Breaking into Transcription Without Breaking the Bank

You've decided to work from home. You know that you are quick with your fingers and decide that transcription is right for you. Before you get busy finding a job, it's time to think. Yes, it's a theme that I bring up time and time again. Perhaps that's because it's something I wonder if I did enough of before quitting my full-time, outside of the job home. Then again, maybe I did just enough of it to quit my job, but not so much to scare me out of trying!

If you are looking to get into transcription, you should know that there are essentially three categories within the transcription field. While medical transcription normally requires formal training, you can get your feet wet with general and legal transcription. This will help you decide if transcription is something you would like to make a career before spending money to realize that you hate it. Rather than bombarding you with information, right now we'll focus on general transcription since, more than likely, you are hoping to find something sooner rather than later.

General Transcription
This sub-group of the transcription industry encompasses everything that's not legal or medical. If you do general transcription, your assignments can vary from day to day and even hour to hour. When I first started, it was not uncommon to finish an interview for an upcoming book, then transcribe a sermon, a focus group, and a television program. Now that I have more experience and I have signed on with two companies as an independent contractor, most of what I do is transcribing insurance interviews.
It's interesting work and if you enjoy learning, I highly recommend general transcription.

You learn a little bit about topics you never would have researched otherwise, and since the information goes directly from your ears to your brain, bits and pieces are bound to be absorbed. Just don't think you're an expert on cancer research after transcribing a couple of presentations on the topic.