Invoicing & Billing

S	I want to ensure that all my invoices and billing is mistake free and up to date.
M	I will put aside two nights a week (depending on my schedule) to go over, edit, and update my invoices.
A	Once I have found days that are regularly available for me to do this I will put the task into my Google Calendar
R	Once I start to work it is very important to stay on top of billing/invoices to ensure that I am being paid properly and that I am keeping organized in case of a tax audit in years to come.
T	I will work on this for a month’s time and will try to establish a routine in my work to ensure this is a regular activity I am doing.
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E	After a month’s time I will check to ensure that my work is not only mistake-free but also that it is up to date (no invoices older than 4 days)
R	If I find that 2 times a week is too much and possibly too confusing then I may have to set up one specific day a week to do this. If, on the other hand I find that I cannot stay on top of the work then I may need to increase the amount of times I try and tackle this task.

Invoicing is a very new thing to myself and any new interpreter. It is important to stay up to date because if there are mistakes being made then they can be easily fixed. I may also take advantage of my future brother-in-law who is a CPA and ask for help if I am unsure of the proper billing techniques required of a freelance contract worker.

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Emailing

S	I want to make sure I reply to emails within 24 hours
M	I will put aside time each day, maximum 30 minutes, to go through my emails to ensure that I have responded to all necessary emails.
A	As a new interpreter I do not think I will receive a tremendous amount of emails, I expect roughly 10-15 per day. This seems manageable for me.
R	Email is the main form of contact between interpreters and the available assignments. By ensuring that I am taking time to actively look at my emails it may instill a better professional practice for years to come.
T	Much like my first SMART-ER goal I will try this for a month’s time as I start to get used to working as a professional interpreter.
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E	After a month has passed I should have a good feeling in regards to if I am replying to emails in time. If I am missing assignment because I am too slow then I know something may need to change
R	If I am missing assignment due to a lack of email replies then I may need to keep the same amount of time to check emails (30 minutes) but do it twice per day (15 minutes x2), or even three times per day (10 minutes x3).

In the year 2019 we have constant access to our email. In the field of freelance interpreting a lot of communication is done through email. That being said if I inadvertently look at my email and leave messages as “read” without replying to them I run the risk of missing work opportunities. If I allot time to check my emails in a meaningful manner, in that I plan to reply to emails, I lessen the risk of missing emails/work opportunities.

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Active Lifestyle

S	I want to be active every day and record my activities using Google Fit Calendar.
M	Being active is the most important and most helpful way to ensure that I am maintaining a healthy lifestyle which leads to better work.
A	Being active 7 days a week may seem daunting but the way I put it is to just go out of my way to do something active that I, otherwise, would not have done (can be a short walk, stretching while I watch TV, or going to the gym).
R	As I have spoken to many times, when I am living an active lifestyle all other parts of my life tend to improve. My mental being, my mood, my interpreting abilities, and my eating habits.
T	I would like to try this for a month’s time. Due to the fact that it is spring and almost summer there is a lot more opportunity to get outside and take time from my day to be active.
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E	After a month I will look at my progress and how active I have been. Have I been active every day?
R	If I am struggling to be active every day I need to look at the reasoning behind why that is? If I do not have time then I may need to lessen my goal of 7 days a week. If it is an unwillingness to be active I will look at getting someone (a friend or family member) to try it with me because social activity/fitness may be more impactful and successful overall.

This is not a new smarter goal but it one that I try to maintain. When I live a healthy and active lifestyle I find my quality of life improves overall. Interpreting is a stressful job and if I can relieve even a small bit of that stress through activity then I will benefit from that. I also predict that I will have more success if I get myself a “workout buddy” to face this challenge with me. When you work together with someone else you tend to hold the other person accountable and are therefore more likely to meet your goals. For now though, I am going to try and motivate myself to meet this goal.

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Creating my own business card was actually more difficult that I had imagined. In my past I attempted to create my own business as a landscaper. I did not put enough time or effort into creating my business cards or my advertising platform. When it was all said and done my business cards were not very appealing and my advertisements had spelling errors in them. Therefore, I really wanted to make my business card clean, crisp, and clear.

There are different ways of approaching the design of an interpreter’s business card. I have seen some cards with images of hands on them, or some with the ASL sign for “interpreting” in the corner. After looking at some of these options and decisions others had made I decided that an image on my business card would not really meet the goal of what I want my business card to be. I really want my business card to be a way for people to recognize my name. Working in freelance I know how much a person’s name means. Once we are known as sign language interpreters then we are later referred to by name. Through my practicum experience there are a lot of really well known interpreters that I met who are referred to by name first and as a sign language interpreter second (if clarification of their position is needed).

Therefore, I wanted my name, as well as the symbol of “CC” to be easy to see and easy to read. Using a combination of Google Drawings and canva.com I was able to create the image I wanted on my business card. I wanted my name to be the first thing that pops out at people. The title of ASL/English Interpreter, while still important, acts as a supporting detail on the front of my card. My contact information and credentials are on the back of the card so as to allow people to “read on” about me if they are interested. I really like the way the card turned out and I think the way my name is set up on the card meets my goal of having the name “Chris Chiarelli” be the first thing people see and hopefully I can work to a point where the name carries the meaning of ASL/English Interpreter, rather than the opposite.

Throughout my 3 practicum sites I met some wonderfully amazing people. They are experienced, talented, and wise interpreters who approach their work in a professional manner. I am honoured to have these people support me and be willing to act as a reference for me.

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Cindy Nevins is someone who I worked with in a K-12 capacity. Cindy is a talented interpreter who has an incredible unserstanding of the school system and the systemic issues related to working in a K-12 setting. She was also kind enough to write me a letter of reference – found below

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Cindy Nevins

Ottawa, ON

Phone: (613) 721-1346

Email: cindy.nevins@ocsb.ca

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Tammy Pyper was my mentor in Moncton, NB in January of 2019. Tammy is a graduate of Douglas College and guided me through my first real experience interpreting. To this day I still talk to Tammy on occasion and I consider her an important part of my interpreting journey. She is also very experienced working with Douglas College students and was very helpful in mentoring me not only with interpreting but the practicum process.

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Tammy Pyper

Fredericton, NB

Phone: (506) 999-1910

Email: eschner@shaw.ca

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Jocelyn Mark was my mentor in Ottawa while I was working with the Sign Language Interpreting Associates Ottawa (SLIAO). Jocelyn, and the whole team at SLIAO were extremely easy to work with and gave me the opportunity to work in a myriad of assignments and provided me with lots of support and feedback. It was while working with Jocelyn that I really was able to hone in on some of my business skills and am extremely grateful for that.

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Jocelyn Mark

Ottawa, ON

Phone: (613) 262-4746

Email: jocelyn.mark@sliao.ca

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All three people mentioned here are tremendous mentors and I know they will have meaningful input on my abilities as a sign language interpreter. Through discussion and practice I feel like I learned so much from the start of my practicum with each individual until the end of each block.