Category: Secretarial Business at Home Tips

Many valuable tips to show you how to work faster, smarter and more efficiently.

Secretarial, typing and transcription jobs you can do at home – Part 3 of 4: Jobs 30 through 43

In Parts 1 through 3 of this four-part article, I list the various types of work I’ve actually done. In Part 4, I list the types of customers you can expect to receive work from.

The type of equipment, computer programs, experience and pricing the job are all covered in the chapters of my upcoming books, How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service and Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Shortcuts. Estimated publication as ebooks and printed publications late in 2018 or 2019.

Regarding the references below to call-in dictation, in one of the chapters of both of my books Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Shortcuts and How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Secretarial Service From Home, I go into detail regarding what is required and how to set up a call-in dictation line using your phone, your computer and an inexpensive computer program that answers the phone and records the call up to five hours in WAV format that can be transcribed using a free computer transcription program.

Part 3 of this 4-part series: Jobs 30 through 43

30.  Radio/TV shows and newscasts: I’ve had several customers who had radio and/or TV programs. One was a husband and wife team who had a weekly marriage counseling radio program. They recorded their shows and wanted them transcribed so they could write a book containing some of the questions and answers that were called in.

If you have ever watched any of the newscasts or news talk shows like MSNBC, CNN, FOX and others, I’m sure you’ve seen comments made by various people during interviews, debates, talk shows, speeches etc. shown on the screen while the recording or video of that person talking is displayed. The typed version of what is being said is transcribed and shown for clarification. Sometimes the newscaster will read the comments instead. This can be very lucrative work.

31.  Resumes: Word has templates for Resumes or you can purchase a low-cost computer program that contains various layouts. You then fill in the blanks.

32.  Scan & Save Pictures and Documents to CD or DVD: This is a service you might want to offer your customers as well. Offer to give them three copies of the CD to keep in various places. I usually charged a nominal fee per CD or DVD to cover the cost of the disc, the label, and the time to design the label and copy material to the disc.

33.  Scan and/or enhance photographs and other images: If you teach yourself how to do this, it comes in handy when typing manuscripts, designing book covers and all other documents where a customer needs this done.

34.  Scanning of typed documents to be converted to text: This type of work requires the use of a special program. You can actually scan multiple pages using the program then edit and convert the files to a text document that can be changed or edited by you or your customer. This type of job is also very lucrative. One job will more than pay for the cost of the computer program used to do this type of conversion. Several jobs were scanning of typed copies of manuscripts that had been typed that needed to be converted to a computer file for editing then publishing.

35.  Seminars and Workshops: I’ve transcribed seminars for Hospice of the Florida Suncoast and Metropolitan Charities in Pinellas County, Florida and for various authors, financial services agents and real estate agents.

This type of transcribed/typed material is used to write books on the subjects covered in the workshop or seminar or to add to their next seminar or workshop.

With the advent of YouTube, many of these people film their seminars and/or workshops to post on YouTube. The transcribed audio is then posted below the YouTube video and/or used as material for books or articles online in their blog or web sites.

36.  Sermons: You might receive calls from ministers or preachers of churches who record their sermons or Bible study groups and want them transcribed so they can print and distribute their sermons or Bible studies to people who weren’t able to attend.

37.  Speeches: You may receive a request to transcribe a speech. These are easy to do provided the speaker speaks clearly and there is minimal background noise. The problems you may face and how to deal with them are outlined in one of the chapters in both of my books.

38.  Surveys: Survey jobs can either be recorded telephone interviews to be transcribed, filled in forms, or handwritten reports. One of my customers was a Marine Surveyor who surveyed the damage done to boats by accidents, storms, and/or hurricanes. I set up a template with the various items he would report on for his customers and the insurance companies he reported to. He would call in to my business dictation phone line and dictate the information to be typed in the form. I’ve also done two-person recorded telephone interviews for a research company who did recorded telephone surveys for pharmaceutical companies.

39.  Telephone Conference Calls: You may be asked to set up and/or record a Board of Directors meeting or some other type of conference call which you would then transcribe into Meeting Minutes after.

