posted 18 October 2002 16:21            

As much as I pray that I'll have a steady flow of work, naturally there will be quite periods when the phone doesn't ring at all.

posted 18 October 2002 18:55            

I'm not personally into golf [grin] but I do like to go to museums, art galleries, musical performances, etc. to "feed" myself when I have some down time. Life is too short to worry about the work. Again, you can always get a part-time job to carry you through the downtime if you need to.

posted 19 October 2002 04:03            

So, quiet periods need not be spent hunting furiously for work? I had sort of imagined dry spells as being times of panic, running round chasing work.

It's something of a relief, I suppose, to know that there is some time for relaxation. Perhaps those quiet times might be good for those visits and handwritten notes to touch base with agents that you've told me about.

posted 19 October 2002 08:23            

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I had sort of imagined dry spells as being times of panic, running round chasing work.

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Quite the opposite. When it's quiet I find it all comes as a bit of a relief to catch up on some sleep!

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Finally, this: to what degree does preparation, by which I mean marketing (and, to a lesser degree, financial planning, although this is rather obvious), relieve the difference between times when there is work, and leaner periods?

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IMHO the time to plan is while you're still busy. If I can see a quieter period coming (and sometimes you can - the situation changes from day to day and sometimes the number of phone calls and e-mails fluctuates quite a lot) I find myself taking on longer jobs in preference to the small stuff. Then with any luck the longer jobs carry me through the quiet period until the market picks up again - it's rarely down for more than a couple of weeks at a time. This approach has worked for me so far! (Touch wood...)

Of course, once things do go quiet you can start marketing if that's what you want to do. But then the smart thing to do is not over-market or you'll end up with more work than you can handle when the market picks up again. It's a shame to have to turn down a hard-won new client simply because you don't have the spare capacity.

As Mary says, the trick is not to take it personally!

All the best

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posted 19 October 2002 09:33            

It appears that there are any number of ways of spending the down times usefully: Alex and his golf, Mary and her bartending (?!), Werner and his reading. For all that though, I can see that you're all unanimous about one thing: quiter times are not a time for running round like a headless chicken worrying that there's no work.

posted 19 October 2002 10:06            

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Originally posted by gareth:
...quieter times are not a time for running round like a headless chicken worrying that there's no work.

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Indeed not. Once you've been through a few quiet periods and come out the other end with more work than you can handle, you begin to relax and get used to enjoying the quiet times.

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Originally posted by gareth:
Is there any particular time of day (or week) when an agent is less likely to be calling translators with work?

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If it were that predictable it would be boring. A lot of jobs come in on Friday afternoons because clients and agencies seem to think we like working weekends. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't.

As far as financial planning goes, if you try to have 6 months of living expenses in accessible savings before you go full-time, you won't have to worry about money. That is the bit which, in my opinion, most people get wrong.

If you 'ain't got the discipline' to save a few grand or tighten your belt, you might not have the discipline to run your own business. Harsh, but true.

My ideas on getting rich are very simple and nothing new...

spend a lot less than you earn
make the money you do not spend work for you

posted 19 October 2002 10:24            

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Originally posted by alex:
If it were that predictable it would be boring.

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posted 19 October 2002 18:13            

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For instance within a single day (or a week, for that matter). Is there any particular time of day (or week) when an agent is less likely to be calling translators with work?

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Sundays.

No, seriously - you can't predict it to that level at all. Friday afternoons tend to be the busiest time, as Alex says, but any day of the week can be busy. I used to think Tuesdays were quieter than any other, but I know now I was wrong!

I also know lots of translators who "go out" on Friday afternoons because they get fed up with the phone constantly ringing...

Mind you, lunchtimes can be quite quiet I suppose... But it really is totally unpredictable. There are no really obvious patterns - even Fridays don't always seem to "fit the mould".

Makes you wonder why we do it, really.

But that's another thread!

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