If you can't, how will you survive on the significantly lower salary that comes with the in-house job you're considering?

don't fix it if it ain't broken...

quote: "a job which gives you more pleasure and spare time..."

The last few years, until recently, I worked 60-hour weeks, driven by my family's financial aspirations. Even as we were able to afford more of the things we wanted (but didn't really need!), our relationship went downhill. We never had time to spend together, never had time to just take a moment, sit down and talk about our priorities and desires. The distance between us has grown immense. We are now on the verge of divorce.

What's ironic about all this is that now I'm so depressed that I cannot handle even half the volume I used to.

But I don't blame freelancing - it has nothing to do with my problems. It's my own personal decisions in life that are responsible for the mess I'm in. Workaholism isn't exclusive to freelancing.

Ultimately, to have a life, you must work to live -- not live to work.

Yeah, I thought so too. But putting all your eggs in one basket, i.e. solving all your problems with money, is almost always the wrong way to go. You shouldn't let income & finances take over your personal/family life - especially when you are doing well.

P.S. It's "the bread-winner of the family" - HTH.

The very subject is simplistic. Money buys pleasure. Period.

Re.: If you face with alternative

An alternative, you mean? Or THE alternative. I face THE alternative all the time.

Re.: : to be a freelance translator and get much money (an exhausting work) or to be on the staff (a job which gives you more pleasure and spare time but twice less money)? What would you choose?

Simplistic again. Uninformed question, I'm afraid.

Who says that you'd be better as a free lance than on staff, first? Second, I don't know any free lance who "gets exhasiting work." Third, who said you are happier on staff? Fourth, do you know you may slave on staff worse than on your own? Fifth (or first, for that matter), quite a few staffers are somewhat better off, you know.
Finally, what do you call "pleasure"? Far niente? :) Хрустальная очень многих русского...
Могу понять... В России труд - каторга. Здесь, чтобы выжить, надо приложить гораздо больше усилий, чем, скажем в (you name it) (кстати, часто бестолковых или направленных безвекторно, например на борьбу с бюрократией, преодоление каких-то дурацких препятствий...). As for me, I will die in harness.

SirReal wrote:

1. I am a freelancer because I value the choices and the freedoms it provides.

Fine. Are you really as free as you claim? Say, the night when you job is due, а у вас еще конь не валялся, потому что вы еще прошлый заказ не выполнили? (Btw, you wrote more about that below).

2. Working in-house takes away that freedom.

Fine too. Tell me why my firm hasn't taken mine? :) Shall I tell you what really can do (or where I can go) between 9.00 am and 6 pm? :)

3. On the other hand, it provides security,

I doesn't. Take my word for it.

4. (as long as ) your workplaces doesn't drive you crazy

Depends on you, by and large. Your personality

5. Or the crisis hits. Or your boss decides to fire you.

True. But not "or." "And," rather.

6. Catching my drift?

No.:)

JKitten wrote:

1. The matter is that I am a freelancer now. And, frankly speaking,
I'm getting sick and tired of it more and more often. The main reason for it is that I'm short of time to do any other things I should and would like to - it is very annoying. Maybe it's my fault that I don't manage to arrange my working day favorably.

Experiment. If you can afford to. Go on staff and see how it feels.

2. Anyway, I suppose - sumu quiquem (каждому своё)...

Too early for epitaphs. Еще не вечер (с).

lisulya wrote:

"staff translator" is almost non-existent as a category..
most people who work as translators do it on a freelance basis.

Too bad. How come you didn't know? (Mind, I don't mean "I told you so"). Make good research first. I mean real good.
If that's real true, but you still want to go staff, move on elsewhere.

JKitten wrote:

Money is also a very controversial matter... For me, as a married girl (no children yet) is desirable to earn - we are in urgent need of money to make some start in life. On the other hand, it's extremely important for me to be settled socially in life - to have a stable secure job (as I would like to have a child soon). Moreover, psychological comfort also does matter...

