A Chinese English Translator Who Is Running A Virtual Assistant Business

What makes her unique is the fact that she is also a virtual assistant specialized in marketing.

Translation is one of the services she offers to her clients. Now running her own home based business AvailLive.comfrom Hong Kong, Joey has her own take on how to get your name out there. Here’s my interview with her.

Q:1. Can you tell us a bit about your career as a Chinese English translator?

A: I never thought that I would become a translator back at school. Accidentally, the first job I got required a large amount of translation.

Since I was born in Hong Kong and went to elementary school there and continued my studies in Vancouver, Canada, I was able to deliver the work. I gained valuable experience doing translation with that company.

My second job required interpretation at meetings on a weekly basis. That’s when I learned to translate and interpret quickly. After that, I became a freelance Chinese English translator. As I built up a client base, I started my own business.

Q:2.How did you come up with the idea of AvailLive?

A:The name AvailLive came as a concept of service live. I want my clients to feel their work is being attended live once instructed.

We offer business support to companies who wish to outsource their administrative, secretarial, bookkeeping, marketing, customer service, sales and translation, so that they can focus on more important tasks.

Q:3.What do you do to attract clients and find quality leads?

A:Most of my clients found me from websites such as Elance.com, Translatorcafe.com and Translatorbase.com

I also get referrals from my friends and old clients.

Business has changed quite a lot lately, as I start to get more people approaching me for my services instead of the other way around which makes closing a deal much easier. Social media has really done a lot for my business -- without it I would not have come this far.

Q:4. Do you have any advice for freelance translators who are struggling financially?

A: As a Chinese English translator, I agree that there is an enormous amount of competition in the market right now but if you produce quality service, you will likely get referrals from past clients.

My advice is never lower your rates just to get more work. This will ruin your own business and damage the whole industry.

Also, never stop marketing yourself online or offline, because that is the only way to get your name out there. When people recognize your name, they will most likely pick you as a candidate for their project.

Q:5. What was the best choice you’ve ever made in business?

A: Attending events held by chamber of commerce and associations. I network with a lot of potential clients and through this get more exposure for my business.

Q:6. How do you deal with the low pricing game that’s being played among the translation market when a job poster can simply name the price he wants to pay for the translation service and many translators are paid peanuts for their hard work?

A: By focusing on the value I provide to my clients. We all have unique perspectives when it comes to the services we offer.

For example, as a Chinese English translator, my fast turnaround time is a big attraction to my clients. I have dealt with clients with half-an-hour turnaround deadline.

Also having the advantage of understanding not only the languages but also the two cultures makes my translation accurate and localized.

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