| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | How do you organise your business day in order to optimise your earnings? Thread poster: Astrid Elke Witte
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| Response time is gold | Feb 4, 2010 |
As a PM, I can confirm that in Astrid's specialty fields, the quick response time makes the difference between getting a job and not getting a job. Whether or not you can afford to let job offers wait until the afternoon also depends on the type of jobs that you work on. In my humble experience, finance is a notoriously short-turnaround field, and a day's wait for a confirm is simply too long: if the translator says no, half of the deadline is gone.
| | | | | How do you organise your business day in order to optimise your earnings? | Feb 4, 2010 |
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
In my case, my main goal is to keep my mind free from worries and to-do's to be able to concentrate on the translation at hand. To achieve that, I separate all incoming and outgoing communications in two categories: the "now is best" category and the "later is best" category. In the "now is best" case, I apply the principle of immediate action and stop the translation for a moment, do whatever is required, and let it completely disappear from my mind until further action is required; things in the "later is best" category are kept on hold until there is ample time to take care of them.
Usual things in the "now is best" category:
- Customer emails and calls (customers can't wait for a reply or for you to call back)
- Planning/staging incoming work
- Assigning tasks to the other people in the team
Usual things in the "later is best" category:
- PO management (asking for pending POs)
- Invoicing/sending invoices/asking about late payments
- Communication with relatives and friends
- Procurement of hardware/software/reference books
- Dealing with other private matters
A "later is best" task very rarely interrupts translation work and "now is best" matters. The goal is to keep productive work moving, and taking care of non-productive matters when all work is delivered, all customers are served and happy, and there is ample time for them.
I admit that it is a very simplistic approach and in fact this is what every busy person does. I just thought I'd summarise the typical tasks in each category.
As I said already in my first answer of this thread, each one should adapt his work to his/her personality. What can be beneficial for some, may be harmful to others. And it is not the same to work in collaboration with other translators running an agency, as to have to do everything oneself.
In behalf to immediate attention to the clients, precisely yesterday evening late I spoke with a certified translator about this. She told to me she had lost the whole morning attending a client who had assigned her a one page certified translation... as the client was calling her constantly to ask things about spanish nationalization (What the hell, she is a certified transator and not the Spanish Foreigners Office!)
In such cases, if you pick up the phone you are lost. I am sorry, but I do not want to lose my time with such kind of things and in behalf of urgency, here is what I think about.
| | | | Speranza 
Local time: 21:50
Spanish to Russian
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| Do not invent problems where there are none | Feb 4, 2010 |
Astrid Elke Johnson wrote:
that requires a lot of e-mail correspondence to negotiate the work.
No, it doesn't. If it is a regular client with the typical project, e-mail correspondence on my part consists of exactly two messages: "Files received, thank you" and "Please find the translation attached." If it is a new client and/or there is something unusual about the project, then there is one more message at the beginning where I provide a rate, a time frame and whatever other conditions may apply. What else is there to negotiate?
I use a separate mailbox for all mail that is likely to require immediate attention (that is, mail from clients). All messages from there are forwarded to a Gmail account. The Gmail page is open all the time, it sits in the taskbar and refreshes automatically, so I see right away if a client is trying to reach me. Since I reply within minutes, there is no need to use the phone. I don't like using it anyway: it is better to have everything recorded and archived to avoid potential disagreement over what was or wasn't said.
So, here is how my work is organized: I translate. When I get a message from a client, I quickly send a short reply. "I am available and the job is welcome, thank you." "I am fully booked through Tuesday. Are you willing to wait for this translation till Friday?" "The rate I can offer for this project is €€€. Please let me know if you would like me to proceed." That's 1-2 lines, takes less than a minute.
you have to OCR it all and obtain an approximate word count in order to provide a quote.
Why on earth would you waste time doing that? Roughly estimate the amount, if you offer volume discounts or something (if you don't, how is the volume relevant at all?), and tell the client that the price will be based on the target text word count.
After this, you are involved in quite a lot of correspondence to make the arrangements to do the job.
What arrangements?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:50
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Calculate with 5 or 6 hours instead | Feb 4, 2010 |
Astrid Elke Johnson wrote:
...and also assuming that it will take you at least 8 hours, or maybe even 9 or 10, to translate that number of words - how do you organise your business day to fit it in?
You don't. When you calculate the number of words to translate to get a certain income, you should assume that you spend only 60-75% of every hour doing actual translation work. So if you want to translate for 10 hours, it means that work actual work day will be 14 hours long. If you want your work day to be 10 hours long, you should calculate as if you have only 6 hours to do translation.
