I had the opportunity to interview Loretta Oliver, the creator of “Transcription Crash Course“. Loretta has been a transcriptionist for many years and knows the ins and outs of starting a freelance home transcriptionist business.

What sparked my interest in Loretta’s transcription course is that many people are looking for a way to make money without having to spend money, and her course solves that problem.

The fact is that there are many opportunities to become a home transcriptionist, but the majority of people don’t know where to look or know how to get started.

Loretta tells all in her 17-page course, detailing exactly what you need as far as equipment and skills, and where to go to land a work from home transcriptionist job or get freelance transcription work.

After going through her course I had some questions, and she was nice enough to answer them.

Here are the questions I asked, with Loretta’s responses below:

What made you want to become a transcriptionist?
It honestly sort of happened by accident. I was doing data entry full time when a friend asked me to do some transcription work for a company that had some overflow work. I figured I’d try it out and make a few extra dollars. I ended up doing overflow for that company on a regular basis for a few months. It was enough to keep me transcribing, but not a full time income yet.

That said, while I do mention a few companies that hire transcription workers I definitely recommend freelancing or working for yourself with private clients over that any day of the week. You’ll find yourself with more profits and building an industry name in no time at all.

Out of all the freelance sites you mention, which one would you recommend the most?
I like Freelancer.com (formerly GetaFreelancer.com) because I’d have to say it’s the easiest to use. But, if we’re talking about workload I’d say that oDesk.com seems to get a bit more transcription work than some of the other freelance sites. I think that’s because oDesk is geared more toward the “secretarial” type of jobs.

Do you have any tips or words of advice for people that are considering getting started as a transcriptionist?
Just get started. Stop thinking about it and start typing. Of course, like anything, it’s not for everybody, but give it at least a month or two with a good solid effort and see how it goes. You might find yourself with a pleasant career by the end of that two months.

Eventually I realized that I enjoyed the transcription work more than the online data entry that I was doing AND the transcription work paid better. It was a no brainer decision at that point to make the switch and start looking for more transcription work. Before I knew it I was transcribing almost every day.

Is it really as easy as it sounds to get started?
It actually is. Like I said, I sort of ended up in this field by accident. Once I started looking around I was surprised at how easy it is to get a foot in the door and make a name for yourself in this field. A lot of transcription companies have high turnover rates, because their work flow varies and people get distracted and do other things. Makes sense right?

That’s part of why I recommend working for yourself and taking private clients instead. You’re less likely to get distracted that way and you have more control over the workflow coming in and going out. A transcriptionist can maintain a decent monthly income with just a handful of regular clients.

Can you really get started for free?
Yes. If you already have a computer you can start right now, today, without spending any money. It helps if you have 20 dollars or so to spend on some headphones, but even that is not a requirement. I spent a solid month transcribing from my computer speakers without headphones. My husband thought I was crazy and it drove the dog crazy, but it got the job done until I got that month’s pay, which I then used to go buy some noise cancelling headphones.

What skills must a person posses to be a good transcriptionist?
Nothing spectacular is needed here, honestly. That’s what’s so great about this, anyone can do it. People think you have to be an exceptionally fast typist and that’s just not true. Sure, it’s helpful, but it’s not a requirement when you’re working for yourself. I promise you that within a few months of transcribing your typing speed will increase dramatically.

That being said, if you’re going to do this (or anything else) working from home, you need to be prepared to spend a lot of time alone and at your computer. I think that is the thing that really hangs people up about working from home more than anything. It’s lonely and there’s no way around that.

Is this career saturated, or are there plenty of opportunities for people wanting to get started?
I haven’t found it to be saturated yet and I’ve been in the industry to some degree for 7 years now. There are plenty of opportunities, and I see a lot of transcriptionists going into “niches” which I think is a fantastic idea. You could be a podcast transcriptionist, a Blog Talk Radio transcriptionist, a video transcriptionist, whatever you want to be known as, go for it.

