The differences in Typing and Word Processing etc

Typing

You have to look at what the typing is, is it just copy typing of text say a 1^st to 3^rd year student assignment, a book with text etc. Contracts, agreements, etc they are plain copy typing with tabulation for the bullet points. A document with many bullet points or staggered bullet points is just plain copy typing.

When you type for students doing MBA, Masters or Ph.D etc then there is much more involvement with the typing, references need to be a set in a specific way, the manuscript, dissertation etc, university guidelines must be adhered to like the Harvard Business Method or APA 6^th Edition style. Some of these students are given bursaries which covers their typing, proofreading and editing costs.

But not all typing is plain copy typing; often you get documents with tables, charts, graphs, graphics. You have to look at what is the best way to do these, how long does it take to do a page, what is involved.

Word Processing

Word Processing covers many tasks - from graphics to graphs, tables, flow diagrams, most things that you must create that are not plain copy typing, this is word processing and it can be very work intensive and time consuming.

Can you create the chart in Excel and then copy it across into Word, can you do the graphic in word or must you go and create it in Photoshop etc and then copy it into word etc. Sometimes with manuals you may need to use the services of a Graphic Designer and these often quote per graphic involved, depending on what must be done to that graphic. So beware and don’t under quote if graphic design is involved, as you will need to cost in their charge too. You will need to ensure you explain this to the client. Sometimes you might have to scan a graphic and copy it into the document. Just check what is involved before doing the work.

A complicated table, chart or graph might take some time to create. When you start looking at the item you must create, then you need to look at the length of time it takes, is it viable to charge say R20.00 per page, if the job is going to take you long, no, it’s not viable.

Flow diagrams can take an inexperienced person a few hours to create, but someone experienced in doing flow diagrams then it can be done very quickly, even big complicated flow diagrams, so again you need to look at how long it takes you to do the job, what is involved.

Maths typing, typing of equations, signs and symbols is time taking but you need to look at the manual as a whole and work out how long you think it will take you, what is involved, you might do the work using maths software or you may use MS Word Equations etc.

With most typing work look at what is involved, there is a difference in time with experienced typists and new typists.

These days with the economy being what it is you need to look at the client, what, do you feel in your gut that a client can afford to pay. Don’t push the boundaries too low to get the work where it is not cost effective to do the job, also don’t push the boundaries and charge the client too high a price, you simply want get the job.

Bulk Typing

Manuals are bulk work so you could very easily go down to R15 to R20 per page or a price per manual, taken on how long it will take you to do. When you do manuals, check out what is involved; often you can give a lower price because it’s bulk work for you.

Formatting Documents

The best way to go for formatting is using your hourly rate. You never know how long it is going to take to format a document till you start working on it. A document that has been set up by someone other than yourself can often give all sorts of problems; let the client know this as its often not straight formatting. Often when you start everything will jump out of alignment, tabs etc so it can take twice as long to format than it would to retype.

Columns, tables, graphics tend to come out of alignment. Table of Content can become completely messed up and that can take a while to unravel and put right so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to work on formatting documents. Keep track of your time and charge hourly. If you charge per page you will find some pages can take much longer to format than others and you really have to look at the time that is spent formatting to price this properly. You can charge per page but might be better to go via your hourly rate.

Quotations

With all work, never quote blindly, how can you quote when you have no idea what the job/task is, you have no idea how long it will take you or what is involved. Ask the client to send you a sample. How can an architect quote on a job he has not seen! You need to look at the task at hand then decide what is involved, how long it will take you and get a full description of client requirements before quoting. No matter how urgent a job is, surely the payment is the most important thing in the end, the job is important to the client but they should understand that you do not quote blindly, ask for an example first, check it out, see if you can do the job in the time frame given, you can also negotiate as you know, how you work and how long jobs take. My advice would be do not take on an urgent task without seeing what is involved first as its quite easy to undercharge. Make sure you clarify the clients’ requirements and write them down/record them or get the client to email you further, as clients often forget or change their mind and lay the blame on you. Email them a copy of their requirements and get them to reply before you go ahead that everything is ok.

