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Q&A with Caitlin — Ask Me Anything (Part 2)


Every now and then I’ll get a LONG list of questions from prospective students. I LOVE THESE. I really do. I love them because they let me know where I’m falling short with making information available here on the website. I haven’t posted one of these in a while, and the last one was pretty short.

So here’s the latest Q&A list!

How feasible is it to do this work very part time (as in, 10-15 hours/week at most)? Do you feel lack of availability is a turnoff for a lot of potential clients?

You take on only as much work as you want or that you can handle. I do have many students who successfully get the number of clients they want even with a full-time job and children at home. See Student Success Stories on the site. See also: How flexible is proofreading work?

What is the average turnaround time that your clients expect?

Regular turnaround is usually 2-3 business days.

How do you take time off with clients you use on a routine basis? (or do you typically bring your work on vacation?

I tell them 7-10 days ahead of time when I’m leaving and I shoot them an e-mail when I’m back 🙂 I don’t work on vacation usually, unless I’m doing a lot of road or air travel, then I’ll let them know I’ll be doing work on the road/plane.

I’m hoping my medical background and medical terminology knowledge (and my Master’s in Nursing!) will be an asset—are there ways of finding court reporters that typically work on medical malpractice or cases that would utilize this skill, or do all court reporters have the potential to be needed on medical cases?

All court reporters run into medical from time to time. Your background would be a great asset. Some reporters do more medical than others. It’s great to advertise you’re well versed in it!

Do your students receive feedback as they’re going through the course to know whether they are succeeding or needing more work in certain areas, etc.?

You know exactly how you are doing each time you complete a practice transcript (PT). The first PT is the worst — it’s just a really hard job, but I did it that way on purpose. You get better and better with each one. By the last one, and there are 50 of them, you’ll see just how far you’ve come. The key is to take your time; don’t rush. If you rush because you’re anxious to make money, it’ll show in your quality and it’ll end up coming back to bite you.

There’s also the Module 5 Quiz + the Exam Transcript which are both graded by a human and include personalized feedback. The Facebook group for students is also a wonderful opportunity to get your questions answered quickly.

Have you ever worked for a court reporter that required SO many edits you felt your money earned was not worth the hassle? Can you fire them or charge more for extremely high numbers of edits or time spent?

There’s a lesson in the course that goes over how to handle “firing” clients and/or charging more for dirty work. In a nutshell, you need to communicate ahead of time with clients that you don’t accept dirty work. If you find they don’t respect your guidelines and it becomes a problem, feel free to sever ties.

Is it recommended that students get their iPad right away upon starting the course or can the course be completed easily from a desktop/laptop and the iPad purchased later for use with actual clients?

Modules 1 and 2 do not require an iPad. Modules 3 and 4 get into the iPad tutorials, and Module 5 is practice transcripts. Part of doing the practice transcripts is learning how to mark up in the way you’d be doing it for real clients, so I absolutely recommend getting an iPad at least before starting on the practice transcripts.

 

Got a question? Leave a comment below. I’d love to grow the list!


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  1. Do you think this work is feasible for a stay-at-home mom? I am interested in contributing to our household income, but I’m wondering if anyone else has done it with a toddler in the house.

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Lindsay! Yes, I have a good chunk of students who are moms with toddlers at home. Some moms prefer to do the work early in the morning or after the kids are asleep, especially if they’ve got a wild one. I don’t have children at the moment, but my favorite time to work is at night, too 🙂

      1. I am a single mom, homeschooling a 5 and 9yo. I am seriously considering this as well. I am also learning web design and development, which is gonna take me a little bit longer before I have any clients, and it just seems like learning to do this would be a great skill… the whole “multiple income streams” and all. When I read the description of how this works, it is such a perfect fit for me.

        1. It is a great skill. Not an easy skill to learn, but a great skill 🙂

          1. I don’t want easy skills. I want great skills that are in demand and that use my brain.

  2. Hi Caitlin! I’m really interested in doing this as I have been wanting to do a job from home that actually brings in money. I will have my Bachelor’s in Psychology in a year and I already have my English Minor so I’m hoping that will help me find clients as well. My question is actually from my husband (he’s the skeptic lol): Is there a certificate or anything after we pass the course that tells potential clients that we know what we are doing?

    1. There will soon be a Certificate of Completion — there is actually one now, but it’s so esthetically displeasing (ugly!) that I really don’t want to give them to students, so we’re creating our own version. In the course, you will be eating, thinking, drinking, breathing, and sleeping transcripts for several months. By the end, you’ll know what you are doing, and you’ll be able to prove it to clients with your work. You’ll be able to list the course and everything it includes (1,000 practice pages including medical, technical vocab + varying levels of difficulty), and learn a multitude of ways to network professionally with your target market.

