MBA1294 Should You Offer Your Product in Different Languages?

USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and Sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With usaa, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a'@usaa.com bundle restrictions apply.

Ready to save on new tech? It's time for Dell Tech Day's annual sales event celebrating our customers with fantastic deals and benefits. Perks include Dell Rewards, free shipping, premium Support and more. PCs like the Dell 14 with Intel Core Ultra processors will help you do more faster and with a premium suite of monitors and accessories, you can upgrade your whole setup with amazing savings. Visit Dell.com deals. Hey oh welcome to the $100 MBA Show. Because your business you at your best. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the $100 MBA, a complete business training and community online. And in today's lesson you will learn should you offer your product in different languages? Many of us only offer our product, whether it's a software, a book, a course, or even a service in English or your native language wherever you're located. But are you leaving money on the table by not offering other languages? Is this important? Should you do this in your business? When you should do this in your business and how to implement it? That's what we get into in today's episode. Translation and offering your product in several languages is no easy task. If you want to do it right, it's going to take some time, some effort, some money. So we want to make sure that you get a return on that investment when you that's what today's episode's all about. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. One of the first things I learned when building Webinar Ninja, our webinar platform, was that when you build a product or a software or anything that appeals to a wider demographic, appeals to people around the world, you're going to get requests to offer that product in different languages. Love your product, but I wish it was in German. I love your product, but I wish it was in Italian. I love your product, but can you offer it in Portuguese? Now this taught me one two things. Number one, there is such a worldly marketplace out there. The Internet has really allowed you to spread around the world. If you have a digital product or anything that can ship to any place in the world, you're gonna be surprised at how many People from different cultures, different languages, want to use your product in their language. But the other thing I learned is that this only happened when my product actually got some traction, where people actually started to see the benefit. My product started to get polished and I knew for sure I had something on my hands that was worth the long haul, that was worth growing. So the first thing I want to start with is that this is not something you should be really worried about. If you haven't validated your product yet, you haven't actually sold anything yet. I would start with one version, one language, whether it's English or otherwise, and make sure people actually love your product, that actually will buy your product, that you have a business on your hands. And make sure you are actually selling to just one market first. Because if that market tells you, hey, you got a good product in your hand and you're making sales and you have customers, then you're not building upon something or building towards something that is not going to be around tomorrow. You know for sure that this company is going to last. Because hey, you're making sales. People like what you have here. You're solving a problem. You have a firm foundation now. Now you build upon it and improve it with other languages. So that's my first thing I want to say is that, hey, if you're just getting started and you haven't sold your product or service yet, don't worry about this so much. Unless you're really trying to target a specific market, like the Spanish speaking market. But even then, I would recommend make sure you start with one language, one market, and try to really make sure that you have something on your hands that is worth pursuing. Once you've validated your product, your service, your business, you're making sales, you have a marketplace, you have people buying your product, you're making money, you're making profits. Reinvest in your business by expanding with different languages. Now this includes if you have a book and you want to translate into different languages. Usually people wait for a certain amount of sold copies before they start translating in different languages because there's money and effort and time involved in doing that. Number two, once you've established that and you're going to start translating your product, you got to look at your customer demographics, you got to survey your customers and find out which languages to start with. You don't have to start with 30 languages, you can start with three. Heck, you can start with one additional language. Ask your customers, the ones that already bought from you, which language are they looking for? What other Languages are they looking for? Now you're gonna get a lot of responses and my advice to you is to try to focus on not only the most popular response, but the most underserved market. This is gonna allow you to really blow up in a market. Say for example, you have a software that, and this software is not available in Portuguese. None of your competitors translate to Portuguese. So essentially if you only speak Portuguese, this software is not available to them. So if you translate to that language, you're going to corner that market completely. So everybody that speaks only Portuguese, we're going to choose you because that's the only one they can use. So serving an underserved market is a great way for you to have rapid growth and in certain demographics, this is a way for you to really differentiate your company. The next tip is don't rush this. Make sure you do it right, especially translation. Translation can go pear shaped and not really, really present your company really well. Because the translation, if it's not good, if it's not done properly, the people that speak that language can detect it very quickly and say, you know what, this was cheaply done and it may not be something that will represent your company properly. So don't rush this. I would definitely search for companies that have translated your product before, meaning that if they specialize in software, specialize in books and specialize in courses, even if that means subtitles to videos, there's lots of companies out there, trust me. Do a Google search, you'll find them and get them to do something small, a sample job, a portion of your software, a page in your software, for example, or a chapter of your book. See the quality of their work. Now of course you may say, well, I don't speak that language, I don't know how good the quality is. This is where you're going to have to find somebody else. You can go to upwork, go to freelancer, go and get a freelancer, another person, a separate person that is a native speaker of that language that may do translation and say, hey, I already have this translated. I want you to read and tell me if it's a good translation. Make any notes on the translation, any corrections you would make, let me know. You want somebody who is an actual user, somebody who actually will use and read your product to tell you if it's good or not. Don't just put it through Google Translate, we're not there yet. Google's not that good yet. Next, think of ways you could future proof your translation. Meaning what? So you may have a product that Keeps on growing. Like there's new features and new pages on your software or new modules to your courses or an updated version to your book. Try to build a relationship with the people that are doing these translations, whatever languages, because this is gonna be an ongoing thing. Once you go down that route, know that this is that type of project. Hey, I'm gonna have my product translated in Italian. That means every time I change my product or update my product, I need the Italian version to be updated as well. So you could see why you need to make sure you nail your business first. Make sure that this is worthwhile before you start translating. It's almost like a separate product or a different version of your product, like the mobile version and the desktop version, something like that. Now, they may not be a full time employee, but you want to make sure that you stay in touch with them, you build a relationship with them because you're going to continually be working with them on and off.

Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?

Right?

And the best part, they accept Discover. Accept Discover in a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh yeah, huh? Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times.

Right.

So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think.

Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.

If you, your parent or spouse served in the military, you could join our family. Our members saved an average of $70 a month on auto insurance when they switched. Tap the banner or visit usaa.com join today to check your eligibility restrictions apply.

To wrap up Teddy's lesson. Offering your product in different languages really allows you to grow in different markets. Serve the underserved and reach so many more people. But take the right steps. Do when you have a solid product, a business that's making money, that's profitable, that you know, helps people and solves their pain and that they're willing to pay for it. See this as a long term type of project. As your business grows, as your product changes and expands, so will the translation of that product. And do it right and impress your customers. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I hope you loved it. If you did, leave us an itunes rating and review. And don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode by hitting subscribe. The next episode gets downloaded to your device automatically so it's ready for you to listen wherever you are, whenever you're ready. We're on Spotify, we're on Stitcher Radio, we're on Apple Podcasts, we're on Overcast, we're on them all. Hit subscribe right now. Now, before I go, I want to leave you with this. We're in the process of translating our product webinar Ninja into different languages and we realize we're going to need help. This is a long term thing. We need to partner with people that really know what they're doing and something that is sustainable for the long run. This may take some time, but it's better for you to take your time and do it right. Because if you translate it wrong, if you do it wrong, if the interface is wrong, it's going to be hard to win over those markets again once you've made that impression on them. And of course, it may take some time because you have other things to worry about. Your business. You're running the business in its current state while you're trying to translate it. All right, thank you so much for listening. I'll check you in tomorrow's episode Q and A Wednesday. I'll see you then. Take care. Of.

Want to buy a car your way? Of course you do. That's why CarMax offers an experience designed just for you. Want to start online, then visit the lot, then go back online? Sure. Want to talk to a real person or chat online? Either works. Want to take your time and compare all the makes and models? No problem. Then make up some time by filling out the paperwork at home and schedule express pickup or home delivery done. When it comes to how you buy, CarMax puts you in the driver's seat. Want to drive? CarMax delivery restrictions apply. Seecarmax.com for details.