Freelance Transcriptionists, Challenges in 2010

It’s now July of 2010 and only now have I had the time to post this article on my blog. It’s been a hectic first half of the year for my me and my family. My company, the company I worked for four years finally closed down after undergoing tumultuous events in its final months. Its major client did not pay what they owe to the company and they also pirated most of the transcriptionists there. Then the company itself didn’t pay the benefits and the salaries of the remaining employees that had been loyal until the end of its corporate life. Some of the employees, myself included, have either went to other companies or decided to go freelance. I chose the latter since it gives me the flexibility to run my own time and resources as I see fit.

I joined oDesk.com in February of 2009 and in the course of 1-1/2 years, I have accumulated more than 1000 hours worked in oDesk with earnings of a couple of thousand dollars. I am just stating this fact to give you some insights on the potential earning capability of a work at home transcription provider. You really have to dig in and go and showcase your skill as a transcriptionist in the cut-throat transcription industry. If you’re really good at this industry and you’re a professional, then you will succeed and earn more than you could ever hoped for.

There are many freelancing sites out there. I have an account on three of them, oDesk.com, Guru.com and Freelancer.com. From these three I best like oDesk.com. This is where I excel the most.

Skill Set To Learn In Becoming A Transcriber

For a long time, I have not written anything on this blog since I’ve been busy with my new career as a home-based transcriber catering to several clients, and I have not the unction to write an article yet, maybe because of all the good things that God is doing in my life as the days go by.

Now that I have accomplished what God had set out for me to do in terms of professional advancement, I am now given this opportunity to share to all the step-by-step guide on how to become an audio transcriber. Now, let me define an audio transcriber for those people who are uninitiated on this emerging career/profession. An audio transcriber is the person who turns the dictation of another person into text, simply put he is the individual who types in what he hears the dictator is saying or what he thinks the dictator is trying to convey.

Now, this may seem super simple to the uninitiated, but believe me it’s not. So many people before you have had this notion and found out the hard way. Consider this, there are pitfalls in transcription, especially when trying to understand what the dictator is trying to say. The dictator may convey debt, but you may hear him pronounce it death, since debt and death is phonetically similar when uttered by the dictator, and there are many more words out there in the English language that are similar sounding but have different meaning.

In essence, there are three skills you have to have or learn when you want to get into this kind of profession, and they are as follows; typing skill, hearing acuity and English language proficiency. In general, these three the most common skills you need to develop when you want to develop another income stream or ‘sideline’, as Filipinos are wont to call it.  Also, factors such willingness to learn, patience, forbearance and other positive characteristics come into play when you go into this venture.

Let’s dig deeper into these three skills further and to these positive characteristics so you can understand what this profession involves.

Typing skill can be developed by practicing typing, of course. Now, there are many websites there that has free programs where you can learn typing from. From there, you can download a trial program. There is one program that I used when I embarked on my quest for professional development. When you found one to your liking, just allot one hour a day everyday for you to master the keys without even looking at the keyboard. This is easier said than done, believe me, but it can be done, you just have to be patient about it. Without patience, many people become frustrated. I guess, this true in almost all areas of our lives as well. So patience, that’s what you need if you want to develop your typing skills and be successful in this endeavor.

Now, we go into hearing acuity. Well, this one you really have to develop because your ears may play a joke on you if you don’t take this seriously. This is the sum of all your knowledge and skill in analyzing and understanding the context of the sentence and giving justice to what the speaker wants to convey. Now, to give you an example, and this example would really give you a laugh when you really think about it. Let’s say there is a caller from a collection agency. They usually give their company name and what service they offer, but some transcriber transcribe it as this, “This is so and so company. We are a death collection company and we need to speak to such and such person.” Now, what the caller actually wants to say is, “This is so and so company. We are a debt collection company and we need to speak to such and such person.” Ha-ha-ha! You see what I mean when the transcriber commit this homophonic error. It changes the meaning of what the caller wants to say, and there are many more of these. This does not end here. There are many examples out there, especially in the medical transcription, legal transcription, and even business transcription genre. So my advice to would-be transcribers, hear it carefully, type what you hear but make sure that you analyze and understand what the caller or dictator wants to convey.

