The shortest distance to the customer – The Israel Translators Association Town Hall meeting

[right triange]

The business world is dynamic. If, in the past customers, almost always purchased from middle party, whether a store or an agency, today consumers, whether business or private, more and more frequently choose to work directly with the provider of the good or service. Thus, the opportunity, albeit challenge, for many freelancers is to reach these customers. Translators have experienced this transformation to one degree or another for over a decade. On December, 3, the Israel Translators Association (ITA) hosted an online open Town Meeting on the subject of direct customers. The participants, members of the ITA, suggested several ways to find non-agency customers, notably linking with complementary services, contacting previous customers and getting listed on the sites of national associations. These methods, among others, are tools to help translators as well as other service providers reach their customers directly.

The translation business has fundamentally changed in 20 years in terms of structure and method.  A few decades ago, the vast majority of translation jobs flowed through an agency, which served an intermediary. Translators would connect with these agencies, many of them small and local, which would then refer  work to them. Furthermore, humans did all translation, great and small, with the sole help of translation-memory based tools. Today, in terms of volume, the vast majority of translation volume passes through large international agencies, some of them public companies, referred to LSPs, language service providers. As occurs in most conglomerated industries, the per-word unit price has decreased significantly, which translators experience as pressure to lower rates if they want work. Moreover, AI and simple machine translation allow many customers to avoid paying a translator or, at worst, send to an agency at a reduced rate, which uses machine translation or AI to produce a basic draft to be edited at a lower cost by a linguist. Thus, depending on their niche, many translators find themselves with less business at lower rates, which is a depressing situation.

The ITA Town Hall brought together experienced translators to share ideas how to find the direct clients and escape the difficult agency situation. One of the key ideas was to connect with services and business that offer complementary products. For examples, graphic artists, PR campaign managers, business planner, financial product experts and attorneys often need translation services. The connection can be virtual or physical. LinkedIn and relevant  Facebook forums provide an ideal place for freelancers to make themselves known. It is even more effective to physically meet other businesspeople especially in business networking organization such as BNI and Rotary as well as at professional conferences. Emphasizing and nurturing the symbiotic relations can bring in customers directly and indirectly.

It is also important to use the hidden resource every established business has, namely its previous customers. When business is slow, some established translators contact previous customers that have not used them in a long time. The content could be a holiday greeting or a simple statement such as “I am between projects and am available for any translation you may need”. If the provider did a proper job in the past, the email may result in a new order or a reference to another potential customer as people often forget with whom they worked several years in the past. This action is simple to undertake and can yield positive results.

In my experience, one of the most effective methods is to join and be listed on the site of national organizations. For instance, translator organizations, including the ATA in the United States and ITA in Israel, have a list of translators and their specializations on their sites  that is accessible to the general public. Potential translator buyers, looking for some kind of assurance of professional quality, seek and appreciate membership as it shows a level of seriousness and professional investment. Furthermore, through cooperating with colleagues in these organizations, it is possible to send and receive referrals, another source of direct customers. Being part of a professional body provides many opportunities to find direct customers.

To make it clear, the translation buyer also benefits. Many agencies, especially public ones, emphasize the bottom line, profits often at the expense of quality. By contrast, freelancers succeed or fail on the quality and timeliness of their service. Their clear interest is to provide the best quality product that circumstances allow. As there is no additional cost for the intermediary, the agreed price is often less than those charged by an agency, an important factor in many buying decisions. Thus, direct connections are of mutual benefit.

In many niches in translation, it has become necessary to bypass the agencies and work directly with customers. In this manner, translators can attain the price and volume of work they desire. The ITA Town Meeting suggested several methods of finding the shortest route to professional rates, the hypotenuse if you will, from the service provider to the translation buyer without an intermediary. It takes some effort but the direct way is the most efficient.

Rue de Paradis – freelancing and the past, present and future of commercial concentration

 

[crystal vase*]

When I visited my family in Paris at the age of 16 in the mid-1970s, I was amazed when I discovered Rue de Paradis (10th arrondissement, near Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis). In a small geographical area of a few streets were a hundred crystal and porcelain stores, if not more, as well as workshops producing these goods. I enjoyed my purchase of a crystal vase for my grandmother (see picture) but found it amazing that the stores had chosen to locate themselves in such extreme proximity and create such intense price competition. Many years later, as a freelancer, I now view the choice as far more sensible and maybe even a model for entrepreneurs in the future.

