How to know ‘who to know’ to build success

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Whenever you ask successful people how they got to where they are you often hear the words uttered including; hard work, determination; luck and one that’s often repeated and emphasised upon constantly is who they know or their connections. As it stands it is not simply what you know but who you know and the two work together to translate into achieving your goals.

Now for the average person who did not perhaps attend private school and is well connected to people with influence it is sometimes not easy to get connected to the people who can be instrumental in your success. Now let’s not be mistaken buy thinking that just because you attended private school you are instantly going to be more successful than say a state school student! There are many other factors to take into consideration to come to such a conclusion. Factors such as your will and determination because let’s face it you could have had the best education but if your work ethic does not match, someone with a basic education but with great determination can be more successful. On the other hand private school education does put many people at a higher advantage especially later in life when wanting to work for the likes of government bodies or prestigious law firms. Privately educated students also tend to get into the higher ranked universities like Oxford and Cambridge despite reports suggesting that state school students get better degrees than private school pupils with same A-levels.

Now back to the point of how to know who to know. So we’ve established we need to have god connections in order to achieve success whether in business or working career but often times we wonder how do we build these useful connections? How do we position ourselves amongst influencers? Where do we find these people to connect with?

There are plenty of resources out there to help. Thanks to the internet a multitude of information is accessible to all that are looking and it just takes a little digging. To highlight a few mediums you can take advantage of in order  to make valuable connections you can refer to the below list:

  1. LinkedIn

Sites like LinkedIn provide an inside access to ‘who’s who’ in your industry. For example if you are trying to break into the financial industry you can easily send a message to the director of finance for a large multinational company. Needless to say they probably get tons of these on a daily basis so being creative is key!

  1. Business networking events

Attending business networking events is very useful as these are often intimate settings where you can actually speak and connect with people and ask all the questions you need answers for.

  1. Trade shows

Trade shows allow you to speak to your competitors or potential competitors giving you a firsthand experience of what they do. This is also a great opportunity to meet people and generate leads.

  1. Apps

There are many business apps available on the market and one which stands out today is Meetup. This free app allows you to join other like minded groups of people in your local area ranging from business clubs to leisure and sport.

  1. Social media

Social media is one of the best things to come out of the internet with the likes of Facebook and Twitter allowing you to connect on an informal level. This also gives you an insight into the hobbies and interests of whoever you wish to connect with which can be a great ice-breaker when starting conversations.

Are there any other means you have found successful in creating great connections? Feel free to share.

Image by: Internet Association on Flickr

3 ways to boost your marketing activities

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The business market is a very competitive place to be whether you operate in the tourism  industry or legal sectors many businesses find themselves constantly trying new ways to differentiate themselves and stand out from the crowd and this can be a challenge at times. There are many ways in which businesses can reach their target market some of which are highlighted below.

  1. Invest in a good website

This is by far one of the most effective ways of marketing your business especially if you aim to reach an audience outside your local community. A website today must be fully functional and mobile friendly as more and more people use their Smartphone’s when it comes to their online activities. Most Smartphone’s have the ability to give users the chance to download apps whether it is banking apps or news apps. Ensuring your site is mobile responsive or even taking it to the next level where you can create an app for your service will ensure you are ahead of the competition as not only will you rank better in search which will ensure you are visible to a wider audience but you also will be able to monitor online behaviour for your audience and adapt your marketing strategy accordingly.

  1. Use professional translation services

With many consumers more comfortable purchasing in their own language this is a part of your marketing mix worth tapping into. Take for example you are an English tourism agent who helps people book holidays and tours. If you aim to target more people in China it may be worthwhile you investing in professional Mandarin translation services as this is likely to boost your enquiries allowing you to achieve more sales. Often times people look at translation services as too costly but forget to see past the greater benefits this may have on their marketing.

  1. Actively use social media

We all know that in 2017 social media is not just some cyberspace platform where teenagers and twenty-something’s get to showcase their ‘perfect lives’ go on rants or snoop on others! Many businesses ranging from large corporations to small companies and freelancers have been tapping into the benefits of social media. With a chance to reach millions of users on a daily basis surely it is a no brainer that you can benefit from increased brand awareness and the ability to get your products and services in front of your intended audience without sitting and waiting for them to find you.

These are just a handful of ways in which your business can reach a wider audience. There is plenty of information online which goes into depth and can all be found by a simple Google search. Sites like Search Engine Watch and Moz provide a great staring point.

What other methods would you recommend?

Image by: Brisbane City Council

Why you must not overlook language translation services to boost international sales

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Doing business internationally in present times is something that can be easily done providing you have the medium to reach your target market, have the channels to distribute your products or the means to deliver your services. With the likes of social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter continuing to be top branding and advertising platforms which are not only free but can each put you in front of 700 million active monthly users on Instagram and around 317 million active users on twitter respectfully.

Gone are the days when big top brands with hefty budgets had almost the entire market share in a multitude of industries which could have been attributed to lack of choice from the consumer. With things having shifted drastically over the years and there is no sign of this slowing down. Take for instance the local bakery or vintage clothes store in your local area whereas before they would have been limited to their local area and relied on word of mouth to advertise their products however today at the click of a button, with a good social media and internet marketing strategy they are able to place themselves amongst the big names in the industry and give themselves a fighting chance to gain market share.

In addition with shipping companies like DHL, UPS and FedEx shipping to nearly every corner of the world you can guarantee not only to get in front of people who are searching for your products but to also be able to deliver you products to them in a speedy way.

With more and more people choosing to skip the hustle and bustle of having to go to a store to shop and as technology continues to shape the way in which people shop online, many companies are taking advantage of this opportunity by upgrading their e-commerce platforms and taking advantage of language translation services.

With many free tools such as Google translate which is able to convey your website content into another language at the click of a button this will surely lead to more sales? Well that is something that in theory works but marketing managers need to be careful about using automated translation tools when it comes to reaching an audience who does not speak your language.

It is therefore imperative to use a professional translation agency. Although the likes of Google translate will translate your content word for word the lack of human touch can misinterpret your message altogether and not only prevent you from gaining new customers but could easily result in you losing existing customers who may no longer trust your brand. Adding translation services to your marketing budget will yield results especially if your product or service is in demand on an international scale.

Many reports have showed that people prefer to shop in their native language and studies by Common Sense Advisory found that more local language content on a website lead to a greater likelihood of purchase.  

If you require translation or localisation services you can contact Exchange Lingo today to discuss your needs.

Image by: Robert Scoble on Flickr

Google’s translation services

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In a previous post we brought you the news that human translations trumped machine and artificial intelligence (AI) assisted translations in the translation showdown to end all showdowns, hosted in Korea a couple weeks back. And with all the talk about the ever increasing technological sophistication of AI assisted translations and machine translations and the countless topics of discussions of what effect it will have on translation services and the industry as whole as we know it.

Many have envisioned a future where computers completely replace real human translators, leaving human translators obsolete with only the major professional translation agencies seeing a positive financial translation, others have claimed that machine translations will never be able to match the level of human translators due to the complexities and feeling for the languages that a machine just would not be able to create. Whilst some imagining that rather than humans and computers  competing, there is a thought that maybe machine translators can be used by human translators to make their jobs easier as they have for a number of years now.

One thing is for sure, whatever argument you agree with, machine and AI assisted translations do exist and will be getting better. The majority of the opinion is that machine translations are nothing but basic translations with many grammatical errors, whilst good for one or two lines to get a basic understanding, but when a paragraph is put into a machine translation software, all hell breaks loose.

In a story originally reported by long running Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in a reaction to Google’s announcement that as part of the language list that their Google’s neural machine translators (NMT) already worked within, they were adding Arabic and Hebrew to the list; two much more testing languages to translate. So Haaretz decided to test just how good Google’s NMT Arabic and Hebrew translation services were using a passage of a Hebrew written article to be translated into English. The results? Not so good. They commented on the fact that the overall translation was “adequate” with some sentences being acceptable whilst others lost meaning altogether.

You can read the whole story here:  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.781219

Should you ever use machine translation?

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A topic of debate amongst many linguists especially those performing translation services is whether you should use machine translation software to convert text from one language to another. We have discussed earlier some of the implications of using machine translation services in different situations and there is no black and white answer as to whether or not to use this as it all depends on the situation and what you need the translation for.

Take for example you are out and about on holiday in China and need to order food at a local market where the owner only speaks and understands Mandarin. In such a situation because of the informal scenario you are found in surely using translation software such as Google translate to perform the Mandarin translation should do the job? Although as several tests have shown that machine translation is not always accurate and usually translates word for word and is not yet able to digest the feel of the conversation as well as a human being would, it’s worth a try to see what you actually receive after making your order.

On the other hand there are times when a translation is required for professional use usually via legal translation services such as birth certificate translation or marriage certificate translation. In such instances it is imperative to use a qualified translator to perform the translation as this will have a big impact on the decision made by the intended party that requires seeing such documents for various purposes. Another time when the use of professional translation services is imperative is when you require your website translated from one language to another. Yes there are tools online where automated translations of your web text can be done at the click of a button, however you will find that the literal translation of text does not always make sense leaving your website visitors to perceive your business as unprofessional and you may lose out on potential clients because of it.

As much as it is easy to use machine translation one has to assess the situation as to how important getting an accurate translation will be to you. If the answer is yes you are better off finding a qualified native translator or a translation agency to manage the translation process for you.

Image by: Tinou Baou on Flickr

Google’s back in China (well sort of)

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Good news if you are living in mainland China, from last Wednesday US internet giants Google have made a new version of their translation app available to Chinese users without use of virtual private networks (VPN’s). Now this might not seem like massive news to us in the western world because of how easily accessible Google’s translation app is to us so essentially if we ever needed some basic translation services it was always one click away.

