Is this an easy job?

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

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?

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, yes, typing in Afrikaans!

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

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.
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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