Getting started on the freelance translator’s ladder of success

As a language graduate with a university education behind you, you can believe that you are all set for a career as a freelance translator or interpreter. But this may be far from the truth. In today’s economic climate where in-house jobs are scarce, many translators decide to go freelance straightaway. Yet excellent translators can flounder in the business world of marketing, commerce, credit control, and price negotiation.

eCPD Webinars can help newly qualified translators to get their business started by answering questions such as: How do I set up my business? What equipment do I need? Where do I find my first clients? How do I gain that crucial first experience?

eCPD’s Lucy Brooks has done a great deal of research in this area and eCPD Webinars now has a range of online events aimed at translators just starting out on their careers.

Starting out in business as a translator 
The options are set out on a special ‘Starting out’ tab on the website. From that page you can also download a free spreadsheet which will help you work out your costs and what you need to earn to make a living. There is even a £10 discount if you purchase 3 webinars from this page.

Advice is given either in the form of a recorded webinar or a future event. These include business advice, advice on the tools you need to work with, on marketing your services and on writing a CV that will work.

And in October 2014 Lucy joins freelance translator Lloyd Bingham in a double webinar to help you through those first difficult months or years. They will tackle the practical and legal aspects that must be considered before you start: business structures*, funding, taxation, finding your first clients and setting your rates, as well as the administrative procedures you need to put in place for smooth management. We will delve into some recommendations for efficient marketing, equipment, and financial planning and will offer many resources for further investigation.  The second session will look at further aspects that are not taught on any MA course, such as what qualities a freelance translator requires, how to gain that crucial initial experience and break the cycle of needing experience to get work, but needing work to get experience. We will also look at how to promote yourself, using your CV, social media and a website or blog.

*Please note that the first session will concentrate heavily on the situation in the United Kingdom. Attendees in other countries will still gain from it in general terms, but should be aware of this restriction.

Business School

If you want more in-depth marketing and business training look no further than the Business School for Translators. This is a 5 and a half hour intensive course to show you how to plan your career, run your business, work with agencies, find direct clients and give you an insight into marketing techniques. The next course starts on June 3^rd. But hurry, at the time of writing places were going fast.

Advanced Business School

More advanced practitioners may find Marta’s advanced Boot Camp in September 2014 will boost business and enhance their careers. Watch this video to find out more.

And a FREE taster of all this

On Friday 6th June Lucy Brooks will be giving a free webinar on starting out as a translator. Anyone thinking of starting out is welcome to attend. It will offer some sound advise and will also showcase eCPD's programme. If you want to attend, sign up here.

 Communication is our future

Our global economy needs good translators. The translation industry is growing. The pressures are very great and some will flounder without good guidance. Translators who produce high quality work just need to get their first high-quality clients to sail off on the start of a successful career. eCPD can help you over the first hurdles.

When statistics get exciting!

If you have a website - and in 2013 few translators haven't - you probably use an analysis utility to find out who is visiting your site.

I still am completely and childishly fascinated by the global breadth of the appeal of eCPD Webinars.

Recently, I delved fairly deeply into the demographics of visitors to the eCPD website. I was amazed to find that this year we had received visits from 148 different countries. Apparently there are 195 independent countries in the world, so our website has had visitors from 76% of the entire globe.

I also discovered that this year we have received over 41,000 visits, 43% of them new visitors and our overall visitor rate has increased considerably over 2012. One person visited us from a land in the Arctic I was not even aware of - Svalbard and Jan Mayen - a Norwegian territory in the Arctic. I am truly thrilled that so many people all over the world want to know more about us.

Moreover, a detailed look at a different set statistics for our mailings shows that while the majority of our readers are in Europe and the US, people as far afield as Indonesia, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Seychelles, and Panama regularly open our newsletters.

So I thought to myself that it would be great if we knew more about you. The one thing statistics do not provide is names or addresses - such statistics are anonymised of course. So this is an invitation to all of you, in whichever country you reside,  to tell us about yourself - your job, your goals and aspirations for the future, and what you are doing to enhance your career as a translator or interpreter. Send your contributions to me at blog@ecpdwebinars.co.uk or simply write a comment below and I will include some of them in a future post. I hope that we at eCPD are able to help you achieve your goals, increase your professionalism, and enhance your earning power.

Please note that if you you take up this invitation we may publish the information given on our blog. Please do not therefore send details that are too personal, though we will, of course, edit contributions so that they meet the criteria of publications on the web.

Keep visiting our website and reading our chatty newsletters.