How can a Freelance Translator become a Translation Company owner
Through trials and hardships to success
Many translation companies were created by former freelance translators. Only the path of each freelancer that he has walked to becoming a company was different. Some of them had to go through a serious trials and hardships to attain their goal of opening a translation company. To start a company is not an easy thing to do anyway and it takes some efforts to overcome big challenges.
Learn the lessons from other entrepreneurs
There are plenty of brilliant examples of how a translator achieved his goal and started his own translation business. Certainly there are a number of things to consider in the process of launching a new translation company. Far from all freelancers are able to cope with handicaps and obstacles that stand in the way of an entrepreneur with a bright idea and good desire to start a small translation agency. Before you could go ahead with making the first steps towards your dream or goal you have to learn the lessons of other beneficiaries of translation companies in UK and know what to start with and if the template of your colleagues will fit in your case and situation.
You have to understand what you want. It is important. There are, by the way, different ways and methods to run your business. Some of the strategies can be good enough for you and some not. You have to choose what will fit best for you and what you will able to handle with ease and without hassle.
What are the secrets or concepts for a freelancer to become a businessman?
First, you have to know and understand what you want. Do you want to release some time for yourself to do the housekeeping or to travel and enjoy your life without being pressed by the clients' deadlines? Do you want to get more orders and expand your services but do not have sufficient capacity and cannot physically handle that volume at one time? Do you get so many translation requests that you are not able to cope with within the set timeframe? Do you have an idea of using the skills of translators for your ambitious goals to get a profit? Do you have a team of translators (your colleagues) that can cope with large volumes of assignments and thus provide a wide range of translation services for more than two clients at one time?
You have to know what the translation business is like
Well, whatever the case you are in you have to know what the translation business is like and whether you will be able to manage it with the human and technical resources that you have. To ensure the successful development of your part-time freelance job into a small business entity you have to take into account your own capabilities as a managing person (if you are strong and skillful enough to make assignments and organize the translation process) and the power of assistance of your team mates or associates or colleagues or employees (whatever status).
What can you start with
You can start with a small group of freelancers like yourself or a team of professional team mates or colleagues from your faculty (if you your colleagues have the same or higher qualification, grade, and experience as you have). Or you can select the certified and sworn translators from translators job boards. But in case with freelancers that you don't know personally or never worked with before you have to check their skills and qualifications first. Please mind that some of the translators can also write about themselves a little bit more than what they really have. So you would better start with a team of either close friends or mates or associates that you know perfectly not only as a friend but also as a professional translator with large experience in translation from English to Russian or any other language.
Legalize your business
Certainly, you have to think about how to legalize your small business. If your profit does not exceed the local minimum amount that is free of taxation then you can just keep going until your profit grows to more than £2000 GBP a month. If you exceed the threshold of 2K you will have to select the best jurisdiction for your business. It is worth noting that present day world became a bit hostile to small business due to the rise of monopolies and corporations as well as due to the "new normal" that gradually removes the private life as such. As a beginning entrepreneur you can choose the entity that will be best fit for your start-up. Obviously, if your colleagues are not going to sit for hours in one room or office you can choose between LLC, LLP, or INC, or any jurisdiction that is most convenient for your business, for your clients, and for your privacy, security and safety. If your country legislation has a high demand in regards to business owning or if your local law obliges you to pay high taxes you can register your translation company in a different country that gives you more freedom and rights. You can get more information about the place and entity for your business at consulting agencies. If you start a Russian translation company, you can try it locally. But if your clients are from the United Kingdom or the United States you have to think about opening a Russian translation agency in UK or in USA, or, may be, in any other financially and legally convenient jurisdiction.
Payment methods are important
Also, you have to take care about banking services. Considering the tendency towards the online payments you have to learn about the available payment systems and/or payment gateways that will be able to accept online payments by Debit and Credit cards, and/or from PayPal accounts. There are a number of payment systems that will meet your demands. Among them are: PayPal, 2checkout, Paysend, PayOp, Payoneer, Tipalty, Birderlings, PaySera, TransferWise, and some other payment systems. You can get more information about payment systems online or from consulting agencies. The payment system should be convenient both for yourself and your client. Client should have several options for payment, like Bank transfer and card payment.
Translation process management
Translation process management is another critical aspect that you should take into consideration. You have to determine if you will manage all translation projects yourself or you will forward this function to your colleague or partner, or you will outsource the project management to a third party. This can be decided in the course of business development because probably you would not have a lot of projects in the beginning. But, once you grow beyond your forces and resources you will have to think about getting assistance from outside. After you've grown to let's say five orders a day you will need a manager or even two managers. But, before that you have to arrange for a smooth translation process by providing all necessary tools like spreadsheets, invoices, agreements, disclaimers, etc.
You have to promote your English to Russian translation services
Any business needs development and promotion. Without promotion or marketing any business will go down unless you have permanent clients who supplies you with Russian translation work on a daily basis. In order to promote your English to Russian translation services you have to use any available marketing tools, like SEO (organic search vs paid advertisement), SMM, Video promotion, Blogging, newsletters, email marketing, classifieds, tender boards, job boards. If you are familiar with basics of marketing you can go ahead and advertise your Russian to English translation business online on your own. However, due to the complicated and toughened rules of Google Search Engine it became more difficult to get your website or webpage promoted to TOP10 to get noticed. So you have to find professional marketers or promoters who can help you with promotion of your English Russian translation using the advanced SEO methods.
Have a nice business day!