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| How do you organise your business day in order to optimise your earnings? | Feb 4, 2010 |
Susan van den Ende wrote:
As a PM, I can confirm that in Astrid's specialty fields, the quick response time makes the difference between getting a job and not getting a job. Whether or not you can afford to let job offers wait until the afternoon also depends on the type of jobs that you work on. In my humble experience, finance is a notoriously short-turnaround field, and a day's wait for a confirm is simply too long: if the translator says no, half of the deadline is gone.
This is the way of thinking of a PM. And it was also mine thirty years ago as I was one of them. And you are right, time is gold. But, my time is mine, not yours... Of course, business philosophy will depend on every person and circumstances. But, usually I do not work with intermediaries (with some rare exceptions) anymore, as they reduce my business margins.
If you have long term or high specialised projects from direct clients, I do not believe that four hours more or less will matter. Dictating instead of typing may save 4 hours easily. With regard to urgent translations, this is what I guess. Have a nice time.
| | | | Astrid Elke Witte
Germany
Local time: 21:50
Member (2002)
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Hi Nadejda,
The arrangements I meant are those required to be made before accepting a quite large job, which is a larger financial risk.
Also, there can be quite a lot of discussion about the amount of money for a larger job, as well as discussion about how much of it will be paid when, and how long the various parts of the job will take if delivery is required in instalments.
The OCR work is necessary, as it is often difficult to even approximately estimat... See more Hi Nadejda,
The arrangements I meant are those required to be made before accepting a quite large job, which is a larger financial risk.
Also, there can be quite a lot of discussion about the amount of money for a larger job, as well as discussion about how much of it will be paid when, and how long the various parts of the job will take if delivery is required in instalments.
The OCR work is necessary, as it is often difficult to even approximately estimate the number of hours' work involved without a word count. I do not know many agencies who do not want to agree the price in advance. In fact, I often agree with them upon a round figure, but I will need to know how many hours I expect to work for that amount of money.
Astrid ▲ Collapse
| | | | Speranza
Local time: 21:50
Spanish to Russian
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| You mean you don't charge a per-unit rate? | Feb 4, 2010 |
Astrid Elke Johnson wrote:
I will need to know how many hours I expect to work for that amount of money.
Are you saying you charge a per-project fee and not a per-word, per-line or per-hour rate?
| | | | Grayson Morr (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 21:50
Dutch to English
| Large projects | Feb 4, 2010 |
Nadejda Vega Cespedes wrote:
Are you saying you charge a per-project fee and not a per-word, per-line or per-hour rate?
Large projects often end up going for a set project price, even if the starting point is your per-word (or per-hour) rate. As Astrid says, for large projects, most clients (agency or not) want to settle on price beforehand, as they otherwise run the risk of a project that took much longer than the translator expected and is suddenly, say, double the estimated figure.
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Astrid Elke Witte
Germany
Local time: 21:50
Member (2002)
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Round figures and outsourcing | Feb 4, 2010 |
From time to time I have to outsource work, for local clients. The most useful thing, then, is for me to have a round figure concerning the costs.
I charge the client in different units in any case. I charge local clients for a line of 55 characters with spaces, regardless of the language pair. The colleague charges me a word price. It does not matter how the colleague charges really, but a round figure assists the mathematics.
| | | | | Take a break! | Feb 4, 2010 |
As for me, organizing stuff, sending E-mails etc. acts like a good break from translating. I guess no one can translate continuously...so whenever you feel like taking a small break, just check your mailbox, or visit proz, maybe browse a little and back to work again!
Gmail shows me a part of the mail text when an E-mail arrives, so I can figure out whether it needs an immediate reply or can wait. And again, mails need not be long...I usually use only two words to accept a job - "w... See more As for me, organizing stuff, sending E-mails etc. acts like a good break from translating. I guess no one can translate continuously...so whenever you feel like taking a small break, just check your mailbox, or visit proz, maybe browse a little and back to work again!
Gmail shows me a part of the mail text when an E-mail arrives, so I can figure out whether it needs an immediate reply or can wait. And again, mails need not be long...I usually use only two words to accept a job - "will do"! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Claire Cox
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:50
French to English
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| Bids based on less than your actual capacity | Feb 4, 2010 |
Hi Astrid,
I usually try to quote based on a word count which is less than I know I can usually achieve, thus leaving me spare capacity to fit in admin tasks, quoting and smaller jobs from regular clients as and when they arrive. If you consistently quote to your maximum words per day capacity, I can imagine life becoming somewhat fraught and lots of midnight oil being burned...
