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Quiet Patch?
Thread poster: Joanna Coryn (X)
LEXpert
LEXpert  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 20:53
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
On diversification Oct 18, 2013

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:


On "beginner's luck"...

A lesson to learn in this is diversification.
...
So after you've apparently worn off your beginner's luck, no matter how long it lasted, spread your coverage as wide and far as you can.


Of late, I've never really had a long period where there is no work, but sometimes a week will go by with no *good* jobs, e.g., only a string of time-consuming minimum jobs or jobs from lower-paying legacy clients whom I still occasionally deign to deal with out of a (perhaps misguided - or even perversely masochistic) sense of loyalty, because they did keep food my family's table in the early years.

Interestingly, before quitting my corporate job, I spent a year translating in my off-hours, essentially working two full-time jobs. I was swamped with work and easily working six hours a day on translations, every day. That was the point at which I decided I was working myself into an early grave at that pace, and the only sensible thing to do was move to full-time translation. You can probably see where this going... right after the die was cast, so to speak, and I quit my job, the demand from my clients disappeared for several months. Most of it was explainable - a regular PM left the business altogether, and the large agency he worked for was missing some piece of paperwork from me that would allow the other PMs to see me in their database (perhaps he was keeping my existence a secret for himself?). Another agency that had kept me busy on a daily basis for months saw their government contract in that combo come to an end. In any case, part of the problem was that at that time I wasn't as diversified as I could have been.

Which brings me back to diversification - while it is important for you to be diversified, it also matters whether your agencies/clients are diversified as well. If they see a major contract come an end without renewal or replacement, that will affect your workload. Unfortunately, this is really beyond your control.

Bottom line, business picked up soon. I'm sure it will for you too. The volume of translation work available in major combinations into English is so massive that anybody who is actually and reliably doing quality work will not be idle for long.

[Edited at 2013-10-18 12:51 GMT]

[Edited at 2013-10-18 12:51 GMT]


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 02:53
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
LOL! Oct 18, 2013

Helen Hagon wrote:
I find that being a translator is like waiting for a bus - you wait around for what seems like ages, and then several come at once. It's irritating because, at busy times, I found myself having to turn some jobs away because I just can't fit them in - if only they would spread themselves out more evenly.

So true!! Great post. Thanks for the laughs Helen!


 
Joanna Coryn (X)
Joanna Coryn (X)  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 02:53
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
On diversifying random buses? Oct 18, 2013

Well, entirely in keeping with what you've all said, after three weeks of despair I have suddenly got a job that will keep me busy every waking (and possibly not waking) hour for the next three days. And when that's done...I now expect anything from another yawning chasm of a lifeless inbox to no-time-to-breathe/sleep/eat/change-out-of pyjamas, plus anything in between.

But from all your lovely posts, I've now learnt to welcome those random buses when they come, whether that's in
... See more
Well, entirely in keeping with what you've all said, after three weeks of despair I have suddenly got a job that will keep me busy every waking (and possibly not waking) hour for the next three days. And when that's done...I now expect anything from another yawning chasm of a lifeless inbox to no-time-to-breathe/sleep/eat/change-out-of pyjamas, plus anything in between.

But from all your lovely posts, I've now learnt to welcome those random buses when they come, whether that's in twos or twenties, but either way make sure they're *not* all the same colour!

My sincere thanks to you all again.

[Edited at 2013-10-18 19:45 GMT]
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Cheyne Bull
Cheyne Bull  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 12:53
Spanish to English
+ ...
Rollercoaster Jul 12, 2018

Just a note to say I appreciate everyone's comments after a few episodes of panic of late - and for sure, its all about using the downtime to diversify! Cheers, C

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:53
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Far from it Jul 12, 2018

Cheyne Bull wrote:

Just a note to say I appreciate everyone's comments after a few episodes of panic of late - and for sure, its all about using the downtime to diversify! Cheers, C


Quiet Patch? Far from it; this being the month of July, everyone in Italy is working flat out to get everything done before August, because in August nearly everything closes down for the full month. So these days I am completely busy! Then in August, I'll have nothing to do!


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:53
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Is this as good as it gets? Jul 12, 2018

Tom in London wrote:
Quiet Patch? Far from it

Indeed. This year is my busiest ever, and has been pretty unrelenting. It's not purely seasonal in my pair/speciality, at least as far as I can determine.

Given that the economy is cyclical, it does make me wonder whether this year represents a peak of some kind.

Regards,
Dan


 
LEXpert
LEXpert  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 20:53
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
Initial clients' end clients' large projects have ended? Jul 12, 2018

Same thing happened to me. I was working full-time as a tech writer when I set myself up as a freelancer, and pretty soon found myself effectively working two full-time jobs - my staff job during the day and freelancing at night. No longer able to keep up that pace, I quit my day job (though, ironically, I probably work longer hours just freelancing than day job plus FL back in the day!). Of course, the moment I quit the day job, the bottom dropped out of my FL volume, and I was convinced I'd ma... See more
Same thing happened to me. I was working full-time as a tech writer when I set myself up as a freelancer, and pretty soon found myself effectively working two full-time jobs - my staff job during the day and freelancing at night. No longer able to keep up that pace, I quit my day job (though, ironically, I probably work longer hours just freelancing than day job plus FL back in the day!). Of course, the moment I quit the day job, the bottom dropped out of my FL volume, and I was convinced I'd made a terrible mistake. Turns that of my three biggest clients, two had completed the large contracts they had had me working on, and at the third, the main PM I had worked with had left, and had never actually me the paperwork I needed to be fully released in their system. So none of the other PMs were able to contact me and he was effectively "keeping me for himself". Eventually I found other clients and resolved the visibility issue. Agencies often go on recruitment binges when they get a big contract, and revert to their regular/cheaper translators afterwards.Collapse


Jocelyne Cuenin
 
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