By Cassandra Caldarella. The best recession-proof jobs are those that are least sensitive to economic downturn and have the highest combined scores for pay, projected workforce growth, and number of openings. In my experience, a recession-proof job is one that remains in high demand even through a bad economy. Though no career is entirely recession-proof, court reporting is more constant than most others when times are hard. Several elements create the high demand for court reporters. First, there freelancr an increased demand in the legal field. Crime tends to rise dramatically when people feel desperate and experience serious financial problems, so the number of court cases increase. Civil disputes also reach a boiling point, resulting in more civil litigation when times are tough. Despite the state budget cuts that resulted in the layoff of hundreds of court stenograhper in California in the last several years, some counties decided to privatize the court reporting duties in civil courtrooms, meaning that court reporters still ended up going to work in civil courtrooms, but they get paid directly from attorneys or agencies instead of freelance the county. As a result, there was no loss in court reporting jobs; it actually created new job opportunities for freelancers who never worked in court. Second, there is an increase in demand in how to make money as a freelance stenographer industries that require realtime court reporters to provide transcriptions or captioning of conferences, seminars, video, and television. The growing number of fields that require stenographers includes television, sports, politics, business, medicine, and many .
What Does a Freelance Copywriter Do?
Court reporters create word-for-word transcriptions at trials, depositions, administrative hearings, and other legal proceedings. Some court reporters provide captioning for television and real-time translation for deaf or hard-of-hearing people at public events, in business meetings, and in classrooms. Court reporters create word-for-word transcripts of speeches, conversations, legal proceedings, meetings, or other events. Court reporters play a critical role in legal proceedings, which require an exact record of what was said. Court reporters in the legal setting also help judges and attorneys by capturing, organizing, and producing the official record of the proceedings. The official record allows users to efficiently search for important information contained in the transcript. Court reporters also index and catalog exhibits used during court proceedings. Some court reporters, however, do not work in the legal setting or in courtrooms.
Salary by Industry
Freelancing as a Court Reporter As a court reporter, there are characteristically two ways to find employment in the field. Court reporters are employed by courthouses or work in a freelance capacity for agencies. Those that work within an agency usually have more autonomy than court reporters. Additionally, a court reporter working in court might also have numerous other responsibilities as a part of their job description, such as researching and other procedural activities. Freelance court reporters regularly work on a per contract basis. Unlike standard court reporters, who work a standard hour work week, freelancers can work any number of hours and at any location. Freelancers are paid per job and receive a page fee for transcripts, while standard court reporters are on a salary and receive the same per-page fee for transcripts. Some full-time court reporters take on additional work by working as a freelancer during their off-hours. There is also extra money to be made for court reporters in selling copies of their transcripts to interested parties. The best way to think of a freelance court reporter is to think of an independent contractor. Freelancers have the capability to take the jobs they want to work on and pass on the jobs they don’t. The only influence this has is on their overall income. As a freelance court reporter, a person could work as many or as little working hours in a week as considered necessary. Different Jobs for Freelance Court Reporters A freelance court reporter can work in a number of occupational areas, including but not limited to: Depositions Municipal hearings Board meetings Arbitrations Working with the deaf or hearing impaired closed-captioning, etc. This income level rises with the amount of experience a freelancer has. The yearly salary for a freelance court reporter can fluctuate at or around these figures, depending on the determination of the freelancer. Finding Work Whichever type of court reporting work you chose to take, court reporters normally use job listings, whether online or at the courthouse, to locate and apply for jobs. Court reporting agencies, courthouses or individual companies may be looking to hire freelancers for a particular period of time with a pre-determined rate of pay. Some of these jobs are long-term and others may be just one day. For this reason, a freelance court reporter must be ready to travel to different areas, at times just for a few hours of work.
Freelance Court Reporter Jobs
Freelancing means to have different jobs or short-term assignments or contracts with number of companies, websites, organizations. The Internet has greatly expanded opportunities to earn money working as a freelancer. Approximately To earn money as a freelancer, think about the skills you have, such as being good at drawing, writing, or coding.
Create a resume detailing those skills and any experience you have, then search online freelance boards for opportunities. Before you apply to any jobs, decide how much money you need to make on a project for it to be worth your time. When you find a job that matches your skills and pay requirements, send your resume, along with any relevant portfolio samples, if required.
For tips on building your portfolio, read on! To create this article, 16 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time.
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Learn more Method 1. Decide on your craft. Decide what type of freelance work you are committed to doing. Freelancing jobs are as broad as the work force, and you need identify what it is you want to do before you can begin to do it.
View your skills as valuable resources that are worth charging and receiving pay. Just about every type of skill can be turned into a freelancing opportunity. Keep in mind that you’re «secondary» skills, like researching and writing, for example, can be just as useful as a specific set of skills unique to a profession e. If you know you’re a strong writer, then you could develop a freelance writing business.
It’s very easy to believe that you don’t have the necessary skills or experience, but in fact you actually need very little experience in order to get started freelancing. Instead, believe in your abilities and focus on producing good work. Create a brand. This is called branding.
You need to create a brand for your what you’re selling and how it sets you apart from the competition — this is your «identity and includes your website, logo, tagline, blog, and social media accounts, among other aspects. Your brand should clearly communicate what you do that is special and what you offer that is worth buying. Try to narrow your focus to a specific industry. For example, if you decide you want to do freelance writing, you might only decide to write for online travel sites and business and thus be a freelance travel writer.