But you see in China it has been a different story because back in 2010 Google had to remove their search engine (www.google.cn) and direct all searches to their Hong Kong website (www.google.hk) because of disagreements about censorship as a result from the Chinese-based hacking and cyberattacks on Google. Although Google translate has been available on the Google webite for Chinese users for years, this is the first since the ban on Google that the Chinese have been able to access Google’s ‘fast translation services’ without having to use VPN software’s to bypass China’s censorship firewalls.

Google had this to say on their blog post. “Today we’re releasing version 5.8 of the Google Translate apps for Android and iOS, adding instant visual translation between English and Korean, as well as an improved experience for users in China.” This indicates that Google might be willing to make some big improvements on their relationship with China, which makes sense since China has now the biggest population of mobile users in the world at an estimated 700 million.

But when asked to explain why they have all of a sudden made this app accessible to Chinese users, a Google spokesperson declined to comment on the situation. Although most of Google’s services have been blocked in China, most notably their search engine, Google have been able to keep themselves in the Chinese zeitgeist by aiding Chinese companies operate in foreign territories with services such as localisation services and Mandarin translation services.

But all in all the release of Google’ translation app is definitely a step in the right direction for Google-China relations and with something such as an app offering a less controversial first step as it contains less sensitive information than other Google products due to the lack of data collected.

What are your thoughts on this move by Google?

A major factor overlooked by businesses to increase your business prospects

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As we all know by now when it comes to doing business one of the main aims of it all is to make profits. Whether your business is designed to help the less fortunate or you operate in bullish markets like stock brokers the ultimate goal it to ensure your sales outweigh your overheads and there are many different factors to take into account when designing your business strategy to do just that. Whether you operate in the medical sector or translation services sector we all ultimately share the same or similar goals.

When deciding what you want to achieve with your business there are many different factors to take into account when devising your business model and your sales & marketing strategy. Obvious things come to mind during this process, things like who your target audience will be, what your pricing will be, where you will advertise and how your budget will be allocated.

Something that is overlooked especially when deciding your marketing strategy is how best to reach your audience. Take for example you are a hospitality provider looking to attract more visitors from South America, your first considerations would be to advertise your business on south American platforms but a key factor often overlooked is that although many more people will be aware of your presence is the fact that in that part of the world English is not peoples first language nor is it the number 1 choice for people looking for products or services. Statistics show that people in South America would rather use their local native languages such as Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese hence a need for professional Spanish translation services or Portuguese translation services would be highly advantageous through the use of professional language translators or a translation agency. Doing so allows you to reach and capture a clientele that is more ikely to book through reading in their mother tongue.

Not only does it benefit you to use language translation services but using localisation services will give you that extra edge to generate new business. Localisation services in comparison to translations takes into account things like colour schemes used by the local market. Things like numeric representation and the way images are places and what images are used to convey your message all play a big factor in appealing to the local market.

If you would like to maximise your customer base it is worth consulting a translation and localisation services provider. At Exchange Lingo we do just that. Get in touch with us today for a free consultation to help you tap into new markets.

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Should robots be taxed the same as humans?

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We all know how much technology has advanced over the last few decades at a rapid pace that even the fastest man on the planet Usain bolt cannot match! It’s sometimes hard to believe that 10 years ago the majority of us needed to physically go into a shop to purchase mobile phone credit or have to go into a local bank branch to make a payment or transfer money between accounts, friends and family or even more painful sit on the phone for hours waiting to get through to an actual human being whilst listening to the entire Abba catalogue as hold music. Gone are the days of such hassles with features such as mobile banking on 4G networks and WIFI allowing us to perform the same activities we had to leave our warm and cosy homes during the winter mornings which could have taken us a few hours to actually achieve what we intended, to now being able to do the same within minutes and within the pleasure and comfort of our homes.

As much as this type of technological advancement has occurred as with most things in life there is a downside. Many industries have automated their processes and as a result have had benefits such as increased productivity and reduced costs to the expense of human workers. Some reports have even suggested that in the USA robots will eliminate 6% of all jobs by 2021.

With the likes of driverless cars likely to be in full force in the future eliminating jobs for the likes of taxi drivers, drones being tipped to be the new delivery guys and advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) software such as computer assisted translation services which will have an impact on the way a translation agency manages its translations, these examples although benefit companies highly pose problems for employees in these positions.

Now that we have discussed touched on the potential threats that technology advancement may have on humans a topic of debate is whether such technology should be taxed the same as humans? Well technically speaking if a robot is replacing a human being who is now unemployed as a result then realistically you would think that the “robot” or the company using the robot should pay some type of tax on that wouldn’t you? It all really depends on the point of view that you are looking at this from.

From a company’s point of view you are more than likely to disregard this notion completely as this will save you money and although some may argue that an increased productivity means more profits therefore more company tax paid, this is not always the case as there are several ways companies enable themselves to pay less taxes as any accountant would tell you. Even the richest man in the world Bill Gates recently stated that he believes robots that steal human jobs should pay taxes, although European Union lawmakers rejected such a proposal in the past.

What are your thoughts on the idea of robots being taxed the same as humans?

Image by: European Space Agency ESA–G. Porter | Flickr

Why your business needs interpreting services

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In a modern world where the internet is making everything smaller as the days go by; making things like being able to communicate with loved ones or extended family from the other side of the world less of a hassle than going next door to talk to your neighbour, being able to have the ability to learn more things than you’ll ever learn in school or university, making things like a trip to the shops a thing of the past thanks to online shopping, but most importantly the internet has enabled small businesses to be able to compete with much larger businesses due to global accessibility.

Businesses can now be run from your bedroom by just one person alone. The rise of the small business has been possible because the internet has allowed them to do so. Many people are profiting off of buying and selling, creating apps, small scale retailing, translation services, investing in stocks to name a few and as a result are earning thousands if not millions of pounds with teams of less than 5 in some cases.

But with the massive rise of small businesses being set up every day most do not make it past the first year whether its due to poor planning, underestimating the financial translation and cost of running the business, how many customer numbers will be achieved or simply overestimating the success of the business and making a loss.

There is however one way that could skyrocket a business’s success and that is through the means of global marketing. Today businesses are able to have virtual offices anywhere in the world in order to gain a foothold in foreign markets. But virtual offices are not enough to help a business work and this is where translation and interpreting services can help. We have previously discussed how translation services can have a big impact on how your business is run but interpreting services could also have a major impact on your businesses’ success.

Imagine you are just about to put the finishing touches to a project for a new and potentially game changing client for your business that is the result of months of work and charming, and all you have to do is do is have a face-to-face interview with the director to seal the deal but there’s a problem your potential new clients director is from Israel and speaks mostly in Hebrew what do you do? Luckily for you, you have already been using professional Hebrew translation services from a professional translation agency and with this in mind you hire an esteemed Hebrew interpreter to mediate between English and Hebrew thus finalising the contract and boosting your businesses international standing.

This is just one way interpreting services can be used for your business. It is not only a fast translation service but it also gives your business a voice in another language.

When a lack of translation services sparked an outrage

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This recent story is a one that highlights perfectly the need for professional translation services and localisation services when you are not familiar with the native language of the country you are operating in. Without the use of some sort of translation service, mistakes are likely to be made and it could result in having a comical effect like seen here, causing misunderstandings much like our previous reported story or even worse cause offence. Sadly the latter is exactly what happened to this restaurant owner in South Carolina, USA.

With all the issues and outrage surrounding immigration and migrants in the midst of Donald Trump’s presidential reign of the US, restaurant owner Sook “Sue” Shin unbeknownst to her had somehow managed to get herself and her restaurant involved into these political debates. Sue was just on the lookout for some new employees of the restaurant when she claims she came across a “help wanted” sign on eBay little did she know that this same sign would later make her restaurant go viral and not for any good reasons.

You see the help wanted sign she purchased had the phrase printed underneath “Minorities need not apply” in plain English along with a Spanish translation. With echoes of President Trump’s election campaign as you could imagine this didn’t go down well with the locals as one customer took a photo of the sign and posted it on Facebook, which of course sparked a massive backlash from the locals to ‘boycott’ the restaurant along with the apparently ‘racist’ owners.

But Sue quickly moved to take down the signs and put up a note to apologise wholeheartedly for any offence caused. Sue a Japanese native explained that English is not her first language, nor her husbands who is Korean and that she did not fully understand what the message had meant. This was further backed up by Melonie Henderson, an employee of two years who said “They thought it meant minors, not minorities,” she than went on to stress that Sue herself is a minority as well as the employees who work there.

Sue had also had to change her voicemail message to explain the situation and again apologise since they were getting abusive phone calls throughout the day. Despite Sue’s best efforts at reconciliation one regular customer of African-American ethnicity explained she was not comfortable eating at the restaurant after this incident. But it now seems that business has been getting back to normal as most customers have acknowledged this simple misunderstanding.

A simple misunderstanding it may be but due to the current political climate along with the migrant scepticism, you can’t help but think this could have all been avoided through a simple translation service. This incident could have major ramifications for the restaurants future due to an innocent mistake on something as menial as a help wanted sign. Or maybe not, but one thing is for sure if you are not fluent in the native language, seek professional services whether it is English, French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese translation services. Let this be a lesson to all businesses around the world.

Internet marketing worth it? What entrepreneurs need to understand

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Since the dot com era many companies have managed to use the internet as a means of reaching global audiences at the click of a button. Whether it is tech companies, translation agencies or video production companies, the phenomenon of the internet has enable companies both small and multi-national to boost sales of their products and services by reaching global audiences.

Many of today’s international companies such as eBay were founded by entrepreneurs from their bedrooms. Some successful entrepreneurs like Mashable’s Pete Cashmore started writing blogs as a hobby and did not foresee the success Mashable has translated to date within the social media industry from its humble beginnings, however one thing that stands out and that is common by all such companies or entrepreneurs is their ability to use internet marketing in order to generate sales.

