Freelancer to Agency Owner: Growth, Downsizing and Adaptation with Translator and Copywriter Emeline Jamoul
Qing
Welcome to the Freelance Forward podcast, a show that helps you create and run your own business to enjoy the freedom and control and flexibility it brings. I’m your host QingChen, a freelance conference interpreter and language instructor. On this show, I sit down with fellow freelancers from different industries to discuss lessons learned, ideas and strategies, challenges and opportunities. So the rest of us can connect and share best practices, and gather tools and resources to move our freelance business forward. Thanks for spending some time with us today. And let’s get started. Emeline Jamoul is a translator and copywriter specialised in medical translation and digital marketing. She’s also in charge of the translators pool at the coffee tea, Belgian Chamber of translators and interpreters. When she became a mom for the third time, she learned more about herself during those nine months than she did during her first eight years. As a freelancer. Welcome to the show.
Emeline
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Qing
So, Emeline, walk us through your freelance journey. So did you study translation, and then becoming a translator? Was the natural next thing to do? Or
Emeline
I actually didn’t study translation. I studied languages. Okay, more or less? Yeah, yeah, more or less the same thing I knew I’ve always loved languages. And I knew from a very young age that I wanted to work with languages in some form. And so yeah, I did my bachelor’s degree and my master’s degree. And then life happened. And in my last year at uni, I was pregnant, and writing my thesis. And so I don’t know, there was something about this year that felt very special, because we didn’t have many classes. And so I found myself in this little bubble where I was, you know, managing my time and managing my workload. And I very much like that. And I think, in hindsight, I learned a lot about myself and the way I work during that, that period of time. And I actually don’t really know how it happened. But I also stumbled upon some freelancers, freelance translators blogs online. And this opened up a whole new world to me. And I discovered that yeah, you can be a freelance translator, you don’t really you don’t really need to be working, you know, for European institutions, which is something that they teach you at school, right?
Qing
Were they writing on their blogs back then?
Emeline
So it was very DIY, because it was like 10 years ago now. So they were writing about how to position yourself, how to market your services. How to find clients. Yeah, so
Qing
actually filling that gap that we haven’t been taught at school. Exactly. Interesting. And
Emeline
yeah, so I found all these great articles. And basically, half of my time was spent on my thesis. And so you know, realising that I really liked working on my own, and then doing the prep work for my business, and learning about all these things. And yeah, and then, yeah, September 2013, I took the plunge, and became a freelancer.
Qing
So basically, directly after you graduated, yeah. And how long would you say that prep period? Last? One semester?
Emeline
Yeah, more or less? Maybe six months? Something like that? Yeah. But it was very clear in my head that that was going to be the next step. Like, come September, I was going to be a freelance translator. Wow.
Qing
Yeah. So your business has kept on growing and growing for years. And then when you became a mom, for the third time, when you had your third baby, that was the moment when you decided to shift from growing the business to downsizing. Yeah,
Emeline
so we have to put it that way. Yeah, we have to go back a little. So basically, I worked on my own I think for about like four to five years, and then things started growing and growing. And so I work into French, which is my mother tongue. But my clients were asking me about, like, asking me to provide translations into other languages. And so back then I had two options, either, you know, recommend them a trustworthy colleague that worked, I don’t know into Dutch or German. But that would make things more complicated for them if they had, you know, needs in multiple languages, they had to deal with several people at the same time. Or the other option would be to remain there a single point of contact and coordinating the whole multiple language translation
Qing
basically, turning from a freelancer to a sort of agency. Yeah, project management. Yeah.
Emeline
That’s basically how it happens. And so I got more and more requests. And I started, yeah, to grow very organically. And then I had this big, a lot of demand also for French, which is the language I work into. And I found myself really overworked and I had too much on my plate. And as you said, I was also pregnant with my third baby. So people are gonna think I’m pregnant all the time, but
Qing
timespan?
Emeline
10 years, yeah, eight years. And so I could have outsourced some of the work into French. But from a financial point of view, it made more sense to hire someone in house. And so that’s how I decided to hire my first employee. And so I went through the whole process of, you know, into interviewing people, selecting people, and then hiring, the one person I was going to work with in house.
