ProZ.com Blog

As a freelancer, personal business development is key to improving your business model and increasing your client load. However, with the past year's restrictions on in-person meetings, it can be harder to pitch your services when you don't get to speak with someone face to face.

So, how can you entice prospective clients?



Email, of course. Unfortunately, getting someone to open, let alone read, your email can be challenging. You need to utilize high-quality email practices, and here is how you do it.

Are you new to the translation industry? Would you like to work as a translator, but you are unsure about how to get started? Do you have questions about ProZ.com, the platform, the community, the tools available? Then this post is for you. Just keep the following in mind, and you'll find your way in the ProZ.com translation workplace in no time:

« ProZ.com is different than what you may be expecting »

The following questions and answers will show you why.

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

Where are the jobs?
When an outsourcer needs to hire for an open position or find talent to fill expected needs, jobs might be posted at ProZ.com. Language jobs posted to the world's largest community of freelance translators, interpreters, subtitlers and other language professionals are listed under a section called "Browse jobs" (to get there, mouse over the "Jobs & directories" option on the top menu, then click on "Browse jobs", or simply bookmark this link: https://www.proz.com/language-jobs).



Jobs listed in that page can be filtered by a number of criteria, including language pairs, fields, and word count.

Use the "Jobs where I meet the requirements" switch to filter jobs where you meet the criteria to submit a quote.

Make sure your profile includes necessary information
In order to be able to quote on a job, your profile information must match exactly the job's requirements.

So, for example, if you offer interpreting services, but you haven't reported "interpreting" in your profile as a service you offer, you won't be able to submit a quote.



In other words, it's not enough to offer a service or work in a given field. If that service or field (or software, credential, etc.) is not reported in your profile, the system has no way of knowing that you meet the job poster's needs, and so the "Submit quote" button will be disabled. You can update your Profile at any time here: https://www.proz.com/settings.

Submitting quotes
Job posters can choose to receive quotes in a number of ways, the most common ones are (1) online via ProZ.com, where you complete an online form with your rate, your proposed completion date, your message, etc. and the poster accesses your quote also online, and (2) via email, that is, if you meet the job's criteria, you are shown the poster's email address and you can use it to send your quote via email.

Other quoting methods include URL (the poster specifies a webpage where you can submit your quote), phone, fax and postal mail -- not so common these days though.

In sum, to quote on jobs, start by browsing jobs that may interest you, confirm that you meet quoting requirements (these are shown on the job and summarized at the top of job postings) and if you do, click on "Submit quote" to get started. If your quote is accepted, the job poster will let you know.

You may also find some useful information on this blog post on "How to write an effective job quote". 

Did you know that you can include a logo on invoices sent through ProZ.com? Adding a logo to the invoice is one way to personalize this ProZ.com membership tool for your needs.

The ProZ.com Interpreter Network -the pool of pre-screened professional interpreters- continues to grow with new interpreters joining every day 🚀

The overpayment scam may be the most active scam affecting online freelancers. This scheme is very simple, and many are entrapped with it.

You are offered a job with part of the payment coming in advance, but the scammer sends you a larger than agreed upon payment and asks for a partial refund. Or, a payment is made in advance and then the project is unexpectedly canceled.

Are you a student looking for a way to earn money while you go to school? Many students choose to take on a part-time job or paid internship. It is important to ask, besides money, are you actually gaining anything? Often, part-time jobs have nothing to do with your degree, and internships just mean endless grunt work. There is a different option; you can work as a freelancer.

How much time have you spent improving your profile? Being critical of yourself it not easy for everyone. Do you need help? Get 3 friends to review your profile, but choose 3 different kinds of friends to review your profile to get more results. Find a friend in the language industry, a friend who hires people in any line of work, and a friend who loves you no matter what.

ProZ.com annual reports give progress updates to ProZ.com members on accomplishments, improvements and new developments made on the site.

Are you a translation agency or LSP looking to expand your pool of service providers for future projects? Or a freelancer who wants to get their name out there and be contacted by potential new clients? ProZ.com applications may be what you are looking for.

The latest ProZ.com podcast episode features Dr. Jonathan Downie's conversation with with ProZ.com head of training Paul Urwin around topical issues for interpreters.

In the recent International Translation Day event at ProZ.com, Daniel Coria took part in a "How to get more clients" panel (along with Martina Russo and Stephen Rifkind). One concept that Coria mentioned, that of "skill stacking", definitely struck a chord with ProZ.com Head of Training Paul Urwin.

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?

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

OK, so you posted your job, sent private messages and now you have many quotes from potential service providers. The next step is choosing who you want to work with. Sounds easy enough, but how do you know who will be the best match, the most reliable language professional?

Here's what you should look for when choosing the best service provider: