Tell us about yourself.
My name is Cheryl. I’m from Grand Forks, North Dakota and recently moved back here from Kansas to be closer to my 84-year old father. He’s not doing so well health-wise. I have five kids, one of who is also a Revver, and a nine-year-old dog named Little One. I was a lawyer for eight years and then taught law for a few years after practicing. When I had kids, I decided to be with them full-time.
Why do you freelance with Rev?
When my kids got older, I hadn’t worked in quite a while and didn’t feel like I had something to get back into. I also had some health issues that prolonged me from getting back to work. I finally got back to feeling like myself and had a strong urge to find another purpose. I also keep odd hours and freelancing affords me that flexibility.
How did you learn about Rev and why did you choose to work as a transcriptionist and captioner?
I stumbled across Rev online two years ago. I was skeptical at first. I think I came across Rev on Facebook, where things can be misleading. I figured “why not do an hour of work and see if I really get paid Monday.” And I did! I fell in love. Within two weeks, I invested in better equipment to help me type faster, like an ergonomic keyboard and FxSound to improve audio quality, and I haven’t stopped since.
What do you enjoy most about working from home?
Having total freedom. I can work whenever I want to. The other night, I worked until 2:30 in the morning. I think I’ve spent half my time working for Rev in my bathrobe.
I think I’ve spent half my time working for Rev in my bathrobe.
What has your experience been like working for Rev?
Since I discovered Rev, I’ve just been in love with it. It’s partially selfish because I learn so much from the content I transcribe and caption. I’ve worked on bar review content, which I love given my time spent in the legal field. Working at Rev takes me back to that time when I was helping others. With captions, I’m helping people access content just as fully as a person who can hear. And that makes me feel good about what I’m doing. I like that I get to pick the projects I work on, and if I don’t like something, I can unclaim it and look for something else. There aren’t many places you can do that. It really is the self-serving aspects that make Rev the perfect job for me. I feel like I’m 100% in control of my job.
I learn so much from the content I transcribe and caption.
And then, of course, there’s the community. I love my fellow Revvers and have made some really great friends through Rev’s online forum. I feel that Rev is very supportive of Revvers, like there’s a partnership between us. And I get paid well.
I think Rev is a great opportunity for a lot of people. I always tell others about it and suggest they give it a try if I think it’s the right for them.
What are the most memorable projects you’ve picked up through Rev?
One of the first projects I worked on pertained to a criminal justice case. It took me back to my time working in the juvenile court system and made me feel like I was helping an important cause again.
What’s something that most people don’t know about you?
When I was practicing law, I worked as a public defender and I handled mostly juvenile law. My passion always lied in making sure that children were getting a fair shake in the legal system. Then I had children of my own and I wanted to be able to spend more time with them. That’s when I went into teaching law. I ended up homeschooling my kids since we started to move around a lot with my husband being in the military. My whole life has been about supporting kids. I like that I can still feel that way through the projects I work on at Rev.
