PRODUCING HIGH QUALITY TRANSCRIPTS

I suggest that you join a forum aimed at VAs and transcriptionists.  For South Africans I would recommend TAVASA.  Working from home can be a lonely experience and trying to sort out technical problems can be very daunting.  By joining a forum you will be in contact with people who understand exactly what is required and can assist with questions. 

Best of all, this is where the more established people post their requests for assistance with overflow work.  Having secured a shot at subcontracting this overflow work bear the following in mind:

• Obtain a template from the contractor and STICK to it – every comma, every underlining, every space.  Do not get creative and do not try to improve on the template.
• Often the contractor will send a sheet through with his or her typing preferences and requirements.  Read it carefully before you start typing and again before you proof your work and ensure you abide by the instructions.
• Communicate – if you are having problems with the recording it may be a bad recording.  On the other hand, if you are the only typist experiencing problems then it is probably an incorrect setting or your equipment may be faulty.  The only way to find out is by asking the contractor about the recording quality.   Do not go merrily ahead and turn in a transcript littered with [unclear], [inaudible], etcetera.
• Make notes as you go, especially for names and words that you are not sure of.  Should these become clear as the transcript progresses, it makes it easy and quick to do a global replacement.
• Proof your work thoroughly.   Put those earphones on and go through the whole transcript – this is time-consuming and quite often expensive – it takes a long time to type your very first transcription and it can be quite discouraging in terms of your hourly rate, but you would be amazed at what you pick up on the second run-through.  Words previously indecipherable will be clear once you are familiar with the context of the transcript.
• Spell and grammar check – spell checking is an absolute requirement but adding the grammar check function is very useful in picking up mistakes other than typos.  Bear in mind that transcription is usually rendered verbatim and the most common grammar mistakes are made in speech.  Do not be tempted to tidy up the speaker’s grammar unless specifically requested to do so.
• Google is your friend.  If, for instance, you pick up a name and a designation but not the company name, chances are you will find it on Google.  Many terms are industry-related or, in the case of medical transcription, the names of patent drugs, etcetera, are unfamiliar to most people.  It is not enough to spell a word phonetically, add a question mark and move on.  In the long run your efforts will be rewarded.
• Ask questions.  We were all new at this once and I believe we would rather answer a dozen seemingly insignificant questions rather than receive a badly-typed transcript.

The above steps are very, very important.  It is as well to remember that not only do contractors offer the jobs that will get you started as a transcriptionist but that they often recommend – or not – typists to other contractors.   Shoddy work will put a halt to your career before you start.  Commit to producing high quality transcription from day one.

Michele Johanson is based in Cape Town and owns Good Hope Transcription and Typing Services http://goodhopetranscription.weebly.com which offers general and legal transcription, typing, article and content  writing  and editing/proofreading  functions.  Recently we have added recording of small meetings to our profile.

By Damaria Senne and Christelle Du Toit

Businesses in general, SMMEs, and non-profit organisations in particular, often face the challenge of getting their organisation, cause or product profiled in the media without paying for expensive advertorial or advertisement space.

While buying space will guarantee you a platform to get your message across the way you want to, editorial space in news articles/reports is generally more credible and has more impact.

How to get quoted in the media aims to teach you some tricks of the trade to optimise your media relationships and coverage.

The ebook covers the following subjects:

• Connecting with the media
• Developing a clear message
• Linking the organisation’s story to recent news developments
• Writing your press release
• Strategies to expand your media coverage
• Media Interview Tips 
• Working with a media monitoring service

How to get quoted in the media is published by Damaria Senne Media and will be on sale online as a PDF document from the 3^rd October 2011

As a client what do you look for when you want assistance with a typing or transcription task. Are you looking for the cheapest assistance you can find or are you looking for someone with the experience needed to do the task you require?

Let me use the two common tasks that Virtual Assistant offer to clients: Typing and Transcription Services.

Do you as the client care about how your work is done if so then price can be the object, but not the deciding factor in getting assistance, you will look for someone with the experience to assist you, and you must have the confidence in that person that they can do the job the way you would like it done.

Do you want your typing done at the cheapest possible price, does getting the job done as cheap as you can, mean that the service quality will not be as it would be with someone with experience. Anyone can offer typing and transcription services but what is their experience and skill at offering these services.

If I was looking for someone to assist me I would look at the experience that person has in the skills they offer. If I required a job done urgent, I would look to the person’s skill and experience.

Clients require a transcriptionist to assist them and often this task is urgent but they want to pay the least amount of money for this task. Transcription is a skill that has been learnt and perfected by transcriptionist’s. Transcription is not typing it is more involved, using listening, concentration, sentence construction, layout, punctuation etc skills. You have to know where to put in your punctuation etc. This is a task you cannot just give to anyone at the cheapest possible price, if you do you must expect to get the service from the person that the price dictates. An experienced transcriptionist will not offer to do your work for a cheap price as she knows what is involved with that work, she knows the time it will take to complete the task and the process involved in doing that task.

The same goes for typing, a client can send in an example to the VA who will look at the typing involved and give you a rate on what it takes to complete that task so that you have a professional well laid out, accurate, spell checked document.

VAs with the experience in the tasks that they offer will be able to quote you easily on the examples that you send them because they know what is involved.

When working with VAs and Transcriptionists as a client it is about what we can do for you, how professional we can do the task that you allocate to us, how we can work with you in a partnership to make sure that your work is done to the standard that you expect of us. Getting a VA to assist you is about that VA providing you with a quality service. It is not about her handing you back a piece of typing with mistakes galore, not formated correctly, your transcription with words missing, spelling errors etc. Always check out that the person assisting you has the skill and expereince required to perform your task.

Typing is the process of inputting text into a device, such as a typewriter, cell phone, computer, or a calculator, by pressing keys on a keyboard. It can be distinguished from other means of input, such as the use of pointing devices like the computer mouse, and text input via speech recognition.

The world’s first typist was Lillian Sholes from Wisconsin. She was the daughter of Christopher Sholes, the man who invented the first practical typewriter.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typing

Typing the theory is anyone can do it, but can they. To me typing is a skill; there is a process involved therefore, that makes it a skill. Anyone can sit and type but can they type properly. There are one finger typists, two finger typists and then you get the person who can type with all fingers like me. I was taught touch typing during my school years.

While at school many years ago I took typing classes, in those days we used old manual typewriters, the key board was very high between levels on the keypad and also there was wide spaces between each key. I was taught how to place the fingers correctly on the keypad, and how to hold my hands. We were also shown which fingers you use on each specific key. As we progress through learning we were also taught about speed typing. Paper was placed across our keys and we were taught to type fast while listening to music keeping up with the beat of the music by typing. It was fun and I eventually learnt how to be a very fast accurate typist.

This is a skill I have carried with me for years and now put into practice daily through owning my own typing company. I offer typing services to clients. I can sit and type for hours and it’s a skill I enjoy providing to my clients. Anyone can type but are they accurate, are they fast.

I am what can be called an old school typist. Many people who use keyboards today don’t position their fingers correctly therefore they cannot type as quick as what you can when your fingers are placed correctly.

Written by Alison Fourie, AMF Typing Services

There is a difference between Dictaphone, Transcription, and Typing.

Dictaphone and Transcription are similar so we charge at an audio hourly rate or hourly rate and these are not referred to as typing in any way, they are both a skill in themselves and not everyone can do them. With both you listen then type up what you hear (Transcribe). This involves excellent listening skills, good grammar, english knowledge, knowledge of  punctuation, and concentration etc.

Dictaphone is normally one person, could be a doctor or an attorney recording into a digital machine, recording device and then you as a Transcriptionist listen to that tape and transcribe it. This is normally quicker to do than doing a transcription of many people involved.

Transcription can be more involved, it can be a recording of a meeting with a few people present, a conference session, court hearings etc. It is usually when more than one person is speaking and the event is being recorded. Court recording are difficult to do as they can involve a lot of speakers and different language challenges and maybe a translator being involved. A focus group is difficult to transcribe as often there is a lot of people involved and cross talking all at once.

These two skills are not the same as copy typing, they are more involved and can take many hours to transcribe into a document therefore there is normally an hourly or audio hourly rate involved not a per page rate. It will normally take between 4 to 6 hours to transcribe a one hour file. Transcription of a Focus Group meeting can take a lot longer.

A lot of people have no idea that transcription and typing are not the same thing, a client can ring you and ask you to do typing and its not really typing it is transcription, make sure you verify this before quoting on the work, ask the client for an example, they can send you an example of a transcription sound file or a page taken from what they require copy typing. Ask for details/information on these tasks before quoting, the more detail you have the easier it is to quote. Do not quote blindly.