Is it really possible to land a transcription job with the companies you provide in the course?
I haven’t worked directly with any companies in a long time, so I don’t know exactly what their hiring rate is like, but I do still try to keep an eye on the forums and listen to the chatter and it seems like a lot are still hiring part time transcriptionists on a pretty regular basis. They do get a lot of applications, so it might take awhile to get a reply, but there are definitely places out here with a need.

One thing covered in this transcription course and that Loretta touched on above is that you don’t need any special skills. I mean sure, it helps if you can type, but you don’t have to be able to type 50+ words per minute. That’s just crazy. Any mediocre typist can work from home as a transcriptionist.

Since you already have a computer and internet connection, and probably an email address, you’re all set to start your transcriptionist career. Anything else that you would need you can get completely free, and Loretta explains all of this in her course.

What I think I like the most is the fact that Loretta makes herself completely available to everyone that purchases her transcription course. She encourages you to follow her on Twitter to ask her questions directly. She also sends out periodic tips via email and encourages you to email her back with any questions you have for her. Her personal approach and willingness to help you become successful is priceless, in my opinion.

Take a look at Transcription Crash Course and get started in a home transcriptionist career starting today. The small fee is a very small price to pay considering the amount of money that can be made as a transcriptionist, plus the unlimited amount of personal help you’ll get from Loretta.

Get “Transcription Crash Course” Today

photo credit: Amy McTigue

The other day I was running at a local park, ya know, since I’m serious about this whole exercise stuff. We have two parks in the area; one is closer than the other, but the one I run at is much nicer.

There’s a lot of wildlife around (a ton of ducks and little ducklings and very friendly squirrels) which makes running in a park so much more enjoyable than running through a development or through town. I recommend doing so if you have a local park nearby.

On this particular morning I was determined to run two miles, which I proudly did. At about the one and a half mile marker, something strange caught my attention.

The particular park attracts a lot of other runners, joggers and walkers, including people that like to walk their dogs. Well, I came up on a man who was walking his dog. I don’t know what kind of dog he had, but it was rather small and was on a leash (all dogs have to be on a leash).

They were standing next to a short cement wall in which the dog wanted to jump up onto to see down toward the creek where the ducks were. The man decided to help the dog by picking the dog up by its leash, rather than bending down and literally picking the dog up.

You read correctly…

He didn’t pick the dog up like most people would… He pulled up on the leash until the dog lifted up off the path and onto the cement wall.

I almost tripped over my jaw as I saw this right as I was passing by. I don’t know how tight that collar was, but I can’t imagine that felt very good for the little dog. It could have been strangling its neck for all I know.

After my run and on the drive home, it hit me…

Many internet marketers these days are like that man I saw. They hold their leashes in hand and attempt to pick up everyone they can with it, all the meanwhile strangling them. This causes people to resent them and turn the other way. Certainly not the way internet marketing is supposed to be.

Let’s look at some prime examples of what I’m talking about.

The first comes in the form of email spam. You have people shoving their business opportunity or product down your throat, some of which you never agreed to receive email from. Complete turn off… agreed? Makes you hate them all the more, right?

Another example of this – I was trying to sell something on Craiglist, and it clearly has “this seller does not allow commercial contact” (something like that). So, I get an email asking if I had sold my item yet, and I replied, “no.” Right away I get another response from the person, and the email went something like this: “Don’t sell it! Instead, sign up to blah blah blah…”

Yeah, you get the point. They were promoting some website in which they wanted me to sign up for. They got their leash around my neck and strangled me. Hate it when that happens!

Next, you have scuzzy sleezebags using forums and instant messaging services like Skype to spam you with products and services you have no interest in. They “strangle” you right from the start, and you do what any normal person would do. You delete them and/or report them for spam. There’s no being “friends” with them because they have no interest in that.

Here comes my favorite (quite the opposite)…

Thanks to social media and allowing people to connect and meet new people, we now have a whole new breed of marketing spam. I see this a lot on Facebook and have fallen victim to it myself.

