The topic of business plans for freelancers has always been raising doubts and causing controversies. In the beginning, when I was learning about the principles of setting up a freelance business, I’ve always been confused by conflicting pieces of advice: yes, you absolutely need a business plan, or on the other hand no, business plans for freelancers are a waste of time.
I’m a big fan of planning and scheduling, but I could see the disadvantages of business plans for freelancers, too. The same question came around again now when I’m getting ready to plan for 2014. I thought I’ll share my doubts and arguments with you, and then I’ll present my way of business planning for freelance translators. I’m looking forward to your input as well!
Why a freelance translator doesn’t need a business plan?
1) It’s a real hurdle to write it
Sitting down and writing a 20- or even 30-page long business plan may be a real problem. First, it takes a lot of time to simply write it. Second, getting enough time to collect all ideas and put them together may take days. The only period where I could actually allow myself the luxury of spending 4 or 5 days on writing a business plan would be my holidays, but that’s a bit like missing the point. Third, you really need to spend some time learning how to structure a business plan. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend this amount of time on actively promoting your business?
2) The scope is overwhelming
A business plan consists of a series of important questions and topics applicable to some businesses. But many of the issues covered don’t really apply equally importantly to freelance professionals, for example calculating how much money you need to set aside for contractors. In the past, whenever I was sitting down to write my business plan, I was constantly feeling that many of the things I’m writing about will never apply to my business and I felt overwhelmed with the amount of detail.
3) It can hold you back
Now, what if you plan a whole year for your business and you just stick to the plan, quite rightly so, and there are other opportunities out there? Setting up a plan for a year or longer will keep you restricted to what you thought about your business in January 2014. What if it no longer applies in May 2014?
4) It’s useless in the real world
Many freelancers argue that business plans have no real application to what they do in real lives, because the dynamics of freelancing work differs from large businesses’. For freelancers, things change on weekly basis, and generally a business plan may not allow for so much change. This is when it becomes useless in the real world which it no longer reflects.
5) It’s an excuse to keep you from doing
One of the arguments against business plans that I came across suggested that spending time on working on your business PLANNING actually keeps you away from DOING. It’s certainly happened to me in the past, where I was so attached to the idea that I had to plan everything that I wouldn’t dare to do any marketing before coming up with a marketing strategy. In this view, a business plan serves as a perfectly fine excuse to keep you from working.
Why a freelance translator needs a business plan?
1) It gives a structure
A business plan will certainly help you get a proper structure for your business. You’ll have a clearer idea of how you’re planning to acquire clients, how money’s getting into your business, and how you’re planning to grow. These are all essential elements of building a sound business.
2) It gives a feeling of security
Having a business plan gives you a similar feeling to setting out on a long journey with a map (or a GPS). You feel more secure because you know what’s around you and how you can get to your destination.
3) It helps to cope with change
Though this may contradict points made earlier, carefully crafted business plans that incorporate changes that can be predicted actually help you cope and manage these changes affecting your business. For example, knowing about the change in court interpreting contracting in the UK and incorporating it in my long-term planning, I was able to orchestrate a major change in my business structure without panicking.
4) It forces you to put your business hat on
Perhaps most importantly, getting a business plan makes you think more seriously about your business. I’ve actually started feeling more responsible and I had the impression of being forced to act along the plan I came up with. It was as if I told myself ‘now that I have a business plan, I have to live up to it’. And things really happened.
Do you need a business plan?
If you’re doing great in your business without a business plan, perhaps you should invest this time and effort into continuing doing things right. However, if you feel that you’re not quite there yet, or that you could do better, or even more so if you feel totally overwhelmed by the whole business thing, sitting down to put something down on a piece of paper may help you.
How to get a business plan that works for you?
Having said that, I do agree that there are some elements in business plans that just don’t apply to freelance translators. In the course of growing my business, I developed my own way of business planning. Here’s what I do every year:
1) Identify what I really want to and need to plan
2) Modify business plan templates to get rid of sections I don’t need or pointless details
3) Use mind mapping and many drawings to identify the areas I want to plan
4) Rather than having one very formal document, I play around with text, images, drawings, maps and sticky notes.
5) Find the right time to work on different parts. Usually, I spend a couple of hours here and there to put ideas on my whiteboard and let them stay there for some time.
6) Use SMART goals to make sure that my business plan is actionable.
Resources
You’ll find an example of a translator’s take on a business plan here. Sensible advice on business planning for copywriters (not too far from translators) is given here.
How do you do your business planning? Do you do it at all? Do you think freelance translators need business plans?
By the way, we’re running a little promotion for the Business School course. If your close ones don’t know what to get you, show them the leaflet below!
Marta Stelmaszak
Marta Stelmaszak is a translator between Polish and English, combining language skills with a thorough understanding of economics and business to help SMEs make as big an international impact as possible, providing translation and interpreting services for the legal, business and marketing sectors. Read Marta's book on business.
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2 Comments
Thanks for the article, Marta. I’m at the business planning stage at the moment and I sometimes worry that I’m getting too bogged down in the detail and that I’m never going to reach the end. Reading this article reminded me that what I’m doing is really useful, and I’ll be glad I did it further down the line. In terms of how I’m doing it, I’m working with a local not-for-profit, The Women’s Organisation (http://www.thewomensorganisation.org.uk/), which aims at getting women into business. Their support has been amazing, and their business planning workshop stripped the plan down to the basics to make it relevant to the individual, so I now feel confident to tackle something that seemed so huge! I do think business planning is vital, but, like you said, it’s so important to modify it to suit the business you’re in. Great article!
Thank you, Jen. I’m glad I could be of help and I’ll take a look at the link, too