I have long wanted to interview Nicole Y. Adams about her translation business, and her course The A to Z of Freelance Translation. Nicole prefer a written interview instead of a podcast, so here is her interview. I hope you enjoy it!

First of all, tell us a bit about yourself and your translation career

I’ve been a freelance DE/EN translator since 2003, initially in the UK and since 2010 based in Australia. I specialise in marketing, PR and corporate communications and work primarily with clients in Germany and Switzerland.

 Last year you launched a new course for freelance translators, called The A to Z of Freelance Translation. What is unique about this course?

The A to Z of Freelance Translation is unique in several aspects. Firstly, participants can register and start at any time as there are no fixed start or end dates. Secondly, the course takes place on an innovative online platform without any webinars, live Skype sessions at scheduled times or such like. This was a deliberate choice, as many people prefer to go through course material in their own time rather than having to be at their desk or phone at certain times, or having to complete certain tasks within a given time period. We all know that life likes to be unpredictable, so I wanted to offer a course that gives participants complete freedom in that respect.

Thirdly, most other courses tend to focus on one or two particular areas such as business, marketing or CAT tools, whereas The A to Z of Freelance Translation is intended as a ‘one-stop’ course that provides all the information a budding freelance translator might look for in his or her first couple of years. Rather than having to spend hours looking for specific information on the internet – providing new colleagues even know what type of information they should look for – or attending a number of different webinars and courses, participants can find everything in one spot, which makes life a lot easier and of course saves them a lot of time.

Last but not least, all course participants receive instant lifetime access to all course materials and can remain active in the dedicated The A to Z of Freelance Translation Facebook group even after they have completed the course.

 What are the 15 lessons?

The 15 lessons cover the following topics:

•  Lesson 1: What do I need to get started? Prerequisites and essentials
• Lesson 2: How do I get paid work?
• Lesson 3: What do I charge? Price calculation models
• Lesson 4: What do I do when I get an enquiry? Translation project management basics
• Lesson 5: What does a professional translation involve? The translation process from start to finish
• Lesson 6: Do I need CAT tools?
• Lesson 7: How do I bill for my work? Invoicing from A to Z
• Lesson 8: Do I need Terms & Conditions? The “legal stuff”
• Lesson 9: What if things go wrong? Typical issues and how to tackle them
• Lesson 10: How do I get repeat business from clients?
• Lesson 11: How can I get more done and stay focused? Boost your productivity
• Lesson 12: How do I market myself to grow my business?
• Lesson 13: Do I need social media?
• Lesson 14: How do I stay healthy and motivated?
• Lesson 15: The next steps for my translation business: Diversification for freelance translators

 The course contains interactive self-assessments. Can you give us examples of these assessments?

The course includes a number of short quizzes as a fun tool to consolidate what has been learned. Longer self-assessments investigate, for example, participants’ suitability for a freelance career or how well they know their target market and provide immediate answers based on their overall score.

 You also provide templates. What kind of templates are they?

Theory is all well and good, but I wanted to provide practical examples of what we’re talking about, so the course includes real-life templates that participants can download, adapt and use for their own business right away. The A to Z of Freelance Translation contains templates for quotations, invoices, reminders, Terms & Conditions, a freelance translator CV, price lists and more.

 I read one review about the journal that comes with the course and that it serves as a record of business goals and where you can monitor the progress, can you tell me more about this journal?

The journal is actually the centrepiece of the course. Many participants tell me how much they love the journal and how crucial it was to them. The journal is a 60-page interactive PDF document that encourages participants to apply all the presented information to their own business and take specific action steps. It contains tasks and assignments for each lesson, and additional space for notes and reflections on each lesson. Not only does it motivate participants to put the theory into practice, it also allows them to monitor their progress and reflect on their business choices.

 What kind of translators have already taken the course?

Although I’m based in Australia, the course is open to all translators, no matter what language combination they work in or where they live. Current course participants work with many different languages and are based all over the globe, for example  Germany, Japan, the US, Kuwait, Australia, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and Argentina. Most participants are new graduates taking their first steps in freelance translation, some currently work in-house and want to take the plunge into self-employment soon, and others have been working as freelance translators for quite some time but want to give their business a boost and take it to the next level.

 Finally, a question I ask every interviewee, can you please share a marketing tip or strategy that works well for you right now?

Definitely word of mouth. In my opinion, word of mouth is the most valuable and probably most underused marketing tool. Personally, I’ve found that my most valuable long-term clients are all people I used to work with or connected with while I was still working in-house a decade ago. About 50% of my clients are former work contacts who now run their own small businesses or went on to join larger companies and now require language services. The next 30% of my client base are personal, direct recommendations from my original clients, who referred me on to contacts in their network. The last 20% of my clients are companies and (mostly boutique) agencies I acquired through active marketing or who found me through my website or one of my online profiles.

So I’d recommend starting with your personal and professional networks. These contacts already know and trust you, which gives you an advantage compared to approaching people at anonymous networking events. You’ll probably be surprised who suddenly needs translations! I’m still amazed at how many of my former classmates saw on my personal Facebook page that I’m a translator and subsequently ordered translations from me for their businesses!

Thank you Nicole for this interview! Here are some links for more information on the course

• The A to Z of Freelance Translation
•  Course registration page

Nicole Y Adams

Nicole Y. Adams is a certified and publicly appointed German/English marketing, corporate communications and public relations translator with over 11 years of experience in translating, editing, and project and quality management. She holds a Masters in Contemporary English Language and Linguistics from the University of Reading, UK, and is the author of Diversification in the Language Industry and The A to Z of Freelance Translation online course. Nicole is an AUSIT Senior Practitioner and a member of ATA, BDÜ, CIOL and DVÜD. She lives with her family in sunny Brisbane, Australia. Website:www.nyacommunications.com