Your professional translator

I know freelancers normally hate those times when they have little or no work. Especially if they are just beginning their career. But on the other hand, living constantly in a hectic rhythm isn't good for us . Moreover, those "famine" periods can even be useful for us and our businesses! Let me show you some things that I do when I am not overloaded with work. Maybe this list will give you an idea about things you can do! And if you have something to share, please do!

Financial matters is the hardest part of freelancing for many people. And for me, too. It can be a real nightmare, because your income can change month after month. Hopefully this will be a good change, but there will also be slow periods with almost no work and thus no payment coming in. I am still learning to manage my finances. The fact that I am a registered individual entrepreneur motivates me to keep the budget and not spend all the money at once (though at times I do feel like spending it all on shoes, makeup and other absolutely necessary things ;)) So here are my financial tips or rather lessons that I've been taught. Please feel free to add yours in comments!

First of all, I'd like to remind you about the contest that we are running at Sharp End Training Russia . A simple tweet or Facebook "like" can make you a winner of our Complete Blogging Toolkit for Translators! It's a wonderful opportunity! The contest will be running until October 20, so don't miss your chance! You can read more here . For those who are interested in translation and especially for my wonderful colleagues all over the world, I decided to make a list of 10 cool facts about our profession . I am sure you wouldn't mind if we celebrate our profession once again, would you? So here are the facts:

Do you remember me talking about interviews with great blogging translators? I said then that they were all a part of our new project. Well, now I am ready to announce that our Complete Blogging Translators' Toolkit is ready! It is a whole set of products including: 1. Full comprehensive  online video training in setting up wordpress – the most widely used blogging platform on the web. 2.  A parallel training course on what to avoid with wordpress . If you are new to DIY webdesign – The course will show you how to develop a knock out site – straight off the bat and keeping the newbie mistakes at bay. 3. Blogging translator star interviews – 3 x mp3 interviews with BIG HITTING blogging translators who share their blogging experience and useful tips.  4. A comprehensive pdf manual crammed with cheat sheets, links to blogging resources, shortcuts and time savers 5. 30 days free membership to our blogging translator support group . Every month we meet up online to disc

I know I've blogged about it at least a couple times already, but I guess it's time to remind my dear readers and myself that no matter how much you love what you do, you need a balance in your life. Remember this post in Mox's blog called Metamorphosis of a too-busy translator ? Have you experienced those times of having so much work that you hardly have time for anything else? I sure have. In fact, I just came out of this translation feast time when I had to get up at about 4:30 a.m. every day and went to bed around midnight; otherwise my work wasn't going as fast as needed. When I initially agreed to take those projects I thought I negotiated the deadlines pretty well. But later I figured out it was a mistake. So why did I make this mistake?

Last weekend we celebrated  International Translation Day and I would like to send my best wishes to my colleagues throughout the world! Have you ever thought what would your life be like if you chose some other profession? I definitely can't imagine mine without languages. I would like to send my very best wishes to all my colleagues. There are some very specific things that I wish to you because I know you love to translate and you want translation to stay in demand for years and years. So here's the list of my wishes to you, dear translators: (actually, I wish the same things to myself, too!)