40.  Term Papers and Theses for college students: This type of work will require that you understand the various styles and formats required of the college. Most colleges require the APA style of writing. You can download helpful articles from the internet on the various styles. I have URL’s of these sites in Appendix A of my book How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service. If you plan to go into this kind of work, I highly recommend you purchase the latest versions of The Chicago Manual of Style and The Turabian Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

41.  Video Lessons: There are music businesses that produce and sell video DVD’s or CD’s with lessons on how to play a particular instrument. You could receive a job request from a customer who will want the lessons transcribed into text.

Example: Two different customers purchased online video lessons sites that were already up and running. Unfortunately, they did not have the lessons in text form. Everything was online in the video. They hired me to download the videos and transcribe the audio portion.

42.  Video Taping: This type of work requires a camcorder. You might get calls for this type of work or you can offer it to the right customer. It does pay well. One of my regular customers was the head of a condo association. They needed someone to video tape their annual association meetings for legal purposes then have the audio transcribed to create Meeting Minutes. I charged by the hour for the recording plus the cost for the transcription.

43.  Web sites: You could attract some lucrative business by learning how to post articles in blogs or web sites. Create a web site and a blog for yourself then use what you’ve learned to do this for customers.

Part 4, Types of Customers You Can Receive Work From is next.

Food for thought: “Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts.” (This is the secret of success. Swami Sivananda)

**************************

Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Secretarial, typing and transcription jobs you can do at home – Part 2 of 4: Jobs 15 through 29

Welcome to Part 2 of this four-part series where I list most of the jobs you can do at home using just your computer, a printer/scanner, and a few specialized computer programs.

In Parts 1 through 3, I list the various types of work I’ve actually done with exampls. In Part 4, I list the types of customers.

Brief descriptions of the various kinds of jobs, equipment, computer programs, and experience necessary as well as how to price the jobs are all covered in chapters of my upcoming books, How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service and Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Shortcuts.

In these books, I also cover advertising, promotion, and the market you want to reach.  For more information regarding what will be in the books, click on the link above.

Regarding the references to call-in dictation, in one of the chapters of both of my books I go into detail regarding what is required and how to set up a call-in dictation line using your phone, your computer and an inexpensive computer program that answers the phone and records the call up to five hours in WAV format that can be transcribed using a free computer transcription program.

Now on to jobs 15 through 29.

15.  Internet Online Lessons: There are more and more internet sites with interactive lessons on everything from learning how to use specific computer programs, learning how to write a novel, to studying for a college degree. I’ve had several of these site owners contact me to record the voices from the online lessons to cassette tapes and transcribe them. One of my customers taught music lessons. I transcribed the audio for guitar lessons and several other instruments. I also transcribed the audio portion of an online course on First Aid for training people studying to be paramedics.

16.  Internet Web Site Design: This is a specialized service that pays well. However, you must learn the newest and latest version of the internet protocol language. There are many great manuals you can purchase to learn VML, HTML, PHP, Java and other internet programing languages. This takes training in graphics design as well.

There are specialized computer programs that help with the initial layout and codes. You might also have to purchase an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program in order to upload the finished web site. Internet Web Site Design work is a specialty that pays well, once you’ve learned how to do it, but be aware, it takes time. There are classes you can take to learn, or you could just type the initial text portion and leave the design work to a professional.

17.  Interviews: I would estimate this type of work counted for at least 45 percent or more of my business. I received many requests to transcribe interviews that were either done in person, over the telephone, in a video, or in an internet video such as YouTube or a video lessons site.

The recorded interviews might be with accident victims for insurance claims or Workman’s Compensations claims or accident witness statements. Interviews can also be in the form of question and answer surveys. The interviews can be one person interviewing another, a conference call with three or more people or may involve an interpreter because several of the people involved do not speak English.

You could receive the recorded sound or video files on cassette tape (standard, mini, VHS or Mini-DV tapes), in WAV or other sound file format by email. Large sound or video files can be uploaded to an internet cloud site with a link email to you for downloading.

