Freelance Assistance for Coaches and other Pros

Wow. I’m tired. It’s 12:39 AM and I’m twenty-four pages into formatting and editing a document that I made the mistake of outsourcing to another transcriptionist. She had a great resume and great credentials and produced one awful draft. So now I have a few tips.

1. Don’t get in too big of a hurry. Actually check references. Actually give a good, deep look at the work sample you may receive. And we all know to ask for a work sample, don’t we?

2. Make a strict formatting guideline for anything that you may be picky about. This is probably what’s costing me the hours that I’m putting into this.

3. Make sure they know the difference between your and you’re, then and than, it’s and its, there, their and they’re.

4. When you make the mistake of hiring someone that’s not as good as they appear, chalk it up to experience.

So now I’m going to complete the five hours of transcription that I have by myself and drudge through this terrible audio all on my own. I try to be trusting and outsource every once in a while, but it’s probably losing me money at this point. I’m not trying to put these nice women down, but I am giving warnings to people who are paying good money for what they are hoping is good service. I did not receive good service. I received quick service, but it was not good service. I’m not getting any value or quality. In fact, I probably just doubled my workload on one hour because I just don’t trust that this service provider even heard what she transcribed correctly. Oh, woe is me.

You’d think I’d know all this stuff, yet I’m human just like anyone else. Somebody talks a good game like they know the trade and I get suckered in. Still, burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, and it’s definitely shame on me.

Thanks for reading!