Welcome to my Speechpad review!
We all know transcribing is necessary for many companies and individuals to have their material – be it audio or video – converted into written texts or have these words captioned in their video beneficial for those in need.
For almost 2 years now, I have been following a best-selling author of “Book Launch” and blogger, Chandler Bolt, who’s been doing the system of hiring transcriptionists to write his books and sell on Amazon.
Given, I had this idea in mind that there are limitless possibilities when it comes to working in this industry. Be it writing captions or converting audios to texts, there’s a lot.
Hence, it’s necessary for aspiring transcriptionists to gear their skillset up and become ready to provide high-quality outputs. If you want to get serious in this area of expertise, master the basics of an A-list transcriptionist by taking the 7-day FREE course.
Are you ready to dig into the company’s itty-bitty details? Let’s dive in. Shall we?
Speechpad Review – Quick Summary
Name: Speechpad
Founded: 2009
Founder: Konstantin Othmer
Type: Transcribing company
Price: $0.25 to $1 per minute (even $4 per minute depending on experience)
Best for: Companies and individuals in need of having their material transform into written texts to serve their clientele the best way. Also, Speechpad is great for an aspiring transcriptionist to earn money at home.
Summary: Speechpad is one of the leading companies delivering human and software transcription services across the globe, serving the Giants like Amazon, Netflix, and among others.
Is Speechpad Recommended? No, although they’re a pretty decent company.
What Is Speechpad?
Speechpad is a transcribing company providing services to those individuals or companies in need of having their videos captioned or their audios in written formats.
With a promise of giving the highest quality human and software transcription, Speechpad remained one of the top services in the industry, especially in the following areas:
- Voice-to-text transcription
- Audio-to-text transcription
- Insurance transcription
- Video transcription
- speech-to-text transcription
- Mp3-to-text transcription
Because of being the leading transcribing providers to date, it’s no surprise big companies like Hubspot, Yahoo, Netflix, and Amazon are their loyal clients.
Speechpad landing page
A Quick Trivia About Speechpad
Prior to Speechpad, Othman founded and ran a private company, Core Mobility, working with device manufacturers and wireless operators to provide visual voicemail, voice SMS, wireless backup, and push-to-talk.
During their operations, they’re able to service 40M mobile devices in 4 different countries before Smith Micro Software purchased the company.
Here’s the catch.
He’s also a former Distinguished Engineer at Apple and authored over 25 patents and more pending works under his belt.
What Do They Offer?
As I’ve mentioned above, Speechpad provides limitless possibilities for their customers by having their material converted into written texts, which are needed in their respective businesses.
I’ve come across one of the best selling authors, Chandler Bolt. He has been taking advantage of having his works transcribed for his books. This method is for those who aren’t into writing books, but they insist on having their works published in written form. So, he does this 3-step process:
- Have his content recorded in a voice recorder or in his phone
- Submits the material a transcriptionist and pays per minute
- Waits for a few days depending on how long the material is before he receives the new material in the text.
From an audio form, it becomes a written page, all set for the editing process. In his system, he’s able to write a lot of books within one year while running a blog and an online school. In fact, he writes each of them within 30 days with the help of a transcribing company. From there, it becomes a book.
Likewise, the system Speechpad does to their clients. They outsource transcriptionists across the globe who can deliver this services under pressure without problems in exchange for a fee payable via PayPal.
Speechpad’s main services in 3 variations for their customers to choose
Speechpad Compensation Plan
Over the years, the company has been trying to simplify their compensation plan to their transcriptionists working with them hand-in-hand to deliver the best services they can provide to their clientele.
According to their official website, they pay you $0.25 per minute to as high as $4 per minute depending on your experience and quality of work you provide to their clients. The longer you work and the faster you finish transcribing the files, the higher the pay you receive.
How To Make Money With Speechpad?
For an entry-level transcription work, you’re paid $0.25 per minute to as high as $1 per minute depending on the length of experience you do have.
In the case of captioning work, you’re paid higher. But then again, it all boils down to your experience. If you’re new to this kind of job, Speechpad will pay you $.30 per minute to as high as $4 per minute for premium captions.
Now, the question is how much do you have to work to earn more. This depends on your speed. Typically, you can finish 15 to 20 audio minutes per elapsed hour. For seasoned transcriptionists, they can finish 40 minutes worth of review work per elapsed hour.
How are you going to get paid?
Simple.
The company schedules payments every Tuesday for all approved files in a Monday night (GMT) and Friday (for files submitted on Thursday in GMT).
