TypeWrite Transcription and Typing Services CC Blog

2012 Worldwide VA Services Special Report - Survey.

2012-01-26T20:22:00.002+02:00

Hi Gaynor,

We’re about to distribute survey data collection forms to initiate research leading up to the 2012 Worldwide VA Services Special Report. We want to invite all VA professionals and forum members to participate. Would you please mention this opportunity on your blog?

All responses will be treated as confidential and company proprietary. We will never release any pricing information associated with a particular person, business, or company. Everyone who participates will receive the statistical results for those areas in which they provide input. The complete survey results will be available as a Special Report near the end of April. Participants will be able to purchase the complete report at deep discount. (They’ll still get the statistical results for their own input.) All one needs to do to participate is to click off a request to receive the survey form. We’ll send it as an email attachment in RTF. We anticipate over 1,000 active participants.

Warm regards,

Robert Brenner, MSEE, MSSM
Brenner Information Group
www.brennerbooks.com
brenner@brennerbooks.com

Debtors and Creditors system added

2012-01-18T16:15:00.002+02:00

Hi All!

Due to popular demand figg has developed Debtors, Creditors and Inventory in the Small Business Accounting System and upgraded a couple of other things also.

Please view the Video on http://youtu.be/WaBIXXyZF9g explaining the upgrade features.

Scribe needed

2012-01-07T21:55:00.000+02:00

Hi guys, I need help with the following query. If you can assist with this, please contact me at gpaynter@telkomsa.net. Gauteng based.

Dear Gaynor,

It was a pleasure speaking to you. Thank you for the offer to help source a good scribe for me. The details are as follows:

Requirements:

· Fast accurate scribe with the ability to listen and type onto live screen at the same time. EXCEPTIONAL WORD POWERPOINT AND EXCEL SKILLS

· A reasonable understanding of strategic planning processes –must be able to quickly understand and follow the content

· Must be able to produce a first draft report a day after the workshop

· Workshop will run for three days- usually client chooses an away from office venue- requiring sleeping over for the three days- the cost of accommodation travel and meals is borne by client. I will require the services for an extra two days. Maximum therefore will be five days.

· A mature and highly self driven and professional individual.

I look forward to your response.

Kind regards

My profile

2012-01-05T23:29:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody, with it being the new year I thought I would like to provide a bit of clarity on my businesses and the exact nature of the services we provide. So here is the definitive lowdown on what we do.

Gaynor Paynter is the owner of Typewrite Transcription andTyping Services CC and Talking Point Media Consulting. Combined, these companies provide a full virtual and online marketing suite of services from transcription and typing services to online social media marketing services. In addition she has become a dealer of figg Excel Accounting Products, a company which provides accounting software which is based in MS Excel. The focus of all of these is geared to assisting small businesses with every need from getting your accounting into shape to getting you a presence online to transcribing and typing your documentation.

Services covered include:

- Transcription

- Typing

- Proofreading

- Editing

- CV Writing

- Social media marketing

- Website development

- figg Excel Accounting software (with the option of bookkeeping services included)

We customise our services to meet the needs of your business.

Author of an e-book, "Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa" which retails for R120.

- +27834424689

- email gpaynter@telkomsa.net

- Skype gaynorp

Our websites:

www.typewritetranscription.co.za

www.talkingpointmedia.co.za

www.typewrite.blogspot.com

www.talkingpointmedia.blogspot.com

2010 Afrivan Nominees:
Achievement Award Nominee Category
Gaynor Paynter - Typewrite Transcription VA Regional Award Nominee Category

World Wide Virtual Service Billing Rates

2012-01-04T20:26:00.000+02:00

Robert Brenner is the Publisher: Pricing Tactics and Small Business Guide to Pricing and the

Manager of Real Prices Confidential(RPC) online database.

He recently published the following which he gave me permission to publish. Of note is the fact that South Africa doesn't feature.

I don’t hav stats but my gut feel says that there are more Vas in SA than in the Ukraine, and Hungary. The Ukraine’s population is 46 million, Hungary a paltry R10 million. Our population is 49 million. It would be interesting to find out what percentage of people are Vas and if there eare more in SA or in these countries. After all, Hungary also have political differences and I don’t think can be considered first world. Unless, like the Chinese government, their focus is on education and they have free internet, I cn’t see how they can have more than us. It leads me to wonder whether this bears out something that my colleague Alison Fourie of AMF Typing - who put me in touch with Robert - and I have always wondered. Do South African VAs NOT ADVERTISE?

World Wide Virtual Service Billing Rates

Based on almost 6,000 prices that we’ve collected (most in the last 6 weeks) a Quick Look analysis shows the following:

Sample size: 5,982 companies (and growing)

Price Range: $5-$300/hour

Average Price: $27.66/hour

Countries represented: 21

Top Countries Advertising on the Internet (listed by number of ads found):

USA

Canada

India

Australia

France

Hungary

Pakistan

Ukraine

The highest average hourly rate was $35.80 for the UK, then $31.50 for Canada. The U.S. came in with an average of $27.69. Billing rates for India averaged $9 per hour. Details for all of these prices are in our Real Prices Confidential database (RPC). RPC will be used to develop the 2012 Special International Report on Virtual Service Prices< /i> (available this month). If you’re thinking about outsourcing work or creating a strategic partnership with a company offshore, these may be helpful to you.

Hopefully this information will help you start 2012 focused on increased sales and profit and ready to prosper in the New Year!

Best wishes,

Robert Brenner, MSEE, MSSM

Brenner Information Group

www.brennerbooks.com

Publisher: Pricing Tactics and Small Business Guide to Pricing

Manager: Real Prices Confidential(RPC) online database

P.S. We’re also developing a Special International Report on Web Service Prices. Are you interested?

Public Access to Information Act

2012-01-02T15:48:00.002+02:00

Hi all, you've probably heard about PAIA, so what is it and what must you do?

From the South African Human Resources Council Website:

All South African businesses must comply with PAIA – The Public’s Access to Information Act. PAIA legislation creates the framework to the right to access information enshrined in section 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996. The purpose of this legislation is to promote a culture of transparency, accountability and good governance both in the private and public sectors. Therefore, the Act places specific compliance requirements on both state institutions and private sector. See here for more information: http://www.sahrc.org.za/home/index.php?ipkContentID=70&ipkMenuID=51

It pays to Google your name every now and then...

2011-11-30T20:23:00.000+02:00

I just googled mine and found the following:

2010 Afrivan Nominees:
Achievement Award Nominee Category
Gaynor Paynter - Typewrite Transcription
VA Regional Award Nominee Category
Gaynor Paynter- TAVASA

I wasn't notified that I was a nominee so I am rather pleased about this. :-)

URGENT JOB LEAD Contact Thembeni direct

2011-11-20T23:34:00.000+02:00

Job Lead 5 diagrams structures that need done in colour and needed Monday Contact: 0769459290 Thembeni Mahlangu thembenima@gmail.com

We talk to Gail Emmerick - partner in figg Excel Accounting products and entrepreneur

2011-11-02T19:10:00.001+02:00

Hi everybody,

You will see on our site that we are a dealer of figg Excel accounting products. We deal in products that we believe in that will make a difference to entrepreneurs and startups and figg is such a product. figg is accounting for non accountants. It consists of easy to use Excel spreadsheets to manage your accounting needs.

View this presentation video and read our interview where we talk to Gail Emmerick, partner in the business.

Here we speak to Gail Emmerick, partner in the business and female entrepreneur of 20 years' standing. Gail is also a shareholder at Abafazi Guest House and her specialities include developing Excel Accounting Products, Training, Management and HR Consulting. We asked Gail to share some information with up and coming entrepreneurs.

1) Tell us something about yourself - how long have you been in business and what motivates you to keep on going?

Hi Gaynor! It was always difficult for me to answer questions from friends asking “but what do you do for fun?” because they knew that I was always “working”. It’s not difficult to answer that question since I figured out a few years ago that my work happens to be my hobby also, although I still get many sighs and raised eyebrows with my answer!

2) Were there any pitfalls early in business that you would warn new businesses about now - accounting or non accounting related? Thousands but I will try to relay to you the main one’s. Don’t give credit to anyone unless you have all the tools available to verify their excellent credit standing. Be proud and confident enough in your product or service to sell it cash up front or don’t sell at all. Don’t ever let record keeping be a nuisance and make sure you have business management reports monthly to manage the income and costs of your business. A healthy cash flow is never enough to sustain a business. If record keeping is a nuisance to you, don’t run your own business.

3) and what do you consider to be your biggest business achievement? Maintaining a strong business relationship with all my clients for more than 15 years.

4) Your website describes figg Products as Accounting Products for non Accountants. Tell us a little more about why you decided to produce something that would be user friendly for all business owners? This was a choice resulting from my own personal experience as a business consultant in that I have only ever consulted to businesses with leaders who are skilled in sales and marketing, I have a respect for and understanding of sales and marketing entrepreneurs and want to share this respect and understanding with a broad customer base.

5) For the small business owner, what set or suite of figg products to you recommend to them to facilitate their growth in their businesses? The Business Budget, the Business Admin Documents and the Integrated Accounting System.

6) Where to from here for figg ... where does the business see itself in five and ten years time? Due to me and my partner Brendon’s wish to serve a broad customer base, it is our goal to be sponsored by Corporate companies to take our products into under priviledged communities to use both as business educational tools and as small business entrepreneurial tools.

7) Many of the readers of this page are one person business owners. Can you share any good business tips that can help them grow in their own businesses? Daily prioritising must include sales and admin. Keep a list to tick off and re-prioritise daily – keep the list on one page or in one file, not “all over the show on bits of paper. Don’t give up. Even if the Sherriff comes to take you and your possessions away, regroup and carry on.

Damaria Senne - Generating free publicity for your business

2011-10-28T21:29:00.000+02:00

Hi all a guest post from renowned Kensington author Damaria Senne.

Generating free publicity for your business

By Damaria Senne

I recently launched an ebook entitled “How to get quoted in the media” and I’m sure some small business owners are wondering how that applies to them. Sure they want to advertise their products and services, but what does that have to do with articles where they get interviewed by journalists? And would journalists even be interested in their stories?

The truth is that making that link between your small business and news items is not easy, but it can be done. How?

