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Episode 88: Smart Habits for Better Work/Life Clarity—Our Last Episode!
In this last episode of our podcast, we’re touching on the topic that started Smart Habits for Translators more than four years ago—work/life clarity! If you missed the news, check out our previous episode where we explain why our podcast is coming to an end and what you can expect.
The concept of work/life clarity was what brought us together as co-hosts of Smart Habits for Translators, and it’s a topic we've addressed in many episodes of our podcast. We believe that striving for work/life balance is an unattainable goal while being clear about the priorities in your current season of life and business is a better way of identifying focus areas and setting boundaries.
Tune in to our last episode to hear our conversation on:
• What work/life clarity is and how it’s different from work/life balance
• How our understanding and approach to work/life clarity has evolved since we started our podcast
• What could be some signs to take some time to consider your own work/life clarity
• How to find work/life clarity
• How to set boundaries and priorities in your life and business intentionally
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Episode 87: Smart Habits for Building and Changing Habits
In this last episode of 2023, we’re sharing some important news about our podcast. After four years of producing Smart Habits for Translators, we’ve decided it’s time to wrap up the podcast, so this will be our second-to-last episode. Tune in to hear the reasons for our decision (spoiler alert—there’s no drama, and we’re still great friends!) and how you can continue to listen to our previous episodes after January 2024.
We decided to round out the year by discussing the concept of Atomic Habits by James Clear—one of the topics that brought us together and served as a catalyst for starting Smart Habits for Translators! :)
Tune in to hear our conversation on our favorite tips in the Atomic Habits book and how we apply them in our businesses and personal lives!
In our next (and final episode), we will share our thoughts on work/life clarity (just like we did when we launched the podcast in 2019!) and how we apply these principles when setting goals for the new year.
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Find Your Why by Simon Sinek
• MasterClass
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/87
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Episode 86: Smart Habits for Business Storytelling with Joachim Lepine and Ann Marie Boulanger
Have you ever thought about how the art of business storytelling can be helpful in your business? It's not just about clear communication to market your services or network with others. Not only is it important to be aware of how we translators and interpreters tend to talk about our professions and the value we offer, but it's just as vital to understanding what our clients’ experiences and expectations are. Whether you’re a seasoned translator or interpreter or someone who is just starting out, weaving a compelling narrative that resonates with your clients and helps foster your business relationships is an important part of marketing your business successfully. That's why we’re excited to discuss this topic with our guests and welcome Joe Lepine and Ann Marie Boulanger to the podcast.
Joachim (Joe) Lepine was born into a French-speaking family in Belgium and grew up in the U.S. before moving to Quebec in 2006. When he took his first translation course—on a whim—he knew he had found his calling. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in translation and a master’s degree in education. In the ensuing years, he translated for a myriad of prestigious clients in Quebec and abroad.
To share his passion for the craft, over the past 15 years, Joe has taught French-into-English translation and related courses at Université de Sherbrooke and trained for NATO, the United Nations, the European Commission, OTTIAQ, Magistrad, Editors Canada, the Translation Bureau, ITI (UK), Training for Translators (USA), and many others.
Today he is the cofounder of LION Translation Academy, which offers training to help translators and translation teams to thrive in every area of their practice.
Ann Marie Boulanger was born in Montreal, Quebec, to an anglophone mother and a francophone father. After earning a college diploma in liberal arts, she heard about an acquaintance who was studying translation… and that’s when the lightbulb went off!
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in translation from Concordia University, she was hired by start-up translation firm Traduction Proteus Inc., which she eventually bought in 2005. The business continues to thrive today. A life-long learner, Ann Marie later earned an MA in translation studies from Concordia in 2018.
Her other hats include co-founder of LION Translation Academy and part-time lecturer in translation at McGill University. When Ann Marie isn’t translating commercial texts, she can be found working on children’s books, with more than 45 translations to her credit so far. Her first literary translation, The Woman in Valencia, by Annie Perreault, was named a World Literature Today Notable Translation of 2021.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What services Joe and Ann Marie offer
• How their careers have evolved over time
• What smart habits have been crucial in their careers so far
• What habits they had earlier in their careers that they no longer practice and why
• Why it is important for translators and interpreters to be aware of the stories we tell the world—and our clients—about ourselves
• What constitutes a good business story and how we can utilize it as a marketing tool
• How negative experiences can be used in business storytelling
• Other tips on how to consciously craft narratives about the value of our work
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Joe’s translation business, Traductions LION
• Ann Marie’s translation business, Traduction Proteus
• LION Translation Academy
• Connect with Joe and Ann Marie on LinkedIn
• Get the free Client Win storytelling template from Ann Marie and Joe!
