Aaah, clients. Without them, I wouldn’t be a very successful freelancer. Some of them, though, they’re not a good fit for me. Over the years, I’ve parted ways with customers, and some have parted ways with me. Sometimes, we just faded away, sometimes our needs changed, and sometimes—much more rarely but still—there was a direct […]
Introducing Rosa, our new(ish) dog Last year, we welcomed a young dog called Rosa into our home. We’ve been getting to know each other and are slowly learning how to live together. What that boils down to is creating trust, learning to speak the dog language and reinforcing desirable behavior. In the beginning, all we did […]
It’s nice to be nice, right? I strongly believe in treating people kindly and not saying anything that I wouldn’t want someone else to tell me—especially if I never asked for their opinion. We don’t always see eye to eye and life is much more pleasant if we simply acknowledge that and move on. So, […]
Experts know everything, right? I often see translators online asking whether they should let clients know about questions or issues that arise with a translation. They fear that asking questions might make them look unprofessional. When we hire experts, we want them to take charge. It’s their job to confidently guide us through the process. […]
Can I supersize that? A lot has been written about different service and sales approaches and how they affect customers. Of course, I’m interested in selling my services without being pushy, without underselling myself and also without being rejected. That’s why I like to keep a close eye on how other people handle their sales […]
Time for a change Why do some people resist change even if they aren’t happy with the status quo? I’m not even talking about major life changes, just small-scale tweaks here and there to make life a little easier. Change can be scary and it might involve heavy lifting. That’s a given. But if implementing […]
Which criteria do clients go by? The age-old question: Why do some clients settle for a mediocre translation just to save some money? Or maybe that’s wrong question. How about: Why do clients keep buying mediocre translations when there are so many excellent translators waiting to work their magic? Last year, I was called by […]
As I announced in my New Year’s post, I gave a presentation for my local business network this week. Our networking group meets up every two weeks for breakfast, businessy chit chat and the occasional presentation. I am the one and only translator there. We kick off each meeting with a round of introductions and […]
Every now and then clients do something that gives me a welcome little jolt, preventing me from getting too set in my ways. Is there such a thing as routine client correspondence? Clients who send me several smaller jobs usually get a monthly invoice instead of several individual invoices. January is coming to an end, […]
