Being a freelance translator is both rewarding and challenging, and one of the challenges is managing our time so that we don ot end up working around the clock or getting burned out. If we are constantly working, we also do not have time to market our services to “better” clients either. At last year’s American Translators Association’s annual conference, I attended a presentation on Time Management for Translators, co-presented by David Rumsey and Corinne McKay and in this episode I am discussing time management tips with David Rumsey.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Why it is so hard for freelance translators to manage our time successfully
• What translators find the most challenging when trying to manage their time
• Taking control over our email inbox
• How to stop procrastinating
• Some programs/software or apps to help us manage our time better
• The importance of a good work space, and different alternatives

Useful links mentioned in this episode:

• Toggl
• Trello
• Rescue Time (not mentioned in the interview, but a great tool to find out where your time is going)

Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen to this episode. Hopefully it will inspire you to save time and manage your time better. Do you have any other time management tips that are working well for you? I would love to hear about them. Also, if you found this episode useful you can share it with your colleagues below. See you in next episode!

David Rumsey

David Rumsey has been in the translation and interpreting industry since around 1990.  He began as a freelance translator but also worked as a project manager for both small and large translation agencies, as well as a localization manager for Retek, a large software company specializing in retail software. He has returned to freelance translation since roughly 2004, where he specializes in the translation of technical, medical and commercial documents from the Scandinavian languages.  He has been on the ATA board since 2008 and the President-Elect since 2013.

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