Gaynor Paynter Transcriber and Copy Editor – a short bio
Gaynor Paynter is the person behind Typewrite Transcription, Copy-Editing and Virtual Assistant Services. She was born on 21 March 1975 in Kensington, South Africa, and, with the exception of a few years after marrying in 1996, has lived here her whole life.
She went to Leicester Road Primary School and Jeppe Girls High and matriculated in 1992 with a university exemption and half colours for chess.
She obtained a secretarial diploma at the then Germiston Technical College followed with a distinction in Information Processing (typing).
Gaynor always had an entrepreneurial flair. During school she sold artwork through advertising in the Top 40 Music Magazine, for R5 a piece.
A lot of firsts
Her first full time job was at a company called Kaydee Masterplanners Industries (KMI) in Heriotdale in 1995. This involved reception and admin – and exposure to transcribing for the very first time. One of her bosses made notes on a small microcassette recorder which she transcribed during the gaps between phone calls and in-person visitors!
In 1996 she married Damian, and their first son, Andrew, came along in 1998. During this time the development of technology was moving fast. Their first cellphone was the Nokia 2110 and it was an amazing phone which they shared. The first time she went on the internet was in KMI’s showroom, during a lunch break. (She surreptitiously snuck in and accessed the net so that she would be able to say she had been on the internet!)
Getting older and getting experience
Gaynor was retrenched in 2000 and did freelance typing and temp jobs. She then fell pregnant with her second son, Brandon – but one employer took her on ‘semi permanently which became permanent’. It was at a recruitment company, where she prepared CVs and interviewed candidates.
The birth of Typewrite
By 2005, the internet had progressed enough for Gaynor to ‘birth’ Typewrite Transcription, Copy-Editing and Virtual Assistant Services (Typewrite). For three months, she 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 we started we 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 we’ve been through various of those, until our current ‘back up’ – a Vodacom cellphone. (Gaynor has had the same number since 1995, by the way!) Services provided have also grown and diversified – starting out with typing, adding transcribing, adding proofreading, etc.
Becoming an author
In 2009 Gaynor wrote the e -book “Working From Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa” which is a great resource for those starting out today – in those days, there wasn’t much if anything in the way of support!
TAVASA
The same year Gaynor’s friend and colleague Alison Fourie and I founded TAVASA – the Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants of South Africa.
Growth
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. This time also brought about a lot of technological changes. We learned to embrace and assist with those changes, providing our many years’ experience to those requiring it.
Post Covid, in a changing and developing world, our expertise and passion serves to help more generations achieve their goals.
We 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, Copy-Editing and Virtual Assistant Services. We are looking forward to building the company in the years to come.
With love,
Gaynor Paynter – Transcriber / Editor.