e-mail me at 10PM and get a response.

But when I was a beginner, things looked a lot different. When a client e-mailed me at 4 PM on a Friday and offered 8,000 words due Monday morning, I was elated. For years (literally, years) I worked from 7-10 PM, even on weekends. When a client called, I dropped everything, because I couldn’t afford (literally and figuratively) to miss a single job. But at the same time, you cannot work in that kind of “always on” mode all the time and remain excited about the job. So here’s the trick: pace yourself. Realize that when you’re building up your business, you have to go into overdrive sometimes. You have to be available at times and in places that experienced translators are not (month of August: great time to pick up new clients; ditto for the week between Christmas and New Year’s). But you can’t work in perpetual overdrive or you’ll absolutely burn out. So, pay attention to your pace!