HOME
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The
2-Second Commute
Based on the
highly-successful Virtual Assistant training programs Chris Durst and
Michael Haaren developed
for the US Armed Forces and the US Department of State, The 2-Second Commute:
Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants brings
you the knowledge without
the classroom!
Training program
participants have billed over $30
MILLION since our training programs started in 2002. Now YOU can learn from Chris & Mike,
too, and start your own successful VA business!
2-SECOND
COMMUTE
CHAPTERS
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1
Why
Become a Virtual
Assistant?
- personal & professional reasons to
explore this
industry
Chapter 2
Exploring
Virtual
Assistance
- virtual assistance defined
- industry demographics
- services, fees, and trends
- why businesses work with VAs
- international outlook
Chapter 3
Reality
Checks &
Self-Assessments
- exploring important considerations -
motives,
lifestyle,
family, children, etc.
- entrepreneurial self-assessment
- VA readiness self-assessment
- Spouse With a Mouse™ - from our
Department of State
and US
Armed Forces training programs, a special section to help your
"significant other" understand what it will be like to have a business
in the house.
Developing
a "Service
Menu" That You Can Live and Grow With
- inventory your values, interests, and
skills to
determine
your most marketable skills
Chapter 5
Estimating
Costs and
Setting Fees
- projecting your costs, picking your
"salary", setting
your hour, and our special formula for calculating a reasonable
baseline fee
- comprehensive fee survey (see what other
VAs are
charging)
- getting paid -contracts, credit cards,
invoices,
retainers, etc.
Chapter 6
Setting
Up Your
Business and Your Office
- naming and registering your business
- forms of business ownership
- permits and licenses
- insurance
- home office setup
Chapter 7
Building
a Healthy
Foundation for Your Business
- defining your ideal client, interviewing
clients,
partnering with clients
- the art of virtual communications
- SWOT analysis - discovering your
Strengths,
Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats
- the benefits of "niche marketing" -
identifying your
target
market
Chapter 8
Let
the Marketing
Begin!
- image is everything
- talking about what you "do"
- marketing and email
- your Web site - your "global billboard"
- press releases
- harvesting the local "business crop"
- leveraging the media
- guest lecturing
- our 5 favorite marketing techniques
- the Strategic Marketing Plan - your
blueprint for
building
a successful business through effective marketing
Chapter 9
Pulling
It All
Together and
Keeping It There
- a collection of tips, tool, techniques,
and pointers
for
making your business a success
Chapter 10
The
VA Toolbox:
Resources and Information
- VA trade groups, email lists,
certifications and
training
programs
- specialized resources for homeschoolers,
"trailing
spouses", work at home parents, and people with disabilities
- resources and other information for the
"frugal VA"
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Work from home as a
Translator
[Contributing Expert: Corinne
McKay]
 The niche in a nutshell:
Translators usually specialize in specific subject areas
such as law, medicine, insurance, finance, computers, marketing, etc.
Most
translators work either for translation agencies, which act as
intermediaries
between the translator and the end client, or directly for end clients
who need
language services. Over-the-phone interpreters provide spoken
interpreting
services from home using the telephone.
Top 5 Services Provided in this Niche
- Document translation
- Editing/proofreading
translated documents
- Software localization
- Over-the-phone interpreting
- Summarizing foreign language
documents
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Top 5 Hiring Markets
- Translation and localization
companies
- Businesses with overseas
contacts
- Telephone interpreting
services
- Educational institutions
- Health care facilities
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Pay Range for this Niche
The
average self-employed freelance translator in the U.S. earns in the
mid-$50,000 range.
For in-demand specializations and/or languages,
six-figure incomes are not unheard of.
Most translators charge by the
word, while translation editors and telephonic interpreters often
charge by the hour.
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Recommended Skillsets
- Excellent writing skills in
the your native language
- Near-native knowledge of at
least one foreign language
- Knowledge of specialized
terminology for the fields you would like to translate in
- Ability to work alone in a
deadline-driven environment
- Willingness to aggressively market your
services
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Niche Overview
The professions of
translating (working with the written
word) and interpreting (working with the spoken word) are as old as the
phenomenon of communication between cultures. While translators of
yesteryear
may have worked over illuminated manuscripts by oil lamp, a translator
in the
21st
century performs
much the same task with the help of the
Internet, electronic dictionaries and reliable and affordable
telecommunications equipment.
Happily, the demand
for qualified (emphasis on qualified)
translators and interpreters far exceeds the supply; in certain
“mission
critical” languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Farsi and Russian,
there
is a crippling shortage of qualified language professionals. The
most commonly translated languages in the U.S.,
referred to as FIGS (French, Italian, German and Spanish) also provide
work for
a large number of translators and interpreters. According to the U.S.
