Agencies you work with Thread poster: Rasa Mikalauskaite
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Established translators, just with how many agencies do you work with with constantly? How does one secure constant work flows?
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:38
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Rasa Mikalauskaite wrote:
Established translators, just with how many agencies do you work with with constantly? How does one secure constant work flows?
Yes; this is a bit of a problem. Basically, I only work with two agencies constantly. Additionally, there are a number of other agencies and private clients who contact me once in a while. I get enough work from my two regular agencies to keep me going; about three weeks ago one of them gave me so much work that it'll keep me busy until the New Year.
The other problem is that both of these agencies pay very late, and as time goes by, my plan is to drop them as soon as my work for other agencies builds up.
[Edited at 2014-11-27 08:34 GMT]
| | | | | The balancing act | Nov 27, 2014 |
It's not a matter of aiming at a number of agencies, and not at agencies alone. IMHO you should strive for some healthy diversity in your clientele.
For some 20 years in a row, one direct client accounted for 50~75% of my yearly income, and this let me afford a pretty good lifestyle, apparently sustainable. This is ancient history now, but one paradigm shift in their trade transformed that company from Gulliver into Thumbelina in less than five years.
Lesson learned: ... See more It's not a matter of aiming at a number of agencies, and not at agencies alone. IMHO you should strive for some healthy diversity in your clientele.
For some 20 years in a row, one direct client accounted for 50~75% of my yearly income, and this let me afford a pretty good lifestyle, apparently sustainable. This is ancient history now, but one paradigm shift in their trade transformed that company from Gulliver into Thumbelina in less than five years.
Lesson learned: No matter how large it is, don't put all (or most of) your eggs in one basket.
Few agencies have a constant demand for any specific language pair. Keep in mind that they work on requests from end clients, they don't generate requests on their own. If they do have such a demand, they'll probably have a team of translators to do it. In this case, their demand from you will vary depending on the different team members' availability.
Of course, in this constant-demand agency team, you should be really good at it and nice to work with, so that all things being equal, that agency will check your availability first or second, not last.
Otherwise, keep yourself in good rating with all good agencies you know. When they ask you, tell them what you CAN do, including by when and for how much. Keep in mind that it takes two to tango. If your terms are sensible and your work is timely and good, chances are that they'll call you every time they need your services.
Final lesson: It's better to turn down a job than to deliver late or sloppy work. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Relationships are key | Nov 27, 2014 |
There have been times when I only worked with one agency yet had a steady flow of work. As pointed out above, however, this can be problematic for many reasons if the agency suddenly changes focus or no longer has a need for your services. Projects come and go, and even the big projects eventually come to an end.
This year I've been busy with three agencies and a handful of private clients, but I am looking to diversify even more. Ideally, I think I would like to develop close relat... See more There have been times when I only worked with one agency yet had a steady flow of work. As pointed out above, however, this can be problematic for many reasons if the agency suddenly changes focus or no longer has a need for your services. Projects come and go, and even the big projects eventually come to an end.
This year I've been busy with three agencies and a handful of private clients, but I am looking to diversify even more. Ideally, I think I would like to develop close relationships with 6 to 10 agencies. For me, though, this will be a gradual process. I prefer to add new clients one at a time and am choosy about the agencies I work with. I prefer long-term projects with long-term clients who value my services and understand the hard work that goes into producing a high-quality translation. ▲ Collapse
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Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 00:38
Member (2007)
English
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| Constant work flow doesn't sound like freelancing | Nov 27, 2014 |
Rasa Mikalauskaite wrote:
Established translators, just with how many agencies do you work with with constantly? How does one secure constant work flows?
Constant work flow is for salaried staff in the main. I dare say there are some translators who get this from their agency clients but most of us get smaller or larger jobs from many different sources: agencies, direct clients and even fellow translators who don't often outsource. I'm not even sure I'd want anything too constant as I really like the "What's next?" feeling. It's only when the answer is "Nothing!" for too long that I start wishing for anything more constant. Normally, I realise one day that there's no work planned, or that the month's income is going to be low...and then up pops a request that may be just a one-off or may turn into a long and fruitful relationship. Who knows? Who cares? If it's a one-off, something else will crop up.
