How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a
Freelance Translator

2^nd Edition 77% More Information than 1^st Edition

If you already earn $80,000 or more per year from freelance translating, this page is not for you.

fast track

Wednesday 3rd December 2003
Oxford, UK

Dear friend,

Like most people I used to be employed full-time by someone else. Like most people I hated it. Luckily for me I managed to break out of that and become a freelance translator. I quickly realized that the potential earnings in the freelance translation business are very high. At the end of my first year I had more than matched my earnings from my previous job in pharmaceutical development. During my second year I grossed $80,000 - not bad for a startup business with no experience!

My secret? Well, it took me a while to realize why things were going so well - after a couple of years my agency customers were saying things like...

"we now use you for all our Polish-English-Polish translations"

"we always call you first"

"you're more professional than the others"

"if all our translators were like you, our lives would be so much easier"

This was news to me. I thought everybody behaved the same way towards their customers as I did. Don't they? So I started discussing this with my agency customers and heard all sorts of horror stories about how translators do 'business' with their customers. I thought little of it at the time. But eventually I had more work than I could do myself, so I formed the agency ALMAL Translations and started giving out the excess work to others.

The Big Realization

It was then that I started to realize what they meant. When I had to deal with other translators I realized that some don't treat their customers the way I do. Incredibly enough some are even rude to customers. Some are not easy to contact. Some clearly have little idea how to market themselves. This was a real education for me.

Success in business has very little to do with "luck" or "who you know" or "what you do" or even "where you do it" - it's all about HOW you do it.

I'd like to share my "HOW TO" secrets with you and help you achieve the kind of success you deserve. As part of my helping translators do better business campaign I will show you HOW TO...

• get started as a freelance translator if you aren't one already
• understand what your customers want from you
• realize why they want these things
• understand what potential customers are looking for in a translator
• market yourself more effectively
• find ways to increase your value to customers
• increase your commercial awareness
• grow your business in the best possible way
• keep your existing customers happy so they always come back to you
• survive in the business world

I will also show you HOW TO...

• realize what is profitable and what is unprofitable work and how to get rid of unprofitable work
• protect yourself against legal liabilities
• protect yourself against other disastrous events which can and do happen
• communicate better with your customers and potential customers
• make an excellent profit by being honest and ethical
• avoid the 3 things you should never do when marketing to translation agencies
• know exactly how you should approach translation agencies
• write a really effective marketing letter maximizing the strength of your offer
• keep irrelevant information out of your CV or Résumé
• know the 2 things you should never do when working with translation agencies

...and HOW TO...

• know when is the best time to phone an agency and when you absolutely shouldn't call
• increase your productivity so you can earn more
• conduct an effective email application campaign
• improve the success rate of your letter/CV/Résumé
• find sources of translation work
• find online resources useful to translators

Translation is a Very Rewarding Occupation

The occupation of freelance translator can be extremely rewarding indeed, both financially and emotionally. But it is hard work to get established.
Don't let anyone tell you it isn't! Building up a business can be very frustrating because everything you do seems to take a long time to get results. This is quite normal and you have to learn that right now at this point in your life you are gaining benefit from the efforts you have made in the past. Make more effort now and you will gain more in the future.

The good news is that no individual step is particularly difficult or beyond your ability. I know you can achieve all the individual steps and I'm going to show you how, so there is no reason why you cannot reach your potential and earn in excess of $80,000 per year.

Everything Worth Knowing About Freelance Translating

First I built up my own successful freelance translation business, then I put to work the general principles I had learned and created my own translation agency. I know from my own personal experience both...

1. how to build a successful freelance translation business, and
2. how translation agencies want to be approached by freelance translators - from running my own agency ALMAL Translations and discussing the subject at great length with many of my agency customers

I will tell you everything worth knowing about both. This will help you to maximize your earning potential as a freelance translator.

In Just a Couple of Hours You Can Find Out HOW TO...

