The ATA Chronicle - November/December 2021 - 31

You can't meet your income goals if you don't
know what they are.
things that lend themselves
to a specific action plan is
a good idea. Then, make
at least a mini action plan
(e.g., " I will form a study
group of colleagues who
are all preparing for ATA's
certification exam in my
language pair, and we'll plan
to meet at least once a week
for an hour. " ).
Finally:
Congratulate Yourself!
Now that 2020 is well behind
us, here's a huge thing you
need to do (for real!):
congratulate yourself for
surviving it. The Year Like No
Other posed many challenges
to freelancers, and many ATA
members found themselves
combining freelancing with
homeschooling their kids,
taking care of older relatives,
anxiously tracking the news,
NOTE
1
and generally trying to stay
safe and stay sane (thanks to
my podcasting partner Eve
Bodeux for that motto!) in a
truly crazy time. And you
made it. Your track record for
pushing through hard days is
100%, so make sure to give
yourself credit for that. In my
business, I like to give myself
a year-end bonus, just as a
good boss would do for a
valued employee. Some years
I buy a new computer, or
even something non-workrelated
like a musical
instrument. This year,
because I'm in graduate
school and on a tighter
budget, I gave myself a
partial day off and a trip to
my favorite bakery. Whatever
you do, it's important to
acknowledge your efforts
before you move on to
goal-setting for the
upcoming year.
" Deciding What to Charge, " https://bit.ly/What-to-charge.
Corinne McKay, CT is a past president
of ATA and an ATA-certified French>English
translator. A Colorado court certified French
interpreter, she is the founder of the online
course platform Training for Translators. Her
book, How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, is a go-to
reference for the profession with over 12,000 copies in print.
She specializes in international development, corporate
communications, nonfiction book translation, and legal and
conference interpreting. corinne@translatewrite.com
" Business Practices " will alternate in this space with " The
Entrepreneurial Linguist. " This column is not intended to
constitute legal, financial, or other business advice. Each
individual or company should make its own independent
business decisions and consult its own legal, financial, or other
advisors as appropriate. The views expressed here are not
necessarily those of ATA or its Board of Directors.
www.ata-chronicle.online
American Translators Association 31

http://multilingual.com/vendors-and-organizations http://multilingual.com/vendors-and-organizations https://www.bit.ly/What-to-charge http://multilingual.com http://www.ata-chronicle.online

The ATA Chronicle - November/December 2021

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