When it comes to blogging, we hear the same things all the time. “You really should be writing blogs.” “You know blogs are a proven way to boost your SEO ranking.” “The best blogs provide meaningful info to your clients.” It’s great to think about in the abstract, but how do you get started? And […]
Category Archives: Business
All-Consuming Projects: Four Strategies to Avoid Them and How to Succeed When They Take Over
What’s the opposite of the dreaded work slow-down that all freelancers fear? The All-Consuming Project. In capital letters. Because it takes over your life somehow. When you’re trying to finish an all-consuming project, you spend all your time working on it, but there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. So you […]
Turning to the phone when email falls short – and how to make email more effective
As translators, we’re comfortable with written words, but that doesn’t mean that we have to rely exclusively on email to communicate with clients. A phone call can sometimes be a more efficient use of our time. How do you know if it’s time to pick up the phone? It might be time if you find […]
Why You Need a Style Guide (and a Sample One to Get You Started!)
What’s a style guide? Style guides, in the most general terms, govern the written content that a brand produces. These documents give guidelines for how written materials should be written, edited and translated. Style guides give recommendations on tone, style, voice, grammar, punctuation and other writing conventions. A strong brand with a cohesive voice will […]
Use These Three Techniques to Make Email More Efficient
Email is the double-edged sword of the business world. It allows communication with anyone at any time. That’s also the problem. We can send and receive emails 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And it’s even harder in our industry. With the increasing globalization of business, especially within the translation and interpretation sector, […]
The Power of Networking via Social Media
I’ve been to various translator get-togethers over the past few years, some organized by translator associations, some via social media. The surprising thing is that many translators out there are rather scared of social media, especially Facebook. When I start expounding about the fantastic advantages that can be found there for translators (and interpreters, of […]
Setting Attainable Goals to Achieve Work-Life Balance
The freedom of freelancing may be what attracted you to freelance work from the beginning. But are you so busy getting each project done and thinking about the next task at hand that you haven’t stood back to reevaluate your situation in a while? Does something need to change in your work-life balance? Is there […]
Batching Tasks to Increase Efficiency
We’ve all been there – an email comes in and you think to yourself, “I’ll just answer this real quick.” The next thing you know, you’re reviewing PDFs of invoices from last month because you needed to reference something in that email reply. One thing leads to another and suddenly it’s 4:30 in the afternoon […]
How to Bring in Clients with Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing can be your secret weapon for gaining new clients. But first, let’s define the term and see how it differs from outbound marketing. Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing In the chart below, I highlight the big differences between the two approaches.Outbound marketing is a more traditional marketing technique where you send “out” your […]
Dos and Don’ts of Cold and Warm Emailing
You’ve likely heard the terms cold emails and warm emails. They can help you attract new clients and build your reputation within your niche in the translation industry. But what are they? And how do you put them to use? Cold emails are emails to people with whom you have had no prior contact. These […]