Monday, January 30, 2012
New Software for Transcription Cheaper?
12:43 PM
New innovative Kiwi developed software TranscribeMe...The company's free app will shortly be available for windows phone, then followed by iPhone, Android and finally Blackberry.You download their app, which turns your smartphone into the microphone. The recording is then uploaded to the company's servers which is hosted in the cloud on Microsoft's Azure platform. The recording is then broken up into smaller micro tasks and distributed to professional transcribers. The software matches dialect to transcribers in your region and identifies the sentence structure so that the audio is split at logical breaks in the audio.
http://www.techday.co.nz/macguide/news/from-forest-floor-to-non-sexy-speech/21905/
This is a different approach than Apple’s Siri but still not a replacement for your personal transcriber, in my opinion.
A good argument can also be made for one transcriber doing all of a series of related transcripts. Familiarity with terms/persons/businesses/techniques/brands referenced in the series can be a real time saver in the final analysis.
A good transcript is more than just words put down on paper. Thoughts, phrases, and formatting are vitally important to the professional appearance of a product especially if the product is to be sold to a consumer. To assume that this can be accomplished without human contact between the transcriber and the client is an unfortunate misconception
Faster and cheaper are not always synonymous with excellence.
http://www.techday.co.nz/macguide/news/from-forest-floor-to-non-sexy-speech/21905/
This is a different approach than Apple’s Siri but still not a replacement for your personal transcriber, in my opinion.
A good argument can also be made for one transcriber doing all of a series of related transcripts. Familiarity with terms/persons/businesses/techniques/brands referenced in the series can be a real time saver in the final analysis.
A good transcript is more than just words put down on paper. Thoughts, phrases, and formatting are vitally important to the professional appearance of a product especially if the product is to be sold to a consumer. To assume that this can be accomplished without human contact between the transcriber and the client is an unfortunate misconception
Faster and cheaper are not always synonymous with excellence.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tiny Birds Serve As Example
7:51 PM
I’m more than a little distracted by the sound of tiny birds crashing
into my office window. This has been going on for weeks and weeks.
It’s not cold outside. My windows are not especially clear; they have
wooden blinds. And the birds don’t seem to learn from their mistakes.
They are doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get
to the other side of the glass pane.
They must be hurting, frustrated, stressed-out, and confused. I can’t
even imagine the bruises they’re sporting. But I know that while they
are trying harder and harder—and determined to never give up—they will
never reach their goal.
Sometimes repeatedly doing what seems to be the logical thing isn’t
the logical thing at all. I encourage you to step back from the glass,
to look over it, around it, under it, and beyond it, and see if you
can find a different way to achieve your dreams.
Excerpted from The Barefoot Executive
. © 2011 by Carrie D. Wilkerson. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by
Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
into my office window. This has been going on for weeks and weeks.
It’s not cold outside. My windows are not especially clear; they have
wooden blinds. And the birds don’t seem to learn from their mistakes.
They are doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get
to the other side of the glass pane.
They must be hurting, frustrated, stressed-out, and confused. I can’t
even imagine the bruises they’re sporting. But I know that while they
are trying harder and harder—and determined to never give up—they will
never reach their goal.
Sometimes repeatedly doing what seems to be the logical thing isn’t
the logical thing at all. I encourage you to step back from the glass,
to look over it, around it, under it, and beyond it, and see if you
can find a different way to achieve your dreams.
Excerpted from The Barefoot Executive
. © 2011 by Carrie D. Wilkerson. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by
Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
How good do you have to be?
4:15 PM
My 4 year old granddaughter spent the night with us last night. She is so smart. Maybe I’m a little prejudice but not much. We went to eat at her favorite playground restaurant and as she was eating a piece of my chicken strip I coaxed her that it was good for her. She said, “I know. It’s protein.” I was amazed. I never knew what protein was at 4 years old, believe me.
We had a great day as she played with her toys and rode her scooter and new bicycle she had gotten for her recent birthday. Then came bath time after dinner followed by a short movie. She told me she was ready for bed. As I tucked her into the queen-sized bed thinking it was going to be a long process getting her to sleep, she said, “Mommy sings me to sleep. Will you sing me to sleep?” I sang about 4 little songs and she was out like a light.
What occurred to me as I went back to the family living area was that my little granddaughter never once had a doubt that I could sing to her. She didn’t care if my voice was perfect or slightly quivering. She didn’t ask me if I knew all the words. She just took it all for granted that I would do it if she asked me to. She was right. I didn’t say, “I’ll have to learn the words. I need to prepare more. I’d better practice until I’m good enough.” I just did it. My voice was a little shaky at first but pretty soon I got more confident and just concentrated on my little audience.
