As a translator, finding direct clients is crucial for your professional growth and success. While there are various avenues to explore, it's important to have a clear strategy in place to connect with the right clients directly. In this blog post, we will outline five essential steps that will help you navigate the process of finding direct clients in 2023 and delve deeper into the first step.

The five steps

✓ Find out who your ideal client is
✓ Know what your ideal clients need
✓ Help them know what your brand is all about
✓ Decide where to look for clients
✓ Pick 2 to 3 marketing mediums and tactics you enjoy using

Angela Luana Zalazar Aguirre

ProZ.com's 14th annual online conference to celebrate International Translation Day is happening soon. If you have created an account at ProZ.com with the objective of meeting clients, don't miss the session "Finding ways through the maze: how clients and professionals meet at ProZ.com" on September 28th.

Lucía Leszinsky

At the end of 2005, ProZ.com released a feature called "Project history".  The tool was created to allow freelancers to track past projects completed and list them in profiles with information such as language pairs, fields, volume, keewords, clients and collaborators. Since then, more than 17,300 site members have listed projects, 11,733 of which show as corroborated.

Lucía Leszinsky

"I officially retired" said Sheila Wilson in a recent email message. "Thank you and all the team at ProZ.com for everything the site has provided for me since 2007."

Lucía Leszinsky

Have you recently completed a job? Do you need to send your client an invoice? At ProZ.com, it is easy to create, send and track your invoices online through the invoicing tool. 

Membership allows you to create as many invoices as needed. Non-members are afforded five invoices to try out the platform.

Mike Donlin

The 2021 year-end membership campaign, Stay safe, ended last week. (What? You missed it? Send me a line and we'll figure something out). After three full weeks of intense work, sixteen staff members involved, and great conversations with new and returning members, the largest community of language professionals just got bigger. Thank you, members, once again for your support!

Lucía Leszinsky

A new year is getting started, and so are some of our new site members.  At ProZ.com, there are members who are starting out, also some who have been in the profession for a while, and even many who have a steady list of clients. What do they all have in common? They have invested in their businesses through membership as a smart strategy to be prepared for whatever tomorrow brings. So, congratulations for such a smart move, members, and welcome!

Lucía Leszinsky

The answers ranged from “None whatsoever” to “I would not be able to function without it”. But what was the question? 

Andrew Morris

Getting consistent work is one of the most challenging aspects of being a freelancer. Often,  hours are spent pitching to new potential clients, creating quotes and polishing your profile  in the hope that clients will choose you.  This post explores the importance of following up and how to do it to increase your job conversion rates.

Mike Donlin

Most online freelancers will never meet their clients in real life, which is why it is crucial to understand how to make a good first impression on a new client without ever leaving home. Here are some tips on making a good first impression on your new client.

Mike Donlin

How do I answer job offers at ProZ.com? That question came up in the ProZ.com Facebook group recently and I'm borrowing the well-crafted answer from Lu Leszinsky to include on this blog.



Highlights:
1. Browse jobs that interest you
2. Confirm you meet quoting requirements
3. Click on submit quote

Mike Donlin

A web widget is an independent application that can be embedded into a web-page, blog, or profile on a social media site and that will enable the display of information (your client feedback) or the call for an action ("Follow me").

Lucía Leszinsky

Last September 30 and October 1 ProZ.com/TV hosted the annual International Translation Day event celebrating the translation and localization industry. One panel in particular focused on how branding can make or break a business, whether the business is an agency or an individual freelancer.

Ludmila Golovine (MasterWord Services' CEO), Samantha Reiss (Lilt’s Head of Services), Marina Ilari (Terra Translations' CEO) and Andrew Thomas (Senior Portfolio Marketer at SDL) discussed branding in a refreshing and unstructured talk moderated by ProZ.com's own Paul Urwin.

Rocío Tempone

ProZ.com head of training Paul Urwin has created a series of episodes to discuss topics for translators and interpreters. The episodes will appear as part of the Facebook group Translators & Interpreters (ProZ.com). The audio recording is very short (hence the name!), with the idea that it leads straight into a discussion in the comments. Transcripts from the first two episodes are included here.

Paul Urwin

ProZ.com language industry jobs can now be added to social network feeds on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Lucía Leszinsky