Month: May 2020

Over the years, one of the many things I have learned, especially with working from home, is that I do not need to reinvent the wheel. There are hardly any new discoveries taking place on the work front, online included. People who have gone before us have already tested the waters. The best we can do is learn from the mistakes they made and do things differently.

When I started out as a transcriber over 10 years ago, I was basically winging it, I didn’t know much. I didn’t find a definitive guide to working as a transcriber. I tried one way of doing things and had to go back to the drawing board if it didn’t work out, and start it over differently. The problem with that approach is, a lot of time had gone by in the process.

I’m going to list 7 mistakes I made and how you can avoid them. If you implement these seven things, you can launch your business in a much shorter time. By shortening the learning curve, you’ll be working from home as a transcriber, in no time! I’ll tell you right off the gate, though, it won’t happen overnight and you will put in a lot of work. The results will be worth it in the end.

I took too long to get started

I was very dissatisfied at my last job and constantly complained of fatigue. The hours were very long with only two short breaks. I had done some research and had started learning the ropes of working from home as a transcriber.

However, I still didn’t implement as quickly as I had set out to. The fear of the unknown gripped me and there were days I thought what I had was as good as it got. At least there was a guaranteed paycheck here. I wasn’t sure would continue to come in when I worked from home in my transcription business.

I kept talking myself out of getting started and pushed that date further and further away. On the days when it wasn’t so bad in the office, I convinced myself that maybe I could hang on. Don’t wait until you have everything figured out as this may never happen.

There will always be something holding you back if you let it. If you are employed, you can start doing online jobs parttime and build from there but don’t hold off for too long. Procrastination is a real enemy of progress. Start working from home today!

I didn’t know sites that offered working from home options

When you type in ‘work from home’ or ‘online jobs’ in your search engine, thousands upon thousands of responses come up. It was the same back then and it was difficult to know who was legit and who wasn’t. To counter this, only get started with the recommended legit sites. Apply what is working for the people who are successfully working from home as transcribers. I have only ever worked on Upwork but have heard good things about Fiverr, SpeechPad, TranscribeMe and Tigerfish. Narrow down your search based on reviews and get started.

My Cover letters were whack!

Every cover letter is unique. Even if the position is the same and the skills needed are similar. This is where you are supposed to let them know why they should hire you and not the 50 other people that are seeking the same position.

Read and understand the entire application post. Some posts require you to take action. This is usually at the end of the post, to confirm whether you read it in its entirety or if you went straight into pasting in your cover letter.

A requirement, for example, could be something like, if you read this post to the end, start your cover letter with the words, I AM INTERESTED. Any application that fails to meet this requirement is immediately disqualified. It does not matter how qualified you are. You are out.

I asked for too little

The other mistake I made starting out was asking for very little as compensation. In my mind, it was my clever way to undercut my competitors. I wanted to get a foot in the door, so to speak, and would do whatever it took to get there. There are two problems with that line of thought. One, you put yourself in a bit of a tight spot when you want to negotiate higher pay. You will need to work at that rate for some time, even though it is very possible that someone would have hired you at the rate you are worth.

The second problem this could present is that the client could interpret this to mean you either didn’t understand what was required or you don’t meet the specified qualifications. This could end up being a lose-lose situation. While it’s not advisable to bid too high, you can use the law of averages by checking out the market rate.

Some platforms give an indication of how many people have bid for a certain job and the average amount they are asking for. Use that as a yardstick then as time progresses and you showcase your skills, you will be confident enough to ask for a raise! After all, working from home as a transcriber is a well-paying job!

Remember to treat working from home with the seriousness it deserves. If you treat it like a hobby, it will pay you like a hobby.

Know your worth. Then add tax.

~Anonymous

I over-promised and under-delivered

Again, in a bid to prove myself indispensable, whenever I would get hired, I would take the job without taking into consideration the timeline given. This would backfire on my big time because circumstances happened that were beyond my control like power outages, internet downtime or simply burn out because well, even I can only type so fast.

Distractions can be many when you are working from home. It will take discipline to not get involved in the activities around you but this could slow you down when there are no boundaries set in place. Let everyone in the household know of your working hours to limit the distractions.

Be reasonable when taking up jobs. It is better you under-promise and over-deliver than the other way round. Give yourself some leeway because technology tends to have a sense of humor. An employer will respect you for speaking out in honesty. They can mostly afford to add in an hour or two, especially if they know you deliver quality work.