• The Story Advantage: Unleash the Power of Storytelling to Engage, Inspire, and Influence by LJ Bloom
• Kindle
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/86
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Episode 85: Smart Habits for Time Management
When you wear multiple hats, it can be challenging to manage your time, prioritize tasks, and focus on what’s important. If this sounds familiar, we feel your pain!
We have shared our approach to time management and setting priorities in previous episodes, but we thought we'd dedicate an entire episode to this topic to talk about the things that help us stay productive and avoid stress and overwhelm.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
- How our approach to time management changes during busier or slower seasons
- How we find the balance between personal priorities and external expectations and commitments
- How to know when it’s time to call it a day and how to end your day with a wind-down process
- How to manage your free time so you have more work/life clarity
- Our favorite time management tools and techniques
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
Asana
Full Focus Planner
The Todoist app
Erin Condren Life Planner
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/85
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Episode 84: Smart Habits for Taking a Workcation with Corinne McKay
We are excited to be back after our summer hiatus from the podcast, refreshed and recharged to bring you all new episodes and guests.
Speaking of guests… today’s episode is one we are very excited to be bringing to you, and it might be fresh on your mind if you took a vacation this summer and brought along some work with you.
You may have heard this referred to as a working vacation, or a “workcation.” And we found the perfect person to share about her recent workcation with us, and let us in on all the details about how to take one and how to make the most of it!
We’re excited to welcome Corinne McKay back to the podcast.
Corinne is an English/French conference and legal interpreter and ATA-certified French to English translator, based in Boulder, Colorado. A full-time freelancer since 2002, she served on the Board of the American Translators Association for seven years, including as ATA President from 2017-2019. She is the author of the book How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, and runs the online professional development platform Training for Translators. After more than 15 years as a translator, Corinne caught the interpreting bug, passed the Colorado state court interpreter exams for French, and then earned a Master's in conference interpreting from Glendon College. She now divides her time between interpreting, translation, and offering business training for other freelancers.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What it means to go on a workcation and why Corinne decided to take one this year
• How to decide to if you want to take a workcation rather than a non-working vacation
• How to prepare yourself and your business for a workcation
• What goes into choosing the location and the amount of time you plan to spend on your workcation
• What work-related factors you need to take into account when choosing a location
• Whether or not to notify clients about your workcation or just operate like business as usual
• How to enjoy the vacation aspect around your work and also set some working hours
• What you can do to prepare for issues like a poor Wi-Fi connection and other unforeseen circumstances
• What things worked well during Corinne’s recent workcation—and what she would do differently next time
• Corinne’s tips for translators and interpreters who are planning a workcation
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Corinne’s training company, Training for Translators
• The portable monitor that Corinne recommends
• The Commit30 planner
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/84
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Episode 83: Smart Habits for Saying “No” with Dagmar and Judy Jenner
Today’s episode is one you may not be expecting… or maybe if you’ve been a long-time Smart Habits listener, you understand how it aligns with what we discuss here on the podcast.
Saying “no” and doing it with confidence can be difficult in any area of life, especially in business. But saying “no” is essential to running your business with less stress and more time for what you really want to work on with the clients you really want to work with!
Today, we have the pleasure of discussing smart habits for saying “no” with two guests we know you’ll recognize! We’d like to welcome Dagmar and Judy Jenner to the podcast.
Dagmar is a German, Spanish, English, and French translator and conference interpreter based in Vienna. She grew up in Austria and Mexico City and has an advanced degree in French from the University of Salzburg and a master's degree in conference interpreting from the University of Vienna. She runs the European side of Twin Translations and is the past President of the Austrian Interpreters' and Translators' Association, UNIVERSITAS Austria. Dagmar is passionate about literature, classical music, and chess.
And Judy is a Spanish and German business and legal translator and a federally certified Spanish court interpreter and conference interpreter. She has an MBA in marketing from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, a master’s degree in conference interpreting from York University in Canada, and runs her boutique translation and interpreting business, Twin Translations, with her twin sister Dagmar. She was born in Austria and grew up in Mexico City. She is a former in-house translation department manager. Judy writes the blog Translation Times and the "Entrepreneurial Linguist" column for The ATA Chronicle, serves as one of the ATA spokespersons, and teaches interpretation at the University of California-San Diego, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and at New York University as of fall 2023. And she’s a frequent speaker at T&I conferences around the world, mostly online these days. Judy flies a lot for her interpreting assignments, and one of her special talents is memorizing airport codes.
