Following is an interview with our top performing freelancer, Nicole S. In this interview we talked about how she came to know about us, her reasons for working with us and her likes and dislikes about Scribie.
Please visit the following link for her scribie.com profile
https://scribie
00:00 Nicole L Smith: Hello! Testing.
00:03 Yukti Yatish: Hello, is that Nicole?
00:06 NS: Yes it is. Can you hear me?
00:08 YY: Yeah. Can you hear me properly?
00:10 NS: Yes I can, thanks.
00:12 YY: Okay. Hi Nicole, this is Yukti here. I would be your Community Manager from Scribie.com.
00:20 NS: Nice to meet you.
00:21 YY: Same here. So how are you doing?
00:24 NS: I’m doing fine, thanks.
00:26 YY: Okay. Can we start with the interview then?
00:29 NS: Sure, we can start.
00:31 YY: Okay. So the first question I would like to know is how did you come to know about Scribie? That you could work for us?
00:39 NS: Well I was searching for things to do to work at home, online, and I always liked doing transcription. I just happened to plug it in that I was looking for something with transcription, and Scribie came up.
00:52 YY: Okay. So it was just out of Google search that you came to know about Scribie, and you gave the test?
00:59 NS: Exactly.
01:00 YY: Okay. That’s great. Are you a work-from-home mom, or what would be the reason you working for Scribie?
01:11 NS: Mainly, I wanted to work from home because I wanted to spend more time with my kids and be there for both of my kids, ’cause I have two. My youngest is four. When I started with you guys she was about two-and-a half-going on three. So it would just fit in perfectly.
01:28 YY: Okay. How many files would you do in a particular day, you know?
01:34 NS: Well, that just depends on what y’all have and what I can actually do. Sometimes there’s a lot of heavy accents, and I try to stay away from them because I make more mistakes, but on a good day I could do upwards of 30.
01:49 YY: 30 files?
01:51 NS: Yes.
01:52 YY: 30 files of six minutes each?
01:55 NS: Sometimes they don’t be six minutes each. But…
01:57 YY: Okay, so smaller files, maybe one or two minutes.
02:02 NS: Exactly. I mix everything in. It doesn’t matter to me. If it’s work and I could do it I’ll do it. But I have done about 30-35 files a day. Of course they were all smaller files. But it really just depends on what work you have available.
02:16 YY: Alright. How would you rate the quality of audio files that you get? Are they very tough all the time? Or would you say it’s average quality?
02:30 NS: I think it’s across the board. I mean, sometimes there are days where you have great files where everything works fine and you hear everyone clearly. There’s no background interference. Then there’s days when there’s files where that’s all you have is a whole lot of files where there’s background interference or heavy accent. So I think it really just depends on who wants what and when they want it.
02:54 YY: Your okay with the audio quality, on an average?
03:00 NS: On an average, yes. Of course I would like better, you know more files where there’s no background interference. But sometimes I guess they’re doing things in auditoriums or out in public. So it really just depends on who’s uploading and what they’re uploading.
03:18 YY: Okay. So the next question would be, have you been working for any other freelancing sites or Scribie just the one?
03:30 NS: Well doing transcriptions?
03:32 YY: Yeah.
03:34 NS: No. Scribie is the only one.
03:36 YY: Okay. What would you say you like the best about Scribie? Is it the… In terms of user interface or how the files are given to you to choose from? Is there anything in particular that you like?
03:57 NS: I think the thing that I like the most is because at any time of the day, whether it’s four o’clock in the morning or two o’clock in the afternoon, I can log in and see if there’s work. And in most cases there’s something there. I think that’s the best part about it.
04:12 YY: Okay. [chuckle] So whenever you get time you see the files available and you work on it?
04:19 NS: Exactly. There’s no set time. There’s no, “Oh, I have to be there at nine o’clock or I won’t get anything good.” It doesn’t matter. It just literally depends on when y’all upload a file. And if you can get to it in that time.
04:33 YY: Okay. That’s nice to know. Do you have… Do you usually get enough files, or you also have this issue of not having enough files, most of the times?
04:47 NS: Lately it has been up and down. There are days where it’s a lot. But again, I still say it really has to do with the quality. Because in some cases there’s tons of files. But I can’t do any because I don’t understand that accent. And that’s the main thing. When you’re transcribing, you want to make sure you’re transcribing what you actually hear. And if you’re hearing one thing but it’s really something else because of the accent, you don’t need to do that file.
05:15 YY: Okay. Okay, cool. And what about the user interface that you have for choosing the files and playing them and you know, from the usability point of view for freelancers?
05:29 NS: I love it, I love it. I think it’s great. Even since I started, I see that there’s been enhancements, and it makes it even easier. So that part is excellent.
05:41 YY: How about the Integrated Editor? Do you have any inputs for that? Some suggestions or you just love the way it is? The Editor that you use for transcribing?
05:53 NS: Oh no. That’s perfect, I love it. I mean the way it, you know just pretty much… I like that it goes into its own screen, I like that it stays solitary on its own. You really can’t make a mistake and delete too much, or not delete enough, or… I think it’s just great. It just works well with how you’re picking the files, how you’re listening to them, and typing them out. It just works well.
06:18 YY: Okay. Okay. Good to know that. And the other question was, anything you don’t like about us that you would like to point it out, or we could take it from here and probably try to improve?
06:38 NS: I mean, outside of the grading system… And the only reason I say the grading system is because I think some people grade too harshly, and then you have some people that grade too loosely. So, I mean… And even though you’re following the standard rules, it’s… I think everybody just interprets it a little bit different. If that makes any sense.
07:02 YY: Yeah, we understand that actually. It’s different quality criteria for different people, so…
07:09 NS: Exactly.
07:09 YY: Yeah. We can’t really tell people how to grade. So, some people have very high standards of quality and so…
07:16 NS: Yes.
07:16 YY: Yeah. Okay. So… Yeah, so this is all we had to ask from you. The last question would be, you have any suggestions in general for us, if there’s something we can improve on?
07:36 NS: Outside of more files, no.
[laughter]07:41 YY: Sure, sure. We’ll try to get more files available for everyone. So, that’s something we need to work on. Anything else?
07:51 NS: No. I mean, that really is it. I mean, I’ve always had… If I ever had a problem or a question, you got back to me pretty fast. So, I mean, I love the personalization that y’all have with everyone. So, I’ve never met you before, but, I mean, again, like I said, it seems like there’s a lot of changes that’s been going on in the last year since I’ve been with you. And it’s all good, so far.
08:16 YY: Okay. Good to know that, and good to know that we have been acknowledged for the changes that we are trying to bring in. Okay, that’s all from my side Nicole. Do you have anything you want to say in the end or you want to talk about?
08:32 NS: No. I really just wanna say, I appreciate Scribie.com for what they are. I mean, I think that it’s a great opportunity for people to be able to make money from home, and especially if they’re a good typist and they know how to edit their own work, or… It’s a great opportunity. And I just wish I’d have found it sooner.
[laughter]08:52 YY: Thank you so much. Thanks a lot Nicole for your time then. Wish you all the best.
08:58 NS: Okay. And thank you for wanting to interview me. I appreciate it.
09:02 YY: Thank you so much. Great talking to you. Bye-bye.
09:05 NS: Bye-bye.