Identify whether you are in a new or growing industry

Say you’re a transcriptionist or virtual assistant: how many people in your town/even in your country know what a virtual assistant is or what she does? If you live in South Africa, not many people know about virtual assistants, making your industry newsworthy by virtue of its newness. Is it a growing industry? Definitely! As more people access the Internet, start their own businesses online and offline, there is a growing need for more virtual assistants who can do the work when needed regardless of their location.

And if you don’t work in a new industry (e.g. you offer HR services to small business), no worries, it doesn’t mean that you can’t generate free publicity through news items for your business.

Generate story ideas out of the nature of your business

Offhand, I can think of the following:

Small business news – as a business owner in a certain niche, you know best the research that is being done in your industry. For example, how has the growth of Internet access worldwide affected the growth of number of virtual workers ( including virtual assistants). How does that affect people in South Africa? That kind of story would probably interest a small business publication. Or if unemployment is a big issue in your town, you could pitch a story on virtual work as an option. The focus of the story would be unemployment, and you’d make it clear to the reporter that you expect them to focus on interviews with the local experts on the matter. However, your part is to offer a possible alternative. Shows you understand that community news is not about you but introduces you as a thought leader.

Lifestyle news- Lots of articles have already been written about the work –at-home brigade: how we have flexible hours, can work in our pyjamas, take care of our children while we work etc. Is there anything fresh that we can still say? I think so. So far, it’s the advantages that are being punted strongly. But what are the disadvantages for the workers: the loneliness, the long hours? Are we telling people who want to consider working from home/who already work from home how to cope with these issues? Are we painting a realistic picture and giving people the tools to cope?

Your product stories – As my co-author Christelle du Toit and I say in our latest ebook, How to get quoted in the media, please don’t try to tell a journalist how wonderful and innovative your product is. That is the fastest way to kill a story, because everyone selling a product or service tells a journalist theirs is the innovative product. But, you can sell yourself as a thought leader in your community for the industry your product belongs to. Say you sell cosmetic products: why not pitch some skin care/hair care story ideas to your local health and beauty editor? For example, suggest that she do a story on how local men like well-made up women versus natural looking women. That kind of piece should get a laugh out of your community’s readers, mostly because the people involved know each other. And such an article is better than one more trite piece culled selling not so new trends from international magazines.

You are a story

Does your local newspaper/magazine publish profiles of local people? If so, find out what their criteria are and whether they would be willing to do a profile of you. This is especially relevant if you recently did something different (I’m selling the fact that I wrote and published a book) / won a prize.

In your pitch, show why locals would want to know about you. And don’t try to sell your products, just focus on the profile itself.

In conclusion, making the link between your business and publicity will require you to do some deep thinking, and to tailor each story idea for the person you are approaching. And yes, I had to do some deep thinking about what would be relevant for people reading Gaynor’s blog before I wrote this piece. You deserve more than just a cooker-cutter story.

Some story ideas will work; others not so much. You will just have to be persistent because the publicity will get more interested in your business, which will eventually lead to more sales, making you money.

Author Biography

Damaria Senne is a writer based in Johannesburg. She recently co-wrote an ebook with Christelle du Toit entitled:” How to get quoted in the media.” The ebook is available for download at her online store (link to online store http://www.facebook.com/damaria.senne#!/pages/Damaria-Senne-Media/123235287780213?sk=app_109411145786630.) You can also download a free sample at her online store. Learn more about Damaria at her blog called Storypot (link to Storypot http://damariasenne.blogspot.com)

Figg Excel Accounting products

2011-10-20T07:36:00.002+02:00

We have recently become a certified dealer of Figg Excel Accounting Products

So why does a transcription company align itself with a provider of accounting products?

Simply put, the figg products provide a simple yet effective solution to the busy SMME who does not have the time, nor possibly the funding, to buy and learn a complicated accounting package. Aligning with figg products is in keeping with the solutons that Talking Point Media Consulting wants to provide to its customer base. So, what are figg products and how can they help you? If you're a small business owner, you don't want to spend much time trying to figure out complications. You want to enter your data, save your document, and know that it's right. This is what figg products will do for you, allowing you time to move on from the tedious accounting side of things to doing the core business which you really enjoy.

We want to hear from you about using these products - shop owners, small business owners.. and individuals who are simply bad at record keeping.

Click either one of the images to find out more, or send us an email at gaynorpay@gmail.com with the subject line figg order dealer 101.

The figg brand is becoming a household name,and it's one we're proud to be associated with.

Don't be so focussed on looking for new business that you forget your existing clients

2011-09-08T22:59:00.000+02:00

A sign that you are providing a quality service is when customers come back to you for repeat business. Don't be so focussed on getting new business that you neglect your existing customer base. Keep existing customers informed of new business services, new develoopments... just keep in touch with them from time to time and keep meeting service delivery agreements.

It's a good idea to every now and again go and reread and brush up on service delivery agreements signed between you and existing clients. Just to make sure that you are adhering to the letter of the law with your agreement between you and them, to ensure that you are keeping to confidentiality clauses and respecting what they are asking you to do. This will also help you ensure that THEY are doing what they are supposed to do in terms of their contractual agreement with you. If you find that they are not, a little gentle reminder can be beneficial. Remember, your old clients are the loyal tried and trusted ones, where the new ones, you don't know so well yet.

Giveaway of the Day.

2011-09-02T14:08:00.000+02:00

Hello guys,

Thank goodness here in the Southern hemisphere winter is over and in Johannesburg, South Africa, we have glorious spring days. Hope you are all comfortable wherever you are!

Worth a mention today is Giveaway of the Day. They always give away great stuff if you are fast enough to download it within 24 hours, but today's is a tool that is valuable to the transcription industry and to people in writing, proofreading and editing circles. Check it out: http://giveawayoftheday.com/whitesmoke-2011/. Here's the write up about it. The program is available for $ 249.95, but it will be free as a time-limited offer. Throughout the world the need for communication between countries and international business is growing and as a result, so is the need for a common language: English. WhiteSmoke 2011 involves Natural Language Processing (or NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) which allows the software to “learn” the way the human mind works in the process of writing, thus going beyond providing grammatical and typographical corrections, but also improving the style, tone and clarity of your writing. The 2011 version is an all-in-one, hybrid solution for English writing, providing a convenient and easy to use writing tool that works directly from any text-based application. WhiteSmoke 2011 includes the a comprehensive English writing tool, full-text translator, multilingual dictionary and a multitude of ready-to-use templates. Be quick and get it!

Useful transcription tools

2011-08-27T19:19:00.004+02:00

Hi everybody. I thought that I would list here some tools that I use from day to day that make my life as a transcriptionist much easier. Please feel free to add to this list, and ask me about the usage of these tools. Any tool I list here, I have personally used and recommend

Express Scrib e It's a free transcription tool which allows you to slow down and speed up audio and is downloadable from www.nch.com.au

Any Audio Converter. It literally converts audio to any format, particularly to formats that are workable by the above Express Scribe.

Sendspace. It's a secure FTP server, free, which allows you to send files to others which are too big to be emailed.

Skype is an internet based telephony programme which allows you to chat via the internet to your customers free of charge.

Wavepad is a very useful sound editing programme which allows you to clip audio to particular lengths, enhance the quality of it and edit it - free.

Bullzip allows you to print to PDF format. There are many more, but these are the ones that I use from day to day.

Job - AMF TYPING

2011-08-06T16:26:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone Alison Fourie needs some assistance with a monthly job she will have - Please contact her directly: - I am in Roodepoort, Roodekrans. We will be going through a document and checking references, and making sure they match up. I know its dull and boring work but it will go quickly. I will pay on an hourly rate. So email me on amftyping@mweb.co.za and let me know your rate. Regards Ali

Social Media and Why You Need an Expert to Do It.

2011-06-10T18:46:00.004+02:00

Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Myspace, Friendster, Linked In ...... what are they all? You can go crazy hearing about them all!!!!! Even more daunting - 'Blogging!' What are they all? Even if you do know them, for years, you've been told they're for personal use, not for business use. Now, suddenly, you're hearing that you have to use them for business. So, you know you need them for your business, but you're not sure what to do with them! You've started with Facebook, you've got a profile, and you've got some friends on there, so what do you do now?

In a nutshell, these are online social and business networks. Even this sort of terminology can leave you confused. But it needn't. Let's break it down. Online is simple, it's on the internet. Social. Well you know what that means - friends. In this case, let's take it a little further. Most social networks use the term 'friend' a little loosely. I have 397 Facebook friends. To be honest, I think 'acquaintance', or 'associate' would be more accurate, but 'Facebook Associate' doesn't sound quite the same as 'Facebook friend'. Business is business ... and a network is a large interconnected group of people who move in your business or social circle.

So there you have it, broken down in a nutshell. And why would YOU want to be a part of this? Statistics show that as of early 2011, there are more than 5 millon active Facebook users. That's Facebook alone, just one of the social networks available. Given the concept of the six degrees of separation (wherein it is thought that everyone is on average approximately six steps away from everyone in the world), how can you NOT be involved in something where, by the simple act of posting or commenting to inform your group of friends about an idea, there is the chance that within six steps or less, all 5 million Facebook users, and wider, the world, will be aware of what you're doing?

So now you're thinking right, so I can do this, and I can get great access to a huge market, simply by being online. Here's where the crux of the matter comes in. Social networking is time consuming, as it needs to be kept up with on a day to day basis to be effective. It also requires a certain skill. You need to be able to write literately, and have a bit of imagination, and be able to impart knowledge about your business. And the problem with all of this of course is the fact that whilst you're doing this, you're not doing your core business.

And that, everybody, is why you need Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC to handle your social media function for you.

Corporate Social Responsibility

2011-06-06T21:18:00.003+02:00

I recently came across this interesting piece on Corporate Social Responsibility. It explains it in an easy to understand way for the South African market.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1075408480&type=RESOURCES

When you choose your employers, suppliers, or your clients, or anybody else you deal directly with in your business, how closely do you think about the level of social responsibility that particular company has? I recently worked for a company which purported to be socially conscious and advocated this, but didn't recycle its paper. This bemused me. In Johannesburg, it's easy to take your paper out on a Tuesday or whatever day and have it recycled, no matter how small or large your business is. Do you insist on receiving a company's NPO number before you offer to do good for that company, or do you just do good and not care about getting a tax break? Every business be it big or small can give something back to its community. What do you give back to yours? Do you donate your time, or your services, or your skills, or money? Or do you not donate at all?

Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC is a proud supporter of the I Love Kensington Association which needs funds for animal and people welfare.

The Art of Preparing A CV

2011-04-26T21:26:00.003+02:00

The art of preparing a CV need not be as tedious or as overwhelming as you may feel that it is. It is understandable that to the person faced with finding a job or with getting him or herself promoted, the very act of putting together the document which is supposed to sell you to your potential employer can feel overwhelming, or even impossible.

This need not be the case. A good rule of thumb when writing a CV is to break it down into 'bitesized parts'. Think of the various aspects that you need to put a good CV together. You need a cover letter, you need a short CV for faxing, and you need a longer, more detailed CV. The longer, detailed CV can be broken down even further. You might want to include a photograph in that CV. You are going to want to include your personal information, your education and your working history. You can look at things like community involvement and other notale things that you have done to make your CV noteworthy.

Perhaps one of the most important things to consider when preparing your CV is something which actually doesn't pertain directly to you. It's the job specification. You might have come across a job specification which you know you comply 100% with, and you send your CV off in great hope, only to get a rejection, or worse, nothing, back. And you ask yourself what has gone wrong. Have you considered that even though you know you comply, your CV may not address the points that will show that you comply with that specific job specification? In other words, you may have done both adminstration and graphic design in your previous careers, but if you are applying now for a graphic design job, sending in a CV which talks mainly about administration probably will not get you the job. If you try, and simply keep on failing, it is wise to consult with a professional CV writing service.

To summarise: Break your CV and cover letter down into bite sized chunks, and ensure that it is relevant to the position that you are applying for. If you do not achieve success, it is wise to consult with a professional CV writing service.

CV Writing and Job Preparedness Training

2011-04-21T23:44:00.006+02:00

I will be presenting CV Writing and Job Preparedness Training on 21 May at 10:00 at St Giles Home for the Physically Disabled in 11th Avenue in Dewetshof, Johanesburg on 21 May at 10:00. Some of the proceeds will go to the home. Seats are going fast, so you need to book TODAY on 083 442 4689 or gaynorpay@gmail.com

I will be conducting training on the above topics with fully indepth courses on both subjects covering subjects such as

- how to prepare your CV
- what information to include
- how to write your cover letter
- body language
- references
- researching the company
- preparing for the job interview

Catering by the fantastic The Local Chef - not to be missed!!! Cost - R150.

We will have skype and online conference room functionality availabiity for those who cannot be there in person, and this will be charged at R75 per person.

16 Days of Activism - Fight the Abuses in Your Life

2010-12-05T02:42:00.003+02:00

My friend Damaria Senne asked me to participate in her blog party for the 16 Days of Activism against women and child abuse, and place particular emphasis on the fact that I have my own transcription business. Damaria is suggesting that if a woman who is in a position of being abused is able to work for herself and therefore create employment for herself, she may be able to change the situation of her abuse and perhaps get out of it.

Now, I’m not going to say that I’m writing from a position of experience. I usually do like to write from my own experience. But in this case, thankfully, I’m not. However, as a child, I was twice in a position where men tried to abuse me. Nothing came of it, but I was in a threatening situation and I didn’t like it. The other day somebody told me that he was in a similar position, and it profoundly impacted his life even though he didn't actually get abused - that feeling of fear and complete vulnerability was enough to strip him of all his dignity, and all his trust, and although I haven't explored it fully, I think that is possibly true of me too. I think it is potentially this that has made me sensitive to the needs of abused women and children in today’s society.

It is for this reason – that I want to make a difference to people’s lives – that I serve on the committee of my local residents association, the I Love Kensington Association (ILKA). In September of this year the ILKA committee was approached by Ivan Jardine of the AIDS Army for assistance in a project that he was organising - The Flame of Hope and Healing - whereby blankets were to be crocheted and presented to children affected by HIV and Aids together with a special message of hope. Ivan’s words to me were that he wants to teach abused children that there are ways in which they can fight the abuses in their lives. So, of course, I was sold on helping in this project.

The project culminated in a showdown event on 4th of December 2010. Over 800 blankets in total were collected - 67 were made and donated by Diepkloof Prison. 250 children affected by Aids or HIV were present on the day and each received a blanket with a special message of love and hope. The overwhelming message given to them on the day was that they could fight the abuses in their lives – with love given to them by others, but also by the strength and abilities that they have themselves.

So I came away from this day thinking about this message, and thinking about the blog post Damaria had asked me to write and it occurred to me that an abused woman could begin to fight the abuses in her life by taking the first steps against it. It is possible that that step could be starting to work from home. Abused women come from all walks of life; all societies and all levels of affluence, and abusers in some situations like to keep control by not letting the woman go out to work or to visit friends, etc, etc. If that woman has access to the internet or to a computer, she could start up as a transcriptionist and it is here where a mentor or a forum such as the Transcriptionists and VAs of South Africa (TAVASA) which has been set up to assist newbies coming into our industries could come in useful – someone to answer questions and assist. Working for yourself could mean the first step towards financial independence, and the first step out of your situation of abuse. Anybody who wants to contact me privately in this regard is more than welcome to do so and I will do whatever I can to assist – gaynorpay@gmail.com.

William and Kate

2010-11-18T07:59:00.004+02:00

Typewrite Transcription wishes Prince William and Kate Middleton all the very best in their marriage! Congratulations!!!! And while the world waits in anticipation for this young couple to marry, I want to remind you that, like marriage, a relationship with a client, like any other, needs to be worked on.

Without communication, no relationship can work to its best. Communicate with your clients, keep them in the know about what you are doing, build up a relationship of trust by sticking to doing what you say you are going to do, by meeting your commitments, by honouring and respecting each other.

And if William and Kate uphold these values in their relationship, chances are not much will go wrong!! Good luck, guys!

Be properly trained on the systems you use

2010-07-31T17:46:00.003+02:00

An issue I have been giving much consideration to in recent weeks is the time that a person can save in their business if they have official training on the systems and platforms they are using to run their businesses.

There's no doubt about the fact that the face of marketing a business has changed in recent times. If a business is not on the Big Three - Twitter, Linked In and Facebook - it just isn't keeping up with the times and with the needs of its clients and potential clients, as well as with the activities of its competitors. But let's face it, without proper training from experienced users of these platforms, they can be daunting to the startup business owner or person trying to break into the business world.

You probably know how to use email but you might not know how to write an email in a professional, business like manner - or how to post relevant and business related topics across the many social networks that form a part of today's business world. The way you present yourself in business is directly indicative of the success you are likely to have in your business, and so a professional and courteous manner is essential in all aspects.

In Training SA is a community minded company with an eye to developing individuals and corporates, that provides up to date, relevant training on these as well as other topics in order to help you:

- Improve your skills

- Enter the business world

- Maintain a professional presence in social media

- Upskill your employees in both the domestic and professional arena

You can click here for the current training schedule and contact intrainingsa@gmail.com for further information.

Minute Taker

2010-07-28T12:03:00.001+02:00

We are looking for a minute taker for a 2 day conference in Kempton Park on 16 / 17 August. If you can help, please contact me on gaynorpay@gmail.com - urgent.

Thank you!!

Marketing Via Social Networking - Twitter and Facebook

2010-07-02T19:39:00.005+02:00

To me it's become very clear that using social networks to market your services is a vital part of marketing in today's world. Two of the most effective social networks to use for this purpose are of course Twitter and Facebook.

This article aims to discuss how to get started on these two networks and how best to use them to market the services you offer.

Let's look at Twitter first.

1. If you do not have a Twitter account, go to http://www.twitter.com/ and create one. I'm TypewriteSA on there, and you can follow me to see how I use my Twitter account to market my business.

2. Choose a username that describes what your business is about. TypewriteSA is my username and it describes the service I provide and where I am located.

3. Twitter allows you to write a short bio on your profile to describe what you are doing. Choose words carefully to tell people what you are about. These words are very important as they can guide potential followers who will look for people providing services similar to what they provide or services that they need.

4. Now you're ready to start tweeting! Twitter is a microblogging system that allows you to write short updates to distribute to your followers. So if your Twitter account is to be mainly about business, ensure that all of your tweets relate directly to what you are doing or pass on some useful information like a useful blog post you have written or new service you are providing. Potential followers will look for this. Tweet on a regular but not too regular basis and ensure that your tweets remain informative to your followers.

5. Look for some followers - in business it's best to follow people who provide a similar service or who you feel could be informative to you or may need your services. I follow transcriptionists, VAs, proofreaders, publishers, and industry leaders in other fields.

6. Promote your account. You can put a Twitter followers button on your blog, on your website, and insert something into your email signature to tell people to follow you on Twitter.

Let's now take a glance at Facebook.

1. Most people already have a personal Facebook account. If you don't, go to http://www.facebook.com/ and create one for yourself.

2. Then, go to my fan page, Typewrite Transcription. Like this page by clicking the Like button on the top of the page.

3. Then scroll down and look at the bottom left of the page. You will find a link that says "create a page like this". Click this link.

4. This takes you to a walk through section whereby you will find instructions to create your own page. Be careful to choose the right category and pick a descriptive name for your fan page. Typewrite Transcription is an abbreviation of my business' name and describes exactly what I do.

5. Fill out the information section carefully. You want to be able to give as much information about your business as possible, but not bore people. It's as well to have at least two administrators of your page, for the simple reason that if something happens to your account, the page will still exist because it's tied to another moderator. But choose carefully who you want to make a moderator of your page as they will have the same rights as you on the page.

6. Publish your page, and you're ready to start finding Facebook likers!! One of the fastest ways of doing this is to suggest to your friends that they become Likers of your page, and ask them to suggest it to their friends. But an often overlooked method of finding Likers is to publish a "Facebook Like Box" on your website or blog.

Once you have accounts set up at both, look in your Facebook account to see how to link the two so that when you update your Facebook fan page status, your Twitter account automatically generates a tweet.

These are just the basics, but I hope they go some way towards clearing up the minefield that can be social networking.

The importance of proofreading.

2010-06-26T23:15:00.004+02:00

Proofreading is a service that I offer via the Typewrite Proofreading arm of my business. Here I would like to explain why proofreading is such a vitally important service.

The simple fact of the matter is that, in any written copy, the impression to be made to your reader is of the utmost importance. A good impression can make an immediate sell on what you are trying to present, and conversely, a bad impression can turn the reader off for good.