I tried to be everything to everybody

I used to bid for ANY and ALL jobs, from data entry, transcription to copywriting in order to be regarded as a Jill of all Trades. This flopped because I was juggling too many balls in the air and wasn’t able to hold on to any. I was also multitasking, working from home and working in the home, performing house chores during business hours.

All these extra tasks were taking away from my time on transcription. I was not very skilled at these time-stealers and didn’t have the required time to learn them. And because the window of learning was always very small, I ended up delivering poorly in the other areas. This negatively affected my feedback score. I opted to stick to transcription and give it the focus it required, going forward.

My home business was a one-man show

As the workload grew, I stretched myself out very thin to keep things rolling. This led to severe burnout. I could barely keep my eyes open! Sleep for who? There was money to be made and I was going to make it! I quickly learned that if I hired an assistant on an as-needed basis to help out when things got too crazy, I could keep my sanity.

It wasn’t making sense to be working the same number of hours, and sometimes more than the last job I had quit, in order to work from home. I looked for someone suitable, trained them and offloaded some of the work. I then paid them a commission from my pay. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. You can’t be of any help to anyone when you are burned out. As your business grows, you can take on more people on your team to help with the workload.

Bonus Tip! (Make Working from Home Comfortable)

This is last here but definitely not last in order of importance, I did not invest in a good seat. I just grabbed one of my dining chairs and I was good to go. Or so I thought. My back still pays a hefty price for that mistake. Sitting down for hours at a time requires that you invest in a good seat. An ergonomic seat will take care of your back and you will remain comfortable even as you work long hours. Don’t compromise when it comes to your health!

There are different categories of transcription: business, legal, medical and general transcription. As the name suggests, it is broadly based and isn’t specified to a particular branch.

Unlike medical and legal transcription where you need to familiarize yourself with the lingo of the particular field, general transcription (GT) is mainly about things in the day to day existence. An example of subjects covered in GT are voicemails, meetings, interviews, podcasts, radio and TV shows, focus groups discussions etc., again, very general.

What do you need?

You will need to have great listening skills and great typing speed. Both these skills can be learned and perfected over time. You can harness your listening skills by exposing yourself to a range of materials like podcasts, TV shows, earnings calls and testing your ability to follow through on those conversations. What I’ve found working for me, over the years, is closing my eyes.

It is true that when some senses are limited, others are enhanced. When I close my eyes, I’m able to focus better on what I’m listening to. But of course, I don’t close my eyes the entire time, just when a word seems to escape me. Invest in some noise-canceling headphones to get the maximum output of the speech. Low quality headphones will not only hurt your ears, you will spend more time playing a word over and over, trying to capture it above the surrounding noise.

The best way to get things done is to simply begin

~Charlene Adams

Typing Resources

Typing as a skill can also be learned. There are various free platforms where one can practice. These include:

http://www.typingclub.com

http://www.typing.com

http://www.learntyping.org

They will indicate both your speed and your quality. They will also teach you the finger placement on the keyboard. As you continue to practice you improve both in speed and quality. Speed helps with quick delivery of your work and quality ensures you don’t have to spend too much time going over the transcript.

Rules of transcription

Delivery

Different companies have different needs when outsourcing transcription. Some companies want the transcript word for word (including the false starts, slang, stutters and unnecessary repetition of words e.g. like, you know, etc). This is referred to as verbatim transcription. Others require non-verbatim which means intelligible transcription. In such a case, you need to make sense of what is being said and report it as it was intended, cleaned up.

Unclear/Unintelligible words

This will also vary from client to client. If the words is unclear, should you type it out phonetically (sounding it out) or should you highlight it with a different color or should you both highlight and time-stamp (indicating the point in the audio where the word was said) for example [difficultword 01:23:34]. That way when the client is proofreading it, they can go straight to the point in the audio/video where you faced difficulty.

Language

Different regions have different ways of spelling words, the common examples being color/colour, labor/labour, favorite/favourite, center/centre, fiber/fiber. You need to pay attention what region the client is from so that the transcript makes sense for them. To do this, you can change the settings in your word processor’s spell checking tool and choose the language suited to that region.

Grammar Rules

Homonyms

These are words that sound the same but mean totally different things. Examples are lone/loan, know/gnaw, though/thaw, write/right. Pay attention to such words and be guided by the context of the audio. Remember, these are correctly spelt so they will escape the spell-checker so you should be very keen.

