How To Do Transcription Work From Home
The internet has opened up all kinds of business opportunities and work at home jobs, and many people are curious about doing transcription work from home.
I happen to know someone personally who does just that: Loretta Oliver. In fact, I have worked with her personally and she has done transcription work for me.
She recently authored the Transcription Crash Course, so I thought I would interview her and get some details for you. I asked Loretta 5 questions about the market for transcription work, what qualifications there are, what it takes to get set-up and get started, etc…
Hi Loretta! You’ve been doing transcription work from home for quite a while. I know, because I’ve hired you myself and love your work!
How long have you been doing transcription?
It seems like it’s been a really long time. I think in total it has been 7 years now. The first three or four years I wasn’t really doing transcription work full time though, it was sort of a second job that I was doing for extra income.
I was picking up overflow for a bigger company that did insurance files and I would do a few a week, sometimes there would only be 20 minutes a week that they needed covered. It was enough to keep me in the field, but not my focus during that time by any means.
After awhile I finally realized that I really enjoyed having the transcription work more than what I was doing full time, so I started applying for more hours and to other places. Before I knew it I was transcribing on an almost daily basis.
Is there a big market for transcription work?
I hate to be quoted as saying there’s a big market for anything in this economy, but I’d say there’s a flexible market. By that I mean you’re not glued down to one particular target audience – there are a wide range of people and companies that hire transcriptionists.
There are so many options out there, that it’s just a matter of letting people know that you offer the service. You could be transcribing insurance files, teleseminars, podcasts, dictation, court recordings, police interviews, voice mails, and hundreds of other things. If there’s a recording it can be transcribed!
What qualifications or characteristics do you feel it takes for someone to do transcription work from home?
The only qualification you really need is the desire to make a go of it. If you’ve got a computer and access to the internet (even if that access is temporary at the library twice a week) you can get started.
Characteristics on the other hand, I have to say that like most work at home business ventures this can be a lonely one. You’re listening to people all day, but you’re not really interacting with people much.
I think that one thing is the reason a lot of people give up on working from home, it’s hard to get used to that alone feeling and you have to find ways to get out there and be around people, you need to join forums and talk with people, you can’t just isolate yourself completely or you might go crazy.
I’ve been very fortunate in that a lot of my clients have become good friends of mine, we talk about things other than work, and we’ve even gone on to do other things online together. I know it doesn’t always work that way, so I am super grateful. I have the best clients on the web. 
Is it expensive to get set up as a transcriptionist?
Absolutely not. It’s a really affordable business model to start off with, which I love about it, because I’m cheap!
I laugh at that now, but I remember when I first started looking into working from home and all the scams and rip offs that were out there. 10 dollars here, 27 dollars there, 47 dollars for this or that only to find that it wasn’t what we thought it was.
It can be frustrating getting started online and having something that is affordable from the beginning is like a breath of fresh air.
What would you say are the Top 3 reasons to choose transcription as a work-from-home business model?
Top three reasons… hmm, putting me on the spot now. I guess I’ll go with the reasons I chose it personally:
1. It’s never boring. You always have something different to listen to, and you’ll never do the same thing twice. Not every recording is going to be like listening to a symphony, but I cannot recall a single time that I was actually bored in all 7 years of doing this.
2. It’s flexible. You’re in total control of how much and how often. If you’re freelancing you can take an entire week off if you want to. Even if you’re working for a bigger company picking up their overflow you can still take time off, you just have to let them know what days you’ll be away first.
After you get experienced at transcribing you’ll know about how long an hour of audio is going to take you and you can plan around that.
Side tip – when you’re starting off be very careful not to take too many jobs at one time. I did that early on and it was not fun at all. I would even go as far as saying to just take one job at a time in the very beginning.
3. It really is affordable. You can get started with less than 20 dollars if you don’t have a budget.
There are fancy gadgets and cool wireless headsets that you can buy later on if you want to, but you don’t have to.
In fact you don’t even need the 20 dollars at first if you don’t want to buy a domain and setup your own website, but I do recommend doing that because you’ll quickly find yourself wishing you had one.