Let's have a look at the following examples:

- If you're a business person writing a letter to a client, and you make a fundamental error in your letter, the client may begin to doubt your professionalism in other aspects of your work.

- If you're a teacher, and you make a grammatical error in one of the documents you present to your students, the students may lose faith in your professionalism and your teaching abilities.

- If you're a student writing a thesis or an assignment, your professor or lecturer is your client. To get good marks on the assingment, you need to make a good impression and making sure your grammar and spelling are fundamentally correct will go a long way towards ensuring this.

- If you're writing a letter to a friend, you don't want to make basic mistakes and have your friend wonder how educated you really are.

- If you are a business manager or owner setting up a website, the last thing you need is a typo on your front page.

-If you are a magazine editor, and your magazine is full of basic mistakes, the reader will be put off right from the start.

There are many more applications that would require proofreading, and once you've decided your work needs to be proofread, you have a number of options at your disposal:

- Proofread your own work (disadvantage - it's hard to pick up your own mistakes)

- Get a friend or colleague to proofread your work (disadvantage - your friend might not be as thorough or timeous as you would like them to be, and may be no more qualified than you yourself)

- Hire a proofreading service such as Typewrite Proofreading. (advantages: your work will be done quickly and professionally).

Who can use a proofreader? Many people can. The list includes, but is not limited to:

- Students

- Web designers

- Journalists

- Publishers

- Businessmen

- Writers

- Translators

Times to work / blogging

2010-06-16T00:57:00.000+02:00

Hi guys,

I met with a very interesting lady today, who also works for herself although not in the field that we work in, and among the many interesting things we discussed was when is the best time to work.

Like me, she likes working at night ... I thought, sometimes, that I'm the only one driven nuts by the entire 8 - 5 thing ... sometimes, I just find those hours so hard to work in because the phone is ringing, (usually clients), email is going mad, skype going mad, or the school decides to shut at an odd hour, ...

ONe of the toughest things is working until 3am when you KNOW the phone is going to go mental from 08:00 onwards or you need to be up to let the maid or gardener in at 07:30 ... but often I still find I get a lot more done at night than I do during the day.

Your thoughts?

We also discussed the importance of the discipline of marketing and having a marketing plan. This doesn't just mean okay Friday I'll write a blog post. It means that for a month before hand, know the different subject blog posts you're going to write about and sit down and prepare them. Know where your target market is going to be, know what type of marketing approaches you want to take.

Minute Taker

2010-05-24T15:42:00.001+02:00

TAVASA is looking for a minute taker to work in Pretoria on Monday 31 May. Apply to me gaynorpay@gmail.com. You MUST have minute taking experience and preferably shorthand.

How do you combat loneliness?

2010-05-09T16:56:00.006+02:00

Hi everyone. It's been some time since I've blogged and I wanted to come back with a fresh blog post that might make people sit back and think a bit. I didn't want to blog about something that has been blogged about a thousand times before. It crossed my mind that the reason why my blogging has taken a little bit of a back seat lately is because I have been networking in a different way - a way which is very meaningful to me and that is what this blog post will be about.

Making friends, building a community garden.

By the very nature of our businesses, we as virtual assistants have a different work set up to office workers. We don't have a knock off time, we must find our own work, and ... we don't have the social setting of office colleagues around us.

There are several ways which we can combat this if loneliness begins affecting us.
We can join groups such as TAVASA , we can build up our contacts on Skype and other instant messaging systems, or - and it's this third that I want to discuss in further detail - we can join community assistance organisations for the areas where we live such as the I Love Kensington Assocation

I didn't join I Love Kensington for business purposes and that's not why I'm a part of it now. I joined because I could see the area around me, where I live and where my children live, sinking - and I wanted to see what I could do to help. What I found was a band of dedicated, committed people crying out for voluntary help on projects that they were doing - a handful of people working to enrich the living area, and lives, of 5,000.

So I joined them - and I soon found that in between getting stuck into all of the wonderfully rewarding community projects that I Love Kensington are involved in, firm and fast friendships are formed between like minded people. I have been able to assist with the upliftment of our community by assisting newbie Virtual Assistants in our area, using and referring service providers that I would have had to call from miles away in the past ... and I find it's reciprocated, with two transcription jobs having come my way from this source in the last few months. Winner all round!

Virtual was rough this week

2010-02-19T21:56:00.004+02:00

It's been rather an interesting week. Last week, my son had bronchitis and I made the mistake of mentioning to a friend of mine, who accompanies me and other members of our suburb on a regular walk through our suburb (click for more information) that by this week, my whole family should be healthy enough to attend.

After jinxing myself like that, of course, I caught bronchitis within the next two days.

The single worst part of working from home is that there is no sick leave - soldier on is what you do, so I did, with a course of penicillin as my army mate. But Tuesday night I hit rock bottom with raging fever and dizzy spells to go along with the sore throat. Luckily, I felt better by Wednesday morning and was able to get most of what I had to do done, but not without refusing point blank to take on any work for that evening and in so doing, upsetting one of my customers (being virtual, we also can't prove show very effectively that we're ill, and he is one of the customers who does not allow me to outsource).

Thursday I was back to chugging speed, and today, up to about 75 kph if the norm is 100 kph, and I've managed to stay up to date and keep most of my customers' work up to date, except the one mentioned above - who I have a long history with and I know I will hear from him in the next week or so.

A particular transcription I received in this week reminded me of the fact that I truly am virtual (with discussion groups like TAVASA, a great forum for South African VAs and transcriptionists, this can slip one's mind occasionally). My client records his files on site, and this one was done whilst under the attack of a swarm of horseflies!

Doing the things you love is a way to keep your mind fresh for work

2010-02-13T01:14:00.004+02:00

Earlier today I was chatting with my friend Damaria Senne about why, lately, I am striving to keep Sundays free to keep up and touch base with the people and things that I love. I am an avid reader, and I call myself a writer, and an artist. But it struck me that the reading I do is between 12:00 and 01:00, usually - and who can remember anything they've read at that time? The last art I did was to make a Christmas card, and writing ... well ... there's something slightly offbeat, and probably inaccurate, if you call yourself a writer, yet the last time you WROTE anything worthwhile was in 2005.

I have a busy life running my transcription business and being a wife and mother - there's no doubt about it. But of late, I've come to realise something. It's very important to find a time to keep doing the things you love. And for me, for now, I've decided that time shall be Sundays - so, on Sundays, for the foreseeable future, I shall be retiring from the world, as I have been for the past two weeks.

And here is where I come to the part that makes this relevant to transcriptionists - and, I believe, others who work in a stressful industry. Taking that day off, to yourself, to unwind, and spend with your family and with doing the things you love, makes your mind clearer, sharper and more focussed on MONDAY - and through the rest of the week. Now, Sunday might not be the best time for you - but I do urge you, yes, your business is important, but find that time for you, too. You'll value it, and thank me for this advice, later.

Commenting on blog posts

2010-01-29T23:00:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone,

Today I wanted to draw attention to something that I feel is an important part of a small business' marketing strategy today.
Commenting on blog posts.
There is an art to this, in my opinion. It's no good just picking up on a blog and going on there and saying something inane and then posting a link to your website. You have to say something intelligent, lucid, and relevant to the post. Otherwise, you just irritate. So, make sure that your comments add something to the article and are informative. If you don't do this, there is a good chance that your comment will simply be deleted, anyway, and then you will just have wasted your own time and the blog owner's time.

What I'd suggest is the following:
- Pick interesting blogs to follow, blogs that are relevant to your industry or your interests.
- Check back on them on a relatively regular basis.
- Read the posts.
- Think of something valuable to add - maybe something from your personal experience, or add your expertise.

If, for example, the post is about switching from using a tape recorder to using a digital recorder, don't just go there and say "I transcribe, send your recordings to me". Chances are that the person has been doing their own transcription for some years anyway. But if you go on there and say something to the effect of "yes, you've made a good choice with regards to your choice of digital recorder, and this is why", and use your link in your identity, then you'll have planted the seed in the mind of the author and anyone else who happens to see the post that you are an expert in this field - and that maybe they should consider approaching you to save themselves some time - by giving you their transcription. Intelligent, informative comments are appreciated by bloggers, simply because they bring a variety of phrases that may well be picked up by search engines - in other words, they bring traffic to the person's blog. So be careful and think about what your comments are - don't be an irritation, be an asset.

Haiti Disaster

2010-01-20T14:23:00.002+02:00

Hello everyone, Typewrite Transcription wishes to express its condolences to the people of Haiti after the terrible earthquakes and subsequent loss of life.

South Africans can help by donating to Gift of the Givers

Please show the giving spirit of South Africans.

Outsource your tweeting and blogging to a transcriptionist

2010-01-17T16:45:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone,

"Social media" was one of the watch phrases of 2009. It has become one of the most important marketing tools of our time and making use of it correctly is a necessity for the survival of businesses today.

Yet, like everything else, it is time consuming. How many times have you been in your car or another environment where it's not possible to get to the internet, and have thought to yourself "oh I must tweet or blog about such and such a thing", only for the thought to drop from your mind, never to return?

Imagine how easy it would be to note your ideas down or to make a digital recording of that thought or dictate your blog post as you are on your long commute, send it to your transcriptionist to type up, and have it placed on the relevant social network without having to do this work yourself - and freeing yourself up to handle your core business, or to simply relax.

Make the most of this opportunity by outsourcing this work to me.

Proofreading professional

2010-01-12T09:55:00.003+02:00

Hi guys,
Proofreading is of exceptional importance in every aspect of a virtual business. Remember, what we are producing is a document, whether we are doing it by transcribing, or by typing, or by researching - and this document has to be 100 per cent correct in every way - including grammar and spelling.

Sometimes, it is hard for a person to spot their own grammar and spelling mistakes, and this is where it is beneficial to enlist the services of a professional proofreader.

In this age of computerised voice recognition software, and other computer generated documents, I believe it is vitally important to pay attention to proofreading. At this stage, software for the most part is not clever enough to differentiate between, say, 'there', 'their' and 'they're'. We are - and that is what sets the human brain ahead of the microchip!

I am promoting this arm of my business:

Get your CV ready for 2010!

2010-01-05T00:58:00.002+02:00

Hi everyone.

I would like to wish everyone a very happy new year! I would like to point out that if you are a jobhunter, now is a great time to get your CV up to date, as within the next week or two, the job market is going to be saturated when people who have hung on for their December bonuses and leave make their move for their new job.