Proper nouns

These are names of places, people, organizations. Unlike common nouns, these are specific and unique and should always be capitalized, no matter where they appear in a sentence. An example is: her new neighbor is called Jane. They lived in Wisconsin.

They went fishing at Lake Cobbosseecontee. (I learned about this one recently and couldn’t resist using it here, hehehe). You can always cross-check such words using Google. If you are able to capture the pronunciation it won’t be difficult to find it on Google. It helps if you include the geographical context. Like in my case with Cobbosseecontee, the speaker had also mentioned Winthrop, Maine so it made the searching easier.

If it’s important you’ll find a way. If it’s not, you’ll find an excuse

Ryan Blair

Formatting

Transcribing numbers

Do you write them out in words or numerals? While this will also vary from client to client, the basic rule of thumb is that one to nine are written out in words and double digits are typed as numerals. Currency signs should be typed out as symbols to make it easier to read financial reports. So there you have it, the what, where and how of General Transcription. Get plugged in today and start to grow your business.

What are online jobs?

What comes to mind when you hear, online jobs? For most people, the phrase is, data entry. Data entry was one of the very first jobs that moved to the online space so it’s no wonder that it quickly pops into mind when a discussion on online jobs comes up. At least for me, that was the first job I heard about that could be done online.

More and more, especially as we experience the growth in technology, most businesses are moving to the online space. People are ditching the traditional brick and mortar. We are currently going through a health pandemic that has seen the closure of so many traditional jobs which relied on its employees commuting to the office and doing the jobs, in-house.

This has led to drastic measures by business owners in a bid to keep afloat. The way to do this is to transform them into online jobs and have a platform that is not dependent on the geographical location of the employer and/or employee.

What is needed to start online jobs?

Identify what you want to do

The first thing you need to establish before getting started with online jobs is identifying what you want to do. This could either be something that you are currently doing or something totally different. The choice is yours.

There are many categories of online jobs available, including admin support, customer service, design and creative, sales & marketing etc. These categories are further broken down. In the case of admin support, you will find transcription, web research, data entry, project management and virtual assistance.

Because of the expansiveness of the jobs, you can very well perform multiple online jobs. As you are not restricted to an office or a physical desk and you do not need to commute from one client to another, it is up to you to plan your time and provide your services to as many clients as you can handle. This doesn’t mean you should compromise on the quality as this is one of the top mistakes that can see you losing business fast!

Find a platform to use

When you do a quick search on online jobs, thousands upon thousands of search results come up. There are numerous platforms from where you can begin your online career. Whether you are looking to make a quick back to get yourself out of a sticky situation, or you are looking for a longterm well-paying job, there’s an online job for you. Some of the reputable sites that I would recommend, in no particular order, are:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• SpeakWrite
• Flex Jobs
• Guru
• Freelance Writing
• Indeed
• ServiceScape

I highly recommend Upwork as I have used it with great success for the past decade. The others on the list, I’ve heard great things about. Browse through them and see which one provides the opportunities you are looking for and get started.

Don’t wait until you have learned everything there is to learn about a particular site. If it’s a legit site, you can learn as you go. Most of these platforms have very friendly interfaces and you will be able to find your way around them with ease.

Create a profile showcasing your skills

Think of this as your CV. This is your skills in a snapshot. If you are just getting started, you might worry about not having the skills needed. You don’t have to be an expert in that field. You just have to be good at doing what is required and willing to learn more to sharpen your skills. For instance, you could already be very good with designing logos and banners but have not done it on a large scale.

That does not discount your graphic design skills. A good profile is authentic. Do not lie. Some people looking to hire are also getting started in their field and are looking for the most basic tasks to be performed. Enthusiasm trumps experience any day so get out there with a positive attitude. There’s someone looking for the qualities you have.

Start your bidding for online jobs

Meaning, get your profile in front of as many eyes as possible. But don’t overdo it. It’s better to send out three applications to people that seem like a fit for you than to send 15 just for the sake of numbers.

However, it is a numbers game and you want your profile to catch someone’s attention but it only works for you if that someone is a good fit. Add a video presentation to your profile, letting them know why they should hire you. This gives an impression of being open and you will stand out from so many other contenders.

Provide quality work

Your overall performance on the online jobs will determine your growth and success. It is important to create a great first impression to keep the clients coming back for more. Not only will they hire you again, but they will also refer you to their friends and colleagues. That is one of the quickest ways to grow in the online working space.

What are the benefits of online jobs?

