Tips To Help You Start Your Own All-Round Translation Business

There is no shortage of translators who take the plunge and set up shop as self-employed freelancers, but few have the ambition or the spirit to start up their own all-round translation agency. This is not surprising, of course, as the establishment of a full- scale translation agency is a quantum leap compared with what it takes to launch a viable freelance practice. Nevertheless, the intellectual and financial rewards of business ownership can be substantial. Below I will discuss various aspects you will have to take into account should you consider beginning your own professional and all-round translation business.

All-round translations
First of all, what is meant, in this particular context, by the term all-round? Basically, it refers to the scope of your product. As a freelancer your output would be confined to your own language combination and degree of specialisation; as an agency owner you will be able to supply your clients with translations across a whole range of source and target languages and disciplines, including commercial, technical, medical and legal documents. In theory, your range would be limited only by the number of staff you would be prepare to contract.

Internal organisation
If you want to establish your own translation company, you would be well advised to find a competent partner first unless you are willing to hire staff right from the start (which, in most cases, is not a recommendable procedure). Ideally, your business partner should be a person whose qualities are complementary to your own, if only because in such cases the division of tasks is usually quite obvious (and a potential source of conflict is removed). There are good reasons to separate responsibility for product quality (i.e., the quality of the translations) from organisational responsibilities (order processing, account management, etc.). These two roles do not go together very well in practice, and the associated skills are not usually combined within one and the same person anyway.

Find suitable office accommodation that includes at least two rooms: one library-style room where you can work in peace, and one nerve centre where the business is done. Make sure you have at least three computer workstations (one spare station is no luxury) and an office printer, a telephone switchboard with at least two external lines and a fax. Get yourself a straightforward high-quality accounting programme with a CRM module and document your working methods in detailed systematic procedures.

Dont forget to lay down and formalise a number of essential agreements on tasks and responsibilities with your business partner, so as to prevent any misunderstandings.

Business Plan
Once you have gathered all the information you need, you should draw up a Business Plan. Examples of such plans are available at your local Chamber of Commerce, or can be downloaded (for a fee) from the Internet. These specimen copies are structured in such a way that they will assist you in each step of your own Business Plan. One of the main advantages of having a reliable Business Plan is that it will present you with a realistic estimate of the money you will need to get your agency off the ground. If your capital requirements exceed your private budget (and it is quite likely that they will), you will have to present a thorough Business Plan to the bank in order to persuade them that your plans will pay off.

High-quality freelance translator network
The main asset of any translation agency is obviously its network of reliable translators. Incidentally, you need not be a networking freak to build up such a freelance network. Many freelancers will present themselves to you spontaneously as soon as they get wind of your existence; alternatively, you can actively recruit them and check out CVs on a variety of collective freelance websites, such as Translators Caf or GoTranslators. The snag is that you will be hard put to appraise a freelancers skills if you do not master the language concerned. CV assessment is important, but by no means sufficient: you will need to be able to judge the quality of a freelancers actual output before entrusting him or her to your clients!

To obviate this problem, check your own network of colleagues or friends for highly-educated native speakers of the language concerned, ask several freelancers to submit (free) trial translations, have them assessed and select the two or three most promising freelancers for each language combination you intend to offer. Carefully document the strengths and weaknesses of each selected freelancer and list the specialisations. Note that you wont get a truly reliable picture of a freelancers capacity and skills until heshe has had the opportunity to do several translation jobs for you.

Once you have a pool of reliable freelance translators for each language combination, you can obviously also ask them to check and assess trial translations submitted by other candidates.

Another point to bear in mind is that the freelancers you decide to work with should comply with all the requirements imposed by your countrys Tax & Customs Administration. Each freelancer should be able to produce a formal statement, issued by the tax authorities, attesting to hisher status as an independent translator.

Reliable network of suppliers
Your freelance translators are obviously your most important suppliers, but the supply network comprises other parties as well that will need to be carefully selected as you will need to use their services on an ongoing basis. These include the bank, the accountant, the printer and the graphic designer.

Marketing
Once the internal set-up of your agency is in place, your first priority should be to recruit clients in a systematic manner. For many start-ups in the translation business, this is the most difficult hurdle. Obviously there is a multitude of strategies that can help you attract clients in the business-to-business segment (which accounts for most of the turnover of any self-sufficient translation agency). One very helpful tool, if used correctly, is Direct Marketing. In principle, two different Direct Marketing strategies are available:

1. Internet marketing
One effective and relatively cheap method of generating business in the short term is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), a term that refers to a variety of techniques to help you strengthen your presence on the Internet, and to help prospective clients find you there. A strong position in Internet search engines will increase the number of times you are invited to submit a quote for a translation job, for the simple reason that you will be more likely to be selected if you are easy to find on the Internet.

Some Internet facility agencies have specialised in Search Engine Optimisation and will be able to improve your search engine rating within a couple of months. Most of these companies charge annual subscription fees. If you want immediate results, ask for an adword campaign.