    1. Not yet — we started as just a blog back in November, and the course launched just three months ago. We have only just recently decided to incorporate due to the very unexpected success of the site. The paperwork is processing as we speak. Once it’s done, then I can apply for accreditation with BBB. In the meantime, feel free to check out our Press page for reviews, interviews, features, etc. to give you further insight on our credibility: http://www.proofreadanywhere.com/Press

  3. Hello!
    Do you need an actual iPad, or would any tablet work? I have an Android tablet, and I hope that would work.
    Also, are you only allowed access to the course for a certain time period, or can you go back to it at any time once you’ve bought it? 🙂

    1. Check out this link for my thoughts on iPad vs. other tablets: https://proofreadanywhere.com//why-do-you-recommend-an-ipad-which-one-should-i-get-why-what-if-i-dont-like-apple-what-if-i-already-have-an-android-can-i-work-on-my-laptop/

      The access is limited to 6 months for security reasons, but I do make updates available for everyone in the support group 🙂 It’s really only to prevent sharing of memberships. It’s highly individualized and I’d rather not have people paying for the course, then just giving their username to a friend. Doesn’t work like that (plus, I can SEE it happening on the back end!).

  4. Hi Caitlin – I’m interested in enrolling in your course. I love the idea of freelancing from home! Prior to becoming a stay at home mom I worked as an engineer. Do you think that my experience would be a benefit in proofreading work?

    1. Um, YEAH! I have proofread at least 50 depositions of professional engineers in my five-plus years reading transcripts. The technical vocab is golden 🙂

  5. I know this is probably one of the dumbest questions you’ve had. I have iAnnotate on my iPad. I just bought a new computer and the tech who set it up assured me it was also on my desktop. When I opened one of the practice documents on my desktop there was no iAnnotate! How do I fix this?

    Thanks for any help!

    Harriet Miller

    1. You don’t 🙂 That tech has no idea what he’s talking about. iAnnotate is an iOS app and it’s not available on PCs.

  6. Can I print part of a practice to see if my corrections show up?

  7. Once you finish a transcript job, how long do you keep the client’s work? Do you send them back both the original and the corrected work?

    1. I don’t delete my emails in Gmail, so it’s all still there until I decide to delete it. You have no obligation to keep their work. It’d be wise to keep it at least for a few weeks in case they delete the email and need you to resend it.

  8. This is going to sound really dumb, but I don’t know how to do a screen shot. I just annotated the quiz and I’m ready to so the screen shot if someone could give me a hint?

  9. Caitlin-
    I’m very interested in taking your course. I know you say that it takes 2-4 months to complete. Is that working at it a couple hours a day or full days? I’m getting ready to leave my job and stay home and am wondering if having the extra time will get me through the course faster. If I can spend 4-6 hours a day at it can I do it in a month or two? I would love to be able to get through the class before the kids are home for the summer.

    1. Yes, you could do it faster with a bigger time commitment, BUT I have to be honest, going slowly is generally better than going through quickly. It’s an intense course with a LOT to learn and do. 🙂

  10. Hi, do you have to be an American citizen? I have UK and NZ citizenship and I am assuming my clients would be American and I would be paid in American dollars, is this correct?

  11. Hi Caitlin,
    I already have a full size iPad 2. Can I take the course on this iPad or should I purchase the iPad mini and use it strictly for my proofreading? Also, do you have a problem with glare on your iPad if you are proofreading outside?

    1. Hi, Tracey!

      Caitlin is on vacation until 3/28, but I’d be happy to answer your question! I actually took the entire course on my iPad 2. It worked nicely for the course, but I found it very difficult to use while working with clients. Because it processes so much slower than the newer iPads, it substantially reduced my speed and, subsequently, my earning potential. It made researching terms and business names a lot slower, which is something you have to do a LOT of in this business. This makes it difficult when you’re working on a deadline. Again, however, it works beautifully for the course itself.

      As far as glare, I don’t do a lot of proofreading outdoors. (I live in the Pacific Northwest, so rain is a problem for me.) 🙂 However, if you find it to be an issue, I believe there are antiglare screen protectors on the market specifically for this purpose. Hope this helps! 🙂

  12. What happens if I score below 90% on one of the exams? Do I get an opportunity to re-take the exam, or am I rejected from the course?

  13. Hi Caitlin,

    I do have an iPad mini, but do not use it because I find the print too small for reading. Do you enlarge the transcripts when you are proofing?

    Thanks!

    Kay

    1. You can definitely enlarge the print to make it easier for you to read. 🙂

  14. I have taken the free 7 day class and am considering the full course. I have general proofreading experience but look forward to specialized information and intensive practice proofreading transcripts. I am curious about how you deal with paying taxes on earnings as a freelancer. Is that a covered topic in your course? I appreciate any information and tips. Thank you!

  15. Hi Caitlin:
    The enrollment confirmation I got from you (for 30-day jumpstart) was dated 8/1/16. Therefore, do I have access until 8/30 only or until 8/31?