Or you might decide you want to write for business and corporate websites. Specializing within the field in this case, the very broad field of writing will make you more attractive to potential clients because it shows you have a particular rather than a generic set of skills, also known as a niche.
You could have a huge Instagram or Twitter following, but that doesn’t really pay the bills. Don’t worry about followers or retweets, and instead focusing on producing quality work.
That’s the ultimate way to build your freelancing business and earn money. Build a portfolio showcasing your work. A lot of potential clients are less interested in your specific qualifications than in a demonstrated ability to do the job.
They want to see samples of your work and decide whether you’re a good fit for their particular project. So building a strong portfolio of your work samples as well as past projects is key to building your business and in fact, you shouldn’t launch your freelancing business until you have this portfolio. Include as well testimonials of people and organizations who you’ve worked. Reading glowing reviews will help boost your profile among prospective clients. If you have no paid assignments or previous work to put in a portfolio, create some by offering your services pro bono or taking your free time to produce.
Although volume can be good and help with self-promotion, it’s also important to try to incorporate some bigger and higher profile jobs, rather than just building a portfolio full of the smallest and least lucrative projects.
If you want to make big money by working with high-paying clients, then you need to show those clients that you can produce the kind of work they’re looking.
Again, consider offering pro bono when you’re first starting. Having the portfolio shows clients that you’ve actually done what you’re telling them you can.
Develop business-savvy skills. You may be a freelancer, but you also need to be a business man or woman. To successfully earn money as a freelancer and turn it into a career, you need to become familiar with the basics of operating a business, like taxes, bookkeeping, marketing. In many cases, these business basics will take more time than the actual freelance service or product you offer! You could also consult a number of books and online sites about how to start up a business from the ground.
Although it might seem premature to worry about the «business» of your freelance work, having a business model with goals, deliverables, benchmarks, and so on can help you determine the scope and scale of your freelancing operation. A clear business model, and transparent accounts and books, will also show clients that you’re the real deal — a professional freelancer and not just someone working in their pajamas at home.
Set up an invoicing. Part of doing freelancing as a way to earn real money means setting up a system for charging and receiving payment. Before you reach out to potential clients and start actually doing the freelancing work, be ready for it.
It’s a lot easier to keep up with accounting and invoicing along the way, rather than leaving it until later on or even until the dreaded tax season. Create a financial framework that will make it easy for you to keep organized financial money. Doing this will also help you track how much money you’re earning and whether you’re making a profit.
Be ready to explain how you charge for what you’re offering i. Create invoice templates. Using a word-processing tool like Microsoft Excel, for exampledesign an invoice that has all of the important information service rendered, cost, payment, addresses of the payee and payer.
Establish an accounting plan and consider opening up a business bank account. Often banks have special services and fees for business bank accounts. Look into how much you should be charging and setting aside for taxes. Get paying clients. Once you have a portfolio, it’s time to get out there and start pitching to clients.
Freelancing successfully is a numbers game — the more potential clients you locate and reach out, the more likely you are to get work and, most importantly, get paid. Ask them for referrals; this can help bring in some startup work that can get your freelancing operation off the ground.
However, you’ll also need to make the first move and branch out in a lot of cases in order to earn good money. When pitching your product or services to new clients, pitch only to those clients who are relevant. And pitch to a lot of. Try the before rule; pitch to 10 potential clients before 10 in the morning during the work week. You should know who your target clients are if you’ve branded yourself properly.
The concept of specialization, mentioned above, creates this sense. There are several online freelance marketplaces like Elance and oDesk, where you can offer your services and look up and pitch to clients.
These can be very useful for freelancers just starting. Method 2. Have a vision. Know what you want and go for it! The biggest obstacle to freelancing is overcoming that mental blockage that says «You can’t do it and you shouldn’t.
This isn’t just a fantastical idea, but a business reality. Come up with a name for your business and a logo or font-type. Once you start creating the vision, it becomes easier to realize that this a real business you’re launching. Start the process by establishing a business name and creating a vision for your company brand. Take time to enter into freelancing. Don’t jump right in and hedge all your bets on freelancing right away.
Freelancing can be a great way to earn money, but it can also take a considerable amount of time to build up. Focus on setting the ground plan for freelancing while still earning a stable income and you’ll feel more confident and comfortable taking the leap. Be ready for slow periods.
How Do You Get Started as a Freelance Writer?
A court reporter makes money per page, not per hour, so the more pages he or she can take down, the higher their earning potential. Outsourcing the tedious editing allows them to make more money. He or she ensures all how to make money as a freelance stenographer steno language and punctuation is translated properly to make the verbatim record as accurate as humanly possible. It requires major finesse with words, and you need to learn to read the steno language — which is actually much easier than learning to write or type in steno. The difference? Now, before I open myself up to any hate mail: God bless our teachers. See Salary. Most people take around six to eight months to learn scoping and start earning. Compare that to our teacher friend. Court reporters work behind the scenes. This is good news! But it also means not just anyone can apply. To be a scopist, you actually have to know the industry, know how to do the work, and know how to navigate within the court reporting community in order to find work. In fact, scoping is pretty advanced work. This is actually more good news. It means that the job market for scoping will never be saturated.
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