Can You Make Serious Money As A Transcriber?

Have you ever tried using the text-to-speech feature of your computer to write an email or something? The tech is getting better all the time, but it still inevitably needs a human eye to give it a check to make sure that you’re sending something coherent. Did you know that you can make money out of being that human?

Transcription is a relatively simple task that, because it’s needed in highly sensitive circumstances, can net you a good amount of additional income. It’s not without its challenges, but it also doesn’t require too many specialised skills.

TL;DR

• Simple – while training is highly recommended, you don’t need too many highly specialised skills
• Work from home – you can work wherever you want
• Good earnings – you can make enough from transcription for it to be your sole source of income
• Repetitive – transcribing can be a bit of a chore
• Takes effort – transcription is a job, not a source of passive income

What is Transcription?

I would genuinely be surprised if you did not know what transcription is but, just in case you’ve missed the memo on this one, I’ll give you a quick summary. Basically, you take the role of the text-to-speech feature I mentioned before, turning an audio recording into a written text.

This is very far from being a new skill. Secretaries and personal assistants have been doing it for decades, if not centuries, using shorthand to note down what their manager says so that they can write it up later. Even the fastest typists can’t write as quickly as a person can speak, so this skill has historically been essential for taking minutes at meetings, for example. Stenographers do much the same thing, recording what is said in court using a special machine to create notes in a form of shorthand so that they can transcribe it later to create the formal records of the court.

Unsurprisingly, transcribing is still an essential service, especially in the legal industry, but also in other areas. The process remains functionally the same, though shorthand has mostly been replaced with audio recordings. With a countless meetings going on every week and a finite amount of in-house resources available for transcriptions, plenty of companies need freelance assistance, making plenty of opportunity for you to make some income from home, with the right training.

Finishing that last sentence with the ominous addition of “with the right training” was not done in vain. Granted, all you would be doing is listening to a recording and typing what is said onto a word processor, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is an easy task. You may have to contend with sub-optimal recordings, harsh accents, flubs, stutters, random conversational tangents, background noise and more. And yet, you still need to deliver the transcript quickly and to a high professional standard. With the right training, it can be done.

And how much can you actually make from transcription? That depends on the client and the requirements of the job, as well as your own experience and reputation. Some transcriptionists report charging $2 per minute of audio transcribed for rush jobs, though more typical charges are around the $1 per minute mark. The more niche and specialised your client and their requirements are, the more you’ll likely be able to charge. However, bear in mind that you are charging per minute on the recording, not for how long it takes you to transcribe it. With a bad recording, it can take you hours longer to transcribe than it took to record.

How to Get Started As A Transcriber?

There are three main requirements if you want to become a transcriptionist:

1. A computer. Obviously.
2. Transcription software. Something like Express Scribe will do the job and is pretty cheap at about $20-$30. There are better options out there, but Express Scribe will certainly do the job and is widely regarded as the top pick.
3. Good headphones. Investing in a great pair of noise-cancelling headphones with peak audio quality will make your life a lot easier.

As an optional forth item, it’s worth getting an audio foot pedal if you plan to do transcription a lot. This is a computer peripheral that will allow you to stop, start, rewind and fast-forward an audio file without you needing to switch the the audio software or use the mouse to move around the recording. Having to do this over and over again will get old very quickly, so the pedal will pay for itself in no time.

So, we’ve dodged around the question long enough – what’s this ‘training’ all about? While there are various options available, Transcribe Anywhere has a proven track record of helping people to build a successful transcription business from scratch. Run by veteran transcriptionist Janet Shaughnessy, it consists of two courses. The first covers general transcription skills and those required to start and develop your business while the second goes into greater detail about legal transcription. The additional course is essential if you want to enter this especially lucrative field because the specialist language used is so complex that, without either a background in law or the training Janet offers, you will find yourself completely confused in no time at all.

We won’t go into the specifics of the process you will be taught in the training here since we cannot hope to match the level of knowledge and experience that Janet has. If you are genuinely interested in becoming a transcriptionist, you should head to Transcribe Anywhere. They have a free seven-lesson introductory course that will give you an idea of what you can expect of this particular career path – the challenges you will likely face and the rewards you can earn. If you’re still interested after those seven lessons, you can pick from the general or legal courses, which consist of video tutorials, worksheets, and plenty of supporting materials.

One of the more impressive features of the courses is that each is broken down into different levels at different prices. If you just want the basic how-to guide and don’t particularly need training in marketing and building your business, you can opt for one of the lower levels. If you want everything the course has to offer (and even the stuff that it doesn’t yet have but may be added later), you can go for the top level, though it will obviously cost more.

Janet proudly claims on her site that you can go from a complete novice to a pro transcriptionist in as little as two months (slightly longer with the legal course as there’s a lot more to learn). There’s no shortage of testimonials supporting her claim, both on her own site and around the internet, too.

Things to consider with Transcription

One important consideration, if you’re thinking of making transcription your next source of income, is that it’s not a walk in the park. There’s a reason why you need several hundred dollars worth of training to make a successful business – it takes work. This is not a passive income stream and is arguably not even a side hustle, but it is a way of making money from home or, as the website says, anywhere.

It’s also worth considering the challenges that you are likely to face. Doing the job well could involve listening to the same few seconds of audio over and over and over again until you can make out the words behind an ill-timed cough or some other background noise. And even if you can easily make out the words, the chances of them being something interesting, educational and exciting are pretty slim. The majority of your work is going to be pretty monotonous and dull.

Cost to get started as a Transcriber

Of the four essential requirements to get started as a transcriptionist, the computer is something most people already have. The transcription software is frequently on sale and should cost $20-$30. A good pair of headphones can cost about the same, though it is worth going for the most high-end pair you can find. The pedal should cost you about $60. So, in terms of hardware and software, you can get started for about $100.

If you are serious about starting a career as a transcriber, you can find an excellent mini-course right here.