Bureau of
Labor Statistics, the demand for translators and interpreters is
expected to
grow faster than the average for all occupations until at least 2014,
and
translators and interpreters are employed in almost every conceivable
sector of
the economy.
Today, the vast
majority of translation work is done over the
Internet, with translation buyers using freelance translators all over
the
globe. So, translation is a very attractive virtual business, and a
very
portable career; an excellent option for people who live outside of
major metro
areas, split their time between multiple residences, or in the case of
military
or foreign service spouses, move frequently.
Key questions and
answers about working from home as a
translator or interpreter
1. What
qualifications do I need to become a home-based
translator or interpreter?
As I listed in the
“Recommended skill sets” box above,
translators and interpreters need most of all to have near-native
fluency in at
least one foreign language, and excellent writing skills in their
native
language. It's important to note that most professional translators
translate
into their native language only. Some translators and interpreters have
a
degree or certificate in translation from a school such as Monterey Institute
for International Studies, Kent State Institute for Applied
Linguistics, or New York University's
translation certificate program. Still others have degrees in
foreign language, some have overseas work experience, and others enter
the
profession without much formal training.
The American Translators
Association administers
translator
certification in the U.S.,
and exams are offered in about 13 different language combinations.
Especially
for translators in the most common language pairs, FIGS paired with
English, it
can be a big plus to be certified, since there are many translators
working in
these language pairs.
2. Who do home-based
translators and interpreters work
for?
Freelance translators
have two basic types of clients:
translation agencies (also called translation bureaus or companies) and
direct
clients. Translation agencies, many of which are members of the
American
Translators Association, function as middlemen between clients who need
translations and freelance translators who perform the translations. A
translation agency will typically take 25-50% of the overall fee for
the
translation, but should also provide added value such as proofreading
and
editing, and a guarantee that the translator will be paid even if the
end
client never pays the agency. Direct clients, such as companies with
foreign
business dealings, offer higher earning potential, but also place more
responsibility on the translator. Home-based interpreters work mostly
with
telephone interpreting companies such as Language Line Services
and NetworkOmni.
These companies route
foreign-language calls to the interpreter's home phone, where the
interpreter
works in conference call mode.
3. How do I find work
as a home-based translator or
interpreter?
In doing the research
for my online course “Getting Started
as a Freelance Translator” and my book “How
to Succeed as a Freelance Translator” I talked
to countless would-be freelance translators who had thrown in the towel
on
freelancing after sending out 25-50 resumés and not finding any
work. By
contrast, during my first year of freelancing I contacted more than 400
potential
clients, which yielded 3-5 regular, well-paying clients. Within two
years, I
was earning more and working less than when I worked full-time as a
high school
French teacher, and my business has continued to grow from there.
So, rule number one
of finding work as a home-based language
professional is to blanket the field; search the web for translation
companies,
almost all of which have application instructions for freelancers right
on
their websites. Apply to at least 300 translation companies. Then send
your
materials to businesses that have a clear need for language work;
immigration
lawyers, schools with multilingual populations, etc. Nearly every
foreign
language or country has chambers of commerce throughout the U.S.
(German-American Chamber of Commerce, Brazilian-American Chamber of
Commerce,
etc.). Send your materials to these associations themselves, and also
see if
their membership directories are online; if they are, send your
materials to
their members as well.
Given the volume of
resumés that many translation companies
receive, follow-up is important to your marketing effort. To set
yourself ahead
of the crowd, keep track of every response you get, even if the
prospective
client says that they don't need your services right now or already
have a
translator who works in your languages. Every person who actually
responds to
your inquiry should be termed a “hot prospect,” and deserves some
follow up.
You might send each of those people a handwritten thank-you note
(“Thanks very
much for taking the time to respond to my inquiry. Looking forward to
working
together in the future!” or something of that nature) and enclose two
or three
business cards. Then, keep contacting those people every month or two,
to let
them know about new ways in which you can help them; tell them about a
new
project you just completed (in the event that they have a similar
need), a new
service you're offering, or a special offer you'd like to make.
4. Do translators
specialize?
What a great
question! Yes. Absolutely. Some translators
work in extremely limited specializations, like corporate financial
statements
or medical instrumentation manuals. Others work in broad areas such as
legal,
technical, or medical, but it's definitely important to think ahead of
time
about the subject areas you feel comfortable with in your own language.