PDF

Do not PDF a document unless your client’s specifically asks you too. Do not think that by saving to PDF that you are forcing the client to return to you, that is not the case, they can simply get it done elsewhere, simply convert it online and edit it themselves. Most clients want the work typed up and then they want to be able to edit it themselves.

All comments are welcome.

Working Hours and Deadlines

Before you open your doors to clients you need to know what hours you are going to be working and how you are going to approach urgent deadline jobs/tasks.
I do not run an 8 to 5 business. Not many VAs and Transcriptionist do, we find, we can't do this because we need to be available should our clients need us for urgent work and deadlines. I run my business and work to suite my clients needs. My clients are very important to me and without them I want have this job, so it is important that I work the hours I do.
Clients have deadlines and often these deadlines can impact you with working after hours, weekends, public holidays etc. Its a good idea to decide your working procedures in the beginning, state your business open times, contact times on your website, brochure, in your contract, t & c's. If these details are stated a client viewing your website can see you don't work weekends and if they require this, they can then look elsewhere.
Before you quote a client for a job, contact that client and ask for as much information as possible about the job this included the deadline date and time. Then you know ahead of putting in your quote if you can take this job on or not.
A VA/Transcriptionists working hours are so important to clients.
Sometimes VAs//Transcriptionists can only work specific hours due to maybe having young children, other commitments etc., state this on your advertising material, it is always wise to let your clients know ahead of time of your working arrangements.
Telephone calls are another important item. I don't mind within reason when a client contact me, other VAs/Transcriptionists may only work business hours and want take calls outside of those hours, just make sure you specific your availability as it does affect deadlines.

 

+270117685028, +270828713452

amftyping@mweb.co.za  alison@amftyping.co.za

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What is involved with offering Typing as a service?

Can anyone type, yes but can everyone offer typing as a service? Typing can be more than just copy typing. Typing can involve creating spreadsheets, equations, figures, graphs, charts etc or even creating graphics. So you need to ask your prospective client what is involved with the typing before quoting.

• Is the typing just plain copy typing, what you see is what you type, is there any tables, graphs, charts as they must then be created, you might have to create a graph or chart in excel and copy it across to word, that is time taking and is not straight copy typing, as you must create the graph etc. Sometimes you might have to scan an image from an book, so that means you need to scan it on a scanner and then resize to insert it into your document, so that is not straight copy typing. You might need to find an image on the Internet, so that will involve research, finding the image. You might have to create a graphic, the client might have drawn an image, maybe a flow diagram, you will need to recreate this in the document this can also involve using graphic software then copy and insert within your document, and also this is very time consuming.

• A client might send you to copy a PDF document for typing. Not all PDF conversion software works nicely when you convert a PDF document into word. You might find you still have to reformat the document this is time taking and often much quicker to just type the document from scratch. Note here the client will know the document is not typed from scratch, they will know you have used conversion software to convert the document and often this is not the quickest route to take.

• You might need to firstly print out what the client has sent you so that you can type from it, it takes time to print out a document, and it costs to print from a printer.

• At the end of your document you need to proofread and perform a spell check, this should be part of your quote or terms and condition; this task must always be done. Make sure you list this so that clients can see that you perform this task.

• Sometimes clients might want their document saved to a memory stick (flash drive) you need to charge for this as it is time taking and you maybe you need to a buy the memory stick.

• If you offer typing as a service make sure you state that you can create graphs, tables, charts, brochures, graphics, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations. Do not assume all typing is simple copy typing, often it is more involved.

• You may need to insert equations, this takes extra time to do this, so make sure you feature this time into the length of time it will takes you to complete the typing.

