A close look at habits that could be ruining, or at least reducing, your success as a freelance translator.

After speaking with many translators, both experienced and newbies, it’s become obvious that certain habits commonly cultivated by freelance translators could well be ruining, or at least reducing, your success in freelance translation. So let’s jump right in and take a look at some of these negative habits.

No 1: Waiting for That Big Block of Time to Open Up

We’re all guilty of this one. That marketing campaign you’ve been meaning to launch, the book you intend to write, the blog you’re excited about starting, and so on, they’ve all been put on the back burner because of the amount of time they’re going to take. So, you wait until you have that magical free week so you can focus specifically on that task. One wonders who we’re trying to fool! We all know that big chunk of time is never going to happen; unless you’re independently wealthy and you have no responsibilities towards anything or anyone except yourself. The answer? Don’t wait one day longer: make a start today! Regardless of what your long-term goal may be, start chipping away at it today and continue in small regular increments until you’ve achieved your goal.

No. 2: Public Ranting about Colleagues and/or Clients

This is a terrible habit to get into, and the real question is: Why do people do this? We generally see people behaving this way via Twitter and Facebook posts. Sure, we understand that everyone needs to vent at times, but it’s at these times that you should go to close family, colleagues and/or friends, either personally, or through your email and phone. There are many downsides to public ranting –

Don’t be fooled into thinking that anything on social media is private. Your public rant could easily be forwarded to the colleague or client at whom it’s directed, even though you made a point of not naming them in your post;

Social media is a permanent record. Yes, you may be able to delete your ranting post, but by that time many people will have already seen it (and/or shared it);

This kind of behaviour is very off-putting to other people who might have considered referring work to you. Very few people would take the risk of referring a client to someone who’s prepared to rant on social media. In addition, most clients would not be prepared to work with translators who are high drama, or have a reputation for being difficult to work with. The emotional release you may feel when you’re publicly shaming someone else is simply not worth the risk;