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How To Be a Self-Employed Audio Transcriptionist
The Power of a Period (Full Stop, Exclamation Mark!) — Is It Worth Unleashing Your Inner Typist For?
In my daily working life I am a Digital Transcription Specialist. In the evenings (and on those quieter days) I write poetry, plogs and blogs, traditional verse style and Haiku poems and dabble in a few short stories or articles if I have an idea that, I think, might be of interest. You’ll find me here on Medium, and also on Instagram on #berniespoetry if you’d like to check me out. However, let’s just say one pays a lot more than the other!
In fairly recent times, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, much of the world’s workforce had enforced remote home working forced upon them. Some took to it like ducks to water, others missed the friendly camaraderie beside the water coolers, and the Friday night after work drinks with colleagues. Others, unfortunately, were let go. Many would love to be able to work for themselves, setting up their own business, or perhaps have a second income coming in, perhaps from doing some typing in the evenings or weekends.
In my daily working life I am a ‘Digital Transcription Specialist’. I type words for a living, all day, every day. Other people’s words mostly. I have owned my own business for almost three decades and, I like to think, I’m very good at what I do. I specialise in typing for the Legal, Building, Financial, HR and Interview Transcription sectors. I love what I do. I really do.
So, let’s see if transcription work could be for you…or not.
The beauty of this job is that you can do it from anywhere in the word, for anyone in the world. All you need is:
- A modern and up to date laptop/pc (make sure you have lots of RAM — minimum 8gb)
- A quality transcription kit (foot pedal, headphones, and software)
- Excellent internet access/speeds
- Excellent anti-virus package (not a free one)
- Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
- If you’re working with a team, ensure you have MS Teams, or Skype or similar method of instant messaging each other