Stop then clinging to what you THINK is your asset (translation skills). Move on. Retrain. Reinvent yourself. Reengineer. Many translators do it all the time here as they see opportunity. Ask d. A couple of guys I know own gas pump chains in across Midwest.

Harry Johnson wrote:

1. I'd had lots of plans for this 3-day 'weekend' but everything was ruined by the order I couldn't resist...

Man. Here is the ugly truth: Better much work than no work at all. You get my drift if you listen to your car radio.

2. My son wanted to play with me,

Hmmm... Too bad, man. I was caught like you every weekend 20 years ago ... И я тогда упустил, потерял сына... My life's biggest loss as a free lance. Find time and play with the kid the soonest possible. Now. Switch off your PC and go and play. An hour at least. Promise another hour tomorrow and make your promise good. I mean it. Or you have it eventually worse than with your wife’s could shoulder. I know what I'm talking about.

3. Greed did me in...))

It wasn't greed. Your gut feeling told you if you rejected, even once, you might never get another assignment from that client, right? That drove me all the time until I went on staff, money or not.

ЗЫ. SR. Sorry to hear of your marriage failing (esp over your work).

===
If you can settle for less than what you're earning now [by decreasing your work volume as a freelancer], do it - you'll feel better.

If you can't, how will you survive on the significantly lower salary that comes with the in-house job you're considering?
===

I hope you do catch my drift now. As you said, money buys pleasure.

I do have a part-time in-house job that is almost completely unregulated, both in terms of time and effort - unregulated meaning I can come and go as I please and reject work assignments if I don't feel like doing them. I am appreciated there, and that is one of two reasons I am still an employee with them (the other being I need official employment to get foreign visas, consumer financing, etc).

But jobs like that are hard to come by. Freelancing, however, if done right, does make you free - even if you get there through trial and error, and some failures along the way.

Must of missed it. Sorry man. Thanx now.

Re.: If you can settle for less than what you're earning now [by decreasing your work volume as a freelancer], do it - you'll feel better.

Depends on what you call "settle" and how "less." I began free lancing full time in the early 1980's and was what you'd call мужчина-lite, in terms of dough and in quite a few other respects - the typical unhappy 30+ year old hollow-eyed sovok-размазня standing in those damned lines for everything. I'll hang first that settle for THAT ever again.

Re. If you can't, how will you survive on the significantly lower salary that comes with the in-house job you're considering?

Again, why do you guys think all that in-housers are worse off by definition? Don't tell me there are exceptions. There's employers galore that shell out 6o grand a year. You need only find and persuade them to hire you.

Re. I hope you do catch my drift now.

Half.

Re. I do have a part-time in-house job that is almost completely unregulated, both in terms of time and effort - unregulated meaning I can come and go as I please and reject work assignments if I don't feel like doing them.

Sounds like a great place. :) Will they keep you through that recession?

Re. But jobs like that are hard to come by.

Conceded.

Freelancing, however, if done right,

Done right! Here's where's the snag. You are your own Marketing, your own Orders & Customer Care, and your own manager (but NOT boss, mind you). You may be a true pro language practitioner, but you may remain a damn bloody amateur in those three depts. Whence your problems. OK, any free lance’s. You got to learn that somewhere on a pro basis.

Concede?

Re. does make you free - even if you get there through trial and error, and some failures along the way.

Right. Before you have trodden on a truckload of rakes. Thanks :) Been there, seen that :)

I was going on the OP's assumption: "to be on the staff (a job which gives you more pleasure and spare time but twice less money)". I'm not saying *every* in-house job pays less than freelancing. There are many variables and just as many ifs and buts. But the OP specified that the job paid half of what she's making now as a freelancer. I made it my assumption as well. Besides, experience shows the numbers are roughly the same world-wide.

RE: Depends on what you call "settle" and how "less."

