Our first blog of the new year includes guest writing from one of our past colleagues, who picked two of his favorite movies of 2022 to review for us. These movies are, of course, fun to watch and come to us highly recommended by our guest writer. But also, as a language services provider and a small business, we like to find bits of ourselves and our work in the things we enjoy. For example, in our first movie, we take great interest in the use of social media and videos, and in the second, we were greatly affected by how the same people can have so many different circumstances.

Scream 5

Scream 5 is not just the latest entry in the Scream series, but also a question. How loyal are fans to a franchise? Though there’s a different director at the helm, the same tone as the other entries in the franchise are present, but with a modern twist.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her acquaintances, are still being stalked by someone in a Ghostface outfit. This time though, social media is at the center of everything. There are online videos of people complaining about the recent Stab movies (the in-universe movies about the murders in the previous Scream movies), saying that they don’t follow the “right” path. This movie focuses on the opinionated fans who openly complain about the “wrong” directions that franchises have taken.

Overall, this is a movie that anyone who’s paid attention to social media or YouTube in the past decade will have fun watching. It’s not the best movie in the franchise, but it’s an enjoyable one!

Everything Everywhere All at Once

This is probably the most surprising movie of the year. It starts out with an ordinary situation where a family goes to social services for help with a topic. It’s as surprising for the audience as it is for the main character when everything changes in the next moment. Just like someone snapped their fingers, you’re brought through several different dimensions. The fun part? Each dimension has the same characters, but in different roles. In short, it’s a movie centering around a multiverse.

The protagonist is a Chinese-American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who experiences her life in several ways across the dimensions, all with the same people, but always different. The best part about the movie is how it managed to be original, funny, and surprising all at the same time. Your instinct might make you try to relate the movie to all the superhero movies from the past decade or two, but don’t. This is a unique movie that has no comparison, and you’re bound to love it. Also be sure to check out the movie if you’re fans of Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan (best known for his appearances in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies)!

Understanding Your Finances

No business can do anything without finances. Do budget properly, and do the math to understand your bottom line. How much do you need to make to turn a profit? How much is too much for customers to afford?

Knowing when and where to cut back on your finances and where to invest is critical to keeping your business afloat. With the huge impact of the pandemic, it’s no question that the loss of sales affected many businesses too much. To weather these hardships, downsizing on your output, office space, or perhaps even prices might help you keep the business going.

Making and Keeping Connections, even Remotely

Many language service providers rely on freelance translators and interpreters as vendors for their business; most times, getting in touch with them is often done through phone calls or emails. But, how do you get the vendor—especially interpreters—to their assignments, when in-person meetings are restricted?

Phone and video methods are hardly secrets. Even outside of the pandemic, these are common ways to get an interpreter to someone immediately regardless of where the client and interpreter are. Those LSPs and other small businesses that had already been getting ready to use remote or online options were in a good place to adapt their services to the pandemic.

Communicating with Your Team

To keep open communication with your team members is vital. Just as upper management relies on associates to get the on-hands work done, associates rely on upper management to answer their questions. The back-and-forth dynamics and momentum are crucial to move your business forward.

In times of hardship like the pandemic, transparent communication is very important. Employees may be nervous about job security or keeping certain accounts going. Positive reinforcement, support, and leadership can provide teams with the confidence they need to weather any circumstance.

Don’t be Afraid of Change…

New technologies come out constantly in today’s world, even during the pandemic and afterward. Learning how to use them can help your business stay up-to-date, and can even help with your output’s quality and/or quantity.

Other changes might include the coming and going of staff, a vendor changing their prices, the laws you have to keep in mind, etc. Keep abreast of these changes and remember to stay flexible; taking too long to adapt might leave you in the dust of your competitors.

Adapting to pandemic looked different for all sorts of companies, but what’s important is to stay creative. Some businesses turned remote, others decided to automate work flows, and some decided to host online events.

…But Try to Stay Consistent

Sudden, unexplained changes even outside the pandemic can upset a person’s balance and leave them scrambling for an answer. For example, having to reduce the price per word for a translation could result in a vendor refusing to work with you, or raising the prices too high for a customer could result in the customer backing out of a deal.

As important as it is to stay flexible, people like to stick to tried and true methods—things remain reliable that way. So, whenever possible, keep consistent in your work, and be as transparent as possible with your customers. Consistency and transparency will always be appreciated by those you work with.

Hard-hit small businesses in the US may be eligible for low-interest federal disaster relief loans through the Small Business Administration. The maximum amount of an Economic Injury Disaster Loan is $2 million, the interest rate for small businesses is 3.75%, and affordable, long-term repayment plans are available. The loan amount must be used towards regular operating costs that couldn’t otherwise be paid, due to the pandemic.

An Economic Injury Disaster Loan may be what many small businesses suffering under the COVID-19 outbreak need to weather the crisis, and with the passing of the historic $2 trillion stimulus bill, the Small Business Administration will be offering even more relief to businesses. Visit https://www.sba.gov/ to view relief options and check your eligibility.