Someone said it perfectly when they said (I’m paraphrasing here)…

“When you want to be friends with people and you click the ‘Add as Friend’ button, that button doesn’t say ‘Add as marketer.’”

What this means is, when we add people as friends, we should become friends with them, not a marketer who’s only interest is to get as many people as possible to join our “awesome” business.

It’s important to build relationships with people. Once you have that relationship factor and have built up trust with that person, then you can mention your business and what you do.

The whole point of social sites is to be social. Yes, they have features in place that make it easy to market our businesses, but you first need to be social with people. People will respect you more for it, and they’ll be more inclined to hear you out and check out your business and what you do later on.

Some final advice…

Don’t be like that man where he strangled his dog with the leash, even if it was only for a second or two. First impression is everything, and it only takes a few seconds for you to ruin your reputation online. Strangle enough people, and you’ll find yourself out of business very quickly.

How are you marketing your business online? Have you ever been the victim of marketing spam? Or, have you ever been like that man and strangled others in an attempt to make a quick buck? Share your thoughts below…

This is a guest post by Sam Bakker. If you would like to guest post on this blog, please Contact me.

When I first started my own home-based business a few years ago, I thought that no matter what my first home business website would work. I thought I had everything important in place and the website was looking great. But the reality of my situation had to sink in eventually; even though I had an excellent website, and what I thought was successful home business information I was missing visitors, rendering my online presence useless.

Two years later, I took a second look, but this time with a careful look at all options. I would learn about Search Engine Optimization and how it can influence a business. Through it, I was able to add life to my websites as well as a sizeable amount of money.

If your website is currently suffering from a lack of visitors, the first place to look for answers is your website’s keywords and their search engine performance. Often we can build links for our website, writing content with the intention of ranking it. But none of that will matter if you don’t have the right keywords. There is a lot of money to be made in internet marketing if this step is taken seriously.

First of all, check the keywords you decided to compete for when you started your campaign. Review their usefulness and relative competition. Once you have done so, visit Google’s Adwords Keywords tool or use WordTracker. These tools will help you see clearly where opportunities in your niche could be for keywords.

If you are able to find some additional keywords that you should be ranking your website for, construct a plan outlining what on-page and off-page content will need to be produced. This is to get your website appearing on the front page for that term. Once your plan has been completed, stay focused on the job at hand. To rank higher in the search engines, you need to be consistently taking action.

As internet marketers, we often get excited and dive into projects without spending enough time working through our foundations. Looking for keywords is an essential step; a website cannot succeed in the search engines without it. Make sure you take the time to review your website’s keywords and take action if necessary so that your website doesn’t stay hidden from your potential customers.

About the Author: Sam Bakker has been in the internet marketing industry for the past 7 years. If you would like to find out more about Sam or learn some free internet marketing tips then you can visit his website at SamBakker.com

As promised yesterday, here’s the list of May’s awesome blog posts that you may not have gotten a chance to check out or comment on. BTW, there’s only 9 days left for a chance to win in this month’s comment contest, so check out these posts and get commenting!

Without further ado, here they are:

Free Teleseminar – Learn How To Build A Profitable Business In Today’s Economy – This post will be updated whenever there is a new teleseminar scheduled. Right now you can register for the one on June 23rd.

5 Things to Consider Before Publishing a Guest Post on Your Blog

My Blog Guest – An Active Community of Guest Bloggers and Blog Owners

Don’t Make The Same Stupid Mistake I Made… Seriously! – You definitely want to check this post out… One of my toughest website lessons ever learned is talked about here. Don’t let happen to you what happened to me.

Where Do You Get Images and Photos For Your Website or Blog?

There you have it. If you haven’t yet checked these posts out then I invite you to do so.

Don’t forget… The comment contest ends on June 30th at whatever time at night I check the list for the final time. Right now Cebu is commanding a strong lead with Mici close behind. It’s anyone’s game at this point. Don’t give up now!

I realize June is almost over, but I had so many things going on the beginning of the month. Between rolling out the new theme, posting a guest post, getting guest posts out to other blogs… and the list goes on.

