Translation Jobs: Do Not Forget To Get Away From The Computer

by

Serg Caro

Perhaps you used to get together with a friend for lunch or a movie every week before you made the switch to your entrepreneurial life? If you have always been an entrepreneur, keep­ing weekly appointments with friends (or clients, or clients-to-be) will give your schedule some structure and get you out of the house. Having weekly get-togethers with friends and former co-workers is a good way to get away from the computer and get some one-on-one time with real people. If you do not have the time or do not want to spend time and money on a proper meal, grab a quick cup of coffee with a friend at your favorite local coffee shop. Many cafes offer free wireless internet, so you could also do some translation work before or after meeting your friend.

Commit to doing something for your physi­cal health on a regular basis. Having this kind of appointment not only gets you out of the house, but it also allows you to spend some time with a friend while doing something healthy and not straining your budget. There is no need to belong to a fancy gym: you can simply go for a walk in the park, play tennis at a public park, go for a short hike, or meet at the local swimming pool. If you have a dog, then you should be walking it on a daily basis. Perhaps you have a neighbor who wants to go with you? Then you could combine walking your dogs with ex­ercise and catching up. Dog parks are also a great place for a mid-afternoon break with your four-legged friend. And you never know whom you could meet. Translation business sometimes originates in unexpected places, and stranger things have happened than meeting a future client at the dog park.

One of the benefits of being a freelance translator is that you can eat lunch at home rather than in the lunchroom or at an overpriced restaurant, which is both healthier and more affordable. However, when you do not see people all day, it can get quite lonely, so set up lunch dates with a friend once or twice a week. Some people might think that being a freelance translator means that you have unlimited time and can easily drive to the other side of town for a quick lunch. Try to explain to friends and former co-workers that you do not have the benefit of a paid lunch hour, and that this time is all opportunity cost for you.

Your time is the only resource you have, so be sure to use it wisely. Take your laptop out of the house. If you have a laptop, you are in luck: you do not have to physically sit at your desk when working. You are your own boss, so you can work anywhere you want. Ideally, your destination would have wireless internet, but depending on the translation project you are work­ing on (say, you are in the proofing stages of a translation), you will not even need that. You could sit in a park, your backyard, a cafe, the library, or any place you like. Sometimes it is nice to leave the house with work in tow, because now you can enjoy some social contact while working. And it is pretty amazing to sit in a cafe in the middle of the afternoon, dressed casually, working away on your laptop, while all the non-entrepreneurs are slaving away in an office, dressed in formal business attire and going to pointless meetings.

Surely you have enough people in your life with whom you want to spend time. However, as a freelance translator, you will quickly realize that other people\’s schedules are not nearly as flexible as yours. You could use some of those flexible hours to do volunteer work when most working-age volunteers are not typically available. Ideally, this would be in a field/area from which you could potentially derive some business. For instance, if you do a lot of work in the social services area, it might be a good idea to do some volunteering for a social service agency. Do not use this solely as a sales opportunity, but when people ask you what you do for a living, you can certainly tell them that you are a translator. Your main goal should be to get out of the house, be social, and help the com­munity while you are at it.

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