This month’s blog deals with drive. Why is it important? Drive is the difference between wanting something and achieving it. Drive keeps you going when things are tough. Drive keeps you getting back up. Drive means believing in yourself.
Sonya and I have been in this industry for a long time. When people ask what we do for a living, we often get in response, “Oh, wow! I can type, I’d love to do that too.” Well that’s a start, but there’s a huge difference between wanting to work at home as a transcriber, and the reality of being your own boss, meeting deadlines and building up a client list. Yes, we have the freedom and flexibility that we refer to all the time, but it’s still hard WORK.
Some people have a vague idea that working at home is easy, and don’t realise that it’s tough. Just because I can mow a lawn, does not make me a landscape gardener. Just because I can knock out a half decent loaf of bread, does not make me a pâtissier. Just because you can type does not mean you have the skills to become a transcriber. It surprises me that this comes as such a surprise to those wanting to enter our industry.
On our Facebook group page, Transcription Central, we sometimes get posts from people who think they can start working as a transcriber with absolutely no experience or skills. This has largely come about because of newcomers to the industry whose business models operate on offering super low rates to clients. This means the pay for the transcribers is appalling and no professional would consider it. The market is appealing to developing countries however, and a whole sub-market has developed where people are buying and selling accounts from these companies who are too large to monitor them properly. This is bad for everyone. Bad for transcribers, bad for clients, bad for confidentiality and bad for the industry as a whole.
If you can’t pass the test, there’s a reason. Buying your way in with a fraudulent account will not bring success. Those with drive will go and work on those skills, learn, train do whatever it takes and then look for a company that pays well.
Those with drive have vision and a plan. If you truly want to be a successful transcriber you need to start with training. No good transcription company, that pays well, can afford to train you. They need transcripts delivered on time and that require little or no editing.
Our aim is to provide students with the best training we can, with knowledge gathered over many decades in the industry. What we can’t do is provide the drive, that has to come from within. Anyone can do this if they are prepared to put in the time and the effort, learn the skills and be determined that they are going to succeed.
Do you have maximum overdrive? We’d love to meet you. Come visit us at TranscribeRight.