“la parole exportée”

It’s not back to work, because I was never really idle, I’ve had a string of projects, some small, some large, this summer. It’s more like back on line.

For this kind of business, offline is where things really happen. I answer the phone and e-mails (to me, a mere substitute to paper mail). Get translation jobs. Do them. Redecorate my office, a fairly small room, so doing anything to it means taking everything out (a good opportunity to throw away all those old piles of paper), and letting everything stand in everyone’s way, while the job is waiting to be completed. This time it was just the floor, and some paint here and there. Plus, shifting every piece of furniture around. I’ve been talking about it for weeks, but I got interrupted so many times! As I write, I still have some shelves to which I need to apply paint.

The interesting part of this small vacation offline is that it’s helped me reflect upon the last 12 months, about what my experience online has taught me so far.

That has been a very positive experience: Just ‘listening’ to a variety of business coaches has helped me begin to re-define my sense of my business in ways that I’d never thought possible before. Just as I’m re-organizing my office, I’m also re-organizing my processes. This means, in a way, going back to basics. And it works.

More on that in the coming weeks. So how was your summer?

I recently received a PO for a project from a multinational company with which I have a long-standing relation. In short, they respond to Request For Proposals that go through an extremely lengthy examination process, and if they are successful, the order for the translation is sent out, usually months after I’ve done the estimate.

The fact that the PO specified an unrealistic deadline was a sure sign that no deadline had been specified by the client, or the Indian BPO wouldn’t have entered something like tomorrow for a translation of 9,000 words… That didn’t sound like my client at all. Either they need it by a certain date, and they kindly ask me if I think I can do it by then, and of course I say Yes, or I have about 4 weeks to do it.

So I set off in order to get it out of the way. What experience has taught me, is to NEVER procrastinate on a project with an unspecified deadline, because you end up being… in a rush.

photo credit: gruntzooki

Then I realized that I needed some input from the client, so I sent out an e-mail and instantly received an automatic ‘Away on vacation’ response. I must admit that the temptation was sooooo great to drop the whole thing until closer to the date when my client would be back, even though the sensible half of me was telling me to just get on with it, as the required info could be taken care of at any time. I really toyed with the idea of shelving it, but about 6 hours later, the reply arrived around midnight. (Contrary to popular and unjustified belief, French employees can be officially on vacation AND work. Most of them don’t really have a choice.)

So, back to square one. No excuse to procrastinate, I must do this project now, not later…

I hate to brag, but I like encouragement like everyone else, and this selection of quotes from e-mails that arrived in my inbox last week, really made my day…

‘…So anyway, thank you so much for all your very hard work. I thought you did a wonderful job altogether. It was a pleasure to work with you and I will be sure to keep your contact details for the next time. I’ll also pass on your details to anyone who may need help in Paris with interpreting needs.’

‘…Par ailleurs, je tiens à vous remercier de nous avoir rejoint ce 17 juin, votre prestation a été bien appréciée par nos collaborateurs anglophones.’

‘…All that stuff about translators isn’t really for you. We have been very happy with your work over the years.’

For many years now, I’ve got into the habit of keeping congratulatory comments in a corner of my office. All clients (including me) often forget to thank their service providers. These sweet messages are my insurance against rainy days, when everything seems to go badly, and a little encouragement like this is much better (even for your health) than a cocktail!

photo credit: debaird