| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] | Is the market slow? Thread poster: RUTH ELIZABETH BARTLETT
|
|---|
liz green (X)
Local time: 19:14
French to English
| Business slow: making my profiles work for me | Nov 10, 2017 |
Thanks, Sheila, for taking the time to look at my profile and making those suggestions - very much appreciated. I've now renewed my Proz membership and shall polish my profile, and my social media profiles as well - selling myself online is not my forte at all, I have to say, which is a ridiculous shortcoming in this profession - and I'm aware I need to put in some effort in this area. Work has picked up a little in November but I... See more Thanks, Sheila, for taking the time to look at my profile and making those suggestions - very much appreciated. I've now renewed my Proz membership and shall polish my profile, and my social media profiles as well - selling myself online is not my forte at all, I have to say, which is a ridiculous shortcoming in this profession - and I'm aware I need to put in some effort in this area. Work has picked up a little in November but I had almost no money coming in in September and October, and no reserves, hence my panic about getting a job! Having said that, the job market in my part of the world (Devon, UK) isn't wonderfully buoyant - or well paid - so that's not the best back up plan in the world... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It comes and goes | Nov 10, 2017 |
Great September, even better October and till sofar a louzy November. Time for overdue administration and acquisition.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
liz green wrote:
....and no reserves....
You should put a little aside, when you can - for a rainy day.
| | | | Claudio Porcellana (X) 
Italy
Local time: 20:14
English to Italian
| For Ruth Elizabeth | Nov 13, 2017 |
Hi Ruth
I don't believe in website usefulness, and I have one (made by myself with WIX for a few bucks) as agencies usually ask for one ...
in the past I asked to colleagues precise data about their website ROI (how much invested, how much work acquired through the website) but never received an answer, so I keep thinking a social like Proz is a better value for the money
about the IT field I can only add that the yellow of your webpage is an eyesore, so is... See more Hi Ruth
I don't believe in website usefulness, and I have one (made by myself with WIX for a few bucks) as agencies usually ask for one ...
in the past I asked to colleagues precise data about their website ROI (how much invested, how much work acquired through the website) but never received an answer, so I keep thinking a social like Proz is a better value for the money
about the IT field I can only add that the yellow of your webpage is an eyesore, so is likely better using some shade of gray (no double meaning involved )
as others, I think a specialization (not through a professional association, but a high school as for Fiona) is useful
my 2 cents
[Edited at 2017-11-13 01:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| Me too, Ruth! | Dec 15, 2017 |
I was searching the Web for info about the current status of the translation market and I stumbled into this topic, so I thought I'd chip in as my experience is very similar to Ruth Elizabeth's. I have been in the business for 20 years and ups and downs are the norm, but for the last year or so the downs have been alarmingly predominant. Before someone suggests it, yes, I know I should strengthen my ProZ profile and in general devote more time to marketing. But I too was curious to know how much... See more I was searching the Web for info about the current status of the translation market and I stumbled into this topic, so I thought I'd chip in as my experience is very similar to Ruth Elizabeth's. I have been in the business for 20 years and ups and downs are the norm, but for the last year or so the downs have been alarmingly predominant. Before someone suggests it, yes, I know I should strengthen my ProZ profile and in general devote more time to marketing. But I too was curious to know how much my and RE's experiences are common among colleagues. I am also wondering whether there is a general trend towards lower rates. I have not raised mine for several years, but sometimes I have the feeling that I am now considered "expensive". ▲ Collapse
| | | | | On web site usefulness | Dec 16, 2017 |
Claudio Porcellana wrote:
I don't believe in website usefulness, and I have one (made by myself with WIX for a few bucks) as agencies usually ask for one ...
in the past I asked to colleagues precise data about their website ROI (how much invested, how much work acquired through the website) but never received an answer, so I keep thinking a social like Proz is a better value for the money
I began my web site out of laziness, by answering FAQs. However true FAQs. I started out putting together my answers/explanations to questions prospects asked me every day. Compare this with the FAQs some people/companies publish about what they would LIKE to have their prospects asking.
Instead of tediously writing those answers/explanations from scratch every time, I began merely giving a pointer to the answer on my web site. Only later I got to answering the questions I thought they should as, or that I'd like them to ask.
