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Business School for Translators

Lesson 3: Fears about freelance translation… and how to fight them

Posted by Marta Stelmaszak on Sep 26, 2011 in Business School for Translators

I’m not educated enough. I have to wait at least to my MA! There’s a million of other translators in my languages. How can I ever get through? I don’t even have a website. It will take a lot of time and money to get one. I know nothing about running my own business, including sending invoices. What if it’s too difficult for me? I don’t know how to get any clients. What if I will never get any clients? What if agencies don’t want to work with me? What will I do when I run out of money? I don’t want to earn less than now. I will never be able to buy a house or a car making my living of freelance translation. Other translators out there will eat me alive…

Does that sound familiar? Fears like these keep you back from growing, developing and being happy. Funnily enough, fears don’t actually come from the outside world. In other words, fears are generated by our inner doubts and insecurities. You can let them overrule you and stop you from going freelance. Or you can learn how to harness them and use in your favour. I’ve asked some translators that you may know from Twitter, all of them having great and successful careers, what were their biggest freelancing fears and how did that turn out.

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How to deal with your fears?

1. Make a list of your fears. Simply write them down, as I did at the top of this page.
Very often this simple step helps a lot. We don’t usually use any logical means to cope with our fears, while formulating them and writing them down is a way of pronouncing them and pinning them down. It’s much easier to fight your freelancing fears when you know your enemy.
2. For every fear, identify the cause.
If you can’t find any reason for having a particular fear, this should help your mind fight it rationally. And if you actually can find a cause, working on it and removing it will be much easier.
3. Think of actions you have to take to remove the basis of each fear.
After you identify your fears, it is essential that you think of actions you can take to remove them. If you feel that you’re not qualified enough, find a certification course that can help! If you’re struggling with business administration, find online resources to learn from them. Every fear disappears as soon as you start doing something about it.
4. Take a piece of paper and draw a plan of implementation.
Having a good plan, or a calendar of implementation is a must to get rid of your fears. Every action has to be planned and organised.
5. Concentrate on points from your plan and make them happen here and now.
Most of our fears are linked with what happened in the past (and we fear it will happen again) or with what can happen in the future. It’s very easy to realise that HERE and NOW there’s nothing to be scared of. If you wish you started your own blog, but you fear that people will laugh at you, there’s nothing to fear about now. If they will laugh at you, they will do it in the future. But the only thing that matters is what you can do in this moment. And when you have no fears that hold you back, you can do anything. Even start as a freelance translator!

Over to you

What are or were your biggest fears about going freelance in translation? How did you manage to overcome them?

Marta Stelmaszak

Google+ Polish - English translator and interpreter specialising in IT, media, marketing, and business. Marta also translates from French, Norwegian, and Slovakian into her native Polish. She runs Business School for Translators, a blog full of invaluable tips on doing business in translation.