Qing
Yeah. Do you enjoy working with people in general? I mean, you must have some sense of that beforehand, right?
Emeline
I do. I very much love working on my own. But I think as freelancers, we tend to get very lonely, because we also work from home most of the time. So, you know, working with other people is a welcome change.
Qing
But also working with other people, as teammates, versus being a boss, and having to manage people and delegate tasks. I think, basically,
Emeline
when the employee arrived, I realised that well, you know, I went into freelancing straight after my studies. So I’ve never been employed myself. Yeah. So the learning curve was huge, because I had to learn about all these laws, you know, for employees, right, and all the admin stuff. And then, on top of that, I also realised that she needed guidance, and she needed a vision and leadership. And I wasn’t prepared for that at all. Because I’ve always worked, you know, for myself, yes, I’ve outsourced worked. I outsource outsourced work, to freelancers, but it’s really not the same thing.
Qing
But was she also newly graduate? Yeah,
Emeline
she was, she was it was her first job.
Qing
In the process. What were you struggling was the most? Was it the fact that you have to reshuffle or reorganise the workflow? Or that you had to redefine the roles and responsibilities of You, yourself? And also your employee? Are you had to delegate because I hate to delegate.
Emeline
I actually like delegating. But I found myself falling into the trap of micromanaging, which is really bad. And what I found super difficult, very draining. Yeah. Because she was translating, and then I was proofreading her work, you know, because I’m the founder of the company. So the end responsibility is on myself. So yeah, control. Yeah. Yeah. And what I found difficult was managing my own workload, and hers, making sure that she had enough work and not too much work that I found very difficult.
Qing
And also, were able to translate a lot yourself.
Emeline
That’s the thing. I found myself managing projects and really missing the creative space that translation gives me so I wasn’t translating as much I, as I said, I was proofreading a lot more than translating and I really missed that and that played into my decision further down the line to downsize. Yeah,
Qing
I think I completely understand when you want to grow the business, when you want to get better financial results, month after month, quarter after quarter a year after year, especially when we just started the freelancing journey, right. We are always chasing the higher target in terms of numbers. Yeah. But no Maybe we could see it this way, cuz when you’re telling the story I, it reminded me of a rule that Jordan Peterson wrote in his book Beyond order. That is, yeah, that’s, that’s pretty much the other side of the coin. And because we always say do what you love, but it’s not that easy. So this rule is “do not do what you hate”. So basically, the idea is to avoid the activities, the kind of behaviours, the choices that go against your values, or that we find deeply unpleasant, basically. Yeah. So you hired an employee first and found out later that being a boss is absolutely not your cup of tea, and you hate managing people or micromanaging.
Emeline
It’s not really that hated, like, hate is a very strong word, but I don’t feel comfortable. Yeah, managing people
Qing
unpleasant basically. Yes. Equally. Yeah. Yeah. Where are you now?
Emeline
So now? So basically, this was two years ago. And so yeah, as I said, I didn’t really like the place where I was at. So I decided to part ways with her after nine months, I think, was it a painful breakup? And not really, because she wanted to do something else too. So yeah, wasn’t even a decision. And so yeah, I decided to downsize because, frankly, I needed a much more slower pace, a healthier pace for myself, too. And that, you know, chasing the money, like more money, month after month, as you just said, and so I outsourced a lot less and focused on my craft, which is translation. And so now, two years later, I actually missed the challenge, you know, of receiving this request from a new client, like, hey, we need this text translated into Hebrew or Arabic by the end of this week, can you help us? That I find really thrilling, and, you know, I like like a good challenge. And so, yeah, I’m trying to launch the agency again, but with a much more, a much healthier approach to it. And also a much more human approach to it. So that means good question. That means, for me means having a moral horizontal structure with the team I’m working with. So the Freelancers, you’re definitely not hiring again, in house that I really don’t want to dive into anymore. And yeah, just really being there for my clients and, you know, being seen as a partner, and guiding them through the new technologies that are emerging on the translation industry.
Qing
So actually, I can call you a consultant translator.