2. Database marketing
This a rather more expensive client acquisition technique. Call large international corporations and government agencies likely to produce texts for translation on a regular basis, and ask for the name of the person who is responsible for translation services (usually an official at the Directors Office, Communications or the Marketing Department). Gather the information in a database and mail the contact persons four or five times a year. The mailing could comprise your company brochure, a letter of recommendation, flyers, a magazine for business relations or any other item that will help remind the reader of your name and the level of quality that you offer.

An effective database contains at least 1,000 companies or other organisations, and should also contain the names of the contact persons. It goes without saying that you will also have to invest in continually updating your database.

Using a cover letter template when job hunting is a logical and time saving measure. Your time is limited, so writing one basic one and using it as your template will simplify the application process, making you more efficient and hopefully employed all that much faster.

A basic template can be either bulleted sometimes called an Executive Summary or in paragraph form. The paragraph form of cover letter template is more traditional and preferred by many for the neat appearance it presents. Since hiring managers are busy however, the bulleted format does have advantages. This cover letter template allows you to make quick changes in the emphasis you are placing on your skills in case there is more than one type of job for which you are applying.

A good bulleted template will begin with the date, address and salutation. Then it should reference the position applied for. Open the template itself with a short paragraph highlighting your primary qualification, such as years of experience, and state that you can make a strong contribution to the company. Then back up what youve said with at least two bullet point paragraphs, each listing some of the key qualifications that your resume lists. Youve heard the old saying tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. This is the place for that.

Your last paragraph should be upbeat and point out that you can make valuable contributions to the organization, list your contact phone number again, and thank the reader for his or her time.

A good template emphasizes the contributions the applicant can make to the prospective employer. Employers dont really care about what you want, they care about what you can do for them, and your cover letter template and resume should reflect that truth.

An alternative to the bulleted template is the standard paragraph formatted cover letter template. It begins as the bulleted one does, with the date, salutation and standard formal correspondence protocols. It will then have three or four paragraphs in block format that point out your years of experience, education and other qualifications in the first paragraph, followed by the second paragraph where you state your desire to join the organization. The third paragraph should go into more detail concerning experience and qualifications. For instance, stating that your skills are in personnel supervision, or in operations management. List a recent accomplishment in this paragraph to back up your earlier words. In the last paragraph point out the obvious it never hurts. Let the reader know that your resume is enclosed and you would like to meet with him soon to exchange ideas. State that you will call him in the next few days if you feel it appropriate, otherwise restate your contact phone number and email address and your availability to meet. End it with your signature and the word enclosure.

This cover letter template also emphasizes what the applicant can do for the company by citing experience. If you follow either of these listed here you should have good success.

Heres a tip for cover letters to get more interviews. Use a bulleted format cover letter rather than a standard letter in paragraphs. The bulleted format is more eye catching, and is more likely to be glanced at by the hiring manager or other person assigned to sort through resumes. This format will help you get your resume seen by more people and as a result get more interviews and more job offers.

If you follow this advice and decide to use the bulleted format, make sure that each bullet point specifies a reason for the hiring manager to talk with you. This reason can be your number of years experience, your education, a personality trait that you have, or an accomplishment.

Examples of bulleted points would be:

Over 20 years experience in Human Resource Management.
Or
Outstanding work ethic. Lead by example.
Or
Master of Science in Education. Currently enrolled in Doctorate program.
Or
Saved last employer 30,000 in revenue through modernization of accounting system.
Or
Increased sales by 25% last quarter.

This bulleted format allows you to toot your own horn, but in a way that does not seem egotistical because it is obviously part of a resume package.

Another tip that will increase the readability of your cover letter is to use bold faced fonts on occasion to emphasize points you want read. Bold face catches the eye, and is a common device used by graphic designers in advertising copy. Your resume and cover letter are marketing tools for you, just as a print media advertising piece is a marketing tool for a business. Consider using bold face as tip from the Fortune 500 ad agencies that you can use without charge.

The next piece of advice to consider concerns the final paragraph of the letter, and will help you in your follow up efforts. When following up often times the hardest thing to do is to get past the gatekeeper. The secretary or administrative assistant that screens calls for his or her boss has an important job to do, but so do you, and reaching the decision maker will make you look good. The gatekeeper will try to stop you if the decision maker is busyafter all, he has better things to do with his time than speak with job seekers. So, in the final paragraph of your letter, before the sincerely and your name, simply state I will call you next week to check on a convenient time to speak with you in person. Youve told the hiring manager you will be calling. Logically he should be expecting your call. For this reason you may tell the gatekeeper that Mr. HR Manager is expecting my call this week. This will increase your chances of getting through, and of getting the interview. This tip is a variation on techniques that good business-to-business sales people use, and will work for you as well, bringing you more interviews and more job offers.

The Top 4 Ways To Build Your Personal Training Business And Which One Is Best!