Most business owners are also motivated at this time of year to employ new staff, because a new year is new beginnings.

It's important to have the very best CV you can have, simply because often your CV is the first impression a potential employer will have of you, and therefore, if you don't feel comfortable that you yourself can prepare a professional CV, it's wise to enlist the help of professionals who have worked in the recruitment industry, such as Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC. Contact me today if you would like help in this regard.

Is this an easy job?

2009-12-09T19:29:00.003+02:00

Somebody who had seen one of my brochures rang me yesterday to say she was considering finding a work from home job, and was what I do easy?

I stopped to look at my situation before considering my reply. I had just developed a head cold and was not feeling at my best - sinussy, clogged, sneezy. I was busy with transcribing a two day conference for a regular client who doesn't usually send regular work, but who contacted me yesterday to say it was urgent and she needed it back this morning (which I have completed - with the help of fab sub contractors). I am the mom of two and it's rather a choppy period for them at the moment - one is battling with his schoolwork and the other changing schools next year.

Before I could answer, the lady continued to say that she wanted to spend more time with her children and therefore wanted to work from home. And I always feel like I'm letting people down when I tell them that since starting doing this, I spend less time with my children and that no, it's not easy. I spent about 6 months when I first started out working 24/7 on my business and some days I still have to do that, depending on my clients.

When you get those regular clients in, it becomes a bit easier, but just like a boss in an office, a client wants his work back - whether or not your child has a difficult homework project, etc. And regular clients are not that easy to find and must be treasured when you do find them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put people off, it's just that I have five years experience doing this and I call a spade a spade. If you want something for nothing, to spend all day long with your children, and to be able to nurse yourself back to health in bed when you have a cold, this job is not for you. But if you want to be your own boss, build a business for yourself and a heritage for your children and have good typing and grammatical skills and a professional manner - then yes!

World AIDS Day

2009-12-01T10:59:00.004+02:00

Hi there, I would just like to say I support the sentiment behind World AIDS day and that I make the following pledge:

For every confirmed transcription order I get in today, I will donate 10 per cent of the proceeds to The AIDS Foundation of South Africa http://www.aids.org.za/index.htm

I'm willing to extend this to say that even if it's the 2nd of December in South Africa when you place your order, if it's the 1st in your country, then the deal is on.

When do you sleep?

2009-11-27T09:47:00.002+02:00

A friend asked me this yesterday and I'm still pondering the answer. The truth is, as a mom of two, a wife, the owner of a busy transcription company - and a person who also likes to have her own life outside of all of this - sleeping does not get the time it should, really.

I find exhaustion is my constant companion, but it's all self imposed, so I don't resent it. I don't have a boss or someone telling me which hours to work, when. So yes, if I work late in the evenings when it's quiet and peaceful in my house, even though I know I have to be up early the next morning, it's my choice, and I believe this is what makes the exhaustion tolerable. Besides, when clients need something done, or there is a transcriptionist with an emergency to sort out, or you have a child with a problem, sleep is not really an option.

I do value though the odd moments of peace and sleep I do get. I guard them fiercely and this I believe is what keeps me going.

Afrikaans transcribing

2009-11-19T18:51:00.004+02:00

Hello everyone, from a very cold and wintry Johannesburg. Who can believe temps of 14 deg Celsius in summer! I've my winter clothes out again.

Today I feel I have surpassed myself. Late afternoon yesterday, a client got hold of me and said that she had a transcription for me and please would I pull out all the stops to try to get at least some of it back to her as the gentleman being interviewed actually passed away this week and they would like to use some of the transcript for his memorial service.

Of course, I couldn't say no to that, and anyway I'm not in the habit of saying no to my clients. I will always go the extra mile to try to meet a client's requirements, and so I said "of course, send it along".

I received it. It was 198 minutes of Afrikaans transcription.

Now ... I sat there contemplating this. Yes, I'm an English speaking South African, and usually when I start speaking Afrikaans, Afrikaners speak back to me in English. But my vocab is not bad, I've recently begun working on my Afrikaans again and in fact I reread Dalene Matthee's book "Fiela se Kind" last week, in Afrikaans. And the client only asked for a portion of it back this week and she said that I can have 10 days to complete the rest of it. Ordinarily my first thought with Afrikaans work is "outsource it".

But to be honest, I like the Afrikaans language. I find it poetic and descriptive, and since rereading Fiela se Kind I find I actually think in Afrikaans. So I thought, I'll take this on. I may only get through 10 minutes of it, and if so can always outsource it, but let me give it a try.

I've faultlessly typed 30 minutes of it (without a spell checker, I might add - the lack of Afrikaans spell check options is a whole other potential blog post) and I'm in the happy position of being able to tell my client she will be able to have at least an hour of it if not more before Saturday. And here is the moral of the story:
Don't underestimate yourself. Try things. Have a back up plan in place, but trust yourself and try things. Your clients will appreciate this.

Reading and Transcribing

2009-11-13T19:22:00.004+02:00

Hello everybody,

Today I would like to make a point that is very close to my heart - that reading good literature can be very beneficial to transcriptionists.

Reading teaches a variety of things that are essential to transcriptionists in their daily jobs. A good book is edited before being published and therefore is a good source reference for students of English (something all transcriptionists should be, whether they are English speakers or not, for the pure and simple reason that transcription is not just typing. It requires thought, and getting things right). Reading teahes the following skills essential to transcription:
- Getting things contextually correct. Pay special attention to where 'there', 'their' and 'they're' are placed. Yes ... they all mean different things! Getting this right is what puts humans apart from voice recognition software.
- Spelling (by reading the same word over and over a sufficient amount of times, you will learn how to spell it when encountering it in dictation).
- Grammar (ditto the note next to 'spelling').

Having said this, Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC would like to align itself and state its support for a new initiative promoting reading in South Africa, Read South Africa.

Here is a bit more about this initiative:

The pursuit of information, the desire to "broaden ones horizons" has unfortunately and tragically remained a "Western" and "elitist" construct.

We as the writers of our time would like to move beyond these artificial barriers and create literary awareness and a passion for reading among the majority of South Africans.

We want to use our profession to reach the oft ignored South African classroom, the beleaguered minds of young and old alike.

We want to offer other paths that could be followed to somehow stem the tide of violent rhetoric that has permeated and diminished the lives of South Africans, where ignorance plays a major role in perpetuating this violence, where it becomes cyclical and passed on from generation to generation.
(read less)

The pursuit of information, the desire to "broaden ones horizons" has unfortunately and tragically remained a "Western" and "elitist" construct.

We as the writers of our time would like to move beyond these artificial barriers and create literary awareness and a passion for reading among the majority of South Africans.

We want to use our profession to reach the oft ignored South African classroom, the beleaguered minds of young and old alike.

We want to offer other paths that could be followed to somehow stem the tide of violent rhetoric that has permeated and diminished the lives of South Africans, where ignorance plays a major role in perpetuating this violence, where it becomes cyclical and passed on from generation to generation.

Mission: Encouraging everyone who has interest in the future of South Africa to read.

This innovative initiative can be contacted and supported at:

http://www.readsa.co.za
http://readsa.book.co.za/blog
http://twitter.com/readsa
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/pages/Read-South-Africa/146421296979?v=info&ref=mf

Working From Home in the Czech Republic by Pearl Harris

2009-10-29T16:17:00.001+02:00

Today we have the pleasure of a guest post from the accomplished author, second language English teacher, proofreader and editor, Pearl Harris who has recently written a book "From Africa to Bukova"

Born within sight of the red sand dunes of the Kalahari, PEARL HARRIS lived most of her life in South Africa, until taking the drastic step of emigrating with her husband, Ian, to the Czech Republic (with their Labrador and cat).

Teaching English as a Foreign Language to the Czechs—a new career for the author—has its joys and trials, which Pearl shares with the reader in "From Africa to Bukova".
You will also learn about her early childhood on an isolated South African farm and about her British Settler ancestor who chose to emigrate from England to Africa as a 19-year-old, spending the rest of his life in South Africa.

Pearl’s travel articles have been published in South African magazines, "Diversions" and "Your Family", and in Czech magazines, "Lifestyles" and "Bridge", as well as on the websites, http://www.timetravel-britain.com/ and http://www.transitionsabroad.com/

Pearl taught English at the České Budĕjovice branch of POLYGLOT from 2002 to 2007. At present, she works from home as an English teacher, proofreader and travel writer. The Czech Republic has become her permanent home.

Working from Home in the Czech Republic
by
Pearl Harris

Nearly eight years ago, my husband and I emigrated from East London to Buková, a tiny village in South Bohemia, near the Czech border with Austria.

I started off teaching English (EFL) at a private language school which was situated 30km. from Buková in the city of České Budějovice. Teaching was the last career I ever wanted to follow, but this was the only employment available to someone without the slightest Czech language ability.

English is in great demand in this country, especially since its inclusion in the EU. In former days (the communist era lasted for 40 years) only Czech and Russian were taught at school. Czechs were not allowed to travel and were totally isolated, so now there is great hunger to learn English as an international language.

In South Africa, I worked as a Radiographer and later as a Medical Transcriptionist for Radiologists. The latter work was particularly stressful as I worked under extreme pressure in a very busy X-ray dept. of a private hospital.

I had to type at such a rapid rate, for so many hours on end, that I developed osteo-arthritis in my fingers!

Before leaving S.A., Ian and I did a crash course in TEFL at the Cape Town TEFL Institute, so that, when thrown in at the deep end of teaching here, we had a slight inkling of what it involved. I taught for five years at the private language school, travelling to and from České Budějovice at unearthly hours—in snow, blizzards and pitch darkness in Winter. My students were mainly adults who attended classes either before or after work, hence the awkward teaching hours.

By 2007, deciding that I had had enough of teaching, I resigned from the school, but kept teaching a few private students who came to our home for lessons. This was so much easier! I then wanted to develop my proofreading business, which had been a mere sideline, due to the fact that I was spending most of my time teaching and travelling!

I found a great demand for English proofreading. This is because Czech to English is translated mainly by Czech speakers, there not being anything like enough English native speakers sufficiently fluent in the impossibly difficult Czech language! Therefore, the English translations are anything but perfect –as is to be expected when one is translating into your 2nd or 3rd language!