  16. Hi Caitlin,

    I’m a former writer/editor who enjoys proofreading and is looking to get back into the field. Transcript proofreading sounds interesting and I’m thinking of pursuing work in this area. But I’m very puzzled about why your proofreaders need to use iAnnotate. I’m sure it’s a great program, but why not just use Word’s Track Changes feature? Surely that would be as easy as iAnnotate, wouldn’t it?

    1. It’s not as easy for the reporters to see the errors, for one thing. And proofreading on an iPad is more “like paper” than on a computer screen. I recommend reading this post for more info. Why iPad? Hope this helps!

  17. I visited your site 2 days ago, and posted a message SOMEWHERE within the site – but I cannot find my post, and did not receive a reply so, am trying again.
    (I’ll be more concise this time.) I am a “late-deafened adult” meaning that I grew up and spent the first 40+ years of my life as a hearing and speaking person. I now have bilateral severe-profound hearing loss, which, even with high-tech hearing aids, makes it impossible for me to comprehend speech unless I am in close proximity to the speaker in a quiet setting and able to supplement with lip-reading. My question is, is it necessary to hear to do this coursework or to subsequently be employed in this field? Thank you.

    1. Hi, Christine! For the coursework, there are transcripts for 80% of the videos. The ones we don’t own rights to are used with permission but are not transcribed, but there is a book to read in place of it with the same information. To do actual proofreading work, you don’t need to listen to anything. Some reporters will ask for “proofing with audio,” and my recommendation is to decline this work whether you can hear audio or not because what such reporters are actually looking for is a scopist (editor). They usually don’t want to pay scopists’ rates so they try to get proofreaders to do it for ’em 🙂

      1. I was just going to ask if the videos were closed captioned. I, too, am deaf and can’t follow audio…

        1. We have transcripts for about 95% of the videos. In the marketing module, there are videos not owned by us about LinkedIn which do not have transcripts, but we provide a link to an inexpensive book ($5-$10) that contains all of the information.

  18. Did I understand correctly that the final exam must be error-free in order to complete the course? If so, is this a timed exam, and how many attempts do we have to take the exam? Also, is the Module 5 quiz timed?

  19. A score of 90% or above is required to pass the final exam. You will have 55 minutes to complete the exam, and you will have three attempts to pass. You will have 75 minutes to complete the Module 5 Midterm exam, and a score of 95% is required to pass.

  20. Based on your experience with working freelance, how much would a proofreader make monthly if the hours are that of a regular 9-5 work week? I’m highly considering taking the course, however I’m scared to make that leap without ensuring I would be stable to do so. Thanks:)

    1. The course teaches you everything you need to know about how to be a successful freelance proofreader.

      While we cannot guarantee your success just by signing up for the course, we can guarantee that you will be provided with all the tools and resources you need to be a successful freelance proofreader. Marketing is covered extensively in the full course, but it’s up to you to use those new skills our course teaches you to find your own clients.

  21. Does the course need to be done within a certain time frame? I’ve heard a month is normal, however, I’m leaving to Africa for a missions trip within less than a month. I’d like to start now, but I won’t have time once in Africa. Would I be able to start now and just pick it back up within a couple of weeks? Or do you recommend to wait until I am completely free?

    1. You have lifetime access to your course, there are no time limits in place.

  22. 1. I tried going to [email protected] but couldn't find a form to send specific questions, so I'll try this instead. Apologies for the length of this and thanks for any help or suggestions you can give me.

    2. I am ready to take the Module 5 test. Your directions say to use Chrome browser to avoid problems. I have successfully used Firefox on lessons up to this point, including the Module 1 test. However, when I try to open Chrome to take this test, Chrome keeps shutting off. I have checked to make sure it isn't running in the background, but it isn't. Is the test unavailable using Firefox if I try that instead?

    3. How do you know which rule to use if you have a sentence with conflicting rules? As an example, in the sentence "What it is is creepy", the CMOS correct answer shows a comma used for clarification between the first and second is. However, standard grammar punctuation says you shouldn't put a comma between a subject and a verb. "What it is" is a dependent clause used as the subject in this sentence. If you have two conflicting rules, how do you decide which rule takes precedence? I could look it up for this sentence since it was in CMOS, but what happens if I run into a sentence that isn't in the manual?

    Thanks for any help you can send and clarification on contacting support. Kate

    1. Hi, Kate! 1) There is no form to fill out to write to [email protected]. You simply write us an email with your questions and concerns and a member of our support team will help you. 2) When you use the Chrome browser, try clearing your browser history (cache) and make sure that your popups and downloads (redirects) are enabled in your browswer settings first before you take the quiz. Please take the quiz in one sitting because when you leave the quiz for a long period of time (more than 30-60 minutes) it can freeze up and you won’t get a score. 3) You will need to post your grammar and punctuation questions in the Facebook student group for General Proofreaders. The link to join the group is in Module 1 of your course. You have to fill out the membership questionnaire first and once you’re verified as a student, you’ll be approved and you can participate in the group. Hope this helps!

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