Online marketing has been a growing industry for many years now with expertise earning substantial amounts of money for services such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which involves activities such as link building, directory submission, article writing and social media to name a few. SEO can now also be studied at higher education level in some countries. Over the years this field has grown extensively and pretty much anyone can do this type of marketing by simply learning the basics through published books and online forums. With that has come numerous bad practices in online marketing most notably in the form of spammers. Many are spamming blogs and forums with unnecessary links in the hope to generate traffic. The question is does this pay off?

In the short term maybe! You may boost your companies’ visibility in major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, but for companies with a long term focus, such practices must be avoided. Investing in a good online marketing strategy is what will give companies longevity in search engines and allows the company to be seen as a credible source by its users which will enable the company website to rank even higher on major search engines and provide a competitive edge. This is also where good budgeting comes into effect. As a fundamental rule of marketing strategy it is better to be both effective as well as efficient. Being effective means you have a good strong product or core service to offer whereas being efficient means you have the right team to sell and market your product. Both need to be present in order to achieve optimum success.

With over one billion search queries per day for products and services on Google alone, it is vital that in this day businesses appear in such search engine results. This is a must as this is a major source of traffic to your website. As any online marketing manager will tell you, doing so will ultimately lead to higher revenues.

Internet Marketing VS Traditional marketing

One thing to understand is that internet marketing does not and should not work in isolation. The traditional styles of marketing such as face-to-face or business to business marketing are still valuable in this day in age as they allow companies to have a personalised touch to their service. Having these key principles of marketing work alongside online/internet marketing will lead to positive financial results for your company which proves the value of internet or online marketing as a valuable contribution to business.

Translation agencies around the world have clearly taken advantage of this. By simply typing a keyword such as Slovak translation services or German translation services through Google you will find millions of results to choose from. From this it is usually the top 5 companies appearing in the search results of these particular keywords that will gain the most business from this; another clear example of the value and influence of online marketing and SEO.

Undeniably internet marketing is a competitive industry but is not something that should be vaguely overlooked by companies.  Today over 95% of the most successful companies in the world poses a website; however it is only the businesses that effectively uses internet marketing that pull the most traffic to their sites and so make the most revenues.

Is the customer always right? What every business should consider

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A typical job interview question and a question all businesses instill in their employees. There is no right or wrong answer to this ever popular question. It simply depends on the scenario or context that it applies to. Take for example if you are dealing with a customer who is clearly in the wrong, do you still consider the notion that they are right or that customers are always right? That is something that will be discussed in this post.

In such a situation it is vital for the person dealing with the customer to maintain a professional level of composure and despite knowing that the customer is wrong and they are right, does the serving party still need to bear in mind that the customer is always right? Some may say; how do you do that? It is important to understand that sometimes people do not follow instructions well.

It may be a simple case of not reading an advertisement well or a more serious one. E.g. in a situation such as a translation agency offering Russian translation services or Chinese translation services and you are offering a special promotional discount whereby the customer has to purchase a particular product in order to qualify for the special promotional discount on offer, but the customer having misread the promotional details or “small print as they call it” is unhappy that they do not qualify for the discount, it easy to pinpoint where the customer is wrong and the issue would usually be resolved there and then.

However in a situation more complex where there is no quantitative data to back up your companies point against the customers, it takes much more effort to resolve the issue at hand. This can be seen as a waste of time and is something that is overlooked by managers at times.

In such cases it is fundamental to ensure that the customer does not feel as though they are being belittled or their point of view is being undermined but to empathize with the customer and make them feel as though they have not made a mistake will in most cases work as an advantage to your company.

This will make the customer know that they are in the wrong without you explicitely stating that (and despite them not admitting it in most cases); however they will be more likely to use your services again because of the excellent customer service they received. We as human beings do not want to be told we are wrong and in most cases do not like to admit we are wrong. That is just human nature!

When answering the question ‘is the customer always right’, one cannot simply say yes or no without explanation. It simply depends on the situation at present and the way in which the serving party handles the situation.

For companies, training employees to effectively manage situations such as the ones raised earlier in this post is an invaluable step in ensuring customer satisfaction is met. This can be the fine line between keeping a customer and losing one. We all know the value of customer retention and many researchers have noted that it is more valuable to retain a customer than to get a new one.

No matter how popular your products may be with the public, if you do not provide a good service, customers will not feel valued and your company could be in deep trouble as customers will most likely decide not repurchase from you. On average a customer tells around 10 people when they experience negative customer service from a company but hardly tells anyone when they do experience positive customer service.

This alone should be something that managers in a company should bear in mind and this should be communicated effectively to supervisors and also the workers who interact with the customer at the point of service delivery. If conducted appropriately, there is no doubt that customer satisfaction will increase as well as sales and profitability.

How to utilise translation services in 2017

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By now it can be assumed that we are all pretty much settled into the New Year and back on the grind whether that is in employment or self-employment. A new year for many symbolises a new beginning, a time to leave all the negative happenings of the previous year and embark on new journeys to achieve set goals. If you haven’t set your new year’s goals by now well you know where the pen and paper is.

When it comes to doing business in 2017 one thing you must avoid is to limit your possibilities. Now more than ever is the time to maybe take that leap of faith and invest into reaching global markets. Perhaps it is something that has been weighing on your mind for a while and you just haven’t got round to doing it. Once you have sorted out the logistics as to how you can deliver your product or service on a global scale your next step should be the utilisation of professional translation services.

Using translation services can be a huge benefit to your company and separate you you’re your competition. After all, research has found that despite English being the most popular language in the western business world as we previously discussed many countries prefer and do business in their native mother tongue.

When targeting countries like Germany you would see major differences in terms of your marketing by utilising a German translation service for your website translation you could see a dramatic increase on traffic from Germany. If you aim to reach the South American market, Brazil to be specific a Brazilian Portuguese translation would be highly advantageous for your business.

When it comes to using translation services the most common objectives are the usually “oh it’s too expensive I’ll just use Google translate”. Well try and send a proposal to a potential new client in China using Google machine Chinese translation service and see what happens. We don’t really advise you do that. In all fairness Google translate has its benefits and can be used in many instances to get quick translations of text to have an understanding of what is being said.

However technology has not quite yet replaced the human touch so for now the most accurate translations can only be performed by humans. Before jumping the gun and translate your entire content test the waters with a few pages and see what difference it makes.

What I didn’t learn in university

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4 years on; Reflections of a graduate

Four years into the so called real world many people do not get time to even stop and analyse how far they have come since graduating from university. Many of us caught up in the so called ‘rat race’ barely get time to actually process and translate what we have or have not achieved in that time. Some have gone into retail work while others have ventured into fields such as finance, translation services or marketing. While most of our weekdays are spent commuting to and from work, working and spending time with family and friends whilst weekends are spent either getting drunk (if you can still keep up, going out to eat and running errands, we even manage to fit in the occasional holiday once or twice a year for the lucky ones both have enough to fund them or lucky enough to get the time off their busy careers.

Before getting into this it is important to highlight that university teaches us a lot both academically and socially. The aim of university is to prepare us for the real world whether that is transitioning into full time employment or perhaps for some of the risk takers venturing out on your own. When at university you learn several skills including how to work with others via group assignments, importance of meeting deadlines, presenting in front of an audience etc. What you don’t learn is that you may not necessarily get into the industry you studied for; you may actually not like working in that particular industry once you get in or getting high grades doesn’t necessarily mean you get the better job!

Once you leave university you begin to better understand the term “it’s who you know more than what you know” as you experience the ups and downs of work ranging from lows such as working under incompetent managers, favouritism in the workplace, or highs such as job satisfaction and bonuses. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it this is something that we cannot avoid hence why many successful people constantly advise on building a good professional network for yourself whether in business or in employment. Networking is something that can be started whilst at university. You do not need to wait for graduation day to start networking. There are many ways you can do so whether it is attending job fairs or local meet ups to applying for internships in the field you hope to get into. Proactively doing so will give you an advantage over other graduates who have not done the same.

Often times it takes people to lose a loved one to realise what so called ‘life’ is about and many say it really puts their life into perspective e.g. losing someone to lung cancer can have a profound influence in helping you quit smoking. Why wait for it to get to that stage why not start living a healthier lifestyle now, why not walk away from that company who values you the same way you value a KFC chicken bone, why not go travelling as you planned 2 years ago? We discussed previously on 3 signs you need a career break how and when it is time to take a career break whether it is to rejuvenate or simply reassess your life goals and such a choice can have greater rewards than you could imagine.

Can you really be yourself at an interview?

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Interviews, that thing you have to do to get that new job you really want; yes that thing the majority of us dread and just wish getting a job was as easy as handing your CV and getting a no or when can you start answer. Sadly that is not the reality we live in, interviews are a big part of not only our professional lives but also translate into our personal lives and mastering the art of interviewing can enhance ones prospects in life.

One common misconception about interviews is that you cannot really be your true self and well in some respects this is right. In order to make it in life you have to be able to adapt accordingly in different situations whether its having your first child and the need to spend less time at the bar or getting that first mortgage and cutting down on the number of holidays you take in a year, being able to adapt well in these situations surely will lead to more successful outcomes. Also knowing the type of interview you will be taking part in is key as your approach will differ. Perhaps you have a competency based interview at a language translation agency applying for a Russian translation role you will find that practicing competency based questions will enable you to go far in the interview process as these types of interviews require you to provide solid examples of your previous accomplishments on the spot. Having an idea of what to talk about whilst relating to the role you have applied for will make you appear as a well-researched candidate, something recruiters admire.

When it comes to attending an interview many people feel as though they have to be someone different to who they really are and very often going in with this approach ultimately ends on a sour note as further down the line you realise you cannot pretend to be someone you’re not all the time especially if you will be spending the majority of your time at work interacting and living up to expectations you may not fit.

One thing to note is that human beings come with multiple layers of personality and habits. Perhaps you are one of those people who laugh a lot at any statement made, surely you will not do that in an interview as maybe your more professional side kicks in. Let’s face it people are rarely altogether ‘themselves’ all the time especially at interview stages because they often are trying to be the person they feel the interviewer wants to hire. Really the best way to approach this is to showcase your personality in a professional setting and that is something that takes practice. Try it out with friends and family and get some feedback on how you come across before going to interview and you will become more conscious of what to reveal and what not to at that interview.

