Merry Christmas And Happy New Year
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This year had it’s ups and downs but overall it was another amazing year. This is the kind of attitude we all need. I’m a big believer in thinking positively. And believe it or not, good thoughts bring amazing results. I’m certain that next year will be incredible for all of us! To all my fellow-translators out there: don’t work too hard this holiday season, spent some time with your family and closest friends. Go out. Have fun. Go to the nearest Christmas Market for decorations and a glass of hot mulled wine. You worked hard this year and you deserve it!
To all my lovely clients: you guys rock! It’s been a great pleasure working with you this year. And trust me next year will be amazing for your businesses. Keep up the good work, don’t be afraid to try something new and of course stay awesome!
My New Year’s Resolutions
To some people New Year’s resolutions is just a way to feel good about yourself without actually following through. But I take my resolutions seriously. This is a great way of motivating yourself and achieving great results in 2015! The key is to keep the number of your goals to minimum (3-5 should be more than enough). This way you can focus on the problematic areas of your business strategy and really improve your performance. So here is my list:
1) Exercise more and take a proper care of my health. It’s not a secret that being a freelance translator has its fair share of negative sides, for example: gaining weight or being under constant stress because you’re managing a business. My goal is to loose 10-15 pounds by exercising daily and not just a few times a week, like I do now. And I won’t take “being busy” as an excuse this time!
2) Work on my marketing and increase sales by 15%. These are probably the most important aspects of any business, including freelance translation. This is how you promote your business and attract new clients. I will keep establishing my online presence through this translation blog and social networks. I will refine my value proposition and sales pitch when approaching new direct clients. I will keep working closely with all of my existing clients, making sure they achieve their goals with my help.
3) Keep educating my clients and newbie translators about our industry. This one is very important. Due to the abundance of bottom-feeding agencies and the lack of educational materials some of my clients have a false representation of translation industry. Lack of information about rates, translation process, quality assurance procedures creates considerable gap and sometimes leads to misunderstanding. It is important to remind our clients time and time again, that translation is not a cheap commodity, it’s a form of art that comes at a price. And if you’re truly passionate about your business like I am, you will work only with the best translators who know your industry and can bring the results you’re looking for. There is now such thing as good cheap translation and there will never be. Work with professional translators who care about the quality and the end results instead of monkeys who work for peanuts. Believe me, good translation is amazing investment that will yield great results!
Bonus Goal:
4) Stop using Proz completely. Yes, I’m still on Proz although I’m trying to quit. I’m afraid Proz has turned into a hangout for bottom-feeders who’s only intention is to keep posting jobs with unacceptable terms (rates offered are way bellow 0.10 USD and delivery deadlines are always impossible to meet). This is not the face of our industry and the recent incident with my identity being high-jacked (as well as profiles of other 10,000+ paying members) and the fact that Proz couldn’t care less about the security just proves that it is time to leave. Proz never notified it’s members about the incident and by the looks of it we solved the problem by ourselves. No legal action against scammers. No nothing. This lack of customer care is appalling.
So these are my resolutions. Feel free to share your resolutions in the comments. I’m 100% sure that all of you, my dear readers, will achieve your goals in 2015! Thank you so much for reading my blog and sharing it in social networks. I really appreciate it and this gives me great motivation to keep moving forward. Please subscribe if you haven’t done so yet (the form is on the bottom of the page) and I’ll see you in 2015!
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