Marie Kondo has become wildly popular for her theories and ideas about organizing and tidying up. But what would she have to say about your transcript business? What is it about your job that sparks joy for you?

 

In the midst of some fall cleaning, we’ve taken some of Marie Kondo’s principles and applied them to transcript production. Whether you’re a reporter, a scopist, or a proofreader, these principles can change the way you work and hopefully spark joy!

 

What does “tidy” mean for transcript production?

 

Before we get into the guidelines or rules that Marie Kondo uses in the KonMari Method™, let’s define what “tidy” could look like for us. 

 

🧽 Your desktop, CAT software, and other folders are well organized and categorized. Files are clearly named and categorized perhaps by date or client.

 

🧽 Your business records are neatly categorized, documented, and backed up. 👩‍🏫

 

🧽 Your jobs always get completed on time, your communication with clients is prompt, and you’ve even created a checklist or spreadsheet to track everything.

 

Maybe it’s a combination of all three of those? For our purposes here today, let’s include aspects of all three of those definitions when we apply Marie Kondo’s principles to our transcript production.

 

The Basic Rules of Tidying

 

We’re big fans of Marie Kondo. Check out the 6 Basic Rules of Tidying as she describes them. We’re just going to take a look at three of them and see how these concepts can apply to transcript production.

 

1) Imagine Your Ideal Lifestyle

 

This is so relevant to transcript production! Let’s take a minute and imagine what we’d like our life to look like. What tasks are we doing in our ideal lifestyle? How much time is spent on menial tasks? What are we not doing? Dream big!

 

Now it’s time to make those dreams into reality – at least some of them! Maybe this means changing the types of jobs you accept. Maybe this means looking into a new job within court reporting. Captioning, anyone? Maybe it means outsourcing the jobs you hate doing the most!

 

2) Finish Discarding First

 

Marie Kondo describes this step as letting go of the things that don’t spark joy so that you can focus on the things that do. So what are your pain points in transcript production? How can you go about making changes?

 

Let’s take taxes, for instance. Who loves invoicing and ensuring clients pay on time, and keeping track of business expenses? NOT ME! 🙅‍♀️Hire a tax professional or accountant to alleviate some of the stress. Feeling cross-eyed after reading transcripts all day? Hire a proofreader to ease the strain and find time for other things that actually do spark joy!

 

3) Ask Yourself if it Sparks Joy

 

This is probably the most famous rule of them all! Does it spark joy? Focus on all the good things about your job and try to do more of that. 

 

I would even go a step further and say that if transcript production doesn’t spark joy, find something that does! Hire a scopist and a proofreader and spend your time doing something else that you love. 

 

If you are a scopist or proofreader, find clients that spark joy and that are a pleasure to work with!

 

What Sparks Joy for YOU?

 

Here at Stenovate, we’d love to help you find what sparks joy, whether that’s transcript production or not! Our tools will help you streamline those menial tasks to get to the heart of what you love to do. 

 

No more wasted time on answering questions about the jobs. All the info for your jobs is uploaded into one spot. No more questions from your team about your preferences. Simply take the Ultimate Preference Sheet Quiz and upload it to your profile! #TranscriptBoss 💅

 

Let us help you find what sparks joy in your own life! Try the first month absolutely FREE.