No More Famine

Freelance translators often talk about "feast or famine" as though it's just a normal part of life.

Part and parcel of the job.

Yet the moment you accept it, you're basically rejecting success as a possibility for yourself.

Why? Because no matter how many feasts you may enjoy, experiencing famines simply cannot be considered part of a successful life.

Success and famine don't mix.

Before I go any further, I ought to define "famine" in the colloquial sense (not the literal "starving villages" sense).

Typing the word into Google produces the following synonyms:

shortage, scarcity, lack, dearth, want, deficiency, insufficiency, shortfall, under-supply, scantiness, rareness, paucity, poverty, drought, unavailability

No good meanings in there at all.

So a period of busyness and high income followed by a short spell of no orders that provides a welcome respite for recovery would not be considered a famine - provided that medium- to long-term financial goals are being achieved.

A famine would be where a lack of incoming orders is causing you substantial emotional or financial stress.

Famine is a serious issue for any business operation - as it has the potential to put the solopreneur or firm out of business if protracted or repeated.

Look at any successful company, and you'll see that one of key factors in their success is the elimination of famine - and this is achieved by selling their goods or services at high volume.

Their operations are humming away at a high frequency.

McDonald's, Apple, Starbucks, Toyota, Amazon ... the list goes on and on.

When was the last time a McDonald's franchise owner told you they didn't sell any burgers today?

Or you walked into an Apple store where you were the only customer?

Appealing to the masses through reasonable pricing is an obvious way to maximize turnover, but even luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Rolls Royce are achieving volume through stores and dealerships in every major city on earth.

Now look along your high street and recall all the little businesses that aren't there anymore.

That high-end boutique that's now a convenience store.

Or that four-table gourmet restaurant that's now a KFC.

I witnessed the risks of niche myself with my mother's needlecraft shop. She opened it while I was in college and I rented the flat over the shop for a year in my mid-twenties.

I had to go through the shop to get up to the flat, and there were usually no customers in there.

She kept the doors open for a few years by attracting needlecraft lovers from across the country and also doing mail order, but ended up shutting down after the Internet took off.

It was a beautiful shop, and quite large. It was stocked with everything the stitcher could possibly want, but the volume just wasn't there.

The shop's failure left a mark on me and has had a big impact on my approach to freelance translation.

If you want to eradicate famine from your life, you want volume.

More customers, more jobs, more words.

I haven't experienced anything like a famine for years now.

Not even a single day.

I have multiple orders coming in daily, and only accept maybe around 60% (enough to keep the agents coming back).

As an independent operator, you only have so many hours in the day, so maximizing the number of customers you can serve, the number of jobs you can accept, and the number of words you can handle is vital for getting famine out of your life.

Translation speed is obviously critical, but for more ideas on boosting volume, check out my bestselling Amazon/Kindle ebook, 88 WAYS TO BE SUCCESSFUL AS A FREELANCE TRANSLATOR.

(If you are unable to purchase through the link above, it may be because you need to do so through the Amazon site in your own jurisdiction, e.g. amazon.nl, amazon.fr, etc.)

Best of luck on your journey.

Matt