In saying that, I do think a quick response to clients is important and so check my e-mails... See more Hi Astrid,
I usually try to quote based on a word count which is less than I know I can usually achieve, thus leaving me spare capacity to fit in admin tasks, quoting and smaller jobs from regular clients as and when they arrive. If you consistently quote to your maximum words per day capacity, I can imagine life becoming somewhat fraught and lots of midnight oil being burned...
In saying that, I do think a quick response to clients is important and so check my e-mails regularly. I missed a job last week when I'd gone out to my regular Wednesday morning dance class. I was out for two hours, the client had e-mailed me at 10.30, but when I returned at 11.30, he'd already placed the job with someone else. That's the way it goes in this business.... I used to think that as a freelance I could work whatever hours I wanted - whilst that's true to a certain extent, it definitely pays to be available during "standard" working hours - that's when your clients expect a professional translator to be accessible.
I also think it's important to have a minimum charge so that you don't spend time doing work (and research/admin) for which you end up being paid a pittance. That may discourage certain clients from sending small jobs to you, but that's probably no loss and leaves you free to do the more lucrative larger projects.
Claire ▲ Collapse
| | | | | May depend somewhat on your specialization | Feb 4, 2010 |
This is interesting to me, because I often feel bogged down with all the e-mails back and forth and other organizational work to be done. Reading the responses, I think specialization does make a difference.
I am in the same language pair and roughly the same specializations as Astrid. Financial work goes quickly, as another poster said - my clients need an almost immediate response, so I do carry a Blackberry as I go about my daily business. Also, there is a lot of e-mailing to do... See more This is interesting to me, because I often feel bogged down with all the e-mails back and forth and other organizational work to be done. Reading the responses, I think specialization does make a difference.
I am in the same language pair and roughly the same specializations as Astrid. Financial work goes quickly, as another poster said - my clients need an almost immediate response, so I do carry a Blackberry as I go about my daily business. Also, there is a lot of e-mailing to do; almost never can I get away with a simple yes and then just return the file. Deadlines shift frequently and must be renegotiated; sometimes jobs are cancelled (if an IPO is cancelled, no documentation to translate - not much to be done about that). Particularly right now during annual report season or with certain other types of files, jobs are large and on a tight deadline, so teamwork is often the order of the day. I just did a job with a team in 3 different times zones, which made coordination interesting. Of course, even with a split-up job, clients still insist on consistency, so there's all the hashing out of style points, formatting, terminology with the team. Yes, it would be great if that was all provided at the outset, but it's not always the case. Then there is the set up time with TMs, etc. Or if I'm handling a job by myself, it can be split up into several pieces with changes to the different sections coming in waves. Is this sounding familiar to other financial translators? Some of this could be improved, while other parts are simply part of the deal with this specialization.
I don't have much advice. One thing that has helped me is the time difference with clients (not really helpful, I know). By the time I'm ready to settle into work, most of them are heading home. That cuts down the number of interruptions. IM and Skype help me coordinate with other translators, and TM has improved my efficiency so that I can do more work in the same amount of time (although the set-up can take time, too). Anyway, Astrid, interesting thread.
PS Good points, Claire.
[Edited at 2010-02-04 22:48 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 15:50
Member (2008)
English to French
| Depends on the day | Feb 5, 2010 |
10am - wake up, start coffee machine & stroll over to computer
10:15am - start answering pile of emails in inbox (I work in a different time zone than my major clients so they add up over almost 12 hours) - use "canned responses" in google to fire back a standard e-mail to see if the projects are 1) still available 2) have a high enough budget to allow my rates
10:30am (9:30pm EST) - e-mails start trickling in from night shift PMs - I keep track of what I've accepted an... See more 10am - wake up, start coffee machine & stroll over to computer
10:15am - start answering pile of emails in inbox (I work in a different time zone than my major clients so they add up over almost 12 hours) - use "canned responses" in google to fire back a standard e-mail to see if the projects are 1) still available 2) have a high enough budget to allow my rates
10:30am (9:30pm EST) - e-mails start trickling in from night shift PMs - I keep track of what I've accepted and confirmed on a post-it so that I don't accept too much. I "star" the thread once I receive the PO.
11:00am - my day is pretty much booked, anywhere from 3 to 12 hours of work depending on what is available, my mood and my plans (or lack thereof) for that evening.
11:15am - create a subfolder for each project listing project name, scope & deadline so I can start tackling them in a specific order.