Well, for starters, there’s money to be made in online jobs. How much you make and for how long you make it will be determined by your ability to keep providing top quality. It also depends on whether you are doing these jobs part-time or full-time. The level of skill provided will also factor into how much you get paid, overall. Two people could both be virtual assistants but the one providing social media management, for example, will take home more than one who is cleaning up the email inbox.

The other benefits of online jobs include, but are not limited to:

• No boss – beside yourself, of course! There’s no one looking over your shoulder shouting their demands. The running of the business start and end with you.
• No boundaries – you can work from anywhere. All you need, most of the time is a good computer and a strong internet connection. You choose your office for the day whether that’s a Starbucks or under the stars.
• No limit – there’s no limit to how much money you can make. You can work for multiple clients and get paid well for online jobs well done.
• No commute – unless you want to drive or take a train to your favorite spot, you can get your job done right in your pajamas! I especially don’t miss the long commute during the cold rainy mornings.
• No alarms – whether you are working 15 hours a week or 30 hours a week, you decide which 25 or 30 hours those are. If you are not a morning person and do your best work late in the night, you have the freedom to choose your hours and plan accordingly. You might have to put in extra hours when the workload is heavy but you also get to sleep in when things cool down a little.

Is there training for online jobs?

There are opportunities to increase your knowledge by taking available online certification courses. Display your certification proudly on your profile to let potential employers what you are good at. Some of the reputable places you can get great courses are:

• Udemy – This one I have personally used to get certified in Transcription, Social Media Marketing and also Podcasting Management. Their payment plan is on a pay-per-course model. They cover a vast majority of categories. As you browse through you see how the courses are rated, how many people have taken the courses etc. They have great deals with huge discounts from time and when you have an account with them you get notified when such deals take place. The resources from the courses are yours forever and you can refer back to them when you need to.
• Alison – An Alison certificate will provide a boost to an already glowing CV. With over 1000 courses, you will definitely find something that is in line with your career path. Their courses are free to study. You can opt for a premium membership which unlocks more features like ad-free learning, resume builder features, monthly discounts that can be accumulated and redeemed to purchase certificates and diplomas.
• LinkedInLearning – A subsidiary of LinkedIn, it is free to try for the first month. It offers certificates of completion to subscribers on completing the courses. As a member, you do not need to buy courses, rather you have access to go over as many learning materials as you wish. This makes the premium investment worth it.
• Skillshare – has a membership system at $15 monthly and or a discounted annual rate of $99 per month (translating to $8.25 per month). It has an attractive incentive of two free months to start. It has great reviews and a huge following and the courses are definitely worth giving a try. You can do so much with two months of free access to courses. Once the two months are over, you have a chance to either cancel your membership or pay to get membership status.

I hope that helps you see that it really is possible to get started on online jobs TODAY. Start where you are and with what you have. Most things can be implemented as you go. At the very least, create a profile today. Yes, right now.

Facebook recently announced that, following the Covid-19 pandemic, most workers will be allowed to work from home, through the end of 2020, and others even indefinitely. The workers who can provide their services will continue to do so, remotely. It is getting very clear that online work is a reality that cannot be ignored. That is just the beginning as more companies will move to the online space.

Online Work is a get-rich-quick Scheme

While many advertise online work as a way to make thousands of dollars in weeks to a month, this is very far from the truth. The thing with such schemes is that the chances of it turning around into a get-poor-quick scenario are very high. It is unrealistic to expect to be an overnight millionaire, working online. The truth is, getting started in online work is more or less like farming where you have to plant a seed and wait for the harvest.

You put in the initial work which includes learning the skills needed, filling out a profile and bidding for jobs or getting your CV out there for prospective employers to see. You nurture the seed by delivering high-quality work over and over. This will pay off handsomely when you grow your client list. This will result in repeat work and new work from the word of mouth referrals. How quick or slow this process can be, is entirely up to you. The sooner you can get started and offer the best of what you are genius at, the sooner you will see the great results you are looking for.

Online Work Does Not Pay

Truth: You can make as little or as much as you want, depending on a variety of factors.

Your skill

Online work is not a one-size-fits-all gig. Highly skilled freelancers who offer to bring more to the table, have a bigger payday than the staff who do support tasks like filling out surveys, responding to emails, etc. Most of these skills can be acquired through online courses that don’t necessarily cost an arm and a leg. Add another skill to your professional resume and be able to negotiate better pay.