• improve your availability and avoid losing sales
• get going part-time and still hold down another job
• clarify which services you offer
• write a brochure
• value yourself
• be strong during negotiations
• set your price range and limits depending on difficulty, timing and volume
• spot "fast-buck" merchants
• not miss opportunities
• put a value on your customers and make sure they choose you again
• treat deadlines
• communicate with your customers

...And HOW TO...

• avoid the excuses they've frequently heard before
• make sure your work is of the required quality
• get started full-time
• control your cashflow
• get paid on time
• chase your debtors without losing them as customers
• structure and issue terms and conditions
• identify and turn down unprofitable work
• identify poor paying customers and those with a bad reputation
• protect yourself against legal liabilities
• run your business smoothly
• protect your business from data loss disasters

...And HOW TO...

• adequately maintain client confidentiality
• maintain good customer relationships
• make your dealings with translation agencies as 'ideal' as possible
• understand exactly what your customers want from you
• realize/understand that translation agencies are on your side
• discover the main frustrations of translation agency staff
• ask the right sort of questions when you need help
• report your findings when proof-reading other people's work and how not to
• gain the main advantages of being a small business
• focus on customers not on yourself
• market your services to translation agencies
• be service oriented

...And HOW TO...

• ensure customer satisfaction
• boost your credibility by 100% at no cost to you
• be absolutely professional
• handle customer contact
• choose the right kind of email account
• get work from professional societies
• control how you are perceived
• avoid 4 common mistakes most freelance translators make
• sharpen your CV/résumé - what to put in, what to leave out
• analyze your own CV/résumé with examples
• approach translation agencies
• write a good marketing letter
• analyze your own marketing letter
• learn when you should never phone a translation agency, when it's OK and why
• show translation agencies you care about them
• see how a job is created, managed and flows through all stages

...And HOW TO...

• enhance your productivity - get more done in less time
• share the workload
• buy software and services to do some of your work for you
• conduct an email application campaign and how you absolutely shouldn't do it
• get hold of email addresses of translation agencies
• understand the life-cycle of a typical assignment
• find valuable information for translators on the web
• screen new clients before accepting work
• register in online directories
• locate online dictionaries
• market yourself to over 2000 translation agencies
• get free, quick terminology help from humans

Other People's Opinions Count More Than Mine...

Here's what a few other people have said about How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator...

"Hello, Alex!
Sorry I haven't been in touch for quite a long time. Reason is when I received your eBook (How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year...) I redesigned my résumé and sent out about 270 copies of it and ever since, I have been blasted by incoming contracts!!!

Business is so good, that if it keeps on coming the way it is, I will make more than $80,000 in my first year of using your method. In fact, it will be well over $100,000! Of course, I do work a lot, even evenings and weekends, but I believe it is worth it all.

I guess you should rename your eBook to: $100,000/year... It would be more like it."

Réal Berthiaume
Freelance Translator
Gesber International

"Are you so flooded with translation work that you never have a dry spell?
Are you already the #1 choice for hundreds of clients fighting daily for your services? Then you don't need this eBook! The rest of us, both novices and veterans, will all find useful advice about how to build up our translation businesses in the cyberage. With good humour and plain English, Alex shows us the perspective from both the translator's side and the agency side. And knowledge in this case is definitely power: If you know what clients want, you have a better chance of convincing them you can provide it. To help readers practice what he preaches, Alex provides a free list of 220 agency e-mail contacts he has culled from the Web -- certainly worth the price of the eBook."

Cathy Flick
The Translation Journal - Web Surfing for Fun and Profit
Scientific translator since 1978

"Dear Alex,

I’ve now finished reading How to Earn £50,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator and have found it to be very interesting indeed. I’m sure that any ‘budding linguist’ will find it a very useful tool/guide to setting themselves up in their own business. There’s also many ‘established’ translators I know of that ought to read this as well!

I found it very ‘punchy’, easy and straightforward to read, which I feel is very important when you compare it to some of the publications and training manuals that I’ve read in the past. Having a ‘No Nonsense’ attitude towards the reader means that the interest is held and it doesn’t drone on and become just another ‘instruction manual’. I can liken it to ‘listening to good advice from a good friend over a drink!!’"