Hence, every cent counts. And the more hours you spend to work for the files and the more quality work you provide, the higher the chance you’re going to get higher pay.
Speechpad won’t dictate the duration of your working hours, as it all depends on you. But, that doesn’t mean you can slack off just because they give you this freedom to choose your working time.
How To Become A Speechpad Transcriptionist?
To join Speechpad as one of their leading transcriptionists, you need to go to their official website and sign in to register.
Because they want to maintain the high quality of work for their customers with a global-scale business, they have to make sure you won’t do a crappy job. Thus, they’re very selective when it comes to hiring new transcriptionists in the company.
Here’s what they stated in their site, “If you are not fluent in English, good with grammar, and a fast typist, you will likely struggle with completing the jobs to the quality our clients expect.”
If you think you don’t have the skillset required, don’t apply. Don’t even need to think about it.
Otherwise, they have your skills tested based on how English fluency and grammar skills, especially with understanding different accents and dialects. Plus, you have to type as fast as 40 words per minute with the aid of a typing speed test application, which is available on their site.
Another thing you need to have is being meticulous, detail-oriented, and trustworthy when it comes to technical terms. You can find more information about the careers on their site.
Speechpad Reviews – What Others Say?
As far as my research goes, there has been no negative feedback from the clients and the transcriptionists so far. The majority of them approved the company’s virtues, mission, and values as much as their services are concerned.
A transcriptionist named Melissa wrote that she’s been satisfied with Speechpad’s opportunities they provide. She enjoyed the benefits of working online while she’s running the household with ease.
What she noted I think is essential for every service provider is the high-quality customer service. Speechpad does it at par.
One of a few positive feedback from Speechpad transcriptionists
Albeit the mass positive Speechpad reviews, there are downsides in the company services, too.
Based on one of their transcriptionist’s statements, she told that when it comes to writing the English language, is a bit tricky. This is because of the differences of the language (diversity as they call it), which makes the whole process too complex to follow.
Another thing is that the available job may take too long to finish and it wouldn’t suffice the transcriptionist’s time to spend to finish the file.
In contrast to the claim, there’s one who mentioned that once the job is posted, it will be gone quickly. To prevent this, there are a few times she had to get the job though they only have the basic qualifications for the sake of getting it. Not because they qualify.
There are also instances that they have to transcribe poor quality audio in exchange for a pay worth $.25 per minute. As Speechpad mentioned on their website, they require transcriptionist to deliver top-notch output. However, they failed to consider the material quality for such expectation.
In that section, it sounds like the company has to work on the pay adjustments especially when there are circumstances wherein the material delivery fails to meet the Rework deadline and paying the transcriptionist of the work done worth 50% at least or beyond.
Overall, Speechpad doesn’t have records of some serious issues about their services. “Their customer service is friendly and helpful, their reviews are more than fair and consistent, and there is always more than enough work,” she said.
Speechpad [UGLY] Truths Revealed!
1. Unable To Pay A Portion Of The Whole Project (Depending On The Quality Of Work)
This is applicable to unfinished work based on the agreed deadline due to inevitable factors i.e. rework, etc.
Though the company has been in the transcribing business for 10 years now, there are still unsettled concerns between the transcriptionists and Speechpad. This is pertaining to meeting the rework deadline and the payment tantamount to the work or number of hours spent on the project.
I’ve noted one of the transcriptionists concern about receiving a portion of her work as supposed to 50% pay rule (when they’re unable to deliver the file on time).
Considering the rework, the effort, and the time spent on the transcription, she suggested receiving pay equal to the work done. Not the entire project to make it fair for both parties.
2. Massively Broken Links On Their Website
There are some transcriptionists who are unable to seek help because of this major concern. She wanted to have her qualifications verified based on the higher-ranked position she’s applying, but she couldn’t see the information she wanted on the site because of the broken links.
3. Stuck In An Entry-Level Job For Months (E.g. No Available Jobs For One Level)
Although you’ve gained quite a lot of experiences in Speechpad, unless there’s a new opening of a new job appropriate to your level of expertise, you need to wait like months. This is quite different with Transcribe.com, wherein fulfilling the qualifications don’t mean if you passed the test.
If you wish to upgrade your rank to increase the chances of getting a project, you need to prove your skillset based on the qualifications they’re seeking.
4. Lack Of Visual And Audio Transcribing Aids
There are many transcriptionists who find it hard to do their job because of the lack of resources to aid them through the process of transcribing different files. To them, it would be a big help if Speechpad resolves this issue to make their work done as smoothly as possible.