18.  Invoicing: Many small business owners or self-employed people need their invoices typed and mailed to customers and don’t have the space or the income to warrant hiring a part or full-time employee. They may need other typing or transcription work done as well such as their correspondence, a manual or a catalog. Sub-contracting the work is also a way to avoid all of the book work involved with hiring an employee.

19.  Legal Documents: You probably won’t get many calls for this type of work because Legal Transcription is a “certified” skill much like Medical Transcription or Court Reporter.

However, you may get calls from self-employed attorneys working at home who need legal briefs or other correspondence typed or from individuals who are involved in a law suit and need documents typed.

I received work from a Professional Arbitrator who arbitrated labor disputes. I have also received request to type and/or transcribe rental agreements or contracts from individuals who rent property.

This type of recording is usually fairly straight forward and easy. Specific information on transcribing legal documents will be in both of my books.

20.  Mail Merge: This type of work requires knowledge of spreadsheets (I prefer Microsoft Excel) as well as Microsoft Word. I’ve done this type of work for real estate agents, financial services agents, condo associations, and many others. This type of work can range from data input only to merging into a form letter, printing, folding, stuffing, and mailing. You may even be asked to print the envelopes. This could include flyers, postcards, and/or labels.

21.  Manuscripts for Novels, Journals, Poems, Short Stories, Reference Books: There are many people who have written memoirs, journals, poems, and/or stories about their family or personal experiences, short stories, or fiction and want them transcribed or typed from printed, handwritten material, or dictated to either cassette tapes or in digital sound files.

One of my customers took several years to write a reference book of famous artists who lived in the State of Florida. This book included the insertion of many color photographs. Another woman wrote about her entire family complete with photographs. Both of these books ended up containing several hundred pages printed on both sides.

These jobs are more complex in that they require special formatting for publication as well as perhaps even scanning pictures and/or documents and graphics for inclusion in the books.

You may need to refer to a professional for help regarding book cover designs, graphics, editing, and proof reading. This type of work can be time-consuming but very rewarding financially. I’ve added some of my tips and suggestions for this type of work in my book.

For in-depth information regarding the proper formatting of a book for publication there are many informative sites on the internet or books on the subject. I’ve added some of these web site addresses on the Web Site page in Appendix A of my book, How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Secretarial From Home.

Once you’ve established a relationship with an author and they are happy with your work, you could have a repeat customer with new books to be transcribed/typed and formatted then published each year.

22.  Manuals: When businesses are purchased by new owners, many times the new owners want to change the manual to reflect the new business name and change some or many of the procedures. However, they don’t have a computer file for the manual; all they have is a printed copy. They need the manual in text form (usually in Microsoft Word) so they can periodically update it. They may want to change the company name and/or add their own logo.

You can either quote them a price to type it from scratch or offer to scan and convert the document to a text document that can be saved in Word format and edited provided you have a scan-and-covert to text program. Scan and convert to text work is covered in one of the chapters of my book.

Other times you may be asked to type a manual either from typed or handwritten material. This kind of work lends itself well to building a regular relationship with the customer when it comes time to update the manual.

Although this doesn’t occur often, you may be asked to scan images i.e. photographs, graphs, etc. as illustrations in the manual so be sure you know how to scan and insert these items into a Word document or you could lose out on what could potentially be a lucrative job. In my book, I go into detail regarding scanning software and graphic editing programs and how to use them. I add URL’s to sites where you can download for free or purchase software programs, tutorials you can download for free and/or manuals with tips on using the various programs.

23.  Mass Mailing: Mass Mailing via the U. S. Postal Service entails the actual mailing of documents once the documents have been printed. After you have done a Mail Merge job for a customer, they may ask you to print, stuff the envelopes, then affix labels, seals, stamps, and mail them. In my book, I show how to charge for the various parts of this type of work.

24.  Mass Emailing: A customer may ask you to send out material he dictates to you on a regular basis. The email can be monthly sales ads, advice on a particular subject, or updates regarding an association. The list is endless and may either be provided to you or you may be asked to transcribe it. You might even be asked to do some research for the customer on material to be inserted into the newsletter.