Today, one still sees hilarious translations on some restaurant Menus and online. Many translators still mistakenly consider themselves good enough not to warrant any proofreading. However, fortunately for me, there are many today who realise they do need proofreading in order to produce quality translations. This has been especially noticeable since the Czech Republic became a member of the EU and recently held the Presidency.

I began by advertising on an Expats website, which chiefly serves the expatriate community in Prague. Many employers advertise on this site for English native speakers. In this way, I slowly built up a regular clientele. The average fee for proofreading is 100Kc per norm page (1800 keystrokes) – which is about R50. For more specialised texts, the fee may be up to 180 Kc (R90) per page.

I often proofread texts for university students and lecturers. Many theses and academic papers today have to be published in English. Further, I do regular proofreading for “Statuss”, which is an upmarket mag. catering to the elite, published in Russian, Czech & English. I also proofread for an agency which publishes monthly business magazines in English.

Now that my time is my own, I have been fortunate in being able to develop my travel writing too. My articles are published on the websites: www.TransitionsAbroad.com and www.TimeTravel-Britain.com as well as in “Bridge” a Prague magazine for High School English students, and in the South African, “Diversions”. So I am fortunate in being able to combine my love of travel with earning something back after our travels.

Ian and I are both keen photographers and usually illustrate my articles with our own photos. Living in Central Europe is such a huge bonus—however, we never have enough time or money to travel as much as we would really like to!

In December, 2008, I finally went the self-publishing route and published my travel memoir, “From Africa to Buková”, through createspace.com (See details below.) The book deals with individual funny, not-so-funny & frustrating incidents during our early years as immigrants in the Czech Republic. I would ideally like to rewrite and polish it, but that will have to wait until (if ever) I get a regular publisher interested!

I send my chilled greetings to all the VAs in sunny South Africa!

Pearl Harris.

Book From Africa to Buková

may be ordered online from:
https://www.createspace.com/3359697
OR
http://www.amazon.com/ Books
OR
by contacting Pearl Harris at
ian.harris@quick.cz

Make your website a true representation of what you offer.

2009-10-21T09:17:00.002+02:00

Hello everybody. I finally have a little bit of a gap today and took half an hour to update my website this morning. I thought it would be a good idea to stress to you how important it is to make sure that your website is a true representation of yourself.

I feel that if your website misrepresents you it can have an impact on how clients see you. If you are a huge transcription or VA entity, then your site should present you as such. If you are, such as myself, one person who sometimes makes use of sub-contractors, then your website should present this too - and if you don't use any sub-contractors at all, then this too should be clear. This shows the client from the start that you are honest and transparent, and it can prevent misunderstandings and problems later when you find that more (or less) is being demanded of you than you are capable of.

My site can be found at http://www.typewritetranscription.co.za/.

Non English language transcriptionists.

2009-10-16T18:13:00.001+02:00

Urgently looking for non English language transcriptionists including - French, Spanish, Portuguese, Zulu and Urdu. Contact me directly - gpaynter@gmail.com.

Transcription for the 2010 soccer world cup and other newsworthy events

2009-09-30T10:37:00.002+02:00

Hello everyone, this is just a quickie, a call to journalists and others needing transcription services in South Africa during the 2010 soccer world cup (and other newsworthy events - we can transcribe anything you need). Typewrite can assist with this, so please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. The sooner the arrangement is in place, the better for all. We can provide references, do tests, etc. etc.

Journalists, publications and all others welcome to contact us.

Make your transcripts make contextual sense.

2009-09-20T13:56:00.003+02:00

Hello everyone, just a very quick comment today about the importance, when transcribing, of making sure what you transcribe makes sense contextually. I've just proofread a document where the transcriptionist didn't really make sure that what she typed fitted in to the context of the work. The speakers were talking about copies of a document and one man said "Could you please bring me more copies?" and what the transcriptionist transcribed was "Could you please bring me more coffee?"

Please I want to urge every transcriptionist to pay attention to this. Being able to make contextual sense of things is what sets us apart from things like Google Voice and other automated transcription services.

Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa

2009-09-08T09:46:00.005+02:00

If you are a transcriptionist starting out in South Africa, why is it necessary to own a book such as Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa, which I've listed on Bidorbuy

The simple answer is that it tells you all the ins and outs, and provides the answer to your questions.
- How do I start up as a transcriptionist?
- How do I get that first client?
- How do I keep those clients?
- What administrative procedures are necessary?

My ebook, which retails for R90, will tell you the answer to all these questions, and more.

The reason I came to write this book was that after a chat with my colleague, we realized that we would have benefited greatly and got our businesses off the ground so much faster had such a book been available when we started out in the virtual field in South Africa. We realized that we had gained a lot of experience along the way, and that others could benefit from what we had learned.

Today, if you want to work as a transcriptionist in South Africa, there is no need for you to go through the difficulties and hassles I went through when starting out. Your questions can be answered easily.

Working_from_Home_as_a_Transcriptionist_in_South_Africa

On a personal note I would like to mention that Bidorbuy has become my supplier of choice. There are many things available on there that are pretty much impossible to come across elsewhere, such as the anti nausea bracelets I found on there when my husband had hepatitis and needed them badly. I was unable to find them elsewhere although I spent an afternoon searching.

The importance of procedures

2009-08-06T22:12:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone, today I want to talk about the importance of procedures to your business. Procedures are vitally important in any business, but perhaps in a virtual business they are of tantamount importance. A procedure in essence is a plan, and generally speaking, to use the old hackneyed phrase, failure to plan is to plan to fail.

I believe any business must start with a business plan. Even if you don't intend to use it to obtain a loan, it would be something that allows you to clearly state your intentions about what it is that you are trying to do. It's a mind clearer. And the natural next step (or even included in your business plan) would be to plan your procedures. This means you sit down and think of eventualities and plan how you're going to deal with them. What are your steps to follow when a query comes in? What are your steps when an order comes in? How are you going to invoice? These are things that, I believe, every newbie VA and transcriptionist should document.

Here comes the challenge, though. Your first client comes in, followed by your second, and your third. And suddenly, you're very busy. At this point it is easy to let go of procedures. And this is a danger to your established business. Much as you are tempted to go straight to bed after a 4 hour transcription, do not do so without at least blocking out some time the following day to do your admin. It's important, because doing it regularly does save you time in the long run, and consider that admin left for two or three days, or longer, can begin to make you feel overwhelmed.

Procedures can also be revised, as you get busier or add new services or products to your business. But the bottom line is - stick to your procedures.

My Transcription Ebook

2009-07-25T17:35:00.001+02:00

E-Book “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa”! only R90! Contact gpaynter@telkomsa.net to purchase.

This E-book is packed with everything you need to know about working from home as a transcriptionist in South Africa. I started out as a transcriptionist in 2005 and I’ve included everything I’ve learned along the way that I wish someone had told me.

How do you get that first client, how do you keep your clients, how do you invoice, and quote? What about where can you find support? What equipment do you need? All this information and more is available in my E-Book. Buy it today. This is information I wish somebody had told me – I would have been able to get going so much faster.

These are my tried and trusted methods. There are many American transcriptionist guides but “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa” has challenges and obstacles all its very own and answers particular questions faced by South African Transcriptionists.

Which other author will happily provide after sale support to you about how to get into the transcription field after you have read the book?

Buy my book today!! Much cheaper than other shorter publications on similar topics. Only R90! Contact gpaynter@telkomsa.net to purchase.

Minute taker / recorder

2009-07-16T11:25:00.000+02:00

Hi guys,
TAVASA is looking for a minute taker or alternatively somebody who can record meetings (using at least four microphones) IN JOHANNESBURG ONE SATURDAY A QUARTER. IF YOU CAN'T COMPLY WITH BEING IN JOHANNESBURG OR WORKING SATURDAYS QUARTERLY, OR PLAN TO RECORD USING YOUR CELL PHONE, DON'T CONTACT US ....

If you can, then please get in touch with Gaynor - gpaynter@telkomsa.net. This would be ongoing work.

A VA for You.

2009-07-14T14:46:00.006+02:00

Hi guys,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long. It has been quite a difficult time, what with my husband going down with Hepatitis A and then it being school holidays. With this in mind, what I want to stress today is the importance of having a good support structure in place. It's all very well happily going along as you are, but when things get hard, can you continue running your business the way that you do in peaceful times?

For us who work from home, it's particularly difficult if for whatever reason, we cannot do our work. No sick leave or paid annual leave for us, and for the most part, no other staff to help pick up or slack! So I'd urge you that now is the time to sort out a back up system, if you haven't done so already. Have somebody on standby who can assist you so that in the event of a disaster, your business can still run ... or, should you wish to go on holiday, you still can ...

It's no good waiting until the worst to happen to try to sort something out. Now is when it should be done. It's not only in the case of emergency that we work at homers need support. All too often, I've heard the lament "I just don't have time for myself. I can't get away from my work. My admin takes up every spare second".

So what can we actually do to ease our loads? Consider a concept which I have been turning over in my mind with great interest since it was first suggested to me three weeks ago.

A VA for the VA.

Think about it. Chew on it and mull it over.

Transcription companies have transcriptionists to help them complete their work. VAs have contractors to help them complete their typing work. So why can't it work the other way too? Why can't we use the concept that we use to sell our services to our clients - that having somebody virtual to assist is immensely beneficial, allowing potential clients more time to do their core business - to ease our own load? It's a concept that is taking off internationally and I can't see why it shouldn't work here too.

So - A VA for the VA. What better way for the experienced VA / transcriptionist to mentor somebody else, teach them the right ways and also take a massive load off their own plates? Seems so simple, really when we think about it, doesn't it? And it opens up a whole new avenue of potential employment for newbie VAs, with the added benefit of a first hand teacher, who actually pays you!

So - if you're a VA or transcriptionist with too much on your plate, contact TAVASA and we can find someone for you.

Please note though that Alison and I are not looking for VAs!

Dispelling some fallacies.

2009-05-15T16:05:00.007+02:00

I was chatting to an office worker friend of mine yesterday and it started coming across that she was actually quite sorely jealous of me both as a happily married woman (she is going through a divorce) and as a work at home mom. She seemed to think that I spend all day playing with my children. Now one of the reasons this attitude irritates me highly is that I know I spend more time working now than I ever did at any office.

