How This Guy Uses Transcriptionists to Help Him Sell WINE

We're adding another profile to our People Who Use Transcriptionists series today!

First, a little recap. I decided to write this series to demonstrate to the world over that there's a huge demand for transcription.

So far in our People Who Use Transcriptionists series, we've seen how...

• this best-selling author uses transcriptionists
• these 3 online marketers use transcriptionists for their blog posts
• this podcaster uses transcriptionists (and doesn't outsource!!)
• this awesome SEO strategist uses transcriptionists to grow his online toy store

And now you're about to discover how even a guy who sells wine online uses transcriptionists.

Full disclosure: even if you get sick of reading about the demand for transcription, I'm never going to stop writing about it -- because more detail-oriented, smart people who want flexible work from home need to know about this "ghost" industry, and it's my passion in life to properly equip and prepare those people willing to build a career in it. #sorrynotsorry

But most people want full assurance that there is actually work out there before jumping into training with me, and I get that. So my goal with these posts is to prove to you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that yes, all kinds of businesses do use transcriptionists and yes, if you put in the time to learn what the heck you're doing, you can get work as a transcriptionist.

Plus, I get such a high meeting so many people that confirm for me, over and over and over, just how much work there is out there and what a booming industry general transcription truly is. Talk about job security!

And until I met Mark Aselstine, I really thought I'd seen it all.

Let's dig in!

How Mark Aselstine of Uncorked Ventures Uses Transcriptionists

Mark Aselstine sells my favorite beverage wine online through his online store, Uncorked Ventures. About his business, Mark says, "We're in a competitive industry, bootstrapped and exist only online."

("Bootstrapped" means Mark built Uncorked Ventures from scratch from the ground up primarily with his own sweat equity and very little financial resources!)

"I've used a couple of different [transcription] services over time for my small business," says Mark.

What made Mark seek transcriptionists?

"Mainly, I knew that we needed more and better content for Google, so I film short videos and then have them transcribed," says Mark.

VIDEO again! There must be something to this... it comes up over and over again with the people I interview about their use of transcriptionists. For Mark and his work at Uncorked Ventures, "It helps with search engines."  Search engines keep coming up in our research as well -- text is critically important if you want your business to be found online. And because not everyone is great at writing or typing, transcriptionists can help make the content creation process a lot easier for bootstrapped businesses like Mark's.

Why does Mark use video?

"We know not everyone is going to watch a video or be able to access sound while at work, or even taking public transit to work. So, we wanted the text available," he says.

VIDEO + TRANSCRIPTION = A HUGE TIMESAVER! "Filming a short video -- and we are without a doubt light on planning and editing -- takes about 30 minutes in total. It generally takes me 2+ hours to write the same amount of content.

But wait, there's more! "We've also had a transcriptionist write out newsletters for our wine club members," says Mark.

Hey, that's a new one! Newsletters. Further evidence there really is no limit to what a high-quality transcriptionist can help with.

We asked Mark: What makes a good transcriptionist?

"Two things: speed and accuracy," says Mark. "It's also nice if they have a basic understanding of my industry... if they drink wine themselves, it makes it easier and quicker with some terminology."

Our Take

I love how Mark has been fully tapping into the content-creation power of transcription to help him grow Uncorked Ventures -- videos, newsletters, he's got transcriptionists helping him do it all!

You may have noticed... but hardly anyone talks about transcriptionists because they're behind the scenes. Hardly anyone writes about who actually hires transcriptionists and what kind of things transcriptionists can actually do for businesses (besides the biggest lie about transcription ever: "it's just typing").

In fact, the bulk of stuff you see online about transcription is about how to get jobs at the big-box transcription companies... or they're trying to sell you some cheap download on a sleazy landing page. Many sites claim anyone can become a transcriptionist (which is just not true), and that there's "no experience needed" -- but what they don't tell you is that without experience (proper training!), you're probably not going to pass the test; you're probably not going to get hired; and if you do pass and get hired, you'll be paid peanuts until the point of exhaustion and defeat.

As you learned from Mark today -- transcriptionists can do so much more than type. If you want to get work with businesses like Mark's, consider investing in proper training to become excellent. Then you'll have the know-how and the confidence you need to seek clients like Mark.

Because excellent transcriptionists are not just the ones who can get clients like Mark -- they can also keep them.

Follow Mark on Twitter.

Ready to learn more about what it takes to become a truly excellent, hire-worthy transcriptionist?

Enroll in our free mini-course, Transcription Foundations.