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thylacine posted:What ya'll know about taxes. I will be making more than $10k this year, not much, but more. So, I didn't pay any taxes yet, I'm hoping I can slide in a bunch of them before the end of the year and not get any penalties. I know this isn't the thing to wishfully think about, so just wondering if anybody has some experience paying your quarterly taxes at the end of the year (I'm bad with money). Also, if I buy some new computer parts and deduct them is it going to make any difference (maybe $300). My deductions for Word I usually take don't add up to much. How much would an accountant cost to sort this poo poo out. I understand medicare/SS taxes are important but goddamn why am I being taxed so much when I make so little money. Tax prep costs used to be deductible, but not anymore. The IRS has free tax prep software and services for people making below various thresholds here. They tend to actually be pretty good. Do electronic filing if you can; if you get selected for any kind of scrutiny by the feds, the electronic return we get is way more complete so we'll ask you for less information and the process will be less painful.
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Jan 19, 2020 01:56
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How is it 2020 and a phone still sounds like it's on a tape recorder from 1962. gently caress. Let me record myself using my speakerphone to record someone talking to me, loving cell phone compression can die.
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Jan 25, 2020 02:39
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thylacine posted:How is it 2020 and a phone still sounds like it's on a tape recorder from 1962. gently caress. I use duo or something to chat these days. Cell service is so crap, they have that compressed to all hell. It's like talking to someone on the moon.
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Jan 25, 2020 03:36
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thylacine posted:How is it 2020 and a phone still sounds like it's on a tape recorder from 1962. gently caress. I asked myself that question a few months back and then it turns out I was working through an archived reel tape from '93!
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Jan 27, 2020 04:33
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I had a client that on occasion would send me a tape that consisted of them playing back a video or audio recording on a machine and holding a tape recorder up to the speaker. They'd always send me a direct line copy when I asked for it, but I could never fathom why they'd do it in the first place.
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Jan 29, 2020 21:40
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I was recently let go at my job, and I decided gently caress it, the only things I ever cared about were reading and writing, and I'm tired of going against those things and pursuing what everyone told me was a more practical and safe route. If I wind up poor all my life, oh well, at least I'll be happy while poor. I went through the whole OP, and also noticed that it was initially made in 2012. How much of it is still modern and useful? As a beginner trying to get into all this, where should I be starting; that Daily Transcriptions site looked and sounded promising? Textbroker also looked good to me, but again, total newbie at trying to make money off of writing.
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Feb 26, 2020 20:39
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Gologle posted:noticed that it was initially made in 2012 fukkin' hell, it sure was. Anyway I try to keep things moderately up to date, but I don't personally do transcription and I moved away from the content mills ~5 years ago at this point. I don't know if Zerys is still doing anything, and Writer's Domain I know some people still write for but I have no idea if they still hire. Constant Content I believe has order pools now so it's not entirely spec work, or maybe it's still semi-spec the way Verblio is, though they do still have their marketplace. Textbroker still exists and still has people buying content, but a lot of it has moved to team orders, or had the last time I checked. Writer Access apparently has some really high-paying work on it if you can get into the right teams as well.
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Feb 26, 2020 21:27
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Nighthand posted:I don't know if Zerys is still doing anything, and Writer's Domain I know some people still write for but I have no idea if they still hire. Writers Domain is not actively hiring, but they occasionally approve people. They have a weekly report where every once in a while they say they add a worker or two.
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Feb 26, 2020 23:05
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I'll post this stuff in here that I found on another forum that was recently posted. I cannot vouch for anything though. But since Gologle was looking for an updated OP, this seems very relevantquote:I've done a fair bit of research into freelance writing, so I'm going to post some leads on this thread for anyone who wants to use them quote:Freelance Marketplaces quote:Content Agencies/Sites quote:Content Mills/Sites
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Feb 28, 2020 18:48
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It's greatly appeciated, Astro. I was looking into Fiverr myself a few days ago, I might give it a go.
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Feb 28, 2020 19:19
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I've just got to say lately I've been transcribing a lot of '70s and '80s game shows and I'm surprised any woman went on some of these shows without bear mace and a rape whistle. Jesus Christ some of these creepy old fucks. Also original 1960s "The Price is Right" is super weird. They'd do home games where people would send in postcards with their guess at the value of a specific prize. One person won a chicken restaurant franchise. The first showcase item up for bid in that episode was an honest to god pony.
