Episode 54: Smart Habits for Thinking Like a Business Owner with Sarah Townsend

Smart Habits for Translators

In today’s episode, we have a thought-provoking conversation about the importance of treating your translation or interpreting business as a business—in particular, thinking like a business owner.

This sounds like such a simple thing, but many freelance translators and interpreters fail to do this and consider themselves “just freelancers.” This mindset can have a negative impact on your interactions with clients, your pricing, and many other elements of your business.

We have talked about this in many of our previous episodes, but today we’ve invited a special guest to join us in this conversation.

We’re excited to welcome Sarah Townsend to the podcast!

As a freelance copywriter for more than 20 years, Sarah helps purpose-led businesses discover the power of persuasive copy. In 2020, she published Survival Skills for Freelancers to help business owners around the globe tackle the day-to-day challenges of self-employment. Described as “better than a business coach”, the Amazon #1 bestseller busts the myths about being your own boss to help you ace self-employment without burnout. It distills 20 years of experience – plus quotes from over 100 freelancers – into 200 unputdownable pages. Since then, Sarah has combined her copywriting work with delivering mentoring, training, and events to help the self-employed community tackle the ups and downs of freelance life.

Listen in to hear our conversation on:

• When and how Sarah started her freelance career, what services she offers, and how her business evolved over time

• What some smart habits have been crucial in her career

• Why her book, Survival Skills for Freelancers, is so popular among freelance translators and interpreters

• What top three things freelancers usually struggle with

• How freelancers can educate themselves to maintain a business-owner mindset

• Sarah’s tips for valuing yourself and your expertise and charging appropriately

• Her thoughts on the benefits of having a community as a solo worker and finding the right community for you

• Sarah’s favorite tools or resources that can help freelancers feel more professional, efficient, and productive

• How she tries to protect the boundaries between her work and personal life

RESOURCES WE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• The Smart Habits for Translators Virtual Business Retreat

• Pomodoro technique

• Sarah Townsend’s copywriting website

• Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram

• Sarah’s book Survival Skills for Freelancers

• Free sample of the first chapter of Survival Skills for Freelancers

• Deliberate Freelancer episode: Freelancer Survival Skills + a Pep Talk about Boundaries with Sarah Townsend

• Calendly

• Canva

• Trello

• FocusKeeper

• Text Expander

• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by

Brené Brown

• On Writing by Stephen King

See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/54