Marriage aside, I know many if not all work at home moms have come across this attitude during their work at home careers. Nonetheless, I was quite bemused by my friend's attitude. Now I have a number of unpleasant, stressful issues at the moment myself that I am trying to resolve, but it would never ever cross my mind to say to someone "my problems are greater than yours". I believe that all problems are relative and everybody has different things to cope with. Nobody can judge another's problems until they've walked a mile inthat person's shoes.

But after this friend had almost trivialised what I was saying, the age old "you're so lucky, you get to spend time with your children", came up.

Undeniably there are advantages to working from home, and it's a choice that I made after due consideration. But I have yet to have one successful work at home mom tell me that she is regularly able to spend more time or even quality time with her children. I'm also yet to encounter the successful work at homer who sleeps until 11 am, gets out of bed at 12 and may put in a few hours of work in the afternoon. If you work from home and are successful at it, you're pulling 12 and 13 hour days regularly, and 18 hour days when the need arises. And weekends and public holidays - what are those? I work in South Africa for international clients. They don't have the same public holidays as us and don't care if we are having a public holiday. Two weeks leave? What's that? If I want time off I have to arrange it weeks in advance and then it's not always possible as my clients actually need me to work - they don't have stopgap people who can pick up the fall. And there's no such thing as paid leave. We get burnout, we get repetitive stress injuries and frozen shoulders - and we can't take time off to recover. I'm not denying that office work is also very hard or that there are some undeniable advantages in what we do - we don't commute or pay for childcare. But there are advantages in office work too. You have a regular salary and you have a knock off time. I'm not complaining about it - those of us who choose to work from home know all this before we begin. But weigh up the pros and cons of what you want to do - and give us work at homers our dues.

Office workers, if you want to work from home because you want to spend more time with your kids or think that it's going to give you more freedom, then in my opinion transcription and virtual assistance are not the fields for you - and neither, probably, is any work from home job. If however, you want to work from home because you are entrepreneurial, like to type and are customer driven, and are prepared to put in the hours, then yes I'd recommend it.

Have a great Resumé

2009-05-01T18:04:00.002+02:00

Why is it so important to have a great CV or Resumé?

1. Often your CV or Resumé is the first indication a potential employer has that you are interested in working for him. As we all know, first impressions count.

2. Your CV or Resumé is probably your first opportunity to show a potential employer what you are capable of. It is in effect a presentation. An untidy, inaccurate one will present a bad impression of you but a neat, accurate, grammatically correct professionally presented one will show the employer you mean business. Having a second person with expertise in presentation draw up your CV or Resumé is added insurance that you will not make grammatical errors.

3. It’s a written testimony to your capabilities, your achievements, what type of personality you have, your experience and your education.

4. It’s a one stop document where a potential employer can see all he needs to know at a moment’s notice. It’s imperative to make sure all that information is there.

All of the above points will make your resumé stand out from the crowd.

Have a great Resumé!

Contact me at gpaynter@telkomsa.net / www.typewritetranscription.co.za to do a great CV or Resumé for you!!

South African Medical Transcriptionists Alert!

2009-05-01T12:02:00.002+02:00

If you are a South African medical transcriptionist wanting to a) contribute to upholding standards and procedures in the industry, and b) have the potential of new medical work from us, then Alison and I invite you to sign up at our forum TAVASA. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/. When you've done so, drop us an introductory mail saying you're an MT.

How to move from cassettes to digital dictation.

2009-04-19T21:17:00.003+02:00

Hi everybody, I've just had an interesting query from a gentleman and I thought it would be beneficial to publish my answer here.

The query ran: " I use a typist for my small business but now I am moving away and wish to use the same person. How can i get documents or folders to her by e mail to type for me and send back using modern technology? At the moment I still use tapes and adictaphone but this will not work when I am 150kms away. Can you guide me on what I can use to go electronic? I can see you do such work but I am hoping you would not mind guiding me?

My answer to him ran as follows:

Most of my clients use Olympus to dictate their work into mp3 format for me (I think it's Olympus 5000), which they then send to me via www.sendspace.com, and I've recently implemented a system whereby they can upload files to my website. I then transcribe it and send it back to them using email, so the entire process is done digitally. There are also other digital dictation machines available I've done a google search for you here - http://www.google.co.za/search?hl=en&q=digital+dictation+machines&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryZA and you see Olympus comes up tops.

If you or your typist have any further queries I will be happy to help - I've even got an ebook available for R90 which shows how I set up and started, which could be very useful to her.

Good luck with the move, and if ever you have any excess transcription or somebody else enquires, I'll be happy to oblige!

Further to this, I looked up the suppliers of Olympus digital recorders here in South Africa and their details can be found at http://www.maynards.co.za/olympus.php

Pet Peeves

2009-04-15T22:49:00.003+02:00

Hello everybody,

After a day of transcribing on a new client system that is absolutely horrible - it's taking me three times the amount of time to transcribe the work - I wanted to discuss a couple of pet peeves I have:

1). IM etiquette. If I hang up a busy sign in my IM profile, this means I am BUSY - don't interrupt me! People will ask then, why if you are busy do you sign into IM, and the short answer to this is because if my clients need to contact me, they can. They know that the busy sign up there does not apply to them. Unfortunately, it does apply to everyone else. That's why I have email - you can email me and I can get back to you in my own time. If there's a "Do Not Disturb" hanging on an office or a hotel door, people do not disturb them - this folks is the 21st version of the same thing.

My frustrations are not limited to the virtual world.

2). Doorbell ringers. In South Africa we have a combination of factors that can become really annoying to some poor transcriptionist trying to work out of the back office of her suburban home. Factor one - horrible crime rates mean that we live behind big, high security gates and walls. Factor two - high gates necessitate an intercom on the outside gate. Factor three - unemployment, which leads to many hawkers walking the streets trying to make a living for themselves.

Hence you have me, the transcriptionist in the back office of her house working to a deadline and trying her hardest to get through a string of things before the kids come home from school - just recovered from the interruption of an IM coming through a busy sign - when - bing bong, bing bong!! Off go the headphones, and up I get to peer through the window to see who is at the gate. Turns out this is not somebody I'm expecting, and moreover, it's a hawker, selling a ware I don't need, and I've given my last R2 - yes, my last - to my son for charity at his school that morning. I ignore the bell. Yes, I know you can see me through the window. The fact that I've looked at you and walked away should be some kind of hint that I'm not interested. So why, why, does the hawker ring the bell again - and keep ringing it, until I'm forced to get up again and say something impatient throgh the intercom? If I market my service to a client, and I don't get a response, I realise that now just isn't the best time, and I move on. I'm not alone in my feeling on this. See what author Damaria Senne has to say about this: http://damariasenne.blogspot.com/2009/04/drafted-6-poems-as-part-of-poem-day.html

Next blog post will be on pet peeves particularly related to transcribing.

Writing, proofreading and editing blog posts as a new service

2009-04-12T15:57:00.007+02:00

I read a few blog posts last night and was quite shocked by the poor quality of them, particularly one as I happen to know the author of it is quite capable of writing in grammatically correct, properly spelled English. I have a theory about it. I think that people who are the best of professionals in their every day lives tend to get rushed and overexcited when writing blog posts - I know from experience it can be something you hurry to fit in at the end of a busy day - and I do think it's a shame that these errors occur, as a poorly written blog post can tarnish the author's otherwise brilliantly professional image.

In the rush, after one has worked an 18 hour day, "Their computers" become "there computers" or worse (to me) "they're computers" ... or "Don't get worn out by long hours" becomes "dont get warn out by long hours" ....

Full stops become commas in the rush to get the text down ... "I transcribed 14 hours of audio today. The client was really pleased, and I have more for tomorrow. He needs it back by 6pm." - this looks so much worse written as "I transcribed 14 hours of audio today, the client was really pleased, and I have more for tomorrow, he needs it back by 6pm."

Another pet hate of mine is incorrect capitalisation. I did a grammar and spelling quiz on Facebook, and my result was "English Professor Material" - which amazed me, because one of the questions actually had no correct answer! It read:

They took ________ dog for a walk and afterwards _________ going home. Which are the correct words to fill in here?

a) Their, they're
b) there, their
c) They're, there
d) there, they're

I picked a) and hoped for the best as it was, I supposed, the most correct, but it too is not correct. If you slot the words in, there is a horribly incorrect capitalisation in the sentence.

If you are unsure whether you can get your spelling and grammar correct on your blog, outsource this function. I will from now on be offering writing, proofreading and editing of blog posts and entries as a service to my clients.

General Recording Tips

2009-04-12T00:18:00.004+02:00

Nothing is more stressful than receiving poorly recorded audio to transcribe. You just know that try as you might, you are going to struggle to give your client the quality transcript you usually return. Therefore, I urge clients to look at the following, and for transcriptionists to distribute the following general recording tips to clients.

• Ask participants not to speak simultaneously. If possible ensure that each person has a microphone to speak into. One recorder placed in the middle of the table is not sufficient.

• Mikes should be placed close to the speaker and pointed at him or her. If there is only one mike and one respondent, point the microphone towards the interviewee as it will be of less consequence to lose what the interviewer is saying than the interviewee. Spell out difficult names or references.

• Ask each speaker to introduce him or herself clearly at the beginning and spell out their name.

• Send a list of commonly used jargon or names to us. Agendas and notes help greatly with transcribing conferences. If the interviewer has used a list of standard questions, please send that along too. If you're concerned about the quality of the recording, ask the interviewer to repeat what the respondent has said.

• Try to minimize background noise. Some common sources of background noise include: Traffic, construction and other street noise Noise from other rooms or hallways through open doors. Machinery running in the background TV sets and radios. People making noise in the background. Pets or other animals. Clocks that chime. Doors shutting or slamming. Coughs, sneezes, etc.

• Try to minimize people leaving or entering during the event, but if they must ask them to do so quietly and to not bang the door.

• Conduct a thorough sound check before the event.

• If possible, encourage speakers to make some verbal reference to things they may be indicating visually.

• Although we accept recordings in most formats, we prefer mp3 as this format is standard, works on most digital playback software, and does not usually require conversion.

Working at Home as a Transcriptionist - During School Holidays

2009-04-07T19:28:00.002+02:00

WORKING AT HOME AS A TRANSCRIPTIONIST – DURING SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

By

Gaynor Paynter
Owner: Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC.
gpaynter@telkomsa.net / www.typewritetranscription.co.za

Gaynor Paynter is a writer and transcriptionist living in Johannesburg, South Africa.

