Intro: A
home typing service is such a good idea. I am a Apple Mac Operator
myself and do a lot of work as a freelance typist. I definitely
recommend it if you are good at typing. Accuracy is the most
important factor to any good typist. There are some great ideas
here to get you started if this is what you are interested in. I
have another article which tells about starting a work at home
typing business which you should check out as well if you are
interested in this in any way.
A home typing service is an ideal
venture to get into on a part-time basis. While it won’t make
you a millionaire, you can expect a few hundred dollars per month.
I’m sure you could use that. However, if you are fast and good
at it, you will find plenty of business coming your way from
referrals and recommendations and your monthly income could very
well skyrocket, making it a great home business idea.
There are thousands of typing
possibilities and even more people looking for the services of a
typing agency. Typing requests will come from business people,
doctors, lawyers, authors, students and even job seekers. Some
possible typing jobs may include resumes, sales letters, flyers,
lawyers letters, student assignments, announcements, manuscripts,
newsletters, etc.
What’s Required
In order to be successful in this
home business concept, you need to obviously be able to type quite
well. You don’t have to be a fast typist but rather a meticulous
and professional one. You need to be dependable and finish typing
assignments on time.
You obviously need to have a
reliable computer and printer. An excellent word processing
program like Word or similar is required. As the output quality of
your finished assignment is crucial to your success, you might
want to ensure that you have a printer that is capable of
high-quality printing.
Demarcate a section in your home
as your “office”. You might consider keeping your clients’
documents to be typed in a secure, preferably lock-up drawer or
cupboard. This will ensure that it is out of reach from kids, your
pets, prying visitors or your cleaning lady who might accidentally
mistake it for garbage and discard it.
Depending on where you live, you
might need to get a business license to operate from home. This
requirement will vary from state to state, town to town, country
to country. As this article will probably be read by people from
all over the world, I would not be able to advise here except to
say that you should consult your nearest trade office for
direction.
Getting Started
Once your home office is ready,
it is time to spread the word around about your new typing
service. You should start with having business cards made and pass
around to places like doctors’ rooms, libraries, hospitals, etc.
A great idea is to make up small posters and pin them up on
bulletin boards in shopping centers, community centers, message
boards on campuses and colleges nearby. Any high foot traffic area
is also recommended.
You may consider placing a few
classified ads in your local papers. One such ad may look like
this:
Ally’s Typing Service. All
kinds of typing done professionally at reasonable rates. Quick and
reliable. Tel: xxxxxxxxx
You may also consider advertising
in the Yellow Pages. This is an advertising opportunity that works
very well in this type of field.
Pricing
Your rates will normally be based
on a per hour basis. The best way to determine your starting rates
is to have a look at what your competition is charging. Phone
them, quiz them on their rates for various items. Set your price a
little lower than theirs. As you gain experience and people start
recommending you for your excellent work and reliability, you can
gradually start increasing your rates.
Customer Service
As with any other business,
customer service is of paramount importance, sometimes the
deciding factor on success or failure. Make sure, if possible,
that there is a ‘live’ person taking enquiries from your
clients and enquirers to your ads. If this person is not going to
be you, make sure that the person you appoint possess sufficient
knowledgeable to field the calls.
You can easily ensure this is
possible by providing him/her with the correct training. If you
must use a telephone answering service, do so only as a last
resort. Research has shown that if an enquirer is calling after
reading your offer from a medium where there are similar offerings
to your own like in classified listings, they will simply move on
to the next ad if they get an answering machine when they call
you. This is because most people are impulsive by nature – if
they want to use a typing service then they want all the
information like rates, time frame, etc. now!
Good Work Etiquette
When you receive a typing job
request, make sure you quote correctly. You also need to decide
whether you can handle that type of request due to time
constraints or if you have the sufficient typing skills to do a
job that is quite intricate.
Give realistic completion
estimates to your clients and it is a good idea to allow an extra
day in case something goes wrong. Always honor the completion time
with your clients but do not be forced into promising an earlier
finishing time when you know that it’s going to be impossible.
Make separate folders for each of
your clients and name it accordingly. You may want to back up your
data daily on either a cd rom or any other external storage device
for safety reasons. The last thing you need is to lose all your
hard work in the event of a serious system crash.
This is really a good, workable
business idea, especially for the house-bound although it can work
for just about anybody. Take it easy, start small and expand
slowly. All the best!
Copyright 2006 Anwar Ahmed Ally
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