Bye-Bye 2020 - here's hoping our paths never cross again

I first met you on the first of January a year ago.

It was a pleasant meet - even optimistic.

It was hopeful and filled with promises.

Everyone was cheering us on

Everyone was on our side.

However the cracks soon appear

I did my best to hold on to our dreams

However my efforts were all in vain.

You went ahead and ripped my heart wide open

You kept killing me every day 

And I kept dying a million deaths

Now, I can't find any excuses for you

I have to get real and straight with my folks

I have to say goodbye.

Hope we never meet again

Hope our paths never cross again! 

My Biggest Frustration

For years now I've been trying to find an affordable and easy to use transcription management platform, but to no avail.  This has been my biggest frustration.

I've tried scores of project management portals and softwares trying to fit them to my need.  However, all of them fail to satisfy me or make a good alternative to my simple Excel sheet.

True, there are these big enterprise level transcription management platforms and portals.  But these cost tens of thousands of dollars, money I could not afford at this stage.

Examples of What I Like

I am not alone.  Most transcription companies don't get it right either.  Like myself, they've cobbled together a number of solutions to accept files from clients and payments from clients via their website.  However, they simply miss the client self-service portal.

Transcription companies like Rev and TranscribeMe got everything right, in my humble opinion.  The problem is these are big companies backed by institutional investors pouring millions.  I, on the other hand, am bootstrapping my service.

Plug and Play Transcription Platform

Plug and play.  Yes, that's the key to making thousands of transcribers' lives easier.  I wish we have a platform like Blogger or WordPress for blogs where you can simply sign up and get a business-ready transcription website.

By business-ready transcription website, I mean a website for freelance transcribers with easy to build forms that allow uploading of media files, a simple project management tool and also invoice and payment capability, etc.   Simply stated, a CRM, project management and marketing platform built into one platform is what I've always wanted.

Such a platform will allow thousands of transcribers around the world to start their own freelance businesses and gain their freelance from employment.  It will allow married ladies to work from home while caring for their babies and families.  It will allow people like myself to bootstrap their businesses without investing a fortune.

How can you provide more value to a business?

Every b2b strives hard to provide value to customers. As a service provider to other businesses, my transcription business is on the quest to serve better and delivery value to our customers. So questions like, how can we improve our processes, how can we deliver more value to our customers, how can we provide more competitive service rates are some of the questions we ask ourselves on a daily basis. We know we deliver value and that's why our customers come to us again and again and use our services. But how do we improve our services to improve the value our customers get? Here's some of the areas we're working on constantly. We are reducing our response time. We notice that replying to a query or an email as soon as possible is valuable. It reminds your prospects and customers that you are responsive and care to be there for them. Improving the time lag between client order and us getting the projects under process. This is very important. We want to be able to get our customers' projects under process as soon as possible. We target 30 minutes. So within 45 minutes, we should be able to tell our customers that their projects are already under process and not left hanging in there or lined up in our line of production. We want to let them know we are working on their projects right away. What do you think? Are we in the right track?

Quick Tips to Record Interviews and Telephone Conversations for Transcription

Tips on how to record interviews for transcription from Carey Suante

How To Use Transcription To Maximize Your Online Income and Sales

Digital content strategy for online marketers to optimize reach & income from Carey Suante

Principles of Excellent Word Processing Companies

Excellent transcription services are flexible and versatile from Carey Suante

Reliable and cost-effective transcription open for new customers in 2014

TranscriptionPRO is now open for new customers for 2014.

One of the most reliable and effective transcription service provider, TranscriptionPRO, is open to provide you the best transcription services.

Professionals that need transcription services on a daily basis are welcome to contact Carey to discuss their requirement.

Partnership & Collaboration: The Best Business Strategy

Building something from scratch always takes time and effort.

Ever since building my transcription business my focus has always been building my own relationships and clientele.  While that is a wise strategy, it has never been easy.

In the transcription outsourcing world where reputation and brand recognition plays a vital role, its an uphill battle for my unknown agency.

Five years after daring to dream big, I'm yet to connect with a law firm much less build a relationship!  However, things began to change once I started connecting with court reporting agencies.

Court reporters are authorised transcribers legally required to record and transcribe court hearings and proceedings.  And since qualified reporters are in short suppy (therefore in high demand) they always require assistance with transcription.

Just weeks after announcing "partnership"programs with court reporters and agencies we have now started building collaborating with not one but two agencies already.

While court reporting agencies are not our initial ideal clients, we need them to find our footing in the industry and for our stability and growth.

We provide superior verbatim transcription to court reporters so they can also grow their business and increase their production while improving their efficiency.

It's a win-win.  The perfect criteria for partnership and collaboration.

