What Are the Best Tips for Freelance Transcription?

When a person works as a freelance transcriptionist, there is no boss to tell him when to work or urge him toward completing his assignments on time. As such, some of the best tips for freelance transcription are those that recommend creating a schedule and sticking to it, avoiding distractions, and finding ways to stay motivated. Other helpful tips include those that address employment — finding reliable sources for job postings, checking job postings regularly, and working with more than one client at a time. Tips that address marketing one's business and keeping proper business records can be helpful as well.

One of the most helpful tips for freelance transcription is to find places to look for work and check them regularly. As a freelancer, a person cannot depend on an employer to always keep him busy with enough work to pay his bills. Clients come and go, and even a steady client may sometimes have less transcription work available for a period of time. To avoid having a financial crisis if something goes wrong with a client, an individual may do well to maintain more than one contract at a time. This means he can still earn money if he loses a client, even as he seeks a replacement.

Some of the places a person can look for freelance transcription work include online job boards, bidding sites, and forums that focus on transcription. An individual might occasionally find ads for freelancers in the classified section of a local newspaper as well. Additionally, an individual may do well to send direct mail marketing packages to businesses he believes might need his services. He can even try cold calling as a way to drum up business.

Often, the best tips for freelance transcription include those focused on understanding that freelancing is a business. When a person works as a freelancer, he is usually responsible for keeping his own records, billing his own clients, setting prices, handling client problems, and making sure he has enough work to meet his unique financial needs. As such, it is important to start out with a business plan as well as a plan for staying organized. Each week, a person who chooses to run a freelance transcription business may do well to review his plans and determine what is working and what isn't. This way, he can adjust his business plan on an as-needed basis.