Dagmar and Judy are the authors of The Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Business-School Approach to Freelance Translation.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What services Dagmar and Judy offer, and how their careers have evolved over time
• Why they wrote The Entrepreneurial Linguist, and what they think is the biggest takeaway for our colleagues when it comes to their freelance businesses
• What values led them to become translators and interpreters, and how these values are reflected in their business
• What smart habits have been crucial in their careers so far
• What habits they had earlier in their careers that they no longer practice, and why
• Why they think it’s important for translators and interpreters to be able to say “no”
• Some key reasons to say “no,” and some strategies to do it with grace
• Their thoughts on whether saying “no” means losing an opportunity or future work with a client
• How we can practice saying “no” so it feels easier going forward
• In what ways saying “no” has paid off in their careers
• Other tips for our listeners on the power of saying “no”
• What advice Dagmar and Judy would give to their past selves
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Dagmar and Judy’s European website, Texterei, and their translation company, Twin Translations
• The Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Business-School Approach to Freelance Translation
• Judy and Dagmar’s blog, Translation Times
• Connect with Judy and Dagmar on Twitter
• The Remarkable tablet and the Rocketbook reusable notebook that Judy recommends
• Dagmar’s YouTube channel on German orthography
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/83
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Episode 82: Smart Habits for Building and Maximizing Your Network with Alicja Tokarska and Ania Marchwiak
We often discuss the importance of building and maintaining your professional network, and we’re sure you’ve heard this advice many times before. But what does it mean in practice?
Alicja Tokarska and Ania Marchwiak joined us recently to discuss ways to build and maintain your professional network, especially when you work in a less common language pair. We know our listeners based outside the US will find this topic particularly interesting. But, of course, the tips you’re about to hear will be helpful no matter where you’re based or what language combination you work in.
Alicja is a freelance translator and subtitler based in Glasgow, Scotland. She translates between English and Polish, and from Spanish and French into Polish and English. Alicja is passionate about inclusive communication and works mainly in the areas of audiovisual translation, culture and heritage, fashion, and mental health.
Ania is a freelance translator working with Polish and English. She is based in Glasgow, Scotland. Ania translates for the medical and pharmaceutical industry and has recently ventured into new specialisms, which are sustainability and mental health. On top of being a translator, she is a keen forager and yogi and has recently become a certified breathwork instructor.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What services Alicja and Ania offer, and how their careers have evolved over time
• Smart habits that have been crucial in their careers
• Some habits they had earlier in their career that they no longer practice, and why
• Their thoughts on maintaining healthy boundaries, and what boundaries they set in their professional life
• How they approach networking, and how they maintain and utilize their network
• How they take the guesswork out of marketing their services to new and existing clients
• What habits, systems, or processes help them stay organized and consistent
• Their advice on how to make networking and marketing feel less scary
• Other tips for our listeners on building and maximizing their networks
• What advice Alicja and Ania would give to their past selves
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Get in touch with Alicja, visit her website, and connect with her on social media
• Get in touch with Ania, or connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Follow Ania’s Instagram page dedicated to breathwork
• The Power of When by Michael Breus
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/82
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Episode 81: Smart Habits for Cultivating Creativity with Mireya Perez
Today’s topic may seem unexpected, but we're sure it will spark some ideas for you, just as it did for us.
If you ask a translator or an interpreter what they like the most about their work, many will say they love learning new things every day and enjoy the creative process that goes into conveying a message from one language to another. Our jobs require creativity and curiosity, so we’re very excited to bring a special guest to join us in discussing how we can cultivate these qualities in our work.
We are thrilled to welcome a colleague, friend, and fellow podcaster Mireya Perez to join us on the podcast.