Mike Taylor
Director of Translation
Choice Language Services

"Hello, Alex!
Just a brief note to say that I enjoyed reading your eBook How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator and found it very helpful, even though I've been translating for 25 years. Keep up the great work."

Carol C. Macomber
The French Connection

"An excellent 'How To' eBook for all translators, both new and already established. If only all freelance translators worked this way! All our lives would be easier. And we'd have more time to spend chasing clients for work to give to translators. I strongly recommend that all freelance translators read this eBook and take heed of its sensible, well thought-out advice."

Siân Marlow
Head of Translation
UPS Translations - London

Click here to read more customer comments

Enjoyable and Easy to Read - Plain English

How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator has been specially written to be enjoyable to read and easy to understand. For a huge number of translators English is a second language. I have written the eBook with this group in mind as well as native English speakers all over the world.

In working as a freelance translator I have come across a large number of documents for translation which are so badly written in the original English that they are incomprehensible. It is my intention that this eBook should be a good example of a text which can be easily understood and enjoyed by all who can read English.

Valid for ALL Countries

The ideas contained in How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator are applicable in all countries since they contain many fundamental principles of good common-sense business practice. I deliberately wrote How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator before looking at any other books on the subject so that everything comes directly from my own personal experience both as freelance translator and translation agency owner.

After writing this eBook I did examine other books on the subject and found them outdated and without enough information to help you really survive in what is a very tough and competitive modern global market.

Because...

• I've been right in touch with translators since founding translatortips.com in 1999 and
• I edit tranfree, the free ezine for translators, which now goes out twice monthly to > subscribers

...you may be absolutely certain that all the information I give you is valuable and up-to-date.

Comfortable Standard of Living

Exact earnings will obviously vary according to the country in which you operate. But wherever you are you will have a very comfortable standard of living if you build up a successful freelance translation business. Be Warned though, this is not a "get rich quick" scheme! You will only become rich if your earnings exceed your spending - and that's up to your own discipline! I know people who earn in excess of $160,000 Per Year but have no savings - if you have $1000 saved you are "richer" than this kind of person.

Easy to Implement Common-sense Tips

How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator is packed with common-sense tips that will seem so easy and obvious once you know them, but took me years to learn. I can save you having to learn these things the hard way - save you losing customers to find out what you shouldn't do.

I know people who are technically better translators than me, but who earn a quarter of the amount I earn because they don't know how to market themselves - they don't know how to treat their customers the right way. This eBook will show you how to become truly customer focused and how to market yourself effectively - these are the keys to success! When I created the eBook's index I was amazed to see that the words 'customer' and 'customers' appear on no less than 66 of the 132 pages.

This is not an academic book designed to flatter my ego. It is full of vital practical 'insider' information that you can use to ensure that you are one of the many highly successful freelance translators in the translation industry.

It will take you about 3-5 hours to read. You will then immediately be able to use the information you have learned to start on your path to earning $80,000+ per year as a freelance translator.

This eBook is not available from anywhere else in the world. The information has been learned and compiled by me over the last 7 years and is based upon my own personal experiences as a freelance translator and then as founder, owner and Marketing Director of my own small translation agency ALMAL Translations.

There isn't anyone else in the world more qualified to write such an eBook. I have spent the last four years devoted almost 100% to...
helping translators do better business through tranfree and translatortips.com.

77% More Information than 1^st edition

The 2^nd edition of How To Earn $80,000+ per Year as a Freelance Translator has been completely revised and updated. Many new useful services have evolved since the 1^st edition was written. There's a lot of new information in the eBook - in fact there is 77% more information than the 1^st edition.

It's also a lot more user-friendly, with cross-references and hyperlinks all over the eBook. The layout and typesetting has also been completely re-done to make it easier to read on the screen (but you can print it out too if you want).

The testimonials from the 1st edition were amazing (click here to view them). The 2^nd editon is way better than the 1^st. I didn't think it was possible, but now it's done I am delighted with the results.