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Feb 29, 2020 00:31
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I've learned lately that: AI will take over the world, $2,800 is affordable rent in Toronto, and I don't understand people with real lives.
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Feb 29, 2020 03:16
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So I realized that Writers Domain does post statistics on how many writers they fire/hire on their private forums. They apparently do bring on more writers, though in small numbers. About 10 people in the past 1 1/2 months. WD recently changed the way that articles are released in the queue, which essentially means that there are articles almost all day long every single day. It's been really nice
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Mar 8, 2020 03:48
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thylacine posted:I've learned lately that: AI will take over the world, $2,800 is affordable rent in Toronto, and I don't understand people with real lives. For comparison you can rent a two bedroom in Yellowknife for $2,500. And also people in Toronto are crazy. A girlfriend of mine once rented a furnace room when she was in university. Like she slept on a cot, next to the furnace. For like actualy money. Adn that deathtrap was not cheap. AI will take us one day, but thankfully we all saw Judgement Day so like there's still a healthy amount of paranoia and like they kill them when they get too smart. So for now we still have transcription jobs, and like when those are gone the robot overlords will have us working in the acid mines anyway so it's all good.  Transcription is alive and kicking in Canada, but I've lost all of my American clients now it seems because I'm not 'Merican. But if you are and don't live in California you should be in luck still. California had that weird law change and now contractors are employees? Even Rev isn't hiring Californians from what I saw. I mean I don't know how you'd afford to live anywhere there on that kind of pay, but still those poor folks are legislated out of work. 
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Mar 9, 2020 19:43
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The Cali law change is a prime example of people in power not knowing how things actually work. The intention is to force companies to give more compensation to the people they rely on. If you run a business based on freelancers doing all the work, the law is meant to make you hire them as employees so they get things like benefits and better compensation and stability and all that. Basically a shot at lovely companies like news agencies that exploit freelancers, companies like Uber and Lyft, that kind of thing. But what they actually wrote is "if a freelancer submits more than 35 pieces per year you have to hire them as an employee." Anyone who has ever looked at a company's actions from below the C-level can tell you immediately that this can be read as "there is now a 35 submission per year cap on freelancers working for California businesses." (or freelancers in cali? I'm unclear as to how it actually works.) It is, of course, being challenged and sued from every angle, but in the mean time tons of companies are being very cautious with Cali freelancing.
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Mar 9, 2020 19:58
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Verblio stopped bringing in California-based writers but hasn’t done anything to the ones currently working for them. I’ve written more than 35 pieces this year and haven’t heard a peep about it
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Mar 9, 2020 23:37
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One of my clients has stopped sending work to freelancers inside California, last I checked, although she said they were trying to find some way to get around things. One of my other clients (also based in California) hasn't said anything about the law at all. Neither of them are restricting work to those of us outside CA.
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Mar 16, 2020 04:51
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I wonder what creative way we will find to create a new, lower class of sub-worker now that contractors have the tiniest smattering of rights.
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Mar 16, 2020 05:14
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Welp, the coronavirus is screwing over my husband's job prospects in the tourism industry. I just signed back up for DT in hopes of making a little extra cash. Anyone still transcribing for DT, and are there more lucrative options I could look for?
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Mar 16, 2020 16:08
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Laughing right now at the absolute nonsense Writer Access decided to pull during the pandemic. The "updated" their writer portal, intending to make a few changes, update the UI, and make it a more modern platform. Reading comments from the WA facebook group, they have: - removed the on-site forum entirely - removed word counts, including keyword density measuring, which many clients and writers relied on - broke H1/H2 formatting - broke the ability to use bolding - broke messaging between client and writer - broke notifications when new work is available - broke or removed client profile links, so you can't click through to see if you've worked with the anonymized client name before - broke the ability to retrieve old tax information (!) - made a lot of text a pale green/pale gray, making it really hard to read Oh, and as far as I know, their "development team" is still just one dude, so this could take weeks for them to fix. Good thing there aren't hundreds of writers relying on their work from home income to support their families during a global crisis!
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Apr 6, 2020 20:51
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Nighthand posted:Laughing right now at the absolute nonsense Writer Access decided to pull during the pandemic. Jesus, so what IS working?. Also I know it's not ideal but in response to this I'd point out a lot of the gig work platforms are posting work from home customer support jobs with both over the phone and chatline work. Have a poke around. I know Transcomm was looking for people this week. I know LITERALLY nothing about that company except they needed to fill like 600 places and they were US only.