Mireya began her professional interpreting career after completing her interpreting studies and becoming a certified medical interpreter. She worked as a medical interpreter in both a general and children’s hospital before becoming a staff interpreter in a K-12 public education school district, where she spent nearly a decade helping to highlight the roles of trained interpreters in education. Currently, Mireya is the proud owner of Brand the Interpreter Incorporated, an up-and-coming multimedia learning platform that includes the Brand the Interpreter podcast, a show dedicated to sharing the stories of language professionals from around the world. She holds a master’s degree in communications and enjoys reading and sharing about creativity, personal branding, and strategic communication management.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
What services Mireya offers, and how her career has evolved over time
How she started her podcast Brand the Interpreter, and what she enjoys the most about being a podcast host
What values led Mireya to become an interpreter, and how they show up in her business
Smart habits that have been crucial in her career, and what habits she no longer practices and why
How she transitioned from being a school district interpreter and translator to a freelancer, and what the transition was like
What systems, processes, or habits help Mireya stay focused and organized while running her business
What she does when she doesn’t feel motivated
Mireya’s thoughts on future-proofing her career
How she cultivates creativity and curiosity
What challenges translators and interpreters run into when it comes to maintaining curiosity at various stages in their careers
How interpreters and translators can boost their creative side and find time and opportunities to engage in creative activities
The advice Mireya would give to her past self
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
Follow Mireya on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn
Visit the Brand the Intepreter website
Books that Mireya recommended:
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea by Marc Randolph
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/81
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Episode 80: Smart Habits for Thriving in the Premium Market with Michael Schubert
If you’ve ever heard a colleague mention working in the “premium market,” you may have thought, “Hmm… how do I tap into that area of the market?” After all, who doesn’t want to work for clients who value our work and pay premium rates, right?!
Well… we’ve found the perfect guest to share insights with us about working and thriving in the premium market! We’re excited to welcome our colleague and friend, Michael Schubert to the podcast.
Michael is an ATA-certified German-to-English translator based in San Francisco, providing premium translation services with a focus on corporate communications in the software industry. He is also an Adjunct Professor for German-to-English translation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Michael earned degrees in Music Performance and German Language in his native Los Angeles, including a scholarship year at the University of Heidelberg, where he studied musicology and German. Following his graduation, he worked in Germany for 10 years as an orchestral flutist. In 2000, Michael moved to San Francisco and launched his translation career. His clients have included small and medium-sized software companies in Germany as well as artists, orchestras, musicologists, and music publishers in Europe and North America. In addition to translating and teaching, Michael regularly presents at the ATA Annual Conference and elsewhere on the subject of business skills, pricing strategies, and successful client relationships.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• The services Michael offers, and how his career has evolved over time
• A habit he practiced earlier in his career… and why he let it go
• Why it’s so important for translators to consider their services premium when it comes to the clients they serve
• What translators should consider when it comes to their identity as a professional in the premium market
• Michael’s experience raising prices and providing value-based pricing, and what he has learned from sharing presentations on these topics
• What steps translators should take to enter the premium market
• What helps a translator thrive in this area of the market
• The kinds of professional development opportunities translators should look for to support the kind of work they want to do for the kinds of clients they want to work for long-term
• Other tips for translators on working in the premium market
• The advice Michael would give to his past self
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Follow Michael on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Visit Michael’s website
• Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything by David Bellos
• Michael's favorite: The Ember mug
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/80
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Episode 79: Smart Legal Habits for Translators with Nicole Fenwick
Legal protection is a must for any freelance translator. And we all know how vital it is to get this part right! But it can be overwhelming, time-consuming, and nerve-racking if we don’t know where to start or feel unsure of the legal protections we have (or should have) in place. That's why we're excited to be joined this month by a guest who can talk to us more about the legal aspects of running a freelance translation business.
But first, we want to share some legal protections of our own… As you listen to this episode, please remember that we are not attorneys, and nothing in this episode is meant to represent legal advice. The content of this episode is meant to encourage you to put legal protections in place in your freelance translation business and seek the necessary legal advice you need. If you have questions about the legal aspects of your freelance business, we encourage you to consult a qualified attorney before making any changes.
We are excited to welcome Nicole Fenwick to the podcast this month!
Nicole is an entrepreneurial French-to-English legal translator and lawyer-linguist based in Barcelona. When she’s not translating or traveling the world, she enjoys making translators’ lives easier by helping them understand their legal rights and obligations and drafting their terms of business, so they can do what they love, safe in the knowledge that they have the legal protection they need to protect their work and pay the bills, preferably on time.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What services Nicole offers, and how her career has evolved over time
• What values led her to become a freelancer, and how they developed in her business
• What smart habits have been crucial in her career, and what systems, processes, or habits have helped her stay focused and organized
• What habit she had earlier in her career that she no longer practices, and why
• What translators should look out for when clients ask them to sign a contract
• What terms and conditions translators should consider including in their own contracts with clients
• Nicole’s thoughts on taking out professional indemnity insurance, or as many people refer to it, errors and omissions insurance
• What other ways translators can protect themselves legally
• How freelance translators can find a small business attorney to help them draft or review contracts for the type of work we do
• Other tips on how to approach the legal landscape of working as a translator
• What advice Nicole would give to her past self
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Follow Nicole on LinkedIn and Instagram
• Visit Nicole’s website
• Legal templates for translators
• LSP.expert
• Sign up for our newsletter below to get a free resource that Nicole graciously shared with our listeners: Top Tips for Client Contracts
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/79
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Episode 78: Smart Habits for Continuing Your Professional Development with Eman Abdo
We know the beginning of the year is the time when many people set their intentions and aspirations for the year, and this often includes training and development goals.
