It is a common belief that freelance translators have more fun than those that spend eight hours a day working in a translation agency. From being able to take a short nap to not having to see the grumpy face of a boss, there are hundreds of reasons that contribute to build the idea that working from home is heavenly. But, is this really so? What is the everyday life of a freelance translator like?
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One of the main objectives of a freelance translator is to secure work. Expenses keep on coming and you need to have a more or less steady income. This usually means spending lots of time browsing translation job ads and applying for them, updating your profile on job boards, building a relationship with your clients and accepting jobs at lower rates than expected. As you build up your portfolio and get to know the industry inside and out you can start being pickier and focus on translation jobs that are better paid or that come from customers that request your services more often.
Balancing your family and professional life as a freelance translator is not easy. You are now in charge of many administrative tasks somebody else used to do for you (invoicing, taxes, banking, dealing with clients, and so on) and many times your family fails to understand that you are really working at home and ask you to run some errands for them, for instance.
Besides, working by yourself as a translator can sometimes become boring and you will definitely miss gossiping with your coworkers. Of course you can build long lasting relationships with clients, other translators or project managers over the Internet, but you won’t be able to enjoy that informal chit chat over a cup of coffee as you used to do.
It is also worth mentioning that in your everyday life as a freelance translator it is very likely that you will work for really long hours. At the beginning, you will spend most of your time marketing yourself and then, once you have a regular amount of clients requesting your services, many a time you will find yourself working for twelve or fifteen hours!