Three online marketing strategies new websites must follow

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Setting up a website and maintaining it is no walk in the park. There’s initial brainstorming, choosing which colour scheme you want to use, choosing which widgets go with your product/service or which images to use for your home page etc. Once you have gone past these stages and are ready to launch your website it is imperative to understand that just having a website live is nowhere near enough to get you found online by your intended audience. You have to remember that you are competing with millions of other websites for search engine rankings after all the majority of website traffic for the majority of businesses comes via search engines with Google being the largest. For example you are looking for professional translation services, you most likely will go to a search engine and type your key word and choose which translation agency to go with based on the results you find. Even via word of mouth often times people will browse your website before actually contacting you making your website a powerful first impression for your potential clients.

Below are three must follow online marketing activities you will need in order to rank well online and maximise your website success potential.

Blogging

When it comes to blogging many people have this misconception that blogging is just for individuals who write about their life experiences and occasionally review products they have somehow either received for free or they have been paid to advertise.  Well that’s not the case; if you look at most websites they will have a section that states blog or news. This section can allow you to elaborate on your business activities and keep your customers informed on industry news highlighting your know-how of market trends. Blogging allows you to produce high quality content which is a key player for search engine rankings today.

Social media

Well social media is not just for the Kardashian brand although they are one of the most if not the most popular figures on social media amassing more than 250 million followers between their social media accounts. Social media is a high ranking factor for search engines and is a must to get your business active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more. These platforms are a great tool to share your website content to reach a wider audience.

Email marketing

When it comes to email marketing many people frown upon this type of strategy because of the bad rep this activity has achieved over the years. Let this not put you off as doing this right can increase your business returns. When you decide to perform email marketing you need to be clever about your approach. One way to do this is to link your other online activities to your email marketing so as to emailing people who have actually shown an interest in your product/service. We all receive junk mail at least several times a day however some so called junk mail is actually relevant to us and we end up reading on and sometimes even doing further research and purchasing a product or making use of the advertised service.

Image by: Sean MacEntee

How this confusing translation led to a ‘heated’ argument

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In the world of languages, translation services and professional translation agencies there is always going to be some difficulties as are the complexities of languages. For every one flawless translation example there is most likely going to be a few erroneous, problematic and mistake riddled translations. These you would usually find are DIY, google translated types of translations which are completely fine when it’s not for professional use for say any business or organisation of any reputation because these mistakes will have an inevitable effect on how clients or potential clients will view your professional image and operations.

We have already shown you how a bad translations has negatively affected a company such as Tesla here, however on the other hand we have also shown you some terrible examples of Mandarin translation services to hilarious effect here. But very rarely these translation fails could have such a comedic effect that it becomes viral and is reported around the world, which in turn could actually help boost a business/organisations audience to reach more people more than anything else.

This is exactly what happened in Japan recently in an episode of localisation services gone wrong as reported by twitter user Domoboku whose real name is Akiyama Kojiro from Tokyo. It all started in a Japanese convenience store when a non-native man took a bottle of lemon iced tea off the shelf and started to drink it without paying; as you can imagine this resulted in a heated argument between the man and the shop’s cashier, with neither speaking the same language before Kojiro intervened.

You will probably be thinking the shopper was in the wrong but in his defence he was not to blame but rather the miscalculated Japanese to English translated brand name on the bottle. The reason why the man was not to blame was because the drink which is produced by Pokka Sapporo had in clear English words ‘FREE Tea’ on the bottle, (See image below) other than that everything else was Japanese. It turns out that this is just the brand name and not an offer, which according to Kojiro anyone could easily confuse as given the amount of freebies you receive in Japan. A quick look on the website explains that the drink “encourages people to be free from a stress-filled society,” hence the name.

localisation services

Image credit: @domobuku

Kojiro’s account on this ironic incident has seen his post attract over 34k retweets and more than 19k likes, leading to a discussion of people sharing their own translation fail stories. A lesson for everyone to take from this is whether you need English, French, Spanish or Hebrew translation services make sure it’s done professionally and localised too or if you are going to make a mistake, make it so funny and bizarre that it leads to a viral sensation to reach a massive population.

Why being a hard worker isn’t enough

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Which other skills do you need to be successful?

Whether you run a business or are an employee of an organisation there is no doubt that each respective role involves a high level of competition, graft and perseverance which translates to success. In spite of this there is something that seems to stand out when people think of success which is attributed to being a ‘hard worker’! When you ask most people what the key to success is, the first thing that comes to thought is hard work. This is also something that is instilled in us from a young age by our parents and teachers, as children we are taught that if we work hard we will be successful and be able to afford all the things we want in life. Although that is very much a big part of becoming successful it is without saying that hard work only gets you so far.

As we get older it becomes clearer that hard work simply isn’t enough to get you to the top of the chain when it comes to career or business. Whether you are in the translation services business or are a medical doctor you have to be able to communicate with different levels of stakeholders, be able to plan and meet deadlines for projects, be willing to sacrifice sleep to get stuff done, be able to network with different people, be a good leader and the list goes on…

Leadership

Having good leadership skills will surely help propel you to get further in your career after all if you look at any organisation often times the leader delegates and the workers perform tasks assigned to them by the leader/supervisor and in most cases the leader earns a substantial amount more than their juniors so if you want to become successful in whatever you do it is important to develop your leadership skills. Although some may argue that some people are natural born leaders there is nothing stopping you from becoming a good leader. So next time your boss asks you to participate in a leadership training programme at work take that with two hands and learn as much as you can.

Networking

Being able to network is very important not only in business and career wise but life in general. Now we have all heard the saying it’s not what you know but who you know. Sadly in most cases it is! Statistics show that hiring managers are more likely to hire someone who is referred to by a family or friend before they select others. If you are looking for new business opportunities or a new career network the life out of yourself until you meet the right people that can help you achieve your goals. Here’s a great piece of advice from Forbes about networking.  

Having been taught that hard work is the key to success many find later in life that all these other skills are vital, take for example you have a manager who works hard but does not know how to lead or communicate with their team, chances are they will probably not last long in that role. Another example could be a hard worker who settles to work in a supermarket warehouse but has talents that can enable them to be successful in the business world. In that case they are not harnessing their full potential and although they might be happy and feel successful and some may argue that success differs from one person to another which is true, they are not living up to their full potential.

Taking from this remember hard work will get you far in life but life skills and your network will take you even further.

Image by: Go Fish Digital

3 signs you need to take a career break

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Before even going into the depths and actually deciding you want a career break one must first understand what that actually means. A career break is not just a period you take off work to go travelling and relax on a beach somewhere in Southeast Asia (although that might not be such a bad translation) it is a period of time taken off work often when one is not feeling motivated in their day to day role. A career break may also be time taken off work due to family emergencies such as taking care of a sick family member or to spend more time with your children. Many people choose career breaks because they want to set up their own businesses which works for some especially those trying to set up online businesses as they can do so remotely, some decide to go freelance e.g. to offer French translation services for businesses and others just to take time off and return to regular employment. One thing for sure is that a career break will help you rejuvenate and help get you motivated again for work if you decide to go back.

When it comes to taking a career break one of the main obstacles which arises is the fact that your existing employer may not offer such a policy in the workplace which as a result could force you to resign. With the current job climate being very competitive this often puts people off the idea of actually taking a career break although they may need one.

Below are some signs which can help you decide whether taking a career break is the right choice for you.

  1. You wake up in the morning and your first thought is ‘I don’t want to go to work’!

This is something many of us experience from time to time and is a natural feeling which may not necessarily indicate that you need a career break however when this occurrence happens on a consistent basis then you may have to think about taking time off. Sometimes a career break may not be the best option especially if you have been in the job less than 2 years where maybe a one or two week holiday can help you refocus and relax ready to go back to work.

  1. You feel stressed, anxious and depressed in your role

Stress, anxiety and depression are some of the major causes of illness in the workplace with reports from Health and Safety Executive (HSE) finding that stress, depression and anxiety accounted for 440,000 cases in 2014/2015 in the UK. These psychological problems are behind one in five visits to a GP in the UK according to NHS reports. Major causes of stress in the workplace include lack of support from management, work pressure and work related violence and bullying. If you are experiencing the above at work the best thing to do is to speak to someone you think could help. This could be a family member or other professionals in your industry who may have overcome the same problems you are facing. If you do all you can to help resolve the issues you are facing but feel as though you are banging your head against a brick wall then it may be time to consider a career break.

  1. You lose creativity and are not performing at work

Ever sat on your computer at work and failed to do a task that you could easily do before, perhaps you work in the creative media industry or in a digital marketing role where you are expected to come up with creative ways to do things or produce fresh organic content but you just can’t seem to wash off that period of writers block? These are perhaps some signs that you need to take some time off, even go travelling and explore other parts of the world and push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Many choose this path as it often leads to finding one’s self and finding your inner passion.

Choosing to take a career break can be overall daunting with many outlooks to consider. The first step should be to identify why you need a career break and afterwards look at the different options available to you. For example you could take on a short term course whilst you travel the world therefore you gain new skills and a qualification that can help you in your next role.

You can find some help and advice for taking career breaks on the GOV.UK website.

Careershifters is another organisation that helps people find fulfilling work.

You can also find some useful tips on bow to get back into work after a career break here.

 

What experience have you had with career breaks or perhaps you are thinking of taking a career break. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

3 ways you didn’t know how translation services could help your business

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So you decided to take the leap of faith and take your life back into your own hands and started your own business. First of all hats off to you for taking the plunge. You have been running your business pretty successfully for a while now and through your products or services you have built up a decent brand identity, customer base and a steady income, congratulations to you, seriously give yourself a pat on the back!