Despite or possiblly due to its concentration of one trade, the European urban tradition of concentrating similar businesses in one area provides economic efficiency, increases sales, and creates solidarity. Since customers can quickly and easily identify and price competing products, the producers, wholesalers and retailers must hone their target market and create a competitive advantage. As conditions change, they can easily identify the trends and adjust their approach. It is easy to track both the price and product preferences of buyers. As purchasers know that they can find the best choice and prices in this one location, they are sure that they can maximize their budget and time. Thus, it takes relatively little effort to decide where to go. That means the vast majority of customers of these luxury goods in Paris choose to visit that location, increasing the potential market. Therefore, while the supply, the competition, is much higher, the number of customers, the demand, is also significantly greater, ensuring a livelihood for most businesses. On a human level, I saw how the craftspeople, salespeople and managers from all the establishments had their coffee or lunches at the various cafes and created a community that kept them up to date and provided them a with a feeling of belonging. They may have been competitive over buyers but also were all part of the same industry. Overall, this concentration benefited the businesses, customers and the workers.

Much has changed since then, notably due to the Internet, the pace of life and connectivity of the market. The new model for selling goods and services is freelancing from one’s home. The entrepreneur sits at the computer and, with a click of several buttons, sends goods from one location to another or produces and delivers a service such as translation or accounting documents. Providers do not even have to get dressed, let alone talk to their colleagues. They are free to work any hours and are not obligated to answer to any boss except the customer, of course. Even more importantly, they set the rate for their work without having to look over their shoulder to see what others are doing. The new model, whether in wholesale, retail or the service industry, is essentially an island.

While clearly fitting the personality of many people, this solo business structure creates serious challenges in terms of marketing, pricing and social connections. For most freelancers, reaching customers and getting them to finalize the purchase are the most difficult tasks. Even the largest corporations struggle with those goals. As for pricing, it is shockingly difficult to actually know how much a specific item or good will cost. It is true that the nominal price is posted front and center but often the potential purchaser only discovers the shipping costs and taxes when it comes time to pay. That means customers only have the patience to visit two or three sites, often the most well-known, leaving the less obvious sites in the cold. Even worse, customers find shopping for services, which tend not to be of standardized quality, to be extremely confusing. As usual, the conglomerated international agencies, including in translation, tend to dominate the first page of the search results. Yet, in the long term, the most difficult aspect of going solo is being solo. Without a communal coffee machine or café, there is no natural way to meet colleagues and talk. Freelancers feel little sense of comradery with their colleagues because they rarely, if ever, see them. They are on an island and usually unaware of vital information, including competitor prices and market changes. In many countries, the law does even allow them to state their rates to a colleague. Ignorance is not bliss over the long term. Going solo means going alone and is not always a successful strategy or a sustainable approach.

The vacillating  physcial concentration levels in business models are not a modern phenomenon. In medieval European markets, the farmers selling their foodstuff would push their carts throughout the city in search of customers while the sellers of writing tools, stationery, which was a luxury at the time, would remain in one location, stationary, knowing that the customers knew where they plied their trade and would come to them. The Internet has, to a certain extent, brought us back to those olden days as customers surf the Web in search of the best deal often based on how active and optimized a site is. With the number of consumers that order everything online, including food and even cars, as well as the volume of sales increasing especially since the start of the Corona period, merchants of all types cannot afford to sit still.

As I try to look into my crystal ball, not one purchased on Rue de Paradis, I would hope that it would be possible to create some Internet market for both goods and non-standard services that would combine the advantages of both extremes. On the one hand, it is nice to wear or not wear any clothes when working and avoid commuting as well as suffer no boss. On the other hand, it would create great satisfaction to experience the sense of belonging to a community on a daily basis and gain access to updated information on the current market. Both the purchaser and provider would undoubtedly profit in the long term. For freelancers, paradise would be a compromise somewhere in the middle of the street.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

For love or money – the chaos behind freelance pricing

 

[reeds*]

If human beings were rational creatures and actively motivated to seek their maximum financial benefit, the range of prices among freelancers, an unregulated and competitive world, would be relatively small, reflecting mainly differences in geography and personal situation. Instead, freelancer pricing for any given service, including translation, is marked by extreme differences far beyond those factors. Rates range from the sublime high to the ridiculous low. Clearly, price choice goes beyond mere rationality and involves, as Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs would say, the question of what people seek. As I see it, freelancers aim to varying degrees to win the sales game, position themselves among their competitors or maximize their income or achieve any or all of these goals at different times. The interplay of these motivations ultimately shape the actual price choices.