With transcription you need to listen to the file before quoting. There could be multiple speakers, cross talking, background noise, dual languages, if you listen first it can give you a good idea of how long you think you will take doing the transcript.

Typing is what it is and is not either of the above and it’s charged at a per page rate or a per word rate (sometimes students like it per word, but not often). Typing is normally when you type from written notes, PDF documents, author’s books, reports, tenders, copy typing, company correspondence etc.

With typing you need to ask the client for an example, a client can say well its just copy typing, that maybe but copy typing can include graphs, flow diagrams, graphics, scanning of graphics, all these take more time to create and this must be taken into consideration when there is deadlines and you need to meet that deadline. If you scan that is time taking, if you need to do a graph or flow diagram they need to be created from scratch which is also time taking, this is not simple copy typing. A graphic can be scanned or involve being retreaved from the internet therefore you may have to find it, which can involve internet research, this time has to be featured in as part of your quote. To do a flow diagram it can take quite a few hours, remember this if you charge on a per page rate. Flow diagrams are not quick and easy, you have to build it from scratch, the layout has to be right, they can be very involved. Graphs and charts can mean that they need to be done in Excel then copied across to word into your document, this is also a process of creating and copying, time taking.

So you see copy typing is often not just copy typing.

These are just points to remember if you get asked to quote on Dictatation, Trancription and Typing.

Join our group/forum ‘Tavasa’ which is free membership. To join: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/

I’ve been in business as a VA since 2001 and I run a full time business from my own office working for many clients. You need to work to find clients to support you, so the job consists of marketing, advertising and networking, this you must do, be prepared to do this if you want a thriving business, and it is an ongoing process.

Any questions let me know and I will try to answer for you. 

Global Virtual Assistants Week 16^th – 21^st May 2011 http://www.oivac.com celebrated worldwide by VAs across the globe

OIVAC Online Convention 18^th – 21^st May 2011 http://www.oivac.com A must for all virtual assistants worldwide

Africa VA Associations to join:
Tavasa – The Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants of South Africa
Entrepreneur Buddy ~ http://www.entrepreneurbuddy.net
African Virtual Assistants Network(Afrivan) ~ http://www.afrivan.org
Business Without Boundaries ~ http://www.businesswithoutboundaries.net
Be Virtual Wise – http://www.be-virtual-assistant-wise.com/

Blogs: Newbie VA Blog:  http://alison-fourie.blogspot.com, I place articles and pieces of information in the blog weekly, so check back regularly, it is the place for newbie VAs to learn more about the VA industry.

Firstly I would suggest you do a google search on ‘virtual assistant‘ from here you will see that it is a thriving industry worldwide. Being a VA is about owning a business, not just about sitting at home and typing, it is about running a full time business. Being a VA you will take part in every aspect of running your business, typing, transcribing, marketing, networking, admin, client liaison, accounting, debt collection etc. Its daunting, scary but if you feel you can do, go for it. I will support you and give you help if you need, I will answer questions you need answers to.

Attitude also plays a huge role in whether you will succeed or drowned. You have to be able to multitask, be able to prioritise, deal with clients on an ongoing basis, be friendly, and have excellent time management skills. You have to have the right personality to do this type of job. You need self discipline, you need to have it in you to get up every morning and physically go and work at your computer as you are doing a job this is a career and running a company. The VA concept is taking off in leaps and bounds within South Africa at the moment; there is still lots of work out there for everyone. The word is spreading and more and more clients are moving towards VAs and are learning about our concept. So there is work available but to get that work ‘you have to do the work to get the work’, it is as simple as that, the work will not just fall into your lap.

Today becoming a Virtual Assistant is a safer option for a women,  cutting out the risks of travelling to work re high jacking, car breakdowns, traffic etc. Being your own Boss means you can schedule your work around yourself. Being a VA can become a hectic full time job. If you are thinking of moving out of the secretarial/PA arena, becoming a Virtual Assistant could be the position for you, if you would like to run your own company. It could be the next step to take. Running a viable VA business is worth it, but you must work at it like any other business. No work will just fall into your lap.

Guide on how to start up a VA Business: I have an Guide for sale R110.00, which explains all about starting up a VA business within SA. This guide content includes marketing, networking, prices/rates, business plan details/info. Just send an email to amftyping@mweb.co.za. I will send you banking details on receipt of your payment, I will forward your the guide to you via email, it is a pdf document. This guide  is updated on a continual basis.

