Dorota Pawlak is the owner of DP Translation Services, translator and writer. She holds an MA in Translation and MSc in Multilingual Computing and Localization. Dorota is also a translation course teacher and conference speaker. After 10 years of running her own business, she decided to slow down to focus on her newborn daughter. Now she also helps freelancers and solopreneurs to grow their businesses, especially other women who want to combine their entrepreneurship with motherhood.
Dorota regularly writes for her blog where she shares tips for freelancers and teaches online courses for translators and freelancers. Her book, “You’ve Got This: How to continue your freelance career when you become a mother” was released in September 2020.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up writing a book?
I’m a translator, writer and business trainer for freelancers. My first adventures with writing began in my childhood. That’s when I started to write poems, short stories, essays and finally blogs. When I opened my freelance translation business I also created my first professional blog. This commitment to regular writing in a language that wasn’t my native tongue was what helped to shape my writing skills to the point where I finally got the courage to write and publish my first book. I wanted to share my story on combining motherhood with running a business to help other women find their motivation and harmony. As I was also interested in experiences of other successful business mothers, I decided to interview women from around the world to learn about their struggles, challenges and rewards.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
My goal is to inspire women who are preparing to transition into a life of a mother and business owner and those who are just starting to learn how to combine running their businesses with taking care of their babies. Through the interviews with so many amazing ladies, I’d like to show that it is possible to achieve a harmony between business and family responsibilities, no matter what’s your location, experience or support that you receive from others. All you need it a slight mind shift, plus some preparation and a daily dose of self-care.
What are the top three tools you are currently using to write, publish, and promote your books?
- For writing, I use Microsoft Word, Notes app, and Recording app on my Android phone to save my thoughts when I’m away from my computer.
- To promote my book, I use Publisher Rocket to position my book on Amazon in the most effective way.
- For publishing, I used Kindle Create and Sigil to convert my draft into a digital form. The paper format is distributed via Amazon.
What were the top mistakes you made writing/publishing your book?
- I think my writing process went smoothly, as I planned everything in advance. My main mistake was that I didn’t start promoting my book before it was ready. Although I read many books and heard many pieces of advice on self-publishing, I ignored the suggestion to run your promotion as early as possible. I thought it would only slow my writing down, and generate some negative karma that would prevent my book from publishing altogether.
- The other trap I fell into was ignoring the power of Instagram. I did have a large following on other social media, mainly related to my translation, teaching, speaking activities, but these contacts weren’t the best target group for my book. It’s only after I started connecting with other freelancing mothers and entrepreneurial females via Instagram that I noticed how powerful this platform might be for book promoting purposes.
When will you consider your book a success?
I used to think that the only way to consider it a success would be to sell a minimum of 10,000 copies. Now I think that my biggest reward and success is when I receive positive comments from my readers who tell me that the book helped them find their way out of chaos or inspire them to change something in their lives.
Here’s a snippet from the chapter “Giving up is freeing up”:
Give up something to find yourself
You don’t need to be a superwoman or a super businesswoman. There’s nothing wrong with giving up on your earlier plans to find yourself and your soul. If you feel that motherhood transformed you, your energy, and your projections about your future, draft a new action plan. If you can’t cope with your business anymore, try restructuring it, hiring somebody, teaming up with a colleague, putting it on hold, closing it and opening a new one, getting a coach, reading an inspirational book—there are many ways to get your energy flowing in the right direction again.
Don’t overthink it, don’t overprepare. Simply start writing, follow your intuition and learn from other successful self-published authors who share their ideas in podcasts, blogs or books.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing your first book?
I wish I had realized that promoting a book is much harder and more time-consuming than writing it. Of course, I heard it earlier from other authors, but I thought I have enough experience from promoting my translation services and courses to help me go smoothly through this process. Having some marketing experience is obviously a benefit, but you still need to put in a lot of work to get your book in front of your target readers.
If you had the chance to start your career over again what would you do differently?
I would definitely start to write books earlier. There were always some obstacles, or rather events or conditions that I considered to be obstacles: lack of time, lack of ideas, fear of failure, fear of criticism… Although I had many ideas for a book in my past, I never completed the wiring process. I’d usually stop after several pages, doubting if anyone would ever read it. Now I have the courage, and I will continue wiring even if my books won’t hit a bestseller list.
Yes! I love the Creative Penn Podcast by Joanna Penn. It was the first podcast for self-published authors that I subscribed to and it motivated me to start wiring my book.
I can also recommend books by Joanna Penn or David Gaughran that are immensely inspirational and contain many handy tips for writers and self-published authors.
What is your favorite quote?
Now one of my favorite quotes is:
“I’m sure that whatever changed is only temporary. It will change again”
– Sidney Sheldon.
How can we get in touch with you?
You can reach me via my website DorotaPawlak.eu, LinkedIn or Instagram.
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