Your database of clients

As a freelancer or independent contractor, there is no limit to the number of people you can serve. As long as you are meeting their deadlines and delivering quality, there’s nothing to stop you from working for multiple people. A rule of thumb I use is that every client should feel like they are the only client you have. This means whenever they send in a task they need to be done, you are quick to respond to their emails, be attentive to their needs. Under-promise and over-deliver. If you promised to be done by Friday morning, send in the work before the close of business, Thursday.

Your hourly rate

Again, depending on the online work you are involved in and the skills you are offering you can get a very high hourly rate. As you continue to work and gain more knowledge about the task, providing even better value, you raise your rate. Also, anytime a client recommends you to their friend or colleague to you, you don’t have to onboard them at the same rate. You have won their trust by the association of the mutual client and can confidently ask for more.

Online Work is a Scam!

This one is very common. And while it’s not entirely false, it is unrealistic to write off online work based on the scammers. Like every industry, there are always people looking for ways to make money through unscrupulous methods. Chances are, you will come across a website whose main activity is to dupe people into paying for work but nothing is forthcoming.

The truth here is, if you do your due diligence you can establish the legit online work from the con. Most scammy sites have multiple links, leading to suspicious sites where on entering your personal details, you can easily get hacked. I am very wary of a site that has numerous links and advertisements that avoid discussing the main reason you are there, to look for online work. They are loaded with download links and dollar signs that are enough to give your eye strain.

Work with trusted companies who will protect your interests. And even while on those sites, pay attention to dubious activities like a client asking you to contact them outside of the platform in a bid to avoid paying the service fee. This could lead you into very big trouble to the extent of getting locked out. In Upwork, for example, when a job is advertised, you can tell at a glance details about the client.

Where they are based, whether or not their payment method is verified, how long they’ve been a member etc. It raises eyebrows for example if a client has been a member for months and their payment method is not yet verified. Or they are yet to hire anyone. This helps you not to dismiss any client whose payment method is not verified if they joined hours or a day ago the approval is probably still pending. You are also able to tell the kind of person they are to help you make a decision as to whether you want to work with them. Feedback and overall rating from other freelancers is gold when making such a decision.

Online Work is Boring and Lonely

This couldn’t be further from the truth. And if you are an introvert, like me, it’s a dream! How boring is it to be able to choose my office for the day? That I can just sit in the park with my laptop, getting work done? That’s not my definition of boring. The truth is, the environment is definitely different from what you may have been used to in the corporate setting. There will be no more coffee runs, idle chatter by the water cooler, no after-work drinks at the pub downstairs with the colleagues.

You make adjustments. You create a schedule of what you are handling that day and when to take necessary breaks. You fit in fun things like pausing to do your workout or even to fix your favorite meal. You can even carve out some time to catch up on a TV series or even call up your friends and family. When you are craving some company, step into your local coffee shop and work from there for a few hours.

Besides, boring and lonely are relative terms. What may be boring to one may be fun and fulfilling to another.

The excitement that comes from working for different people who live in different parts of the world, dealing with different industries and products, speaks volumes. Every day is exciting as you don’t know where the tasks will take you. Working for the same firm, day in day out, doing the same thing from Monday to Friday can quickly get monotonous.

Life is all about perception. Positive versus negative.

Whichever you choose will affect and more than likely reflect your outcomes.

~Sonya Teclai

Online Work Has No Structure

This will only be true if the freelancer does not want to create structure. Remember, you are the boss now and you need to come up with the standards of procedures. With the freedom online work provides, there needs to be an equal measure of discipline. Put in place systems that guide you on how to get clients, what is the first conversation to have with a new client?

How do you intend to work with them, what amount of time do you need to deliver different tasks? Also work out what to ask for as compensation and how to handle rush jobs. Systems make everything run smoother so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time a new client comes on board. Some of the things you can do to create structure include:

• Designate an office area. This could either be a room or even a space on the kitchen table. Just make sure everyone around you understands that is where you do your online work and should be accorded the respect it deserves.
• Carve out office hours, breaks, family time and vacations. This may not be a rigid structure because life happens and could throw us off balance, but it works as a great guideline especially on those days when you need a gentle nudge to get back to work.
• Keep your office area clutter-free. This helps to keep your mind free from clutter as well and you are able to focus. It helps to get out of the pajamas too. I know we pride ourselves in being able to work in our PJs but sometimes the mind follows suit and thinks you are still in sleep mode.
• Have a financial plan in place. Know what is saved towards groceries, how much goes back into the business. And how much is put aside for health insurance and savings/investments.