Posted by Annalisa in The corporate world can be a bit grey at times – you travel to work on the same route, sit at the same desk every day, complete the same tasks, go to meeting after meeting… After 15 years of this grey existence I wanted to add some colour to my work life.
While working in the very corporate world of American Express, I started my own virtual office business, AMC Professional Office Services, from my dining room table in 1999 with my husband. It was a side business at first, but became much more when I was made redundant. I wanted the opportunity to work from home while I was pregnant with my son, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity for me. Initially AMC offered office services such as typing, resumes and PowerPoint presentations and just grew from there.
I have since had a daughter, and found working from home around two children met my dual aims in work and life. I am stimulated through work and building a business, while at the same time being a great mum. The flexibility of being my own boss means I can drop the kids off at school/day care and pick them up, attend their special events and take time off when they need me.
Like many successful business people I realised I couldn’t be everything to everyone – nor did I want to be – so I created my own niche. AMC’s strongest point was our transcription work, so I decided to concentrate on what we did well and be the best in the marketplace. This made great business sense because we had built up a good network of online typists and a strong client base, so it wasn’t hard at all to do away with all the little things that really were never quoted on.
We decided to rebrand AMC Professional Office Services to The Transcription People and we became a company on July 1, 2007. Now we concentrate on providing high-quality outsourced transcription services from our Australian base to clients throughout the world. The calibre of our clients is growing constantly and our client list includes Ernst & Young, Sony BMG, Tikitiboo, Canon Australia, IBM Australia, Wesley Mission, Macquarie University, KPMG and Sydney Water.
The business has become more than just fulfilling my goal to be a successful businesswoman. As interest in my business grew, I started contracting other work-at-home-mums (WAHM) as typists and proofreaders to cope with the increasing workload. We have now just taken on some on-site typists from our local area to help out with transcription.
Not only am I building a business for myself, but I am helping other female entrepreneurs grow too. It’s the ideal job for a WAHM because they can choose how much work to take on every day, based on how everything is running at home.
This year we took the plunge and moved The Transcription People from our home to office space in a growing business district and haven’t looked back. While it was great to be able to combine home and work, it’s better to be able to switch off, close the office door and go home at the end of the day. Our office space also gives us the room to expand that our home office didn’t, and this is becoming more relevant every day as our staff needs grow.
Running my own business means I now have a great work/life balance and I can guarantee no day is ever the same, like it was when I worked for someone else. This opportunity has shown me what I am capable of and added much more colour to my life – especially bright pink, in our logo and office feature wall!
For more information regarding our transcription service, please visit The Transcription People – Australia