Emeline
Basically, I think it’s the future of the professional interpreting
Qing
when you’re the head interpreter or coordinating a team for your client was different language combinations. We call them consult interpreters. So that’s basically the role that you’re playing. Yeah. So working together with a network of freelance translators and copywriters. Yes to meet the demands of your clients. I just out of curiosity, water, what are the most popular language combinations? For us mentioned Hebrew, French for this
Emeline
is very rare solid, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mentioned it because like, it’s a good challenge to tackle. But yeah. The most popular languages we work into are, Dutch, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
Qing
Great. Yeah, yes.
Emeline
They are the closest ones, yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah.
Qing
My next question to you is, do translators and copywriters experience the feast and famine cycle, because although we too were in the same industry, language service industry, but my field interpreting is somewhat different in the sense that it’s closely tight with the event industry at large as well. So certainly has had its seasonality. So do you experience the same thing, and how do you manage that?
Emeline
Actually, from experience, I haven’t really experienced it like I could feel a small drop during the summer, but since I was on holiday, I didn’t really mind. But this year was different. So after the summer, like my very first big famine happened
Qing
by this year, we mean 2023. Oh, yes. Right. I know what I’m still reading, thinking in year 2023. Before Yeah, yeah. So like, yeah,
Emeline
last autumn. And it was pretty much radio silence for a couple of days. And I was like, what’s going on? It was the first time that it happened to me. So I was very fortunate in a way they happen. It didn’t happen to me earlier. And frequently, because I know that it touches it affects a lot of people in our industry, especially interpreters, I just said,
Qing
so can I say COVID has been treating you well?
Emeline
Yes. Yeah, yeah, actually. I think the what happened during COVID is like, the first day, you know, you remember when they told us they told on the news, like every company had to shut down and people had to work from home, that they end the day after, was pretty silent and inactive for because people had to readjust them, you know?
Qing
Yeah. For me, that was already the second shutdown. Because when COVID broke out, I was in China. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Then I just decided to fly to Cambodia. Okay. I think three days after the new year, I think the shutdown started two days before the new year. So yeah, you don’t have that issue. That’s good. Because I think during episode three of this podcast, when Jean-Francois and I discussed the importance of marketing consistency, maintaining it during busy periods, and taking the time to actually do it when things are quiet. And you should do more of that is what we have to all take into consideration of, but I personally seem to fail tremendously on, for example, posting consistently and regularly on LinkedIn. I think one of the goals that I set for myself last year 2023 was, you know, choose to posts twice a month on LinkedIn. So keep up with roval, right? Yes, like one post every two weeks? Yeah. Because I don’t want to set myself a goal that’s like hard to reach, say one post per week. I know, I cannot do that during the high season. So yeah, I saw myself that go. And still, I didn’t manage, which is not very usual for myself set up
Emeline
to know why.
Qing
I don’t know why. Well, I know well, you don’t have to tell me that. Consistency is the key when it comes to posting on social media because otherwise, otherwise, the algorithm won’t be working in your favour that at all, I and also I’ve learned some techniques, I tried applying those strategies to make it easier, like scheduling your posts in advance, allocating a time slot, let’s say Tuesday morning, I’ll spend two hours crafting two posts for this, okay? To make it easier, and batch right, you know, and having an Excel sheet collecting ideas, categorising them, but I just I just can’t seem to keep it up. When I’m very busy. This is the first thing that I drop. So it’s all diagnose and prescribe me.
Emeline
Well, I’m not an expert, but I think you make it. Well, I’m trying but I think you make it a bit too complicated to maintain. Like, you have like the schedule and this You’re overthinking maybe, like you have this Excel sheet and this big table and for me, when I post on LinkedIn, it’s very spontaneous. But I got into the habit of seeing things through. Okay, it’s gonna sound a bit weird, but seeing things through the LinkedIn prison, as in when, for example, I go to this networking event. I’m trying to think about what I could say about that event, or if like during my workweek I have an an anecdote to share with my audience then I will write about it.
Qing
Yeah, inspiration comes from life. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, that’s why I keep an Excel sheet because okay, very forgettable. So just don’t write it down. It would just slip. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for me, it’s very spontaneous.
