I’ll always remember the look of terror in everyone else’s eyes when they heard they’d be under strict lockdown. Working from home while dealing with the kids? Was that a sick joke or something?

My family and friends were all freaking out. But I’m an introverted translator. “The joke’s on you, Coronavirus. I can handle this,” I told myself. And I honestly thought nothing would change.

Self-isolation

Truth be told, I’ve always enjoyed being alone. Growing up, my mom thought there was something wrong with me. But I simply liked playing with my toys all by myself and minding my own business.

She thought I needed to socialize more, so I took Theatre, Art, and Music lessons with other kids. None of that helped. After that, I became a Boy Scout (there were both boys and girls). I hated it. Everything and everyone bored me to death until I discovered my passion: the English language. 

I became obsessed. I only listened to music in English, read texts in English, and watched every show/movie I could find in English. I only had an old TV, so I had to cover the subtitles with black tights to improve my listening skills. Never take Netflix for granted, kids!

Quarantine life

Fast forward to this date, and I’ve worked from home as a translator/copywriter for the last seven years, after my first (and last) in-house translator job. I share an office with my husband, but I rarely go there. The reason? I love peace and quiet, and I still enjoy being alone.

But after losing my uncle to cancer without being able to say goodbye, all I wanted was to spend as much time with my family as possible. And I couldn’t even do that! I had A LOT of work coming my way as a subcontractor. But I can’t even name the huge companies from the IT sector I work for due to NDAs. It sucks.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the agency work, and I know other translators would kill to have these clients. But the long hours, the three hundred glossaries that contradict each other, the last-minute changes, the race to the bottom when it comes to rates PLUS being a mom of 3…it was getting overwhelming.

Time for a change

I suddenly realized that, because I was a shy introvert, I’d missed many opportunities to have more and better clients. I know every marketing strategy in the book, but I was using them for the benefit of everyone else but me.

So I decided to face my fear of networking to connect with my dream clients. They’re tech executives who need help writing or translating web content, blog posts, newsletters, and social media content (or localizing other multimedia products).

But there was one small limitation: my trip to the US and the conferences I was planning to attend were canceled. How was I going to meet new people?

The lowest cost (yet highest ROI) trick I've learned during this quarantine life

“In times of crisis, some people cry while others sell tissues.” So instead of focusing on the limitations imposed by the lockdown, I leveraged the other tools available for networking: virtual meetings and social media.

I started sharing useful tips on LinkedIn, sending personalized invitations, engaging with people’s posts, and sending them messages, which soon became video calls.

By providing value and genuinely connecting with people, I gained three new direct clients in only one month. I didn’t think I’d have the time for this, but it turns out I only had to invest a couple of hours a day. Thanks to my direct-client work, I can work less while making the same amount of money (or even more).

Y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado (Snip, snap, snout, this tale's told out)

Quarantine life hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be. But, at least, I learned how to make the most out of a difficult situation—a superpower I didn’t even know I had.

I used to believe I had to work all day to be successful as a middle-class woman from Argentina. That’s why, for nine years, I’ve written and translated content for huge brands, but only as a subcontractor. I was too scared to put myself out there because it made me uncomfortable as the shy and introverted person I am.

But quarantine life has taught me that time is too precious to be wasting it. Now, every minute I spend with my family or working for my dream clients is a minute worth living.

If you enjoyed this piece, please follow Mariana Serio on Twitter @mstranslations.