Free Home Business Advice

If you are fluent in two languages, then you should consider ways to monetize this skill as a translator. Translation services is an easy home business that you can run, without much effort or start up costs!

This is a great business opportunity that you might have within you, that you’ve never thought about. Here are some things to consider. Just because you speak a “rare” language, doesn’t mean that it is not useful. The more uncommon your native language is, you may have more leverage to negotiate higher rates because a good translator is often hard to find.

Check various job boards like Craigslist.org to see what the going rate is for translation services. Decide if you want to charge per word or per project. Make sure you have the correct word processing software to type in specialized characters if necessary.

You can run this business as a sole proprietor, with very little start up costs. You already have the necessary skills to execute the services (assuming you are confident in your level of fluency) now all you need to do is find clients that need your help.

Depending on what kind of clients you will serve, they may require a different tone of voice for what they are trying to accomplish. For example, a client seeking to create a marketing campaign for a local restaurant may want you to translate their commercials with a casual tone of voice with slang. Or, you might be translating sensitive legal documents for an immigration law firm that requires specific industry jargon and legal terminology which you should be familiar with.

You can try to find clients that are business owners that do not speak English as their first language. You can offer your translation services to help them write copy for their websites, menus, correspondence, etc. The hardest part of this business will be to find a steady stream of clients. You will need to be proactive about searching for jobs, but once you get them it’s easy money!

Here are some ideas for prospects that you can contact as you search for translation clients:

• law firms
• import/export firms
• restaurants
• marketing firms
• real estate agents
• car dealerships