Getting a new business off the ground alongside a full-time job is a challenge. Natalia Chumak talks about her experience establishing her own translation agency

It all started with a frustrating phone call with one of the translation agencies I was using in my capacity as a lawyer a couple of years ago. Although the agency was highly reputable and offered translation services in more languages than I knew existed, the quality of the translation left much to be desired. And, I had a tight deadline.

Amendments had to be made in-house and the end product cost more than it should have done. In my frustration, I remember saying to the translation agency manager: "One day I will set up my own translation company and I can assure you it will deliver a much better service than the one I've just received."

Last year, while listening to some depressing news about the scale of the recession, I suddenly thought: "Why don't I do that?" It is never going to be easy to start a new business, especially if you are doing it from scratch. One thing I knew was that if I was ever going to pull it off, I would need a reliable business partner and I could not think of a better person than Elena Tsirlina.

Both Elena and I were born and raised in Russia. We both moved to the UK more than a decade ago to pursue careers in the legal profession. We qualified a few years apart. I am now an associate in Osborne Clarke's disputes practice advising on high-profile international disputes. Elena is the principal at Blokh Solicitors, a niche immigration practice in the West End primarily specialising in the Russian/CIS market. Elena is also a professional bilingual translator who has, for the last few years, been a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

We met through work a few years ago and kept in touch. Elena's personal qualities combined with her professional background and experience made her a perfect partner for the business. I telephoned her to share my idea, held my breath in anticipation and was over the moon with excitement when she said that she also had been thinking about the same idea and "was definitely in".

We gave a lot of thought to our business model. Our starting position was simple – there was a gap in the market for a translation service that understood the requirements of the legal and business community and could deliver a consistently high standard product. We were also confident we knew how to deliver that service.

The reason for our confidence is easy to explain. We have had more than 20 years' experience of practical translation and translation management between us. We have been on the 'other side of the fence' for many years. During that time, we have also built relationships with the best translators and interpreters in the market who understand the legal industry and whose services we would use to resource our translation service.

We are in a unique position. Our team of translators and interpreters are people with whom either we personally or our colleagues have worked. This means that we can assign the most suitable linguist or a team of them, if required, to the job. We have strict selection criteria for new translators or interpreters and take considerable time selecting the right people. We accept no shortcuts when it comes to quality.

Setting up a new business is more than just having an idea or spotting a gap in the market. There are many practical issues that must be addressed. The next critical step for us was to consider how we would deliver our services. There were several issues to consider. We are both practising solicitors and are very committed to our respective legal careers. We therefore had to create an effective management arrangement that would allow us to pursue our legal careers without restriction and ensure no conflict (whether legal or commercial) arose between our day jobs and our new business.

The solution seemed obvious, but was a major step forward in our commitment to our translation agency. We had to hire someone who would be responsible for the day to day running of the business. We hired another Russian with extensive experience in translation management. Her job is to liaise with clients and translators/interpreters, process orders, handle queries and deal with the general day-to-day running of the business.

This means that neither Elena nor I personally deal with daily translation processing or have sight of documents – this primarily relates to dealings with law firms where documents might betray client identity and give rise to conflict issues. Elena and I focus on business development and creating guidelines and policies that will ensure a consistent and professional service

In today's climate, price is obviously an issue for law firms and their clients. We believed that high quality products and good service can be delivered at a reasonable price if you get the business model right and are efficient in the way you operate. To put it another way – we believe our approach and business structure delivers the equivalent of designer quality clothes at high street prices. Our rates are competitive, our discounts are good and we offer a variety of innovative.

We have also invested our time and money in research and relevant consultants. We had to learn everything about setting up a new business – IT support, stationery, web design, accounts, PI insurance, etc. I have found some IT issues completely beyond my comprehension but luckily Elena and our administrator were able to handle them competently without much input from me. We did not need to spend any money on lawyers as we felt confident we could handle it in-house. So, there are some savings to be made by lawyers going into business!

In the end, our business plan looked good, our funders were happy to proceed and Medusa Translations Limited – our brain child, was born. I am often asked about the choice of name. Medusa is traditionally a symbol of beauty, power and protection. We think these are valuable qualities for a service business like ours. In addition, we think that Medusa has a great potential as a brand name and we have a logo to match.

Medusa specialises in providing translation/interpreting services in legal, corporate and general commercial sectors. However, we are also seeking to branch out into art translation in line with our avid interest in Russian and European art and the translation expertise we can offer in this sector.

We have the capacity to handle individual as well as high-volume specialist translations to and from English, Russian and Ukrainian languages, and can provide interpreters for a variety of events from day-long business conferences and meetings to ongoing court hearings. We are also in a position to offer translation services in some other languages on request.

How do we actually manage it on a daily basis? It is tough. We knew that we had long working hours and working weekends ahead of us, but the prospect of having all days of the week merged into one did not unsettle us. Elena and I share the same values and work ethic – clients and business come first. The secret to being able to handle two busy jobs lies in commitment, self-discipline and cooperation.

We are now two months into our new business and our idea seems to have struck a chord. We already have instructions through the door and the feedback so far has been extremely positive. In the current environment who knows what the future holds, but a good idea, a good business partner and a real investment of time looks like it might pay dividends.

Natalia Chumak is an associate at Osborne Clarke.