• You can no longer send large files through email and often you have to make use of Google docs, Dropbox, Send this File etc so make sure that your Internet bundle (capped or uncapped) can cope with offering typing. Files will need to be downloaded and uploaded. A file with graphics, graphs etc will take time to load and is very time consuming loading to Send this File or Dropbox etc, especially if it has more than 20 pages. A large manual with graphics, graphs and flows, a large spreadsheet, a PowerPoint presentation can take a few hours to upload, you have to remember this when it comes to your deadline and getting the work back to the client in time.

• If you contract typing out to a subcontractor make sure you check the work thoroughly and ask the subcontractor to make sure they proof their own work then you double proof the work when you get it back. Often a subcontractor will just do the work and send it back to you and tell you it is proofed, don’t make the mistake of sending it to the client without you doing a proofread and spell check. You are the one the work is sent to from your client and not the subcontractor so it is up to you to make sure you send back a quality document.

• When offering typing services sometimes you will get in tasks that you don’t like doing, maybe lots of figure typing, typing of tables, this can be boring for some, listen to music as you type, this will help the time go a bit quicker.

• When pricing typing the norm is to charge on a per page basis but it can also be done on an hourly rate, whichever works out best for you, is what you offer.

• Authors and students may ask you for a charge per word, roughly you normally get ±750/1000 words to an A4 page at Ariel at a size 12 font.

• If you have a table within the document, check out the other tables within the document, maybe you can just copy and paste your first one and just change the data, this can save you time.

• Know how many pages you can do in an hour, day, or week so that you can let the client know if you can reach their deadline, remember if you have graphics, graphs, charts etc within a document it might take you longer to create these so therefore affecting the time it takes to complete your document.

• Ask for client preferences: fonts, size of text, colour in graphs, flow diagrams, spacing, justification, ask if the client can provide you with the company logo’s/graphics, templates if required. etc.

• Do not take on typing work if you do not know how to do it, you can subcontract it out, if that is the case make sure your subcontract has the experience to do the job.


© Copyright 2012 AMF Typing Services/Tavasa. All rights reserved.

What is Typing?

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

Civilian Conservation Corps typing class, 1933

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. You can just sit and type but can you type properly. There is 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. I was taught how to place the fingers correctly on the keypad, and how to hold your 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 type 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 you cannot type as quick as what you can when your fingers are placed correctly.


Written by Alison Fourie, AMF Typing Services

Dictaphone - Transcription - Typing

Dictaphone - Transcription - Typing 'the difference'!

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.

Festive Season

Please note AMF Typing Services will be open throughout December and January, if you require assistance, please shout.
Cell: +27 082 871 3452, email: amftyping@mweb.co.za, alison@amftyping.co.za, skype: amftyping, messenger: alison19558@hotmail.com: office: +27 011 768 5028.

How easy is it being a VA

Being a Virtual Assistant (VA) is not all about the client sending you typing, you do the work and send it back, there is much more involved.

As a VA we do many things, there is month end administration with invoices every month so no matter how busy you are, you stop and do your invoices, it is important to be paid for the work we do. You set aside a day and get your invoices out. Bookkeeping and updating your schedules. This is just one part of our administration another part is, we need to push clients and contractors for payments and invoices, we have to battle with clients who do not want to pay, who query what we do.

One of our aims is to keep our clients happy all the time, we need to keep that client as they provide us with ongoing work so we nurture that client; our clients are our bread and butter. We need to liaise with our clients often.

Managing many clients work is not an easy task. Keep their work in separate folders also in my documents have client folders and in email. With regular clients it is best to invoice monthly. All my clients are regular so I prepare all their invoices at the end of the month and get them all out at the same time so that I can monitor payments coming in. This is where my work log comes in handy as I document all work incoming, and I check back against this when doing my invoicing for each client.