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Apr 7, 2020 17:06
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Verblio is still plugging along, they announced pay increases to go effective March 31 before everything started but they've stuck by it so far. Here's their current rates by wordcount: 300 - $11.50 600 - $23.00 1000 - $57.00 1500 - $94.50 2000 - $140.00 It's still spec writing so... there's that. But I'm at 86% acceptance and i'm not a particularly great writer. If anyone's looking for a new place to work I know they're still taking on new writers although who knows how things will look in 2-3 weeks. I feel like a lot of businesses are going to go under in the next month and I doubt they're going to save "outsourced writing" as their last expense to cut. e: unsure what they're doing for California-based writers wrt AB5 but i haven't heard anyone mention it in months Spokes fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Apr 7, 2020 |
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Apr 7, 2020 17:23
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Slightly Used Cake posted:Jesus, so what IS working?. Practically nothing, as far as I can tell. Some writers are having trouble getting pieces submitted. Messages between clients and writers aren't always getting through, and notifications for them are gone. Clients are having trouble responding to messages, sending messages, and even ordering work. They added an option to request payment immediately rather than wait for a normal payday, and that's linked to a test account with no funds in it so it returns an error. It's kind of hilarious to me, as a person who isn't reliant on their platform, but it sucks for a lot of people. Spokes posted:e: unsure what they're doing for California-based writers wrt AB5 but i haven't heard anyone mention it in months As far as I know, there's ongoing legal challenges to it, so everyone is hesitant to make any major changes one way or another until it all shakes out.
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Apr 7, 2020 20:03
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I have two clients in California. One is just going along full speed like nothing's happening; the other is taking the downtime to do some kind of legal restructuring that her lawyer has advised her will get around it. No idea how this is all going to shake out.
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May 2, 2020 23:16
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Anyone working for a legitimate Canadian transcription company that would be able to get me in, or an American company that will pay a citizen outside the country? I know the pay isn't great but right now I'm making minimum wage to run this entire loving department and getting stress ulcers doing it because I can't just do it, every step has to be middle managed, and my company clearly doesn't know what it's doing on the corporate side.
uranium grass fucked around with this message at 22:27 on May 4, 2020 |
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May 4, 2020 22:24
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subpar anachronism posted:Anyone working for a legitimate Canadian transcription company that would be able to get me in, or an American company that will pay a citizen outside the country? I know the pay isn't great but right now I'm making minimum wage to run this entire loving department and getting stress ulcers doing it because I can't just do it, every step has to be middle managed, and my company clearly doesn't know what it's doing on the corporate side. Not at this moment as far as transcription. If you know how to do website articles and that style of writing I can swing you an email but honestly at this point I'd say gently caress it and go to Costco or something. But also check out Service Canada, they're pretty much always hiring including now and especially if you're bilingual.
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May 6, 2020 13:27
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Slightly Used Cake posted:Not at this moment as far as transcription. If you know how to do website articles and that style of writing I can swing you an email but honestly at this point I'd say gently caress it and go to Costco or something. But also check out Service Canada, they're pretty much always hiring including now and especially if you're bilingual. No experience in writing beyond high school newspaper but thank you. I'd be happy to go to Costco or even something like food service, but I'm disabled with spine problems that prevent me from being able to stand the hours required by food service or retail. I wish I could, god knows every grocery store in the area is picking up part timers right now. Have a couple interviews this week that would be a lateral move in terms of position level but there's no room for anyone to move up where I am now. There's no crossover between floor staff and managerial staff even though we work on the same projects and with the same clients. Wish me luck. uranium grass fucked around with this message at 17:53 on May 7, 2020 |
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May 7, 2020 17:51
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Hey writers. Apparently WD has cleared their backlog of writing applications and have opened registration again for English - North America. https://www.writersdomain.net/en/register The queue has been growing bigger by the day, nobody is writing things... there is speculation that a bunch of people are taking unemployment benefits because they are able to and just not working while they get paid to do nothing, and then they'll be back when unemployment is over. But either way... they are opening registration and I would rather recommend some goons take the spots than some randos. So you'll register, I think right away you'll be offered a grammar test and asked to write a sample article. They'll then review it and manually approve you to start writing. From the sound of it, the admins are not to the point of approving people since they are busy with other tasks, so it may take a few days since its' a Friday at 6pm an they don't work weekends and evenings. I do know they operate on an order in the queue basis when approving writers, so the faster you get your poo poo in the better. They do tend to be cautious with approving a small batch of writers, see how they do, then let more in if they are not doing enough work. The way it was described was they may approve like 50 writers, but then 5 actually end up doing stuff and sticking with it. If people start getting approved, let me know... I can give you the rundown on the site so you don't waste your time and can get working. I really don't want them to go on a hiring spree because the queue keeps growing an growing. Because it's intimidating to start a new site when you don't want to be banned. And chances are the work is plentiful now, they are going to overhire, and then there will be scraps for more people... but once you're in you're in, and they don't deactivate inactive people unless you go a year without submitting anything. Astro7x fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Jun 19, 2020 |
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Jun 19, 2020 23:10
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Thanks for the heads up -- I went ahead and submitted a writing sample and did the test.
