If you are fluent in at least 2 languages, you may be interested in starting your own translating business. This can be a really rewarding job as you will be providing valuable translation to those who need it most. While a lot of translation can be done using technology like Google Translate, human translators are still important. Only humans can understand the proper grammar and structure of languages. Turn your second language into a profitable business today.
1. Planning
Step one is to of course plan out your business. You’re going to look at costs, target market, how to break even and marketing here. Luckily, starting a business online now is quite quick and simple. The costs are rather low as well as there are no overheads that come with a physical store.
Ongoing costs for your website and perhaps Microsoft Word would be the first costs for you. When you begin, you could be totally capable in manually translating everything yourself. As you become more successful and busy, you may need to hire employees, or even outsource some work to subcontractors.
Your target market is easy; anyone who can’t speak that language fluently or write well. This may mean you need to think about creating your ads in a different language to capture the attention of the intended audience. Elderly people, immigrants or even less educated people may require your assistance to get documents ready for different reasons. International students could also potentially be a large portion of your customer base.
You can either charge per word or per page. Research on some other competitors to see how much they charge and to see where you can potentially beat them. As a start up, you can’t start with high prices but can build up to it. So keep this in mind when setting your prices.
2. Registering the company
After you’ve got a good plan, you can consider registering the company early. This will ensure the company name you want to use and logo will be registered and thus protected.Take into account if you want to register for GST or not. Set up a bank account under the registered company to keep income and your personal account separate.
You may also consider getting business insurance. If you are a sole trader, working through your laptop at home and have no office, you may want either the very basic insurance. Once you get an office and start hiring employees, it is essential to have good insurance to cover you.
3. Service agreement
It is ideal for you to establish various service agreement documents to have signed by your customers when securing jobs. This will set out all the details of the job you will perform, how much money is agreed upon and details about payment.
A service agreement to send to a regular customer is more basic, yet still covers all the essential elements you need to protect yourself and your money. A services agreement to send to another business is slightly more complicated. If you need to supply translating services to another business, you should definitely use this document to prevent serious legal consequences.
If you happen to supply your services internationally, you will need a specific service agreement. This is vastly different to regular service agreements in your home country as there are different international laws at play.
4. Get qualified
It’s easy to say you are fluent in another language, it’s another thing to prove it. Especially when people are going to pay you with their hard earned money, they want to make sure you are the best candidate for the job. They will not be waiting around so you can prove yourself.
The easiest way to get their attention and demonstrate your expertise is to get some qualifications. You can either get online ones, TAFE, or even university. Depending on what you client base is you may consider different qualifications.
If your translating business is going to be aimed at regular people, perhaps just an online qualification or TAFE will do. This is cheaper and quicker, allowing you to get into the work straight away.
If you wish to become a translator for law firms, medical centres, Government agencies or even financial institutions, a university degree and extensive list of previous experience is crucial. Of course you can start at the bottom and work your way up as well.
5. Website
Of course you are going to need an eye-catching website to attract the attention of potential customers. Having a full list of prices is essential, as well as samples of previous works. Keep confidential details blacked out if it has any, but these are great to demonstrate your skills quickly.
Conclusion
To summarise, starting your own translating business can be easy and cost effective. Whether you’ve been taught the language at home by family or at a university academic level, you can find your niche to have a successful and rewarding business.