I had already planned on getting May’s income report out late, and I still need to do a May blog post roundup, which will be published tomorrow. Things may seem a little screwy, but trust me, it’s all planned out.

Let’s get right into May’s earnings:

Income from ReplaceYourSalary.com

• ClickBank: $13.06
• Angela’s Backlinks: $18.75
• Paul’s Backlinks: $8
• Yarie: $32.87
• Google Adsense: $20.06
• SFI: $15.71
• Project Payday: $3 (commissions earned from promoting the program, not actually using it)
• AdFish – $21
• ResponsiveData – $12
• Homepage link – $150

Total = $294.45

Income from Internet Marketing Services

It’s been a pleasure to be able to work for a highly successful internet marketer. I’m able to learn from and apply the same strategies to my online business, all of which I’ve blogged about here at one time or another.

Total = $160

Income from Proofreading/Re-writing/Editing Services

As I said previously, I’ve gotten a decent amount of freelancing work last month. It’s great to be able to provide a high quality and much needed service, and it’s been an honor serving my clients. You can learn more by visiting the link below.

• Proofreading – $30

Total = $30

Income from Re-writing Service via David Hurley’s PLR Article Service Membership

It has been an honor to be able to partner with David, a good online friend of mine, and provide the re-writing portion of his article membership. To learn more about his PLR article service, visit the link above.

Total = $57.50

Total online income from all sources…

$541.95

P.S. Only 10 days left until the end of June’s Comment Contest!

I used to be in shape, playing soccer, basketball and running track. Since then, I’ve been rather lazy, not exercising regularly or at all. I can tell a huge difference in my body from back then and how I am now.

I was fit, and it felt great knowing I wouldn’t get winded after just a short run. Now, I’m completely out of shape, and to be honest, I don’t like it.

I’ve gained weight (not that you can tell), my metabolism is low, and I feel downright LAZY.

Simply put… being out of shape sucks!

I’ve recently mustered up enough motivation to start running again and working out. Trying to get back my 6-pack is seemingly challenging, but I’m always up for a challenge. I just want to feel fit again and be able to keep up in pick-up games of football or basketball without getting out of breath 5 minutes into a game.

Can you relate?

Not only is exercise something that everybody should practice, but it’s also great for your overall health. If you work from home, you probably have 30 minutes that you could spare to incorporate exercise into your daily (or bi-daily) routine. I mean, when you really think about it, you’re never THAT busy. There’s always time for the stuff that you make a priority, and exercise should be one of them.

Reasons to Exercise Daily When you Work from Home

Aside from the obvious benefits I’ve already stated, exercising regularly has subtle benefits as well that you may not realize.

If you’re like me, after staring at your computer screen for hours, you may tend to get tired. Not only may you get tired, but I guarantee your legs and body overall are stiff. For one, this is bad, and you should never spend more than 2 hours at your computer without getting up and moving around, if not less time than that.

I tend to get tired more so after I eat lunch. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has this problem. When this happens, I simply start exercising and moving around. When I get back to the computer, I’m much more alert, and my mind can focus better. See how exercise can help?

I’ve noticed that if I go for a run before lunch, I’m a lot less tired throughout the afternoon, and I’m more alert about what I’m doing, and I can accomplish more.

As you can see, incorporating exercise into your daily work from home routine has many more benefits aside from the obvious.

I’m proud to say that today (the day of writing this post) I ran 2 miles. Of course, I’ve been working up to it for the past week or so. It felt great, and I’ll be happy to do it again as it will become easier and easier each time.

So, what are you waiting for? Get exercising!

I can barely hold my excitement in as I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time now. For about the last week or so, I’ve been playing around with a new blog theme, completely in the background and undetectable to anyone.

Thanks to the plug-in Theme Test Drive, I’ve been able to install a new theme and customize a good portion of it behind the scenes. You’ve all been seeing the current theme while this was going on.

Missing the old theme already? Here’s a farewell snapshot…

In my excitement to roll out the new theme, I forgot to get the snapshot before enabling the new theme, so I had to find a cached version with the old theme… LOL.

