The Global Language Industry with Andrew Smart

Andrew Smart is a versatile international business leader with P&L experience in Asia and the US at start-ups and global corporations across the media, internet, education, and financial services industries. He enjoys business strategy, new market entry, client engagement, product development, launching new businesses, and business transformation to achieve growth and profitability. Andrew co-founded Slator.com in 2015, which is now the leading news and research site for the global translation, localization, and language technology industry. As Commercial Director, he drives its revenue growth and engagement with a global client base. Andrew also established and runs the event business, which includes the SlatorCon conference series, roundtables, and training workshops, and provides business advisory and content marketing services. KEY TAKEAWAYS There can be anything in life that will keep you from growing globally. But, finding your own strength in the market can save your life. The global language industry has been growing with the help of technology. AI (Artificial Intelligence) is now more integrated with translation memory and translation management systems but the human factor in all translation processes is critical. Communication skills are the key for whom would like to go forward. For growth, you should ask yourselves if you want to see a gap in the market or you have something you want to do. After answering these questions, you have to commit yourself and be realistic about how long it might take to get to a point of growth considering tools and systems for it. BEST MOMENTS “No matter what you're trying to do, no matter what you're doing, disruption can come in many, many forms, there can be economic shocks, there can be all kinds of crises, there can be pandemics, and they can, you know, really disrupt your business or your industry. And so you have to be resilient”. “The globe language industry has been growing very steadily 789 percent year in and year out. It's had globalization and internationalization really at its core for decades. And even now, during the COVID pandemic, there, there were still areas that actually benefited greatly like E-commerce, over the top media and other sectors that were quite resilient like life sciences”. “Whatever your strengths are, you look there first for a market opportunity. And then it comes down to trying to figure out how to serve that market, what is the problem that they're facing? And can you help them? If it goes beyond a little bit beyond just translation, I think, and then what technological components and you know, at the most basic level translation management systems and other tools, they're easier to the plugin. And then you have to think about, well, what then where do I go from there? I think one of the things that amaze me about this industry is just the variety of tools that certain companies have to be familiar with different translation management tools”. “Confidence comes with time. And it also requires a little bit of cultural support within the organization”. “When you solve other people's problems, and you do something that you like, everything else will happen, the money will start to flow, the client work will start to flow. And then you just have to build it from there. The last thing I will say is, you have to also realize what you don't know, yet, so important, listen, and try to learn and try to learn”. “This industry has been particularly friendlier than many. Yes, there are competitors and yes, sometimes people, maybe they head as it does happen in any competitive environment. But at the same time, there's far more collaboration. And in this industry, and I think that might be due to the nature of the work that a lot of people do, they're building bridges. They're establishing communication, that communication is going beyond just words, word toward translation, it's getting into a culture, it's getting into emotion or context. And you're seeing this played out in so many different ways”. ABOUT THE HOST Levent Yildizgoren, the author of 'Good Business in any Language', is an award-winning entrepreneur, localisation professional, and a PRINCE2 qualified project manager. CONTACT METHOD Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/leventyildizgoren/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/yildizgoren IG: https://www.instagram.com/levent.yildizgoren/ ABOUT THE GUEST Andrew Smart is the co-founder of Slator, which is now the leading news and research site for the global translation, localization, and language technology industry. As Commercial Director, he drives its revenue growth and engagement with a global client base. CONTACT METHOD Slator SlatorCon Remote - 16 March 2022 LocJobs LinkedIn VALUABLE RESOURCES Do you have any questions about translation, localization, or international growth? Visit TTC website: https://ttcwetranslate.com/ Take your business global with the 5-step LINGO modal! Purchase 'Good Business in any Language' on Amazon now: https://cutt.ly/2ORRhKZ