Emeline
I try to post once a week. But if I don’t do it, you know, I don’t beat myself down.
Qing
I’m gonna check your LinkedIn for the past three months. If you’re really posted every week, no,
Emeline
I’m sure I haven’t to be honest. But when I’m in this phase of, you know, being active on social media, LinkedIn is the first platform I turned to. I’m also trying to be a bit more active on Instagram to, to do some local networking, because I live in Brussels. So trying to, you know, reach out to other entrepreneurs and, you know, create some connections there.
Qing
You also have to expand your network, yes, of freelance translators and copywriters, right, so that
Emeline
Even outside of that translation industry, it’s one of my goals for this year, actually, to be to network more outside of our little bubble, which is very comfortable. I know, because we’re a very specific tribe. And we like very specific things. And I see you nodding, yeah.
Qing
I completely resonate with this one, because the other day, I heard from sales and LinkedIn trainer, that she’s got a network of about 10,000 people, 10,000 connections, okay. Among those 10,000, she said, 90% are well curated, warm leads. That’s impressive from a broad range of industries, and only 10% are colleagues from the same industry. Yeah. So of course, it’s not a universal rule. But that got me thinking. And also, it depends on your specific goals, professional objectives and industry and the nature of industry. Some people may prefer a more industry focused network with specialisation. But that’s not what we want. Right? Because at a certain point, I didn’t realise that I might probably have too many people from my industry on LinkedIn, and, and way not enough, or let’s say way too little exposure to other circles. And like you said, it can be confining, and definitely not our advantage from a business development point of view.
Emeline
Definitely. And I think it’s also due to the fact that translators are very often introverted people. Yeah, raise your hand. I’m like that, too. Yeah, true. Very true. And so they tend to be scared to go out in the world and go out of your cave. And, you know, just speak to people that know nothing about translation. I’ve often noticed that. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Yeah, I was. I was speaking to colleagues just last week. And yeah, this topic came up the I think we shouldn’t be scared because people are just people, you know, whether they are translators, or I don’t know, graphic designers. Yeah, it doesn’t have to, like the gap between you and the people you connect to doesn’t have to be, like, huge. You can connect with graphic designers, web designers, you know, communication specialists. And they might need your services as well, because they work in the same sphere as you. I.e., you know, communication and marketing.
Qing
I also noticed that you started launching your newsletters, yes. The end of last year. When was that? I don’t remember then. Then you paused and you picked it up again.
Emeline
I think it was after the summer was on? Yeah. Okay. I think so.
Qing
Okay. And I think in one of those newsletters, you mentioned three things such as stick to each week. Yeah, that help you find new prospects and clients talk to us about that.
Emeline
Yeah. So at the time, I hadn’t decided yet to relaunch the agency. So I was trying to reach out to other agencies to provide them my services as a freelance translator. So the three things I wanted to make sure I did every week was to actively prospect to a selection of translation agencies that I had carefully picked, and then trying to reach out to them on LinkedIn by contacting for example, their project managers. Second thing was while we just talked about it is posting on LinkedIn, or if I didn’t have the inspiration to post anything, at least interact With my network on LinkedIn, and then yeah, the third thing is actually launching this newsletter actually have a fun fact about them. I don’t really know which, to which email, she answered. But anyways, so about seven to eight years ago, I went to the translation Europe Forum, which is a conference that’s organised by the Euro European Commission here in Brussels, and I met this translator who was coming from London, we met, like, we get along pretty well. And then she went back, and we kept in touch on LinkedIn. Then a couple of years down the road, she left the translation industry, and she joined. I think it’s like a communication company. And then I launched my newsletter, so last autumn, and she subscribed to it. And so, you know, at the end of my newsletter, I have this small text that says, you know, this newsletter is not a one way street. So if you like that, if something spoke to you, feel free to reply, and we can discuss things further. So it’s very much a dialogue, beautiful invitation. Yes. And she did, she actually replied to one of my newsletters, and said, Well, this was so nice. It sounded super interesting. I don’t remember what she said, exactly. And I just had a call with her yesterday, because they needed some French content. It’s funny how things work out like, and also when what I wanted to say is that, you know, prospecting and marketing in general is very much a long term game and a patience game. So when you post on LinkedIn, you’re just planting a seed, basically, yes,
Qing
I was just thinking about planting the seed this concept. Yeah. Sometimes you don’t know when you’re going to harvest if you’re going to harvest and you never know, when precisely,
Emeline
you never know, you never know where your next client will come from. Basically, it’s just like people in general, you don’t really know where you will meet your friends. You know, your new friends, when you make new connections, sometimes you just stumble upon one person, like in a totally random place, and they become your best friend. This has happened to me like a lot of times. And it’s the same thing for clients. Yeah, I very much like the seed planting, and you
Qing
have to constantly hunting them. Yes. That’s, that’s the difficult part. Yeah. Especially it’s the
Emeline
consistency. Did anything,
Qing
especially when you feel like, it hasn’t been rewarding? Because we’re so used to getting instant reward
Emeline
gratification. And I’m the most impatient person on the face of this planet.
