G is for Gaynor

That is me! Gaynor Paynter, the owner of this business, the one who together with Alison Fourie started TAVASA, and the one who also runs the Pop Speaking site.

By now many of you have been following my blogs while I complete this challenge and I thought I'd like to share a little something about myself.

So then.. here it is!

My name is Gaynor Paynter and I'm the owner of my own transcription business. I'm a mom of two teenage boys, and a wife. I live in South Africa but believe that with the internet the world is our oyster. I've always had a fascination with popular culture, the stars, the media, and celebdom in general. I'm also kinda retro so a lot of stuff you'll see here will come from years gone by, but I appreciate the talents and qualities of today's celebs too. I co present on a radio show at Radio Today Johannesburg, and you should check it out cos we've got some awesome guests lined up. In my spare time, I'm a wannabe novelist. I've got a heart and mind for community and I serve on my Ward Committee. This is the reason why from time to time you're gonna see some causes mentioned and supported on here. I believe we must use the resources we have to do whatever good we can. And I run my own transcription business - I've been doing it since 2005. It's had its ups and downs, that's for sure. I've flirted with the idea of going back to the office and went back to one for a month in 2012. It didn't work. I never worked well in an office. I like to call my own shots and do my own thing. And I find that my ideas and the boss' clash and we don't work that well together. LOL. Besides, I like what I do. I like the variety of the daily tasks I do. For example, today I've worked on a project about Oliver Tambo, typed up an arbitration report and now I'm busy typing a religious book. I'm a mish mash of everything. I'm interested in everything, I find that most things have something to like about them.

F is for Finance and for Facebook.

Finances

I must admit that one of the reasons I finally decided on a virtual business was for financial reasons - I already had a computer, printer and the internet! What more do you need? In the beginning, I couldn't even afford to pay for webhosting, so for a long time I used a freebie site, and I did ALL of my marketing online. I still do for the most part, and I've been running  Typewrite Transcription since 2005.

Firstly, I created a website. I've been through various hosts, but currently (and to stay, as it's not a good idea to keep changing domain names) my website is at Typewrite Transcription.  and even now, it's the only form of marketing I pay for on a regular basis. On an ad hoc basis, I do things like brochure drops - I did a barter agreement with one of the printing companies and had 5,000 brochures made, which the post office distributed into boxes for me at 10c a brochure.

I haven't had to lay out any capital to start the business. Obviously as years go by, you upgrade equipment, buy new things, etc, and as the business grows, you sub contract. I started out doing all my books myself, which I soon discovered wasn't a very good idea - I'm useless at accounting and maths and the greater complexities of SARS etc elude me. So I've outsourced that and the small monthly cost I pay is well worth it to have FIGG Excel Accounting Services do my books (So F is for Figg, too) 

E is for the Edward Chamberlain-Bell Show..from the wind beneath your wings

I had a chance to be on the Edward Chamberlain-Bell Show on Saturday 25 January. It was a huge honour for me.

I want to say a huge thank you to Edward for inviting me on his show. It was a lot of fun and gave me a good opportunity to get the word out about our industry and answer some of his and his co-host Laura's questions.

So please have a listen in here - my part on the show starts at 00:30.

I was pretty nervous going in to this show. I am not sure why as I've been interviewed before and I also conduct interviews sometimes. But I guess this was just a big opportunity, because The Edward Chamberlain-Bell show is ALWAYS very informative for small business and it's a show which has pretty fast made its mark in local radio and is only going to get bigger. It was great to be on there and get the chance to yak about our industry, my business and the virtual world in general - without having to be the one thinking about the questions.

One of the questions centred around the biggest challenge in the industry, and I had to say that it was fear. Not only because fear was the first thing on my mind at the time. But because it really is true. I think we all have fears, and it can be crippling. You can get that blind fear that doesn't allow you to do anything. But the thing is that if you really want to achieve something, you've got to try to look past that fear and picture where you might be after you've gone past the fear and done the thing you wanted to do anyway.

The Edward Chamberlain-Bell Show team aim to help you live your best life ever this year. If you've already forgotten your New Year's resolutions, they've got a painful reminder to keep you on your toes this year, and they're going to keep reminding you until you can also say you're living the best life you've ever had. You're allowed to fail but you're also encouraged to be your best.

Ed calls me the wind beneath his wings because I do social media and podcasting for Radio Today Johannesburg, which includes his show. That's a pretty nice accolade to have and it's a fun gig to have too, because it allows me that teensy weensy bit of creativity which I also mention in the show. Working in our field one can tend to get a little bogged down, so it's nice, and important, to give freedom to your creative side every once in a while.  This is also how the interview opportunity has come about - Ed and I have got to know each other through this and he was so taken by me he decided to have me on the show and I know he's going to read this which is why I'm stoking him a little. LOL :-)

Edward agrees, forget about those resolutions for 2014, and be true to who YOU are and what makes the U in YOU happy! And that is what I think too.

The Edward Chamberlain-Bell Show is broadcast on Saturdays from 12h00 to 13h00 (GMT+2).

Radio Today (@Radio2Day) broadcasts on 1485 AM in Johannesburg and country-wide on DStv audio channel 869. Stream: www.1485.org.za/ and 1485.mobi. Follow Ed on Twitter @thewordofed.

Next up for me - break the TV barrier. I've never been on TV and I want to be, so I'm looking for opportunities.

Please share this blog if you have enjoyed it, and follow me on Google Friend connect and / or on Twitter @TypewriteSA or on Facebook  I can learn from you, too. I would really value comments and input from you on this post and I always try to follow back. Many thanks for taking the time to read this. Tweet

D is for Dusting and Domestic Work and those other things we Don't get to do...

... when we're running our own businesses. Look in South Africa we as business owners we are very spoiled. If business is doing well, we employ domestic workers (traditionally known as maids). Some people in other countries tell us this is a class thing, a way of keeping people down, etc, etc. Well, there are laws around it, and domestic work is a big form of employment of people who may not be employable in other ways. The unemployment situation here is dire, and by hiring domestic workers we are helping the situation. Anyway the fact of the matter is that many of us do have domestic workers and so for 11 months out of 12 we are sorted. The problem comes in in December when most domestic workers go back to the homelands, or on days where they may be sick or affected by problems out of their control such as strikes.

When I'm busy, I'm working 12 - 18 hour days, and house cleaning is the last thing I feel like doing. It's the last thing I feel like doing at any given day or time, but it has to be done. Nobody likes living in dirt. Come December time, and you're still busy at work, and the housework piles up and up, things can get interesting. Suddenly in addition to the 12 million things you've got to do, you've got to sweep, vacuum, dust, do dishes, clean bathrooms and kitchens. Now I've never tried the excuse, but I can't see my clients liking it if I say "I'm running late, the dishes are piled to the ceiling."

C is for Client Care.

Customer Care, Client Service, Service Delivery, call it what you want, it's about looking after those who pay you, and in South Africa, and I fear the rest of Africa too, it's sadly lacking for the most part.

In my book Working From Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa, I've dedicated an entire section to obtaining and keeping customers. As a small business owner, you've probably put a lot of work into obtaining your customers. If you haven't, you should be, but that's a whole other topic. But many people seem to think that once they've got the customer, they can stop putting work into retaining them. That's where many small businesses fall down and it contributes to the reason why many such businesses fail.

Once you've got the customer, you need to work on keeping them. For the purposes of this post I'm going to focus on the virtual industry, as opposed to retail or anything like that. So you've got your customer, and they decide they're going to use your services.

There are a few basics a virtual service provider should keep in mind in order to keep that customer they've worked so hard for.