How Marsha Created a Retirement Job Full of Passion

Marsha is a key member of the Transcribe Anywhere team, and today she shares her story with us. Marsha's career has taken her full circle, from education to court reporting to medical transcription and back to teaching again. And it's not over yet. Read on to learn how Marsha created the retirement job of her dreams!

Tell us about your life before retirement and TA

My background was originally in education. I've always been a teacher at heart, but the job market was poor at the time, and after a few years of doing substitute teaching, I turned to other pursuits. Fortunately, I had taken courses in typing and shorthand during high school, so I turned to legal secretarial work and then to court reporting, where I worked in state court and then as a freelance court reporter for 14 years. 

This was my first exposure to doing legal transcription, and I found I really enjoyed the transcription portion of the job much more than the actual recording of the transcription. When workloads became low, I then went on to teach myself medical transcription and worked in that field until I retired from it four years ago. 

Why did you take the added step of transcriptionist education?

As I thought about retirement, I knew I wasn't ready to completely stop working, but I wanted more independence and flexibility than medical transcription work offered. When considering retirement jobs that were a good match for my existing skills, I found Janet's General Transcription course and decided to learn the differences between general transcription and the work that I had been doing pre-retirement in legal and medical transcription.

What were the most valuable things you learned during the transcription training course?

I already had a strong background in transcription before the course, but I knew nothing about online transcription jobs using the new technologies, and I knew nothing about how to market myself to clients or where to look for transcription jobs. Those were the key gaps I needed to fill in order to be successful.

How long did it take you to find your first transcription job? How has that evolved? 

Within about two weeks of finishing the course, I had contracted with a general transcription company, and I continue to work with them to this day. A few days after that, Janet asked me to join her in working with Transcribe Anywhere as a virtual assistant and a mentor and instructor to the other students. This combines my love of teaching with my strong background in transcription and has truly become my passion.

What's your favorite thing about being a transcriptionist? What about your least favorite?

My favorite thing when transcribing is learning new things. I really get excited when I can research and find a unique term, and I love doing transcription that focuses on health and medical issues. My least favorite? I would say transcribing focus groups is something I try to avoid.

What does a typical day look like for you? How do you organize your time?

I split my day between my work for Transcribe Anywhere and my transcription jobs. Usually, the morning hours are spent doing virtual assistant duties plus mentoring students. My afternoons are spent doing transcription work during the early afternoons, and I end my day back working with students.

Any final words of advice for anyone considering becoming a transcriptionist or looking for retirement jobs?

Consider your interests and your strengths. If you have a love of learning and a love of the English language, transcription definitely fits the bill. It's hard work, but being able to work from home and working for yourself gives you far more opportunities for advancement than most employee situations ever will. 

Final Thoughts

Thanks, Marsha! It just goes to show you that a retirement job can be a happy next step. You can make your first, second, third, or tenth career into whatever you want it to be in order to live a fulfilling life with passion.

Want to learn more about our general transcription course? Check out the virtual tour.