Negotiating a translation contract - in Spanish. This presentation includes concepts I picked up from the Better Business Bureau, my Errors and Ommissions policy conversations with my insurer, and other sources. I gave this presentation in Guadalajara, Mexico, in November 2016 at the Organización Mexicana de Traductores conference at the Feria Internacional del Libro, as a 2 1/2 hour workshop. It was very well received as it answered questions the attendees were thinking about in order to do better advocacy for translators in Mexico.
We keep telling people to hire a professional. We should actually do the same!
We keep telling people to hire a professional. We should actually do the same!
Colegio Hudson
CEO of company arguing with my rates
Not keeping track of time: missed appointments
Not keeping track of money: overdrawn checking account
Add other costs on whiteboard
Be realistic about costs. Research them on the web before putting the numbers down!
Add other things that take time on whiteboard
Be careful to not underestimate the time these things take. For me:
Networking: Espalista, Chamber, 2 hours/week
Billing: 2 hours/week
Following up: 2 hours/week
Negotiating: 1 hours/week
Training: when work slows down, but ideally about 15 days/year. Take advantage of slow times for this!
Take time during the downtimes to be refreshed.
Exhaustion after Bible plus Science Textbook combo.
Eternity app
Take time to go to the Coast or something! Take time between big projects.
“I’m sorry, but could that project wait a couple of days? I just got done with a very large project, and in the interest of maintaining my sanity (and the quality you are accustomed to) I need to take some time off.”
Colleague working 10 hours/day 7 days/week, producing uninspired output. No time to think about where to go or how to do better.
Pie graph on side showing portion of the pie that we can afford to give to this endeavor, and other ideas on supplementing income.
Show Jonathan’s book on the screen. I have the pdf.