As we are fast approaching the end of the year, I thought it was high time to address how I’ve done with my work goals this year. I love setting myself goals each year, but I don’t stick rigidly to them, as my priorities can change over the year. However, they act as a guide for how I want my year to go. Without further ado, here is my review of how my work goals went this year!
- Earn 15k – I earned 10k in 2019 and would like to improve on this!
I’m on track to earn about £13,500 by the end of the year, with a profit of about £12k. I think this is pretty decent considering we have experienced a global pandemic this year that meant that I didn’t have any work come in for about a month. Also, mental and physical health issues have meant that my words translated per day rate has gone down, so that has affected my earning potential too.
2. Work with 5 direct clients (including an NGO) – I worked with a couple of direct clients last year but would love to expand this area of my business in 2020. I would especially love to work with an NGO because I am passionate about helping others.
I have only worked with one direct client this year, but I have worked with a number of new agency clients, which has been great. I would still love to be directly involved in International Development and may be involved in a project with an NGO next year. But I have continued to volunteer with Moroccan Children’s Trust, which has been so rewarding.
3. Write 50 blogposts & complete #ThatTranslatorCanCook – I’m on week 11 of this blogging series and would love to see it through to 52 weeks!
I ended up having to give up on #ThatTranslatorCanCook due to COVID and the effect it had on the food market in the early days. I would love to bring out some more blogs on this in the new year. I also didn’t manage 50 blogposts, because I realised that fortnightly blogposts were much more achievable.
4. Connect with 60 new people on LinkedIn – You can find me here.
I haven’t actually kept a record of this, but I now have over 700 hundred connections, so I think I probably achieved this!
5. Attend a conference – If you have any recommendations let me know.
This was impossible this year due to COVID. However, I did attend two online webinars and got a chance to chat to likeminded translators.
6. Complete Deutsche Welle German course
I think I severely underestimated how long this would actually take me. I’ve made good progress with it and have got into a routine of dedicating an hour a week to it, but I’ve set a much more attainable goal for next year (which you can read about here).
7. German learning trip? – If I have money and time and am ready, I’d love to go to Germany for two weeks and take a C1 qualifications.
This was impossible this year for two reasons. Firstly, COVID. Secondly, I am nowhere near being ready to take a C1 qualification. This is something I would like to do in the next five years.
8. Have fortnightly Arabic sessions with my Moroccan friend – I am committed to doing more CPD this year.
Again, COVID kind of put paid to this as both of our motivation for this waned. I’ve realised that speaking isn’t necessarily a priority for me right now and I am focusing on improving my ‘passive’ skills in Arabic.
9. Expand Translators in Norfolk with regular monthly sessions – If you work in the translation sector and live in Norfolk, you can join our group here.
Yet another goal that COVID made difficult…we haven’t done monthly sessions, but we have had a couple of online meetups this year.
10. Work for 5 new agencies.– I earned 10k in 2019 and would like to improve on this!
I think I worked for 3 new agencies this year, which I consider a win under the circumstances!
How did your goals for 2020 go? It’s certainly been a tough year and a lot of goals needed to be reevaluated! If you’d like to work with me in the new year, you can reach me on verity.roat@cantab.net.
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