Comments on: Keeping statistics about your freelance business http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2009/07/10/keeping-statistics-about-your-freelance-business/ ...the translation industry and becoming a translator Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:30:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Joan http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2009/07/10/keeping-statistics-about-your-freelance-business/#comment-2180 Joan Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:41:00 +0000 http://thoughtsontranslation.com/?p=595#comment-2180 Sorry, I'm a late replier. I've tried tracking a number of these things, and am not very good at sticking with them, but there is one very simple record-keeping system I've used for a long time that I find useful. It's nothing but a color-coded table in Word. I keep a table of each job (my invoice/client name/job/number/amount/date submitted and invoiced/and the date the invoice is paid). I started this table at the beginning of 2000, and from that point on, I can go back and check how much I made in any given month of a given year and compare how I'm doing. Also, if a client name rings a bell, but I can't quite remember, I can find them, see when I last work for them, how large the job was (and my invoice # which language, as well as the sequence number, my first invoice, in 1993, was 0001, the last was 4447, plus F, S, or T to indicate the language) I can also see how long it took them to pay me. When I receive payment, in addition to noting the date, I color code the line for that job: blue (under 30 days), green (30-60 days), orange if I have to chase them down. One orange may not be a problem if something really did slip through the cracks and they quickly send it when I call. It can happen to anyone, but if it's a pattern, or I get the run around, have to remind repeatedly, the client may eventually get marked red (with a little skull and crossbones for effect), which means stay away. In addition, I keep an extra little table below with mid-year and end-of-year totals also going back to 2000. If I'm on track, I can relax a little. If I'm behind, then it means I need to hustle a little. Joan Sorry, I’m a late replier.
I’ve tried tracking a number of these things, and am not very good at sticking with them, but there is one very simple record-keeping system I’ve used for a long time that I find useful. It’s nothing but a color-coded table in Word.
I keep a table of each job (my invoice/client name/job/number/amount/date submitted and invoiced/and the date the invoice is paid). I started this table at the beginning of 2000, and from that point on, I can go back and check how much I made in any given month of a given year and compare how I’m doing.
Also, if a client name rings a bell, but I can’t quite remember, I can find them, see when I last work for them, how large the job was (and my invoice # which language, as well as the sequence number, my first invoice, in 1993, was 0001, the last was 4447, plus F, S, or T to indicate the language)
I can also see how long it took them to pay me. When I receive payment, in addition to noting the date, I color code the line for that job: blue (under 30 days), green (30-60 days), orange if I have to chase them down. One orange may not be a problem if something really did slip through the cracks and they quickly send it when I call. It can happen to anyone, but if it’s a pattern, or I get the run around, have to remind repeatedly, the client may eventually get marked red (with a little skull and crossbones for effect), which means stay away.
In addition, I keep an extra little table below with mid-year and end-of-year totals also going back to 2000. If I’m on track, I can relax a little. If I’m behind, then it means I need to hustle a little.

Joan

]]> By: Cristina Silva http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2009/07/10/keeping-statistics-about-your-freelance-business/#comment-2007 Cristina Silva Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:03:33 +0000 http://thoughtsontranslation.com/?p=595#comment-2007 Corinne, This is interesting and I'm actually working on tracking my numbers for different types of linguistic services this year (translation x edit/proof x interpretation x voice-over, etc) and am curious to hear what our colleagues are actually using to do that. I've figured out that my accounting program (Quicken) actually has some categories that I can use to do that, but would like to see what others are doing. Corinne,

This is interesting and I’m actually working on tracking my numbers for different types of linguistic services this year (translation x edit/proof x interpretation x voice-over, etc) and am curious to hear what our colleagues are actually using to do that. I’ve figured out that my accounting program (Quicken) actually has some categories that I can use to do that, but would like to see what others are doing.

]]> By: Kevin Lossner http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2009/07/10/keeping-statistics-about-your-freelance-business/#comment-2002 Kevin Lossner Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:01:27 +0000 http://thoughtsontranslation.com/?p=595#comment-2002 This is a very useful reminder, Corinne. Every time I do a statistical workup on my business data I learn very important things, some of which show that I harbored fundamental misconceptions about the distribution of projects or the economic importance of some prominent customers. Fact-based reality checks are always good. As far as some of the tools for doing this are concerned, I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I own several good commercial solutions (one discontinued and no longer supported) which allow me to manage a lot of the administrative side of our translation business, but I have grown increasingly disgusted with little details in which the "solution" fails to accommodate the international, multi-lingual nature of the business where minor details such as the way numbers are written also differ between countries that appear to share a common language. Or in some cases I am just damned tired of clumsy workflows that force my to twist my administrative practices to fit. So I'm thinking about "downshifting" and restructuring all my data to use simple spreadsheets, a custom database and mail merge templates in the OO word processor or perhaps MS Word again. A horrible thought, really, but after nearly a decade of waiting for other programmers to get things sorted out I'm just tired of half-solutions and little being done to advance them in a direction that would really save me time. This is a very useful reminder, Corinne. Every time I do a statistical workup on my business data I learn very important things, some of which show that I harbored fundamental misconceptions about the distribution of projects or the economic importance of some prominent customers. Fact-based reality checks are always good.

As far as some of the tools for doing this are concerned, I’m at a bit of a crossroads. I own several good commercial solutions (one discontinued and no longer supported) which allow me to manage a lot of the administrative side of our translation business, but I have grown increasingly disgusted with little details in which the “solution” fails to accommodate the international, multi-lingual nature of the business where minor details such as the way numbers are written also differ between countries that appear to share a common language. Or in some cases I am just damned tired of clumsy workflows that force my to twist my administrative practices to fit.

So I’m thinking about “downshifting” and restructuring all my data to use simple spreadsheets, a custom database and mail merge templates in the OO word processor or perhaps MS Word again. A horrible thought, really, but after nearly a decade of waiting for other programmers to get things sorted out I’m just tired of half-solutions and little being done to advance them in a direction that would really save me time.

]]> By: Riccardo http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2009/07/10/keeping-statistics-about-your-freelance-business/#comment-1997 Riccardo Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:02:30 +0000 http://thoughtsontranslation.com/?p=595#comment-1997 1) Subject matter (Legal, IT, Medical, etc.) 2) Type of task (Translation, Editing, Proofreading, Interpreting, etc.) 3) Invoice aging (How many days before or after the agreed due date are you receiving payment from the customer?) 4) Unpaid total by customer 1) and 2) are very useful if you want to get E&O insurance A combination of 3) and 4) is especially important, as we don't want to be overexposed towards certain customers, and bad numbers in 3) may indicate a customer that needs pruning 1) Subject matter (Legal, IT, Medical, etc.)
2) Type of task (Translation, Editing, Proofreading, Interpreting, etc.)
3) Invoice aging (How many days before or after the agreed due date are you receiving payment from the customer?)
4) Unpaid total by customer

1) and 2) are very useful if you want to get E&O insurance

A combination of 3) and 4) is especially important, as we don’t want to be overexposed towards certain customers, and bad numbers in 3) may indicate a customer that needs pruning

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