As price Your Home Based Transcription Business

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges in the field of home based transcription is pricing. When you start there's really no standard table or a graph. The nature of a home based business pits you against cheap labor outsourced to India, entrepreneurs in their undies typing on a computer at home, and professionals in brick and mortar offices in the States just to name a few.

Difficult questions must be examined in order to create a fee structure and set prices to be competitive. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the competition? What do your competitors charge? Where you are in your career as a transcript? How many hours do you take to transcribe one hour of audio?

Before considering the possibility of a bid or accepting an offer for transcription work, sit down and transcribe one hour of audio. Time yourself. No need to work continuously - this is one of the advantages of doing it yourself. If you need to get Rufus out for a walk or take the kids to the soccer game, to deduce that the time accordingly. Once you have calculated the number of hours required to complete an hour of transcription, you are ready to create a pricing structure.

On a side note, most transcriptionists use the estimate of three hours to one hour of audio. It is not carved in stone, but it is an excellent guide. You'd be surprised how many people leave 'cold' in the tender selection process. They understand if you type 100-120 words per minute and one hour of audio is about 8000-10000 words, then you are looking at around a 1 hour and a half to complete the project. So, make an offer for something extravagant like $ 60 for a six-hour audio project to rationalize their decision 'is a point of departure'. When reality sets in, deadlines are missed, and money, time and work are canceled. The buyer then pays a premium for a royal scribe to "save" the project, and often disillusioned transcriptionist out of range before they actually still had a chance to start. All this is avoided by a trial transcript. If you're new, do it!

Then, if you are just starting out, it is perfectly acceptable to undercut the competition and the average rate going. In fact I did exactly this when I started my business transcription, www.infoaces.com. We must make it attractive and useful for a buyer to consider their services. You must first work to get yourself established, develop a reputation, and pick up some comments and testimonials. However, no matter how you want the job, make sure it is at least marginally useful for you to do. If you do not want to work for $ 1.00 an hour or less because it is sometimes underestimated the demands of work!

The competition is an important factor. Knowing the competition. Outsourcing in India is booming. Indians will work for pennies on the dollar, and work hard, fast and professional. It 'a big deal for them and their employer. So, what you can do to compete against foreign outsourcing?
While it must be recognized as a wonderful form of competition, when you break it down to the foundation, outsourcing abroad has a difficult time in the field of transcription. The nature of the English language, the nuances, slang, dialects and inflections are often lost to their study on 'Queen's English'. Basically, if your English grammar and vocabulary skills are strong, as to have a beginning transcriber native monumental head over foreign competition. Since it is able to establish a strong product differentiation, superior quality in particular, it will be able to command a higher rate. Your employer only needs to get stung once to learn the lesson from time immemorial, "You get what you pay for." Create your abilities. Pay attention to detail. Making effective proof reading and not just a spell check. Things like this allow you to firmly establish the structure of prices.

The going rate for one hour of individual speaker audio ranges from $ 20 - $ 60. You will find suggestions of employers to accept at all levels throughout this interval. When I started my job I have a price of $ 25/audio hours. It took me almost six hours to transcribe one hour of audio. This is below the minimum wage, but I was happy to oblige. I did it at my leisure, and helped form the basis of my feedback to enable me to grow. After I started to get comfortable and more able, my transcription time dramatically began to fall, and I started having too much work. Here is where it comes into play with Econ 101 supply / demand curves. Raise the price. Grandfather your existing customers and slowly exposes them to a slight increase over time.

The last important factor to consider in pricing is the volume of work. When you get big projects that require the transcription of 40, 60, or 80 hours of audio, it's almost understood there will be some kind of discount incentive for the employer. For example, my current fixed rate is $ 50/audio hours. All my regular customers of long standing are anticipated at $ 45. When I bid for large projects, depending on my current workload, I will offer anywhere from $ 45 to $ 50 per hour audio. This seems to work well, despite the foreign outsourcing deals of $ 15 to $ 20.
In closing, work hard to stand out from the competition. Bargain rates in outsourcing should be examined within the general framework. Be aware of the rates, but recognize that not all things are equal and if you diversify enough, foreign competition, outsourcing may be minimal. Pricing yourself and your activities accordingly, even if you are transcribing away in his pajamas! Do not hesitate to email me questions, comments, recommendations, suggestions or other. I love success stories. Leona www.infoaces.com ......