Administration as we call it is a major part of being a VA. We need to market continually, our company needs to be out in the public eye and be seen. Our websites/blogs need to be updated. We continually look for new avenue’s to market our work to. Networking is just as important, there is always the need to tell everyone and anyone what we do, who we are, get the word out there. Any person you talk to could be a potential clients or referral, that’s why it is important to talk about your business no matter where you are, when you can and who you are with. We continually need to look for avenue’s to advertise our companies.

Often we need to do debt collecting with clients who do not pay, this is not a nice part of the job but we must do it, we need to be paid for what we do.

Managing of contractors, when a VA is overloaded we then get the opportunity to help out newbie Vas by contracting to them or helping out established VAs with a bit of extra work. Contracting work out is not as easy as you think. We are on our contractors backs to get them to keep in touch, they need to meet our deadlines, what if the contractor decides she is not doing the work or cant for some reason then we need to find a replacement in the middle of the work that is time taking. Paying of contractors on completion of work.

Another favourite is quoting for work, often ad-hoc jobs come in and we need to arrange a quote, quoting is not quick we need to ask questions to be able to place a price on the work, very time consuming especially with larger jobs.

Filing must be done as with any job, the office administration as seen above is often the hardest part of our job to do, but that comes with running any company/business. There are still many other facets about being a virtual assistant, the best way to learn about doing this type of job is to talk to established VAs as they know what they are doing and they can give you valuable information.

So you see it is not all about sitting and typing, it is about running a full time business/company, and these are only a handful of the tasks we do.

Newbie VAs

As you start as a virtual assistant you need to think what are you going to offer clients. What are you skilled at doing, what do you like to do. The services you offer are very important. To get the type of work you would like, do target marketing it is often the way to go. If you are skilled in transcription then think what types of clients would produce transcription and dictation and market to those clients. The list is endless here.
I love to do typing and can type forever, so I look and market to the types of clients that I would get typing from.
Not every client will send you great work, some work can be boring and dull but that work still must be done if you take the work on. The client is dependent on you to complete their work. I dont mind what type of typing I get in, as long as it can be typed I will do the work, I love typing and its my niche service so I dont care if the work is boring after all it is a job and I will be paid for doing it so that to me is worthwhile and the client will be pleased with a job well done.
Everyone wants to do typing or transcription working from home well to do this you need to get out there and find this type of work, it will not fall into your lap.
As a virtual assistant you will need to have confidence in yourself to do the work and to deal and work with clients, you will need to be pro-active, assertive, get yourself out there, you cannot just sit back, you will never find clients that way, and they want find you.

Meeting Deadlines

One of the most important thing we need to do as virtual assistants and transcriptionists is to meet our client deadlines. Clients give us these deadlines as they need the work done and back to them for whatever reasons they want to use that work for.
It is important we know our limitations and know what we can do, we need to know how long particular tasks take to do, typing up a page, transcribing 30 minutes of transcript. You need to be able to work out with each task can you do it in the alotted time given, if not tell the client this, explain why not and ask to change your deadline, if you can meet the deadline make sure you can and give the work back in time, its even better if you can come in with the work ahead of the deadline as that shows commitment to what you are doing on your part.
Keep your client updated as you go along with the work, feedback is always a good sign that you are busy with the clients work and you are providing a quality service.
If you cannot for some reason make the deadline, do not leave it to the last minute to tell the client, tell the client well in advance and renegotiate the deadline if possible, it is not always possible, but with some work you can.
When we have more work then what we can handle we can then get assistance by asking other VAs. But these VAs need to understand we are then there client and they must meet our deadlines, which will be before the actual clients deadline, because the work will need to be proofed and checked before being returned to the client. A VA who is contracting and who cannot meet her deadline must let the VA know this well in advance.
Deadlines are very important in our jobs, we need to remember this, a satisfied client will come back and maybe become a regular client.

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A new Career as a VA

I think a lot of people dont realise that as you start out as a Virtual Assistant you are starting out on a new career path. You have moved on from the corporate world to try something new. People dont link careers and virtual assistants. Most people think that as virtual assistants we do typing from home to earn extra money, well this is not the case. It is about building a solid business, building a new career. Being a virtual assistant is about running a business, doing all the things any new business would do on start up and then to get up and running. You have to do marketing, networking, client liaison, debt collection, etc. It is a new career path.

