As a freelancer, you know that managing your money can be a tough task. You may not have an employer to help out with benefits like vacation time and health insurance. It's up to you to make sure you're saving enough for retirement and investing in ways that will grow your nest egg over time.

Here are some money habits that can help any freelancer stay financially secure:

Mike Donlin

Time is money. If you're like most people, you probably think of this as an excuse to work harder and make more money. The truth is that time really does equal money, but only if you're working efficiently and not wasting your precious hours on distractions or unproductive tasks. The key to doing more with less time isn't just about working harder—it's about working smarter too.

Mike Donlin

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

The Translation agencies and companies directory is where you can find translation agencies and end clients on ProZ.com.

It's easy to see where your business page ranks if you're a confirmed employee —you just need to head over to the directory and you'll see it:

Mike Donlin

Looking for language professionals on ProZ.com for your projects? 

If you've outsourced work before on the site, then you probably have seen and even used ProZ Find to make your searches. But did you know that you can personalize your searches with many filters to find the best match?

Mike Donlin

Have you ever posted a job on ProZ.com and wondered why you didn’t get as many quotes as you had expected? 

With over 150 jobs posted in a day you need to make sure you get the attention of the right professionals.

Mike Donlin

Do you have an urgent request for translation? Are you screening language professionals for future opportunities? 

If so, it is likely you are contacting linguist profiles at ProZ.com. Can your message reach the right translator? Are there secrets to getting their attention? How do you break through the noise?

Mike Donlin

The ability to establish real-time communication at the click of a button -- by text, voice or video -- is having a significant impact on business in general, and on the translation industry in particular. Meanwhile, translation companies are under pressure to complete translation projects more quickly. Given these factors, being able to make yourself readily available to a project manager in a time of need is a significant competitive differentiator.

Lucía Leszinsky

It’s vital to inhabit the right mindset as a freelancer, which includes both the story we tell ourselves, and the emotional state we inhabit. But none of that means we don’t have to have the core skills to do the job, day in day out, or the strategies to get the word out and begin to interact with clients.

Whether that’s in your website, your marketing, your social media pronouncements, or your attendance at trade fairs and industry conferences… the list goes on.

Mike Donlin

Any business or individual can outsource via ProZ.com using any of these two methods:  job postings and the directory.

The directory allows outsourcers to search over 1 million linguists with over 20 search criteria, and contact them directly through their profiles. The directory represents the primary means that outsourcers use to find translators and interpreters at ProZ.com.

Job postings, on the other hand, allow outsourcers to share an offer and receive quotes from suitable language professionals. 

Lucía Leszinsky

A Purchase Order (PO) --or Project Order-- is a commercial document issued by a buyer to a seller, indicating types, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller will provide to the buyer. Sending a project order to a supplier constitutes a legal offer to buy products or services. Acceptance of a project order by a seller usually forms a contract between the buyer and seller, so no contract exists until the project order is accepted.

On today's quick poll, freelancers are being asked whether they required a PO before starting a project or not.

Lucía Leszinsky

While most experienced language professionals know how to invoice their clients, sometimes calculating taxes, keeping a good backup or sending reminders complicates the process and takes time, extra time they could use on actual projects, marketing or learning. Not to mention the number of late or incomplete invoices that result in non-payment issues!

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

The ProZ.com Blue Board is the complete, searchable database of business records containing service providers' feedback and rating.  When leaving feedback on a client / translation agency / company, linguists are asked to enter a number from 1 to 5 corresponding to their likelihood of working again (LWA) with them. Entries may also contain information about quality management, on-boarding processes and payment procedures. 

Lucía Leszinsky