General Transcription - Getting Started - Virtual Assistant Forums

Melissa~HVAS · #1 (**permalink**) 06-05-2008

Good morning everyone! I am looking for information on how to get started in the General Transcription field, as I would like to add this to my services list. I've done a general search on google, but was unable to find much info on how to actually get started. I have downloaded Express Scribe & having fun practicing, but it seems that most job requests want experienced only. Well...how do I get the experience??

Any insight into this area is greatly appreciated!

MoragB · #2 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008

Hi Melissa

Transcription isn't everyone's cup of tea - it can be hard going sometimes (especially if you've got a group seminar and the audio quality is bad).

I always send people who are starting out and want a 'taster' of what transcription work is like to Casting Words, (just Google 'Casting Words')...there you'll find projects of between 2 mins - 9 mins in length and you can complete as many or as little as you like. Your work will be graded by other workers who will also leave feedback on your work. The pay isn't great, but it's an excellent way to step into the world of transcription to see if it's for you or not!!

Have fun!

Melissa~HVAS · #3 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008

Thank you so much for your response! I will definitely check it out.

VirtualAngel79 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-09-2009

thanks for the recommendation of the site I will check it out also

jenkinsde27 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-11-2009

Thanks MoragB.........I have also been looking into this area but haven't done it in a long time so it will be great to find out if I'm still 'up to par'.

Deanna

EliteVA · #6 (**permalink**) 03-11-2009

I wish that I had found this post earlier, I have already taken on a large project, but am happy to have found it now. It's great to have some audio to practice with in between projects, thanks for the advice!

GladysS · #7 (**permalink**) 03-16-2009

Does anyone know if Casting Words is still operating? I found this thread over the weekend, and googled to get the url. I could not get the page to load, then today, I get a message that the url does not exist on the server. I'm hoping the site is just down temporarily, but I'm afraid they may have gone away.

eAssist · #8 (**permalink**) 03-30-2009

Thanks for the information. I will check that site out myself.

virtual economy · #9 (**permalink**) 04-26-2009

GladysS,

perhaps the site was experience server issues when you visited. I just checked it today and it's up and running!

doddy939 · #10 (**permalink**) 04-26-2009

I also checked out the site today, and it is working just fine.

Dolores

kelli050 · #11 (**permalink**) 06-09-2009

Great! I'm so glad I found this post! I'll also check out the site - My VA business is in the works and I'd really like to add transcription to the list of services I offer. Thanks!

JoCarole · #12 (**permalink**) 06-09-2009

I just saw this thread, I am going to add in transcription to my other services. I used to have a medical transcription job back in the day.

I also have certificates for medical transcription & coding that I took at my local college but never did anything with it. So this post is appreciated.

Jo-Carole

todaysvirtualparalegal · #13 (**permalink**) 06-09-2009

Thank you, MorajB for this information. I checked out the website of Casting Words and it led me to Amazon.com which was fine because I have an account with them. But then I became lost as to what it required next and understanding what to do.??

Deana

lillie · #14 (**permalink**) 06-11-2009

Hi Deana,

I feel your pain; Amazon is not always easy to navigate or understand! But I think I can help you make some sense of it.

First, are you familiar with this special section of Amazon ("Mechanical Turk")? It's different than the Amazon.com that we're most familiar with, which generally sells objects we get delivered to our home. Mechanical Turk is a "marketplace for work" -- basically, companies who have a task that they need done can post it on Mechanical Turk, and then anyone with an Amazon account (such as you and me) can offer to do the task for them in exchange for payment.

Forgive me if you were already familiar with that; but I just want to make sure of it, since not everyone is!

So, secondly, the "Jobs" page on Casting Words has a step-by-step tutorial that you've probably already seen. If you follow the instructions by clicking on the links that they provide, I think it does a pretty good job of taking you through to the final step, where you can browse their jobs and pick one to do. Have you given that a shot?

Good luck! And if you still feel stuck, please just write back and I'll try to help you! I'm going to head over there now and do some, myself, and try some of them out.

Liz

ps. MoragB, thank you *so* much for this info! I want to add transcription to my services, but I'm new to it, so I'm really excited to use Casting Words to get some experience.

todaysvirtualparalegal · #15 (**permalink**) 06-11-2009

Thank you Liz for that info! I only knew Amazon.com as a place to go when I want to purchase books, etc. This is a whole new area for me but I will proceed on and find out more as you instructed. It is so much appreciated!!! I will report back to this thread to let you know how it goes. Thank you.