5. Too Limited Chances To Return Jobs (After Accepting Them Due To Poor Quality)
One transcriptionist complained about the event wherein she received poor audio. For whatever reasons, she wanted to return the job only to find out Speechpad does limit the number of times of returning a job. Otherwise, they’re going to close the account for good.
6. Poor Payment For A Long File
Getting paid $0.25 per minute to $1 per minute even if you’re already a seasoned transcriptionist is a bad thing.
Because you need to spend more time, accept more jobs to make sure you’re earning a good or enough amount of monthly income at least. In comparison to GMR Transcription, you earn lesser with $15 in Speechpad (versus $20).
7. Lack Of Consideration To The Existing Language Diversity
English is considered a universal language, however, not everyone speaks the same words and accents. In every region, there will be uncontrollable differences or variations of speaking and writing.
Yet, this is where Speechpad misses. They promise to provide top-notch qualities of material to their clients, without considering the transcriptionist’s limitations.
Yet in order to deliver their promise, it’s considerable to pressure their transcriptionists to deliver that without buts and ifs. This is where the conflict starts because of the nativity of the worker behind that file.
What Did I Like About Speechpad (So Far)…
Albeit the existing concerns between the company and their workers, there have been no other negative issues – like degrading complaints of some sort – that exists.
Certainly, they’re one of the leading transcribing companies serving the Giants in the niches. Because of that, they need to provide the services they promise to these influential companies they work with. That leads to my next point.
If they’re able to adjust or settled the concerns of their workers, there will be no problems ahead in the completion of the files later on. Getting paid too low amid the pressure of submitting the material on deadline appears too much for the transcriptionists to handle.
For sure, it’s understandable. They have to do a great job. Yet, if they aren’t able to provide equal opportunities to an entry-level transcriptionist versus other high ranking workers, the company would lose workers. The worst scenario is including those best of the best of their fields.
Speechpad Reviews Conclusion – Is It Worth Your While…Or Not?
Overall, Speechpad does a great job in providing the best for their clienteles as per promises of delivering the high-quality transcriptions for their respective businesses.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, the company has to do a few adjustments to make the compensation for their workers fairer than how it is now.
If we recall one of the previous transcribing company reviews, Allegis Transcription doesn’t pressure their transcriptionists too much with a few hour working requirements per week. However, there are consequences. You can read the post to learn more about the company.
In the case of Speechpad, many of those transcriptionists I’ve noted are satisfied with the company’s system, though they have a few setbacks because of this minor concern.
Although they are considered minor, yet, the company has to deal with each of this issue to make sure they won’t affect their reputation simply because one dissatisfied transcriptionist fails to deliver what she has to do (due to dissatisfactory workspace).
Nonetheless, Speechpad did a great job in satisfying their customers when it comes to top-notch transcription from video to audio. What they need to do is to work on those minor issues (still they don’t have to act complacent though) to improve their company more for the sake of efficiency and equality.
Process of putting a project to Speechpad prior to hiring professional transcriptionists
#1 Proven Way To Becoming The Most-Sought Transcriptionist
Applying for a job as a transcriptionist is one of a few interesting means to earn money online. In fact, you can take advantage of Roope’s suggestion of doing a 7-day FREE transcribing course via Transcribe Everywhere.
All you have to do is to register on the site and fill in the required information. That’s it. You’ve got access to a series of training needed to upgrade your skillset as a transcriptionist prior to application in an entry job on Speechpad.
If you are really serious with your craft, grab this opportunity to learn what most companies are looking for in an A-list transcriptionist. Perhaps, it’s you they’re waiting for.
If you do, click the button below to access the 7-day FREE course to make sure you have what it takes to be a successful transcriptionist and earn more at home. It’s worth it.
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To end this post, I’d like to ask you the following questions:
What kinds of experiences do you have with Speechpad? Have you worked before as a transcriptionist and earned $$$ at home?
Let me know in the comments below! 🙂
If you have further questions that I haven’t discussed in this post, feel free to leave them in the comments.
On the other hand, if you feel like you want to join Roope and go through the whole process of earning a legit income by transcribing, leave a comment as well and he’ll be happy to be of help.
Don’t forget to grab the 7-day course for FREE! Get your copy now.
Hi Roope Kiuttu! I would like to improve my English. I remember you speaking about an English course but I do not remember what site you spoke about. Could you please recommend me a good English online course? Thanks.
Hi Desio! I recommend free apps such as Duolingo and similar ones