One promising small business idea is to provide translation and interpretation services.
You can start earning good money from this. At the same time, an entrepreneur does not have to speak foreign languages himself.
It is enough to hire an experienced linguist assistant who will be involved in the selection of full-time and freelance employees, as well as monitor the quality of order fulfillment.
Where to start opening a translation agency
To open a translation agency, it is not necessary to rent office space in the city center. A sleeping area is also suitable for this.
The main thing is that there is a sufficient number of parking spaces near the office.
At the initial stage, you should not rent a premises with an area of more than 40 square meters, since in this case there is a risk that it will not pay off.
The rented premises will need to be redecorated, comfortable furniture purchased, as well as a minimum set of office equipment (computers, laptops, copier, scanner, etc.).
It is necessary to allocate about 300 thousand rubles for this.
Translation agency with notarization - features
If you want to work with personal documents, then you are doing... right. Most agencies live on this kind of work. We take documents from people, translate them, take them to a notary, certify the translation - return them to the people, get money.
As for working with or without an office, we, for example, managed to somehow translate personal documents without an office. It's scary to even remember.
The entire translation agency then consisted of me alone (plus my husband at home “in the wings”). If a customer called us with a request to translate a personal document, the process went like this. I was going to meet a person somewhere in the city center, in a cafe (under the pretext that our office was being renovated). I took the documents. What’s most amazing is that they gave it away =)
Then I ran with these documents to the xerox center, where I made copies of the documents and made scans. Then I went to the Internet club and sent the scans by mail to my wife.
She translated it and sent it back to me. I printed out the translations, signed them, and ran to the notary to have them certified. Then I again ran to meet the person, gave transfers, received money. Those were fun times.
You can read more about how a translation agency interacts with a notary in the article “How a translation agency works” (opens in a new tab).
But if you don’t want to engage in such extreme activities, you can immediately rent a small room. It’s better to be closer to your notary, or even sit in the same notary’s corner. I also know such cases.
It is inexpensive, and together with a notary you will receive an influx of clients. Because often people come to a notary to translate documents, and he forwards them to you.
How to find a notary, how to negotiate with him, how to work with personal documents correctly - this is a separate, not very short conversation. In our main training “Work! The Translator" devotes a large separate section to this.
From one document you will earn approximately 100 - 150 rubles in profit (after paying for the services of a notary, translator, deducting taxes, etc.). Not so many, but most often people bring 5-7 documents at once. Therefore, a translation agency for documents with notarization, of course, is not a goldmine, but it will be enough for life.
Yes, by the way, what kind of life is enough for?
Translation agency employees
The most important stage in organizing a translation agency is the formation of staff.
Practice shows that at the initial stage it is worth hiring no more than 3-4 office employees to fulfill orders.
Applicants must meet requirements such as excellent command of a foreign language and experience as a translator.
An internship abroad will be an additional advantage.
The number of freelancers with whom a businessman will establish periodic cooperation should be larger (about 7-8).
Only in this case will the bureau be able to fulfill incoming orders promptly.
The company must have translators on staff who are fluent not only in English, but also in German and French.
Personnel and services provided
The success of the business is largely ensured by the company's employees. The number of clients and income depend on how competent they are. So who to hire? Should I create a permanent staff or collaborate with outsiders? To begin with, you can hire one permanent translator. Then, when the volume of orders is stable and large, you can find one or more.
All translators must have work experience (although this is not always a guarantee of competence) and higher linguistic education. It is worth noting that although the most popular languages are German, English and French, translations into other, more exotic languages (Chinese, Japanese) are also required, and such services are provided at increased rates.
In addition to translators, you will also need an editor who will check the finished texts and correct any errors. It would be a good idea to hire a manager for customer service and order processing. A courier or driver may also be required.
Now about the services. What translations are most in demand today? Firstly, customers often ask to translate legal documents: laws, contracts and much more. Translations of scientific publications and articles are often ordered. Less often you will need to translate songs or poems.
Particular attention should be paid to oral simultaneous translation. It is necessary if an international conference or other event is planned.