First, there are people for whom attaining the best price is an earnest game. To clarify, it is not the actual amount of money or profit that matters but instead the perception that they “won” by getting the price they wanted. For these people, negotiating rates is an addictive and serious game that must be won. They sense the relative strength and weakness of the other party and strive to maximize their own benefit. By contrast, many freelancers are disinterested, even dismissive, of price negotiation, considering it irrelevant or even distasteful. Some would even provide their job for free for the sheer enjoyment. That a person is willing to pay for the service is merely a bonus. At either extreme, money tends to be of predominant or no importance.

Far more freelancers tend to take a comparative approach, placing themselves in a given niche in the market via their pricing. After an analysis of the market of some sort, such entrepreneurs define the price of the product and/or work hour in relation to others in the same field. However, some religiously monitor the market and adjust rates to maintain their position, like NFL quarterbacks comparing salary among each other, while others consciously or unconsciously forget the matter and let their relative rates and position change as inflation, competition and technology alter the landscape. While one group actively maintains its chosen price niche, the other one is not actually committed to the concept.

Some freelancers are far more calculating in their choices. They determine how much money they require to live their chosen lifestyle and tailor their pricing strategy to meet that goal. They constantly evaluate where to put their efforts to attain their income goals. Interestingly, there also those that merely want to pay their bills and live comfortably. Any income beyond that amount  is of relatively little interest. Whether such freelancers are foolish or modest is a matter of perspective.

In practice, over a long career, freelancers modify their pricing strategy as circumstances and awareness change. Family status, age and personal ambition have varying impact over the years. As a result, the approach to pricing also changes, meaning that freelancers may be motivated by any of these instincts to one degree or another at any time.  Still, a desire for victory, status or comfort seems a basic instinct that varies from person to person beyond logic. Pascal noted that humans were thinking reeds but we each bend to our own direction, including in pricing.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet

Picture credit

Moving the stone – dealing with quiet business times

 

[millstone*]

Every freelancer has experienced them, the dead times when the phone does not ring and the only emails that you receive mention deceased distant relatives with large inheritances in very exotic countries. Ever so slowly, the feeling of failure and despair grows until even the most experienced entrepreneurs, including translators, start to have doubts. As the ebbs of business are inevitable as its flows, the only aspect that freelancers can control is their reactions to the situation. In my experience, with understanding, strength, perspective and belief, the quiet seas become an acceptable part of a long voyage.

As each business has its regular flows and unpredictable elements, freelancers can help maintain their emotional balance by analyzing the known and accepting the unknown. In practice, certain months traditionally have more or less work, generally due to holidays, with variances by country. For example, December is a great month for retail in Europe and the US but a terrible month for most other businesses as customers focus on Christmas and New Years. By contrast, December in Israel is a normal month, unlike late September through mid-October when the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Succot) paralyze the country. On the other hand, some slowdowns are completely mysterious. The reasons why a given month had been traditionally busy but is very slow this year are often not clear unless some even event having a major effect on a given economy has occurred, such as Corona or a hurricane. Wisdom is accepting that it is impossible to predict or understand all events and wait patiently in the meantime. Not every down period is the fault of the freelancer or avoidable.

These periods of low activity create anxiety and even depression, which can lead to lethargy and despair. It is ineffective to advise people not to worry when there are bills to pay. Instead, it is more practical to leverage this emotion and use the free time to improve market position. There are always ways to improve a business, many of which require significant time to plan and implement. These practical actions include improving or building a website, contacting customers, taking online courses, writing articles, exploring social media and investigating other avenues to expand the business. It takes a strong will to harness the negative energy and render it positive in the long term. In some cases, quiet times are not only unavoidable but also necessary to create a successful business.

