While typing is no longer offered at most business schools or high schools, it is still a service much in demand. Doctors, lawyers and authors record notes and then seek professionals to help type those notes into legible documents. The formal name for this service is transcribing, and it is easy to get set up as a transcriber. Then you can start making money typing.
Making Money Typing
With the world almost completely online, there is little need for a typewriter, however typing is still a marketable skill. The faster you are able to type, the faster you can share ideas and commit your thoughts to the screen. Using those typing skills to put the thoughts of others in written form is a way to supplement or even replace your current income.
Becoming a Transcriber
To become a transcriber, you have a few options. One is to research and find legitimate companies that already offer this service. There is a steady demand for skilled individuals, and these companies will willingly take on new employees who show commitment to their work. Some may charge a fee for a start-up package. These companies require a bit of extra research to ensure that they are indeed selling you a package and future work, not just taking your money.
Another option to begin making money typing is to approach professionals in your area. Doctors, lawyers, security professionals, authors, police stations and similar locations all might have need of someone to transcribe notes and recordings.
It can be challenging to demonstrate your abilities if you don’t have references, so consider offering your service on a trial basis if potential clients are skirmish. Remember that much of what you are potentially transcribing can have serious legal repercussions, so you should approach the material with the utmost care and understand the skepticism and caution of clients. It might be worthwhile to take a few classes to fine-tune your skills and gain references of instructors.
Once you have established yourself as accurate and trustworthy, be sure to maintain a set of references from past clients. Also ask for referrals to new clients as many in the legal and medical field are closely networked.
Over time you will have established an ongoing client base and steady work. Considering most transcribers make upwards of $30 per hour, you will be very nicely supplementing other income or even completely replacing it by working just a few hours a day.
How to Target Your Market
The number of people who buy products and services is nearly infinite. But the number of people who want and need your product or service is definitely finite.
Trying to market to everyone is a waste of money. So how do you leverage your marketing budget to filter out all the non-buyers and reach your prospects and customers?
You need to target your marketing efforts to those people most likely to buy what you offer. Identifying your target market makes creating, pricing, distributing, promoting, positioning, and continually improving your product or service easier, more successful, and ultimately more cost-effective. Anything else is a waste of time and money.
Target marketing is one of the corporate world's most effective business strategies. Simply defined, a target market is the majority of people your business attracts, either by design (yours) or by accident.
If you don't already know, figure out who buys your product or and service--and why. Develop a picture of your ideal buyer: their demographics and the problems they're trying to solve. (For more about solving your customer's problem, see my article, "Solve Your Customer's Problem.") Then use this information to create a marketing strategy that will attract those ideal customers to you.