I have two sons aged 8 and 10, and I work from home as a transcriptionist. It’s now school holidays … so I thought it would be fun to tell you about a day in our lives. I’m hoping to dispel the notion that we work at home moms don’t actually work, and all the other rumours out there that just make me laugh!

Now I don’t know about all of you but when its school holidays I tend to relax routine a little bit for the kids – and since I’m a night owl I find I naturally slip back into my work all night, get up a tad late routine. This also works quite well since I have clients in Australia. Anyway, after working until 11pm last night, at 07:30 am I am still asleep. … not for long.

Two missed calls on my cell phone have me awake. Well with no message left there’s nothing much I can do, but I drearily stumbled out of bed. Immediately, I feel something is wrong. It’s very quiet … why? Where are the kids? I make my way through to the kitchen and find them playing with the dogs, one has his hand in the dog’s water bowl and is trailing water around my kitchen making it look as though snails had been there all night, and the other is gleefully looking on, no doubt relishing the trouble his little brother would get into.

I make them breakfast, stumble through to the office and turn on the computer .. now I’m never at my best in the morning but when a client is trying to explain a complicated computer system to a fuzzy brained me, well – we progress to the point where we realize that it was their client who hadn’t set the system up correctly. This took us two hours, in between interruptions, my son running in yelling “There’s a big yellow van at the door!” and since I’m still in my nightie, I leave my client hanging on Skype, run through and dress faster than I ever have before, while sending my 10 year old out to appease the delivery man … run out there, sign for CDs (the story of their arrival is a whole other one, but suffice to say the lady who has sent them to me is very relieved about their arrival – and people get very angry with you when they are trying to deliver something to you and your doorbell is not working) – to pick up my client on Skype.

Phone rings, it’s my son’s friend.

20 minutes later, bellow at son to get off phone as he’s blocking potential business calls.

10:30 am – a skype from one of our TAVASA ladies asking me if she should start up in medical transcription, general transcription or if it doesn’t matter. I’ve answered the same question from the same lady three times over – and the answer always remains the same, if you want to do MT great, but you have to study for it … and if you want to be a general transcriber you don’t need to study a medical course … (all of these details are available in my book, “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa)

Phone rings. It’s Damian – trying to help me set up the system. Client skyping continually – and we decide, okay, we’ll do it the old way for today until we can get their client to sort it out. So I log into the old system. Only to discover that this is going to be ultra confusing as the client is dictating in the NEW way, and I’m transcribing in the OLD way … all the while at the back of my mind is, “I’ve got to start on those CVs, and I’ve got to market my business more … “ (Until a few months ago I was using a free website host and the host took it over, thereby directing all of my traffic to a bunch of garbage … anyway that’s nearly sorted out but in any case marketing is something that should be done on a daily basis in this field).

2pm - file spell checked and uploaded. I’ve promised to take my kids for milkshake and nobody’s had lunch yet –so off we go to KFC about 6 – 7 blocks down the road. (we walk as we only have the one car and Damian uses it for work). This is a thing the boys and I do every school holidays – our tradition and we love it.

3pm, back home to 3 emails and 2 skypes that need answering … so, I settle the kids down to their various activities – Andrew wants to play his new computer game and Brandon is playing with the toy KFC kindly just gave him – and I answer them – actually as the moderator of TAVASA I’m feeling a bit guilty that I can’t always get to the questions as quick as I’d like – but still, we keep on trying and will keep on trying to support others in our field.

The boys begin to fight – I’m always hoping my oldest will find a pastime different to that of making his little brother scream by taking his toys away, and that Brandon will learn to ignore him and not play up to him – so I develop my lung capacity by screaming the full length of the house at them (heaven knows what the tenant must think). All is calm for about five minutes, and then the same again. There comes a time in every school holiday when any siblings even if they are the best of friends have had enough of each other’s company. I go to remove the oldest from the youngest’s room. This only works on dire threat that he will be made to wash the dishes the whole week if he does not desist.

After that, eventually get to make a start on the four CDs I have to transcribe before Wednesday, guess what it’s terrible audio and the kids are being noisy too (but not fighting), and I soldier on and will proofread at the end of it …

Which gets us to 16:30 – Damian’s home, and since we need to eat and have no food in the house, and the kids need meds, I’m off out to buy those things while he starts supper – unfortunately, it’s been raining and it takes me half an hour to travel 3km, and the queue in the chemist is just as long … I don’t particularly like driving in the dark so I’m getting more and more antsy, but eventually I get out of there.

So kids are fed and bathed, and it’s 18:50, and here I am ready to carry on working for another hour or so! And that’s a day in the life of a working general transcriptionist mom, when her kids are on school holiday! And let that dispel any notion anybody may have that
a) Work at home moms get to spend more time with their kids than other moms
b) Work at home moms spend all day going to shops or having their hair done
c) Work at home moms watch TV all day.
d) Work at home moms have it easy.
So then you may ask, why do we keep on doing this? There are many reasons. We like to be in control of our own destiny. We like to provide our clients with quality service. We like that we are own bosses and that the work we put in becomes what we get out. We like the idea that somewhere down the line we will have something to provide our children with. I like to think that for children with an uncertain future in an uncertain political environment, this is something invaluable for them. And yes, although it’s hardly ever possible, I like that I can have an hour off to take my children for lunch, even though it means I must work until the small hours to make up for it sometimes. That small investment in quality time with them is worth more than the things I could give them if I was a highly powered corporate. And as for TAVASA, yes it can be demanding and questions and issues come up at times when we find it hard to answer them timeously. But try we always do, and we always will, because I’d like to feel that for that one moment, that one email, that one second where we are advising somebody or giving assistance where we can, we are making a difference in the life of that one person. And that’s worth more than money can buy.

Gaynor Paynter
Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC
Cell: +27834424689
Web: www.typewritetranscription.co.za
TAVASA Cofounder and Moderator http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/
ASK ME ABOUT BUYING MY EBOOK 'WORKING FROM HOME AS A TRANSCRIPTIONIST IN SA"

2009-04-02T11:00:00.002+02:00

My ebook will assist all newbie VAs when starting up there businesses. Its packed full of interesting information, on business plans, rates, invoicing, office set up, you name it the information is in there. On sale at R90.00, please email admin@amftyping.co.za for further information

Two New Press Releases

2009-03-26T10:48:00.002+02:00

Writing and proofreading services now offered:

South Africa, Republic of (Press Release) March 26, 2009 -- The established transcription and typing entity Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services (www.typewritetranscription.co.za) has added proofreading to the list of services it offers. Gaynor Paynter, owner, says "Proofreading has always been close to my heart and what with the current recession, I feel that many businesses who have downsized will benefit from this service, because they will have had laid off staff, and flustered secretaries and other staff members, upon whom extra duties will fall, will simply not have the time to write and proofread documents as diligently as they did before."

Although the ocmpany is based in South Africa, this too is of benefit to international clients. Because of the South African time zone, work can be done overnight and completed by the following morning. In addition to this the rates will be cheaper. The outsourcing of this service will save businesses time and money. Gaynor Paynter can be emailed at gpaynter@telkomsa.net for further information.

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200903/1238057223.html

CV Writing Service

The established typing entity Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC, www.typewritetranscription.co.za, is offering CV writing services to recruitment agencies (a retainer agreement will be available) and to individuals needing their CVs done in a professional manner during the recession.

Gaynor Paynter, owner, says "Prior to starting Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC, I worked for five years in a recruitment company as a CV writer. During that time I gained masses of experience in both the writing and proofreading of CVs, as well as preparing correspondence for clients, etc. During the recession companies will be downsizing and it makes sense to outsource CV writing."

Gaynor Paynter is contactable at gpaynter@telkomsa.net

Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa E book - R90

2009-03-25T21:32:00.006+02:00

E-Book “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa”!

This E-book is packed with everything you need to know about working from home as a transcriptionist in South Africa. I started out as a transcriptionist in 2005 and I’ve included everything I’ve learned along the way that I wish someone had told me.

How do you get that first client, how do you keep your clients, how do you invoice, and quote? What about where can you find support? What equipment do you need? All this information and more is available in my E-Book. Buy it today. This is information I wish somebody had told me – I would have been able to get going so much faster.

These are my tried and trusted methods. There are many American transcriptionist guides but “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa” has challenges and obstacles all its very own and answers particular questions faced by South African Transcriptionists.

Buy my book today!! Much cheaper than other shorter publications on similar topics.

How to provide a quality transcription

2009-03-25T21:02:00.004+02:00

Hi everybody and welcome to the new blog for Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC! Here I hope to bring you news about the company, interesting articles and general things of interest to the transcription industry in South Africa. Since one of my main aims is to attempt to increase standards in the industry in South Africa, both from the client and transcriptionist point of view, I thought I'd kick it off by giving you the general procedure I try to follow to attempt to ensure I give a quality product to my clients.

1. Ensure that you have a quiet place to work and a quality set of equipment (headphones, speakers, dictation software)

2. Ask your client if they have any documentation you can refer to - speaker names, a programme if it is a conference, or a website you can refer to.

3. Ask your client if they have any specific grammatical preferences.

4. In all instances where your client does not have grammatical preferences, ensure that you adhere to general grammatical rules.

5. Establish from your client whether he or she would like you to timestamp unclear sections.

6. Pay attention to the context of the work and ensure what you transcribe makes sense. This is the advantage transcriptionists hold above voice recognition software, and nothing is more frustrating for a proofreader than nonsensical work. I once had a 3 hour transcript returned by one of my transcriptionists, and none of it made any sense. For example, the people were talking about constitutional issues, and one person said "They were discussing the issues". The transcript came to me as "they were discussing his shoes". This can be funny in one instance, or two. But by the time there has been 3 hours of it, I can tell you it wears thin.

7. Do a spell check, and ensure you have got the words placed correctly. For example, nothing drives me crazier than seeing for example "the men played there guitars." It's "the men played their guitars" ...

8. Proofread your own work. If this means going back and going through it again for the whole length of the audio then so be it. Some audio is clear and can be proofread at 1.5 times the speed. Either way, your work needs to be checked before you send it back to your client. Of importance is that you ensure that you have googled or double checked difficult terms.

Hope this has been beneficial to you,
Gaynor

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2006-12-24T09:35:00.000+02:00

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The latest in transcription

2005-09-05T15:58:00.000+02:00

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Contact us: Email me! / +27834424689 / Fax 0880116155633