Over the years, I accumulated a lot of valuable and often hard-to-find information on some specific matters my services cover. The availability of such information drew in traffic, and this traffic caused me to gradually rise in Google ranking.
Now don't get me wrong... I think this cyclical process took me 7-10 years. However I never paid one red cent for CEO.
A friend, who opened up a small translation agency was getting healthy traffic on her site by paying about US$ 350 per month to Google. When she eventually had to cut costs, and slashed that expense, business went suddenly so cold that she'd call her office landline from her mobile to check whether it was working.
On investment, my first site was built by my elder son, a top-flight IT pro. I wrote all the content, and it took him 18 months to find time to come to my place and build it. He used my computer and the Windows Notepad, writing directly in HTML, Javascript, PHP, whatever, like I'm writing this post. In two hours it was online.
But then I wanted to improve it, expand... I wouldn't wait for another year and a half for him to find time. So I made a lot of standalone pages, using the most varied software, MS Word and Page Maker among them, plus a host of others I don't remember.
One fine day I discovered WebSiteX5, which I have been using ever since, after several version upgrades. I still know nothing about HTML et al., but all I had to deal with was content. WSX5 is pretty affordable, and I think I'm using no more than 5~10% of its available resources.
I pay less than USD 20 per month to my host (still got space to waste there), and the service includes 10 e-mail addresses, of which I only use two. I also pay some negligible amount per year to the Brazilian domain registration entity.
My all-round site has been up since 2011, and last year (2016) I noticed that it finally had become my main source of new clients. Most of them are once in a lifetime jobs, however these keep my site's URL, and they refer it to friends, relatives, and even strangers on social media who ask about anything they found there.
In comparison to Proz, all I had been getting here were queries for my "rock-bottom best rates" and/or "MUST have Trados" (which I don't), so I opted out of renewing my subscription about a year ago.
I guess it all relies on what kind of unique and useful information you could offer on your web site to make a visit worthwhile.
Last but not least, my site is at http://www.lamensdorf.com.br
| | | | | Industry is changing. | Dec 18, 2017 |
A few things happened this year:
Chinese language online chat groups (QQ groups) for translators become much quieter, suggesting that a lot of people have decamped. Online forums seem to have followed a similar pattern.
We start to hear people talking about how they are astonished by the quality of translations produced by machines.
If we can obtain some information about how many more people are using machine translations such as Baidu translation or Goog... See more A few things happened this year:
Chinese language online chat groups (QQ groups) for translators become much quieter, suggesting that a lot of people have decamped. Online forums seem to have followed a similar pattern.
We start to hear people talking about how they are astonished by the quality of translations produced by machines.
If we can obtain some information about how many more people are using machine translations such as Baidu translation or Google Translate, we can probably build up a more complete picture. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 14:14
English to Spanish
+ ...
| The market is slow, then it sped up | Dec 19, 2017 |
I am thinking that we mean “the market I'm working in right now” when we speak of the market.
In my case, it's the technical translations market in the United States (and a bit of Canada sometimes) for the English-to-Spanish language pair. Yes, we are legion because we are many, paraphrasing the bible.
Seriously, I've seen ups and downs like the rest of you, but the rate of t... See more I am thinking that we mean “the market I'm working in right now” when we speak of the market.
In my case, it's the technical translations market in the United States (and a bit of Canada sometimes) for the English-to-Spanish language pair. Yes, we are legion because we are many, paraphrasing the bible.
Seriously, I've seen ups and downs like the rest of you, but the rate of those peaks and valleys becomes a matter of some concern sometimes. As Sheila pointed out, it's better to do something than nothing. That 'something' will be different depending on our situation. Regarding the usefulness of a website to attract clients, I'm with Claudio Porcellana there. I'm not saying that building your own website and creating your own content for years like Mr. Lamensdorf has done is an exercise in futility. Mr. Lamensdorf's market and clientele are very different compared to my own.
Although most of us have a good set of clients and means to attract other good clients, I think the future for newly arriving translators may be a bit bleak. Why? There are universities with translation programs that overpromise. My own alma mater keeps graduating Spanish translators every year in Córdoba, Argentina, although the local market is not large enough to absorb all of them. I'm reminded of the situation with nurses here in America and I've concluded that a) the profession has to be somehow regulated and b) universities and similar institutions have to learn to say no to some candidates to their courses and perhaps move them to other suitable professions where their language skills can be of great use.
