Scoping – Weathering Economic Changes

Scoping - Weathering Economic Changes

By Linda Evenson

In the past few years, there have been many changes to the landscape of business:  a much higher minimum wage, significant layoffs, higher interest rates, COVID isolation, more remote employees, businesses failing and closing, rampant inflation -- the list goes on and on.  Job security seems to be a thing of the past. 

I have always felt that scoping is the best of both worlds: I own my own business and work from home, I can choose my clients, and I make better money than I would working locally for someone else.  

Scoping may not for everyone, but since English was always my strong suit, working with words for a living was perfect for me.  I have had the great fortune to work with some very talented reporters, and we always took a team approach to producing the best transcripts possible.  My clients were great people and a pleasure to work with.

In these tumultuous economic times, scoping has proven to be a stable and reliable income for knowledgeable, skilled professional scopists.  ISS graduates in particular seem to attract clients as soon as they are out of the gate.  We have all worked hard at building a great rep for our grads, and the word is out:  If you want an awesome scopist, look for an ISS grad.

So how do you know if this awesome career might be for you?  Do you have an aptitude with words?  Are you a self-starter who works well independently?  Are you a good communicator?  Are you a team player who is dependable, meticulous, realizes the importance of meeting deadlines, and not quitting until the job is done?

If you answer yes to these questions, you may be a prime candidate to get into a career where you can fit your job in around your life rather than the reverse.  And if you do a good job for your clients, you won’t have to worry about layoffs or advancement either.  Reporters tend to stick with scopists who do a good job on their transcripts, so job security is actually still a thing!