Clear, Readable, Enjoyable

I believe in giving you the information in a simple and usable form without any padding or rubbish to make the eBook longer. You'll find no useless information at all - just 132 pages of excellent practical information that you can use straight away to start building your own freelance translation business and a bright future for yourself. Now check out the 6 bonuses you get, if you order today...

Bonus #1

As an additional FREE BONUS if you order today in the 2^nd edition offer, I'll give you tranmail basic - a list of email addresses of 220 translation agencies (complete with instructions how to use them the best way - Value $20).

Bonus #2

FREE for a limited time only (until we reach the number we have set) all eBook buyers will be entitled to FREE membership of our specialised help forums. translatortips^® forums are unique. We have assembled a team of experts to answer your questions and queries about the translation business.
When we reach our pre-set number, new members will have to pay a subscription fee. But as a translatortips^® customer, your free membership is assured for at least 12 months. Order right now and get your questions answered FREE by our expert consultants. (Value $40/year)

Bonus #3

Condensed tranfree articles Volume 1.
This is a compilation volume of all the articles from tranfree editions 1-6. All the best articles and information has been included. Only the meat remains, we have removed the bones and gristle for you.

This volume is 75 pages of additional information and supplements the eBook very nicely.

Bonus #4

eBook - Autoresponder Magic
We'll also give you a copy of Autoresponder Magic, which is a 500+ page eBook, showing you exactly how people have made excellent use of autoresponders in running their businesses.

At translatortips.com we feel that autoresponders can be used to enhance people's businesses in a really hands-free way. They are an excellent way of following up with leads without having to remember to do things on particular days. We use them successfully ourselves.

Never forget to follow up again! Use autoresponders - find out what they are and how to use them profitably. Autoresponder Magic sells for $17 elsewhere on the web. We've bought the master reprint rights, which means we can sell or give it away. We've chosen to give it away to all buyers of How To Earn $80,000+ per Year as a Freelance Translator.

Bonus #5

Detailed Job Survey Results
In January 2001, translatortips.com ran a poll to determine which is the best online source of translation work. The results were very conclusive.

There are two major players in this field. We then ran a more detailed follow-up survey to determine which of these two is the best.
Again the results were utterly conclusive. We published the numerical data, but the really good stuff was in the comments people made.

This complete report (57 pages) reveals everything you need to know about where to get translation work online. Are the paid-for services worth paying for? Or not? This information is not available outside of this eBook package.

Bonus #6

Never Have to Count Words Again
We've negotiated a deal with a Spanish software company. We are now able to give you, as an additional bonus, a copy of a Windows program which counts the words, lines and characters in .RTF, .DOC, .WPD .WKS and .txt files.

This will save you hours of time. It covers all the main counting methods used in different countries. The main benefits are...

• It allows you to select multiple files or all files within a folder (and any subfolders)
• It lets you specify individual pricing for words, lines and characters, and directly compare the results
• Easy to install and use
• Include (or exclude) footnotes, annotations, headers, footers and even bullets in your counting
• Export results to tab delimited text files, MS Excel files or produce a full-color HTML report
• The software is linked to an exchange rate site, so that you can calculate up to date prices in other currencies and convert into your own currency

How Much Does it Cost?

I'm sure you will agree that this is quite a package! eBook plus 6 excellent bonuses. If you order right now, it costs just £25 GBP (which is about $44 USD).

My Personal Guarantee

Remember this eBook package comes with my PERSONAL GUARANTEE so you can order it without risk to yourself.
If it does not pay for itself in the next 12 months, I will refund your money. Order How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator right now using our secure server (SSL) and you can start reading this valuable information immediately.

click here to go to ordering options

Sincerely,

Alex Eames - Author
How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator
Founder ALMAL Translations
Editor tranfree (ISSN 1470-3866) > subscribers

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@mazing Publications, 38 Hornbeam Road, Bicester, Oxon. OX26 3XZ. UK

© Alex Eames 1999-2006