Webupon

I got into the “transcribing from home” gig last year. It was tricky – to say the least – because I did not attend transcription school or anything of the sort.  What I knew then was that I wasn’t qualified to be a medical or a legal transcriber because obviously, those require specific technical vocabulary savvy but I knew that I could handle every other subject apart from those two. The good thing was that there is a fit description and a bit of demand for that other transcription category and that is called a “general transcriber”. And here were what I worked with right off the bat:

1. Type Fast. Obviously, this shouldn’t need an explanation but knowing how fast you are is pretty basic. Before I got a transcription assignment, I was keying words at 50 wpm (words per minute). And now, I can type at a little over 60 wpm.

I think 50 wpm is a good base for a newbie transcriber – you can only get better from there as you get more assignments. Go to typingtest.com and see how fast you type and then decide if you need to work on your speed or if you’re good to go already.

I was churning out ten minutes of audio in four hours when I started. Yes, that is a slow (but realistic) turnover but keep in mind that you have to edit your work and make sure that the transcript is exactly what your client ordered – verbatim or not, timestamps, format, etc.

2. Free Transcription Software. Don’t buy anything until you know that general transcription is something that you are willing to invest in. And since you’re dipping your toe in the water on this one, Express Scribe from NCH Software is the one to get. It’s free and it is an amazing product for transcribers. Get used to it, transcribe the welcome message that it comes with, play around with its shortcuts and customize what its function keys can do for you.

I still use this software now and I can vouch for its good quality. I especially like it when it comes to adding timestamps to a transcript because it’s so easy to do it with this program. And if your venture goes well into the future and you get a foot pedal, Express Scribe will work with it – no problem.

On that note, a foot pedal will definitely help one to transcribe quicker. And it’s something that you should get if you’re convinced that general transcription is something that you’d want to do full-time in your home.

3. Noise-Canceling and Comfortable Headset. Again, it’s an obvious requirement. As a matter of fact, my high-end Plantronics headset is the only thing that I’ve bought in support of my transcription gig.

4. Word Processing Software. I just mean Microsoft Word here and I already have this on the computer before anyway. It’s not free but there is one by Open Office that is free but I have no experience with that.

That’s about it – these were what had to work with when I started being a freelance, part-time general transcriber. Well apart from the Plantronics headset that I bought later, that is. But I sure wished that I had a better headset then because it makes such a big difference.

There could be good money had with transcribing from home but it will demand more time than you would initially expect. So if you’re just starting and land your first gig that just happens to be an hour of audio, be realistic and know that you will not be able to turn over a good quality transcript in 24 hours.

One of my first audio assignments was an hour long and I had two and half days to submit the transcript. At 50 wpm, I realized that I was getting 10 minutes of audio done in 4 hours and that I had work quicker. But I knew that I was OK when on the day of the deadline, all I needed to do was to go over the transcript one last time. And besides the pay, the compliments that I received from the editors later were well-worth the effort.