1:15 - have worked for 2 hours, hungry and need a break, make lunch and browse facebook, proz, failblog, peopleofwalmart, time.com, shanghaiexpat, smartshanghai
2:00 - back to work
4:00 - see 1:15 (it's 4:03 as I'm writing this)
4:30 - back to work
2-hour work followed by 30minute goof off cycle continues until my work is done - today will be finished within the hour - dinner and comedy show planned for tonight so turned down projects with later deadlines, sometimes I will work until 8pm or later.
Billing is done during the evening while watching TV as it does not need much involvement past cutting and pasting. I have not scouted for new clients in over 8 months but when I did I would actively set aside 30 minutes a week to cold send cvs to large agencies with a proven history and good BB ratings
I guess one of the advantages I have is that I never get e-mails once I've started working (night shift seems to log off around 11pm EST which is noon for me). Also there is not much back & forthing - either the project is still available or not, and the budget can allow my rate or not.
I sometimes check my e-mail (if I'm home) between 10pm and 1am to see if there are any juicy projects on the horizon (specialized or technical subjects, large word count & good budget or end clients for which I know I have preferred vendor status) but everything else will wait until the next morning - no use answering at the same time as all the other FrCan translators during the day - if the projects are still available 9-10 hours after I will be in a much better bargaining position...
The key is probably to have a simple, efficient organisation system for both working & billing: KISS - keep it simple stupid - my invoices are all in a folder and there is a subfolder named "paid" I simply move them once they are paid - no spread sheet, no other tally, nothing, I include the invoice total in the name so that I can easily calculate what will be coming in over the next 30-45 days. Each active project has a folder and once I have delivered I dump the entire folder in the "archive". With advanced search functions and huge hard drives I have found no other classification necessary.
Oh and once in a blue moon I cross and merge all my TMs (from Translator workbench, SDLX & Wordfast) to update my "master" file.
4:26 - must... get... back... to... work... in... 4.... minutes.... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Optimizing work flow | Feb 6, 2010 |
All of my quotes are based on the target text and with regard to productivity, I never concern myself with word count - I base my daily output on a minimum number of pages. I assign myself a minimum of 10 pages to be completed each and every day, on an estimated per page word count of 250 words. I have found that this works out quite accurately for the majority of my projects. I do review my assignments with a quick visual scan to check for any unusual issues (sometimes I do receive files with... See more All of my quotes are based on the target text and with regard to productivity, I never concern myself with word count - I base my daily output on a minimum number of pages. I assign myself a minimum of 10 pages to be completed each and every day, on an estimated per page word count of 250 words. I have found that this works out quite accurately for the majority of my projects. I do review my assignments with a quick visual scan to check for any unusual issues (sometimes I do receive files with a very dense word count on almost all pages or with some cumbersome formatting) so I can factor that into my productivity. I have never ever been asked to provide a word count for the purpose of my quote - the agency either estimates it for their own quote or they have a fixed contract with the end client (often the Government), but that doesn't affect me. My quotes are based on the target text, so the number of words in the source text wouldn't be accurate anyway. On occasion I have been asked to come up with a fixed amount for a particular project, but that is usually limited to smaller projects of 10 pages or less, in which case I employ my standard per page estimate combined with a quick review to look for issues that will eat up extra time and then quote an amount that will make me happy even if the project has a slightly larger word count than estimated. None of that takes up a lot of my time or involves tons of email or phone conversations.
I'm always surprised when I see that other translators are doing the work the agency should be doing - how can an agency bid on projects without knowing the extent of the job. Surely they don't wait until they have gotten quotes from their translators to get back with their customers, right? So, put the ball back into their court, have them come up with an estimated word count and base your quote on the final word count if you charge per target word. If you charge per source word, I would factor in the normal average expansion when translating from German into English when the client provides the source text word count. In other words, if you know that you can expect an increase in word count of about 15% in your area of specialization, I would advise the customer that your quote is based on the assumption that they provided an accurate word count of the source text. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | How do you organise your business day in order to optimise your earnings? | Feb 6, 2010 |
Gisela Greenlee wrote:
I'm always surprised when I see that other translators are doing the work the agency should be doing - how can an agency bid on projects without knowing the extent of the job. Surely they don't wait until they have gotten quotes from their translators to get back with their customers, right? So, put the ball back into their court, have them come up with an estimated word count and base your quote on the final word count if you charge per target word.
An intelligent approach. Providers must do his work and we ours.
Nevertheless, after many years in this business, I do not get surprised anymore by anything..
[Editado a las 2010-02-06 19:15 GMT]
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