Qing
I wouldn’t say so.
Emeline
I am, believe me, I truly am. And so yeah, I get that sometimes it can be very frustrating not to see the results of all the efforts you’re putting in. But yeah, you have to keep pushing, and you know, something is bound to happen. Like if you do things correctly. And, yeah. And how
Qing
do these small habits or rituals that you keep, on a day to day basis, turn to a full fledged prospecting management system that you’ve developed?
Emeline
So the prospecting management system is basically a table in an Excel sheet? Okay,
Qing
is it applicable to professionals from all industries or just from your industry,
Emeline
I made it specific to my industry, but it’s very much flexible. And I think everyone can keep well, you know, it’s just a CRM system, and you can make it you don’t really need to buy a very, you know, sophisticated software, you’re just on your own. So, all you need basically is like info on the people, you reach out to you. The date of your first contact, maybe the channel, like the way you contacted them or the way you met them. And yeah, and try to be present, and stay top of mind. With those people. You know, instead of like every, I don’t know, every few weeks, like, Hey, I’m a translator, remember me like,
Qing
yeah, that’s my fault. That gets to my next question. How often do you follow up and how do you follow up?
Emeline
Really depends on the conversations I’ve had with the people. So if they told me specifically that they had a project in mind, then I’m going to be much more active about following up But you know, if it’s just a very general conversation about, I don’t know, any topic, I’m not actively seeking them, you know, but I make sure to follow what they post and follow what they’re up to. And if I find it interesting then and if I have something interesting to say, then I make sure I say it. And you know, keep the connection going.
Qing
Would you be kind enough just to share with us that prospect management system template?
Emeline
Of course, yeah, that’d be definitely
Qing
I also know that you have allotted sounds so exciting that you have acquired a new skill last year event organising. Yeah, and organising. You and Jenny. Yes. Vanmaldegem, another colleague of ours.
Emeline
Hi Jenny, if you’re listening,
Qing
organise the first international translation conference in Belgium.
Emeline
Yes. Finally, it finally, it’s called B word to be a word.
Qing
Where does that name come from? Like, so?
Emeline
Yeah. So to to be more specific. So the idea of the conference came from Jenny and I, because we’re very much we’re very close. And, you know, it started out as a joke, basically, like, well, there’s nothing happening in Belgium, even though where it’s true. Right? Travel, it’s to go to Yeah, and it’s like very local events, very small events. And so we were complaining about that. And then I don’t know which one of us said first, like, well, let’s change that. What if we organised a bigger event ourselves? I want to say ourselves, of course, it was organised through the Belgian Chamber of translators and interpreters. So we pitched the idea to them, and they the board accepted quite quickly. But we knew quite quickly that we would need some extra help, because obviously, organising a big event like that was just like four hands was going to be pretty much impossible. So we asked around, and we got three other people helping us one in charge of budgeting, because we knew nothing about budgets. Yeah, we were. So we are both very bad at maths. So five
Qing
speakers, you have to calculate the ticket price. Yeah,
Emeline
yeah. And so one of those three people came up came up with the B word name. We were just brainstorming on a zoom call. And he said, What about B word and we instantly liked it. Yeah. So yeah. That’s how it was already.