Based on all that has been written above, we can point to the need to maintain a staff of wide-ranging employees specializing in different types of translation.
How much can you earn by providing translation services?
To obtain maximum profit, the company must provide translation services, as well as simultaneous translation.
The price of a technical translation can reach 120 rubles per 1000 characters (depending on the level of complexity).
Simultaneous interpretation costs much more (from 350 to 1200 rubles per hour).
The maximum monthly profit of such a bureau reaches 300 thousand rubles per month.
Even in the worst case scenario, an entrepreneur will be able to recoup the initial investment within the first 6 months of operation.
Transfer of funds between Otkritie Bank cards
To make a transfer. Open the main page of the site, select the “services” section. Select the “payments and transfers” tab and go to it.
On the screen we see an image of two cards. In the left card, fill in all the necessary details of your card. On the right is the recipient's card number. Next in the window is the amount you want to transfer. Check the box that you agree with the rules and click the “translate” button.
What equipment to choose for a translation agency
To start a business, you do not need any special equipment, since all work is performed virtually, on a computer, and sent to the customer via the Internet. To do this, it is mandatory to have a laptop or desktop PC with pre-installed software and Internet access. After opening your own translation agency, you will need to furnish the office with furniture: tables and chairs for staff, as well as soft sofas and armchairs for clients. Each employee should have the necessary office supplies on hand and access to a computer, printer and scanner. It is also necessary to hang a beautiful sign and several advertising banners around the city.
Method for Otkritie Bank clients
Otkritie offers to make a transfer from card to card using standard methods, provided that the sender is serviced by the same bank. All clients who receive Otkritie debit and credit cards can connect to free Internet banking, through which they can make any payments and transfers.
You can log into the system at any time, select the card you need and transfer funds from it to another card online. Just enter the number of this means of payment and indicate the amount. If a commission is charged for an operation according to service tariffs, the system will indicate it.
If the client has previously installed the Otkritie Bank mobile application (analogous to online banking), then he can perform the same operation on his mobile phone. The service operates wherever there is Internet access.
If you need to make a transfer to an Otkritie card, you can also use this organization’s own ATMs.
about the author
Irina Rusanova - higher education at the International East European University in the direction of "Banking". Graduated with honors from the Russian Economic Institute named after G.V. Plekhanov with a major in Finance and Credit. Ten years of experience in leading Russian banks: Alfa-Bank, Renaissance Credit, Home Credit Bank, Delta Credit, ATB, Svyaznoy (closed). He is an analyst and expert of the Brobank service on banking and financial stability. [email protected]
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Business technology
To carry out text translation work in the first stages of business, it is not necessary to rent an office and hire employees. You can work with customers via the Internet, as well as with translators. You yourself will act as an editor and administrator.
In the future, after opening a translation agency, it is necessary to hire several translators who would speak several languages, an editor and an administrator. Editing texts is as important a procedure as translating them; the quality of the services provided, and therefore the overall profit, depends on it. As for the administrator, this person does not necessarily have to have knowledge of languages, but be communicative and be able to draw up an agreement that stipulates the scope and quality of the work performed.
Also, final year students can be recruited to carry out transfers to the staff, which will significantly save labor costs. True, in this case the level of texts should be appropriate. As a bonus, clients can be offered notarized translations, which will reinforce in their minds the high quality and responsibility for the services provided by your agency.
Technologies, trends
New technologies occupy a very important place in the translation business. If you do not fully understand this topic, you risk being an outsider. Just ten years ago, machine translation was the butt of jokes. Now this is a really working tool.
Another tool is programs that work on the basis of “translation memory” technology. There is a lot of information about this technology, I won’t write about it in detail. But please note that all your managers and translators must be able to work with such programs.
General requirements
The amount should not be less than 50 rubles. and more than 65,000 rubles. The amount should not be less than 50 rubles. and more than 65,000 rubles. The time frame for receiving funds may vary, depending on the recipient. It can be several minutes, in some cases several days. The possibility of money transfers is provided exclusively between residents of Russia, transfers in rubles. Exclusively for Russian banks. Access to the sender's card is provided by 3DSecure technology. Different banks may introduce their own special conditions and additional fees.