–Thank you, Loretta! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us on transcription as an at-home business. It’s a question that gets asked a lot!
If you’d like to learn more about doing transcription work from home, check out Loretta’s Transcription Crash Course. It’s only $17, and it will save you endless hours of research and confusion. If you’re serious about starting a transcription business, why not get started today!
Best,
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Very interesting. Thanks for the post.
This sounds like a great way to break away from the Corporate world and have the ability to work from home.
Follow me @beaniehelmets on Twitter.
Great informational post. I have wondered about transcription work from home. sometimes this could be just the information we need to get started. Thanks Loretta for sharing with us.
Follow me @gailjrichardson on Twitter.
I wonder about stopping and starting. In the “old” days of transcription, there were foot-operated devices that allowed you to keep your hands on the keyboard. I think I’d get frustrated having to pause a recording with my mouse. Am I just imagining a problem where there isn’t one, Loretta?
Thanks for your input.
Deb Gallardo
Follow me @debgallardo on Twitter.
You can use a foot pedal or a series of hot keys on your computer keyboard. I personally use the hot keys on my keyboard and go way faster that way than I ever did with a foot pedal.
Some people prefer the foot pedal, but it’s not a complete requirement.
If you want to get really fancy and you have a 10 button programmable mouse (used for gaming usually) you can map the hot keys to the mouse buttons and use that also. But, that’s a little too much mouse clicking for me!
Follow me @retta719 on Twitter.
Hot keys! What a great idea. Back in the day (BW – Before Windows) when I used Word Perfect 4.1 (!) I knew all the keyboard commands. Now I scarcely know any in Word. I’m mouse-dependent. But I could LEARN them! Woot! Thanks, ‘retta
Follow me @debgallardo on Twitter.
Thank you for the great interview Lynn! If anyone has any further questions I’d be happy to answer those here in the comments. I hope you you all had a great weekend and a happy mother’s day
Follow me @retta719 on Twitter.
This is an interesting interview, because I actually occasionally transcribe recordings as part of my day job (I have to do it myself, because I can’t afford to hire a transcriptionist!).
What I’m curious about is how Loretta handles the physical side of her job. I get tension headaches if I do a lot of transcribing, so it is not my favorite thing to do.
Being able to use more than two fingers to type must be a requirement too..
LOL – it does help to be able to type full hand for sure, but not a requirement. I’ve met some pretty speedy two finger typists in the past (@sugarrae once clocked 95 wpm with her hunt and peck typing skills)
As for the headaches, I’m prone to migraines and such myself so I do need to watch my screen time. I generally take a break for every hour that I’m on the computer, get up and walk away even if it’s only for five minutes. Let your eyes rest, go outside, whatever you need to do to get away from the screen. Of course, your hands might still get worn out!
Follow me @retta719 on Twitter.
I see this as an interesting opportunity for a work at home business but you don’t give a general idea of the income potential. I understand how it can vary client by client and workload but can you give us something to put a dollar sign around.
There are only one thing that limits your income potential with transcription and that is the very real limit of time. There are obviously only so many hours in your day and you would be trading time for money. It could be a few hundred dollars or it could be 2,000 dollars. Very flexible!
Follow me @retta719 on Twitter.
Most work at home business are a scam, but im convinced this opportunity is totally realiable and a fun way to make some extra (or full) income. Keep it up Loretta, you have great skills!
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I find it hard to work as a transcriptionist. But I agree with you, you won’t feel bored because you’ll be dealing different records from time to time. Aside from that, you will be able to learn more about specific topics while you’re working.
It’s definitely not for everybody, like you said. There’s a million and one ways to make money online, I think it’s a matter of finding what works for you and what you’re comfortable doing on a day to day basis.
That is very true, I’m never bored because I’ve always got something new and interesting to listen to when I sit down at my desk to work.
Follow me @retta719 on Twitter.
I purchased the transcription order but still hasn’t received my confirmation email link so I can get started. How long is this going to take for this.??