Episode 84: Smart Habits for Taking a Workcation with Corinne McKay

Smart Habits for Translators

Episode 84: Smart Habits for Taking a Workcation with Corinne McKay

We are excited to be back after our summer hiatus from the podcast, refreshed and recharged to bring you all new episodes and guests.

Speaking of guests… today’s episode is one we are very excited to be bringing to you, and it might be fresh on your mind if you took a vacation this summer and brought along some work with you.

You may have heard this referred to as a working vacation, or a “workcation.” And we found the perfect person to share about her recent workcation with us, and let us in on all the details about how to take one and how to make the most of it!

We’re excited to welcome Corinne McKay back to the podcast.

Corinne is an English/French conference and legal interpreter and ATA-certified French to English translator, based in Boulder, Colorado. A full-time freelancer since 2002, she served on the Board of the American Translators Association for seven years, including as ATA President from 2017-2019. She is the author of the book How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, and runs the online professional development platform Training for Translators. After more than 15 years as a translator, Corinne caught the interpreting bug, passed the Colorado state court interpreter exams for French, and then earned a Master's in conference interpreting from Glendon College. She now divides her time between interpreting, translation, and offering business training for other freelancers.

Tune in to hear our conversation on:

• What it means to go on a workcation and why Corinne decided to take one this year

• How to decide to if you want to take a workcation rather than a non-working vacation

• How to prepare yourself and your business for a workcation

• What goes into choosing the location and the amount of time you plan to spend on your workcation

• What work-related factors you need to take into account when choosing a location

• Whether or not to notify clients about your workcation or just operate like business as usual

• How to enjoy the vacation aspect around your work and also set some working hours

• What you can do to prepare for issues like a poor Wi-Fi connection and other unforeseen circumstances

• What things worked well during Corinne’s recent workcation—and what she would do differently next time

• Corinne’s tips for translators and interpreters who are planning a workcation

Resources we mentioned in this episode:

• Corinne’s training company, Training for Translators

• The portable monitor that Corinne recommends

• The Commit30 planner

See the full list of links and resources for this episode: https://smarthabitsfortranslators.com/podcast-episodes/84