25.  Meeting Minutes: Condo, apartment, or mobile home park home owners associations need the minutes of their annual meeting transcribed and saved for legal purposes. They may also need updates to their bylaws typed.

One of my customers, The City of St. Pete Beach, Florida, found me in the local Yellow Book phone directory. Another customer who found my secretarial service business online was The City of Birchwood Village, Minnesota. I transcribed the minutes of their monthly city council meetings after downloading the video-taped meetings from the internet.

This type of work is a bit different than straight typing. The customer should give you information regarding exactly what format to be used for the minutes. More detailed information on this will be in my book.

26.  Newsletters by mass email: This is another type of work that can be regular and lucrative. Customer dictate to you what they want in the newsletter. You transcribe it and send it out to a pre-determined group of people by email. You could be asked to design the newsletter layout to be used on a regular basis.

27.  Patient Evaluations: While true Medical Transcription requires a Certified Medical Transcriptionist, you may receive requests to type Patient Evaluations. Three of my customers were doctors; two were psychiatrists and the other a physical therapist. They called in daily to my business dictation line and dictated their patient evaluations.

28.  Play Scripts: This is another rare type of job you may never receive a request for, but it is possible. I have received several such requests. Once the scripts were done, they were formatted and published as ebooks. Transcribing and formatting play scripts does require that you learn the proper formatting which is much different than formatting for regular ebook or printed publication.

29.  PowerPoint Presentations: Don’t expect to get many, if any, calls for designing presentations unless you have the skills and advertise this service. This type of work is usually contracted to certified professionals. However, If you have the Microsoft Suite of programs that includes PowerPoint or if you have some other presentations program, when you have the time, practice putting together a presentation. Even if you don’t do this type of work for someone else, you can create one for yourself as a promotional tool. There are ad sites on line i.e. YouTube where you can post your presentation. You also never know when you may be able to offer this additional service to a customer who is already impressed with your work. The hourly rate for this type of work is much higher than for the other types of work.

Next is Part 3, Jobs 30 through 43

Food for thought: “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” (Theodore Roosevelt)

************************

Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Secretarial, typing and transcription jobs you can do at home – Part 1 of 4: Introduction and Jobs 1 through 14

When people find out I work at home doing secretarial work, I’m often asked exactly what kind of secretarial jobs I do. The usual misconception is that all I do is type correspondence for customers.

I’ll admit that when I started my business in 1998, that’s what I too expected I would be doing. Boy was I wrong. This four-part article will enlighten you as to the actual types of secretarial work you too can do at home.

In these four articles, I list 43 types of jobs that can be done at home with a computer, a printer/scanner, computer software programs, and at least a basic knowledge of how to use a computer, computer software programs, and the internet.

There are brief descriptions of the various jobs I have actually done at home. In my two future books titled How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service and Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets and Shortcuts (expected publication in 2018), I go into more detail regarding required equipment, computer software programs, experience, training, billing, how to price the jobs, how to deal with customers, hiring and paying sub-contractors to help you with overflow, advertising, marketing and other important topics all based upon my 20 years of personal experience running my own home-based secretarial service.

If you plan to do much transcription, and you probably will, consider investing in two cassette tape transcribers; one for regular size cassette tapes and one for mini-cassette tapes. Even though we are now in the age of digital recordings, many people still have and use cassette tapes recorders. Investment in transcribers with foot pedals is well worth the cost and will pay for themselves in just one or two jobs.

Regarding the references below to call-in dictation, in one of the chapters of both of my books I go into detail regarding what is required and how to set up a call-in dictation line using your phone, your computer and an inexpensive computer program that answers the phone and records the call up to five hours in various sound file formats that can be transcribed using a free computer transcription program. I also cover internet voice mail services.

Please note that as you read through the job descriptions, some of the jobs are easy while others require more knowledge in specific areas. My advice is to keep up with the latest technology. In your spare time learn all you can in the areas you would like to become more proficient in so you can attract more lucrative jobs.

To learn more about the content of my books and publication progress, click on the URL’s to the book pages in this blog.

