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Poll: What aspect of freelancing took you the longest to learn?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 20

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What aspect of freelancing took you the longest to learn?".

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Luca Adie
Luca Adie
Germany
Local time: 03:01
German to English
+ ...
Finding clients May 20

I mainly looked for clients around 10-20 years ago - I remember sending out hundreds of CVs all over the world. Few responded, but I somehow always managed to pay my bills on time. I would like some more clients, but the thought of having to market myself 20 years into my career doesn't fill me with joy. I'm trying to put it off, but will I be doing what I am doing now in 20 or 30 years? I don't think so.

Sorry, folks, I've also dribbled into the topic of the downward trend in work.... See more
I mainly looked for clients around 10-20 years ago - I remember sending out hundreds of CVs all over the world. Few responded, but I somehow always managed to pay my bills on time. I would like some more clients, but the thought of having to market myself 20 years into my career doesn't fill me with joy. I'm trying to put it off, but will I be doing what I am doing now in 20 or 30 years? I don't think so.

Sorry, folks, I've also dribbled into the topic of the downward trend in work... ▲ Collapse


Maria Laura Curzi
A. & S. Witte
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 03:01
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Managing time May 20

If you try to accept as much work as possible like I do, the logical consequence is that time management sometimes is challenging.
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 02:01
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Finding clients May 20

When I started translating full-time in 1985, I made the mistake of relying on a single client with a large volume of work, which practically prevented me from taking on other clients. Two years later the inevitable happened – through no fault of my own – that client lost the contract they had, and I found myself out of work overnight. The experience taught me a valuable lesson! So I would say that finding clients was the hardest hurdle.

Luca Adie
Maria Laura Curzi
 
Philip Lees
Philip Lees  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 04:01
Greek to English
Regret May 21

Not taking on jobs I knew from the start I was going to regret.

This includes things like:

  • Refusing to accept unreasonable deadlines
  • Not giving discounts unless there's a good reason
  • Declining new jobs when my schedule is already full (not a current concern)
  • ...

... and so on.

The Shredder
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 03:01
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Bookkeeping May 21

Bookkeeping, accurate financial record-keeping and reporting.

And finding clients, of course. I'm not sure where my first client found me, but I suspect they found me via my website, or possibly via aquarius.net. This was before ProZ.com's Blue Board existed. I remember in the early 2000s I used Google to search for "translation agency" and visited about 300 different translation agencies' websites. Directories such as Yahoo and the Open Directory Project also had lists of trans... See more
Bookkeeping, accurate financial record-keeping and reporting.

And finding clients, of course. I'm not sure where my first client found me, but I suspect they found me via my website, or possibly via aquarius.net. This was before ProZ.com's Blue Board existed. I remember in the early 2000s I used Google to search for "translation agency" and visited about 300 different translation agencies' websites. Directories such as Yahoo and the Open Directory Project also had lists of translation agencies. I found a file with the names (but not addresses) of 5000 translation agencies that I had downloaded in 1999.

[Edited at 2026-05-21 15:00 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
The Shredder
The Shredder
Standing up for myself May 21

Being brave on prices and deadlines, and being prepared to forgo a few jobs, took a while.

Of course, that may not be an option these days as prices tumble.

Philip Lees
 


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Poll: What aspect of freelancing took you the longest to learn?






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