An inch wide and a mile deep
One of the most common ground-nesting bees in my garden here in the Midwest is Anthophora abrupta, also known as the mining bee. Unlike honeybees and other colony-forming bees, mining bees live a solitary life digging long, thin tunnels, but work and build their own nests alongside one other. As a niche translator, I feel some kinship with the humble mining bee. Like Anthophora abrupta, I spend my days navigating a narrow space that I have excavated over time.
It might come as a surprise to learn that I didn't grow up dreaming of a career in trash. My niche in recycling, waste management and related environmental issues is the result of happenstance: after graduating with a degree in translation and interpreting, I moved to the Black Forest and was offered a job as an in-house translator and journalist for a German recycling publication. Along with learning about waste legislation, policy and court rulings on thorny issues (when does a material or product become waste? Is waste incineration a recovery or a disposal operation?), I also toured recycling facilities and attended trade fairs. I learned more about trash than I ever thought possible – and yet I had only scratched the surface.
When I moved to the Midwest in 2001, I knew that it would be a, well, waste to walk away from everything that I had learned. Over the years, I had also realized that there was a need for expert translators in this growing business thanks to Germany's status as a sustainability pioneer. It only seemed natural to set up my freelance business geared towards meeting the English-language needs of companies and organizations in the environmental sector.
At the outset, I spent many hours brainstorming exactly who might need translation services and have the budget to pay professional rates. It didn't happen overnight, but I slowly built up a client base that keeps me busy today. Word of mouth has also been critical to my business, with more than 70 per cent of my new clients referred to me by existing direct customers or fellow translators. My customers value the fact that I can talk their language and understand the ins and outs of their industry (for instance, I recently caught a mistake in a company's notification of a waste shipment that would have led to their export being rejected – saving them lots of hassle and money).
As a niche translator, I can work quickly and earn more per hour because I have to spend less time looking up terminology. I do have to be prepared to handle a wide variety of document types, though, ranging from contracts to technical datasheets to sustainability reports. I also recently started offering copywriting and content marketing services for my direct clients, making sure that they don't have to go elsewhere for language services.
That being said, like the mining bees in my back garden, I don't feel the need to be territorial and worry about competition. The beauty of working as a niche translator is that there is an infinite number of different specialties within each broader category that translators can tap. When picking your own niche, it is vital that there is sufficient demand for translation services and enough clients that can afford your services. Perhaps most importantly, make sure that you are truly interested in your niche – after all, you are hopefully going to be busy digging that mine for years to come.