As you may notice with the new theme, there is still a lot that needs to be done, most notably the footer area. I’ll get to that in a minute.

This new theme is a customized version of the FlexSqueeze WordPress Theme, which is a completely customizable theme that allows you to create your own unique blog theme. I bought this theme on a recommendation from Dennis Edell, and I couldn’t be happier.

This theme had everything I wanted, and then some. The main thing I wanted was better navigation, and if you’ll notice, the page links are now below the header and to the left, rather than above the header and to the right.

The next thing I wanted was a feature area, which is right below the navigation. I can add whatever I want here, and I may be changing some of the offers over time. The newsletter opt-in will most likely be permanent.

You’ll also notice I now only have one sidebar (a big one at that) on the right-hand side. I also have two sub-sidebars below the main sidebar to add additional content.

Within the next week you’ll see changes being made to the sidebar. I already have plans for it, and once I get everything finalized and the way I want it, it shouldn’t change much after that. So, don’t be alarmed if you see random stuff disappear or appear over the course of this week.

At some point, I’ll be adding a custom header to replace the plain, boring one you currently see. It’s okay as-is, but I think I can make something that stands out a little better.

I’ll also be adding additional pages to the blog as well. Not sure when this will happen, but I know for sure that I’ll be adding a Comment Policy, Disclaimer of some kind, a Write For Us page, and a Resources page that contains tools that I use and recommend.

I Need Your Help

As with any new theme installation, etc., there is always the chance for some bugs/errors to occur. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary yet, but if you come across anything, please make me aware of it so that I can get it fixed.

And lastly, as mentioned above, there is a feature section at the footer. I had played around with this, but I couldn’t come to a conclusion as to exactly what I wanted there.

So, I’m asking for you to recommend what I should do with that space.

What should I include in the footer area? Should I remove it altogether? Should I add the newsletter opt-in form there also?

I’m open to any and all suggestions.

I’m very excited about the new theme, and I think it looks more professional than the old one. I look forward to the new changes to come, as I hope you are too.

I appreciate and thank you for sticking with me and helping to make this blog what it is. I couldn’t have done it without all of you!

Read more from Alan Mater on Google+.

The following is a guest post by Sam Bakker…

I recall when I first started trying to use blogging to make money online. I had arrived at the entrance of a cyber metropolis armed with an idea and a daft look on my face. It was a multifaceted space teeming with online users, all I had to do was establish myself and I’d be crowded with customers in no time. I had bought a product that would teach me how to build a home-based business. It told me I should start a blog and begin sharing with the rest of the internet world how to be successful making money through a home-based business.

I opened an account with Blogger.com and put my hands to the keyboard. For two months I typed away, completing a design and posting content up on a daily basis. For all this effort, I had one member and no sign of traffic. My blog was floating around in an alleyway when I wanted it to be across the street from Facebook. I wasn’t making money and my website wasn’t going anywhere.

It wasn’t until a year later that I found out (and corrected) what I had done wrong. In this article today, I am going to discuss what mistakes I made in my first attempt to make money blogging online and how you can avoid them. By dodging these classic mistakes, your journey to success will help you obtain an internet marketing lifestyle that is greatly to your advantage.

Firstly, it must be said that before anything else, you must plan out what your blog’s central focus will be. As is the general nature of entrepreneurs, we get an idea and jump in head-first without planting a base for ourselves. Planning is essential especially when it comes to blogging; you not only need to identify your audience and the value you can offer them, but you also need to find effective keywords.

Keywords are the driving force behind a blog’s organic search engine traffic. You need to find the most effective ones using a tool such as “Google Adwords Keywords” to research. This will show you where you can get your search engine traffic from and what terms will be most profitable when it comes to making money. If you launch your blog without keywords in mind, often Google will struggle to place you in the index. Much of the time this means that your blog’s potential is capped very early on and your chance of getting decent traffic flow from Google is reduced. Be sure that you conduct the appropriate keyword research for your website before buying your domain name.

