|
A Long Distance
Partnership that Works: Judy Rakocinski & Cathy Vickio
of BeSTScopingTechniques.com
Interview & Article by Alice Seba, editor
of InternetBasedMoms.com
In 1994, Judy Rakocinski
was looking into a home based career as a scopist, a
person who edits legal transcripts from home for court
reporters. That's how she found Cathy Vickio and
contacted her about getting started. They have only met
in person once since Judy lives in Florida and Cathy
lives in Texas. Regardless, a friendship immediately
bloomed and has grown since. Cathy helped Judy start her
successful career and they continued to be friends.
|
|
|
After
several years, the pair realized that the ratio of
scopists to court reporters was about 1,000 to 60,000.
It was clear that the need for professionally trained
scopists was great and Judy and Cathy decided to develop
a training program for that specific purpose. Thus, they
began to develop their online business at
BeSTScopingTechniques.com where they offer an
online, self-paced course designed to teach people to
become professional scopists. They will be celebrating
their one-year anniversary in business together in March
2003.
|
|
The two credit their home based
business success to offering legitimate services at
fair, competitive prices that still allows them to make
a living. Before embarking on their new venture, they
ensured that there would be a large enough potential
client pool to make this a viable business. These ladies
did their homework before starting, as anyone starting a
business should.
To make their online business
successful, they took great efforts to make sure their
website explained their services in a professional way
and took the time to study search engine optimization
techniques. Since they also operate a web design
business at
WebsitesByMazco.com, they already had a good
background to get started.
Working in a partnership has been very
rewarding for the two. "Cathy and I talk all day long
using email, instant messaging and the telephone," says
Judy.
"Judy and I love to brainstorm
together," states Cathy, "Sometimes one idea generates
ten more...Also, we value each other's opinions, so we
don't get our feelings hurt when one spots something the
other doesn't care for."
Both say the only drawback is that
they are so far away from each other. They have become
great friends and feel very close to one another, but
both wish they could truly get to know one another in
person.
In the coming year, BeST will continue
to accept more students and have recently made additions
to the program itself. They have just implemented a
brand new service being marketed to court reporting
firms all over the country. The service will allow court
reporters to simply click on a link to another web site
they designed called
ReporterSupport.com, fill out the appropriate
information and they will be matched with a scopist.
Everything is done electronically, so it will be quick
and easy. It will also allow BeST's graduates access to
work immediately upon the completion of their training.
Says Judy - "Running a business from home has
been an answered prayer. Scoping allows me to be home
when my children come home from school, and my husband
and I are able to spend quality time together. When
people ask for more information about scoping and the
benefits it affords, we direct them to the following
websites:
ScopistsSupportGroup.com ~ web page for support
Mazco.org ~ scoping FAQs
Scopist's Support Group ~ Yahoo! Group for support
Says Cathy - "After
20+ years in the corporate world, having my own business
that I operate from my home has been a dream come true.
I'm able to spend time with my four parrots
(meet the family at my home page) and take
care of different things during the day when it's most
convenient. And as an added bonus, this year my husband
(John) joined me and is working full-time as a scopist
and proofreader also!"
|