English language proficiency, now, this one is really up to you. The English language foundation you learned in school will definitely come in handy here like correct grammar, sentence structure, spelling and other related English language skills. I will not delve into this for obvious reasons. There are several websites that you can go to and learn from if you do not have this skill yet, just type in English language tutorial as a keyword to any browser, and you will be pointed in the right direction.

Now, on the characteristics you have to have, of course, you need to have patience since this is profession requires utmost concentration.  Dedication to this craft is also important since you will devote your effort and energy in honing your skill set.  The most important of all is the willingness to learn the various skills that come into play to become a successful transcriber.  Without this, you will leave yourself open to negativity and despair since you will not reach the goal you set for yourself because you don’t want to learn new things.  You will really have to go out of your comfort zone to learn the skills that this opportunity brings.

So these are the main ingredients on how to become a good general audio transcriptionist. As an additional information, if you have these skills, you can go offer your skills to whomever wants to avail of your transcription service. You can start your own transcription provider business and earn for yourself another income stream that can help you earn extra cash/dollars.

Transcription Foot Pedal

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a 1-step foot pedal from a guy from Metro Manila, and it’s really a great buy. It configured nicely with the transcription program I use. It’s not pricey, mind you, but it’s reasonable.

Being a home-based transcriptionist, I go for reasonable buys in regards to my transcription needs, and this one tops them all. It’s brand new and it’s priced just above the Php 1,000 range. I tested this device through my Express Scribe since I used this often, and what do you know? It works great and it’s easy to configure with any transcription program, although I have just tested this device through Express Scribe, I’ve read a comment from his blog, http://www.pinoytranscription.blogspot.com, that it works with InqScribe.

You can visit his website through this and see for yourself. His website also contains huge amounts of information to get you started on home-based transcription work, if you’re just starting out as an audio transcriptionist.

Well, that’s all, folks, and hope this little tip will get you going and serve as a helpful tip for your success in transcription.

Bloopers in Transcription

This was sent to me via email by my batch mate in high school who actually is a dermatologist. I was a struggling medical transcriptionist at that time and I really laughed when I read this email. These are actual transcriptions found in patient’s hospital charts.

• Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

• On the second day the knee was better, on the third day it disappeared.

• The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed. The patient has been depressed since she begun seeing me in 1993.

• Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.

• Healthy-appearing, decrepit, 69-year-old male, mentally alert but forgetful.

• The patient refused autopsy.

• The patient has no previous history of suicides.

• Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.

• Patient’s medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only 40 pound weight gain in the past three days

• Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.

• Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant. Since she can’t get pregnant with her husband, I thought you might like to work her up.

• She is numb from her toes down.

• While in ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.

• The skin was moist and dry.

• She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.

• Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.

• Patient was alert and unresponsive.

• Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.

• She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.

• I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.

• Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.

• Examination of the genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.

• The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.

• The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stock broker instead.

• Skin: somewhat pale but present

• The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.

• Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Blank, who felt we should sit on the abdomen and I agree.

• Large brown stool ambulating in the hall

• Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

If you like this topic, please leave your feedback. It’s always welcome to  know that there are readers out there who enjoy my articles. Thanks and have a great day!!!

All About Voicemail Transcription

As the evolution of technology takes place, voicemail also evolved and adapts to the changing times. We all know that voicemail is an inherent part of the American psyche. They cannot part with this one particular service. With privacy in mind, they tend to keep this gadget close in their heart and mind. Like cars, it is an important aspect of their lives.

With advances in technology, voicemail transcription began its rise to its pedestal. Nowadays, several companies are offering this service to the greater part of the American and British population. Voicemail transcription is simply defined as converting or transcribing into text the voice message that is recorded in a voicemail gadget and then sending it to the mobile phone of the intended recipient or owner of the voicemail machine. It has simplified and revolutionized how the Americans and the British handle calls made even when they are away from their voicemail machine.

So how is voicemail messages gets to be transcribed? Let us now discuss how this gets transcribed.