The Top 4 Ways to Build Your Personal Training Business and Which One is Best!

Everyone wants to grow their business. It doesnt matter who you are, or what business you are in. Unless you are not interested in money or career security, you want your business to grow.

Do you feel like you want to grow your personal training business, but youre not sure how to do it? Are you ready to take your business to the next level, but you dont know how? Then this article is for you!

Lets start by defining the 4 ways that anyone can grow a business, and then we will examine which one has the most growth potential:

1) Get more customers Do you just want more customers who use your service, buy your products, or both? How many customers can you fit into your day, or provide products for? How many customers do you have the time and the resources to support?

2) Sell more products or services to your present customers This is a great idea, since your present customers already trust you. However, it is limited because each customer will only spend a certain amount of money, or they will only need a certain number of products. Once their needs have been filled, or they can no longer afford what you offer, then you will no longer be able to sell products and services to those clients.

3) Raise the prices that you charge for your product or services In most cases, this has got Bad Idea written all over it. Although there are times when raising your prices or your rates is a good business move, just arbitrarily saying that you will simply charge more in order to make more money spells doom for your business in the long run.

4) Find a way to duplicate your efforts by having people who work under you distribute your products or services. There are few drawbacks to this method, and it is in fact the recommended method for business growth in todays economy.

Check out the breakdown below of why methods 1 through 3 are limited at best, and how option 4 duplicating your efforts is the only surefire way to grow your business permanently and exponentially.

1. Getting more customers is always a good idea for any business, provided the infrastructure is in place to handle the needs of the increased customer base. However there are 2 major problems with this method:

a) Acquiring new customers is expensive and time-consuming. Most people are aware that the cost to keep a present customer is significantly less than the cost of acquiring a new one. The time andor finances needed to continually bring in new clients will eventually run out.

b) If you are a small business owner, handling an excessive number of clients or customers can become almost impossible, especially if you are in a service-based industry such as personal training. Even if you hire staff to help with the extra client load, bringing new employees into your organization brings with it another set of headaches that may very well not be worth the effort. If you decide to handle all client service and support yourself, you will quickly find yourself with no life whatsoever, even though you are building and working your business from sun up to sun down day after day.

2. Selling more products or services to your present customers is a great idea, but that idea also has a limited lifespan. Eventually your customers will either no longer need your services (a personal trainer never keeps a client forever), they will run out money to pay for your products or services, or they will get enough products to last them for the foreseeable future, and they will stop buying. All of these scenarios end the same way: You no longer receive any additional revenue from selling more products or services to that customer.

3. Raising the prices of your product or service may be a smart businessmarketing idea in certain circumstances. However, even when that is the case, there is still a set amount of money that your customers will be willing to pay for your products or services.

If you are a personal trainer who trains 8 sessions a day for 50.00 per session, you make 400.00 per day. Not bad! In a 5-day work week, you will make 2,000.000. What would happen if you became known as the best personal trainer in town, and jacked your rates up to 200.00 per training session? You are now making 1,600.00 a day, and bringing in 8,000.00 a week!

Well, first of all, the above scenario is unrealistic. Not many trainers make 200.00 per session. Of those that do, what about cancellations? What about when your clients get sick or go on vacation? What happens if you are the one who gets sick or goes on vacation? What if you get injured? What if you get too old or burnt out to keep up the pace of 40 intensity-packed personal training sessions week after week for years on end?

The fact that you raised your rates to the upper end of what a personal trainer can expect to make doesnt protect you from the fact that there are still many, many obstacles that can and will block your income potential. Some of those obstacles are permanent in nature and out of your control!

4. Finding a way to duplicate your efforts by having people underneath you distribute your products or services is the only solution that is effective, will work indefinitely, and is not bound by your personal schedule or other physical limitations. You will receive a share of the money that is generated by those working under you, and you can eventually leave the game completely if you wish, allowing your business to run itself with minimal guidance and input from you. If you desire true financial and time freedom, duplicating your efforts is the only way it is ever going to happen.

So how do you duplicate your efforts? You find a product andor service that can be distributed by others who work under you, while giving you a share of the profits that are generated by their efforts. The only business model that allows this scenario without hiring employees is Network Marketing.

Network marketing is an industry whose time has finally come. The business regulatory systems in the world have put rules and laws in place to prevent consumers from being taken advantage of by shady companies, false promises, and outright lies. The network marketing companies that remain solvent are profitable, ethical, and they allow you to grow your business exponentially through your own efforts, as well as the efforts of others.

If you truly want to grow your business without limits, and at the same time increase your bank account as well as the amount of time that you can spend with friends and family, a successful network marketing company with quality products meets those requirements easily.

To find out more about why network marketing is the only way to secure your future, read the book Wave 4, Network Marketing in the 21st Century, by Richard Poe. To learn about a network marketing company with the highest morals, the best products, and a true culture that is dedicated to its distributors and their customers, visit http:www.fitnessdestinations.comtni.html.