And Tom is right: it's good to save some money for a rainy day. It doesn't have to be thousands of euros but whatever amount it is, it will be a psychological boost while any of us who's on a lull is working out solutions for the upcoming months. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| The usual rollercoaster ride | Dec 19, 2017 |
Mario Chavez wrote:
Seriously, I've seen ups and downs like the rest of you, but the rate of those peaks and valleys becomes a matter of some concern sometimes.
Peaks and valleys relate to a roller coaster ride, however the passenger/translator can often see where it's going. I'd add a ghost train to our translation market's amusement park. Every time I feel ready to state that a specific part of the year is a "low" or "high" season for my market, the ensuing events prove me wrong.
Mario Chavez wrote:
As Sheila pointed out, it's better to do something than nothing.
Over the years, I've agreed with Sheila Wilson's posts on the Proz forums so many times, that I'd pick her as the role model if I ever became important enough to need a spokesperson.
However she didn't say that. Unless I found the wrong post, she said, "Do SOMETHING, anything; not nothing". https://www.proz.com/forum/business_issues/313493-is_the_market_slow.html#2641129
I guess she was referring to the avoidance of training yourself to be idling.
However that includes the venom built in our unregulated profession. Keep in mind that snakes don't die from their own venom.
The venom within a translator lies in the do-ANYthing translator reasoning, "Well, the market is slow now, so I'll take that 1¢/word job. It will keep me busy for a couple of days, and within a couple of months I'll hopefully receive a $60 check in the mail."
The problem is that if too many translators adopt this stance, the market gets kinda addicted - and resistant - to this "venom". AFAIK this is how most of the vaccines work.
Translation outsourcers also go through this now and then. Of the market is down, will they be playing Solitaire in the office all day long? No! They'll run their "expanding our database" campaigns we see so often here on Proz for no practical purpose. They'll make applying translators jump through hoops to fill in, sign, and send NDAs, vendor agreements, whatever. They'll put these translators through endless tests, to eventually ofer "venomously low" rates. They'll obstreperously demand recent references from applicants, so they can bombard these 'prospects' with spam offering their services.
Mario Chavez wrote:
That 'something' will be different depending on our situation. Regarding the usefulness of a website to attract clients, I'm with Claudio Porcellana there. I'm not saying that building your own website and creating your own content for years like Mr. Lamensdorf has done is an exercise in futility. Mr. Lamensdorf's market and clientele are very different compared to my own.
The Internet has globalized many endeavors. IMHO no other professional activity has been so widely globalized as translation. An end-client in Germany can hire a translation agency in the USA, which can hire another translation agency in Portugal, which can hire a translator in Argentina to do the job... in a matter of hours!
So the key to translation marketing lies in getting found by the specific prospects a translator is geared to serve, in terms of language pair(s), subject field(s) of specialization, type(s) of service offered, and often software used.
As I said, my web site was born out of 'laziness'. Technically, I built it with the intent of killing time-wasters. Every time I said to myself, "Heck, no! I'm writing all this AGAIN to explain such and such things to a prospect," I thought of having a repository of the answers to the most frequent questions I received. No, I hadn't reinvented the wheel: FAQs existed everywhere.
I reckon that too many translators don't have to answer such questions. Considering a large number of requests I get, they apparently receive some files, shove them through Trados, use their terabyte-size TM, occasionally translate a few new words, deliver, and collect. These translators have no use for a web site.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 14:14
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Not a rollercoaster ride | Dec 19, 2017 |
Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Lamensdorf, but the image of peaks and valleys is pretty well known in economics and other disciplines. It can represent a business cycle, cash flow, an investment, etc. And translators aren't fortunetellers. Even successful business owners can be thrown by an unexpected lull or lack of demand.
As for my quoting Sheila in an incomplete fashion, I'm sure she'll throw the MLA book at me soon enough.
 ... See more Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Lamensdorf, but the image of peaks and valleys is pretty well known in economics and other disciplines. It can represent a business cycle, cash flow, an investment, etc. And translators aren't fortunetellers. Even successful business owners can be thrown by an unexpected lull or lack of demand.
As for my quoting Sheila in an incomplete fashion, I'm sure she'll throw the MLA book at me soon enough.
▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Is the market slow? | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
| | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