Many translation companies were created by former freelance translators. Only the path of each freelancer that he has walked to becoming a company was different. Some of them had to go through a serious trials and hardships to attain their goal of opening a translation company. To start a company is not an easy thing to do anyway and it takes some efforts to overcome big challenges.
Learn the lessons from other entrepreneurs
There are plenty of brilliant examples of how a translator achieved his goal and started his own translation business. Certainly there are a number of things to consider in the process of launching a new translation company. Far from all freelancers are able to cope with handicaps and obstacles that stand in the way of an entrepreneur with a bright idea and good desire to start a small translation agency. Before you could go ahead with making the first steps towards your dream or goal you have to learn the lessons of other beneficiaries of translation companies in UK and know what to start with and if the template of your colleagues will fit in your case and situation.
You have to understand what you want. It is important. There are, by the way, different ways and methods to run your business. Some of the strategies can be good enough for you and some not. You have to choose what will fit best for you and what you will able to handle with ease and without hassle.
What are the secrets or concepts for a freelancer to become a businessman?
First, you have to know and understand what you want. Do you want to release some time for yourself to do the housekeeping or to travel and enjoy your life without being pressed by the clients' deadlines? Do you want to get more orders and expand your services but do not have sufficient capacity and cannot physically handle that volume at one time? Do you get so many translation requests that you are not able to cope with within the set timeframe? Do you have an idea of using the skills of translators for your ambitious goals to get a profit? Do you have a team of translators (your colleagues) that can cope with large volumes of assignments and thus provide a wide range of translation services for more than two clients at one time?
You have to know what the translation business is like
Well, whatever the case you are in you have to know what the translation business is like and whether you will be able to manage it with the human and technical resources that you have. To ensure the successful development of your part-time freelance job into a small business entity you have to take into account your own capabilities as a managing person (if you are strong and skillful enough to make assignments and organize the translation process) and the power of assistance of your team mates or associates or colleagues or employees (whatever status).
What can you start with
You can start with a small group of freelancers like yourself or a team of professional team mates or colleagues from your faculty (if you your colleagues have the same or higher qualification, grade, and experience as you have). Or you can select the certified and sworn translators from translators job boards. But in case with freelancers that you don't know personally or never worked with before you have to check their skills and qualifications first. Please mind that some of the translators can also write about themselves a little bit more than what they really have. So you would better start with a team of either close friends or mates or associates that you know perfectly not only as a friend but also as a professional translator with large experience in translation from English to Russian or any other language.
Legalize your business
Certainly, you have to think about how to legalize your small business. If your profit does not exceed the local minimum amount that is free of taxation then you can just keep going until your profit grows to more than £2000 GBP a month. If you exceed the threshold of 2K you will have to select the best jurisdiction for your business. It is worth noting that present day world became a bit hostile to small business due to the rise of monopolies and corporations as well as due to the "new normal" that gradually removes the private life as such. As a beginning entrepreneur you can choose the entity that will be best fit for your start-up. Obviously, if your colleagues are not going to sit for hours in one room or office you can choose between LLC, LLP, or INC, or any jurisdiction that is most convenient for your business, for your clients, and for your privacy, security and safety. If your country legislation has a high demand in regards to business owning or if your local law obliges you to pay high taxes you can register your translation company in a different country that gives you more freedom and rights. You can get more information about the place and entity for your business at consulting agencies. If you start a Russian translation company, you can try it locally. But if your clients are from the United Kingdom or the United States you have to think about opening a Russian translation agency in UK or in USA, or, may be, in any other financially and legally convenient jurisdiction.
Payment methods are important
Also, you have to take care about banking services. Considering the tendency towards the online payments you have to learn about the available payment systems and/or payment gateways that will be able to accept online payments by Debit and Credit cards, and/or from PayPal accounts. There are a number of payment systems that will meet your demands. Among them are: PayPal, 2checkout, Paysend, PayOp, Payoneer, Tipalty, Birderlings, PaySera, TransferWise, and some other payment systems. You can get more information about payment systems online or from consulting agencies. The payment system should be convenient both for yourself and your client. Client should have several options for payment, like Bank transfer and card payment.
Translation process management
Translation process management is another critical aspect that you should take into consideration. You have to determine if you will manage all translation projects yourself or you will forward this function to your colleague or partner, or you will outsource the project management to a third party. This can be decided in the course of business development because probably you would not have a lot of projects in the beginning. But, once you grow beyond your forces and resources you will have to think about getting assistance from outside. After you've grown to let's say five orders a day you will need a manager or even two managers. But, before that you have to arrange for a smooth translation process by providing all necessary tools like spreadsheets, invoices, agreements, disclaimers, etc.
You have to promote your English to Russian translation services
Any business needs development and promotion. Without promotion or marketing any business will go down unless you have permanent clients who supplies you with Russian translation work on a daily basis. In order to promote your English to Russian translation services you have to use any available marketing tools, like SEO (organic search vs paid advertisement), SMM, Video promotion, Blogging, newsletters, email marketing, classifieds, tender boards, job boards. If you are familiar with basics of marketing you can go ahead and advertise your Russian to English translation business online on your own. However, due to the complicated and toughened rules of Google Search Engine it became more difficult to get your website or webpage promoted to TOP10 to get noticed. So you have to find professional marketers or promoters who can help you with promotion of your English Russian translation using the advanced SEO methods.
Have a nice business day!
What freelance translator need to know about how to become an owner of a Translation Company