TRANSCRIPTION

Work at Home Typing for Others

By Diane Cantrell

For many years I searched for a way to work from home using my computer as a way to earn a full-time income. I finally have that satisfaction now because I have found a way to type at home for others.

I first began doing transcription work at a financial services firm I worked at from 1991 to 2004. Some time went by and one of the accountants that I had worked with contacted me to see if I would like to be his personal transcriptionist from my home. I figured this would be a good way to supplement my income so I accepted, and that’s exactly what this work turned out to be.

All of the work I do for him is handled via the internet. He emails me the voice file and I type it and email him back the typed Word document. Simple!

As time went by and my frustration with ‘office politics’ grew, and I knew I had to find some way to turn this transcription work into my full-time business. I found it somewhat difficult to find others like this accountant who would like me to type up their information for them and was not keen on the idea of typing resumes all day.

I began searching online for companies that hire independent contractors to do transcription work for them. What a search it was! I found that in addition to the intermingled transcription businesses out there on the internet were a whole slew of ‘get-rich-now-typing-from-home’ schemes. Many of them sound so promising, that I must admit I was sucked in to trying a few. Some are now making me a little money, but most are sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

I finally was able to find websites that truly want people to succeed in the transcription business and listings of the businesses that really do hire transcriptionists. The first company I found said it wasn’t hiring at the time but that I could leave my email address and would be notified when they were hiring again.

Six months went by and I had long given up on the hope of doing transcription full-time from my home, when lo and behold, they emailed me to say they were hiring and I could test for them if I was interested. I went through the testing and finally scored my first position with a national transcription business as an independent contractor.

During their hiring period we all had more work than we could handle. It was great! But then I realized that they had hired so many ICs (independent contractors) that the work was getting hard to come by. I decided the only thing to do was to secure positions with other transcription businesses to make sure I had a full schedule each week.

I now work exclusively with four transcription companies, one of whom is only quarterly work, one I have to set a schedule two weeks in advance and log in for my scheduled time, one calls me with each job to see if I want it, and the other has me email them how much time I’m available for each day/week and they send me that much work.

So, finally, I can say I work from home full-time with legitimate companies and it’s everything I thought it would be and more! I work when I want and from the comfort of home. The pay is comparable to what I made in offices but the freedom is worth more than the money.

If you want to work at home and have good typing skills, working online might be right for you. A growing number of companies are hiring people to work at home typing online. Employers are waking up to the idea that they don’t need to rent office space to keep their employees corralled from 9-5, and they like the idea that they can save all sorts of overheads by employing people to work at home. This arrangement benefits the bosses by saving them money and it benefits the staff by enabling them to work where they want to be: at home.

What sort of home typing jobs are available?

There is no shortage of variety for work at home typists. Work at home typing online jobs include all the clerical/secretarial roles you would expect to find in any office. There are also home typing jobs which are purely internet-based and consist of things such as typing classified advertisements into online forms for companies or typing short articles onto blogs. There is also specialised work at home typing online in fields such as medical billing and medical transcription.

Some work at home typing online jobs are, quite frankly, repetitive and boring. It is best, therefore, to consider exactly what sort of typing work you would enjoy doing day in and day out before you start actively seeking a work at home typing position. If you want easy part time work you can do at home, typing classified advertisements into online forms is an easy way to make money. You can choose your own hours and just work for a couple of hours each day. If you want something more creative, a blog posting job might be more suitable for you.

Do I need experience to get a work at home typing job?

Many work at home typing online jobs require no previous related experience and can be done by anyone with reasonable typing skills. These jobs include the classified ad typing and blog posting positions. The companies hiring people to do this sort of typing work online will provide full training and show you exactly where and how to post the ads and deal with enquiries or feedback.

The main drawback with this type of work is that there is a huge amount of competition (as there is for any work at home job). So, if you have previous experience in medical transcription or customer services, this will give you an advantage if you choose to work in one of those fields.

What about work at home typing online scams?

There are scams relating to work at home and typing online jobs have their share. Some scams are obvious and you can almost “smell” them when you see their advertisements, but others are more difficult to detect. One thing to remember is that you should ask yourself “why would anyone pay me to do that?”. If you can’t think of a single reasonable answer, you could be looking at a scam that will cost you money or, worse still, something that will involve you in illegal activity. If in doubt, let the dubious opportunity pass and carry on looking.

There are plenty of legitimate work at home typing online opportunities around for people of all levels of skill and experience, just remember to be careful to avoid scams and to pick the kind of work you will enjoy doing.

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