For
example, if you don't know the difference between a hub and a router in
English, you'll be even more lost when trying to understand that in
Japanese.
If you're stumped as to how an automotive transmission works, your
translation
on the topic is unlikely to be accurate.
In my own case, I
never “got” science in high school or
college, and unfortunately the situation hasn't changed much since
then. On the
other hand, I find legal translation to be both interesting and
comparatively
easy; I love deciphering the convoluted sentences in legal documents,
and
because legal documents are often very repetitive, I find that I can
translate
legal documents more quickly than other subjects. On the other hand,
some of my
colleagues would say the opposite; they love the cut-and-dried aspect
of
technical translation, but despise what they see as the “mumbo-jumbo”
of legal
work.
Areas you've worked
in before make obvious candidates for
specializations, especially if you have work experience in an in-demand
area
such as finance, law, medicine, information technology, etc. Probably
the
highest-paid translators working today are those who have substantial
qualifications in an area of work practice (i.e. MD, CPA, JD, etc.) and
excellent skills in at least one foreign language. There's also the
chance to
do some on-the-job training by starting with small projects and
building up to
larger ones, and/or working with a translator who is experienced in a
subject area
you'd like to pursue.
5. What are the pros
and cons of working as a home-based
freelance translator or interpreter?
To me, the pros of
this job far outweigh the cons, but I'll
attempt to be objective here!
On the upside,
translation and interpreting can be very
well-paying and interesting compared to other work-from-home jobs. The
average
full-time freelance translator in the U.S. earns in the mid-$50,000
range, and
based on my own experience I'd say that this level of income is easily
achievable by a qualified language professional willing to aggressively
market
his/her services. Translation work is often quite flexible and
portable, and
can often lend itself to working part-time and/or irregular hours,
making it a
great option for at-home parents, semi-retired people, etc. And like
other
freelance work, the chance to have a career where you define success in
your
own terms really can't be beat.
To be realistic,
working from home as a language
professional has some downsides too. Not all projects cry out for
excellence in
the creativity department (think 125 pages of bank statements; how
interesting
would yours be?), and many projects operate on tight deadlines, meaning
that
high-earning translators often work long hours or regularly work at
night or on
weekends. The project-based nature of the business also means that new
projects
are coming in almost constantly. Unlike a technical writer who might
work for a
month or more on a single project, most translation projects will take
anywhere
from a few hours to a few days, meaning that if you want to find new
work, you
need to be reachable by e-mail and/or phone most of the time.
However, most
translators and interpreters I know, including
myself, really love their work and enjoy most aspects of the business.
Even
starting my business very slowly due to my young family, it took me
only about
two years to reach the point where, income-wise, it was no longer worth
considering the option of a full-time in-house job. The radically
improved
quality of life of working from home has also enabled me to avoid
living an
outsourced life; partially I work from home because I've found a job
that I
love, but I also do it because I don't want my child raised and my
meals cooked
and my laundry done by hired professionals while I do work that is
somehow
deemed more important. I wish you all the best in your own freelance
journey!
Recommended Reading
- How
to Succeed as a Freelance Translator - Corinne McKay
- Becoming a Translator
(Amazon)
- The Well-Fed Writer
(Amazon); doesn't deal with translation specifically, but covers many
topics that are relevant to freelance translators
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Tools of the Trade
- At least one computer (a
desktop and laptop are good to have) with high-speed Internet access
and VOIP communication through a service such as Skype
- Language-specific reference
materials, print or electronic, both general and specialized
- A way to receive faxes;
either a fax machine or electronic faxing service
- Office software, a PDF
reader, and possibly a translation environment tool such as SDL Trados, Wordfast, or Heartsome
- Business cards, which should
be specific to your translation/interpreting business
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Organizations & Associations
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Resource Links
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 About Corinne McKay
Corinne McKay is an
American Translators Association-certified French to English translator
based in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to translating legal, financial
and marketing documents for clients throughout the U.S. and Europe,
Corinne is the Administrator of ATA's French Language Division and the
Chair of the ATA Certification Maintenance Committee.
A former high school French teacher, Corinne has a special interest in
encouraging new and aspiring translators through her online course
"Getting Started as a Freelance Translator," (www.translatewrite.com), her
book "How
to Succeed as a Freelance Translator," published by Lulu
Press in 2006, and one-on-one consulting with beginning translators.
Corinne has a B.A. in French and English from Geneseo College and the
University of Grenoble, France, and an M.A. in French Literature and
Culture from Boston College. When not at the computer, she can usually
be found skiing, hiking, biking and trail running in the Rockies with
her husband and daughter.
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