An atypical dilemma: “I need less work”
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| | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 18:31
Spanish to English
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Surely any colleagues who have too much work to handle themselves could pass it on to someone less fortunate. That's what I try to do do when the situation arises.
| | | | Bruno Depascale 
Italy
Local time: 18:31
Member (2009)
English to Italian
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neilmac wrote:
Surely any colleagues who have too much work to handle themselves could pass it on to someone less fortunate. That's what I try to do do when the situation arises.
mm but you do this illegally, except if you work for direct client, because all translation agencies prohibit such behavior in their contracts..
| | | | | For your peace of mind | Apr 12, 2016 |
Bruno Depascale wrote: neilmac wrote:
Surely any colleagues who have too much work to handle themselves could pass it on to someone less fortunate. That's what I try to do do when the situation arises. mm but you do this illegally, except if you work for direct client, because all translation agencies prohibit such behavior in their contracts..
I think you can rest assured that a seasoned colleague would not do anything unbecoming of a professional.
| | | | | looking at it more closely | Apr 12, 2016 |
Bruno has a point. The client is contacting you because of your credentials or reputation, or his experience in the past. If he's hiring you then he expects it to be done by you, so this is a matter of trust. Otoh you can ask the client if that is ok. Recently a regular client asked me three times in a row to translate material while I was swamped. All their other regulars were busy so they were in a bind as it was a longstanding customer. So I said I could contact a colleague I trusted, a... See more Bruno has a point. The client is contacting you because of your credentials or reputation, or his experience in the past. If he's hiring you then he expects it to be done by you, so this is a matter of trust. Otoh you can ask the client if that is ok. Recently a regular client asked me three times in a row to translate material while I was swamped. All their other regulars were busy so they were in a bind as it was a longstanding customer. So I said I could contact a colleague I trusted, and with their permission that's what I did.
In recent years I've been swamped more than once. Regular clients or new ones who had come to me by recommendation by other clients have been willing to wait on occasion. Sometimes queuing up work is an option, but only if the client can afford to wait a day or two. End clients can do this more often than the type of agency that wins jobs by promising to have it done by yesterday (not a client you want in the first place). ▲ Collapse
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neilmac wrote:
Surely any colleagues who have too much work to handle themselves could pass it on to someone less fortunate. That's what I try to do do when the situation arises.
My approach was to employ people. This of course means responsibilities in terms of social security, workers' rights, reasonable working hours/conditions, making sure everybody has work to do, etc., but it allows me to share the work without losing control of the quality (or the account) while I use part of my time to study a four-year degree. Once I finish my degree, I might want to rethink the whole situation, as the idea of working with a laptop, being a free spirit, and roaming the world while working at odd times is far too tempting. At that moment, I will have to retake the matter of what is the best way to have the right amount of work.
[Edited at 2016-04-12 15:11 GMT]
| | | | Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 12:31
Member (2008)
English to French
When my workload goes from peaks and vales to all peaks I raise my rates and the problem sorts itself out When it's a short term peak (anything over 5 12-hour days in a row), I simply tell agencies that I'm booked and only taking extra assignments for a surcharge; direct clients usually have generous deadlines so I'll just get anything extra done over the weekend.
I have no desire to be a 'kitchen-table outsourcer' or... See more When my workload goes from peaks and vales to all peaks I raise my rates and the problem sorts itself out When it's a short term peak (anything over 5 12-hour days in a row), I simply tell agencies that I'm booked and only taking extra assignments for a surcharge; direct clients usually have generous deadlines so I'll just get anything extra done over the weekend.
I have no desire to be a 'kitchen-table outsourcer' or to manage people. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 22:01
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER | Drop less paying clients | Apr 12, 2016 |
Your happy situation gives you the opportunity to prune your portfolio. You can now safely drop low-paying, troublesome clients so that you are left with a more manageable bunch of clients who give you quality work and pay well.
The lower end clients are the ones who usually swamp us with work as they make more money out of our labour. So dropping them will automatically lessen your work load.
This is also an opportune time to raise your rates for some of your clients, ... See more Your happy situation gives you the opportunity to prune your portfolio. You can now safely drop low-paying, troublesome clients so that you are left with a more manageable bunch of clients who give you quality work and pay well.
The lower end clients are the ones who usually swamp us with work as they make more money out of our labour. So dropping them will automatically lessen your work load.
This is also an opportune time to raise your rates for some of your clients, as you are now in a position to afford the luxury of losing them if they do not agree to it.
[Edited at 2016-04-12 16:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 12:31
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| I wonder why he called this a dilemma | Apr 12, 2016 |
It is totally a normal thing.
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Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 18:31
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
As the Russian says, мне бы ваших проблем... (=if I could have such problem as you). Since I set 0.07 EUR per source word, I lost some clients but slowly developed a burnout syndrome. Yesterday I even was ready to ironing 4 hours (!!!) the clothes which I usually hate.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 18:31
Spanish to English
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| The Goldilocks zone | Apr 13, 2016 |
Bruno Depascale wrote: neilmac wrote:
Surely any colleagues who have too much work to handle themselves could pass it on to someone less fortunate. That's what I try to do do when the situation arises. mm but you do this illegally, except if you work for direct client, because all translation agencies prohibit such behavior in their contracts..
Illegal, shmegal. I work almost exclusively for direct clients. My relationship with them is that I have more or less free reign to get the translation done and can exercise my own discretion. I do collaborate with a couple of agencies occasionally, but on my own terms. They can like it or lump it.
PS: I don't recall ever having signed a contract in roughly 20 years of full-time translating.
| | | | | Pick and choose, do what you are best at | Apr 13, 2016 |
If you work for agencies, it is not a serious problem. You can tell them what you prefer and what you are good at, and turn down the less attractive jobs. I do this with a clear conscience - if they are not in my preferred subject areas. Colleagues with different specialities accept them gladly and turn down jobs that I enjoy. It is up to the agencies to pick the right translator.
For established, reliable translators with a well-defined working field, I would say it is not even an at... See more If you work for agencies, it is not a serious problem. You can tell them what you prefer and what you are good at, and turn down the less attractive jobs. I do this with a clear conscience - if they are not in my preferred subject areas. Colleagues with different specialities accept them gladly and turn down jobs that I enjoy. It is up to the agencies to pick the right translator.
For established, reliable translators with a well-defined working field, I would say it is not even an atypical problem - many of my colleagues who work with Danish seem to have plenty to do, if not actually too much. And that is in spite of charging Scandinavian rates.
If you work with direct clients, ask them to let you in at the planning stage, so that you can reserve time for them when they have texts ready - and perhaps you can persuade them to deliver texts early in the proceedings to allow a little flexibility. Or save tme on things like formatting by getting their DTP department to do it.
As others have said, drop the difficult and less profitable clients, raise your rates, and recommend reliable colleagues to good clients if you are not in a position to outsource or do not want to. If colleagues are also generally busy, they will not poach your favourite clients, but ultimately, it is up to the clients!
Above all, learn the little sentence: No, sorry, I'm busy.
Generally living, sleeping, getting some exercise, bringing up your children and spending time with your partner and family are all important ways of being busy... ▲ Collapse
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