Typing versus Transcription

Business owners are turning to outsourcing of typing and dictation work and reaping the benefits of having virtual secretaries operating in all time zones. They benefit from not paying overheads, are not responsible for any leave pay, sick pay, medical and pension fund contributions. They do not have to provide equipment, electricity, tea or coffee or pay for private telephone calls and e-mails. Outsourcing makes a lot of financial and business sense.

What a lot of outsourcers fail to understand, however, that there is a vast difference between copy typing and transcription.

Copy typing is basically what it says – handwritten work is transformed into a neatly and accurately typed document within a specified time frame. Copy typing is not necessarily plain sailing – often the client’s handwriting is virtually undecipherable and, in the case of non-English-speaking clients, the grammar and syntax is often confusing and needs a little time and care to render into a well-written document. Once a sample of the work is obtained it is easy to quote on the job based on the complexity of the above factors.

Transcription is an entirely different kettle of fish and costs considerably more and this is where the interests of the client and transcriptionist collide. Clients often fail to understand the reasons for what appears to be an exorbitant rate but do not take into consideration the factors that underlie the need for a much higher quotation.

Even the most experienced transcriptionist works on the rule of thumb that one hour of dictation takes approximately four hours to transcribe, and quotes accordingly. This is true of best-case scenarios where, for instance, an interview or dialogue between two people is clear and audible and there is no background noise or distraction.

In reality, large and noisy meetings are conducted in what sometimes seems like a war zone with sirens wailing and traffic roaring in the background. Building work may be taking place in the adjacent office and the confused mass of voices is punctuated by regular blasts of drilling and hammering. Speakers are not introduced and the client may or may not provide a list of speakers. The microphone seems to be perched on the tea trolley, which is a fantastic idea when you really want your transcriptionist to work hard for his or her money. Throw in various accents and a few foreign speakers and now we’re all having fun. For a bit of added interest, use lots of technical and insider terms.

In this case the transcriptionist may very well have to stretch the golden rule of four to one to five or six hours as she frantically tries to Google phonetically-spelled words and technical terms or distinguish the Hungarian speaker from the Romanian speaker, the French speaker from the Moroccan-French speaker, or all four speaking simultaneously, not to mention the guy with the bad cold sitting really close to the microphone, coughing and blowing his nose, clearing his throat, etc.
So rest assured, transcriptionists are not ripping the client off; they are doing their best to produce a clear and readable transcript under very trying circumstances and should be rewarded accordingly.

Michele Johanson
michelejohanson@yahoo.com
http://goodhopetranscription.weebly.com
Fax: 086 6021 791
Ph: 084 6944 307

Dictaphone - Trancription - Typing

Believe it or not there is a difference between Dictaphone, Transcripiton and Typing, a lot of VAs and Transcriptionists dont seem to know this.

Dictaphone and Transcription are similar so we charge at an hourly rate or an audio hourly rate and these are not referred to as typing in any way, if the client refers to them as typing tell that client it is either of the two but not typing and then explain what is involved with doing it, they are both a skill in themselves and not everyone can do them.

Dictaphone is normally one person, could be a doctor or an attorney recording into a digital machine, recording device and then you as a Transcsriptionist listen to that tape and transcribe it.

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.

These two skills should not be the same as copy typing, they are more involved and can take a few hours to transcribe into a document therefore there is normally an hourly or audio hourly rate involved not a per page rate.

Typing is what it is and is not either of the above and its 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 etc.

If you let clients charge you at a per page rate for Dictaphone or Transcription then you are losing out big time in time and money as these tasks take much longer to complete and are skill on their own.

It is up to us to price accordingly for these tasks and to educate VAs, Trancriptionists and clients on the differences.