BeatBabel turns 10 this year! There are many reasons to celebrate, indeed.
Our anniversary “mascot”
Since the early days of working with a couple of computers out of a living room, much has changed. We came into the industry with years of experience on our backs, knowing that there was room for a new kind of player in town. We wanted to be different. We wanted to make a difference. From the beginning, we held strong to our commitment to people, be it our colleagues, translators, clients, neighbors, family, you name it.
This idea has driven our relationships, old and new. Technology may have changed the business landscape throughout the last decade (and believe us, we are all about technology!) but it is the people who continue to define our purpose and give meaning to our work.
As part of the celebrations, we have decided to shine the spotlight on our very own superstars. We are aware that we would not have made it this far without the tireless efforts of our translators. They are the people behind the scenes who make the magic happen. They are artists devoted to their craft, and while they do not sign their masterpieces, they are known to the world through the quality of their work. To show our appreciation for them, we have created a new section on our website entirely dedicated to their stories: A-way with words. They are exceptional translators, no doubt, but they are exceptional human beings first and foremost. We’ll be posting profiles regularly for the remainder of 2019, so stayed tuned, because our family of translators is diverse, intelligent, creative, funny, geeky, and overall just worth getting to know. It’s a big family that keeps on growing.
Read more about them via this link
And of course, hitting this benchmark allows us to reflect and also be thankful for the people who show up at the office every day, who keep everything running smoothly, who serve as key liaisons between clients and translators, those make us laugh when we need it, who help put out fires, who bear the slow season and the crazy-amount-of-work one as well, always handling everything like the pros that they are. In the office, they wear many hats simultaneously, but above all, they are team players. They always step up to help when needed, and we know we can count on them during office hours and outside of them too! We have a very special team, and we are so lucky to have had so many wonderful people grow with us throughout the years.
And like a kid who grows out of clothes, we have had to adjust. We are now on our third office space, wonderfully located in Downtown San Diego, walking distance from Seaport Village and Little Italy. We are a but a short trip away from the sea, and if that’s not lucky we don’t know what is.
But there is no true growth without maturity. And our new Translation Business Management System (TBMS) B@BL is proof of that. After years of brainstorming, planning, late nights at the office, many donuts and generous feedback from our customers, vendors and partners, this year we have finally launched B@BL. It’s an aesthetically pleasing, functional and incredibly efficient all-in-one platform where projects are taken care of from start to finish. We want clients and vendors alike to have a smooth experience when working with us, and B@BL is one of our ways to make that happen. We are proud of the end result though we are aware that the work is never done, and we will always be looking for ways to improve.
The Translation business is always full of surprises. We never know what we are going to get or when we are going to get it. We just have to be ready for whatever comes our way. We have made it to TEN and have many crazy stories to tell about this decade of existence. We have traveled the world, oftentimes from the comfort of our desks but also quite literally, we’ve traveled — from industry conferences to onsite projects, from client meetings to trainings, from company outings to reunions, BeatBabel has been around the world. We stand at the edge of this decade with plenty of experience (both good and bad because that’s life) and humbled by the journey thus far.
It would not have been a birthday without a party, of course. On September 25, we hosted a celebration at Stone Brewery in Liberty Station, where BeatBabel and friends got together to enjoy a nice evening full of laughs and beers to mark the occasion. As you can see, matching t-shirts were involved.
Happy Birthday BeatBabel, here’s to 10 more years!