How long to wait before marketing transcription services?

[LaGraves]

Hello. I am new to the VA Forum. I am about to launch my own VA business and would like to offer General Transcription as one of the services. I have never transcribed before. I have downloaded Express Scribe and have done a small amount of practicing. How long should I wait before I actually market this as a service? Should I go by my level of comfort?

[bridiej]

I'm wondering why, if you've never done it before, you want to offer it as a service?

For one thing, transcription is highly skilled - you need practice, practice, practice. I'd suggest taking work from large transcription companies as a first step.

Secondly, it's a lot like Marmite - you either love it or hate it, there's no inbetween. Again, I'd suggest taking work from large transcription companies to make sure that you enjoy it.

It seems to me transcription gets looked on as "just something I can do while I build my business up" whereas in fact it's as highly skilled as a lot of other VA services. After all, would you offer Wordpress website building as a service if you'd never done it before?

Sorry, bit of a bugbear of mine...!

[eXPERT Business Support]

I agree with Bridie. When starting out with your business, so that you can give your clients the best possible service, you may want to consider offering only those services that you are highly skilled in.

If you have not transcribed a lot, follow Bridie's advice and sign up with a large transcription company to get yourself going. You will learn a lot, pick up your typing speed, and discover if you like it or not. Like Bridie, I love transcription. I love putting people's thoughts and their spoken words into written form. But it is a skill.

And then it all depends on the type of transcription you would do. If a client has simple letters or memos that he/she has dictated and wants them transcribed, yes, that is a piece of cake (most of the time). But if you are going to try to take on interviews, focus groups, etc., that might result in you giving up because those can be nearly impossible even for highly experienced transcribers.

So good luck -- and don't give up on your dreams. Be realistic though with what you can offer your clients and follow Bridie's advice. She has been doing this for a long time, and she knows what she's talking about!

[LaGraves]

Thanks so much for your advice. I will continue to practice and hopefully this will be something that I will be able to market in the future.

[CustomVA]

There are a couple of forums and groups dedicated to transcription and helping "newbies" as yourself. Not sure if it is okay to post a link to them but if you PM I would be glad to provide that information to you. These groups were great resources and provided lots of support for me when I first started out providing transcription services.

[Business-Bytes]

Hello. I am new to the VA Forum. I am about to launch my own VA business and would like to offer General Transcription as one of the services. I have never transcribed before. I have downloaded Express Scribe and have done a small amount of practicing. How long should I wait before I actually market this as a service? Should I go by my level of comfort?

For general transcription practice, you might find this post helpful for ideas on what you could use to practice and that have the transcribed "notes" to see how accurate you were. Here's the link here at VAF.

Also note that most businesses that hire transcribers have a format that they have and will provide you.

Hope this helps, because practice, practice, practice is the key as mentioned by Bridie.

[LaGraves]

I am new to the forum, therfore I am unable to PM at this time. I would love to have the link so that I can continue practicing my transcription. I really appreciate all of the replies.

[Business-Bytes]

I am new to the forum, therfore I am unable to PM at this time. I would love to have the link so that I can continue practicing my transcription. I really appreciate all of the replies.

Just click on the word 'link' I included in my post to go to the post for practice "stuff." That is the actual link to the post.

Here's where it is found in the text in that post: "Here's the link here at VAF." (Or click it here, because it will work in this post, too.)

Did that help - or about as clear as mud?

[The Perfect Word]

I agree that transcription is a highly skilled, especially verbatim transcription. And some people hate it; some love it. (Bridie, a bugbear of mine, too.)

That said, although I did have transcription experience before starting my business, it was very little. And my business plan was to offer administrative support. But my first transcription client's work was very easy with no difficult terminology, it was not verbatim. He spelled things and told me when he wanted a new paragraph even! That client is pretty much what changed my business path from administrative support to transcription.