Qing
Like exactly what it represents.
Emeline
Yeah. Yeah. I really like it. So yeah. And we knew that we wanted to make it big, but big ish.
Qing
How big did it turn out? So
Emeline
we had 114. Attendees, which for our first edition, I think it’s pretty great. We wanted to reach 100. So we’re pretty happy.
Qing
Yeah, one I wanted to attend that I marked it on my calendar, I think half a year ago already. But sometimes I especially nowadays, I don’t like to commit to something too soon. Because I know what you mean. Yeah. Like things could always change last minute, especially for you. Yeah, that’s what happened. I was on a mission. That’s why I didn’t attend. Yeah.
Emeline
Too bad year. Yeah. With no not not next year, maybe two years. Yeah. So yeah, we had to, we learned so many things, like we had to, you know, think about a theme. Brainstorm around around that theme. Think about speakers that we could invite put out a call for speakers, how would you do that? Reach out to other translation associations to promote the event, negotiate with the speakers, which is something it’s quite something.
Qing
have you improved your negotiate?
Emeline
I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you have to stand up for yourself to you know, and it’s like, we were volunteers. So, you know, and then pitching sponsors, and what else and then just organising the date itself, making sure that everything ran smoothly doing the technical checks the day before. And then we also organised a cultural day. So the the conference happened in Charleroi. And Jenny was in charge of organising the cultural day, but they visited the city and did many things. And so yeah,
Qing
that’s nice. A lot to learn. That’s nice. Yeah, Congratulation. Thank you. And what are some learnings? that you can share with us freelancers, especially as from the point of view of an organiser, based on your observations, because many of us would attend at least once a year, our industrial conference. So what are the do’s and don’ts when we attend our next Industrial conference?
Emeline
I think you just have to be very open and not be scared of talking to people. Obviously, this was quite a easy setting, because it was just all translators. So
Qing
comfort zone, comfort zone.
Emeline
Exactly. Um, yeah, that would be, you know, my main tip, and just go with the flow. And also something that I observe in many people is that they have really high expectations in that, okay, I’m going to attend this conference. It’s not specific to this conference we’re speaking about, but for example, like an industry event, yeah. So I’m going to attend this conference, I’m going to find three clients out of it, you know, and then they become frustrated, because it doesn’t happen like that. Or if it happens, you’re
Qing
very lucky. But it goes back to the concept of planting the seed. Yes, exactly.
Emeline
The patient’s game. But yeah, and also, one key learning that I had with this whole experience is that volunteering is super important. And yeah, having a commitment to trade associations, is also very important, because in my case, they helped defend our profession.
Qing
By the way, I know what I will do when attending the next, let’s say, oh, it’s not an industrial conference. But so it’s a webinar because we have a whole series of expert sessions from January to March from Freelancers in Belgium. And when I attended first session two weeks ago. So that session was about how to optimise your expenses. We were asked by the host at the start of the session to briefly introduce ourselves. This is what I’m going to do differently. During the next session. I’m going to have copy paste already self introduction, then I could just drop it in the chat box without having to think Oh, elevator pitch. Yeah. And also, I mean, it can also help break the ice, because I noticed that people tend to be very quiet at the beginning. And they’re just, you know, carefully waiting for others to be the first one to speak. It’s true, the eyes when somebody spoke, then the rest would just would just follow. Yeah. So that would be something I do differently. And maybe I can apply that to attending face to face industrial conference,
Emeline
you can apply to many things. Yeah. Yeah.
Qing
My last question to you is your personal take on the role of artificial intelligence? So the translation and copywriting business, the elephant in the room? Right? Is it Well,
Emeline
is it I don’t know. I think it is. For me, it’s not, especially for translators. So it might not be the most popular opinion among translators personally, yeah, definitely. But I think that AI has its place. So I’m speaking to all the translators who are listening, I’m pretty sure that each of you can think of one project that really bored you to death, because it was very dry. It was very factual. It was just meh content. You know, we all have those projects. Sometimes, and
Qing
for that, not half of the time.