The first three parts of this series list a total of 43 secretarial service jobs you can do at home.

Part 1 lists jobs 1 through 14.

Part 2 lists jobs 15 through 29

Part 3 lists jobs 30 through 43

Part 4 lists the types of customers you may receive work from.

1.  Bible Scripture: Typing verses of Bible Scripture. I’ve worked for 17 years for a man who writes Christian books and Bible teachings. He calls-in and dictates to an answering program on my computer or mails me standard cassette tapes to transcribe. (My business line is connected to my computer.)

Typing verses of scripture requires special punctuation and formatting. In order to facilitate copying verses of Scripture correctly, I downloaded from the internet a free version of The Amplified Bible (which my customer preferred) in PDF format.

As I transcribed his dictation and he mentioned a verse of Scripture (the name, book, and verse number), I looked up the verse of Scripture in the PDF file, highlighted it and copied/pasted it into the document I was transcribing. All I had to do then was change the font to match the document’s font.

You will need to learn how to type/format a partial verse of Scripture. There are other special steps you should learn as well before tackling this type of work.

2.  Blogs: You may get a request from a customer who doesn’t have time to keep up with their blog. They may dictate what they want you to enter into the blog site on a regular basis. They may also ask you to download email responses and forward them to them to respond to. There are many ways to assist a customer with their blog. If you have your own blog and web site, this experience will be invaluable.

3.  Book Cover Design: This type of work is usually done by professional designers. But if you’re proficient in graphics design using programs such as Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Paint and other design and desktop publishing programs, you can do it too. All it takes is a good imagination for designing and knowledge of graphic design. Most of the online on-demand publishers will furnish you with templates for the covers and instructions as to their requirements.

4.  Book Formatting: As the years went by and digital self-publishing became more and more prevalent with authors, I realized I had to educate myself on book formatting for both ebooks and print versions. By the time I wound down the business in 2017, I had transcribed, typed, formatted, and uploaded to online publishers 24 books for customers now on sale in Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and many other major bookseller sites worldwide.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to learn how to do book formatting. It’s not as difficult as you may think IF you are proficient in Word. Most of the online on-demand publishers will furnish you with templates for the various size books and instructions as to their requirements

5.  Brochures and Business Cards: Many small businesses don’t have the funds to pay a large advertising firm to create Brochures and/or Business Cards for their business. This kind of work does require that you know how to work with columns, and text boxes. Word has many templates with layouts for brochures, flyers, and business cards. I suggest you consider teaching yourself how to use the layouts in Word and Excel for two, three, or four fold (section) brochures. The layout can also be used for catalogs and may include the insertion of images and photographs. This kind of work lends itself well to building a regular relationship with the customer when it comes time to updating their brochure.

6.  Cassette Tape, CD and DVD Labels: One my customers sells cassette tapes, CD’s, and DVD’s of his lectures. I designed and printed labels for the tapes. I also designed my own CD and DVD labels for my personal material and for customers. Avery and Roxio have excellent label design programs for CD and/or DVD labels.

7.  Catalogs: Some small businesses need their catalog typed listing everything from parts to video tapes to books. Typing catalogs may require that you know how to work in columns, and the use of text boxes. Word has templates. Check them out or download the free templates from Microsoft Word online.

I suggest you consider teaching yourself how to use the layouts in Word and Excel for two, three, or four fold (section) documents. This layout can also be used for brochures and may include the insertion of images and photographs.

8.  Correspondence, Emails: You could establish a regular repeat customer business transcribing daily or weekly customer correspondence and or their invoicing. This type of work will most likely be call-in dictation that you can transcribe using a computer transcription program. Once you’ve established yourself with a customer doing this type of work, you could be asked to do internet research and other secretarial work.

I had two regular customers for over 18 years. They became the mainstay of my business.

9.  Conversion of VHS and Mini-DV video tapes to PC Files and burn to DVD’s: I have received work from several customers requesting that I convert the videos they recorded using their camcorder on Mini-DV video tapes to a computer file to be saved on a DVD or CD. I’ve also been asked to convert videos on VHS tapes to a computer file that can then be saved on a DVD or CD. I cover in detail how this can be done and the necessary equipment and computer programs in my books; How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service and Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Shortcuts.

