Your professional translator

Hi everybody! How are you? I've been missing you a lot! Seems like life's going faster and faster. Since I've been in touch with you last time, a lot of things have changed. Nancy Matis has finished her training course on Translation Project Management with our translator school , there have been a few more courses taught by Russian-speaking trainers, and some other courses have just started, including a brand new military translation course .  Today I'd like to share a guest post written by Hanna Sles , a fellow translator and blogger. So let's welcome Hanna! Let us know what you think about this post in comments! How to become a freelance translator: freelancing with direct clients or agencies? Freelancing is an excellent opportunity to be your own boss, work your own hours, and be responsible for your success. While some freelancers thrive on being their own boss, others find that they’re not as good at working for themselves as they were working for a c...

Hello everybody! How are you doing? Hope spring is bringing new blessings and challenges to you and your business. Please welcome Aniello Attianese with his first guest post in my blog. The topic we are going to talk about is marketing for freelance translators. Enjoy! Whether you’re just a rookie at the very beginning of your great translation journey or an experienced translator with years of work behind your belt, one thing simply doesn’t change – in order to get business, you must market yourself successfully to the potential clients. It is extremely important to find the appropriate methods which will maximise results for the effort you put in. This however, might sound much easier to do than it actually is. Remember, your goal is to stand out from the crowd of translators who might be just as talented and qualified as you are. Marketing your translation services isn’t just about getting out there and stopping. It is a constant effort to show your potential customers that you...

May is really a very special month in Sharp End Training. We are about to reach 1,000 members in our LinkedIn group called Marketing for Freelance Translators! So we thought and thought how to thank you for being with us and found two ways we can do that. First of all, we are declaring May the social media marketing month . That means that every Tuesday at 5 pm British Summer Time starting May 14th we are going to have LIVE webinars on social media marketing for translators . Here's a brief program: May 14th - Jonathan Senior teaching about strategic use of Twitter . I've been through this training and I assure you it is extremely useful, especially if you feel you are drowning in the sea of information there and you are starting to forget your goals and your vision as a marketer of your own freelance business. The webinar is already announced. It costs 25 USD. You can register here: http://sharp-end-training.ru/how-to-swim-against-the-tide-in-a-sea-of-clutter-a...

I would like to share something from my own experience here. Some time ago a translation agency representative sent me a connection request on LinkedIn. I accepted it. The same day I got an email from another person working with that agency where more details about the company were given. Well, I read that message and forgot about it pretty soon... Until a few days later I got another message from the same agency about quality assurance in their company. In the message, they just wrote all about how great they are again. The problem was I couldn't understand two things:

If you have been following my blog for some time you might remember this post where I talked about my experience in social media. Well, there have been a few changes since then in my social media preferences. One of the huge changes happened when Jonathan Senior , the head of Sharp End Training, and I decided to create a special group for freelance translators. LinkedIn group . My first reaction to any changes is always panic. I have no clue why. But as a grown-up person and a business owner I understand the value of change and going beyond the limits of my comfort zone . So I did it. I became a manager of our group and you know what? I love it now. I absolutely love it. We now have over 400 members and have some interesting discussions going on. You can see the group profile and enter the group here if you want. This group also gave me the urge to start exploring the options that LinkedIn gives to its users. I started participating in the discussions not only in my group, b...

Sometimes learning to use social media feels like wandering in the deep forest. Have you ever felt that way? No wonder that you can make a ton of mistakes in the process. I have made quite a few, that’s why I want to talk about it today. I am also inviting you to participate in the discussion, share some mistakes you've noticed and possibly ways to avoid those mistakes. 1. No interaction. Social networks were made for interaction. That's why they are called "social". Social media marketing is not like posting an ad in a newspaper. Solution: The first thing you need to do after creating your own profile is finding people who you would like to connect with. Read carefully what they post, ask questions, share your comments. When you get fans/followers/people who add you to their circles you also need to interact with them. The resources you share may be very useful, but interaction builds a personal bond between you and your audience. That bond is priceless. It ca...

Some time ago I noticed some of my colleagues on Twitter and Facebook publishing interesting links via scoop.it . I remember clicking on the link for the first time and seeing something like an online jornal with lots of other links and pretty pictures all in one page. I liked what I saw, but didn't register there. It was a bit later when one of my friends asked if I was using scoop.it and was very surprised that I wasn't because it's almost a must for a freelance professional. That's when I got "hooked". I registered there in the last days of January and at the same time investigated what the others are saying about it.

I think one of my big mistakes last year was that I almost stopped writing posts where I shared useful links. I have made a decision to resume this practice. The first link collection has to do with Facebook marketing for translators. (After all, I am a marketing translator, aren't I?) Actually, these links can help anybody who wants to build a great page and attract many loyal followers.

