Is it ethical, polite, etc. for me to start going to other firms?

I am a new reporter with a few years of CART experience. I just started with an agency that seems to be slow/unwilling to give me work due to my inexperience. I am worried that I am going to lose my nanny for my kids (who they have already developed a rapport with) if I don't get jobs soon (I had one today, but it was cancelled). I am also making payments on my macine and software. My finances are in bad shape. I don't just need a job, I need a cash advance. That is how stressful things are right now.

This is a "Mom and Pop" firm, and one of the owners said that I am on a freelance basis and am welcome to get work at other places (when I asked if I could handle some jobs for a long-time friend, I was not shopping around at that time). That doesn't seem entirely the case, because they had cards made for me and they are training me.

Basically, I am really stressed and need to start working. I don't want to compromise my relationship with this firm because they are really great people. They just seem to be waiting for the perfect, easy job to give to me. I need to be thrown in. I am ready to hire an experienced scopist who can train me on the proper formatting of transcripts and start asking other firms for work. Is this right? What should I do? Thanks.

that's why they call it "freelance"  you work where and when you can.

get yourself on the "overflow work" list of several agencies.  If there's a day you don't have anything scheduled, call your favorite agencies and ask whether they have a job you can take.  don't be shy.  you got into this profession to earn a living - and more.  start hunting down work.  you'll be glad you did, because some agencies like to see reporters who are hungry for work.  if you don't call them, they assume you're working somewhere else, and they don't call you.

get on the list of MANY, MANY agencies.  it's another way to learn what agency you want to work for and what agency(s) you don't want to work for! 

Hunt down the work!!  don't starve.

I say don't put all of your eggs in one basket.  I did that and I ended up in the same situation as you are now. Not a good place and very stressful.  The firm told you that you could seek work elsewhere, do it.  Just make sure it is with a firm you can trust and that pays you.  I don't see anything unethical about it.  You can't be financially strapped waiting around for one firm to feed you work.  I have five firms and between the five, I am kept rather busy, but one firm alone, I would starve.

Yes, it is very ethical to look for work anywhere you can get it.  I am with five different firms.  When work was busy, I did have one that I would call just to make sure they didnt' have me scheduled before I accepted another job.  Now with being so slow, whoever calls me first I take the job.  Also, each firm usually gives you their format on how they would like their transcripts to look.  I have a separate case in my CATalyst for each different firm with their format. 

Absolutely yes, take jobs with other firms, always.  You never know what can happen.  I was doing about two-thirds of my depo work with a company that I was really happy with.  Then it was bought up by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, their excellent support staff resigned en masse, and it immediately became clear that I needed to follow them.   I was really glad to have maintained other contacts and that I'd occasionally done jobs I didn't want to in order to keep those contacts strong.

When you work with several firms, though, once you're committed to a job, that's it.  You said yes, you're committed even if someone else calls you for a job that is likely to be more lucrative or if an agency you're loyal to wants you to work a day you're booked, you don't call and cancel; you go ahead with the job you've already said you'll do.  Yes, there will be occasions that you will wail and gnash your teeth, but you still have to do it.  You do not want the karma that inevitably comes from leaving an attorney owner in the lurch.

The only times I have asked that someone else be found for the jobs were, first, three days in advance of the job when I had just been diagnosed with bronchitis; second, when it was a week in advance, and it became clear to me that I did not want to work with this firm any further.   In the latter case, if the firm owner hadn't been able to find anyone else, I would have gone through with it. 

Hope this helps.

Blessings, Cathryn

It's totally and completely normal and commonplace to work for one firm or three firms or twenty firms - it's up to you.   Some of the mom & pops can feel like family, and there's nothing wrong with that - be available when you are if you feel a loyalty to them, but if they don't have the calendar that keeps you busy - book yourself away!   Just be professional - never cut your ties permanantly (unless warranted)!

Hello ...!

You have already received the same answer to your original question that I would have given, but I wanted to chime in and say that your financial situation is exactly why I put my website together -- simply to avoid having my readers avoid buying a student writer to get them through school, and then having not only to purchase a professional writer when they graduate, but also professional software -- both of which could easily top $10,000 right out the gate, as you have, unfortunately, discovered.

That said, I met a graduate from my (now closed) school a few years back. She told me that she only took work four days a week, and the rest of the time she spent working on transcripts, with her mother (former college English professor) doing her scoping/proofreading work. She said she had billed out $100,000 her first year -- which is not too shabby. She took work from several different agencies ... and as business models go, you could do far worse than emulating her methodology. I don't suppose your mom is a former English professor ...?

Well. Good luck, and I hope that helps!

--gdw
------------------------------
"For a Good (steno) Time ...."
http://www.cheapandsleazy.net

Hey,

If you work at a firm who would be mad, then I would say that you shouldn't.

Some firms don't care,  and, in that case, as long as you keep that firm happy and have your jobs turned in timely and of good quality, you'd be fine.

You may be able to freelance on your own.  As soon as people know there are freelancers out there, they get business. 

I don't care if those I use freelance, because they are not my employees.

They know I pay timely and provide every supply they are supposed to get for the 25% I get to keep from the jobs that they take for me, and they know I'm nasal. 

So I want a good job for my clients whether I go or not.   I have had those that made me mad, and I don't call them, again.

Good luck!  Nowadays people need to make all of the $ they can -- especially if they are single or have a spouse who lost their job due to the recession or something.  So, if the firm wouldn't like it if you freelanced, I'd say to check other firms.

At the end of the day, if the firm isn't letting you make enough money to take care of yourself and your family or dog, for that matter, I'd speak to the owner of the firm and explain your situation.

They may understand and not want to lose you.  If they expect you to be needing more $ than you're making there and understand your situation and still tell you that you can't freelance, I would give a two-week notice, and join another firm. 

While deciding where to apply next, I'd let the firm owner know your situation and how much $ you need to make, and, if they can't, ask them right then if you can freelance.

Meanwhile, as soon as you give your two-week notice, get new cards printed up with your information on it, and send them to every firm in case they need freelance work.

You'll get calls, and, when you do, make sure you stand out above the rest, and everyone will notice and be happy to call you again and again.  Just work it and be honest and upfront.

Best of luck, Carol DeBee Martin

You certainly can call other agencies.  I absolutely do.  I was in the same situation with not enough work or garbage work so I started calling around, hooked up with a few agencies and now I'm overloaded. Just be honest with the firm you are now working with and NEVER burn bridges.