Article How to leverage your quieter months as a freelance translator

There are so many fantastic things about being a freelancer. From the flexibility to the autonomy, we wouldn’t have it any other way and know a lot of you wouldn’t either.

But, like anything in this life, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are plenty of not-so-great things about freelancing. One of the major ones that the vast majority of us experience is the feast and famine cycle.

It’s pretty normal to have months when you’ve got work coming out of your ears, and weeks or months when it feels like there’s nothing but crickets in your inbox.

A lot of freelancers experience this across all kinds of industries, but in our opinion translation work is particularly prone to this because of the culture of immediacy that’s so present in our industry.

In some other freelance professions, clients often expect to have to wait a while for the product or service. It’s normal to have to plan ahead, book a slot in advance and wait patiently if you want quality results.

But in the world of translation, we seem to have normalised urgency, with clients giving translators tight deadlines even if they could have given them more advanced warning, or if they don’t actually need the translation for tomorrow.

This means feast and famine can be particularly bad for translators as we can easily start a week with nothing on the books and end up drowning in work by Tuesday. Or we can keep twiddling our thumbs all week long but still feel like we need to be glued to our computer so we can pounce on any work before it vanishes.

The translation industry has a lot of work to do here, but we digress!

The good news is that there’s an awful lot you can do to make the most of these quieter times.

To make them work for you, so that you can make use of the time rather than worrying about never working again. To do things that will help even out the freelance rollercoaster a little in future, so the overwhelming highs and stomach-twisting lows become a thing of the past.

Here are our top tips for making the best use of the lulls in your business.

1. First, take a break

We know how hard the translators in our community work. Often far too hard!

So if you haven’t had a break in a while, it’s time to take one. Of course, it might be that your quiet period has come right after you’ve been on a well-deserved holiday and you’re raring to go, in which case a break probably won’t be right for you.

But failing that, take advantage of your quiet period and take some time off. You decide how long. An afternoon. A day. A few days. Even a week! You need to be well-rested to be able to give your clients the results they deserve, so it’s time for some overdue self-care.

There are plenty of things you could be getting on with at your desk, sure. And we’ll go into those below. But don’t chain yourself to your desk just because it’s 11am on a Tuesday and you feel like you should be working.

Sure, you could use the time to get on top of things around the house, but you could also reward yourself for all your hard work with a long leisurely walk, a bike ride, a picnic, a cinema trip… There will be plenty of time for work later.

2. Organise your work space

So you’ve given yourself some time off, enjoyed yourself and feel like you’re ready to take on the world of work.

Before you do, look around you and see if there’s anything that could be done to optimise your workspace. Things you just don’t see when you’re focused on tight client deadlines.

Give it a spring clean and move some things around to create a space that inspires you.

3. Tackle the small tasks lurking on your to-do list

You know those small-but-annoying tasks that you keep putting off for months at a time? We wouldn’t mind betting you could sort them in a flash, and you’ll feel so much better once you’ve dealt with them.

Start with the easiest one first and once you realise it really wasn’t such a big deal, you might feel motivated to keep going. If the motivation doesn’t come, try setting yourself a goal to tackle one of these niggly tasks a day.

Getting stuff like this done will help you feel productive, client work or no client work.

4. Launch into the big things

Had ‘rejig website’ or even ‘create website’ on your to-do list for as long as you can remember?

Or perhaps you’ve been meaning to set up some service packages, or make some other bigger change to your business.

Now’s the time to finally make that happen! Go on, we believe in you!

5. Sign up for a course

Whether it’s learning more about an existing specialism or learning a new skill, now’s a great time to sign up for that course you’ve had your eye on.

Challenge your mind and learn about something a little different.

Of course, Murphy’s Law means that as soon as you sign up and get excited about it you’ll suddenly be flooded with work!

But you’ll be committed, so even if you do get busy again, you’ll still find the time to dig into the course and get the benefit of all that shiny new knowledge.

6. Get your taxes in order

Hands up everyone who puts their tax returns off until the very last minute ☝️

Don’t worry if you’re guilty of this - taxes are no one’s idea of fun, and procrastinating over stuff like this is the easiest thing in the world.

But just think how much better you’ll feel once it’s all sorted.

No matter how taxation works where you are and what you have to send off when, there’s sure to be plenty you can do to get your tax ducks in a row. Take a deep breath and dive in - you’ll be very glad you did.

7. Review your rates

Rates are a minefield that we’ve broken down in the past.

But no matter how you choose to calculate them, it’s important to review them regularly to make sure they’re still right for you.

Remember, if your rates aren’t allowing you to earn enough to at the very least cover your living expenses every month, then they’re too low!

Crack into the numbers and use your time tracking data to take a close look at what your per-word or per-minute rates actually work out as per hour.

If things are quiet in your business then we appreciate that you probably don’t want to be raising your rates (should the numbers show you need to) with your regular clients right now.

But knowing the numbers will help you resist the temptation to accept new work at lower rates than you can afford to charge. Trust us, your time is better spent looking for and marketing to clients that can afford to pay you what you need, rather than working for less.

8. Ask for testimonials

A lull in your business is the perfect time to go back through your projects from recent months and make sure you’ve requested a testimonial from all your clients.

Testimonials are fantastic marketing tools, can tell you a lot about what your clients particularly like about your services and give you a well-deserved ego boost.

Email your happy clients asking for a testimonial, or chase up anyone you’ve already asked but has clearly forgotten!

9. Set up meetings with fellow freelancers

It’s time for some coffee dates!

Reach out to any local freelancer friends you’ve met online and suggest getting together for a coffee or coworking.

Or reach out to some of the lovely people you’ve met online and ask them if they fancy a video call.

Have a nice chat about life, freelancing and everything and find out more about what they do. Who knows, you might be able to refer them for a project at some point, or vice versa!

And they’ll understand just what it feels like to be going through a quiet period, so will be able to lend a great listening ear.

10. Create a bank of social media posts for the future

Find it hard to keep up with social media when you’re busy?

Use this time to create a bunch of posts you can have ready to go for those weeks when work is hectic.

It can be hard to feel inspired when things are quiet, but if you dig deep you’ll come up with plenty of ideas. If you have writer’s block, try brainstorming on pen and paper out in the wild.

Scrolling LinkedIn or Instagram and taking inspiration from other people’s posts (not copying them, but sharing your take on the same topic and perhaps tagging them) can also be a great source of ideas.

11. Work on a passive income stream

One of the best ways to make the feast and famine cycle less pronounced is to create some form of passive income.

We’ve written a whole blog about this in the past, so if this appeals to you head over there for a selection of ideas to get excited about.

12. Work on a proposal for a conference

And last but not least, why not take the leap and submit a proposal to give a talk at a translation conference?

We know, this can feel really scary if you’re not used to public speaking, but if you want to push yourself out of your comfort zone and really help make a name for yourself in our industry, then it’s a fantastic thing to do.

LSP.expert can help you keep track of your jobs, but it’s also a huge help when it comes to keeping track of your taxes, expenses and working out what you need to charge.

Use this quiet time to really delve into the numbers in your business, or if you haven’t tried our platform yet, then maybe the moment has come to give it a go.

Give it a go with our 30-day free trial and discover what a difference it could make.