One of the hardest skills to develop is perspective. It may take years to view the ups and downs of a business work with a calm spirit and quietly roll with them. I have been a translator for almost 19 years ago and no longer despair when work slows down although I still find them annoying. I now use slow times to plan trips, conduct complicated purchases (currently a sofa), spend time with family, get exercise, see doctors and plan an expansion of my services,  not to mention play computer games. I generally find it difficult to find time for these activities when I am busy. My time investment may not be immediately profitable but it will lead to greater financial success in the future and personal happiness in the present. Quiet times do not have be non-productive times if a person can approach them as part and parcel of business.

Ultimately, people choose to become entrepreneurs because they have some type of vision, however unclear it may be. They believe in their skills and ability to provide a product or service that customers will purchase. While periods of low business may be emotionally trying, they do not necessarily signify that the person and business model are deficient in any significant way. The causes of such quiet times often go far beyond the matters of the entrepreneur and may be temporary. In other words, like farmers, entrepreneurs must have faith in the future. Panicking and lowering prices or abandoning a business are not generally not healthy or effective reactions. Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves of past successes to retain the assurance that “we can do it”. Whether it is confidence, faith or stupidity, perseverance and long-term success go hand in hand, tempered by an objective analysis of the market and the flexibility to make changes. In short, successful, happy freelancers have confidence in themselves and the future regardless of current circumstances. This confidence in itself attracts customers.

A very close friend of mine, Sarah Wrench, who unfortunately died in her twenties, wrote a fantasy book in which part of the plot involved people entering a cell in a huge heavy circle with one entrance. Alone in their cells and not knowing what others were doing, they had to push until the circle turned and reached the sole exit. Freelancers, especially translators, can relate to that feeling of working in a void. Sometimes, the work flows but other times, nothing seems to happen despite all one’s best efforts. However, when entrepreneurs grasp the known and accept the unknown, overcome and reverse negative energy, gain a perspective of the business and apply it and keep their faith in themselves and remain steadfast, these times not only do pass but lead to better days.

* Picture captions allow the blind to fully access the Internet.

Picture credit

Freelancer, manage yourself – Mental health tidbits from International Translator Day (ITD)

 

[tree in shape of brain*]

The end of September is the birthday of Saint Jerome, the patron saint of translators, and is marked by several conferences. I had the pleasure of participating actively and passively in two of them, the virtual ITD conference hosted by proz.com and the hybrid KTLC conference in Warsaw. Each featured several full days of lectures on various topics related to translation, far too much to summarize in an article. However, with the growing awareness of mental health and the emotional challenges faced by many freelancers, I wish to share some highly relevant points raised by some of the lecturers in regards to the keeping an even keel.

During the proz.com conference, Adrian Probst  addressed an issue faced by all freelancers, the fear of not having work. He emphasized that all businesses, including freelancers, experience slow periods to one degree or another. In other words, they are not a sign of failure but an unavoidable aspect of owning a business and thus to be expected and planned for, similar to theft in retail stores if you will. He suggested focusing thoughts not on general feelings of incompetence and failure but specific steps to take to reduce their frequency and scope, including marketing and education.

Likewise, Bettina Rohricht in the same conference discussed work flow ebbs and flow. She also presented ideas to deal with low work flow but added that overdemand and overwork are as stressful as underemployment. She emphasized the importance of establishing limits on workloads and times and explained that it is preferable to refuse a project due to lack of time over poorly executing it. Furthermore, the chance of losing a customer under that circumstance is very low in practice. I fully concur with her advice.

My lecture at the ITD conference focused on the issue of self-perception of success. My main point was societal comparative measures of success, including income and title, are not relevant to most translators, not to mention most freelancers, as the circumstances of their lives may not allow total commitment to a single job. Instead, freelancers should focus on their current achievements relative to their current reality and take steps to build a better future. The recognition of actual achievement and practical steps for future achievement create a positive vector both physically and emotionally.

Dominika Olszewska at the KTLC Conference discussed the power of monotasking. She emphasized that focusing on more than one matter at once, however minimally, only reduces concentration and productivity. (I have to confess that I was multitasking at the time and missed some of what she said, proof by example.) Among her practical suggestions were limiting the number of open tabs on the task bar in order to avoid checking social media and other distractions. She also suggested non-digital breaks, i.e., the best way to take a break from the computer is to get away from it.