• First, a caller leaves a message on the voicemail machine.

• Then the voicemail machine records the message. This gadget now is connected to a computer with an internet connection, which then sends the message to the company that caters to this specific service.

• This company now either has an option to transcribe it using its own electronic speech recognition program and sends it back to the intended recipient or sends it to a team of live transcriptionists who then transcribes it according to the transcription protocol of the said company.

• These transcriptionists, after satisfactorily transcribing the message, will then send it back to the company for distribution to its client’s mobile phone. They can either send it two ways. One is they can send it to the recipient’s email as an email message or text message, or as an email attachment with both the transcribed message and the audio itself where the recipient can listen to the voicemail message while reading the transcribed message at the same time.

So this is the step-by-step process by which voicemail messages is handled. With this in mind, the transcriptionist should be responsible enough to transcribe it as close to the essence of the message since it is his duty and responsibility to his client. Customer satisfaction should be the primary goal of every transcriptionists who transcribe voicemail messages.

Tips on how to have a a fast and qualitative transcription of voicemail messages:

• Those aspiring to be a voicemail transcriptionist should have a 35 words per minute typing speed or higher. The higher your typing speed is, the better for you since you will have faster turnaround of the message to its recipient. So for those who is slower than this norm should exert every effort to train themselves to type faster by practicing more and more each day. Each day you practice your hands gives you that edge over others since one, you instill in yourself a right attitude in disciplining yourself by teaching it to practice diligently. Second, by practicing more every day, you will achieve your goal of having a faster typing speed in the shortest possible time. No pain, no gain should be your motto from now on. This will be credited as a skills development on your part where you will gain in the end.

• Developing hearing acuity – developing this skill is not an easy task. You would need to hone that ears of yours to distinguish sounds and translate it to a coherent word, syllable by syllable, then word by word, and finally phrases by phrases until you make a distinguishable and coherent sentence. This takes an enormous effort on your part to hear and hear that particular sound until you’re familiar with it and you can hear it at the flick of a finger. That’s how you will know an expert transcriptionist as compared to a novice.

• Know your grammar – Every transcriptionist should always be prepared to know if what he is transcribing does have correct grammar in it. He should be able to correct it if what is writing is not grammatically correct. Although there are native Americans that do speak this way, most Americans do speak grammatically correct. So be prepared to know when it is correct or not.

• Know how to research pertinent information through the use of Google or other search engines – Every once in a while, we have to research company names, names of persons, address, names of streets or all other important information that is being said by the sender of the voicemail message. Research ability or skill should be instilled in the hearts and minds of every transcriptionists if you want to have a meaningful career in transcription. For telephone numbers, use www.whitepages.com. If you’re lucky enough, you can get the correct name of the sender and his address if it’s indicated in this website. For names of persons and street names or addresses, you can always research it using Google. Moreoftentimes than not, you will find them if you research hard enough.

With these tips, you will be a better transcriptionist and with diligent practice, you will imbibe in yourself that right attitude which would take you to achieve your goals and become an expert voicemail transcriptionist.

As always, your feedback in regards to this topic is highly appreciated. This topic was written for the benefit of those who are only newbies and are struggling to cope with transcribing voicemail messages. Thank you for giving this topic your precious time to read. Have a nice day!!!

Dealing with Homophonic Words in Transcription

In continuation with my discourse in transcription practices, many a times I notice this common mistake among transcriptionists, even if they were seasoned, battle-hardened transcriptionists. This error causes many to suffer sleepless nights when they happen to commit this.

Homophonic words are words that sound alike but have different spelling and different meaning. Examples are listed below:

• Are versus our
• They’re versus their
• Hair versus heir

There are so many other words that sound alike in the English language that is takes a seasoned, detail-oriented person to perceive what should be put in the transcript that corresponds to what the dictator wants to convey. It takes a combination of plain old common sense, good hearing acuity and knowledge of correct grammatical structure that enables a transcriber to have a transcription that pass the highest scrutiny by a detail-oriented and highly-skilled editor or quality control specialist.

