| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | How to get EN-15038:2006 Certified Thread poster: Diego Achío
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Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 11:50
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| That's just a whinge | Jul 17, 2015 |
Diego Achío wrote:
We found out that there are a lot of freelancers working with corporate profiles, offering freelancer prices, this affect real translation agencies because the client thinks they are actually hiring a real company for a much lower price. In consequence, real agencies have to lower their rates by a lot and this obviously affects the freelancers working with us....
We're currently thinking of several courses of action in order to earn our client's trust and let them know we're a company and not just a masked freelancer. But I'm not really complaining, kudoz on those people who were bright enough as to mask themselves as companies. The business world is all about strategies, not morals. Or so they say 
You're making out a case for unfair competition when it isn't unfair at all. Single translators have every right to set up a company, and display a corporate-like profile - there's nothing unfair about it, and it certainly isn't immoral.
However, to reduce the rates you pay to translators on this basis may be immoral, IMHO. Your rate, as an ethical agency, could well be a little higher, certainly. But you have much you can offer the client in exchange that a freelance translator cannot offer. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that you can potentially offer 24/7 service, tens of thousands of words a day, all language pairs, all subject areas, DTP, etc. If you can't offer those, or if you can't effectively sell that point, then maybe you aren't really a 'proper' agency yourself.
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:50
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Nothing could be further from the truth | Jul 17, 2015 |
Diego Achío wrote:
We're currently thinking of several courses of action in order to earn our client's trust and let them know we're a company and not just a masked freelancer.
I think "masked" would hardly be a fair description of most freelancers operating as small companies. I am a freelancer who runs the business with my business partner through a company. Far from wanting to "mask" myself, one of the main reasons for doing so is transparency.
Because we operate as a limited company, we are subject to disclosure requirements that are generally just as stringent as those of a larger company. Those requirements are onerous to fulfil, but we do it in part because our status as a limited company allows potential clients verify who we are.
Clients can use the internet to check Companies House from anywhere in the world for information about how long the company has existed, to see whether we are filing our annual returns, to confirm the location of the registered office and so on.
This deliberate transparency sends a simple message: we have nothing to hide. As you can see from my profile (on ProZ and on LinkedIn) and our currently rather crude website, I am not concealing anything: my name, my background, my skills and my work address are up there for the world to see.
And of course clients can cross-check the work address on the website with the address of the registered office at Companies House. And they can cross-check the company in the LinkedIn or ProZ profile with the website. It's all there.
Yes, we use a limited company as a business vehicle. That doesn't mean that we are misrepresenting who we are. On the contrary, when clients work with me they know exactly who they are dealing with and where I am located. That's far more than can be said for most agencies.
Regards
Dan
| | | | Diego Achío
Local time: 04:50
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | You guys misunderstood me | Jul 18, 2015 |
I consider a company to be a registered business with at least 2 people working together.
What I was talking about are individuals who work by themselves at home, registered as professional services providers (freelancer), offering their services as if they were companies with several employees (yet not mentioning it because that would be illegal to some point.)
But then again, I am not making a case of unfair competition. I've learned that business strategies a... See more I consider a company to be a registered business with at least 2 people working together.
What I was talking about are individuals who work by themselves at home, registered as professional services providers (freelancer), offering their services as if they were companies with several employees (yet not mentioning it because that would be illegal to some point.)
But then again, I am not making a case of unfair competition. I've learned that business strategies are nonmoral, this means that whatever strategy you use, as long as its legal, shouldn't be judged by morality. We're just trying to best their strategy.
And we're trying to do so by getting certifications or memberships to increase the client's confidence in us.
We could easily get a giant billboard that says "DO NOT GET FOOLED BY FREELANCERS WHO PRETEND BEING COMPANIES, HIRE US" and who's to say we're being right or wrong? It's just a business strategy.
Of course, that's not the case... I was just trying to exemplify how business strategies are nonmoral.
But as I said, this is a completely different topic so I won't answer any more comments debating this. Perhaps someone should create a whole different topic to discuss it.
Oh, by the way, my apologies to those who felt offended by my previous commentary. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Well, I am one of them | Jul 20, 2015 |
Diego Achío wrote:
What I was talking about are individuals who work by themselves at home, registered as professional services providers (freelancer), offering their services as if they were companies with several employees (yet not mentioning it because that would be illegal to some point.)
I offer several quality services and presenting myself as a company (I have the right, I am a small business after all) allows me to invoice far higher prices. One of the worst thing one can do, from a marketing point of view, is communicating as small translators who can *only* translate in one language pair, no DTP, no Powerpoint, no proofreading, not on Wednesdays because translator mum, not on Fridays because of tennis club, no I am not available for 50 words, etc. So let the clients think I am a company, and if they ask me to do something I cannot do (for instance medical translations) I'll be glad to communicate name&address&phone number of a colleague.
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 11:50
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Maybe that's where the issue is | Jul 20, 2015 |
brg wrote: Diego Achío wrote:
What I was talking about are individuals who work by themselves at home, registered as professional services providers (freelancer), offering their services as if they were companies with several employees (yet not mentioning it because that would be illegal to some point.) I offer several quality services and presenting myself as a company (I have the right, I am a small business after all) allows me to invoice far higher prices. One of the worst thing one can do, from a marketing point of view, is communicating as small translators who can *only* translate in one language pair, no DTP, no Powerpoint, no proofreading, not on Wednesdays because translator mum, not on Fridays because of tennis club, no I am not available for 50 words, etc.
If "freelancer" always implied some type of "hobby translator", then I could see that agencies would feel that freelancers should not be seen as equals at all. But of course many freelancers aren't "hobbyists" at all; far from it. A freelancer can set up a limited company (with one employee - him or her self), and a freelancer can get this certification.
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