She's considering a half-the-income salary-based job - that's how "less" :) THE alternative to that is staying a freelancer and keeping half the income by reducing the volume by half -- or even more, because she can choose the better-paying, less stressful jobs out of all the ones she has now. That's what I'm really proposing.

Second. "I was going on the OP's assumption" Assumption?
She started off with a breezy HYPOTHETICAL: "If you face with alternative..(more money vs more PLEASURE)?" It caught (with me) and carried on. I never felt any tragic dilemma. You must be finer tuned if you did.

A propos, I wonder exactly what pleasure (or more of it) may be on staff? More hours of jabber on fashions between coffee breaks? (YOU know the type, dontcha?)

On with it. You: "There are many variables and just as many ifs and buts.

On the face of it, right. But go deeper and you'd see very plain, basic things. Like I said, I have been in both genders in language practice and got the best (and the worst) of the two worlds. :)

Re. "But the OP specified that the job paid half of what she's making now as a freelancer".
Too bad the OP didn't try to find as good staff job. Trust me, good research is half the job. If you can't do it, hire someone who can. I did so many times.

Re. "Besides, experience shows the numbers are roughly the same world-wide"
Mike you've shot too low; level at best. Yeah I know it's damn easy to say, 'Aim at the top.' Still. I have and I've won. A spot of luck, yes, but for starters only. Flukes just dont last 17 years running, do they?

Re.: She's considering a half-the-income salary-based job - that's how "less" :) THE alternative to that is staying a freelancer and keeping half the income by reducing the volume by half -- or even more, because she can choose the better-paying, less stressful jobs out of all the ones she has now. That's what I'm really proposing.

Point taken. The question is if she manages THE alternative.
But know what. The worst thing I can remember of my own free lancing is hating to REJECT, esp a long-time one, almost a buddy. The thought he'd write me off one day and I'd end up with couple of shitty publishers scared shit out of me.

I'm free of that scare now. FREE, Mike, sabe?

I don't know if the OP had a specific job in mind, but she did outline the choices. I felt bound by them. I know the real world offers a lot more than that, i.e. an in-house job CAN be a lot more rewarding AND and a lot better paying than the freelancer's fare, BUT it can also offer a lot less of both. If she wants to keep looking, good for her. Like I said, there are many variables. I was only going on the assumption she provided, hypothetical or not.

RE: "The thought he'd write me off one day and I'd end up with couple of shitty publishers scared shit out of me."

You're not saying you had just 1 good client, are you?

I have at least 5 good customers I can rely on to provide adequate monthly income. If any one of them doesn't come through, I'm actually happy because it means my workload will be *doable* and I won't have to outsource any of it. If two of them stay silent, I'm just as happy. If three of them keep quiet, I enjoy the time off. Other random clients always pop up anyway. If four of them stop sending me jobs, I get busy doing other things that always nag at me anyway (you know, family stuff, self-improvement, self-marketing, and things like that). If none of them send any jobs... well, that has never happened to me.

A few. Remember those V/O Shitimport, VAO Pissexport and their likes? As clients, they were HIDEOUSLY irregular and damn demanding in terms of time. They paid enough to pick up tabs for almost daily lunches in Moscow’s only 'Chinese' restaurant ("Пекин" на Маяковке) and return cab fares. My wife shopped in line-free markets. No brag, mark you. It was scarcity time when you didnt know what to do with your EARNED money, remember? Yep I saved a bit a bought the largest available 3-room 'cooperative'. (No mortgages then, of course). Yet I feared to lose any one of those bullshitters.
The sorest price was I missed the kid growing.

Man, if you carry on like that, you are in for trouble. So may I offer a piece of advice - with the full benefit of hindsight?

