I used to post/advertise quite frequently on an on-line legal site, but I quit doing so because they began posting links to other transcriptionit's websites on each and every classified ad -- similar to pay-per-click Internet searches, but these links are not along the margins of the search, but included in someone else's ad -- very uncool and unethical !!!

Besides linking competition links to posts, many offshore ads have begun showing up -- something that no-way, no-how am I going to support or be a part of.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I would like to give some advice to transcriptionists -- both newbies and individuals that have been transcribing as independent contractors or have owned their own business for some time -- if you can't make a living off of transcription, then maybe it's time to actually get a J-O-B -- even if it is flipping hamburgers at the local burger joint. DON'T LOWER THE STANDARDS AND REPUTATION OF TRANSCRIPTIONISTS THAT DO KNOW THE VALUE OF WHAT WE DO AND WHAT WE ARE WORTH. At the same above-mentioned site, that will remain unknown because I'm certainly not going to give them a plug, there is an ad "Audio transcription at a discounted price of $0.50 per minute." ... Fifty cents per minute is bad enough, but they include a link to their website "autio transcription" -- no kidding -- for someone that doesn't even know the difference between a "d" and a "t" and where it's obvious that they didn't proof to find their mistake -- or possibly they did proof and it went right over their head -- THIS IS AN ACCURATE EXAMPLE OF "YOU DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR." Fine, if someone wants to pay $0.50/minute, then they have no one to blame for typographical errors of "audio" and "autio" but themselves.

I'm just glad that my name is no longer associated with advertising my legal transcription services on the unnamed site.

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I don't know if the problem is that people can't hear, don't care, or simply don't listen. My phone rang recently and a man asked if I was Carolyn ?? Geez -- since I answer the phone with my name, his brilliance just flowed from his brain. After telling him that, yes, I was Carolyn, he tells me that he wants to make an appointment. I said sure, and asked him what he needed. He replied that it was a medical procedure. I told him that apparently he had the wrong number because I was neither a doctor, medical center, hospital nor doctor's office. I ignored his four additional calls.

I Googled Dr. Bodley and didn't come up with any doctor, however, I did come up with Bosley Hair Implants/Treatments. Okay, I give the guy credit for not being able to type -- I mean, after all, the "S" is right next to the "D" -- but still, even if he had only taken a second to look at my site, he would see that Bodley is not Bosley and that transcription is not hair implants.

I'm actually beginning to question whether plastered throughout the bathrooms in Colorado is written "for a good time, call Carolyn" because a week or so before Mr. Hair Implant Man, I got several calls (from two different people) regarding me being their Shakesphere assistant for some middle school. I blew those calls off as someone having filled out an application that has worse handwriting then my own (until third grade I was left handed and in third grade, the teachers forced me to switch to my right hand. I was the only left handed child in the classroom and I was making their life too difficult when it came to teaching cursive writing!) Another thing it could be is the fault of the itty-bitty buttons on the cell phone -- I know that my cell is five or more years old, and I haven't upgraded for that number one reason -- my finger tips don't fit the buttons on the new phones.

Just more reasons to be careful of what you say on the phone until you are certain you have the person you think you are calling.

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