Some advice on audio transcription

[HopelesslyHopeful87]

I'm looking for some advice on my difficulties at setting up as an audio transcriptionist.

I have six years' experience as a medical secretary and have lots of experience with audio transcribing. I fell pregnant unexpectedly and left my job and set up as self-employed. I hadn't been there long enough to receive any maternity benefits as I'd recently moved jobs and the pay was terrible and with a fourth child on the way the childcare would have eaten all of my wage anyway.

So, I set up. Got on People Per Hour. Secured two clients straight away with whom I am still working. i am a good, quick, accurate typist with great research skills and for the first three months made a steady income almost equal to, if not more than, what I earned as employed. Great, I thought, i have time to improve that and increase it.

However, PPH have shut down my account and expect me to now pay for it just because one of these clients was too techno-phobic to leave me feedback and now I'm being penalised. She was happy with my work and I've got the emails to prove it and we still work together but PPH don't see that side of it. I cant afford to pay PPH £14 a month for the pleasure of bidding myself against the world and to pay their 25% fees is a big hit.

I have signed up to Rev and am getting work from them but it's not enough to make a living. The clients I have send me regular work but i still have lots of time in a day where I'm not doing anything and just searching and searching for work.

A lot of posts I've read advise people to pitch directly to clients as opposed to using freelance sites but I don't even know where to being on that one! I've applied to transcription companies such as Stirling and Accuro but haven't heard anything back as yet. I have also applied to Dict8 but because I am 'general medical' they aren't interested.

i feel completely defeated this week. Work has been slow and quiet and I've made a grand total of £24 despite hours and hours of looking for work.

I really need some advice on how to grow a client base. The job itself I'm good at and I can do it and I'm good at the bookkeeping side of a business. I just don't know how to market myself. Lots of people have recommended starting a blog and running it alongside the business but who wants to read a blog about typing interviews!? And if i get more clients i wont have time to sit and write blog posts anyway.

I'm lost and need some help. Thanks.

I've worked with PPH for years and I've never heard the like of what you describe!

Feedback or lack of it doesn't incur a monthly charge.

Were you making a massive amount of cash on there?

No not at all. i secured one job on there and completed it, got paid, left feedback, received feedback. all great.

then i looked for more work, secured some but the client wasnt tech savvy and needed talking through the process on Escrow deposits etc. the work was completed and i left her feedback and she still gives me work now (done privately now). i requested her to leave me feedback and then close the thread of work but she couldnt understand how (!) so it never got done.

Now, apparently i didnt get enough good feedback so now i have to pay £13.95 a month for the privelege of using the site. it isnt the first time they messed me about to be honest. with the second job i secured they refused to let me withdraw funds even though a week previous when i did the first job it was fine. after a few emails back and forth it got sorted but it left a sour taste.

ive had a good source of work since then and not needed to use it but now it's slowed back down i thought i'd pop back over and see what's out there but they told me now i cant even log in because of that issue with feedback.

Get onto their facebook and PM them...they're quite responsive. What you describe sounds really odd. I've worked for them personally and haven't heard about this charge at all!

I have posted on their FB and also sent them enquiries via their site to try and get this lifted so i can source work but i seem to be being ignored. Hence my thread here begging for advice on how else to get work.

Bump

Never heard of that one. I've put 40K through PPH in three years, not always received feedback, but have seen no info on paying monthly to use the site. Weird.

I complained multiple times across multiple platforms and they have lifted the charge so I can use the site for free but only until December. I have to secure a certain amount of jobs and get feedback on each else it will go back to having to pay again!

That's a really crazy way to do business, effectively driving people away.

What is the amount of jobs you need to secure before Christmas? After that does it give you free rein to just remain there and work whenever?

I've noticed it's all rather quiet on there recently. Not a fantastic amount in the way of audio typing - and what there has been seems to be awarded to the lowest bidder rather than experienced professional.

Try sifting out the successful people and see if their website is listed on their profiles, then try and contact them privately and sell yourself. Not ideal, but worth a shot.

I've stopped using PPH over the last 6 months or more because I kept getting emails from obvious charlatans and I got tired of it.

People wanting an "amazing script" for a viral video for two hundred quid and so forth.

Nope!

There is a LOT of demand 'out there' for your skills. Many businesses are using using video and lots of them want a transcription of their videos. I don't know how different that would be from audio transcription - not much, I think?

If I were you, I'd make a website, if you don't already have one and start finding FB pages where lots of 'mumpreneurs' and especially coaches hang out. They're all doing video. Start getting known, and ask if you can advertise your business there.

Worth a shot!

However, PPH have shut down my account and expect me to now pay for it just because one of these clients was too techno-phobic to leave me feedback and now I'm being penalised.

Sorry, but echoing pp... i do a £1000 or so pm on pph and don't know what you're talking about.

So:
You bid for a job at x rate/price
Client accepted
Paid requested amount into escrow
Did work
Issued invoice
Client paid
Optional: feedback

Where in tge stages above did things go wrong, and what specifically happened?

I'm not sure it's within pph policy for you to have taken further work from this client and not run it through pph, but otherwise I don't understand the issue.

Hummus I also wondered if they'd got wind of her working for the client on her own terms and not through them.

Mrs - yes, and possibly pph now want their share of the money she earned doing that in order to allow her to use pph again?? Not a clue otherwise. I've always found their support team very good and I'm an, er, assertive seller.

Me too! I've been off them lately because I got quite busy with other stuff but during my time with them, I found them a good source of work in general.

I do get annoyed at the "start ups" who have "tonnes of work to offer in the future" and want me to write them award winning scripts for ten pence and a burger though.

I do get annoyed at the "start ups" who have "tonnes of work to offer in the future" and want me to write them award winning scripts for ten pence and a burger though. grin

I write CVs on there (mainly) - very good ones, if I say so myself . Companies doing this charge £200+ for my kind of service; I charge between £45 and £90 depending.

I still get people inviting me to bid on a job with a fixed price of £10/who respond to my proposals asking for that kind of price. I've adopted the standard wording, "My fee reflects my skills and experience in this field and is not negotiable."

In other words, fuck off to the far side etc!

Especially when it's the kind of work where you really do want someone using coherent English and paying attention to detail!

Sorry to derail OP, mrs and I clearly need to equivalent of a water cooler .

No you're absolutely fine. Go for it!

To answer the question of where is went wrong, it didn't. You're exactly right, I sent a proposal, got accepted, did work, got paid etc etc.

Did it again, two or three times. There is no way that they know that I'm working privately for the clients I've found.

I didn't log on for a month maybe and then when I did it said that because I didn't get enough feedback I don't reflect their excellent level of workmanship and if I want to continue I need to secure 2 more before a certain date.

I've never heard of it. So anyway I've kicked up a fuss and it's been lifted for 2 months so I've got until 11th Dec to get more feedback else it will revert to me having to pay a subscription fee.