There are many ways to enable one to beat this. Among them is constantly understanding the different words of the English language. Always read, read, read. That is the first rule of gaining knowledge. As you increase your knowledge about the intricacies of the English language, the better you will know how each one is used and then you will be able to put in the correct word in the transcription whenever you need it.

Second rule is always using your common sense when transcribing a particular audio file. A lot of times an average transcriptionist will put in words in his transcription even if it does not read right. You have to have that skill of reading your own words whenever you type it and always ask yourself, ‘If this is your message, would you construct this sentence like this?’ Sometimes, common sense is left out of the picture when transcribing. You should always have it whenever you are transcribing or always use it to have a qualitative output in transcription.

Hearing acuity can be learned over time. When a transcriptionist starts in his training, sometimes they do not have this kind of skill. Some are born with this and some do not have it at all. However, with patience and perseverance, most develop this skill. You have to open up your ears, be attentive to what the dictator is really trying to say and getting the gist of what he wants to convey while shutting out background noises and then putting all of that in the transcription.

If you have these three things, then you’re on your way to having your feet to a lucrative career that can sustain you for your lifetime. Homophonic mistakes can be beaten with these three things in mind. If you have to persevere, sweat it out and then you will reap the bounties that this profession gives out to those who reach for it.

I always welcome any suggestion or any comments that you might have concerning this topic or any other topic I have in this blog. Please leave a message or any suggestions you might have. This has been a passion for me these four years. I have been in this profession for four years and I find that it is a very lucrative and satisfying job to boot.

Money-Saving Tips For 2010

Hi guys,

The Year 2010 brings a lot of challenges to your financial well-being. In this regard, I’m encouraging you to make a New Year’s resolution for you to cope up with the changing times, especially when it comes to managing your money. Avoid the bad habits of overspending and just live within your means, thus saving lots of money for future use.

Quick tips for a trouble-free year

1. Family responsibility — teach your children good spending habits. Teach them how to spend on things that they really need. Wise spending of resources, especially money give us more financial freedom to move up in the economics of things in the long run. Just give enough for them to spend. Know what they’re spending on and encourage them to save as much money as they could, so that when they grow up, this habit of saving for the future is ingrained in.
2. Discipline — the road to financial security is not easy. It takes discipline on our part. We have to control ourselves from wanton spending. Our natural tendency is to buy, buy, buy, even if this is not really useful to us and it will only pile up in our home unused. Many unwanted things are scattered around the house; they are proof of our wanton spending. So before wallowing in despair because of this bad habit, we have to discipline ourselves from spending on those things we can live without. We have to determine whether we really need or want something.
3. Credit card — always read the fine print, especially in credit cards, we must read carefully those fine prints that come with credit card applications. Many a times a little tinkering with the phrases or wording in a credit card application would bind you in a situation where it would detrimental to your financial capability, especially with credit card interest rates, late payment fees, and other hidden charges. So before you go in and fill out a credit card application and affix your signature on it, make sure you understand all the things written in your contract. Do not be afraid to ask the credit card representative for any issues you might want to ask before affixing your signature on it, thus binding you for inadvertently
4. Budget, budget, budget – always keep within your budget. Whatever we save now will reflect in our financial capability in the future. Always compute for weekly budgets or monthly budgets, whatever is convenient to us, that way we will always know how much we can spend on without going spending too much.
5. Maintenance fund – Always include this on your budgeting requirement. Have a separate fund for this since it is a necessity if we have to repair something broken inside the house or out of it. For example, the roof leaks, then we will have a ready cash to buy or repair that leaking roof, or if sewage is broken, then we can repair it immediately or else we will have to live with a smelly environment, which might cause illnesses in our family. Always save money when you have a chance to save it. Plan and budget, that’s the two keywords we have to have in our minds when we look at our future.
6. Bank withdrawals – as always this seeming innocuous little transaction have an effect on our savings. If you withdraw cash from other banks, they charge Php 10 or Php 12 for every transaction, so if you make five withdrawals in one day, it would have an adverse effect on your savings. So be sure to plan for those withdrawals, so this will have little effect on your financial capability. Remember that a peso saved can be used elsewhere in the future. Every peso counts in this world we live in.
7. Be an entrepreneur – plan to have a business of your own. For a hardworking man or woman, there are lots of businesses to choose from. If you’re a marketing person, then open a retail business or deal in real estate on the side. Just to make extra money on the side. If you want, you can be a freelance transcriptionist like myself. With a desktop computer, a DSL Internet connection, various software needed for this trade, and skills needed to be a transcriptionist, I’m pretty sure that your perseverance and dedication to your chosen field will pay off in the long run. You will eventually have cash flow and have savings to boot.

