Embarking on a career as a freelance translator could be an interesting course to charter but it could be quite a daunting one too. The challenges are numerous with the competition quite stiff but do not despair as the opportunities are wide and varied.
If you have already been exposed to the translation industry you would know some of the tricks of the trade if not you would have to learn from scratch which would give you added impetus to pursue the career. Finding work and how you could propagate your skills would all come into your domain, but with the following 10 tips that we offer your endeavor would be much easier.
#1. Plan your work and set goals
Planning your work out is very important. Get into a standard routine where you would set to time to wake up, have your breakfast and other times to grab a meal. Make time for family and friends, socialize and do everything that you always wanted to do. Ensure your time management skills at optimum and try to work, relax and have time for leisure. You would need to follow a normal life and not one where you would be always tensed up.
#2. Decide and fix your rates
This has to be done with a lot of prudent thinking because you would need to charge your employers for the work done by you. Deciding how much you charge is very important and that too within accepted parameters. You could get some external inputs to help your cause.
#3. Don’t under sell your ability
Ensure that you fix your charges to be on par with your ability. Try to charge the optimum but ensure that you do not under sell your services. If you do so there could be long term issues for you when you do become a force to reckon with on the translating platform. You need to value your work and estimate it intelligently.
#4. Select the niche you would work
Don’t make the mistake of working on every industry, but try to select which niche market you would be working in. The chances of making big on the translation platform are open to everyone and it is just a matter of time where you would lead the pack with the work that you would do.
#5. Always keep abreast
Don’t slack and ensure that you are always up to date on the happenings around you. Try to study new techniques when they are released and study the changes that are happening on the translation platform. Keep abreast with what changes are made and bring them all into your work. Studying and delivering your work on time would ensure that you are diligent just what many would dream off.
#6. Apprise yourself to further your career
Invest in your career and try to learn new skills and also ensure that you are exposed to all the new apps that would be released at different periods of time. Your career would depend on the skills that you have acquired hence keeping yourself up dated with everything that is introduce would be your best.
#7. Keep you work at exemplary levels
Always ensure that your work is exemplary and has no complaints which would not be for you steady progress. It is only if your work is superlative would you be awarded more work to complete. Check your finished work before you would handover same. The better your work the more translations that you would be entrusted with hence keep your work. It is a specialized industry and keeping yourself immaculate is what really matters.
#8. Sell your services effectively
Ensure that you place yourself in the right market at the right price. This is very important because you would need to market your skill in the right niche. Hence you would need to plan a strategy as to how you would go about your business and provide good and fast completed work would propel you to the limelight.
#9. Check out freelance websites
Until you establish yourself it would be prudent to work with all those freelance websites. You would get a break from all those applications that you have sent without a positive result. Till you get a good billet it would be prudent to keep yourself occupied and also brushing up your skills with anyone who would offer you freelance work.
#10. Don’t expect miracles
There are no miracles if you expect any because you think it will come your way you may be wrong. Hard work would eventually pay and if you are consistent with your work there would be more work to you. Once you get that breakdown try to ensure that you get regular work everyday.
