How long before I can be a full time translator? Thread poster: Aida Mengistu
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I have been working as a freelance translator for more than a decade but I have been getting more work in the last 7 years. Last year, I've had twice as many translation projects as I've had the years before. This is promising but nowhere enough for me to quit my day job and live off of - which is my dream! If you are a full time independent translator, can you tell me how long it took you to get there? And what was it that enabled you to make that switch - a long term contract, etc.?
| | | | Henry Hinds 
United States
Local time: 03:26
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
Is what it took me, and a diversity of clients. One good long-term contract is not enough. It can run out and there is nothing to replece it.
| | | | Milena Bosco (X)
Italy
Local time: 11:26
English to Italian
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| In my opinion | Mar 2, 2010 |
It mostly depends on your rates...
Best regards,
Milena
| | | | Tae Kim
United States
Local time: 02:26
Member (2007)
English to Korean
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| Depends on how much you want it | Mar 2, 2010 |
If you already have another full time job, then it probably is not easy to accumulate a good client base because of your need to tend to both fields. As for me, I only concentrated on translation, so it was relatively not too hard to accumulate client base. For about first six months or so, I got only little work coming in, but as I started to build client base slowly, more work came in, and I really was overwhelmed to handle all of the work coming in. The trick is to build good working relat... See more If you already have another full time job, then it probably is not easy to accumulate a good client base because of your need to tend to both fields. As for me, I only concentrated on translation, so it was relatively not too hard to accumulate client base. For about first six months or so, I got only little work coming in, but as I started to build client base slowly, more work came in, and I really was overwhelmed to handle all of the work coming in. The trick is to build good working relationships with your clients, as in any other line of work. Once you do a good job for a client, they'll send you jobs steadily. You have a bad relationship with a client, and it's not going to help establishing a client base of course. Just do whatever a client asks you do, do it, don't disappoint a client. Sometimes your relationship with your clients is more important than your technical ability as a translator. But then technical ability also grows as you get more experience. ▲ Collapse
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 05:26
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
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It took me two years before I enjoyed a full-time income. However, I imagine it would take much longer today.
| | | | Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 05:26
Member (2008)
English to French
Tae Kim wrote:
If you already have another full time job, then it probably is not easy to accumulate a good client base because of your need to tend to both fields. As for me, I only concentrated on translation, so it was relatively not too hard to accumulate client base. For about first six months or so, I got only little work coming in, but as I started to build client base slowly, more work came in, and I really was overwhelmed to handle all of the work coming in. The trick is to build good working relationships with your clients, as in any other line of work. Once you do a good job for a client, they'll send you jobs steadily. You have a bad relationship with a client, and it's not going to help establishing a client base of course. Just do whatever a client asks you do, do it, don't disappoint a client. Sometimes your relationship with your clients is more important than your technical ability as a translator. But then technical ability also grows as you get more experience.
When I started as a full time freelancer I had 1 direct client that sent me regular work and was enough to maybe meet half my basic expenses (rent, utilities, food, etc.). I spent my first six to eight months agency hunting. I got several small jobs with agencies I still work with but who do not have much demand for FrCan. I lucked out with 45 000word project from a PM who was a university friend from my translation degree and that helped keep me afloat but, nonetheless, for that first year I was in the red. However after those first 6-8 months business really took off and I slowly repaid all my debts and both upscaled my life style and started putting money aside. I'm proud to say exactly 2 years after I launched myself as a full time freelancer as I consider myself "established". But this would never have been possible if I were working another full time job on the side.
A tip for getting your foot in the door is to apply to agencies a month before the summer holidays and a month before the winter holidays - all agencies have their "preferred" translators and if you're the new kid on the roster you might only be sent the very low budget projects or the ones that have already been turned down by all the other translators - handwritten source, list of technical terms without a glossary that will require 5 minutes of research per word, etc. Working over the holidays (not fun but hey, that's what I did my first year - this year I went to the beach so I think it was a good tradeoff ) will allow you to showcase your skills on "regular" projects and quickly jump to the top of the list (if your work is good that is )
You'll notice I talk about agencies and not end clients - I believe agencies are bread and butter at the beginning (well good agencies) - your work gets proofed and QMed, you can ask for feedback and there's always work to be done. End clients are both more work and more reward but you're walking a thinner line - there is much less room for error so having more experience under your belt is best.
Your language pair however is not of one the "big" ones so you might need to juggle several agencies & clients - I've found a well written e-mail, cold send (without an attachment, don't want it to get flagged as spam), will get you a reply about 10% of the time - half of these will refer you to an online application site where your guess is as good as mine - sometimes these things pan out sometimes they don't - the other half will request more information/cv/rates/references, etc. So if you are unable to stop working your job UNTIL you are established set aside a few hours every week and send out 20 cold emails - look for agencies that work in your language pair AND that have a good BB rating.... and good luck!
| | | | Edward Vreeburg
Netherlands
Local time: 11:26
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
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| 2-3 years max. | Mar 3, 2010 |
As with any job / company if you still cannot make a living of it after 2-3 years, you should either work harder or call it a hobby to supplement your income.
Like Arianne said, your language pair is not very common, so you might need to look a bit harder, or simply contact the clients you have now and ask them if they see an increase in jobs, because you are thinking of quitting your day job.
Perhaps they can recommend you to other people in need of your skills.
Good lu... See more As with any job / company if you still cannot make a living of it after 2-3 years, you should either work harder or call it a hobby to supplement your income.
Like Arianne said, your language pair is not very common, so you might need to look a bit harder, or simply contact the clients you have now and ask them if they see an increase in jobs, because you are thinking of quitting your day job.
Perhaps they can recommend you to other people in need of your skills.
Good luck
Chase your dream
Shoot for the moon, and you will at least land amongst the stars.
: )
Ed ▲ Collapse
| | | | Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 05:26
Member (2008)
English to French
| completely off subject :-) | Mar 3, 2010 |
Edward Vreeburg wrote:
Shoot for the moon, and you will at least land amongst the stars.
: )
Ed
I'm too literal for my own good but this had me giggling - you're have to overshoot the moon by a few light years to land amongst the stars
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| Indeed, could be longer today | Mar 3, 2010 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote:
It took me two years before I enjoyed a full-time income. However, I imagine it would take much longer today.
I agree. When I started 15 years ago, there was a ton of work for everyone and competition was not as fierce as today. I left my full-time job at a localisation company in Madrid and have enjoyed almost continuous work from the week after until today. The situation could be different now.
| | | | Aida Mengistu
Local time: 03:26
English to Amharic
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TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all very much for taking the time to write your suggestions and inputs. It is much appreciated and very helpful!
| | | | Alex Eames
Local time: 10:26
English to Polish
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| Jumping in with both feet concentrates the mind | Mar 9, 2010 |
A couple of years of occasional jobs followed by a decision to quit the career rat-race, which I was totally unsuited for anyway.
Having saved hard for a couple of years in advance to give a few months' financial cushion, we started our full-time efforts in January 1997, and by April of that year we had enough work to make a living. And the rest is history.
But if we had not committed to it, I think we'd n... See more A couple of years of occasional jobs followed by a decision to quit the career rat-race, which I was totally unsuited for anyway.
Having saved hard for a couple of years in advance to give a few months' financial cushion, we started our full-time efforts in January 1997, and by April of that year we had enough work to make a living. And the rest is history.
But if we had not committed to it, I think we'd never have got there. There's nothing quite like putting your back to the wall and forcing yourself to make it work. It really concentrates the mind.
It's not the right way for all people, but it is something to consider, as long as you don't have debts which could take you down.
Alex Eames
http://www.translatortips.com/
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