Finally, Stefan Paloka gave a short testimonial to the power of will in creating a career. He is a blind translator that ignored all stereotypes and prejudices and has built a successful career. By applying technology and committing to a goal, it is possible for anybody with a disability to overcome challenges.

In a certain sense, the message of all these presentations was that freelancer achievement, however defined, involves not only technical skill but also the emotional intelligence and skills to deal with difficult situations, temporary and permanent. This process is as dynamic and active as coping with technological changes and maybe more important. It is possible, at least in the short term, to function as a technological dinosaur but impossible when emotionally broken.

I apologize for not mentioning all the fascinating lectures I attended or failed to attend. I suggest perusing the programs, contacting the relevant organizers and watching the tape of any relevant lecture. After all, learning is a yearlong (and lifelong) experience. I would strongly suggest reserving the last two days of September next year to fully benefit from the fruit of St. Jerome.

* Picture captions allow the blind to full access the Internet.

Picture credit

The road less traveled is now on Google Maps – independently employed A.D.*

 

[Mountain road and path**]

At this start of 2022, it is becoming quite clear that life is quite different than before corona (B.C.). Besides the concrete changes, people have changed their view of routines and norms. As I see it, one of those transformations involves how the public views people that are independently employed. Today, being a freelancer is much more respected as a career choice, considered a better financial choice and, to a lesser degree, identified as full-time work.

[Black pawn among white pawns]

B.C., especially a generation ago, freelancing was for marginal individuals. "Normal" people joined a company, worked their way up the ranks and ended up earning a respectable salary. Those that were too young or old or of the wrong sex or color to be accepted by the corporation took off on their own, generally out of lack of choice. Many individuals lacked the proper credentials or cultural attitude to function in a corporate environment. In some cases, it was an act of necessity if the primary salary was insufficient to make ends meet. The title “self-employed” was clearly not a matter of pride. Today, it is impossible to typecast a freelancer in terms of age, sex, background or experience. A simple Google search of almost any profession will reveal the whole spectrum of society. Not only that, spurred by the Corona situation, countless corporate executives have chosen the route of running their own business even over the option of the financial stability offered by their institutions. Not only is it not a matter of shame for people to state that they are self-employed, it even can be a matter of envy, i.e., I wish I had the guts. Thus, the last few years have significantly improved the social status of freelancers.

[Online trade]

The cause and result of this development is the enhanced ability to make a living as an independent. Until some 10 years ago, the vast majority of purchasers physically traveled to the place of sale, which was more often than not a chain, not even a family business. They received their information from traditional media, such as TV, newspapers, magazines and radio. Most consumers were unaware or very wary of online businesses. After two years of periodical closures and public restrictions, the vast majority of people in the developed world have mastered the art of searching for, assessing and ordering online products of all types from the most generic to the most specialized. As a result, the potential customer base of freelancers of all types has increased exponentially, allowing them to make a good living. The overall balance of power between physical stores and online sales is clearly swinging toward the latter, with almost all stores joining the party and offering online sales. The general public is much more aware that it is quite possible, albeit a little risky, to make a living without a corporate framework. They probably even know someone that is a freelancer. Therefore, the statement “you can make a living doing that?” is much less common.

[Facebook and WhatsApp]

In terms of social relations, the change has been slower. In the past, a clear distinction existed between work and home, i.e., a person cannot be disturbed for work but is available for social matters at home. Freelancing blurs this distinction. Even when friends and family knew that the person was a freelancer working at home, many felt free to call in the middle of the day for a long chat or an invite to coffee since "freelancers can do what they want to do". I personally experienced this issue with my daughter. When I was only a teacher, she knew that if I was home, I was available at all time. However, when I became a freelancer, it took a few years for her to understand that I had time for her but I needed to some notice in advance it as I had work obligations. A.D., there is a growing awareness, albeit still insufficient, that working independently still involves labor, meaning work has priority over social activities.

Corona has affected almost all aspects of our perception of life. If freelancers are not quite the new norm, we have gained increased respectability and understanding in the eyes of society. We are no longer the road not taken by serious people.

*    After de’virus

** Captions allow the blind the access the Internet. Pictures via Pixabay.