Hey everyone, The Side Hustle University is back with another review for you. This time I will be talking about a website called REV.com.
Although I am not sure if this is a site that will suit everyone out there, it is a great example of a quickly growing way to make money online. I am not a person who ever thought that I would become a writer or proofreader or anything to do with language in any way shape or form. I was always someone who excelled in math and science at school. I absolutely hated English class. Give me a differential equation or calculus problem to solve and I’m on it, but ask me to analyze why the author was talking about red curtains in some book or play and I’m clueless. Yet here I am writing blog posts not only for myself but also for other people and other sites. Funny how the world works out sometimes.
Like many of you out there, I used to worry about finances quite a bit. Not knowing if I was going to have enough money at the end of the month to afford rent, or only having enough money to feed my kids pasta and butter for dinner every day was just one of the worst feelings I have ever had. I couldn’t take it anymore and I decided to figure out ways to make more money.
Luckily, I was able to start a blog, The Side Hustle University, to help people who are going through similar situations to me and looking for ways to make money whether online or on the side.
One sustainable side hustle is freelancing. It does require work to be a freelancer, but is it realistic to make a living off of it? I came across a website claiming to pay up to $1.10 USD per minute to be a Transcriptionist or Captionist.
In this article, I will describe the work that is involved, and how realistic is it to make some decent money from it.
What is Rev.com
The site I would like to share with you all is called REV.COM. I am sure many of you have heard of this site before but I will be sharing my opinions and take on it here.
To begin with, rev.com is a speech-to-text service that is offered to hundreds of different companies across the globe. Rev now takes pride in calling itself the #1 speech-to-text service in the world, with 99% accurate transcripts, captions, and subtitles. They have received many awards for their services including one from PC MAG, and they have also been featured in The Wall Street Journal. A company with this type of recognition cannot be a scam in my opinion, which is why I decided to do a deep dive into them.
What Do You Have to Do?
Rev.com has 3 different types of work you can do for them and in return get paid.
- Transcriptionist
A transcriptionist working for Rev.com will spend their time taking an audio clip and converting it into a written out file or document. The important thing here is that you have to follow Rev.com’s strict guidelines. Failure to do so could result in Rev.com not accepting your work and eventually not allowing you to work for them anymore.
The audio transcription service provides a text version of an audio or video from one of Rev.com’s clients. This service allows their clients to stay focussed on the content of the audio so that they can go back and gain insights from it.
- Captioner
A captioner working for Rev.com will spend their time transcribing audio clips and adding captions to videos. Again, it is really important to follow Rev.com’s strict guidelines. Failure to do so could result in Rev.com not accepting your work and eventually not allowing you to work for them anymore.
Captioning services help Rev.com’s clients to reach a wider range of audience as well as improve accessibility by adding text that will represent speech, sound effects, and musical cues. The captions improve video quality for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, by putting text on the screen for them to read along to.
- Subtitler and Translationist
A subtitler working for Rev.com will spend their time transcribing audio clips and adding captions to videos. This is essentially the same as a captioner, but you are just Again, it is really important to follow Rev.com’s strict guidelines. Failure to do so could result in Rev.com not accepting your work and eventually not allowing you to work for them anymore.
Rev.com also provides translation and subtitles of audio. As I mentioned before, the addition of these subtitles and captions to videos will allow Rev.com’s clients the ability to reach a wider range of audiences. Some of the languages available for translation include Spanish, German, and Japanese.
How Do You Start?
Simple. Head over to rev.com/freelancers and fill in the signup form. This will start the application process. As part of the process, you will have to complete a transcription test. I will be honest with you though, I failed this test twice. And if you do fail, you have to wait for 45 days until you can reapply and try again.
This is why I mentioned earlier that you need to pay specific attention to Rev’s guidelines for their work. For obvious reasons, I cannot share the test with you but I can tell you that it is easier than you may think it is, just follow the rules.
Rev does give you the guidelines so that you can review them and even use them as you are doing the test. Just make sure to understand them completely.
Once you submit the test and application, you play the waiting game. That’s something you should take note of here. If you are looking to make money right away with this, it won’t happen. They will review your application and test and it could take up to 2 months to hear back from them. I even think they say it could take up to 12 weeks.
This is the actual email I received from Rev when I completed my application. As you can see, it could take 4 to 12 weeks according to Rev themselves.
The application process is broken into 2 main parts. The first part is a simple application where they ask you the normal things like name, email, and country of residence. They then ask you to answer 3 questions such as “What was your last vacation and what did you do there?” I can only assume these questions are to see your level of writing in English, or whatever language is native to you. My advice would be to take your time answering these first 3 questions and proofread your answers.
How Much Can You Get Paid?
So let’s talk about the most important part. How much money can you potentially earn from working with Rev? Well the image below shows you the estimated pay rate per minute. So if we take the lower end of $0.30 per minute, you’d be looking at $18.00/hr USD. Not a bad payout for sitting in front of a computer in the comfort of your own home and essentially just typing.
I will warn you though. Most of the work Rev gives you to do will take a lot of time. In order for you to do it right and according to their specifications, it will take a long time for you to get it right. And believe me, you want to get it right. Once you start submitting work to Rev and getting paid, you will probably start to have a sense of euphoria since it is relatively easy to make money doing this and the money is decent.
Some of the projects I worked on had a 5 minute audio clip to transcribe, but I ended up spending close to 60 minutes on the project. So just be forewarned that this will take some time for you to dedicate yourself to.
The earnings can potentially be huge. Not life changing huge but it will definitely put you on your way to another consistent, sustainable source of income that I hope will lead you to more side hustles that will eventually free you from your regular full time job.
My best advice to maximize your earnings would be to treat this as if it were your actual job. This site is called The Side Hustle University for a reason. I understand that this may be something that many of you would be trying out to make money outside of your regular job, so treating this as if it is your job will be difficult. But let me be clear, I am not saying you should invest 40 hours a week into this. Again, the intent is to make this a side hustle, not your 2nd full time job. But treating this as if it is your actual job means that you will see the results quite quickly.
The last thing I would like to say about how much money you can potentially earn is that it is also dependent on how much work Rev has available for you to do. Sometimes projects dry up and you could go days or weeks without getting any work. This obviously affects your earnings. This is why I say that you should have more than one source of income. For more information and guidance on this, check out my blog post titled, “ TRANSFORM YOUR FUTURE WITH SIDE HUSTLES: BENEFITS OF SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME”.
Conclusion – The TL;DR Version
Rev.com is a legitimate platform that offers great freelancing opportunities for individuals interested in transcription, captioning, subtitling, and translation services. With Rev’s reputation as the #1 speech-to-text service in the world and recognition from notable media outlets, Rev has become a reliable source of income for many side hustlers alike.
However, it is crucial to adhere to Rev’s strict guidelines to avoid getting rejected and barred from working for them. The application process may be lengthy, and the transcription test may be challenging, but once accepted, freelancers can enjoy the flexibility of working from home and earning a decent amount of money.
Rev may not be suitable for everyone, but it is an excellent option for those seeking a sustainable side hustle. Overall, Rev provides an opportunity for individuals to earn extra income from the comfort of their homes, making it a viable option for anyone looking to boost their finances.
What do you think? Is Rev something you would try as a way to make money online and help you achieve your financial dreams and freedom? Let me know in the comments.
As always,
To your success,
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