Do like this. A soon (I MEAN "soon," make it Tuesday of next Saturday at the latest) as you are done with the job, pull your kid aside, show him as a furtive pack of crackly hundreds, and whisper you earned that over last (i.e. this) weekend. Then go both to a toy store and buy him his pick. Think ahead how much you can afford.
Mind you, do so before you're paid for THAT job. Your latest work and you kid's latest and best remembered frustration AND his new toy as a reward must connect. The sooner, the better.
Do so every time you get in a fix. Bail out NOW or you'll be sorry later.
Same goes for your wife. Reread what Mike posted. You may not farther, if not nearer. You may be in for a surprise. You never know. Take her out to eat, buy expensive perfume (ask the make first), flowers, AND, of course, do a spot of washing up, dusting, cooking, cleaning, whatever. Invest.

:P

To Sir Real:
I live in Belarus, Brest.

ЗЫ I love Belarus, y'know ;)

"(though I have no country to defend)"
Never mind! There is always someone or something to defend - more precious than even a country.

What do you love Belarus for? Just a pure interest...:)

Re.: What do you love Belarus for? Just a pure interest...:)

It's women, sis, always women... :)

Btw, speaking of your free lance workload--have you ever tried to go patners? Teamwork pays sometime. It did in my recent past. Lots of benefits.

I your shoes now, I'd stay free lance and learn to say No to overflow. SirReal got it right. Learn to manage your orders.
Look around for potential partners.

Для кого бездарная, а для кого и очень даже "дарная"!

Да уш да... Верхужек однех понафатались, вот и выёживаемся...

Re. " ll think about it - honestly. :)" Please do. Give it a THIRD thought too, before you commit.
Приходите ещё :).

Под одноразовым ником можно брякать все, что угодно, не отвечая за базар.

Мы не так сделаем.

Serendipitous... Перепишите в ЭТОЙ же ветке мои (Sjoe!) рунглийские посты на "английском" английском". Наши коллеги их тут... заценят. И если ваша правка (evident typos, типа "that" вместо "than" excluded) будет принята, я заплачу вам деньги. Идет?

SR, you on? :)

И это... всё? Аки пчелка трудился (трудилась)...

Эта... Учитель... Serindipitous который... А где можно с Вашим творчеством на э-э... нерунглийском английском ознакомиться? Дабы соответствовать и впредь. И иметь пред собой нетленный, такскать, немеркнущий паттерн? А, сэнсэй? Я к Вам обращаюсь, бессеребреник Вы наш!

Серьезно.

Условия:

Ваше заявление: "До чего бездарная ветка! Сплошной рунглиш" (особенно "сплошной") я без преувеличения истолковываю так, как КАЖДОЕ предложение КАЖДОГО постера (включая меня) написано, по вашему мнению, на рунглише.

Fine. Посему еще раз:

1. Перепишите КАЖДОЕ мое (но только мое собственное, а не цитируемое) предложение на real good English. Еще раз: я написал "каждое", поскольку "рунглиш - сплошной".
Make it real good. Здесь же, в этой бездарной ветке. Либо откройте новую.

2. Далее мы попросим Susan79 here, Francis Fannon, или, скажем, Earl de Galantha рассмотреть и оценить ваше изделие (я готов им за это заплатить).

3. Не забудьте привести ваши сredentials. Нам (мне, в частности), знаете ли, желательно знать ваши qualifications.

Время пошло. Praise the Lord and pass the gravy. Флаг вам в...

2 Serendipitous
10 евроцентов! Игра стоит свеч!

Подобьем бабки.

В сухом остатке вышло следующее:
Из "сплошного рунглиша" всей (!) этой "до чего бездарной ветки" наобум выдраны полдюжины предложений с явными описками (bad drafting), из них половина - цитаты.

Собственная версия/редакция - на "настоящем", "английском" английском языке - не предложена ни по одному предложению, включая приведенные в качестве "примеров" "сплошного рунглиша".

Всё-с.

Согласно условиям конкурса, единственный участник-тролль с позором выбывает из состязания, а колода новеньких хрустящих евробанкнот возвращается ее владельцу.

Заседание закрывается (с)

Адью.