Have you been considering diversified for a while now, but you’re not sure how to go about it? You’re not alone in having these thoughts because we know we can’t take the economy for granted anymore, so many people are looking at their income streams and trying to determine how they can capitalize on their strengths; at the same time making sure they’re offering services that people or businesses really want.

The great news for translators is that, if you’re already a successful translator, you’re the perfect candidate for branching out. If you’ve been running a successful freelance translation business it’s highly likely that you’re an excellent writer in your target language, you’re fluent in at least two languages, and you’re probably quite tech savvy as well. These are all great starting points for diversifying to a sideline venture.

When you start looking at diversifying you’ll discover that there’s heaps of information on the Internet about how to create a sideline business and how to make it work well for you. In addition, you’ll see that these sites also offer helpful tips on possible ventures for translators, such as getting paid for writing articles online. You’ll also note that some of the sites provide actual data about possible earnings, which will enable you to determine whether the business in question might be something for you to consider.

Have a look below at some ideas on additional revenue streams for translators, and see if there may be something there for you –

Teaching

Have you thought about teaching a course at your local adult education facility on how to run a successful freelance business? Perhaps you could offer your own          courses; maybe a course related to a specific translation tool that you use? With the internet’s modern web-based tools it’s become quite easy to set up a conference call, e-course, webinar, and so on.

Writing

For translators who are already good writers, this is probably the best fit for you. Application-specific software guides and subject specific glossaries offer endless possibilities for writing. Niche business guides, such as marketing to direct clients, is another idea for translators. All you need to do is use a self-publishing service (such as Lulu) to create either an e-book or traditional book, or simply create a PDF of your document and sell it via your website.

Offering Tech Work for Other Translators

Which tech task are you really proficient at? It might be something quite labur intensive, something that other translators find annoying, or a task that requires expensive software that many translators don’t have. Examples that come to mind are PDF conversion and alignment: these are tasks that other translators may be willing to hire someone to complete for them, particularly when it involves non-confidential documents.

Of course, you don’t need to stay within the realm of translation – these ideas can be expanded to projects that are not translation-related. Have you considered other types of writing, such as useful reference books or e-books for school-aged children, or perhaps that fiction book you’ve been wanting to write for ages? You can use the same marketing and publishing tools, regardless of the area you decide to write in.