In this, one of my initial articles of the blog, I would like to share with you my thoughts on commitment to your craft, to your passion in life, even to what you do. From time to time, I bump into people who throw in the conversation something like this, “I’ve graduated, I’ve tried, now I’m much better off doing this…” I bite my tongue. There is no such thing as immediate fast success or return on investment. In many cases, after completing some form of education, young professionals expect recognition and high salaries.
This is not how it works. Rather popular now is the book Ouliers, where Malcolm Gladwell talks about 10,000 hours that you have to practice your craft before you master a field, become an expert. Let’s think about it. When you start your career you start with 0 hours and there is a long way to go to crank those 10,000 hours. Essentially, it is your first marriage for a couple of years. It is a marriage in which it is to your benefit to be proactive.
Now, I encourage everybody to be patient and not to give up for fast, easy money. The first year I started exploring freelance interpreting, I earned less than one hundred American dollars. Sounds so funny to me now. Translation/Interpreting industry is growing approximately 30% per year. By sticking with it, suffering some, I’m happy now that I did. Patience, believe, and hard work always pays, especially in this country! Let’s keep swimming!