Translation languages
Throughout the world, business and legal correspondence is primarily conducted in English. In Russia, too, translations from Russian into English and vice versa are mainly in demand. Translations into Spanish and Chinese are less frequently required.
Basic requirements for legal translation
A legal document translation agency must provide services that meet the following requirements:
- Maintain a business-like style of presentation of the text, paying attention to maintaining the unity of translation terminology and avoiding distortion of the meaning.
- Maintain the structure of the source text in compliance with the construction format: paragraphs and paragraphs, repeating the numbering of paragraphs.
- Maintain specific features for emphasizing decimals in English and nuances in the translation of proper names to ensure correct identification of an individual or legal entity.
Ensuring confidentiality and maintaining the secrecy of legal translations is one of the key requirements for the agency and its employees.
Online banking
Internet banking of this service. It has three main directions:
- For individuals, for medium-sized businesses, for medium and large businesses.
- For a private client, as a rule, these are ordinary services. Payment of utility costs, payment of fines, mobile communications, kindergartens and much more, exchange transactions and so on.
- For business representatives it is more extensive, there are electronic signature keys, various financial payment documents, and much more. The most important thing is that all these functions are correctly and accurately described. The user instructions are written in simple and understandable language. You won't be left alone with the problem.
Applications for mobile devices replicate almost everything that you can get in Internet banking. All documentation and installation instructions are in the application.
Methods of transferring from card to card
There are 4 options to transfer funds from one card account to another without visiting a physical bank office. Most of them come with a commission.
P2P transfer on the Otkritie Bank website
This is a special banking technology for quickly transferring funds between cards indicating their details.
To use the P2P service (Card2Card) you need:
Open the transfer form
- Go to the bank’s official website via the link open.ru/p2p (or click the button above).
- In the “From” block, enter the number, expiration date, CVV/CVC code of the payment instrument, and in the “Where” field, indicate the recipient’s card number.
- Enter the tranche amount. The service will show the commission amount.
- If you agree with the final amount, accept the terms of the offer and click “Transfer”.
As a rule, enrollment occurs instantly.
Transfer via Internet bank
Remote transfers between cards are available in your Otkritie Online account. To implement, you must follow these instructions:
- Follow the link ib.open.ru/login and log in to the Internet bank by entering your login and password.
- On the main page, select an active debit card and click the “Transfer” button in its menu.
- Or select “Transfers” in the top menu, then one of the subsections - depending on the owner of the recipient’s card. Fill out the form provided, accept the terms and complete the transaction.
- Confirm the debiting of funds - enter the one-time password from SMS.
You can carry out the transaction in a similar way through mobile banking.
Transfer by phone number
One of the options for transferring money outside an Otkritie Bank branch is a transfer by phone number. The operation is carried out through the free mobile application “Otkrytie. Translations”, designed for Android users (at least version 4.4) and iOS (9.0 and later).
Instructions on how to transfer money in the application:
- Download the program from one of the links above and log in.
- In the main menu, open the “Transfers” tab, select the “By phone number” option.
- Specify the card account from which funds will be debited.
- Enter the relevant recipient details and amount.
- Confirm the transfer of money.
To quickly conduct a transaction in the Otkritie application. Transfers”, the function of selecting a recipient from entries in the phone book and from a photo is available.
From card to card using an ATM
In the absence of an Internet connection, funds are transferred through self-service devices. Otkritie Bank also provides this service - transfers from card to card are performed via an ATM:
- Find an ATM using the instructions in the article.
- Insert the card into the card reader.
- Enter your PIN.
- In the main menu, open the “Payments and Transfers” section.
- Select the "Card to Card" option.
- Please provide payment details.
- Approve the transaction.
When using self-service devices from third-party banks, the amount of additional charges may increase in accordance with the issuer's tariffs.