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Jun 20, 2020 04:52
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I had a friend that applied Thursday evening that got in today.
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Jun 22, 2020 23:52
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Astro7x posted:I had a friend that applied Thursday evening that got in today. I just got my OK a few minutes ago. Thanks again!
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Jun 23, 2020 23:24
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Thanks for the heads up on this, I tried registering a few months ago but they weren't hiring, I'll try again now. EDIT: Rejected...ouch... Gologle fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Jun 25, 2020 |
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Jun 24, 2020 17:47
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I have a question, and I apologize for double posting but I wanted to bump the thread up again because it usually doesn't get too much traffic. How has self publishing actual stories (whether novels or short stories or what have you) been going for those of you who do it? It's easy to get hyped over the success stories linked in the first page of this thread, but not only is that years ago, but I expect any success story to be an outlier (no offense, I'm just a pessimistic person by nature).
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Jun 25, 2020 02:20
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Gologle posted:Thanks for the heads up on this, I tried registering a few months ago but they weren't hiring, I'll try again now. This was the update they just posted for the week about writers. Writers Added: 7 Writers Warned: 1 Writers Who Gained Privileges: 3 Writers Who Lost Privileges: 0 Writer Accounts Suspended: 1 Writer Accounts Deactivated: 0 Looks like they did not accept many writers this week.... I wonder why, since the queue is continuing to grow.
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Jun 27, 2020 00:07
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Hey guys! I'm trying to remember who had experience in this, but I have a client who needs someone with experience doing continuity scripts. Great client, pays well. They're new at that particular part of the business so will need a little hand-holding and explanation for formatting and stuff but they've been fabulous and I've been working for two of their offices for a couple years now, but their American arm has clients asking for continuity and I can't do them for vision reasons. I know especially some old school folks who did transcription with DT branched into that end. Hit me up with your business email that I can pass along. Thanks!
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Jul 17, 2020 01:56
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Astro7x posted:I'll post this stuff in here that I found on another forum that was recently posted. I cannot vouch for anything though. But since Gologle was looking for an updated OP, this seems very relevant thanks A this is really helpful
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Jul 21, 2020 23:13
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Any decent transcription sites that pay a living wage?
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Sep 20, 2020 03:01
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which country do you want to live in op
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Sep 21, 2020 07:05
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This is a bit off-topic for this thread, but I didn't see one that was more on-topic; please direct me in the right, er, direction. I'm looking for a job with actual, you know, benefits (especially paying into Social Security) that I can do from home, but I have zero idea of how to find one. I haven't had a "real" job in years for a variety of reasons - been doing stuff like DoorDash, for one - so I'm also going to need help on the "landing a job" side of things; I imagine places that offer benefits aren't going to let me just take an online test. Where should I start?
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Sep 30, 2020 18:04
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Well, nothing in the OP, that's for sure. You're basically just going to be looking for a job through the normal channels, whether it's job postings on Indeed or Monster or CareerBuilder or whatever, but looking specifically for Work From Home or Remote positions that aren't contractor/freelancer work. Pretty common in some areas of tech, less so in other industries, but it really depends on the company. Covid has seen a lot of companies expanding WFH options, but also millions of people looking for work because their companies shuttered, so who knows. I haven't had a traditional job since like 2009 and it was retail back then, so I can't help much beyond that.
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Oct 1, 2020 05:03
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