It also, in a way, depicts the reality of the increasingly unitary economy we operate in.  Collaboration by building good relationships is key to stability and growth in business.

Do you do online marketing for your business?

If you haven't started marketing your business online, you might be losing out on a lot of revenue already.

Online marketing for your business can be as simple as blogging or maintaining a Facebook page or Linkedin profile.

For any business not to be found online can have negative impact on your brand. However small your brand or business, it is absolutely essential to be online. Every prospect that looked you up online and cannot find you is an opportunity lost for your business.

The least you can do is to list your business on list sites that cater to your industry or niche.

Google Local is an excellent listing service that is free of cost. It will help your business being found locally.

Apart from these basic online marketing tactics, you may even try advertising online using programs like Google Adwords or other PPC programs. Of course, these are not free, but can be used by any business with even very small marketing budgets.

So, start your online campaign today to beat your competition and be where your customers and prospects are looking for you.

About the author: Carey Suante is an accomplished transcriber who turned a transcription blog into a business thanks to internet. He serves hundred of clients via his website, TranscriptionPRO.net.

Transcription Workflow Management Software

Do you use any transcription workflow management software?

I've been using Scribemanager as my online workflow tool. Workflow tool simply means that its used for client uploading and management of jobs available.

Although it's not perfect it still gets the work done.

Right now I'm sharing my thoughts on transcription workflow tool with a developer who is working on a transcription workflow tool.

What are your thoughts on workflow management for transcription? What features are useful and how does your ideal workflow management look like?

It's NOT Always FUN

Providing and running a transcription service is not always fun.

It's like any other business.  It has its ups and downs.

Sometimes the audio recordings are so bad all you hear is static.  Sometimes the deadlines are so unrealistic they give you ulcers.

Sometimes you have to deal with disgruntled transcribers who couldn't care less about you or the clients.

And then there are clients who pay a month late and some who don't pay at all.

So why do it at all?

I guess its true that some people are meant to do somethings and thats what it is for me.

I love transcribing and running a business. 

Inspite of all the trouble there are the perks: extra cash, being a business owner rather than just being an employee, the act of serving other individuals and businesses and interacting with them. I love it. Priceless.

The big picture is I'm doing my bit.

While TranscriptionPRO is still far from being considered a success.  It is still successful in giving me the chance to prove myself.

I'm living the life I wanted to. And thats enough.

Online transcription projects: Communication is Key

One of the hurdles (and advantages) of running an online transcription service is that all your transcribers are in different time zones. Some are 5 hours behind you and some are 3 hours advanced.

Managing transcription projects can be a big problem in such situation.  It's therefore a must to have constant and clear communication to and fro.

This often means emailing to and fro multiple transcribers multiple times a day.

Deadlines and relevant information must be communicated and reminded from time to time.

It's a must for transcribers to update their managers the status of their work at least once a day.

If there's any problem with the transcription, that has to be reported as soon as possible.

Nothing should be left to chance or even worse, assumed. Any doubt or confusion with regards template, client instructions and any other detail must be conveyed instantly.

It's also useful and can save time to mention whether a particular transcript needs editing or not, when submitting your final transcript to your manager.

While working on online transcription projects is fun and rewarding it can be rather challenging at times.

Communication is key to succesful transcription projects.

What's your experience like running online transcription projects?

What to blog about as a lawyer or a law firm

2013 will be a year of content marketing aka blogging (and its cousin, social media).

The effectiveness and value of blogging cannot be overstated.

If not for blogging I, for one, will not have a business.  Think about that!

Blogging has become a favorite and often necessary tool to market a business.  It's affordable and easy to implement.  However most lawyers and law firms are still groping in the dark.  They simply don't know what to write about and share on their blawgs!

Below are my suggestions to lawyers and law firms.

• Share your success stories.  

If you're a good lawyer with some repute I'm sure you must have a few success stories to share. Sharing such success stories will build your credibility.

• Share the latest happenings in the legal field.  

This may include conferences, new updates on certain laws and regulations. Or, what's happening around your practice.

• Showcase your expertise.

Write and publish case studies and by commenting and weighing in on current legal issues pertaining to your field of practice.

• Show 'em you care

Show people you care by addressing their concerns and answering their questions without expecting them to hire your right away.  Build connections and nurture leads by being human.  We trust people who care, deeply.

These are just a few examples.  I'm sure once you start blogging you will find it easier and perhaps might even enjoy.

About the author:  Carey Suante is the founder of TranscriptionPRO Services, one of the fastest growing professional transcription services providers.  If you want to write to him, just send an email to carey AT transcriptionpro.net

3 Reasons Indian Transcription Companies (Often) Fail

India is one of the earliest transcription outsourcing destinations in the world.

A number of large companies from the transcription and voice recognition space did set up back offices to take advantage of strategic resources.

