Poll: Do you sometimes feel you need more training in the business side of freelancing?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jan 3, 2020

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you sometimes feel you need more training in the business side of freelancing?".

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Basudeb Kumar Paul
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:15
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Jan 3, 2020

I must be doing something right as my business has been around for a long while (since 1985 in Belgium and from 2017 in Portugal). I’m very organized, I’m hardworking, I’m a good time manager (I'm known to deliver often ahead of time), I communicate effectively with my clients, I have a flexible attitude and I’m very easy to deal with, I’m detail-oriented and I like solving problems. On the other side, I lack sales and marketing skills but I’m not actively looking for more clients an... See more
I must be doing something right as my business has been around for a long while (since 1985 in Belgium and from 2017 in Portugal). I’m very organized, I’m hardworking, I’m a good time manager (I'm known to deliver often ahead of time), I communicate effectively with my clients, I have a flexible attitude and I’m very easy to deal with, I’m detail-oriented and I like solving problems. On the other side, I lack sales and marketing skills but I’m not actively looking for more clients and my bookkeeping/accounting skills are minimum, that’s why I have an excellent accountant.

Happy New Year to you all with lots and lots of translations!
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Muriel Vasconcellos
Paul van Zijll
Liena Vijupe
Angie Garbarino
Franco Rigoni
Philip Lees
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:15
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Jan 3, 2020

I don't really understand what the "business side" of freelancing would be. I have as much work as I can do responsibly.

[Edited at 2020-01-03 22:14 GMT]


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Rachel Fell
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Of course not Jan 3, 2020

How hard can it be?!

Muriel Vasconcellos
 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 14:15
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No Jan 3, 2020

Teresa Borges wrote:

I must be doing something right as my business has been around for a long while (since 1985 in Belgium and from 2017 in Portugal). I’m very organized, I’m hardworking, I’m a good time manager (I'm known to deliver often ahead of time), I communicate effectively with my clients, I have a flexible attitude and I’m very easy to deal with, I’m detail-oriented and I like solving problems. On the other side, I lack sales and marketing skills but I’m not actively looking for more clients and my bookkeeping/accounting skills are minimum, that’s why I have an excellent accountant.

Happy New Year to you all with lots and lots of translations!


And extremely modest


writeaway
Jennifer White
Muriel Vasconcellos
Sumaiya Nishat
 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 14:15
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No Jan 3, 2020

Happy New Year 2020 to All!

Elizabeth Tamblin
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:15
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Yetta Jan 3, 2020

I’m sorry if I’ve given the wrong impression. Anyway, I'm allowed to be immodest once in a while, right? In any case, the idea was just to show that over the years I've managed to improve some skills but not others…

Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kevin Fulton
Edward Potter
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Angie Garbarino
Muriel Vasconcellos
Vera Schoen
 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:15
French to English
No Jan 3, 2020

There is plenty of information freely available.

Muriel Vasconcellos
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:15
French to English
. Jan 3, 2020

Yes, I do sometimes feel I need more training in the business side of freelancing, however I seem to be muddling through pretty well, keeping up to date with tax declarations and billing.

I felt especially bad in December when I realised that I had let one client get horribly behind with payments. It was partly my fault in that I hadn't billed at the end of each month as usual. However, it was mostly the client's fault for setting up a new system whereby I had to include their PO n
... See more
Yes, I do sometimes feel I need more training in the business side of freelancing, however I seem to be muddling through pretty well, keeping up to date with tax declarations and billing.

I felt especially bad in December when I realised that I had let one client get horribly behind with payments. It was partly my fault in that I hadn't billed at the end of each month as usual. However, it was mostly the client's fault for setting up a new system whereby I had to include their PO number on the bill, then failed to issue the PO for weeks after the job was done and dusted.

All in all I'm doing much better than I thought I would, it's probably time to retire the imposter syndrome!
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Sumaiya Nishat
Sumaiya Nishat  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 18:45
Arabic to English
+ ...
Where? Jan 4, 2020

Elizabeth Tamblin wrote:

There is plenty of information freely available.


Where? On internet?


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 10:15
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Jan 4, 2020

Before I became a translator, I graduated in accounting and I worked as a business manager for 20 years. This is basic for me.

Jorge Payan
 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:15
French to English
Yes Jan 4, 2020

Sumaiya Nishat wrote:

Elizabeth Tamblin wrote:

There is plenty of information freely available.


Where? On internet?


There are guides to all aspects of setting up as a freelancer on the internet.


 
Nikolay Novitskiy
Nikolay Novitskiy  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 18:15
Member (2018)
English to Russian
No Mar 24, 2020

Translations is my fourth business activity.

First time I went bankrupt and ended with debts. Second time I ended with tiny profits and lots of unsold goods in my flat. Third time I got decent profits, sold the business, and it's still profitable now. Now it's the fourth time, and I'm quite experienced and happy.


 


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Poll: Do you sometimes feel you need more training in the business side of freelancing?






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