This is because as we know an estimated 55% of start-ups in the UK fail to make it past the 5 year mark let alone find any success. But this leaves you at the very awkward and uncharted stage of whether you want to carry on being a stable business maybe looking to grow a little more or find a new strategy or market to expand or grow you current business? Maybe you want to attract new customers or maybe you just want to please your existing customers for the loyalty they have shown you. Well one much overlooked tool that you could utilise to help your business is none other than professional translation services.

Growth

The growth of a business is seen as a key stage in a business’s life span. Growth serves as a motivation for any entrepreneur who has ambitions to live off of their own earnings which is one of the main reasons behind starting a business in the first place, for the growth of one’s business does financially translate. With the help of translation services your business could discover new markets with a whole new customer base which could potentially bring more success to your business in the long run. This is a very risky strategy which requires a lot of research and consideration but from those big risks you could reap the big rewards.

Localisation

Different countries and regions have different customs and varied ways of doing things. This is why localisation services are of the utmost importance when considering setting up business operations in not only just other markets with different languages but also countries and regions who communicate through the same dialect. For example you might find success in the way you promote your business in the UK but it won’t necessarily translate across the pond in the US because there are even significant differences in UK and US English which is why it is crucial to localise your content.

Localisation is even more vital when you translate into different languages because it is not enough to just get a professional translation but it is also important to get help in what colours and images to use as well as type of products to sell. So if you are a BBQ restaurant who is looking for Hebrew translation services to set up operations in Israel it would best that pork ribs are a left off the menu.

Professional image

Having your existing website or advertisements available in numerous languages just smacks of professionalism as it shows evidence that the business is reliable enough to be run in several different countries. It could give a potential new customer the confidence to go with you rather than somewhere else, because sometimes even if they have no prior knowledge of your business just seeing you have an English, French, Spanish and Italian translation of your website could mean the difference between a sale and no sale, because a business appearing to operate in many countries must be doing something right?

Image: Colby Stopa

Find out which foreign language will pay you the most in Britain

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Great Britain although some may argue is not as great as once was is still a place with lots of history. From its prominent monuments such as Buckingham Palace to the famous Big Ben which has tourists flocking from all over the world, Britain has always been a place where people from various walks of life from all corners of the world have emigrated to, many for the sake of family, friends and relationships and others for the sake of work. With the Great British Pound (GBP) still holding its ground as one of the top currencies in the world in terms of value it is no wonder why many people choose to come and earn a living in so called ‘Blighty’.

With that being said British corporations have capitalised on the influx of foreign workers in many ways including skills and also language. With even the smallest of SME’s doing business with people from different countries who speak languages they cannot even understand it is no wonder why the demand for foreign languages workers has been on the rise and you can see this in many job advertisements often stating a second language skill as ‘desirable’. After all it is not always that one will be able to use professional translation services or to give a specific example French translation services to close a trade deal with a vendor in France. For this a company might decide to hire a French speaking salesperson to negotiate and close such deals after all selling is most successfully done after a good relationship and trust has been built between two individuals.

A recent post by Business Insider highlighted the top 9 languages which can earn you the most in Britain. The data was derived from Job search engine giant Adzuna who analysed over 1 million job postings on their website and below was what was found.

9. Mandarin – £28,268. The study found there to be around 1,246 job opportunities for the Mandarin Language.

8. Italian – £28,723. The beautiful romance language of Italy came in 8th and with an average salary of over 28K you sure will have enough to treat yourself to a cheeky pizza on a regular.

7. Russian – £28,858. The most popular industries that favour Russian bilingual speakers in Britain is the financial industries sector. Adzuna reported a total of 1,237 job postings on their Website requiring a Russian speaker.

6. Japanese – £28,954. Although the number of job postings was the lowest amongst this list the earnings for Japanese managed to put the language up in 6th place beating 3 others.

5. Spanish – £29,262. With currently 3,106 jobs available on Adzuna which favour Spanish speaking candidates it is no surprise as Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. This language can be used not only around Europe mostly Spain but also in the USA and South American markets, a big advantage for Spanish speakers.

4. Dutch – £29,423. May come as a surprise to some but the Dutch language had a multitude of 1,865 job postings.

3. French – £32,646. Of course French would be nearer to the top with a record number of job postings on Adzuna’s website amounting to 6,149. Anyone who is business fluent in French and needs a job better get stuck in.

2. Arabic – £34,122. The language of multiple continents most prominently spoken in the Middle East and Africa made it into the top 2 list of highest earning jobs in Britain for anyone who speaks and can do business in Arabic.

1. German – £34,534. Well with Germany’s close business ties with Britain it is no wonder why this Indo-European language tops the list. From manufacturing to financial services, the most traded European country for UK exports in terms of goods and services is Germany. Germany is also the most traded country worldwide for UK imports according to a latest report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This as a result has boasted good pay checks for Britons who have mastered the German language. Perhaps it’s time to use that Babbel language learning voucher you got last Christmas and get yourself learning German.

Photo Credit: Charles Clegg

Which company failed with translation services?

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Tesla Motors, Inc is an automotive production company who are famous for being the biggest car manufactures that produce solely fully electronic road-worthy cars. The company was fittingly named after the Serbian-American engineer Nikola Tesla whose ideas are now seen ahead of his time as he advocated the likes of wireless technology and electrical use. The now owner and CEO of the electric car manufacturers is South African born, Canadian-American business mogul and innovator, the one and only Elon Musk who had previous successes most notably with X.com (PayPal) and SpaceX, which aims to find a sustainable habitat for humans outside of Earth. Since the company’s inception in 2003 it has seen its fair shares of ups and downs over the years from being heralded as the saviour of the ozone layer as well as controversies ranging from the reliability of the electric cars batteries especially in cold weather to their website being compromised. But who knew that a translation error or rather the lack of accurate translation services would affect them?

This comes after the news that on 2nd August a 32 year old man from Beijing named Luo Zhen who had recently purchased a Model S had a minor accident with a parked car because he had been told and shown by the sales manager who sold him the car that the Model S was a self-driving car and that he could drive with no hands. Lou took his eyes off the road and hands off the wheel which resulted in the crash. Lou criticised the sales tactic stating that “They did not clarify the risks” and “It can easily mislead people to overuse the function.” The accident resulted in no injuries with only a scratch to the Model S. But Tesla has reacted quickly though with a fast translation alteration.

The original Mandarin translation had read the car was had a ‘self-driving system’ which has now been changed to a ‘driver-assistance system’ to clear up the confusion. Gary Tao, Tesla’s Beijing spokesman aimed a statement on their website towards this incident to clear it all up. Tao explained “We hope to clarify that it is a driving-assisting function and hope people can use it in a correct way,” he also said he did not know about Lou’s test drive. All in all, this incident should not disrupt Tesla’s innovation in which many see them as the future of automobiles.

Whether it’s bad localisation services or just a simple error what are your thoughts on this miscommunication?

Has this company changed translation services forever?

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The language and translation industry is big business, one that is worth an estimated $33billion worldwide. The need for humans to communicate over various different languages has never been greater thanks to the globalisation of the world, thus professional translation services are highly sought after.

One of the main driving factors of this massive need for global communication is really the financial translation of profit for both large and small companies in global markets. Like any industry, it pays to keep ahead of the pack and with this high need for language communications coupled with the advances in technology has enabled some professional translation agencies and other major corporations to produce products such as ‘real-time’ translation devices and app based translations that could help people who don’t necessarily have a grasp on a particular language in a foreign land.

At this early stage these advancements are capable of helping people just about get through everyday problems but in the professional world only human translations will do, the retail industry is still going to seek specialised retail translation services for example.

With all this competition for real time translation products and apps, one company has broken the mould recently with their ground breaking technology. Could it be a new way that will change language translations for kids such as German translation services babies? An alien translation app? Well it’s sort of along those lines, well maybe not as Temptations cat treats along with ad agency adam&eveDDB have come out with a cat to human translation device called ‘Catterbox’ that cat lovers all around the world will hopefully soon be able to get their claws on. (Bad joke I know)

Cat lovers rejoice as now you will be able to tell what your cat really wants instead of you asking “what’s wrong?” and expecting an answer like the cat is going to all of a sudden start speaking your language. Rather than getting a blank look from your cat followed by another “Meow” the Temptation Catterbox aims to translate your cats’ cries into human language thanks to research carried out looking into an adult cat’s communication with humans.

The 3-D printed prototype has been released in the USA as well as New Zealand. The device itself is a rubber collar and inside contains a microphone and a speaker whilst it also includes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Although it will not be completely accurate, it would be interesting to see what your cat actually wants as they are never happy unless they are sleeping or eating which is probably all they will say.

5 crucial points to consider before you start a business

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Starting a business is almost like venturing into a new relationship with someone, you don’t know exactly what is going to happen but your desire for this person gives you optimism that something good can come out of it. Much like a relationship with a human, being your business becomes very similar to such an instance if not the same. People always say it is what you put in that you get out in a relationship and the same applies in business if not more. The collapse of a relationship can be due to several factors such as mistrust, lack of effort, disrespect and disloyalty. All these qualities if present in business are a recipe for disaster and a push in a downward spiral. Here below are some key points to ponder if you are thinking of going out on your own and starting a business. Whether you desire to start a beauty company, translation agency or would like to make your mark in London’s tech hub, Shoreditch or even thinking of setting up an internet business, you will be able to relate to the points below. 

  1. Is it profitable

The main reason that most people start a business is to make a profit. Yes even charities need to be profitable in order to run. After all the current world we live in is majorly driven by the value of money from the financial institutions to your everyday corner shop. The aim for these establishments is to provide an income for one self and earn a profit. When you are in your initial stages of business planning it is helpful to understand when you are likely to make a profit and how much you could make as this will help you to allocate resources appropriately. This will also help you with budgeting which is imperative when setting up a business.