So, we thought we should dedicate our first episode of the year to professional development. We’re very happy to welcome a guest who takes continuing professional development (CPD) very seriously and openly shares her CPD journey on LinkedIn.
We are excited to be joined by Eman Abdo.
Eman is an English-to-Arabic translator specializing in localization and transcreation with a special focus on marketing, e-learning content, and game localization. She studied translation at the Faculty of Al-Alsun.
With more than five years of experience in the game localization industry, Eman has worked on the localization of AAA games, mobile games, and indie games. She is also the author of the Egypt Localization Guide and the force behind the localization of many apps and games in Arabic. She is a gamer at her core, aspiring to change how Arabic is represented globally.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What services Eman offers, and how her freelance career has evolved over time
• What values led her to become a freelancer, and how they developed in her business
• What smart habits have been crucial in her career, and what systems, processes, or habits have helped her stay focused and organized
• What habit she had earlier in her career that she no longer practices, and why
• How Eman approaches continuing professional development (CPD): how far in advance she plans the courses or webinars she wants to attend and where she looks for them
• How she chooses which CPD events to sign up for and decides which areas of her business, skills, or services she wants to grow and develop
• How she budgets for CPD
• How she stays on track and makes time to complete the courses she signs up for
• What Eman does after she completes training courses to implement what she learned or incorporate it into her marketing activities
• Eman’s tips on how to approach CPD strategically and consistently
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Follow Eman on LinkedIn
• Eman’s webinar “Game Localization in the Arabic-Speaking World” (register by the end of January 2023 to take advantage of the discount!)
• Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/78
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Episode 77: Smart Habits for Kicking Off and Wrapping Up Your Week
In June 2020 (wow, time flies!), we released an episode on delineating your workday in which we talked about some things we like to do at the beginning and end of a workday. So, for our last episode of 2022, we thought it would be good to do a follow-up episode to talk about some smart habits related to kicking off and wrapping up your workweek.
Tune in to hear our conversation on our:
• Why it’s important to kick off and wrap up your workweek in a mindful, deliberate way
• What we like to do at the beginning of the week
• How we choose to wrap up our week
• Our top tips when it comes to getting the week started on the right track and wrapping it up in a way that helps us unplug from work during the weekend
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Our 2022 end-of-year survey—open through January 10, 2023!
• Episode 19: Smart Habits for Delineating Your Workday
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/77
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Episode 76: Smart Habits for Preparing for an Exam or Test
December is certainly a busy season for most of us, with so much work to wrap up before the holidays and so many personal and family commitments. It’s also a time when we reflect on the accomplishments we made this year and what goals we’d like to set for the coming year. If one of your objectives next year is to take a certification exam or translation test, we think you’ll find this episode useful.
Several listeners asked us for tips on preparing for exams and tests, so we’re happy to share our experiences and advice on this topic. We both know that getting certified as a translator and/or interpreter and passing a translation test for your dream client can be a big milestone in your career, but they can also be stressful experiences. So, let’s talk about some ways to make these situations less nerve-racking and increase your chances of success.
Tune in to hear our conversation on our:
• Experiences with translation and interpreting certification exams, how we prepared for them, and how these credentials helped our business
• Tips on how to make exam day less stressful
• Approaches to taking translation tests for clients
• Advice on what to take into account when taking translation tests
You'll also get some amazing tips and advice from our colleagues—certified translators and interpreters in different languages—on how to prepare for certification exams!
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• ATA certification exam
• CCHI certification exam for healthcare interpreters
• Some helpful resources on preparing for the ATA certification exam:
o The Ins and Outs of the ATA Certification Exam
o Ergonomics for ATA's Certification Exam: Unspoken Advice with Untold Benefits
o Forming A Peer Study Group to Prepare for ATA’s Certification Exam
o Taking and Preparing for ATA’s Online Certification Exam
o 12 Extra-Linguistic Skills You Need to Master before Taking ATA's Certification Exam
o Who Wants to Fail ATA’s Certification Exam?
o Practical Tips for Taking ATA’S Certification Exam Online
o One Member’s Tips on How to Prepare for ATA’s Certification Exam
• Episode 46: Smart Habits for Finding the Right Clients for You
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
• Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels by Loretta Graziano Breuning
• The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/76
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Episode 75: Smart Habits for Forming and Maintaining a Translator Collective
Today, we’re thrilled to share with you a concept that we know is something our colleagues are interested in. In fact, we have not only one guest, but two here to tell us more about it!
