Transcribe Anywhere Review

Formulated with over a decade of industry experience behind it, Transcribe Anywhere’s General Transcription: Theory & Practice™ training helps its students become successful, independent transcriptionists from anywhere in the world.

Pros & Cons

Interested in making a living at home or abroad?  Own a laptop and a set of headphones?  Then transcribing may be a great option for you!

But what exactly is transcription?  And how do you get started?  Read this review for Transcribe Anywhere’s General Transcription: Theory & Practice™ training to find out. 

What is Transcribe Anywhere?

Transcribe Anywhere provides transcription training courses online, helping aspiring transcriptionists “build successful businesses with affordable, all-inclusive education and lifetime support.” 

The company, created by Janet Shaughnessy, provides both general and legal transcription trainings.  Today we’ll be looking at General Transcription, Theory & Practice™.

Unlike medical or legal transcription, general includes all kinds of different industries, including academia, marketing, interviews, films, etc.

It’s also the cheaper of the two!

Who is Janet Shaughnessy?

What is transcribing, & is it a viable financial opportunity?

Transcription is the conversion of audio and video recordings into written content. To transcribe, one listens to or watches content while typing what is said. 

Although this isn’t a new field, there is still plenty of opportunity.  Video as a marketing and education tool, to name a couple, is rapidly increasing in popularity.

According to Smart Insights, “83% of marketers believe that video is growing in importance.”  But all those videos need to be transcribed for record keeping, accessibility, and for those who simply prefer to read.

That’s where a transcriber comes in. 

Transcription jobs and clients include:

• Law enforcement file transcription for agencies and police departments
• Claims adjusters and other insurance professionals
• Businesses and corporations
• Financial services companies
• Market research and consulting firms
• Medical transcription for healthcare providers
• Governmental organizations and nonprofit organizations
• Real estate professionals
• Conferences and trade shows
• Personal development coaches and public speakers
• Churches and religious institutions

….the list goes on. But you get the picture.  According to PayScale, the average hourly rate for transcribers is $15.19 with an annual salary of $20,680 - $53,759.

And that’s likely for company employees, who Shaughnessy says typically earn less than self-employed transcribers.

Is transcribing a good fit for me?

Online transcription services are an excellent way of earning decent money for stay-at-home parents and retirees.  The great thing about it is that it can be done anywhere in the world, giving successful transcribers absolute freedom.

But there are some other requirements that are absolutely crucial to your success.  First and foremost, you must be fluent in English and have excellent grammar skills.

No one wants to pay for transcriptions that confuse their, they’re, and there or use improper punctuation.  You must also be able to hear properly, and own a good set of headphones and a computer.

Other essential skills to have - especially if you're starting your own business - are self-motivation, patience, focus, and an excellent attention to detail. 

If you’re not sure, I highly recommend checking out Transcribe Anywhere’s free mini-course, which has some great content to help you decide if transcribing is right for you.

What does Transcribe Anywhere’s General Transcription: Theory & Practice™ training offer?

The course teaches you all the technical skills needed to transcribe as quickly and efficiently as possible.  The practice sessions are excellent - real examples from real clients, with poor audio quality, heavy accents, multiple speakers who talk over each other - and so on.

Tough going - but important stuff to master.  But Shaughnessy will also teach you how to actually put it into practice, like how to market yourself and find clients.

I love the duality of this program, because it really prepares its students for a successful career in transcribing.  It’s not gimmicky at all, and she makes it clear that the program is not a job recruitment agency.

It’s you who will have to get out there and put what you learned into practice. Any legitimate university or college will tell its students the same.

This is what you’ll get after enrolling:

• Advice on how to get the best deals on transcription equipment
• How to use text expanders and shortcut keys, with printable cheatsheets
• Transcription style guide and downloadable templates
• Screencast tutorial videos on software, time coding, and more
• How to find work as both an employee and independent contractor
• Seven levels of practice dictations with answer keys
• Lifetime access to all course material, future updates, and the Facebook student support group
• "100% thorough" guarantee, in which Shaughnessy promises that “if you feel there's anything missing from the course -- even the tiniest detail -- just let us know and we'll add it in so you'll have it as part of your lifetime access.”

Shaughnessy states that most students complete the self-paced training within 2-4 months.  At the end, there's a final exam. There are two parts to the exam - a theory section then a practice section.

When complete, this unlocks and impressive module on how to market yourself in the transcription world.

How much does it cost?

The General Transcription: Theory & Practice™ currently costs $597.  Which, I’ll admit, is quite an investment, priced quite a bit higher than many (but not all) online courses. 

But Shaughnessy has done something pretty cool.  She’s created a payment plan so that you can access the course in levels. Level one permits access to modules one and two for 30 days.

Level two grants access to levels one to four for 60 days, and level three is the complete training with lifetime access. You can upgrade as you go if needed, and it won’t cost you a penny extra than if you bought the complete package at once.

I have never seen as fair and generous of a payment plan as this one before.  Don’t forget to factor in the costs of headphones, a computer if you don’t already have one, and transcription software.

The most preferred software, Express Scribe, is used in the course. It’s evidently almost always on sale for $20 to $30.

What about legal transcription work?

As mentioned, the general transcription course doesn't cover legal transcription.  If you're interested in legal transcription training, you'll need to complete the Transcribe Anywhere legal transcription course - "Legal Transcription: Theory & Practice."

This includes:

• Legal Association meeting transcription module
• How to use Microsoft Word for legal transcriptionists module
• Legal transcription equipment and style guide module

We're not going to spend a lot of time discussing it here - simply because it's the next step up the transcription ladder. If you're starting a transcription business, you'll want to master the basics first - before getting into the legal process and legal correspondence.

When you're ready, this is an amazing next step.

Should You Purchase Transcribe Anywhere?

So, is Transcribe Anywhere a scam? Or could it be the basis for building your own transcription business?  If you’re looking to make a decent income from home, have excellent English skills, and a patient, attentive profile, then working as a transcriber may be a terrific option for you.

Also, if you do decide that you'd like to up your game in the future and work with legal professionals, you can move on to Legal Transcription course, with the same style of payment plan.

Transcription services are in demand, and this course not only sets you up with the skills to get the job done, but the know-how to land the job in the first place.

Start with the free Transcribe Anywhere mini course and see if it could be the work-from-home career for you!