Poll: Are freelancers more of the risk-taking type than other professionals?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 16, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are freelancers more of the risk-taking type than other professionals?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:12
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No May 16, 2019

Risk-taker? Me? I’m no Grand Prix driver, no stock market trader, no test pilot and no skydiver. These are high-risk professions and they couldn’t be further from what I do for a living.

Maja_K
Emily Gilby
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Muriel Vasconcellos
Angie Garbarino
 
Edward Potter
Edward Potter  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:12
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Entrepreneurs May 16, 2019

Generally, entrepreneurs take more risks than mere employees. As we know, more than half of all businesses fail.

That said, I think a lot of translators slink off into their corner and clack away on their keyboards without understanding that this lifestyle has its risks as well.

I guess you could say many translators are risk takers and don't know it.


DZiW (X)
Juno Bos
Muriel Vasconcellos
Julio Madrid
Constance de Crayencour
Natalia Pedrosa
Isaura Ordóñez
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:12
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
More and less May 16, 2019

More risk-taking than translators with in-house jobs, but less risk-taking than freelancers in many other occupations.

Maja_K
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Julio Madrid
Constance de Crayencour
Gibril Koroma
Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Veronika Malíková
 
Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Local time: 14:12
SITE STAFF
The perception of risk May 16, 2019

Teresa Borges wrote:

Risk-taker? Me? I’m no Grand Prix driver, no stock market trader, no test pilot and no skydiver. These are high-risk professions and they couldn’t be further from what I do for a living.


Interesting take, Teresa. In another life, I did some freelance work, and at the time I lacked the self-discipline, confidence, courage [extensive list redacted] that would have made my freelancing more successful. Risk is probably a question of perspective and perception, but isn't there more risk involved for the average freelancer than for the average 9 to 5 employee? 9 to 5 skydivers excluded, of course.

Jared


Gibril Koroma
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:12
French to English
. May 16, 2019

Obviously there are more risks to free-lancing than to working as an employee. This was the main bar to me free-lancing for many years - coupled with the fact that I had some truly lovely colleagues who I sorely miss even now.
My father was the epitome of caution. He never took a decision without weighing all the pros and cons very carefully, and never took risks if he could help it. Even in a game of backgammon, he'd calculate the chances of a token being taken before making his move. Th
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Obviously there are more risks to free-lancing than to working as an employee. This was the main bar to me free-lancing for many years - coupled with the fact that I had some truly lovely colleagues who I sorely miss even now.
My father was the epitome of caution. He never took a decision without weighing all the pros and cons very carefully, and never took risks if he could help it. Even in a game of backgammon, he'd calculate the chances of a token being taken before making his move. The only exception was Monopoly: he'd take huge risks and wipe us all off the board. My mother would ask why he couldn't do the same in real life, his answer was always a hollow laugh. Of course he didn't have any capital, but he'd have been terrified of a dodgy investment if he had it.
So I was naturally disinclined to taking risks myself. I only went freelance because my lovely colleagues all left and the boss wanted me to work from home, which to me seemed like all the disadvantages of freelancing without any of the benefits.
I had been doing the groundwork for several years, lurking here, making contacts on LinkedIn and so on, so once I had no choice but to freelance, I was starting out from the best of positions. So not all that risky after all.
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:12
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Jared May 16, 2019

Jared Tabor wrote:

Teresa Borges wrote:

Risk-taker? Me? I’m no Grand Prix driver, no stock market trader, no test pilot and no skydiver. These are high-risk professions and they couldn’t be further from what I do for a living.


Interesting take, Teresa. In another life, I did some freelance work, and at the time I lacked the self-discipline, confidence, courage [extensive list redacted] that would have made my freelancing more successful. Risk is probably a question of perspective and perception, but isn't there more risk involved for the average freelancer than for the average 9 to 5 employee? 9 to 5 skydivers excluded, of course.

Jared


You’re right! It’s all a question of perspective. Being careful by nature I just can’t describe myself as a risk-taker, but I have taken a few risks in my life. Life in itself is a risk, isn’t it?


Jared Tabor
 
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 18:12
English to German
In memoriam
In theory, yes, in practice, no May 16, 2019

In theory, freelancers should tend to be risk-takers. But in my case, the switch from permanent employee to freelancer was simply a no-brainer, even though I am not the risk-taking type. And I know that I could return to my old profession anytime. With that fallback, there is really next to no risk.

Elizabeth Tamblin
 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 13:12
Spanish to English
+ ...
On the contrary, in my case May 16, 2019

In a country where unemployment is high and a massive hurricane can wipe out hundreds of businesses overnight, it is considered prudent to have a source of income that doesn't depend on finding an employer with the means and disposition to hire you.

I do have a part-time job but it provides no job security and no additional benefits. My current contract runs out this month and I am reasonably certain that I will be hired again in August, but there is no guarantee.

Would
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In a country where unemployment is high and a massive hurricane can wipe out hundreds of businesses overnight, it is considered prudent to have a source of income that doesn't depend on finding an employer with the means and disposition to hire you.

I do have a part-time job but it provides no job security and no additional benefits. My current contract runs out this month and I am reasonably certain that I will be hired again in August, but there is no guarantee.

Would I take a full-time job if the opportunity appeared? Possibly--depends on a lot of factors, including my age and health. Would I have done so 30 years ago? Almost certainly.

All around me are people who are scrambling to find anything they can do to earn money. I consider myself fortunate to possess the skills that give me access to the relative security of freelancing.

--Jane
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Jared Tabor
Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay Denney
 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:12
French to English
I don't know May 16, 2019

I don't regard myself as a risk-taker. I just do what I think is interesting, and if I can earn a bit of money from it, then great!

 


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Poll: Are freelancers more of the risk-taking type than other professionals?






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