What do these four men have in common?
# 3 Josh Boatwright:
Character. I'd say my
characteristics are diligence, patience, attention to detail, seeing a job
through to the end no matter how long it takes, and being very tenacious. Being
an excellent transcriber, I would say, needs attention to detail above all
else, and I have that.
We are proud to have A Few Of Our Own Good Men transcribing for
Way With Words Transcription, men of character--boldness and responsibility and
honour and respect—adventurous men who are so different from one another in so
many ways, and yet so alike with their commitment to transcription excellence. Good
men we are proud to have with us.
# 1 An Australian, educated in Tasmania, recently living in Cambodia, now
in Europe, playing in a Phnom Penh-based rock band called The Cambodian Space
Project, writing poetry and novellas (age 44).
# 2 A Scot living in Poland, a CELTA-qualified teacher of English as a
foreign language, who has also been a self-employed motor trader and warehouse
worker in the Netherlands and plays the guitar and bass (age 34).
# 3 An American living in Mexico, teaching business and English, previously
a story writer for a daily newspaper in the Eastern United States with beats
that included business, higher education, tourism, crime, and outdoor (age 29).
# 4 An Englishman, living in Sunbury-on-Thames,
working as a leading magazine sub-editor with expertise in proofreading and
layout, working extensively with European and South American journalists, and
playing guitar in a rock band when he isn’t cycling or playing tennis (age 44).
The answer: character
Well, perhaps we should ask a slightly different question in order to
clarify what we are trying to say:
Do you remember A Few Good Men, a Rob
Reiner movie stacked with stars like Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Bacon
and Keifer Sutherland?
A Few Good Men is a memorable
movie about developing and sustaining remarkable integrity and character – honour,
boldness, responsibility, respect -- a movie worth seeing twice if you’ve only
seen it once!
Scott Bywater (“Scoddy”), Tom Burchick, Josh Boatwright, and Jon Dolan
are undoubtedly A FEW GOOD MEN of Way With Words Transcription
Let’s hear what they say about themselves in terms of their character
and their transcribing:
# 1 Scott
Bywater:
Boldness. Well, I'll never die wondering,
it seems. I've tried many things, including running my own businesses in
Tasmania, working at big ugly corporates on mainland Australia, freelancing
wherever, studying art history and law, writing books and songs, living in
Cambodia... my latest bold move has been to relocate myself to Europe, where I
can use the wonderful flexibility of online transcription work to fund travel
and more guitar playing in exotic places. At present I am autumning
boldly in the south of France, where long rolling Mediterranean thunder leaks
through my headphones and trying to toss-up between Barcelona and Rome for
Christmas. Outside they all speak French, but inside I transcribe English
from all over the world.
Responsibility. I spent much of my 20s and 30s
being responsible and domestic, making sure income was flowing and stepchildren
were taken care of. Now my responsibility is fairly limited, mostly to
meeting transcription deadlines, getting up in the morning, and to upholding personal
creative values. Not too shabby.
# 2 Tom Burchick:
Responsibility. I try not to bite off more than I can chew
but if I commit to do something, I make every effort to get it done on time and
do it properly. It can give a sense of achievement to meet nearly all the
deadlines wherever possible. Even finally getting my income tax together brings
a certain grim satisfaction!
Boldness. I wouldn't be in this line of work if it hadn't been for boldness, even though it was sort of accidental. I'd gambled on finding teaching work in Poland two years ago but that didn't happen. So I fearlessly decided to rely on my keyboard skills, such as they were at the time, got accepted for
training by Way With Words and without even the aid of a wrist rest (definitely not recommended) or safety net, soon found myself transcribing a Jerry Springer show. I've never looked back since.
Boldness. I wouldn't be in this line of work if it hadn't been for boldness, even though it was sort of accidental. I'd gambled on finding teaching work in Poland two years ago but that didn't happen. So I fearlessly decided to rely on my keyboard skills, such as they were at the time, got accepted for
training by Way With Words and without even the aid of a wrist rest (definitely not recommended) or safety net, soon found myself transcribing a Jerry Springer show. I've never looked back since.
# 3 Josh Boatwright:
Responsibility. This is one of those ideas that
changes through different phases of life. When I was a boy, it only seemed to
relate to finishing homework on time or doing chores. And indeed, now that I am
a professional transcriber, it still means ensuring that I get my work done on
time and that the finished product is high quality. But being responsible used
to mean just doing what I was told; now it means making good decisions in both
work and family life and knowing that those decisions are mine alone. So, I’m
responsible for making good choices about where I live, what I do with my time,
and whether or not a colon or semicolon is appropriate in this or that sentence
in my transcripts; my managers know their grammar, but it’s my responsibility
to make my own sound grammatical decisions.
Character. A difficult thing to define. For me,
it’s not just about making the most obvious right choice, but taking the time
to really think decisions through. It’s also about making choices that are good
for people beyond me. I try to demonstrate good character in my work by taking
on jobs that can be challenging. On the flip side, I try to be wise about not
pretending I can do more than I can, so I can be certain that what I do is my
best work. Character is about making the extra effort to try to discern words
in a transcript that I don’t immediately understand, but also having the
honesty to say I don’t know what’s been said if I don’t.
# 4 Jon Dolan:
Boldness. Well I can
sometimes be blunt with people, but it also is a positive thing, having a
belief or drive and then making sure you follow that conviction through.
Boldness helps in transcribing confidently.
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