  1. What resources do you need

When deciding to start a business you cannot simply go into it blindly expecting to do things as they come along. Yes there is uncertainty in business all the time, however carefully listing the resources you for not only the initial start-up stages but as you grow will help you see clearly how much investment is required and also help you decide which means of investment is best suited for your business, be it bank loans or venture capitalist investment. For example if your business is not expected to make a profit until year 3 you may favour investment by means of selling shares as opposed to bank loans with high yearly interests. Another point to think about is whether your business is likely to go global as in knowing so your will be able to allocate resource’s such as legal costs for trading internationally or translation services to help market your business to international markets.

  1. What are you trying to achieve (personally and professionally)

This point is very important in a sense that it will drive you in the direction where you will be most happy. The whole point of starting a business is to do something you enjoy doing that doesn’t feel like you are working all the time even though you will have to at the beginning. Otherwise you can easily settle for a 9-5 and switch off at the end of the day and collect your salary at the end of the month. Know and understand the ‘real’ reason why you are starting a business and where you want to be in the future as this will help maintain your drive and energy during hard times.

  1. What help do you need

As the famous saying “no man is an island” goes, business is also that. Whatever your business you will need people’s help along the way whether that is starting a business with a business partner or going at it alone. The relationships you build with people will help determine your success. This applies to all aspects from how you manage your employees, how you deal with your suppliers and how you communicate with your clients.  All these stakeholders will play a key role in how successful your business will be.

  1. What is your plan B

Many people start a business without having a plan b. Now others may argue that having a plan B can sometimes deter you from your main focus which is your current business and not having a plan B will drive you even more to be successful in your present business. Although that may be the case, in some ways having a plan B is imperative as it will enable you to bounce back quicker when things don’t go to plan. Before you launch your business know your exit strategy, when it is time to sell or close down the business and have an idea as to what you will do next, after all life does not stop when your business stops.

Image by: Nana B Agyei

How could the Brexit vote affect Language Service Providers and SME’s?

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As the Brexit vote moves closer and closer, on 23rd June, 2016 millions of British, Irish and Common Wealth citizens who live in the UK as well as Britons who have lived abroad for less than 15 years will head to their polling stations and decide whether to remain in the European Union (EU) or leave the EU. A decision so simple yet so many varying factors to be considered. Now we have all seen the endless TV debates, news articles and Prime Minister Questions in the past few months and despite this there are many people who are still not decisive as to whether they will vote leave or remain.

In this post we are looking at how a Brexit or a leave vote could impact language service providers such as Translation agencies in UK or individual translators and interpreters. This can also apply to small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) who operate not only in Britain but conduct trade within the EU.

The impact on currency and tax

For translators who deal with businesses across multiple countries Britain leaving the EU will include new tax laws which could result in accounting becoming more complex especially for those who deal with their own legal affairs in the form of annual accounts.  

Many translation companies in the UK trade in different currencies including the Euro and Dollar. The pound is currently the strongest of the three and will most likely continue to be, however the pound has recently fallen leading up to the Brexit vote and if it continues to drop this ultimately means higher costs for UK translation agencies.

On the other hand many leave campaigners have attributed a major benefit to the leave campaign as a benefit for businesses as Britain will not have to contribute to the EU budget which will mean an “immediate cost reduction of around €180 per person in the UK, raising the prospect of tax reductions”.

The impact on free movement and free trade

Being part of the EU has enabled many UK businesses to trade freely within the EU. This has eliminated trade barriers such as high import and export tax. 

When it comes to the translation industry it is imperative that the translation is completed by a native translator in order to maintain the highest quality translations. For example if a document needs translating from English to French, the most effective way is to use a professional French translator who is a French native and has fluency in English. In such cases you find that many such linguists are French natives who have come to the UK to study and work. Another benefit related to free movement for members if the EU is that this allows British translation agencies to travel to other European countries to attend events and conferences in order to secure business.  

The impact on education and language learning

Many translation companies take advantage of the use of translators and interns that come to the UK to learn the English language often on their assignments for university degrees. Voting to leave will reduce the ability to study abroad. While the UK does pay fees to the EU some sources have stated that the return universities receive is a financial profit.

Another point is that British workers lose out on a potential £48 billion a year due to not having non-English language skills and leaving the EU will only add to that as the incentives to learn other European languages reduce. 

Frankly the vote leave or remain will affect different groups of people in different ways and many people will vote based on how Brexit will directly affect them in the near future. Take for example the multinational airline owners like Richard Branson who has gone as far as saying that “Brexit would be ‘worst decision Britain could ever make” whose business Virgin Airlines relies and benefits heavily on European trade or Ryan Air who heavily take advantage of the tax benefits of the less restricted trade the EU allows them to have. Clearly Brexit would be a huge blow to their business ventures. Not only that, there are languages service providers who work with these companies providing translation services who will also be negatively affected in one way or another.

Should Britain remain in the EU or leave? Let us know your thoughts below.

Image: Descrier

Backlash for Fiat Argentina due to misogynistic car manual

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Backlash for Fiat Argentina due to misogynistic car manual

Another day another story of big brands simply producing non-thoughtful content (sighs)! Now in this case it wasn’t your typical lack of well researched information or a lack of professional translation services to translate content from one language to another, it instead was almost a ride back to the past where misogyny was very prevalent in advertising and mainstream media.  The topic in question relates to the car giant that is Fiat and specifically its Argentinian base.

The topic in question relates to a pamphlet Fiat handed out alongside its official handbook to new customers who purchased a car. What is in the pamphlet is what is shocking and has outraged many people specifically a women’s groups in Argentina with one  specific group called ‘Ni una menos’ of which the Spanish to English translation means ‘Not one less’ taking to Facebook to summarise the blatant misogynistic content that was found in the pamphlet.

Some of the content that was written reads:

“If a lady’s skirt is too short, we recommend that she travel in the backseat to keep our concentration.”

It also reads; “if the skirt is not that short but you tend to have a wandering hand, she should also travel behind.”

The booklet which seems to give advice to the male buyer also seemed to address the male driver as ‘driver with love’ and the female companion as ‘co-pilot’.

The pamphlet which referred to women as “co-pilot” stated that “any woman who aspires to become a co-pilot must at least have nice legs”.

Many people have taken to Twitter to air their frustrations towards the Italian company which has led to Fiat Argentina’s representative issuing an apology on their official twitter account stating that they had never intended any “disrespect”.

Fiat has also withdrawn their car pamphlet amid the backlash received.

Let us know your thoughts.

Fiat image source: nick@

Fast translation services like no other

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Netflix, the massive online streaming service has started something rather unfamiliar in the world of television and indeed translation services. Netflix have commissioned a new late night talk show starring American comedienne Chelsea Handler. But this is no ordinary late night chat show; in fact this is something that has not even been done before in the history of television and streaming. The show will be made available simultaneously across 190 countries to make it the first truly global show.

But there are many reasons that this type of global release has not been done before with one major and very obvious reason being the language barriers that are prevalent. Imagine the issues of trying to get a Hebrew translation of “There are two kinds of people I don’t trust: people who don’t drink and people who collect stickers.” That is an example, a rather pre-watershed example of Chelsea Handler’s joke; would that even translate well into another language?

That’s not the only problem that Netflix have had to deal with. There is the issue of getting each translated version of the show done in time and ready for release as well as localised for different variations of the languages. That is the precise reason that they have assembled a team of 200 linguists selected from a pool of 5000 to provide translations and localisation services to make sure that the jokes are understood worldwide. Amongst the linguists includes ‘dirty’ words specialist for Handler’s unconventional humour.

The show is recorded live 34 hours before it is released on Netflix. To help make the translations quicker and smoother, Netflix creates a live transcript in English which someone then reiterates into voice recognition software for the waiting translators and language experts who sift through the transcript to highlight any non-formal English words or idioms that might be a problem to localise. This then leaves the translators with just a 12 hour turnaround time to translate the show into the 20 languages that Netflix are aiming for it to be available in, then a 90 minute safety cushion in case anything goes wrong. This massive operation is all done so you could have the Portuguese translation of the show exactly at the same time as the English version.

How the benefits of using professional translation services far outweigh the costs

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The increase in globalisation over the past few decades has created numerous opportunities for the average individual to set up a business that is able to serve and compete in global markets, a luxury that only the large corporations or the wealthy were able to reap the benefits of in the past. Running a business today is something one can achieve from the comfort of their homes with just the help of a computer and an internet connection and with access to professional translation services. Internet businesses have been thriving and have shaken things up when it comes to the traditional way of doing things, whether it is the way we purchase groceries or how we decide to book holidays.

An example of this would be when looking for a holiday package, you would either visit a travel agency at their local office or call one over the phone to find out what was available. Now with sites like lastminute.com it is easy to see exactly what is on offer and compare in order to achieve the best deal and simply book at the click of a button.

The ability to reach a wider audience has posed a challenge for businesses to communicate effectively with all key target audiences as language barriers surface. With research including a survey conducted by Common Sense Advisory showing that consumers substantially prefer to view and digest information about products and services in their mother tongues. Findings like these are extremely imperative to businesses that provide services or are looking to grow in areas such as France, China or South America where native languages are used primarily before the English language. With that being said it is clear to see that using a professional English to French translation service or English to Chinese translation will ultimately increase your exposure and as a result have a positive impact on your sales as well as brand awareness.

Another benefit to using professional translation services for your business is that the end user feels valued that you have taken the time to communicate to them in their own language in which they communicate best.

For many businesses especially SME’s the value of time and resources is very crucial in determining efficiency. In cases where your company is too small to hire in-house translators an alternative solution is to use a professional translation agency which can manage the entire translation process for you from sourcing a suitable linguist to perform the translation, to performing quality checks ensuring that your message is portrayed in the way in which you intended.

It is tempting to use free translation tools when it comes to administering your message in other languages. When you decide to use free translation tools you must consider this; firstly the content translated by machines is a literal translation of the source language. Now as humans we do not process information in quite the same way as machines and different languages and cultures communicate differently so what might make sense in English may not in Italian when translated word for word. This is where the use of qualified and experienced translators comes into effect. Investing In website localisation services in clearly would achieve more benefits to you and your business than the costs incurred.