10.  Data Input: This type of work requires that you know how to do data input into either a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or a database program like Microsoft Access. Examples of this kind of work: requests for data input of names and addresses for mail merging to create letters, envelopes, labels, reports, lists, etc. I’ve had customers send me templates already laid out and the source material to be input. This kind of work can come from real estate agents, insurance agents, financial and investment services people

11.  Desktop Publishing: Desktop publishing is a very specialized type of work. Desktop publishing is used to create newspapers and books, flyers, brochures and business cards because of the program’s ability to create movable sections, columns, images and many special effects you can’t do in a word processing programs such as Microsoft Word. To do this type of work correctly you need a desktop publishing program such as Adobe InDesign. If you have a creative “nature” and think you would like to get into this type of work, check out the Adobe InDesign internet site for additional information.

If you do decide to purchase one of these programs, be aware they are expensive, but well worth the price IF you have a demand for this type of work. You may be able to purchase an older version for less on the internet just to get you started. Currently, Adobe requires an annual subscription for their programs. Be sure to check out their site and others.

To be honest, I’ve never had much call for this type of work. Most customers looking for this kind of work go to professional publishers.

12.  Dissertations for college students: This type of work will require that you understand the various styles and formats required of the college the customer will be submitting their dissertation to. Most colleges require the APA style of writing.

You can download helpful articles from the internet on the various styles. I have URL’s of these sites in Appendix A of my book How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service. If you plan to go into this kind of work, I highly recommend you purchase the latest versions of The Chicago Manual of Style and the Turabian Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

13.  Flyers: Flyers are pretty straight forward. A variety of templates to create two, three, and four-fold flyers are included with Microsoft Word, Excel and other software programs.

14.  Forms Fill-in and/or Design: This is not the type of job you will get many requests for. However, it helps if you know how to do this kind of work so you can offer it to a customer or if the job you’re doing is one that might require a form to be completed. You might receive a job where the customer has a form that needs to be filled in.

If you have a program like PaperPort, OmniPage Pro, or Adobe Acrobat, you can easily scan the form, create fill-in text boxes in the document then type in the required information. Once the form is complete, save it in PDF format and print it for the customer. Acrobat also has a function whereby if you have the form typed and laid out in a Word document, It will automatically complete a fill-in form for you. (More on this in my book.)

Next is Part 2, Jobs 15 through 29

Food for thought: “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” (Milton Berle)

************************

Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Making dictated changes in typed documents

Transcribing dictated corrections, deletions, and/or additions to a typed document can be more daunting than typing it from scratch.

If you are a transcriptionist, below are some suggestions to help make your job easier: NOTE: These suggestions can be useful even if you are the one dictating changes to your own document,

1 – To keep track of each Draft or Version, be sure to save each version or draft as a separate file. At the top of each draft or version, type Draft #1 or Version #1 centered in bold print just under the title of the document. IMPORTANT: Do this before you begin making any changes.

2 – Rename each draft or version until the FINAL draft. Below is an example of how you might name Draft #1 or Version #1 of this procedure using Word:

Procedures for making dictated changes in typed documents D#1.docx

OR

Procedures for making dictated changes in typed documents V#1.docx

Name the next version the same name changing only the number to #2, #3, etc. until the final draft. Either name it FINAL Draft or leave out the Draft version completely leaving only the file name.

Once the final version is complete and approved, you can delete the prior saved drafts/versions.

3 – Double or triple space each draft of the document to allow room for your customer to write in their changes. When you’re all through transcribing the changes and the final document has been approved, you can change the spacing back to either single or 1.5. I would suggest you check with the person dictating the changes first and ask if they would like the draft copies of the document be double or triple spaced.