When you first launch your blog online, it feels great. However, now the challenge is in getting it seen. In order for search engines to rank your website based on targeted key terms, you will need to generate some external links back to your website. Use websites such as Ezine Articles, Squidoo and write for other websites in your niche to get your blog rising in the search engines and producing traffic.

Use these tips to ensure that your blog doesn’t end up like my first one, gathering dust along some forgotten nook in cyberspace. Instead, implement the techniques I have discussed with you here to get your blog off to an excellent start.

Sam Bakker has been making money online for the past 7 years. If you would like to find out more about Sam Bakker or internet marketing you can view Sam’s website at SamBakker.com

Aside from the usual perks you receive when you become an Ezine Articles Expert Author, I wasn’t aware that they actually mail you some goodies as well. Pretty nice of them actually. You can see the cool coaster on the left, and I’ll post pictures of the mug below.

Inside the mug was a packet of gourmet coffee, which I’ll never use. If you want it, leave a comment or email me with your address and I’ll ship it to you free of charge. I only have one, though, so be quick about it.

It’s nice to get perks like this, and I’m sure all the other Expert Authors feel the same way. It helps to encourage authors to continue sending their articles and makes them feel appreciated.

Becoming an Expert Author really isn’t that difficult, and if you’re serious about making a name for yourself and your work from home business, then cranking out, say 60 articles, shouldn’t be all that difficult. If you can’t or don’t like to write, just outsource the work for a small fee.

No matter what you do, incorporate article marketing into your daily, or weekly, marketing habits. You’ll establish yourself as an “Expert” and build targeted traffic to your site. And, you’ll build quality backlinks to your site which will increase its ranking in Google.

Okay… here’s the cool mug.

I know you’re all jealous…

Don’t forget about the comment contest.

What are 3-Way Links?

If you’re not familiar with 3-way link exchanges, they’re basically where three different sites all link to each other in a way where it creates a link wheel.

For example:

Site A links to Site B, site B links to site C, and site C links to site A. So, what you have is something that looks like the picture to the left. Notice that B doesn’t link back to A, C doesn’t link back B, and A doesn’t link back to C.

This eliminates what is generally called reciprocal linking, a common and out-dated form of linking in which two websites link to each other. This way of linking is ineffective and won’t do much good for either site, according to Google.

However, 3-way linking IS effective because the links appear as one-way links, which are highly valued by Google. As you market your website, it’s important that you get one-way links to your site to increase your rankings in search engines.

The Unforeseen “Benefit”

Knowing what I’ve just said, I’ve done several 3-way link exchanges with other webmasters. I tend to be picky with who I do link exchanges of any kind with, but depending on the circumstance and the websites involved, I’ll gladly do so.

That being said, I found out some pretty interesting news the other week. Apparently one of those 3-way link exchanges I did got my site some added and completely unforeseen attention.

Thanks to @amabaie for the heads-up on this.

If you’re familiar with Kevin Potts or follow the Cambridge Business Academy at all, they did a webinar back on May 12, which just happened to be my Birthday. During the live webinar, seen by thousands, my website was not only mentioned, but it was shown live on the screen!

But, it’s not for what you might think…

Rather than have me explain it, I think it’s better if you just see it for yourself. At exactly 6:48 into the webinar, they mention my site as my home page links back to the CBA site, all because of a 3-way link exchange that I did.

Here’s a link to the recorded webinar which can now be viewed on the CBA website: http://www.cambridgebusinessacademy.com/products/114/2/CBA/Succeed-2

Now, it goes to show that exchanging links in this manner is not only effective, but it’s being used by the top guys. Not to mention, you may even get some added exposure from it.

I thought it was cool and worth mentioning, even though I didn’t see my traffic increase or anything.

The main reason for writing this isn’t to make my head swell. Rather, it’s to get you to check out an awesome webinar and website like CBA, and to get involved in doing 3-way link exchanges. Your website and online business will thank you for it.

Have any questions or comments? Leave them below…