Marketing For Translators And Interpreters, Part 1 of 3: Mind, Body & Soul

Marketing for Translators and Interpreters

As a translator and/or interpreter you market not only your services, but yourself.

You are the brand, the company, the CEO.

In other words, you wear all the hats in your translation and/or interpretation business.

When you prepare your mind, body, and soul for what's to come, you will be well equipped to face the challenges and accomplishments.

In this first part of a three-part series blog, we will examine the internal side of marketing.  

We will look into how the mind, body, and soul play an important role on our marketing efforts and profession.

THE MIND

As a translator and/or interpreter your brain is your bread winner (so to speak).  

Since our brain is a muscle, like any other muscle in the body, we need to exercise it regularly to keep it healthy and strong.

Keep your mind healthy and strong by:

•       Building on your strengths to improve your confidence.
•       Continuing your education, attending schools, training, seminars, events, conventions, etc.
•        Improving your skills in writing, grammar, communication, public speaking, note-taking, reading, proofreading, translation, interpretation, etc.
•       Mastering your language pair(s), services, skills, and craft.
•       Reading books, articles, blogs, and news about marketing, branding, self-promotion, writing, proofreading, accounting, and business.
•       Reading books, articles, blogs, and news about your profession, services, expertise, and language pairs.
•       Staying up-to-date with new vocabulary, terminology, idioms, jargon, etc.
•       Using your intellect and challenging yourself every day.

Keeping your mind active, accumulating knowledge, and experience will not only improve the quality of your work, sharpness, and efficiency but also give you a sense of happiness and fulfillment.

THE BODY

Those who are familiar with First Aid training know that before you can even begin to help an injured person you must first check for danger to yourself.  

Why is this so?  

It avoids putting yourself in unnecessary danger so you may be able to successfully help the injured person.  This also prevents emergency personnel from having to administer aid to more than one person.  

In other words, in order to help others we need to take care of ourselves first.

How does taking care of your body apply in marketing and your profession? 

Well if you want to market and provide the best value, quality, and service for your clients, then you need to be able to take care of the brain's keeper: your body.

Whether you are a translator or interpreter, your body and mind are your most important assets.

Similar to a craftsman, who takes care of himself and his tools by cleaning them, sharpening them, repairing them, etc. we need to do the same with our bodies.

Take care of your body by:

•       Eating healthy
•       Exercising regularly
•       Getting a good night’s sleep
•       Setting a balanced daily schedule
•       Taking breaks
•       Taking naps

When your body is taken care of, it will take care of you and your clients.  

Adopting healthy habits will make your body more alert, productive, refreshed, less stressed, and energized.  

In the long run, not only will your body be more efficient during working hours but also during the equally important non-working hours.

THE SOUL (HEART)

They say that your heart is the window to your soul...then explore your heart.  

What do you love?  

What motivates you?  

Take a chance on doing what you love because it will make you happy and make you money.

Listen to your heart by asking yourself these questions:

•       What am I passionate about?
•       What are my dreams?
•       What are my goals? 
•       What are my interests?
•       What are my needs? 
•       What are my standards?
•       What are my strengths?
•       What are my values? 
•       What are my wants?
•       What are my weaknesses?
•       What do I love to do? 
•       What makes me happy? 
•       What truly gives me joy?

Once you know what you love, your passion, and aspirations, specialize in that service, subject area(s), and niche, become an expert at what you love.  

You will be more happier, better, faster, and a more successful freelancer marketing and doing what you love.  

You will find yourself working less by following your heart, staying true to your values, and working within your interests.

ADDITIONAL TIPS

If you have been a professional freelancer for some time now, you have seen the ever changing tides of the profession and have had to learn through experience what formal education never taught.  

To those who are new to the profession, you should be ready to face the real word experiences that are headed your way. 

Here are just a few real world basics and common sense tips:

•       Always be fair, ethical, and professional.
•       Be a problem solver; learn to cope with challenges.
•       Be open and ready to wear several hats.
•       Be positive, friendly, courteous, approachable, respectful, tactful, trustworthy, honest, reliable, patient, and all the good qualities you expect from other businesses and professionals.
•       Be ready for the ups and downs.  Keep in mind that work as a freelancer is unstable and never the same, work will come in waves, so save money for low tides.
•       Be resourceful, adaptable, and flexible. 
•       Become a life-long learner.
•       Do not complain, simply act and change things.
•       Do not get stuck on one method or style, embrace variety, and different opportunities to grow and learn.
•       It will take you a long time and hard work to build a good solid reputation and client base but it will all be worth it.
•       Take risks, be courageous, and fearless.
•       You will make mistakes, so learn from them.

As we have examined in this blog, marketing entails more than just what meets the eye, it is an internal process as much as an external one, which means that it goes far beyond just acquiring jobs.

Do you know of any other internal marketing factors?  

What has been your experience?  

How can we better help and inform one another?  

How can we better help and inform potential clients?

In the second part of the this three-part series we will examine the external factors of marketing.

As always, thank you for reading and sharing my posts.  Please if any of my blogs inspire you, give credit where credit is due. Let's be fair, honest, and professional. Let's help each other be great and stay great!

Feel free to connect or email me, Carmen Arismendy.  I'm a professional Spanish interpreter-translator and founder of eLingual.Net.  I started the eLingual Network because I could not find a fair, no middleman, no job bidding, ethical, and transparent meeting place for translators, interpreters, and clients online.  The website is in beta phase and by no means perfect but it's a step in the right direction.

eLingual.Net's mission is to spread happiness worldwide through happy translators, interpreters, and clients.

For the professional translator and interpreter, this means no middleman, no job bidding, the freedom of setting their own fees, having control over their services, and who they choose to work with.

For the clients, this means working directly with ethical and professional translators and interpreters committed to quality and value.

Join our happy community, let's work together!

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Updated 11.29.16