6 – Ask the person dictating to give you the following information before they begin dictating the changes:

a – Page number

b – Paragraph number on the page. They could also identify a paragraph by saying, “The paragraph that begins with (word or words).”

c – Line number in the paragraph.

d – The sentence – ask them to state a word or two at the beginning of the sentence where the change is to be made to help you find it.

e – Ask them to please repeat the sentence as it is NOW supposed to read AFTER the change(s) has been dictated so you’re sure you didn’t delete something you shouldn’t have or that you DID delete the correct word(s) and type in the changes correctly. This is especially important when making many changes in the same paragraph.

Example: Page two, second paragraph beginning with the word (word), third line, the sentence that begins with (the word).

7 – When the person dictating gives you a word or two to identify the paragraph or sentence, you may be able to use the Find feature to go right to the exact place in the sentence to make the change(s). NOTE: This will only work correctly if you are given two to three words to identify the exact place where the change is to be made. Using the Find feature can save a lot of time.

8 – Ask the person dictating to please pronounce the words clearly. Many people who talk fast or have an accent don’t realize it’s much harder to make the correct changes and/or corrections if they don’t speak slowly. Words and/or letters that sound alike can easily be misunderstood when a person speaks too fast.

9 – If from time to time a word is spelled out and if the first letter in the word is one of the letters that sound alike, b, c, d, e, g, p, t, and z, ask the person dictating to use that letter in a word. Example: A as in apple, B as in boy, C as in Charles, D as in David, etc. If they don’t make the first letter clear so you can make out the entire word, you could find yourself backspacing over and over to figure out what that word is.

10 – As the person dictating is going through the document page by page, if they skip to another paragraph and/or another page, ask that they clearly identify where the next change is.

Example: “The next five paragraphs are okay. There are no changes. Skip to Page six, paragraph #2 that begins with the words ‘There are’, Line #3 and the Sentence that begins with the word ‘Although’.”

11 – If the entire sentence or paragraph is to be deleted, they should make this very clear as well as when they want something added i.e. “Right after the word(s) (words), add this….” or “Delete the rest of the paragraph.” Then they should restate the sentence or paragraph exactly as it should read now (after the changes).

12 – If one or more sentences in a paragraph are to be switched around with no changes, the NEW order they want the sentences placed in should be clearly stated FOLLOWED by restating the paragraph as it should now read (after the changes). The same applies if they switch paragraph order or the order of words in the same sentence. These changes can be very confusing if they are not stated clearly.

13 – In order to ensure these procedures are followed, type a list of the procedures to give to the person dictating. Be sure you let them know that by following these procedures, you will be able to finish the changes and/or corrections much faster and accurately.

14 – Below is a list of directions to suggest to the person dictating to help ensure the correct changes are made:

“Take out everything after…….”

“End that paragraph with…….”

“Continue with….”

“Go on with…..”

“The rest of the paragraph (or sentence) is the same.”

“Underline, bold, italicize, highlight, etc. the words (words)……”

“Switch sentence #1 with #4. I want the last sentence to now be the first sentence and the last sentence to now be the first sentence.”

The next three features are optional. However, when you have long document, it can make your job much easier if you learn to use these features. If you don’t already know how to turn on these features, search the Help in your version of Word or other word processing program for instructions on how to turn these features on or off.

15 – Use the Track Changes feature in Word to track and compare the versions in your document.

16 – Use the Strikeout or Strikethrough feature for text you want to delete. Using this feature, the program will draw a red line through (Strikethrough) the word(s) to be deleted while leaving the word visible for editing/proofing purposes until the Strikeout (word to be deleted) has been approved. If you erroneously used this feature or the person dictating changed their mind, the feature can be turned off returning the word(s) back to normal.

17 – Immediately after NEW text that is to replace deleted text (Strikeouts), the new text should be Highlighted (Red Lined) by changing the text color to Blue (or some other color that stands out) or bolding it to make it stand out. This will clearly indicate that the text to be deleted will be replaced by the text in Blue.

Example: Strikethrough. Red Line

Once your changes have been approved, you can go back and delete the word to be deleted and change the NEW text to the correct font color.

NOTE: This article is one small part of one of the chapters in each of my two books to be published late in 2016 or early 2017; Dictation Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets and Shortcuts and How to Establish, Build and Run a $ucce$$uful Secretarial Service From Home.

