Over the last month, on translation-related forums and blogs, I have come across several new translators asking for advice on how to succeed in this industry. Interestingly, there is usually an undertone of ‘why is this so hard?!’ Some excellent and very relevant advice has been given - have a look at this post by Jill Sommer, this one by David Turnbull and this one by Riccardo Schiaffino). I won’t elaborate on what has already been said. Instead, in this post I want to bust some myths. These are points that I believe are important to bear in mind, but that many inexperienced (and perhaps even some experienced) translators seem to forget about.

Myth 1 - If I advocate quality, clients/agencies will flock
You know that you produce high-quality translations, so that’s what you tell people you do. You expect them to come flocking, as surely they need a good translator such as yourself. The thing is, do you think there is a single translator out there who doesn’t claim their work is good? Of course not, which means that by using ‘quality’ as your selling point you are merely equating yourself with thousands of others. It’s similar to using hackneyed terms such as ‘team-player’ or ‘highly-motivated’ in a CV. Again, would any job seeker not wish a potential employer to think these words describe them?
Quality should be a given, not a marketing ploy. Instead, think about what it is that you offer but that others don’t. So, are you particularly fast, particularly good at researching the topics for your translations, do you have a particularly rare or commercially important area of expertise? Use that as a selling point instead, and set yourself apart from the masses.

Myth 2 - I just need to publish my website and it will do its own work
I’m always pleased to see translators that have made the effort to invest in a good site. However, it also surprises me when they complain it doesn’t get them any clients. Of course, there are many aspects to having a ‘successful’ website, but one thing that is important to look into is the question: Can my website even be found?
If you google the most obvious search terms for your language combination - for me: Japanese to English translation - the first page of results is completely taken up by companies offering free online translation. The first freelancer appears halfway down the second page, and only then because the clever boy managed to get the URL japanesetranslations.co.uk. Most of us, however, use less obvious site names, forget about adding keywords, and are way down in the rankings.
The significance of this is that site traffic drops almost exponentially the further down you are in the search results. On average only 2% of visitors end up converting (filling in a quotation form), and only half of those actually go on to place a job. So, if you are high up on the first page - say fifth - you’d get 500 odd visitors a month, 10 quotation requests, and 5 jobs. If you’re first you’d get thousands of visitors, but if your tenth you’d get less than a hundred a month. And that’s just the first page! The way to get yourself higher up on the list is through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), but SEO specialists are expensive - 100 EUR an hour on average in Europe, and a succesful SEO campaign might take near 30 hours over the course of a few months.
So, assuming you can’t afford this kind of a fee, how do you increase the number of people that visit your site? The most obvious solution is to basically let the whole world and their best friend know it’s there. Tell all your friends, post it on facebook, include it on your LinkedIn profile, shout about it on Twitter, etc. etc. And don’t just tell them about it once - tell everyone about every change or update you’ve made. Have a look at this short presentation if you’re not sure how.

Myth 3 - It's only me and a computer - why would I need a business plan/accountant/start-up capital?
If you were opening a garage, starting a logistics firm or building a new factory, you wouldn’t dream of doing so without having all of the above, would you? Yet countless translators go into freelancing without giving much thought to the business side of things at all. They don’t even think of themselves as a business. It’s easy to see why - we don’t need to buy expensive machinery, lease a warehouse or employ other people. We can literally grab a laptop and set up shop in our own bedroom. Nevertheless, freelance translators should not ignore the fact that as many as 1 in 3 new businesses in the UK fail within their first 3 years. We sell a service, so we are a business and we should act and plan accordingly.
As a budding freelancer, ask yourself what equipment you need to buy (e.g. a workstation, a CAT tool, any other software, a fast internet connection, etc.). Do you have the money to buy these things or do you need a loan? In case of the latter, you’ll immediately need to deduct repayments from your first income.
There are many more relevant questions in this area: Do you know how much you need to earn to support yourself? How will you cope if you have a few quiet months? What do you want to earn in your first, second and third years and how will you achieve this? Do you know enough about the tax and social security laws in your country to be able to do your own tax returns or do you need help? If you work from home, are you sure you know how to calculate what percentage of your utility bills you can claim back? Would you know how to prove to a mortgage lender that your annual income is high/stable enough to buy a house?? And that’s just the beginning - I haven’t even mentioned pensions and childcare!

Myth 4 - Be afraid of Machine Translation. Be very afraid...
As a human translator who has spent years honing their language skills, of course I hold fast to the view that human translators will always do a better job than Machine Translation (MT). Like many others I’m a bit baffled by the hype that currently surrounds MT, because I have seen what kind of gobbledygook it can produce (see Steve Vitek’s little test on MT of a JP patent here). 
Nevertheless, MT is big business. The likes of Google are spending huge resources on developing their MT service, so it’s clearly something that isn’t going to go to away.
However, in my opinion this trend doesn’t mean we have to be afraid of losing our livelihood. Nor do we need to be bullied into accepting lower rates because ‘MT lowers the value of translation’, or into doing work as a ‘post-editor’ of MT content (unless you really want to, of course).
Instead, I see MT as one of the many reference tools available to me. There’s no shame whatsoever in getting a feel for terminology with an MT as part of your research process. Equally, if a client prefers to save money by getting the gist of an unimportant text with an MT, that’s absolutely fine. I know that to get a high-quality, reliable translation of an important document, they’ll have to invest and come to me.

Myth 5 - As a translator, I only need to be good at translation   
Obviously being a skillful translator helps a great deal when you want to make it in this business. However, your wordsmithery is not the only thing that counts. Over the past couple of weeks I have come across some very unprofessional behaviour (in one instance by another freelance translator, in another by a business in a completely unrelated area). In each case I was turned off the idea of ever working with these providers again, despite them having delivered work that was essentially good.
‘Professionalism’ is a broad term, but to me it means that you fundamentally care about providing a great service. It means not only working out every detail of your modus operandi, but also being able to communicate this effectively to clients. It’s being able to show them that you can deal with any eventuality, without bamboozling them with industry jargon in the process. At times, it’s also about being firm about why you won’t stand for an acceptable situation, or, conversely, being graceful when you’ve made a mistake. Understanding corporate professionalism, and being able to demonstrate it, is crucial to succeeding in this business.
In addition, for the sake of your own sanity you also need to have an understanding of the administrative palaver that comes with running your own business. Make sure you know how to keep financial records, spend time finding out what marketing strategies are likely to help you attract clients, and above all don’t forget to set up a good IT back-up system (have a look at this post by Philippa Hammond). It’s also worth spending time getting to know the laws and regulations that affect things like contracts and payments in your country, just in case you run into a conflict with a client.