If you’re a work-from-home translator and you have small children at home, be patient with them because things do get much easier as your children get older.
This might include picking up their children from school, volunteering for school activities, enjoying lengthy phone conversations talking about nothing in particular, and people who just like to pop over for a cup of coffee. It’s difficult to make some people understand that you’re a professional working in a professional career, but you just happen to be working from home. But, on the other hand, when your children need you to be there for them, perhaps a school concert or a school excursion, then you’re the lucky parent because you have the privilege of being able to manage your business around your family’s needs.
Your Children Won’t Always Be So Little!
If you’re a work-from-home translator and you have small children at home, be patient with them because things do get much easier as your children get older. You’ll find that, as your children age, you’ll spend fewer hours working at night time and eventually you’ll be able to handle most of your translation work during the day. So yes, you may feel like you’re losing your sanity some days, trying to handle too much, but anyone with a grown family will tell you that these same small children will grow up very quickly, and all too soon you’ll be spending your days alone. So, it’s important that you enjoy having your little ones at home with you, and do whatever it takes to make your work-at-home situation work for both you and your family. These trying days will be over very soon and you’ll be free to work whatever hours you choose.
Having a Partner to Help Is a Bonus!
If you have a partner to help out with the children and housework, then you’re very fortunate. Perhaps your partner’s hours work in your favor and they can take care of the children for certain hours of the day while you work. Your translation work is a major contribution towards the family’s finances, so this should be a family effort, and family decisions need to be made regarding your children, the hours you work, your privacy whilst working, and other issues that revolve around work-at-home parents. Translators who successfully run their freelance translation businesses from home are indeed fortunate: it truly is a privilege to be able to run a successful business and be there for your family at the same time. However, there are sacrifices to be made by all parties, and as long as the children’s needs come first, there’s no reason to believe that running a professional business from your home can’t work extremely well.
One last point about running your translation business from home: just because you’re working from home it’s still imperative that you attend translation conferences and seminars. You need the interaction with other like-minded people, and it’s from these meetings that you’ll learn how to stay up-to-date and current with industry news and new innovations.
