Stéphanie Denton United Kingdom Local time: 01:02 Member (2011) French to English + ...
Sep 13, 2011
Hello all
I am in the process of setting my own agency up. So far, I have numerous direct cleints who have followed me from freelancing, and also numeous other agencies who are happy to still use my freelancing service (as I am still going to be translating for my own "pocket money" and to cut costs) or the agency for the languages that I do not cover myself.
Now, to what seems to be the tricky part. Ever receive an e-mail from an agency stating "We're currently bidding for a contract..."? Where are they bidding for these contracts? If anyone has an idea, and wouldn't mind sharing (cheeky, I know), then I'd be most appreciative. I've done the old Google trick, and all signs point to ProZ and other Translator's resources, nothing for actual agencies. i know LionBridge can request that agencies bid, but the rates you are supposed to offer are freelancer rates, and I do not want to be paying my freelancers peanuts!
Thanks in advance.
Stéph
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Phil Hand China Local time: 08:02 Member (2011) Chinese to English
Own contacts; government contracts
Sep 13, 2011
I'm vaguely heading in that direction, and my idea at the moment is to offer more services to multinationals that I already work with. Then it's a case of doing some networking (ugh) and seeing if I can meet anyone who has a demand. The city where I live has a number of multinationals active here, and the expat community is reasonably small, so it should be possible to make the right contacts if I ask around.
Government contracts are the other obvious place to look. Sites aggregating available UK and European government contracts are fairly easy to find.
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Stéphanie Denton United Kingdom Local time: 01:02 Member (2011) French to English + ...
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Thganks for advice...
Sep 13, 2011
Phil Hand wrote:
Government contracts are the other obvious place to look. Sites aggregating available UK and European government contracts are fairly easy to find.
...however, my googling skills must be more dire than I originally thought, as when I type that it, I just get other agencies who are currently working or authorised to work on UK Gvmt contracts.
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Phil Hand China Local time: 08:02 Member (2011) Chinese to English
Remind that replying to tenders always means competition, and therefore underbidding (lower than your competitors). But if you go too low, nobody will be willing to translate the texts anymore. Therefore it may be a huuuge business risk: non delivery and bad quality are contract breach.
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Stéphanie Denton United Kingdom Local time: 01:02 Member (2011) French to English + ...
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Thank you all
Sep 14, 2011
For your advice, keywords and links.
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), then I'd be most appreciative. I've done the old Google trick, and all signs point to ProZ and other Translator's resources, nothing for actual agencies. i know LionBridge can request that agencies bid, but the rates you are supposed to offer are freelancer rates, and I do not want to be paying my freelancers peanuts!
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