Happy New Year to those of you already celebrating 2012! We still have a few hours left before the clock strikes twelve in Missouri so I'm performing my traditional year-end review and setting goals for the upcoming year with a cup of tea and mince pie. Looking back at 2011, some features stand out:
• My business has altered a little over the past year: Instead of working almost exclusively for direct clients in Germany I am now translating quite a bit for agencies in the US. I'm really pleased to have diversified my customer and currency base a little given recent developments in the Eurozone.
• Preliminary figures show that gross revenue from translation and editing projects invoiced in euros increased by about seven per cent in 2011. I haven't looked at the official figures yet, but my sense is that I worked a lot more than in 2010, as well. The exchange rate was not quite as favourable as it was in 2010, which led me to take action at the end of 2011.
• With the exception of government clients with whom I have long-term contracts, all of my clients are now paying higher prices or will be from 1 January 2012. Right now it looks like everybody has agreed to the price increase (it had been a few years since the last round) so I'm breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward to maintaining these relationships for another year.
• I had the privilege of working on some truly fascinating and inspiring projects this year. I translated reports about waste collection projects in sub-Saharan Africa, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in small island nations, recycling plastic bottles in China, a sustainability report, International Toilet Day and press releases for a solar technology firm in the US, to name just a few.
• I lost two direct clients this year. One filed for insolvency and the other was bought by a competitor who chose to stick with their existing translation service provider. It could have been worse. Luckily, it had been a few months since I had worked for them, and all invoices had been paid.
• I was acknowledged in print as the translator of two reports that I handled in the second half of the year. I have to confess that I didn't actively seek to be credited and in both cases the customer requested my permission. This is something that I'm going to try to pursue more actively next year and beyond.
• I wrote and sent out my first newsletter (available here). I also paid a trusted colleague to translate the newsletter into German, which incidentally offered real insight into the experience of a translation buyer. I'm already working on the next edition and hope to make this a regular occurrence.
• One of my main goals entering 2011 was to mix up my approach to professional development. I attended a waste management conference in January, a networking event for business communicators in March and the ITI Conference in the UK in May. I'm looking into going to a trade fair in Germany next year.
• MICATA duties have kept me fairly busy, as well. Our headline event, the MICATA Symposium, will be held in Kansas City in late March, and feature two days of continuing education for translators and interpreters.
• Returning to paid duties, the last quarter of the year has ended up being my busiest quarter since I started freelancing in 2005. I was fully booked after returning from the ATA Conference in late October (which is why I haven't had the time to blog about what turned out to be my favourite ATA Conference) until December 23rd. Thankfully most of my clients in Germany have been out of the office since then so I've had a few days to recharge the batteries.
Looking ahead to 2012, my only goal is to try to achieve a better work-life balance. My love of translation is just as strong as it has always been, but I have spent far too many nights of late burning the proverbial midnight oil. So heeding my own advice, it's time to get this post up and spend the rest of the day relaxing with my family. The translations can wait until Monday.
• My business has altered a little over the past year: Instead of working almost exclusively for direct clients in Germany I am now translating quite a bit for agencies in the US. I'm really pleased to have diversified my customer and currency base a little given recent developments in the Eurozone.
• Preliminary figures show that gross revenue from translation and editing projects invoiced in euros increased by about seven per cent in 2011. I haven't looked at the official figures yet, but my sense is that I worked a lot more than in 2010, as well. The exchange rate was not quite as favourable as it was in 2010, which led me to take action at the end of 2011.
• With the exception of government clients with whom I have long-term contracts, all of my clients are now paying higher prices or will be from 1 January 2012. Right now it looks like everybody has agreed to the price increase (it had been a few years since the last round) so I'm breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward to maintaining these relationships for another year.
• I had the privilege of working on some truly fascinating and inspiring projects this year. I translated reports about waste collection projects in sub-Saharan Africa, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in small island nations, recycling plastic bottles in China, a sustainability report, International Toilet Day and press releases for a solar technology firm in the US, to name just a few.
• I lost two direct clients this year. One filed for insolvency and the other was bought by a competitor who chose to stick with their existing translation service provider. It could have been worse. Luckily, it had been a few months since I had worked for them, and all invoices had been paid.
• I was acknowledged in print as the translator of two reports that I handled in the second half of the year. I have to confess that I didn't actively seek to be credited and in both cases the customer requested my permission. This is something that I'm going to try to pursue more actively next year and beyond.
• I wrote and sent out my first newsletter (available here). I also paid a trusted colleague to translate the newsletter into German, which incidentally offered real insight into the experience of a translation buyer. I'm already working on the next edition and hope to make this a regular occurrence.
• One of my main goals entering 2011 was to mix up my approach to professional development. I attended a waste management conference in January, a networking event for business communicators in March and the ITI Conference in the UK in May. I'm looking into going to a trade fair in Germany next year.
• MICATA duties have kept me fairly busy, as well. Our headline event, the MICATA Symposium, will be held in Kansas City in late March, and feature two days of continuing education for translators and interpreters.
• Returning to paid duties, the last quarter of the year has ended up being my busiest quarter since I started freelancing in 2005. I was fully booked after returning from the ATA Conference in late October (which is why I haven't had the time to blog about what turned out to be my favourite ATA Conference) until December 23rd. Thankfully most of my clients in Germany have been out of the office since then so I've had a few days to recharge the batteries.
Looking ahead to 2012, my only goal is to try to achieve a better work-life balance. My love of translation is just as strong as it has always been, but I have spent far too many nights of late burning the proverbial midnight oil. So heeding my own advice, it's time to get this post up and spend the rest of the day relaxing with my family. The translations can wait until Monday.