Food for thought: “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” (Norman Vincent Peale)

*************************

Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Timing your work for billing and/or personal purposes with a computer program.

TIME STAMP – A Computer TIMING pROGRAM

Have you ever had a need to time a job or have your employee(s) or sub-contractor(s) time their work for billing purposes? Have you ever wanted to keep track of the time it takes you to perform a task, type a manuscript or other task? If so, then this tip is for you.

When I started my home-based secretarial services business in January, 1998, I was faced with the dilemma of how to charge for my services. I quickly found that charging everything by the hour was not practical especially when you sub-contract typing and transcription work to others. Some sub-contractors type faster (and more accurately) than others so charging customers and paying sub-contractors using an hourly rate didn’t work.

I knew I had to charge either by-the-typed line or by-the-typed page. But how could I come up with a charge that would result in the hourly rate I wanted for both myself and my sub-contractors. I decided on a per-typed-line rate based on a 12 point Arial font with 1” margins, single spaced.

When you charge the customer by the typed line rate instead of by the page, the customer doesn’t pay for a partial page or for more pages because the document is double-spaced. The customer would pay the same rate whether the page was the standard letter size (8 ½” x 11”), legal size (8 ½” x 14”) or any other size. This is fair to the customer and to the sub-contractors.

The only way I could determine the time it takes to complete each of the different types of jobs I do, typing and transcription work in particular, was to keep track of my time and keep records. But how could I do that efficiently, accurately and fairly?

Searching the internet, I found a small, easy to download and install utility timing program called Time Stamp. Time Stamp has many great features I list at the end of this article.

To find the program, click on this link: (URL) Syntap.

Using Time Stamp to time the typing and/or transcription jobs I was able to determine the time it took to do the job. I timed typing and/or transcription work from handwritten material, documents that contained many strikeouts and handwritten notes, documents that contained tables, financial information, technical terms, etc. I timed transcription from cassette tapes, videos, and digital content based upon the quality of the recording and the quality of the person dictating. I timed transcription from meetings where many people were involved and meetings with questions and answers and many interruptions.

I then counted the number of words typed in the timed job and divided the total minutes by the total number of words. Using this formula I was able to determine a fair rate to charge the customer according to the type of source documentation provided by the customer to be typed or transcribed. I paid my sub-contractors sixty percent of what I charged the customer. This worked out perfectly thanks to Time Stamp.

Many of the jobs I’ve done i.e scanning and converting to text jobs, special formatting, etc. can’t be charged by-the-typed line so I use this program for accurate invoicing of those jobs as well.

I used Time Stamp to estimate how long other types of work took to do so I could determine an estimate when a prospective customer called. I made a chart in Excel with all of this information and kept it handy to give customers a quote either over the phone or by email.

If you decide to try the program, go to the web site listed above. Click on Downloads and follow the instructions from there. This program is FREE… well actually, it’s “Donationware” which means it’s free but the author would appreciate a contribution to continue enhancements and support, which I gladly sent because this program is well worth it. If you decide to use the program, I’m sure you will agree.

To use the program after you install it:

1) Type in the hourly rate you wish to charge and click on Timing.

2) If you are interrupted before you finish the job, click on Slacking.

The timer will divide the time into Work (billable) Time and Slack Time listed at the top listing the total time and cost for each.

You can time different phases of a job by stopping the timer then starting it again.

3) To stop timing the job, simply click on Timing a second time.

Each phase of the job you time will be listed on a different line containing the work time, slack time and total of that phase of the job.

At the end of each line under the Notes column, you can type a short explanation of what you did during that time.

The file can be saved using a file (job) name in any folder you wish. When you’re finished with the job, you can print out the entire page showing all of this information.

***********************

If you’re a mystery-suspense novel fan, be sure to stop by this site. I’ll be posting excerpts from some of my books. I hope to publish my first novel, Road Rage Dolls: Someone is Murdering Road Rage Drivers in 2021.

My second novel to be published in 2018 is titled Susan’s Stalkers – Double The Fear.

Food for thought: What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” (Ralph Marston )

*****************************

Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.