Poll: What do you dislike most about being a freelance translator? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What do you dislike most about being a freelance translator?".
This poll was originally submitted by Sonja Allen. View the poll results »
| | | | | Thee's nothing I don't like | Nov 14, 2018 |
If there were, I would stop doing it because I'm long past retirement age.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 00:45
Spanish to English
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As they say in Spain "soy de letras". I've never been great with figures, which is probably why I don't enjoy the admin side. Some of my clients have changed their accounting system in the last year or so, giving rise to complications and hassle for me, and I've been asked/obliged to reissue some bills, with different dates and concepts, in order to get paid, which is a pain, as my admin/accounting system is very rudimentary, with my bills recorded sequentially by date of issue, so changes like ... See more As they say in Spain "soy de letras". I've never been great with figures, which is probably why I don't enjoy the admin side. Some of my clients have changed their accounting system in the last year or so, giving rise to complications and hassle for me, and I've been asked/obliged to reissue some bills, with different dates and concepts, in order to get paid, which is a pain, as my admin/accounting system is very rudimentary, with my bills recorded sequentially by date of issue, so changes like that involve a lot of faffing about. However, I'd rather jump through the hoops than lose these clients. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Greg Strider
Brazil
Local time: 19:45
English to Portuguese
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| The business side of it | Nov 14, 2018 |
Being a freelancer requires you not only to do your job, but also to run your own business, whether you like it or not.
You have to do almost everything a company would do, but all by yourself. And while I love translating, I don't necessarily share the same passion for every administrative task — in fact, marketing is tiring and accounting can be overwhelming. It is worth it, though.
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I like everything,
taxes for freelancers in Italy are the big problem, so you realize 7 months of your work are used to pay taxes...
| | | | | No clear line between private and work life | Nov 14, 2018 |
Most of my working life I was a permanent employee with a "fixed" income and an equally "fixed" working schedule. When I came home, I could more or less forget about work.
When I decided to go freelance, I gave up this clear separation. And I was not really prepared for that. My home is my workplace now, and there is always the risk that my work becomes my life. The fact that I can now decide when to start and stop working and when to take a break has made me work much more than before, si... See more Most of my working life I was a permanent employee with a "fixed" income and an equally "fixed" working schedule. When I came home, I could more or less forget about work.
When I decided to go freelance, I gave up this clear separation. And I was not really prepared for that. My home is my workplace now, and there is always the risk that my work becomes my life. The fact that I can now decide when to start and stop working and when to take a break has made me work much more than before, simply because I can see how more work directly means more income. I have cancelled meetings with friends because I had a backlog of work at home. Having a "day off" (let alone a whole weekend) is a real challenge. I need to learn ways to cope with this. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 00:45
English to German
What's getting on my wick at the moment is that I hear a lot of crickets chirping, probably because I know what I want and it takes time to find enough of that.
I actually wanted to say, how is "No clear line between private and work life" a bad thing? That is what I went freelance for. I'm a kind of pre-industrialised personality, I don't slice my life into segments. I'm the type that would live on a farm, get up with the chickens and go to sleep after saying goodnight to the bats ... See more What's getting on my wick at the moment is that I hear a lot of crickets chirping, probably because I know what I want and it takes time to find enough of that.
I actually wanted to say, how is "No clear line between private and work life" a bad thing? That is what I went freelance for. I'm a kind of pre-industrialised personality, I don't slice my life into segments. I'm the type that would live on a farm, get up with the chickens and go to sleep after saying goodnight to the bats in the barn. Now I do the same thing just without chickens and bats (however, with my backyard squirrel, and being a bit batty myself).
But I totally see that the wrong-way driver might be me here, not all this oncoming traffic (oops). ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Nothing to dislike | Nov 14, 2018 |
except long payment terms
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| Lonesome cowboy | Nov 14, 2018 |
Fortunately there are normally two of us in the office, because when there aren't I too go a bit batty.
| | | | Michael Harris 
Germany
Local time: 00:45
Member (2006)
German to English
Paying taxes! Everything else seems to work well.
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Hello!
I miss coworkers; however social media is making that side of things a bit more bearable.
I also miss high heels and dressing up
Have a great day, everyone!
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Rocio Barrientos wrote: I also miss high heels and dressing up
Even in this more enlightened age, I find it easier to wear high heels and dress up when working from home
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Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 19:45
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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I'm mostly very happy with my professional life.
However, something bothers me a lot: If I break a finger or if I get sick anyhow, everything goes down the tubes. My reserves are sufficient for a month or two, but 15 days without working would transform my financial life into chaos. I don't know if that's the case of most translators, but it's a tough situation.
[Edited at 2018-11-15 04:23 GMT]
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