I’m sure you all remember the article that my virtual assistant mom wrote previously, Don’t Call ME Uncommon to Arizona. If you haven’t read it, go check it out so you get the background for this article and then see below why I say that a certain so and so should get off my feeder.

You have to be a hummingbird to LAND on a hummingbird feeder

This bird is not even a hummingbird! As a matter of fact, I have TWO Gila Woodpeckers that are brash enough to drink out of my feeder. Yes, I guess you could say that they really are beautiful with their little red dot on the top of their head; and they’re even kind of cute in their own way; however, they are big oafs compared to me and should not be on my feeder.

by .Larry Page

Creative Common License

According to Whatbird.com, Gila Woodpeckers can be a resident of southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. They are supposed to prefer low desert scrub with saguaro or mesquite trees for nesting. So what are they doing at my adopted mom’s house slurping all my food?

The hummingbird feeder is for a small — hummingbird!

Remember how big I am? I’m a mere 3.50 inches, and I’m a little bit bigger than some of my other friends. This big oaf that my mom calls Rufus is a gigantic 8-10 inches. Yikes! At 2.5 oz, when he lands upside down on the feeder and then tries to right himself so he can drink, he almost spills the nectar. My mom can see all this when she’s gazing out the window when she’s working and doing virtual assistant tasks like writing, transcription, and other things.

Gila Woodpeckers are supposed to eat — not drink — food.

Gilas are known to eat insects, bird eggs, fruits, and berries — blech. Do you see there anywhere where they are supposed to drink nectar specifically made for me? I just can’t, for the life of me, see why they want what’s rightfully mine. Can you? I mean, gee, just because they have a sweet tooth, and quite the sweet tooth.

Gila Woodpeckers are just plain bullies.

I get so mad at Rufus. When I go to drink out of the feeder, he actually chases me. That’s not fair. I’ve seen where he and his friend actually park in the tree in the front yard and guard the feeder so that I or my best friend can’t even get in a drink edgewise. So my mom hung another feeder thinking I and my friend could get some food and now they guard BOTH feeders. Yesterday, my mom saw both of them on the SAME feeder. Where’s the justice in that?

In conclusion, I repeat — Rufus, get off my feeder, you big oaf!
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Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. We have been freelancing since 2006 and are based in Phoenix, Arizona.

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It was 8:00 o’clock in the morning as I sat down to transcribe. It was a blistery, cold morning in Phoenix, Arizona (Hah! – More like 116 outside as I write this). With my cup of hot steaming coffee on my one side of my desk and my faithful live, white, feline desk ornament on my other, I prepared for the day.

Now, you have to understand that I was new at this game of transcribing; I’d only been doing it for a short time. My topic was Internet marketing, and it was very interesting. It was all about Pay per Click, and AdWords, and various other Internet-related things; and it was an interview between an interviewer and an Internet Guru.

This is going to be a piece of cake, right? I typed all about interesting Internet gurus, Napoleon Hill, and interesting subjects like Google AdWords, Overture, Google Pay Per Click, e-Books, ClickBank, Yahoo! Search, and a whole lot more. Now, be aware that I was fairly new at transcribing for clients regarding the Internet; so I had to do a lot of research. When I started out, I started with a well-known search engine; but you could choose Google, Yahoo, Ask, or a host of others that are out there. What I didn’t know is that even if you use a reputable search engine, it takes an astute transcriptionist to decipher what search results you should use.

For example, suppose you questioned the spelling of an author’s name. Correctly, you go to the Internet to Google, or Yahoo!, MSN, or whatever you use, and you type in the author’s last name Chialdiani because you were looking up Robert Cialdini because he wrote a well-known book that your client had included on the audio that your client provided you. Aha! You found as the first hit a result that one of the major online bookstores had posted. Now, I chose one that has a huge following on the Internet; they should know the correct spelling, right? Not so fast, Charlie or Jenny, or whoever you are. Take care to take it one step further.

You must actually take it one step further and GO to that bookstore online and find the book. How is the author’s name spelled? Oh, oh. It’s Cialdini. Folks, I’ve got to tell you. Internet clients can be absolutely ruthless when providing feedback to Elance, iFreelance, or Guru, or other freelance sites when a transcriptionist does not get spelling right. Do not be lackadaisical here; this is critical!

Let’s look at another example. Say you want to look up the spelling for the group of people that come from the Philippines. How would you spell Filipino? Be careful here. This could be a trick question. Okay, again, we start out on Google, Web Crawler, Ask, or any other search engine you might use. We type in Philippino because we think that because they are from the Philippines, they are probably called Philippinos, right? Hold on. Who are you going to use as a resource to verify that spelling? In many instances you have more than one spelling for a word, and clients can be very, very temperamental if you choose the wrong spelling. My recommendation is to use reputable references that are well-known and have been around for years.

So what have we learned thus far? Be very choosy when using resources to determine spelling of words. Make sure that sites you use are reputable resources. Your clients do not want to see errors when they receive their transcription. Go the extra mile, be diligent, and be accurate. If you have to use multiple resources to get a consensus, that’s great. That is what you clients want. If you do that, you will go far in establishing a sound transcription business that clients will come to you for services over and over again.