Most of you love your work as a freelance translator, and have no plans of quitting. However, there may be unforeseen circumstances, new opportunity or simply retirement in the future that will require you to dissolve, transfer or sell your business. Then it’s good to have your freelance business set up correctly, in a way that makes it easy to do this transfer. In this episode I interview a business manager with an education in entrepreneurship. He gives is some great tips on how to set this up.

Important things mentioned in this episode:

• What an exit plan is
• How to set up our freelance business for easier exit planning
• If a freelance translator can transfer or sell their business
• What support systems and people we need to help us with an exit plan
• The characteristics of a transferable business

Useful links mentioned in this episode:

• HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business by Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff
• The Messy Marketplace by Brent Beshore
• Ortiz Schneider Interpreting & Translation
• Leo Martin Schneider on LinkedIn
• Exit Planning Institute
• Find an Advisor (CEPA)

If we run a small business, we can certainly sell it, and then move on to other things, but when we freelance, we always have to look for gigs and find new clients, and can’t really sell our business, since we are the business. It’s still important to have a plan for the future, and some parts of our business is definitely sellable.

Do you have an exit plan or do you just go day-by-day and have never thought about it? Please share in the comments below.

Bio:

Raised in Santa Barbara, California, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Leo is the son of an interpreter and translator, and a graduate of Cornell University. At Ortiz Schneider Interpreting & Translation, he runs interpreting operations, business strategy and succession planning. Over the last several years, he has researched the transfer of small businesses extensively, examining market data and research publications, practitioner white papers, in addition to conducting extensive interviews with stakeholders in the space, and examining over 20 potential deals in the language services industry.

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