Image Source: Corbis

5 times retail translation and localisation services failed in China

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We all have heard and know of China’s importance to the world’s economy. In fact since their economic liberalisation in the late 70’s, China has been one of the fastest growing economies which has led the country to emerge as one of the top major players of global markets subsequently becoming the second biggest economy in the world today. So it makes complete sense that major companies of the western world have followed suite and have tried to gain a foothold in the country for a number of years. The first obvious issue they face is the language barrier which any professional translation agency worth their weight would be able to handle properly through their translation services.

But one other big issue they face is the sheer fact that the Chinese culture has many differences when compared to western cultures. This means that the way they market their products and services will differ from say the US market. That is why for years big businesses have been producing products and promotions specifically for the Chinese markets with the help of good Localisation services to pinpoint Chinese culture.

But this tactic has not always been seen as successful; in fact sometimes theses localisation attempts have been near disaster and some to comical effect. Some of these products and promotions backfired and were mocked amongst Chinese people. A popular Chinese fashion blogger on Weibo called ‘Gogoboi’ shared these localisation fails amongst his 5 million followers. Business Insider, with the help of a global brand consulting firm, Landor managed to compile a list of top five times global brands absolutely failed in China.

  1. Nike

This is truly a case of retail translation services gone wrong when Nike had an idea to release special edition trainers with Mandarin characters sewn into the pair. On the left trainer was “Fa” which means “Getting Rich” and on the right trainer was “Fu” which translates as “Fortune arrives,” which doesn’t sound too bad. But when you put them together it means “Getting fat” definitely not what the biggest sportswear company should be promoting.

  1. Louis Vuitton

The high-end fashion house Louis Vuitton is the next culprit in these localisation faux pas. Maybe with good intentions or maybe naivety decided to honour the Chinese year of the Monkey by releasing a special edition necklace, which can only be described as an odd looking, gold finished necklace vaguely resembling  a monkey. In which Gogoboi’s followers described as “creepy,” “like an alien,” and ironically a “knock-off” considering it retailed at $2,450 (£1,720). Ouch!

Image via: Louis Vuitton

Image via: Louis Vuitton

  1. Dior

Dior, another massive French brand of luxury goods committed a near enough exact offence as Louis Vuitton. Dior also saw fit to release a monkey-inspired piece of jewellery to celebrate the year of the monkey but the limited edition “Diorelita” was rather underwhelmingly likened to a ‘piece of red rope’, probably not the type of response Dior where looking for.

  1. Givenchy

Another Chinese year of the monkey inspired product fail, another French fashion brand behind the failure. This time it is Givenchy had used images of not so much your typical chimpanzee looking monkeys but rather images of orangutans, which needless to say left Gogoboi’s followers largely unimpressed. Fail!

  1. Burberry

Last but not least comes another fail celebrating the Chinese New Year, this time from up-market UK brand Burberry. They had made a different error to the rest; they decide to release their classic print scarf in a special edition with the Mandarin character “Fu” which as previously mentioned means “fortune arrives” printed in red which didn’t go down well as a design with Gogoboi’s following. But the main error was that when worn “Fu” was displayed upright which in Chinese culture “Fu” needs to be upside down to actually carry its meaning which is “beckoning in fortune.” As the special edition scarf retails $215 (£150) more at $925 (£649) that unsurprisingly left people totally bemused.

Retail translation services gone wrong?

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The increasingly popular supermarket retailer Aldi have been doing a lot right in terms of muscling in on the ‘big four’ supermarkets in the UK and successfully creating a brand identity for value for money but they have caused a bit of commotion recently. There are claims from some that the German budget chain has been insensitive and ‘racist’ towards Scottish people in one of their new advertisements. This is well and truly a case of retail translation services gone bad.

The advert in question was a radio advert that aired on Australian radio to promote Aldi’s whiskey range. The advert features a Scotsman who announces himself as the head distiller for Aldi’s own-brand whisky accompanied by the unmistakable sound of bagpipes whilst an Englishwoman supplies a voiceover for the Scotsman for a fast translation into ‘English’ despite the Scot’s objections that he is already speaking English.

The advert received a complaint of racism from an expat Scottish national which prompted the Australian Advertising Board to investigate. The complainant who was not impressed, explained how the advert depicts the stereotype that Scots are hard to understand and insisted if it were an aboriginal who received a translation service there would be an ‘uproar’ and question why it was ok to be ‘racist’ towards the Scottish.

The complaint however was rejected by the board who stipulated that the promotion was intended to be more humorous rather than racist. The board ruled that the advert suggest that the Scottish man’s accent is likely to be harder to understand to the average person but is in fact completely clear and the use of a translator adds to the humour of the advert. They also state it is not acceptable to make fun of a person’s accent regardless of nationality but in this case it is the translator that is the one that looks ‘silly’ because there is no need for her translation whilst the Scotsman is not presented with a negative stereotype at all.

Aldi had commented to the board saying that this is just one of a series of light-hearted advertisements which will see other accents such as the French and New Zealand accents used in the same way.

Photo credit: Mike Mozart

What are your thoughts?

Why your business needs localisation services

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In the world of language translations and translation services you would think that a translation from one language into another would be sufficient and enough to pass as a ‘complete’ translation. You would think that you could get by on Google, Skype or some other third party translator software but that is not the case. The word ‘translation’ is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “The process of translating words or text from one language into another” and that is exactly what these said software’s achieve, but that is where the issue lies as a translation from one language to another word for word is just going to be a bunch of nonsense in the target language. This is where professional translation agencies come in as they provide professional translation services or in other words human translations carried out by actual qualified human translators.

These translators would more often than not be fluent in the source language as well as being a native speaker of the target language. This is so that the text could be translated into another language so that it makes complete sense rather than just random words put together. It is majorly important to have a readable translation but there is another step that can be taken specifically if the translation were to be aimed at different markets where it may need to be made as though one is speaking to the “locales”. This process is a vital one and is known as localisation or localisation services.

The localisation of a language is something businesses would use in order to target their products to ‘local’ markets where the general language may differ slightly such as French Canadian, Brazilian Portuguese and Mexican Spanish, to name a few. Localisation services are generally used for websites, software, videos games, audio voiceovers and other forms of multimedia. In addition to a translation from one language to another (making sense, grammar, correct spelling etc.) localisation will adapt the translation for the local market they intend to target, taking into account the proper formatting of letters and numbers, currencies, times, dates, as well as other details such as local customs and sensitivities towards certain images, phrases, graphics and colour schemes.

This is why your business needs to take into account localisation when looking to expand overseas, do not assume you can take a ‘one size fits all’ approach when marketing to different countries. One thing that works in Spain may not necessarily be successful in Spanish-speaking Argentina.

Let us know your thoughts?

Photo Credit: Nick Richards

Seven ways to keep good employees

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So I recently came across a post on LinkedIn which listed reasons why employees stay in a company. Having been an employee myself and now running a translation agency in London I thought I would elaborate on some of the points highlighted.

When running a business as you grow you are more than likely to employ staff and the more you grow the more employees you will have. With this comes several challenges and when it comes to managing employees there are several pointers you should always have in the back of your mind in order to create a positive work environment and most of all keep them.

  1. Pay them well – Some of you are wondering why this was listed first. Some yelling in their minds, pay is not the biggest motivator! Well let’s face it in this day in age with the current economic climate and the ever increasing cost of living especially in developed cities like London, pay is one of the biggest motivators for employees to stay in a company. However it is important to note that as much as you pay your employees well if you don’t treat them well they will eventually leave once they have achieved what they wanted (pay wise).
  1. Mentor them – Mentoring is a good activity which benefits both the mentor and mentee. For the mentor it is a chance to listen to the needs of the employee and help guide them into achieving their goals. For the mentee it is a chance to learn from experience and get one to one help. Such activities have huge benefits for the organisation as employees and managers develop a better understanding of each other and as a result have a clearer understanding of the organisations needs which are critical for success.

Treat employees like they make a difference

  1. Challenge them – As humans we have a tendency to want to solve problems. We want to feel as though we are the ‘man’ and this translates into the work place. As a species we easily get bored and when we feel we are not challenged enough we tend to look for a better opportunity where we can showcase our skills. It is however important for managers not to over-challenge their employees as this may backfire and result in a hostile working environment as well as a contributor to stress for the employee.
  1. Promote them – When it comes to staying in a company for years you will notice that the majority of people who have stayed within the same company for more than 3 years have been promoted in one way or the other. You cannot simply expect your employees to stay long when you keep them in the same position without promotion.
  1. Involve them in decision making (empower them) – This is very important as not only does this instil a great sense of authority within the employee but your business benefits from valuable insight from the people that are actually carrying out the day to day activities of the company. When employees feel they are involved in decision making they feel valued and who doesn’t want to feel valued?
  1. Appreciate them – A simple thank you or acknowledgement goes a long way. When employees feel appreciated they feel a sense of belonging to the organisation and therefore are likely to stay. Simply recognising their efforts and giving credit where it’s due are ways of ensuring your employees feel valued. Incentives such as employee of the month and other benefits are a good way of showing appreciation.
  1. Trust them – Trust! The word that makes or breaks relationships. Yes this also applies in work place relationships whether it is amongst employees or between an employee and a manager. If your workers do not trust you they are more than likely not thinking of staying in your company for the long run. When you show your employees you trust them and most of all you make them feel they can trust you, you create a sense of loyalty which will motivate them to stay.

What are your biggest motivators for staying in a company?

How your business can benefit from professional translation services

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When it comes to doing business this day and age, as much as traditional fundamentals of business continue to be practiced technology advancement has contributed to the change in the way we do things. For instance most retail companies prior to the year 2000 could only target their local geographical region unless they had big budgets for tv commercials and customers willing to travel long distances, they were limited to specific regions. Post 2000 when the use of internet began to escalate a new window of opportunity arose for businesses around the world. The internet phenomenon opened up doors for the very same companies who were limited to their local region to reach a far much wider audience on a global scale. One way this was made possible was the use of professional website translation. It made it possible for companies to reach even the most remote town in Brazil with the help of the world wide web.