We’re excited to be sharing the microphones today with our colleagues and friends, Jamie Hartz and Nathalie Reis, who are here to chat with us about translation collectives.
Jamie Hartz is an ATA-certified Spanish to English translator who specializes in legal and commercial translation and transcription. She has been a freelancer since 2013, and in 2016 Jamie helped to found the Black Squirrel Translator Collective, which currently consists of herself and three fellow alumni of Kent State University’s master’s in translation program: Mary McKee, Hannah Sampson, and Nancy Cabrera.
And Nathalie Reis is a full-time freelance translator and copywriter specializing in the creative industries (travel & tourism, art & culture, leisure & wellness, and fashion & beauty) as well as the humanitarian field (including human & social rights, women & children’s health). She runs Nathalie Reis Translations in Northwood and works from English into French. She is a Member of the CIoL, an Associate of the ITI, a Member of the Society of Authors, and acts as Publicity Officer for the ITI London Regional Group. Nathalie also co-founded the Creative Translation Hub with Carolina Casado Parras and Adriana Tortoriello, a small collective of translators focused on the creative industries and working mainly from English into French, Spanish and Italian.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What services Jamie and Nathalie offer and how their translation businesses have evolved over time
• What smart habits have been crucial in their careers
• What systems, processes, and habits help them stay organized, and how they set priorities
• What boundaries they set in their professional lives and how they maintain them
• What translator collectives are and how they work
• Why it can be helpful for freelance translators to work together in this way
• What positive results Nathalie and Jamie have seen as well as some challenges related to being in a translator collective
• Jamie and Nathalie’s tips for freelance translators who want to form and maintain a translator collective
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Our next virtual business retreat with a special guest, Dorothee Racette
• Creative Translation Hub
• Connect with the Creative Translation Hub on LinkedIn and Instagram
• Learn more about Jamie’s translation services and connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Black Squirrel Translator Collective
• Pomodoro technique
• Get Fit for the Future of Transcreation: A Handbook on How to Succeed in an Undervalued Market by Nina Sattler-Hovdar
• The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/75
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Episode 74: Smart Habits for Your Social Media Presence with Kelsey Frick
In our latest episode, we’re talking about some smart habits related to developing and maintaining a social media presence for your business. Besides coming up with ideas for content, it can be hard to stay consistent when it comes to marketing your business on social media. That’s why we invited a colleague who we think has great insights to share on this topic to join this conversation, and we’re excited to hear her tips.
We are thrilled to be joined by Kelsey Frick.
Kelsey is a freelance translation account manager, French-to-English subtitler, and social media consultant. After working as a project manager in the T&I industry for 5 years, Kelsey went freelance in the middle of the pandemic and found success by marketing herself on LinkedIn with TikTok-style content and outreach to other translators.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• What services Kelsey offers and how her freelance career has evolved over time
• What smart habits have been crucial in her career, and how she decides which aspect of her business needs more attention right now
• What boundaries she sets in her professional life and how she maintains them
• What social media platforms Kelsey focuses on, and how she built her expertise in this field
• Why she thinks it’s important for freelance translators and interpreters to have a social media presence
• How she feels about posting for and connecting with colleagues versus communicating with clients
• How she stays on top of social media marketing without letting it take over her day
• What translators and interpreters tend to do well when it comes to social media, in addition to common mistakes
• The myths or misconceptions about social media presence that Kelsey would like to set straight
• What smart habits freelance translators and interpreters can apply to have a consistent and authentic social media presence
• Kelsey’s top tips for social media presence
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Our next virtual business retreat with a special guest, Dorothee Racette
• Follow Kelsey on LinkedIn and Instagram
• Canva
• To get Kelsey’s downloadable list of 30 social media content ideas for our listeners, sign up for our emails on our website!
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/74
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Episode 73: Smart Habits for Setting Boundaries in Your Business
Before we jump into the topic of Episode 73, we want to remind you about our next quarterly virtual business retreat, which will be on December 14. We’re excited that our colleague and podcast guest Dorothee Racette has agreed to be our guest speaker this time! She will kick off our retreat with some tips and wisdom on how to set reasonable and realistic goals for the new year, and then we’ll focus on discussing our business goals for the first quarter of 2023.