T A V A S A 

Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants of South Africa

Website: http://www.tavasa.co.za

Blog: www.tavasa.blogspot.com

Emails: info@tavasa.co.za – sandras@tavasa.co.za

TAVASA: The Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants of South Africa: see below, Free Membership

Our group was founded in October 2008 by Gaynor Paynter from Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services cc, Cell: +27834424689, Web: www.typewritetranscription.co.za and Alison Fourie from AMF Typing Services cc, Cell: +270828713452, Web: www.amftyping.co.za. Tavasa was formed as there was a need for a support group within South Africa.

Please note we are not a recruitment company, It is up to individual Virtual Assistants and Transcriptionists to find their own work/clients.

 We provide support for people in our industries

• We bring together a group of professionals who can support each other

Because we like to have immediate access to queries that arise from our members, and because many people in South Africa still find it easier to access email on a regular basis as opposed to accessing an internet browser regularly, our main means of communication is an email discussion forum, and you can join our group at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/

Our aim is the promote the Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants industry within South Africa.

To guide new Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants to set up their businesses within the industry.

You will feel by belonging to our forum you have now joined the South Africa family of VAs and Transcriptionists within South Africa. All questions are welcome and we would love you to participate and meet everyone. No questions are to stupid to ask as there will always be someone wanting to ask that question. Join us. Send us an introduction email telling everyone what you do, if you are married or single, have children, what services you offer, how you feel about working from home, you will get lots of response saying welcome, our team is very friendly.

What makes Tavasa different from other groups in South Africa is it is run by virtual assistants and transcriptionists who have the experience within the industry that is key to assisting others who need assistance. We know the industry and are well established within the industry and are well able to share our skills and knowledge in assisting others and we do not charge any fees for this.

AMF Typing Services cc/Tavasa ©® Est 2001

Proprietor, Alison Fourie, VAcertified

http://www.amftyping.co.za

http://alison-fourie.blogspot.com

http://www.tavasa.co.za

http://tavasa.blogspot.com/

Cell: +270828713452

Office: +270117685028

Fax: +270865148475

Email: amftyping@mweb.co.za, alison@amftyping.co.za\

Skype: amftyping

Messenger: alison19558@hotmail.com

 T A VA S A

 http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/

 From Wikipedia:

An Internet forum, or message board, is a bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site. People participating in an Internet forum will usually build bonds with each other and interest groups will easily form around a topic’s discussion, subjects dealt with in or around sections in the forum.

 I wonder if any of you belong to Internet Forums, I belong to 2 South Africa Internet forums and quite a few overseas forums for Virtual Assistants.

Belonging to a forum is like being part of a family, you get to know everyone on the forum and it is a great place to discuss work problems, issues, advice, software problems, advertise events, courses etc. It is a great place to spread industry news.

Our forum was founded by Gaynor Paynter (Transcriptionist) and Alison Fourie (Virtual Assistant). This forum is very chatty with Vas and Transcriptionists asking many questions.

An example being;

Question: What in your opinion is the best digital recorder to advise a client to buy?

Answer: I think the most used one is Olympus, anybody have a closer idea than that? Thanks.

Other forums members will answer with their options and often a discussion will ensure. It is also a great place to vent your frustrations on when you have a bad day, there is always someone on the forum who will reply and give you encouragement that things will get better.

Forums are an excellent way of communicating with groups of people, especially so in the working environment.

The benefits of forums:

1. Working from a virtual location, you can keep in touch with what is happening with the industry you work in.
2. No need to get lonely as often there is always someone around on the forum who will reply.
3. It is an excellent way of passing information around a group of people.
4. You can use the forum for pc problems, questions you need to know about the industry you work in.
5. A means of communicating.
6. A forum is an excellent support tool.
7. A good networking tool for small businesses.

Since the creation of Tavasa, we have helped many people working from home with questions and answers that they do not know. The more established people on the forum have been able to answer questions which helps the newbie members and assists them in setting  up their own businesses.

Tavasa has been successful in that it also provides job leads and contractor positions, anyone who is part of the group can apply for a contracting position if they have the skill needed. It is a great way of getting help with projects that you need and it’s a good starting point for newbies contracting out, as they grow their own businesses.

Written by Alison Fourie, AMF Typing Services cc, © Copyright 2001 AMF Typing Services cc®, Ck2001/083866/23.  All rights reserved.