However, most Indian transcription companies fail or are just about surviving with only a handful of clients and employees.

Why?

#1.  Over emphasis on competitive pricing.

The very reason transcription services is outsourced to India is killing the industry.

Because of competitive pricing transcription companies are forced to recruit from the cheapest labors they can find.  Which often means you have transcribers who are better suited for other things working for Indian transcription companies.

They simply could not attract the talent to sustain the competitive nature of transcription business.
Indian transcription companies should learn to assert themselves not just with the cost aspect but with quality and results.

Instead of having cheap transcription rates Indian transcription providers should focus on quality output and efficiency.

Being cheap is not enough.  Quality empowers everyone.

#2.  Archaic transcription management

Most Indian transcription companies follow a two-level process: TC-ing (typing out first draft) and QC-ing (proofing).

While this two-level method of transcription may sound good to most customers and is often just a value proposition. It's hampering growth.  Not only does this practice devours the man-hours of Indian transcription companies and thereby reduces margins, it also creates a group of transcribers (TC) who are made to think inferior, paid less and less valued.  Worst, these group of transcribers do produce inferior quality transcripts. Therefore, inefficiency creeps into the business crippling growth.

#3.  Management who don't transcribe

Since most transcribers in India ARE  NOT from the most prestigious schools and colleges they often lack spoken and written English skills.  And they are most often from small towns and villages.

The management on the other hand are often fron affluent background with good education.  They therefore do not transcribe but manage the transcription companies.

This often creates misunderstanding and miscommunication.  Management has no understanding of the transcription work and the transcribers.

Conclusion

Inspite of India being a major outsourcing destination Indian transcription industry is in need of a serious rethinking and change.

Indian transcription companies need to change the way they work.

Transcribers of the highest caliber are required to produce high quality transcripts.  There is no more room for substandard transcription services.

Author - Carey Suante is the founder and owner of TranscriptionPRO Services. 

Small Business BIG Dreams

Around six years ago I had a dream.

A dream to start my freelance transcription business on the side, while working fulltime.

That small seed planted without waiting for the right time, enough money and adequate resources is alive and kicking.

It has earned twice my fulltime salary a couples of times and may even do x6 in 2013, I hope anyway!!

This small business is my BIG dream.

The BIG dream is to build a business that's big enough for me to hire employees and can support my family and some.

It may not be long before it's registered as a company with fulltime management and staff!!

This is indeed a GIGANTIC dream for a pastor's son like me.

Takeaway - Dream BIG; DO IT!!

Excellent Indian Transcriber for Hire

Looking for an experienced and talented expert transcriber in India? Or, perhaps in New Delhi?

If you are, you're in luck 'coz I happen to be available to help you.

Whether it's to start a transcription business or help you train and develop your transcribers, I can help you.

I've worked as a trancriber fulltime since May of 2005.  I've worked with best transcription company in New Delhi and also at one of the biggest companies in the world!

I've also been running my own freelance transcription business on the side for over 2-3 years using content marketing alone!

My side business some months make me twice as much as my fulltime job!

So in a way, I know the ins and outs of a transcription business.

If you're open-minded and need help whether on the transcription front or on the business/marketing side of your transcription business contact me to revive or better your bottomline.

Perhaps all you need is a better workforce - training transcribers in English grammar can work wonders on a mediocre team of transcribers.

Perhaps all your transcribers' need is someone who understand their world and implement change in behavior and culture.

Consult with the best transcriber in the business and profit from my experience and practical advice today.

Transcription in Wordle

Looking for a Professional Transcription Service?

Are you looking for a professional transcription service to help with any transcription task or project you may have?

Well, if you are, I'm now offering professional transcription services on my website TranscriptionPRO.net. Do give us a visit!

We, at TranscriptionPRO Services, provide affordable professional transcription services. We're a team of professional transcribers from US, India, Kenya, Malaysia and Philippines. We have a dedicated online transcription workflow management system that is easy to use and secure.

Our customers are really happy with the quality of our transcripts and have been recommending to their friends and partners.

We know that there are transcription companies and freelance transcribers out there who are charging close to $200 per audio hour and more. However, we keep our cost down and give our clients and customers an affordable rate of $75 per audio hour! We're simply one of the most affordable transcription companies online. Our transcription rate is so low sometimes I feel like I should at least make it $150 per audio hour. However, we are happy to help individuals like you who want to save cost and get professional transcription services.

Visit us at www.TranscriptionPRO.net to get a free quote and get your transcription done professionally.

---

If you liked this article, please share it on Facebook, StumbleUpon or Twitter. I’d appreciate it. :)

---

Test post

7GYMHX2WPJSJ This is a test post. IGNORE IT...