Thanks for your comments. To answer your first question, I’m currently based in Normandy, though we’re planning to move back to the UK for family reasons in the next few months. I’m hoping that won’t impact my translation business too much, but that’s another story…

Unfortunately I can’t make it to the ASTTI’s univ d’été, though I had a look at the programme and it looks interesting. Are these things ever recorded (video or audio) or can copies of presentations ever be obtained? I suppose not…

I guess I probably just need to think outside the box a bit more on this one. Documents for banks, investment funds etc. are my staple diet, and clearly there are quite a few of the big ones I can’t approach directly now, having already done agency work for them. Which probably means the most obvious market is private banks and asset managers. Based on your tips, the most tricky aspect for me is that once we’re back in the UK, going to client watering holes won’t be easy.

I’d be grateful if there are any more ideas, resources or starting points you can point me towards. Feel free to e-mail me at grayson [dot] rob [at] gmail [dot] com.

Another interesting and well-thought-out post. Thanks for sharing.

As a freelancer with several direct clients and also as a current and former employee of a couple of well-known agencies, I heartily second your last two bullet items.

Most agencies are charging their client at least double, maybe triple what you charge the agency for your services. If you charge a direct client only a 50% premium on your “agency” rate (which is 30-50% less than what the agency is charging), the client may assume you are not a professional translator. I usually start with a 150% premium on my agency rates, but let the direct client know that this is negotiable if the client agrees to give me something in return, such as regular jobs, quick answers to my questions, access to useful reference materials, referrals to other prospective clients. The personal service you are giving the direct client is the most important part of the deal, in many clients’ perspective. You can respond to requests more quickly than any agency, provide better consistency (as you already mentioned) and in general be more flexible and readily available. I try to play this up as much as I can, with good results.

Tom

I’ve been freelancing for three years, and aside from a very small number of direct jobs, I only have agency clients. I’m relatively picky about what jobs I choose to do – out of a determination not to take on anything where I can’t deliver quality – and have so far managed to be pretty much booked up for the last three years.

However, I’d love to have some regular direct clients, mainly as it’s the only real opportunity I can see to increase my income in the long term (once you’re filling 100% of your time with agency work and are charging as much as you reasonably can, there’s nowhere to go).

My particular challenge is that I specialise in banking, finance, investment, accounting etc. (as well as generally anything else business-related). My bread and butter is annual reports and accounts, fund prospectuses and internal reports, documentation and presentations for banks and other financial services companies. It strikes me that this is not the sort of work that is very easy to get directly, as companies wanting this sort of translation tend to always go to an agency.

The other factor is that we are hoping to relocate from France back to the UK in the near future, so local prospecting activity doesn’t seem like the way to go right now.

As someone who’s managed to garner some direct clients, I’d be very interested to hear any thoughts or suggestions you might have in relation to my particular circumstances, as well as any suggested resources you could point me towards that might help me think through possibilities further.

Thanks,

Rob