The Best Advertisement Ever
We have seen some freelance translators going great lengths to promote their translation services. Some will craft really nice emails and send them to the right person in charge of recruiting in a translation agency. Others will resort to spamming by addressing in the same email a bunch of random email addresses. Now, only a handful of freelance translators will enjoy continued demand without any need to promote their services.
So, what is their secret? How to keep a steady flow of nice projects coming your way? The answer is simple. Follow these exact five rules and you will never need to promote your services again:
- When quoting on a project, read what your client needs and make sure you understand all the specifics of this project
- Don’t accept crazy turnaround jobs. Ask for enough time to provide a quality translation, and politely decline projects when the client refuses to allow you enough time
- Don’t leave your work for the last minute. Try to get your translation done sooner than the deadline. If you happen to face some unexpected event along the way, you will still have time to finish up the assignment
- Charge a fair price. You don’t need to go cheap, and you certainly shouldn’t go expensive. Find a mid-way that secures a decent living, and you should be on track to get a line of clients asking for your translation services
- Proof your projects – twice and on paper. We know you want to save trees! But, saving your clients from losing face should be a priority here. A proofreading done over a hardcopy of your translation will be much more effective. It is proved that we see things on paper different than how we see on an LCD. And, not surprisingly, you should have a better vision of something that was printed on paper. Go one step further and do a two round proofreading to make sure your final translation will be as good as it can gets