There are many freelance translators who work from their home office and wouldn’t have it any other way.
One of the reasons that the world we live in is so fascinating is because, even though we’re all human beings and we’re all basically the same, our likes, dislikes, opinions and preferences are all so different. And it’s these differences that make the world go round; that make the world such an interesting, diverse, and wonderful place to live.
Different Working Environments for Freelance Translators
With translators, for example, we know that there are many freelance translators out there who work from their home office and wouldn’t have it any other way. It gives them an amazing lifestyle and enables them to combine their translation work with their family in such a way that everyone wins. Then, of course, there are those translators who have no desire whatsoever to work from home, or who have previously worked from home and are enormously relieved to be out of the home environment and back into an in-house work situation. And then there’s a third group of translators who choose not to do either – they carry out their best translation work in rented spaces, rather than working from home or in an official office-type environment. And that’s the beauty of the translation industry because we are all different but we’re fortunate to have these work options.
In this post let’s take a look at both the advantages and disadvantages of working in a home environment.
Perhaps the biggest advantage for freelancers working in-house is that when you’ve finished your work for the day you get to walk away from your job at the office. So, your work day is over and you get to go home and enjoy your free time whichever way you choose, without having to worry about deadlines. In addition, you get paid to complete ongoing training, you get paid for your vacations, and you don’t have to worry about cash flow because you know how much money you’ll be receiving at the end of your pay period. Another huge bonus of working in-house is that you don’t have to rush to meet deadlines in order to keep the money flowing: you’re free to complete good quality translation work at your own pace; so basically your employer gets the very best of your translation abilities because (under normal circumstances) you’re normally not placed under any duress when it comes to deadlines.
On the other hand, freelancers who rent office space do so because the social isolation enables them to complete their work to the best of their ability in the shortest amount of time.
Explore All Options Before Making a Final Decision
So, if you’re at the point in your career where you’re considering your work-environment options as a translator, it’s certainly worth exploring all available options before making a final decision. For translators who do work from home, most would agree that it takes a considerable amount of commitment to make the home-office environment work efficiently for all members of the family, and this includes the translator themselves. However, once all the potential problems have been ironed out, there’s no greater lifestyle than being able to run your freelance translation business from your home. And even then, work-at-home translators have different methods and preferences for making the situation work effectively for them.
