Gaynor Paynter Transcriber and Copy Editor – a short bio
Who is the person behind Typewrite Transcription and Copy Editing?
I was born on 21 March 1975 in Kensington, South Africa, and, with the exception of a few years after marrying in 1996, have lived here my whole life.
I went to Leicester Road Primary School and Jeppe Girls High and matriculated in 1992 with a university exemption and half colours for chess.
A secretarial diploma at the then Germiston Technical College followed with a distinction in Information Processing (typing).
I always had an entrepreneurial flair. During school I sold artwork through advertising in the Top 40 Music Magazine, for R5 a piece and worked part time in the local Checkers.
A lot of firsts
My first full time job was at a company called KMI in Heriotdale in 1995. This involved reception and admin – and exposure to transcribing for the very first time, notes made by one of my bosses on a small microcassette recorder!
In 1996 I married my husband, Damian, and my first son, Andrew, came along in 1998. During this time the development of technology was moving fast. Our first cellphone was the Nokia 2110 and it was an amazing phone which we shared. The first time I went on the internet was in KMI’s showroom, during a lunch break. (I surreptitiously snuck in to go on to say I’d been on!)
Getting older and getting experience
I was retrenched in 2000 and did freelance typing and temp jobs. I then fell pregnant with my second son, Brandon – but one employer took me on ‘semi permanently which became permanent’. It was at a recruitment company, where I prepared CVs and interviewed candidates.
The birth of Typewrite
By 2005, the internet had progressed enough for me to ‘birth’ Typewrite Transcription, Copy-Editing and Virtual Assistant Services (Typewrite). For three months, I worked at the recruitment company during the day, and on Typewrite by night, all the while with a husband and two little boys.
The 1st of April 2005 was the first ‘official’ day of Typewrite, although it didn’t come to be registered at CIPRO (now CIPC) until 2009.
Milestones
Various milestones flag this journey. When I started I still had dial up internet. This continued for about a month until our ADSL was installed. You also have to have a backup internet and I’ve been through various of those, until my current ‘back up’ – my MTN cellphone. (I’ve had the same number since 1995, by the way!) Services provided have also grown and diversified – starting out with typing, adding transcribing, adding proofreading – and just recently, adding sub-titling.
Becoming an author
In 2009 I wrote my e -book “Working From Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa” which is a great resource for those starting out today – as I found when I started out, there wasn’t much if anything in the way of support!
TAVASA
The same year my friend and colleague Alison Fourie and I founded TAVASA – the Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants of South Africa.
Personal growth
In 2018, I decided it was time to tackle some personal things. I had had ongoing depression since my matric year, was on medication, etc. But had no idea what was causing it and what to do about it. It was absolutely crippling and was impacting business as well. I eventually discovered the cause of it and have slowly but surely worked through it. It’s something that will always be there, but the lessons I’ve learned have been immense for both personal and business development. Coupled with that, the changing virtual and technological world gave much cause to learn and adapt.
While we in the virtual industry were fortunate to continue being able to work through Covid, most of our clients were not so lucky. The pandemic has hit us hard and we received no government assistance. The pandemic brought about a lot of technological changes. We are learning to embrace and assist with those changes, providing our many years’ experience to those requiring it.
My son assists me in the business, and I recently changed the name of the business from Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC to one which is more in keeping with our business and the markets it serves and it is now Typewrite Transcription and Copy Editing. We are looking forward to building the company in the years to come.
With love,
Gaynor Paynter – Transcriber / Editor.