With the aim to reach a global audience, businesses are sometimes faced with language barriers. Although English is deemed a universal language and also the premier language of the internet, it is not the first language in many countries which attract trade. Countries like Brazil, China and Portugal do not use English as a first language. Most people in those countries don’t even speak the English language. With that being said companies have to look for alternative ways to effectively reach these audiences and that is where translation services come in.

software-translation

Businesses have had to use translation services such as marketing and website translation which can be tricky if you yourself do not speak the target language. As a result companies have turned to translation agencies who are able to assist them with ensuring their message is put across effectively in a different language. In doing so businesses have gone on to increase their audience engagement whether it is via their website or social media platforms, reach more customers and sell more products. In 2015 simply creating your website and expecting to reach the global market is simply just not enough! The need to not only translate but localise content is key in effectively communicating your message in another language. Not only does this attract more people to your business it helps build trust and customer loyalty as research Common Sense Advisory has found that people feel more confident making a purchase when information is in their own native language.

When it comes to translating your content be it your website or advertising campaign it is highly advised you do your research as to whether this is feasible. For example if you operate within the film industry just because a particular movie is successful in one market does not mean it will be in another. Research is key before making final decisions.

Examples of companies who have translated or localised their content and are highly successful include the likes of:

  • Uber – translated into more than 30 langauges and predicted to boast profits in excess of 1.5billion according to Techinsider.
  • Huffington Post available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Korean and Greek.

So if you are ever unsure of why you need to include the cost of translation services in your budget remember these points.

  • Consumers prefer to use their own native language when making purchases
  • Reach more customers
  • Receive more enquiries
  • Sell more products
  • Build trust
  • Increase engagement on your site

How Chinese investment is making an impact on Zambia

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Zambia in 2015 looks a lot different than a few years back. Its continued development is visible especially in the capital city Lusaka as well as the Copperbelt in areas such as Ndola and Kitwe. Although it still has a long way to go in terms of advancing infrastructure, progress can be seen especially around the capital city Lusaka where buildings and roads continue to be built at a steady pace. When you travel around Lusaka you will without a doubt see the construction of buildings whether office buildings or residential properties as well the construction of shopping malls. You will also notice that Many people have emigrated to Zambia not only from other African countries but from the US, UK and Asia. As you walk along the city of Lusaka you will not be shy of hearing the Chinese language being spoken around town. With such developments, a question most want to know the answer to is where is all this investment coming from? Why such a surge in the developments of shopping malls, roads and businesses?

To help answer the above it is important to firstly understand Zambia’s history. Colonised by the British, Zambia formerly known as Northern Rhodesia gained independence in 1964. Since becoming a democratic nation the country has witnessed up to date the leadership of 6 presidents. Each has had their fair share of praise and controversy when it comes to discussing affairs relating to the development of the nation (something you can research in your own time). Zambia’s biggest natural resource is reported to be copper, as a result mining is one of its biggest industries. Aside from copper the nation boasts rich land and ideal weather for agriculture, another big industry.

Chinese International School LusakaComing back to the topic of China’s influence in Zambia, when you look back to the early 2000’s most Chinese investments in Zambia were in relation to mining. China has over the years benefited from Zambia’s rich natural resources such as copper and uranium amongst Zambia’s commodities. Copper for example has been used to fund China’s growing market in terms of facilitating the construction of industrial machinery, power generation and transmission. To name a few. As a result Chinese companies have continued to seek control of mines in Zambia which has brought some controversy. China has now become a major importer of copper on a global scale overtaking the USA in the early 2000’s. China’s continued growth has fuelled further interest in developing nations with rich resources such as Zambia and the presence of the Chinese is highly visible in 2015 Zambia. Apart from copper, Chinese investors are investing in industries such as construction and engineering both big industries in Zambia. With this has come divided opinions, some residents are against Chinese investment as they believe they are losing out on contracts which they feel they are entitled to. Others including Economist Dambisa Moyo are more in favour of Chinese investment in the country with Ms Moyo stating that Chinese investment does more good as it creates ‘jobs for locals’ which as a result creates a better livelihood for Zambians. She also pointed out that Chinese companies are getting things done ‘fast’ in Africa which has impressed many.

Another noticeable thing is that there are now more and more Chinese schools encouraging even the locals to learn the Chinese language with offers for them to study abroad in China, another attractive option from young Zambian academics. This is a fairly attractive offer as China continues to grow and be a dominant force in world development with most economic reports including Bloomberg and The Telegraph placing China within the top 3 best performing economies in the world.

With all that said it is clear China has seen a goldmine in not only Zambia but in Africa as a whole. The Chinese effect does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon as more and more Chinese investors embark on doing business in Zambia.

What do you think of China’s presence in Zambian economics?

Four signs you need to leave your job!

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When is the right time to leave your job?

We have all been there, stuck in a job where the future just seems bleak, day in day out Monday to Friday feeling that same old miserable feeling of hopelessness, bitterness and worry; the feeling of being stuck in a job you are not happy with. Whether you work for a medical institution, marketing agency, engineering firm or translation company, you may be faced with challenges which may result in you deciding to leave your job. Some of the signs it’s time to move on from your current employment are highlighted below. If you can relate to any of these points it might be your time to leave.

 

  1. Waking up in the morning and feeling sick? This feeling is very common and is a definitive sign that maybe things need to either change at your current workplace or maybe it’s time to hang your work boots for that particular job. Ever woken up and felt anxious about your day at work? Many of us do whether it is because of important meetings ahead or boardroom presentations, it is normal to experience such emotions. What is not natural is feeling this way consistently to the point where you are physically sick. If you feel this way it probably is time to make some changes firstly for your health and wellbeing and secondly for your peace of mind.
  1. Feeling underappreciated? Whenever you have an idea and present it to your supervisor or manager and despite you highlighting the benefits, you are completely ignored and your suggestions and opinions are disregarded without any thought. The question is for how much longer can you withstand such behaviours? Considering we spend most the time we are awake at work it is vital to spend it in an environment where you are appreciated.
  1. Is your boss is always right, even when they are wrong? Now dealing with different personalities is a quality we   all have to learn and in some ways are forced to develop in the workplace. Let’s face it we are all different in one way or another and we all have differences in the ways in which we deal with situations, however a sign that it may be time to leave your job can translate through how your manager approaches situatio
    ns     especially when things aren’t going to plan. We have all been taught to not let other peoples actions dictate our emotions however when you are working under the supervision of someone who feels they are never wrong and is always putting the blame on you this can be hard to follow. If after speaking to your management/HR about their behaviours the same pattern follows it really is time to look elsewhere.
  1. When promises never manifest. Ever been promised a pay rise, flexible working hours or even a bonus which has never been fulfilled? Yes the same old story of “oh the company did not perform as well as we thought this year, maybe next year” and before you realise it’s been 3 years. This is a clear sign of false promises which will never manifest. Good employers value their workers and understand that them being happy is good for the business.

The job market has in recent years taken a huge slump which has forced many people to put up and get by as the demand for work has been consistently higher than the jobs available. A dilemma many people face is whether to leave their well-paid job they do not enjoy to work in an environment they are happier to be in for lower pay. This dilemma is something we may all face at some point in our careers. Whether it is due to parental duties we will have to experience once we have children or other push factors which may well put us in such predicaments. On the plus side the job market seems to be on the mend with the Guardian highlighting that 50% of British businesses were planning to take on more staff in 2015.

What we could all learn about business from the Apprentice

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So the apprentice 2014 drew to a conclusion Sunday night with Australian Mark Wright being crowned champion for the sought after title of being Lord Alan Sugar’s business partner. Over the weeks we have all witnessed the candidates juggle different tasks week in-week out with Lord Sugar putting their skills to test all for that title to be the next apprentice. With a final which could have gone either way in a battle between the marketing and hosiery industries with Bianca’s ‘luxury tights’ business concept versus Marks digital marketing agency and the £250,000 investment by Lord Sugar it is undeniable that each venture would have made Lord Sugar a bit richer than he already is.

So what can we all learn from watching the apprentice?

No matter how good you think you are at something there will likely be someone who is better.

Well apart from Mark and Daniel’s so called rivalry/bromance it is clear that no matter how good you think you are at something there will likely be someone who is better. The key is what makes you different? Personality rings a bell here as can be seen throughout the process, brains will only take you so far, but it’s your personally which shines perhaps overshadowing your experience and educational background. It is a phrase most people use and it is true, people buy from people. One may have the most prestige education in the world but without personality going into business is a non-starter. When it comes to business, although education will take you places it is your ability to build relationships which will take you further and that is reflected through various successful businessmen and women such as Lord Sugar himself who did not pursue further or higher education but yet is successful in business.

Learning to work well with others could go a long way, learning to work with people you don’t like could even take you further.

Of course when it comes to business one of the most fundamental qualities is how well you interact with others. Whether you are a sole trader operating in the technical industry or in a partnership, working with others is something you cannot avoid. From sourcing suppliers to negotiating the best deals for your business you will have to interact with people. When your business starts to grow you may well have to employ people and it is these relationships that will keep your business going. It is all well to have a good concept but if no one is behind you or willing to work with or for you then you have missed the mark so it is key to learn how to deal with different people. There will be times when you have to work with people you do not like however such people may be the ones who could help achieve your goals so balancing your personal and business life will surely take you a long way.

We all have ambitions but goals not worked towards are simply dreams.

We have heard the quotes about dreaming and not achieving. Guess what it is true! If you have a business idea it is simply just that. Chances are that there are others thinking about the same idea who are probably working towards realising these goals. If you have a business idea and a passion and desire to bring this to the market then chase that dream as you may never know where it will lead you. After all it is better to try and fail than to live with regret, having that voice in your head constantly reminding you of the what if’s.