Is it too far-fetched to relate this to our business endeavors? Why don’t we just get in there and do it? Why do we over-analyze and over-plan and procrastinate? If we give it our best shot and concentrate on the client/customer and taking care of their need I believe we’ll gain more confidence as we go along.
You don’t have to be Barbra Streisand to sing a song. Neither do you have to be a Donald Trump to be in business.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Wanted: Faithfulness
1:21 PM
Just saw an ad that said: Faithful Women Wanted. No, I’m not kidding. Now who advertises for faithful women? Who finds that necessary? It’s like: If you’re unfaithful you need not apply.
I need to know more. Are they talking about being a good wife, mother, or sweetheart, or are they talking about needing someone who will show up faithfully to do their laundry and clean their dirty house? Oh, wait! That could be one and the same, couldn’t it?
When hiring a team member to help you in your business maybe your requirements should read: Faithful Employee Wanted…Someone who will show up every day and do what needs to be done to get the job done…instead of being the Champion of Excuses as to why it didn’t get done or can’t be done or won’t get done.
Yes, faithful is a good trait for just about any position but I can’t help but think of that volcano (Ol’ Faithful) and that dog (Ol’ Faithful) and that jalopy (Ol’ Faithful). I’m not so sure I want that moniker put on me just yet
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Need a facelift?
8:20 AM
I’ve been struggling with the real purpose of my blog. I love writing down thoughts and suggestions for small business owners (entrepreneurs) which can possibly help them take that next small (or giant) step to getting their product to market.
I really enjoy working with so many different niches and learning tons and tons about various businesses. I am always amazed at how much our clients know and how their deepest desire is to teach and help others achieve success as well.
However, I’ve been doing some serious thinking about the actual benefit of my blog. Why should anyone want to read it and then return for more? Then I received a comment on a post that really touched me. She simply started off with telling me I made her smile.
I knew then that that’s what I’d like to achieve each time I post a blog. I’d like to give nuggets of content contained in a smile.
I think business owners have lots of furrowed brows and stresses. I would like to be responsible for making a smile to two come across your face and relieve some of those wrinkles and tension if only for a moment.
I’m sure you know that a smile is the very least expensive facelift that you can get. Now who doesn’t need that?
Maybe you won’t find each post a back-slapping-roll-on-the-floor-experience, but if I can occasionally make you smile, I would just love that.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Beware! Transcriptionist at Work
12:50 PM
It takes discipline to work at home and most, if not all, transcriptionists work at home. We rely on the client to send their audios or transcripts to us to be made into an attractive and marketable product. We are sort of the silent partner in their enterprise….the ghost writer, if you will. Our job is to turn out an A1 product of which the client can be proud using their words and our finesse.
I don’t know what your office looks like but mine is adjacent to our living area only separated by two sets of French doors. Normally I love this arrangement. It allows me to observe what’s going on in the main area of the house. I can close the doors and put on a headset and still have some quiet moments to work. Our children are not small and so there isn’t a lot of noise and commotion or distraction going on…usually. However, when my husband comes in or one of our grown children is here that’s a different story.
Can they not see I’m working here? Do they not see the headset? Do they not notice my fingers flying on the computer keys? Guess not. They can interrupt every couple of minutes with really important questions like: Where’s the bread? What’s for dinner? And my personal favorite….What are you doing?
I love being able to work at home. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Honestly. Sometimes I just wish I had a sign over my desk that reads: Don’t let me fool you. I’m really WORKING here!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Innovation
10:23 AM
In reading Stephen Shapiro's article on The Key to Overcoming Roadblocks! recently I found it very interesting how he suggests innovation rather than confrontation or declaring defeat when we come upon obstacles in our business.
"In Wisconsin, the Republicans wanted to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of most public employees as a way of cutting the budget. This was hotly contested by the Democrats to the point where all 14 Democratic senators left the state, refusing to vote. They did this knowing that at least 20 senators needed to be present during votes authorizing the use of money. This meant that the Republicans would be one person shy of a quorum.
What was the Republican's creative solution?
They met in a committee to strip several financial elements of the bill and argued that the quorum rule no longer applied as a result. The bill then quickly passed and was signed into law by Governor Scott Walker.
This caught the self-exiled Democrats off guard.
What did the Republicans so skillfully do that made this coup d’état a reality? They were innovative about the way they achieved their objectives.
Typically, when we think about creativity, we tend to focus on the result: the new product, process, service or business model. But sometimes it is incredibly powerful to innovate the means in which you implement your solutions."
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