 Not everyone can become a Virtual Assistant; it is not as easy as you think.

You need to have good background knowledge of how an office runs. You need experience in Office Administration, Secretarial and Transcription if you are going to offer these as a service. A bit of management and book keeping experience will also assist you. As a VA you are not just doing the work of a VA you are also running a company. Therefore you need to make sure that marketing and networking is also part of the job.

Attitude also plays a huge role in whether you will succeed or drowned. You have to be able to multitask, be able to prioritise, deal with clients on an ongoing basis, be friendly, and have excellent time management skills. You have to have the right personality to do this type of job. You need self discipline, you need to have it in you to get up every morning and physically go and work at your computer as you are doing a job and running a company. In the beginning it is so important to put in the extra hours, it will pay off in the long run. You have to be disciplined to be able to sit for long hours all day by yourself working. I never get lonely within my job, I am simply too busy.

The VA concept is taking off in leaps and bounds within South Africa at the moment; there is still lots of work out there for everyone. The word is spreading and more and more clients are moving towards VAs and are learning about our concept. So there is work available but to get that work ‘you have to do the work to get the work’, it is as simple as that, the work will not just fall into your lap.

Today becoming a Virtual Assistant is a safer option for a women; you work from home, therefore cutting out the risks of travelling to work re high jacking, car breakdowns, traffic etc. Being your own Boss means you can schedule your work around yourself but once you get busy you can no longer do that. Being a VA can become a hectic full time job working from home. If you are thinking of moving out of the secretarial arena, becoming a Virtual Assistant could be the position for you, if you would like to work from home. It could be the next step to take.

There are benefits, drawbacks and rewards working as a Virtual Assistant:

Benefits:

• We work from the safety of our homes.
• We can even work in your pyjamas, dress casual.
• With crime, it is safer working in our own homes than travelling to and fro to work every day.
• The benefits of not travelling to work every day, we can get to our offices in less than 5 minutes.
• We have the benefit of being home when our children arrive home from school; we schedule our time and work around this.
• We are here when our children need us when they are sick.
• If we need to run out quickly we can schedule our work around this.
• If we do overtime, we do not have to travel home late with the risk of getting high jacked on the road; we are already home in safety.
• We can now communicate worldwide with other Vas via skype and messenger therefore we no longer feel alone in our office working from home. We have the free tools available via the internet to communicate.
• We set our own working hours.
• We enjoy a relationship with our clients as we liaise with each other as equals, our clients are not our Boss.

 Drawbacks:

• We pay for our own software and computer equipment, fax machines, scanners etc.
• We have to buy our own stationery supplies.
• We need to be on our husband’s medical aid or purchase our own medical aid, pension schemes.
• Finding good computer support when our computers crash or we need computer assistance.

 Rewards:

• I feel every time I take on a new client that is a reward I am doing my marketing right.
• When I have finished a task and the client says a simple thank you, I know I have completed that task to the client’s specifications, this is a reward I am doing it right.
• When a client returns time and time again, that is a good reward. A client will not come back if you do not provide a Quality Client Service.
• When a potential client contacts me from my website, it is rewarding for me to know my website is working at drawing in potential clients.
• It is rewarding when I help a new Virtual Assistant start up her business giving her advice and support, when she get her first client then I know, she knows, what she is doing, that is rewarding to share my knowledge with her to get her to that point.

 One of the most rewarding jobs in the world must be that of a Virtual Assistant.

A Virtual Assistant is a person who works for many clients, providing office administration tasks, communicates with clients via telephone, email, skype; we may never meet our clients face to face. A person who works independently from his/her own virtual office.

An office administration person, with at least 10 years worth of office experience as a PA/Secretary or Office Manager. A person who can work alone.

A person with exceptional time management and prioritisation skills.

Someone who can run an office and liaise with clients on an ongoing basis.

Someone with a bit of management experience, can learn quickly and who is at ease with software.

We have to be pro-active and assertive.

Virtual Assistants are Business Owners. Who run their own companies, do their own marketing, networking, bookkeeping etc.

AMF Typing Services cc / TAVASA
http://www.amftyping.co.za
http://alison-fourie.blogspot.com
http://www.tavasa.co.za
http://tavasa.blogspot.com/
Cell: +270828713452
Office: +270117685028
Fax: +270865148475
Email: amftyping@mweb.co.za, alison@amftyping.co.za\
Skype: amftyping
Messenger: alison19558@hotmail.com