Emeline
You know, that kind of project where you go, like, I’m pretty sure no one is going to read it. That kind of project for me for that type of project. AI can be a good solution. If there is a human intervention, at some point for content that is more creative, like let’s say, ad campaigns, websites, newsletters, social media content, you can’t really use AI for that if I take Dutch as an example to me, I’m so my mother tongue is French as I said. And to me Dutch, especially for ads. I see that a lot in ads, the content, it feels very much like the way a person would say it out loud. I don’t know what you mean, you give me I don’t have an example in mind. But it if I compare it to French, French, it’s much more formal. I mean, you can make it formal, but it’s not going to be written as if, like, like the way you say it. I don’t know if it will resonate. But so imagine that you put this very informal content in Chat GPT or whatever. Imagine the results. And if you put it out there like that on social media, can you imagine the impact that it will have on your target market? I don’t think it will have the right impact, because that’s not what the market expects, and is used to. So for that type of content, we do need humans. And so I think that we can cohabitate. Yeah, in a way. Yeah.
Qing
I think that’s the only way forward.
Emeline
And it’s also something that I want to do with my translation agency, when I said, a more human approach is, you know, so many companies are blindsided by translation agencies, because they make them believe that, yeah, we have this new technology that can translate everything correctly. And in a very cheap way,
Qing
and speed it up. Yeah, exactly. Productivity.
Emeline
And they don’t know how to assess the quality, because most of the time, the translations are in languages that they don’t speak themselves. So that’s what I want to do with the with the agencies being a guide, or a partner. And if the right solution for their project is AI, plus human intervention, then I will tell them, if the right solution for them is, you know, full flesh, human creative mind, then I will tell them to so a very much nuanced approach. Okay,
Qing
we’re gonna end our today’s podcast episode was the same three questions that I always ask my guests. Next thing to accomplish on your bucket list.
Emeline
Next thing to accomplish is to make the agency stable. By stable you mean, finding my place and not falling into the traps that I fell into last time? Okay,
Qing
if you could choose three people to dine with,
Emeline
so I only have two. Is that okay? So the first one would be Martin Luther King. Do I really need to explain why I mean, I think it’s a pretty common answer. But yeah, I find the man very inspiring. And I don’t know if many people know this, but he actually went to prison for his fights and his activism. And I find, I would love to speak to him about that, like how he experienced the whole thing and how it didn’t stop him from being you know, from fighting after he got out. And the other person is the late Queen of England, because I am so intrigued. Yeah. I’m so intrigued by the person behind the symbol. And yeah, she became queen at a very young age, like, even younger than we are. And I would love I would have loved to hear about that, like, how she found her place. And how she Yeah,
Qing
you watch the crown, right?
Emeline
I did know, just once. Oh, yeah, I
Qing
watched it probably for the first three seasons, five, six times. You’re a fan every time I get goosebumps. Yeah, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Emeline
So I found this quote on Instagram the other day, so maybe it’s not the best piece of advice, but I think it’s very relevant. And it really spoke to me when I read it. And so it’s a quick translation into English because it was originally in French, and it says, Those who make it are the ones who keep pushing when most give up. Add on a why, but it really spoke to me like because, as I said, I’m a very impatient person. And so when I don’t see the results, I tend to think, Well, this was a very bad idea. And, you know, let’s just drop it and try something else. That actually you need to keep pushing because things are bound to happen.
Qing
100% And how do you say that? Oh, it was the quote in French.
Emeline
Oh, wait. I have to find it again. Okay, let me find it. So [quote in French]
Qing
Okay, did you get that? No. Use my nonexisting. Merci beaucoup.
Emeline
Thank you. You’re welcome. Thank you
Qing
Thanks for tuning in today. This is the Freelance Forward podcast, a show by freelancers and for freelancers. If you want to be part of this journey, join the community on our Facebook group Freelancers in Belgium, or get in touch via podcast at Freelancersinbelgium.be. Feel free to ask questions and suggest guests because we love your feedback. My name is Qing Chen. I hope you remember to take extra good care of yourself as you do your work out in the world, people freelancing and till the next episode
