Laptop Workforce

The world of work has changed. The 9 to 5, corporate jobs are becoming harder to find, and people want more autonomy and flexibility in their work lives. Entrepreneurs working on a start-up might need extra income until their project takes off. Whatever the reason, the ability to work on the move using laptops, tablets and phones has transformed our perception of work, how we work and when we work and created the term, “laptop workforce.”
We recently mentioned Nomad Playground on our blog. Their website offers graphic designers, IT professionals, linguists and transcribers the ability to find work anywhere in the world by connecting them with companies on their website that they have tried and tested through reviews.
As transcribers, Sonya and I can work at home, or we can work on the move. Sonya frequently takes her laptop as she travels to and from Cairns to South Australia and Melbourne. Claire often works from remote sites in her campervan. As long as there is connectivity, work is no problem.
Holly is a full-time Masters student who transcribes for us as well as another transcription company. As a subcontractor, she nominates the days and how much audio she would like and has none of the worries of finding clients, or them paying her. The work rolls in from the transcription companies, she transcribes it, returns it and is paid every two weeks.
We have carers on our team, who work from home to look after loved ones who are sick. We have mothers who can work, but be flexible enough to be there at school pick up, available for school events and work around their children. We have transcribers on our team who are learning to stretch their skills, moving from clean to verbatim transcripts, cutting their teeth on accents and harder audio so that they can offer services at a higher rate.
As more and more people get access to the internet this trend is only set to grow. In the future, fewer people will be commuting to and from work. As long as your work can be performed on a computer, the world literally will be your oyster. If you are looking at joining the laptop workforce, now is a great time. By 2020, nearly 7 billion people will have internet connectivity according to Marie Forleo. Why sit on the fence? If you’ve ever considered working for yourself, now is the time to get off the fence and take that leap to freedom and flexibility.

Happy transcribing!