If you’d like to join us, you can sign up at smarthabitsfortranslators.com/retreat. Space is limited to 25 participants, so don’t wait!
In today’s episode, we chat about smart habits for setting boundaries in your business. What do we mean by this? Well, setting boundaries in your business could take on a lot of forms, but the main idea is to determine what you will and won’t do based on what is best for your business and what is best for you as the owner. This could look like setting boundaries around the hours you work, the types of projects you take on, and even who you want to work with.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• Why boundaries are important for translators and interpreters
• Our thoughts on helpful boundaries for your business
• What boundaries we set in our professional lives and how we maintain them
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Our next virtual business retreat with a special guest, Dorothee Racette
• Episode 33: Smart Habits for Setting Priorities and Getting Things Done With Dorothee Racette
• Episode 35: Maintaining Healthy Boundaries Between Work and Personal Life: Another Joint Episode With Speaking of Translation
• Episode 69: Smart Habits for Negotiating with Clients with Susie Jackson
• Susie Jackson’s blog on financial habits for freelancers
• Episode 60: Smart Habits for Taking Time Off
• Intelligent Change: Mindful Affirmation Cards
• Anti-Fatigue Cushioned Standing Desk Mat
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/73
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Episode 72: Smart Habits for Diversifying in a Niche Specialization with Abigail Dahlberg
Today, we’re really excited to be joined by a colleague we both admire very much. She is a translator, content writer, mom, and expert in environmental issues and sustainability. She has been working as a translator for over 20 years and has grown and diversified her business within a very niche specialization. In fact, her success in this area has even earned her the nickname “Trash Girl,” believe it or not!
We are thrilled to be joined by our colleague and friend, Abigail Dahlberg.
Abigail is a German to English translator and copywriter specializing in sustainability issues. After completing an MA in translation and interpreting at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 2001, she worked as a staff translator in Germany for several years before relocating to Kansas City and launching her freelance business in 2005. Over the past 15 years, Abigail has helped dozens of direct clients in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland communicate with an international audience via her business, Greener Words.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• When and how Abigail started her freelance career in translation and how her business has evolved over time
• What smart habits have been crucial in her career
• What systems, processes, and habits she uses to stay organized and how she manages all the tasks on her plate
• How she decides which aspects of her business need more attention at certain times and how she sets priorities
• What boundaries she sets in her professional life and how she maintains them
• Why she decided to diversify her service offerings and how she went about it
• Abigail’s advice for specializing in a niche field or market and diversifying your services
• Her thoughts on work/life clarity for freelancers and how she tries to protect the boundaries between work and personal life
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Abigail’s website
• Follow Abigail on Twitter and LinkedIn
• ATA Inside Specialization podcast episode: Translating Sustainability
• Let the Story Do the Work: The Art of Storytelling for Business Success by Esther K. Choy
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/72
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Episode 71: Smart Habits for Attending In-Person Conferences
We’re recording this episode a week after our quarterly virtual business retreat, and we wanted to thank all of our colleagues who participated. We’ve been holding these quarterly business retreats for over a year now, and this was our best one yet—we had great conversations and a guest speaker who we all enjoyed. It’s never easy to find uninterrupted time to sit down and review how various areas of your business are going and what you would like to focus on. Our virtual business retreats are an opportunity to identify areas of improvement and commit to specific actions you will take to achieve your goals—not to mention the perk of brainstorming with colleagues.
We’re really excited about our next retreat, which will be on December 14. We will have a guest speaker again to kick things off, and then we’ll focus on discussing our business goals for the first quarter of 2023.
And now back to the topic of this episode: smart habits for attending a conference after what’s been two years of having very few in-person events to attend.
We have already recorded three episodes about smart conference habits in the past, and they are among some of our most popular episodes. If you haven’t listened to them yet, we recommend that you check them out:
• Episode 3: Conference Habits
• Episode 26: Smart Habits for Attending Online Conferences
• Episode 51: Tips and Tricks for Attending Hybrid Conferences, a Surprise Joint Episode with Speaking of Translation
We recorded the last two episodes to respond to the changes in the conference landscape due to the pandemic. Since the situation is different now and more people are attending in-person conferences again, we figured it was time to discuss what you might want to take into account when attending your next in-person conference.
Of course, we still think that much of the advice we shared in Episode 3 and Episode 26 is still relevant. We’ll also share what we think has changed and some new factors to consider when attending conferences these days.
So, tune in to hear our conversation; we hope this helps you plan for an upcoming translation and interpreting event!
