January 6th, 2024 – How To Become A Successful Scopist In 2024
With the end of the pandemic and the beginning of Gen Z entering the workforce, a recent shift in our economy has occurred. Work-from-home jobs are becoming increasingly more popular alongside careers outside of customer service. This has facilitated a recent spike in interest in jobs like proofreading, scopistry, and editing.
These jobs are popular for a lot of good reasons, and they can be lucrative to the right person with the right mindset. Being a scopist today and finding clients is not the same as it was when the occupation first emerged.
Let’s discuss a few things you need to know about becoming a successful scopist in 2024.
How do I learn to be a scopist?
There are a few options to learn what you need to be a successful scopist. We will discuss the most common: training at a school, mentoring with a court reporter, and teaching yourself. There are some obvious pros and cons to each of these options.
Train with a recognized institution
It is by far the best choice to train with a recognized institution or school, the con being that it can be costly. Scoping schools can range between $2500-$3500, but you get your money’s worth. There are a few to choose from that you can do at your own pace, and with qualified teachers.
Internet Scoping School (ISS)
I’m biased toward ISS. It is my alma mater, and I believe learning from the best is the route to success. ISS is taught by Linda Evenson, a scopist of over 35 years who opened the academy in 1999. She is a top example of success in the scopist industry.
The course covers everything you’d need from grammar and punctuation to producing a transcript. You also learn about medical terminology, the intricacies of building your own scopistry business, and how to use Case CATalyst software. There is a free introduction you can take that gives you a great idea of what to expect from the course, and Linda herself is available to answer questions and concerns.
You can do this course at your speed, but the average finish time is around six months. Believe me when I say you should not rush through this course. The material is comprehensive and very informative. You learn a lot of immeasurably helpful information, but if you try to take it too quickly you could miss something. This will only set you back in the long run.
BeST Scoping Techniques
BeST Scoping Techniques is another online scoping school taught by successful professional scopists Cathy Knox and Judy Rakocinski. A self-paced school that offers a comprehensive program in both Case CATalyst and Eclipse software. The course provides insight on how to read steno, correct grammar and punctuation, the ins and outs of CATalyst and Eclipse, and how to build your business. They have a great FAQs page to highlight some of the things the course will cover, as well as an informative introductory page explaining the course and the different sections.
As with any big decision we make in our lives, be sure to do your research and choose the school that best suits your needs.
Learn From A Court Reporter
This is another great technique for learning the ins and outs of scoping. Scoping is a job court reporters did on their own for most of their careers, as scopistry itself became its own occupation much later than court reporting.
A court reporter will know exactly what to teach you, and how to do the job effectively. The risk is that you learn only what this court reporter knows specifically, which is limited to their own experiences. You’ll still get a great education on steno, machinery, software, and the relationship you’ll need with a court reporter; it just won’t be the comprehensive learning experience that a school could offer you with a professional who specializes in teaching scopistry.
Photography by Farah
Teach Yourself
Is this method impossible? No. Is it recommended? Also no.
You can teach yourself to be a successful scopist the same way you can teach yourself to do anything. You can always buy one of the popular software, read through the manuals and the self-summaries, practice with it, and start taking clients. In my opinion, this is not a good route. You run the very significant risk of misunderstanding something or simply missing knowledge entirely. You put your clients at risk of getting less than your best because you didn’t receive the knowledge you needed to create a great transcript.
Self-education can be valuable. Later in a person’s career, spending time learning new things can be useful. I only recommend teaching yourself scopistry techniques as supplementary education, not primary.
How Do I Get Clients?
Excellent question.
I want to point out that ISS offers an entire course section on how to get clients and keep them. In favor of not spoiling Linda’s hard work creating that section, I’ll mention some tactics I’ve learned in my own research and upgraded for 2024.
Social Media Is Your Friend
It seems like a no-brainer to have social media in 2024, but the social media you choose can be what makes or breaks your online presence. A lot of scoping education will push LinkedIn and stress the importance of making professional connections. This is true, and valuable advice. However, not all court reporters working in 2024 come from the LinkedIn era. You’ll find a lot of younger court reporters spending time on Instagram or Facebook more so than LinkedIn.
This is not to say you shouldn’t have a LinkedIn account, because that would be bad advice. It is important though that you invest some time in marketing yourself on Instagram and Facebook so that you reach a wider audience in a less formal setting.
People are more likely to engage with your account when there is less pressure to reach out through messages and connection requests. No one wants to be seen as that weirdo reaching out and begging for a connection. Everyone enjoys liking each other’s posts, making comments, and building social media relationships in a less pressurized environment.
Create A Killer Website
A strong online presence is important to get your name in front of court reporters or other clients. Once people know who you are, they want to know more about you and your services. A great website can be an excellent landing space for potential clients to look at your abilities, as well as learn more about you. You can have comment sections, FAQs, AMAs, and a contact page that allow stress-free communication for potential clients.
Don’t discredit the potential that Keyword Research has for becoming a successful scopist. It might seem a bit difficult at first, but Moz has a great, free Keyword Research course that will help get your website boosted to the top of Google search results. When someone searches “where to find a scopist?” on Google, you don’t want to be buried on the second page.
Start A Blog
This is a piece of advice I saw everywhere and (obviously) heeded myself. A blog has a lot of potential benefits. You can showcase your writing abilities and your general knowledge. Or give your potential clients valuable insight into what you do. This also gives your website more opportunities to get boosted to the front page of Google.
I find writing blogs to be a really fun part of my job. It gives me creative freedom and an opportunity to learn new things. I also like having something for my clients to see so they can learn more about my personality and my writing style.
These blogs can be linked to and advertised on your social media pages. This will get attention from others in your industry, which will help grow your network as well.
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There you have it! The basic idea of how you can take to become a successful scopist in 2024. I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. If you did, please leave a comment down below. Make sure to check out the website for a new post on the Next Step Scopist blog!
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2 responses to “How To Become A Successful Scopist In 2024”
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Good advice
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Good advice
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