Hope that these quick tips have an impact on you and get you going this new year. I would be very happy to hear your thoughts on these, or if you can add some suggestions, I would really appreciate it if you could do that.

Introduction To My Blog

Hi, everyone. I just want to introduce you to my own blog. Actually, this would be my first time to do this kind of thing and forgive me if I’m kind of faltering as I take my first steps towards this endeavor. In the world we live in, there are many opportunities for personal advancement. With the advent of the Internet, social networks abounded like mushrooms.

Here, you can take any information you want to, whether it is for personal care, cooking, hobbies, games, and many such other things that man is busy with. They are there; you just have to look for them using your favorite search engine and voila, you’ll have it in a jiffy. With such easy access to information, no wonder that the Internet is called the information gateway of the world.

Here I came to know that socially we can communicate with people from all across the globe and see what their cultures are and what their mindsets are. The world we live in is beautiful and we will love them more by viewing through web pages what Mother Nature has made for all of human life to discover.

The Internet also introduces us to many opportunities to earn money. It created words like blogging, cyberspace, and all sorts of words that amply describe what it created out of its existence. You see, I came from a regular status in life, so I was not really adept at the intricacies of this medium until 2005. This was the time when I worked a manual job, as a self-employed individual, I mean. The pay then was meager, just enough to survive for the day.

But then all things changed when a classmate of mine from years back egged me on to go back to school again and take up a medical transcription course. And with God’s guiding hand, he led me to another classmate of mine who works in Dubai to fund my schooling and it was forward sailing from that time on. In the course of time, I finished my schooling and was introduced to the world of transcription and the Internet. Here I discovered that you can now have information from various topics, sometimes it’s for free, sometimes you have to pay for it, but nonetheless the information is there for you to have.

I then started to work in a transcription company based in Makati City, Philippines at that time and after a year of being with that company, I moved to another company based in Quezon City to which I’m still connected to.

As I watch the Hand of God guiding me in my life, there is no turning back for me now. It has been a magnificent journey. Eventually, a friend of mine at work introduced me to a freelancing site where you can offer your skill to individuals who needed transcription projects done for them.

This is the world that I wanted to introduce you with through this blog. This is the world of transcription. This is the skill that I went to school to have in 2005 and this has been my bread and butter since that time on. Mind you, this has been an uphill struggle for me since I started learning from scratch.

Since my line of work then was different to what I want to do, I have to learn everything first. I have to learn to type. That is the most basic thing. First thing I learned was to type since this is my weakest skill and I have to devote one hour each day in front of the typing lessons from Typingmaster.com so I can have this particular skill.

Next, I polished my English language proficiency. I reviewed everything and then I took tests in call centers since these tests represent what I need to go through when I do apply in a transcription company.

Now, when I graduated from my transcriptions training, I immediately went to that company in Makati City and applied for a job as a transcriptionist. They hired me as a medical transcriptionist and my tenure with that company further honed my skills and after that an offer came to me to work in Quezon City in a start-up transcription company. In here, I am one of the pioneers of the company. We were the first ones who were responsible for its growth. We started off with ten to fifteen employees and now we have grown to more than a hundred employees and still growing.

It has been a very satisfying and exciting journey for my life. This career, I would say, has been very rewarding. In terms of getting knowledge, it has got me to a point where I could speak my mind out at whatever topic I wanted to speak since I may have transcribed some of it myself from my previous projects. In terms of financial remunerations, it has given me much leg room to move around. I was able to save some. My dreams become bigger as years go by. It has given me hope for the future. I thank God for that and I hope that I will sustain it all through the days of my existence here on Earth.

