Fresh New Small Business Ideas…..

Do you have a way with words? And do you have a considerable amount of proficiency in any two languages? Sprinkle the two with some extra amount of time and you have the recipe to cook up a new identity as a translation service provider.

A service that owes to the expanding global commerce and an increasing interest from venture capitalists, translation services are currently undergoing a boom, as reported by the American Translators Association, or ATA (Alexandria, Virginia). The organization has witnessed its memberships soar to more than double in the past seven years; currently, they have 7,000 members from 60 countries registered under them. The industry was a $11 billion dollar one in 1999 and is expected to cross $20 billion in the next two years; that happens to be a 20 percent increase overall, thanks to increasing number of Internet subscriptions worldwide. Therefore, if you are staying in Western Europe or America or in the Asia/Pacific region, you can mint some extra money doing translations in your free time.

The tremendous growth in the sector is a direct result of the burgeoning e-commerce markets; since the majority is in English, therefore, reaching the foreign markets is impossible without translating the entire content to the language suitable for the particular area. The story doesn’t end there, because for every product there must be accompanying product literature. And to get into this exiting occupation, all that one requires is knowledge in one or more foreign languages and basic office equipments.

By now you must have had a hang of the entire game. Though it is easy to work as a translator, but the steep competitions compel to brush up the linguistic skills. If possible, learn a few more languages, preferable Espanol, Deutsche and French, since they are the most widely used languages all over the world. Knowledge on languages like Basque and Esperanto are definitely a plus; they provide you extra mileage in front of the companies seeking a translation service. When all that is done, get yourself registered with ATA or some equivalent organization, buy a computer with Internet connection, and you are ready to brew up a whole new experience for yourself.

Basic Requirements:
· Proficiency in multiple languages including English.
· A computer, a modem, a fax machine, a business phone and several dictionaries.
· A registration with some organization like ATA.

Investment and Returns:

This is a business that can be started within a $1000 budget. While full-time freelancers make well over $50,000 annually, part-timers stay within the boundary of $20,000. In case you are planning to build it up to an agency, expect your profits to double. Translating Asian languages are going to generate more profit and that way, a six-figure income can’t be too far away.