There are many people working as a translator whose major goal is that they simply need to make more money. Other goals on the list might include wanting or needing more work, and needing better quality clients. Unfortunately, the wanting/needing to make more money is often pursued the wrong way; by simply taking on more and more work – work that in itself was never generating enough income to begin with. So, instead of translating 4000 words a day, many people double their workload to translate 8000 words a day. It’s not uncommon to speak with translators who are translating non-stop 10 to 12 hours per day, plus there’s the administrative work on top of that!

Of course we can always make these gruelling schedules work for a short period of time, but let’s face it – it’s not sustainable and it’s a recipe for burnout. The truth is, if you’re working as a freelance translator and you’ve chosen to work for clients where price is their primary decision-making factor, you shouldn’t be surprised to discover one day that you’ve been dropped for someone cheaper. You already knew that price was the most important factor to them!

So how are we going to achieve our goals if we can’t bump up our income by working longer hours. Please see below for some ideas that we hope may be helpful to freelance translators.

Attract New Clients with a Higher Translation Rate

If you’re already working maximum hours, then you have nothing to lose by floating a higher translation rate to all new clients, particularly if it would be necessary to work even longer hours in order to fit them in. And when a new client accepts your higher rate, then you know that at least some of your target market are prepared to bear your new charge-out rate. Sometimes this simply comes down to a matter of confidence in your skills and knowing that your old rate was not really appropriate for the service you’re offering your clients.

Stop Looking for a Low-Rate Work in Low-Rate Places

It’s time to stop looking for translation work in low rate places. Certainly, online job market places are an entry point into the business and, depending on your languages and specializations, they may be a good entry point or a terrible entry point. But let’s say you’re advertising on Fiverr: this basically means you’re appealing to buyers who are only prepared to spend $5. And by bidding on online job boards you’re dealing with clients where price is the major decision-making point. You need to stop doing this because, if you continue, you’ll keep getting this type of client.