Freelance Transcription As A Career

As I continue to discuss on freelancing information, let me direct you to my niche, which is transcription. Transcription is a specific kind of data entry that is defined as turning recorded speech into written form. This means listening to an audio file and then transcribing it in the form of a transcript.

With the advent of the Internet or the World Wide Web, freelancing opportunities abounded. You can now find your niche and get clients from all over the world using this medium. The Internet made borders obsolete. In so short a time, transcription opportunities have risen today due to increasing demand for transcription services.

I started to know of this employment niche in 2005. This was the time medical transcription was on the upswing and many schools have sprouted in my country catering to this vocation. Transcription services were being sought out by American establishment in order for them to streamline their data, especially in the field of health care where HIPAA was passed by the US Congress to address the medical record’s security and privacy. Soon, it became prevalent in business, too. From all over the world, many people who are in this niche found themselves with lots of opportunities for work and made home-based employment a byword.

So now what are the tools you need to be a good transcriptionist? Allow me to give you some pointers on how to become a good enough transcriber since many tried and failed to become one because of lack of knowledge in this vocation. Let me enumerate:

1. You have to have that passion for this vocation. In short, you must know why you do this, what your reason is for doing this kind of job. You have to have that intense desire to give it your all so that every word you hear gives meaning to the transcript you’re making. If you have that passion, everything will fall into its place. You will know what you need, how to get it, and how to apply it to every audio file that you will hear.
2. Time to learn – many people don’t have this element. They want to get into something but don’t have the time to study and know what they’re getting into. So many failed in this respect because they don’t respect and understand that this some sort of a vocation where you have to give time and effort to get somewhere in this niche.
3. Hearing acuity – this is one element in transcription that is akin to musicians. You have to know how to listen and listen well. You have to have ear-to-brain coordination that really transforms sounds into coherent words that have meaning, so that the sentence you are putting into the transcripts corresponds to an idea, topic, or what you think the dictator is really trying to convey. Some are born with it, some have to learn it and unfortunately for some, they don’t have this skill even if they try hard to learn it. But I know of some people, if they try hard enough, break into this barrier and become good transcriptionists.
4. Grammar skills – English language grammar skills is one of the tools that you should always have in you. It can be learned if you’re not an American or British or live in some English-speaking country. You’ll have to stay focused on this one aspect if you really want to excel into this field. There is use for your hearing acuity if you’re not capable of arranging a sentence in its correct form or you might it hear it differently, but you know at first glance at the transcript that they should be written in this form because that’s how it should be written if you’re going to be grammatical about it.
5. Typing skills – Naturally, transcription involves a lot of typing. Normally, you have to have this kind of skill if you want to do your transcription in a timely manner. There are many typing lesson program in the Internet that you can use for free if you really want to learn to type and type fast. You only have to spend time learning this skill. This involved perseverance, patience and a lot of good attitude toward attaining this goal, especially for those that will start from scratch. Practice makes perfect they used to say.
6. Transcription program – to be a home-based transcriptionist, you will need some transcription program to help you transcribe faster and more accurately. Some are programs are free and some are not free, you’ll have to pay for them. Some require foot pedals, some don’t; you’ll just have to configure hot keys in them, so you can just use your hand while playing and/or rewinding audios to transcribe it more efficiently.
7. Freelance sites – if you’re planning to build your career as a freelance transcriptionist or if you’re a  mom planning to work at the comforts of your own home, then you have to know several freelance sites that you can utilize to give this career a shot. You have to look in the Internet of websites that offer transcription jobs. Some are free sites that offer it, but usually they charge a certain percentage off your earnings. They need to earn to, you know, since this is their bread and butter also. Some websites are paid subscription websites where you have to pay a certain amount for you to bid on a project, but with that one they don’t have a cut on your earnings as long as you pay your monthly dues.

So there you have it, the basic tools to acquire or learn to become a freelance transcriptionist. With these skills, you can then become a transcriptionist enabling you earn while at the comforts of your own home.