As one door closes, another one opens. Just make sure stay near the door, ready to grasp the handle to stop it closing . Even if you have regular clients, you'll perhaps be looking for better regular clients: those who agree to higher rates; those (agencies) who add value by formatting files etc and give sensible deadlines; those who pay more promptly... That calls for pretty constant marketing effort to make sure potential clients know you're out there.
| | | | | one regular, five semi-regular | Nov 27, 2014 |
I'm still trying to find a balance in all of this. But to answer your question, I work with one agency regularly and about 5 who I bill at least monthly, but who don't send me work on a daily basis.
I know it is not an ideal arrangement to get the bulk of my work from one agency and has its risks, but it does have its pluses: I rarely say no to them, so they seem to turn to me first (or at least I'm one of their firsts) which means I can count on a steady stream of work and they ca... See more I'm still trying to find a balance in all of this. But to answer your question, I work with one agency regularly and about 5 who I bill at least monthly, but who don't send me work on a daily basis.
I know it is not an ideal arrangement to get the bulk of my work from one agency and has its risks, but it does have its pluses: I rarely say no to them, so they seem to turn to me first (or at least I'm one of their firsts) which means I can count on a steady stream of work and they can count on my availability. It has been a year of working together and I haven't experienced the "feast or famine" phenomenon I've heard so much about.
Because it's so darn hard for me to say no, I find this arrangement preferable to having 20 different agencies, none of whom rely on me on a regular basis, and all of whom I have to disappoint regularly due to inavailability. With this arrangement I think the "feast or famine" problem can be more extreme.
I'm trying hard to establish a more regular relationship with a couple of other agencies who offer particularly interesting projects just to protect myself, and I'm finding this comes by not saying no to them. A few months back I said no to an agency for the third time and I haven't heard from them since and I'm taking it as a lesson learned - I should have made room for them somehow.
I think probably the key to finding steady work with a few agencies is to target agencies in the country of your source language. This will mean they probably have a more steady stream of work for your language pair. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kamta Prasad
India
Local time: 05:08
Member (2007)
English to Hindi
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| English>Hindi | Nov 27, 2014 |
I am working for only one US based agency. My other client did not provide me regular job. I am trying my best to keep myself busy continuously but failed. Any idea.
| | | | Rasa Mikalauskaite
Belgium
Local time: 01:38
Member (2016)
Dutch to Lithuanian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all for your answers, more or less what I expected.
And how did you get into contact with them? How normal, for a beginner, is sending out a lot of spontaneous applications before you get a reply?
And lastly, how visible are you online (linkedIn and the likes) and does it really help to get noticed and contacted?
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Tatty
Local time: 01:38
Spanish to English
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I freelanced for over 10 years and I always had a steady work flow. The main factor is your language combination/s and secondly how much you charged. This applies for agencies. But in order to do more highly paid work for non-agency clients I had to have some free capacity otherwise I couldn't take it on. However you need to already have some money behind you to afford not to work at full capacity just in case there aren't any non-agency clients requiring your services.
It's always ... See more I freelanced for over 10 years and I always had a steady work flow. The main factor is your language combination/s and secondly how much you charged. This applies for agencies. But in order to do more highly paid work for non-agency clients I had to have some free capacity otherwise I couldn't take it on. However you need to already have some money behind you to afford not to work at full capacity just in case there aren't any non-agency clients requiring your services.
It's always a balancing act though!
Good luck ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Just like job hunting | Nov 29, 2014 |
Finding agencies to hire you is no different to finding professional salaried employment. Many demand your CV and references, and only if you are relentless in your pursuit of new agencies to apply to will you find one suitable.
For example, last week I sent approximately 200 emails to various agencies and I received 4 replies, 2 of these agencies said my rates were too high (they wanted someone who would accept $0.06 per word) and 2 have registered me on their database. I am regis... See more Finding agencies to hire you is no different to finding professional salaried employment. Many demand your CV and references, and only if you are relentless in your pursuit of new agencies to apply to will you find one suitable.
For example, last week I sent approximately 200 emails to various agencies and I received 4 replies, 2 of these agencies said my rates were too high (they wanted someone who would accept $0.06 per word) and 2 have registered me on their database. I am registered on dozens (feels like hundreds) of agency databases but only receive regular work from 2-3.
The only difference between applying for employment and applying to agencies is that most often prospective employers will send you a rejection letter; agencies rarely respond.
Good luck!
DJH
[Edited at 2014-11-29 01:04 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | What is your unique selling point? | Nov 29, 2014 |
Why should the client choose you and not the regular Joe, who will do the job for the third of the price? If you figure that out, let agencies know you exist and they will come to you. If you don't have one, you're probably in the wrong business.
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