With the New Year rapidly approaching, I am starting to analyze this past year. In fact, I've been analyzing all the changes in my life since 2007. And I am learning to value the Lord's timing, His guidance and support while He has continuously been pushing me out of my comfort zone. I started working in the church while I was still a student and I never wanted to look for a different job, or a different position. Even when I realized that changes were necessary I did not welcome them. Partly, this was because I loved my work in the church. I made a lot of friends, I had a chance to develop the skills that could otherwise remain hidden, plus I had a privilege of serving the Lord and helping people in Vladimir and its suburbs, and even people from other countries. Thankfully, the latter point applies to my life now as well, otherwise I'd have to admit that I made a huge mistake ;)

Hi there! Glad to see you again! Remember my first post about social media marketing ? It's time for the second post in the series :) What I write here is solely my opinion  based on various posts, journals and other materials studied in the past year or so + my own small marketing experience. What's the most important thing in social media marketing? You need to show that you are an expert. There are literally thousands of possibilities for translators now thanks to the Internet. You can answer questions on LinkedIn, take part in terminology discussions on various translation portals and other networks; you can start blogging or tweeting about translation, or make your own Facebook fan page and publish relevant links there. And this is by no means an exhaustive list of options! Whichever way of promoting your skills you choose, it will help your prospective clients understand where your interests are and what fields you are most experienced in. You will also get to know ...

I started my journey in the freelance world in March 2007, so I am a relatively young freelance translator. My very first year as a freelance translator was pretty tough. In fact, I landed only one or two jobs during that year. But then (thank God!) I met the first two agencies who were satisfied with both my experience and quality enough to work with me on a regular basis. I got about 90% of all my translation work through them and was completely satisfied with that situation (big mistake! Now I know that I still had an employee's mentality back then, and this mentality didn't serve me well). But two years ago the situation changed and I started getting a lot less work from those agencies. That was horrible! I realized that I had made a mistake somewhere along the way. So I used my free time to surf all over the web and find information on how other freelancers look for clients and projects, what kind of rates they consider reasonable and how they build their schedule. And I c...

Sorry I've been silent for so long! I've been really rather swamped in work lately, so yesterday was my first day free of translation. I'm thankful for the break. These past few weeks have been very busy and extremely stressful for me. I needed a break and I am enjoying one now. A couple more days, and I'll feel as good as new =) Meanwhile, I decided to read some translation blogs (always happy to learn something new). A few days ago one of my favourite bloggers and translators finally reappeared after several months of silence. And she wrote about marketing for translators. Freelancers greatly depend on their marketing efforts, so they always have to think about new ways to make themselves known to their prospective clients as well as other professionals. Celine, the author of that blog, shares that her best marketing instruments are her website, personal networking and professional networking. As I was reading her blog post, I started thinking about my own...

Finally the weather here starts settling down to normal for this time of year - it's rainy and chilly. It made me suddenly realize I've worked all summer long and haven't had a vacation. So I decided to take several days, possibly a week, off after I finish the project I'm working on right now. I'm not going anywhere, just going to relax and be with my daughter during her last week before she starts kindergarten again in September. Meanwhile, I have found something very interesting for me and hopefully for some others. It's one of the recent posts on Freelance Folder website called " Our Top 10 Resources For Getting New Clients ". They are basically giving an overview of the articles they've written on this subject. That's what I'm going to study while I take a break from work. Probably. If I choose to. Or I might just relax and stop thinking about my job for 1 week, and then continue my learning and working process. Good luck to ever...

How to overcome Freelancing Stress I love this article! It's true, freelancing can be stressful, and, just like the author says, I've come to the conclusion that it's often ME who's making my life more stressful than it should be. How so? Well, by forgetting to plan my workload, my budget, by lack of marketing skills etc. On the other hand, stress is an inseparable part of life of almost everybody. What do you do to minimize the stress level in your life?

When I wrote about advantages and disadvantages of being a freelancer , I got a comment that one of the disadvantages is also lack of regular work, i.e. lack of regular income. I promised to think about it and now I am ready to share my opinion on this issue. May be I am wrong, who knows. I think that not having regular translation assignments is NOT a disadvantage. Why? Well, let me share my reasons: It helps me to stay active in my marketing efforts . I am constantly learning of new ways to promote my services and do my best to use them. One day I might make a very good marketing strategist =) It helps me to never stop growing professionally . Some time ago I came across the words of a very experienced translator "you are only as good as your last project". This is so true. Being a translator, I am learning to be as detailed-oriented as possible and double check everything, including things I think I know very well. Freelance work is not for those who think too hig...