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Our next virtual business retreat on December 14, 2022
• Episode 3: Conference Habits
• Episode 26: Smart Habits for Attending Online Conferences
• Episode 51: Tips and Tricks for Attending Hybrid Conferences, a Surprise Joint Episode with Speaking of Translation
• The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
• An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten
• Eve Bodeux’s Global Reads Book Club
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/71
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Episode 70: Our Favorite Podcasts About Habits
Before we dive into this episode, we have some news to share!
We are excited to announce that Susie Jackson, our guest from Episode 69 on Smart Habits for Negotiating with Clients, will be a guest speaker at our upcoming virtual business retreat on September 20, 2022.
So, if you need help making an action plan for 2023 to keep working toward your goals and let go of what's not working for you, we hope you'll join us! Susie will kick off our virtual business retreat with a short presentation on pricing and negotiating with clients with confidence.
Our virtual business retreats are a safe, friendly space for you to review various areas of your business and discuss plans, ambitions, and aspirations for your business and work/life clarity with a small group of colleagues—and us. We organize these retreats every quarter, and we love hearing that people find them helpful and motivating.
Join us on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, from 1 pm to 4 pm US Eastern Time!
And now back to today’s episode.
We really enjoyed discussing our favorite books about habits in Episode 68, so we thought we would dedicate an episode to our favorite podcasts on habits, too! There are so many great podcasts out there, and we always love sharing what we like and hearing about podcasts that are new to us.
Of course, there are many wonderful podcasts produced by our colleagues specifically for translators and interpreters, but today we're chatting about podcasts that are not directly related to our field of work. We find it helpful to look for advice and inspiration from people in other fields from time to time, too.
So, tune in to hear our conversation about some of our favorite podcasts on creating and maintaining smart habits, and how they apply to translators and interpreters.
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
• Our Virtual Business Retreat on September 20, 2022, with guest speaker, Susie Jackson
• Episode 68: Our Favorite Books About Habits
• Episode 69: Smart Habits for Negotiating with Clients with Susie Jackson
• Focus on This podcast
o Episode 148: Rethink Your Evening Ritual to Power Your Days
o Episode 139: Four Reasons You Must Record Your Wins
o Episode 153: Four Tools to Defeat Distractions and Interruptions
• Full Focus Planner
• Best Laid Plans podcast by Sarah Hart-Unger
o Episode 108: Back to School Energy
• Deliberate Freelancer podcast by Melanie Padgett Powers
o Episode 134: My Q1 Audit—A Slow Start & 4 Big Decisions
o Episode 123: My 2021 Business Review and Questions to Help You
o Episode 117: My Time Tracking, Money and Client Audit for Q3
• Before Breakfast podcast by Laura Vanderkam
o How to Help Yourself Relax
• Do Pause: You Are Not a To-Do List by Robert Poynton
• The Best Today podcast by Shunta Grant
o Episode 73: 12 Examples of Everyday Routines
• High-Income Business Writing podcast by Ed Gandia
o Episode 299: How to Make Smarter Decisions About Which Clients to Keep or Let Go
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/70
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Episode 69: Smart Habits for Negotiating with Clients with Susie Jackson
In today’s episode, we’re happy to welcome back a colleague who joined us on the podcast two years ago! She is a translator and a mentor for freelancers who need help figuring out their pricing and getting their business finances in order. We love learning from her through the various courses she teaches and her blog, and we’re sure that she has a lot to share on today’s topic: negotiating with clients.
Susie Jackson is a Spanish-to-English translator and copy editor specializing in academic texts for the social sciences. She also mentors freelancers on pricing and business finances to help them figure out how much they should be charging and how to manage the financial side of their business so they can earn a decent living doing what they love. You can connect with Susie on Instagram or check out her free resources for help with pricing and finances on her website.
Tune in to hear our conversation on:
• How Susie’s business is going, and the smart habits she adopted since our last conversation
• What finance-related habits freelancers tend to struggle with
• Why it’s hard for many freelancers to negotiate and the challenges that usually come up when negotiating with clients
• What strategies freelance translators and interpreters can apply when negotiating with clients
• What pricing mistakes translators and interpreters usually make
• When and how to raise your rates
• How we can take the emotion out of communicating our prices to clients
• Susie’s top tips on how to approach negotiations with clients
RESOURCES WE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
• Smart Habits for Translators workshop with Susie: Smart Habits for Pricing and Negotiation on September 6, 2022
• Episode 12: Financial Habits for a Healthy Business with Susie Jackson
• Susie’s website and Instagram profile
See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/69
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