Freelancing is not like any other conventional career, it is a complete lifestyle. You are your own boss, and you only work on your terms. People think it’s kind of unique and fun, but it is not as easy as it seems. Establishing a career as a freelancer takes a lot of effort and hard work, and success doesn’t come easily.
You might have seen many success stories but stories of failures are even high in numbers because not everyone can stick to it for long. Being a freelancing professional you know that there will be no stability and you never know from where your next cheque is coming. So, it is not for someone impatient, or who procrastinates a lot to get things done.
Here we’ve come up with the best tips for all professional translators out there who want to try their luck with freelancing, or if you are already a freelancer these tips would help you get more clients for sure. A freelance translator either gets projects on some freelancing platform or works on a contractual basis with language service providers.
So, let’s get right into it.
Useful Tips Every Freelance Translator Should Know
Get Some Certifications
To sustain a lucrative freelancing career, it’s important to first get all the tools of the trade. Even if you are a bilingual person, you still need to get some insights into how a translation business works. Because no matter how well you can speak a language, you still need to get your hands-on writing skills to be a professional translator. Having a good understanding of the cultural nuances, grammatical rules, and comprehension of different languages can help you create more in-context translations.
If you don’t have a professional linguist degree, you can still get some certification to make yourself look eligible for a translation job. Having a professional certification would also make your freelancing profile more considerable for clients looking for qualified translators.
Never Compromise on Quality
Maintaining a good quality of work is the most important thing to get your clients coming back to you. Cutting the corners would never work for you in the long run. The most common mistake many freelancers would make is, they’ll accept every project coming their way. Doing this will never let you excel in your freelancing career. You have to be particular when it comes to choosing your translation projects.
So, it is important to say no to all those projects that you can’t do up to the client’s requirements. Because taking up something you can’t do well would only put you and your client into a difficult position. Which is also not good for your market reputation. Offering quality work builds your goodwill, and you’ll get some positive reviews from clients that’ll make your profile look credible.
Get Some Experience First
Before going solo for your freelancing translation career, you should better work for some agency. It’ll allow you to get an idea of how things work. When you have already had professional experience, you would know what sort of issues your translation clients can have and how to combat them smartly.
If you don’t have any previous experience, the company might not pay you well, but you can build the skill required to make a lucrative career in freelancing. So, once you have made a strong base, you can easily manage the translation tasks on your own.
Find a Mentor
There are two ways you can establish a successful freelance translator career in the translation industry, one is by learning from your own mistakes, and the second is finding a mentor and avoiding all potential mistakes. To achieve higher efficiency and tackle the issues you would be facing at the beginning of your freelancing career, you should better connect with a person who is already into the business.
With their extensive experiences, mentors will guide you through the initial stages of freelancing. If you can’t find a mentor, you can also get yourself associated with the translator’s networks, or make friends with people who belong to your industry.
Market Your Services
To be a successful translator, you have to attract more potential clients. For this, you should promote your services through social media platforms. You can build your freelancing profile on social media to get more eyeballs and enhance your online presence. Moreover, you can also join the Facebook groups related to the freelance translator. Clients keep posting in such groups to find freelancers who can manage their projects. So, it is important to be accessible to your clients via different platforms.
Final Words!
Following the tips mentioned in this article would help you become a successful translator. Of course, there will be struggles and obstacles in the beginning, but it will all be worth it once you have gained a good number of satisfied clients. Having a freelancing career would give you more freedom and flexibility in your work that you wouldn’t get otherwise doing any other conventional job.
