Welcome to my CastingWords review. Are you looking to start a home-based business? Would you like to join a company without having any strings attached, whilst you enjoy the 'work-from home' perks? One of them is to have the flexibility to work whenever you want! Then you might be considering joining Castingwords.
Is CastingWords a scam? Will it really be worth your while to join as a freelancer?
More...
Not all 'work-from-home' job opportunities are created equally. Let me show you where Casting Words scores and where it fails to impress on the work-from-home business opportunity scale.
WHAT IS CASTING WORDS ALL ABOUT?
Casting words is a company that provides a service for clients who need their audio files to be transcribed.
The company was founded back in 2005.Nathan McFarland is the co-founder of CastingWords. The private company has an employee size of 10 people. They have a physical address located in Los Alamos, US.
According to Nathan, CastingWords uses "the power of Amazon's Mechanical Turk workforce to provide transcription, editing and related services."
The world of transcription has been become quite a competitive one. Many companies are joining the trend. One of the positive parts about CastingWords, is that they were put to the test and featured in an article by The Wall Street Journal.
Whether you have a 30-second audio clip or a focused group recording that needs to be transcribed, Casting Words can assist.
Their client base extends to journalists, reporters, and even podcasters. According to the site, they have transcribed over 175 000 transcripts to 10 000 happy customers.
You as a freelancer have the opportunity to make money by joining them. All of their transcription and editing tasks are done by humans. They only use automated in-between stages transcription to ensure"maximum efficiency and highest quality."
So, how can you go about signing up for Casting Words?
Let me show you.
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HOW TO JOIN CASTINGWORDS?
It's free to sign-up to CastingWords. If you want to make money as a freelancer you would have to join as an independent contractor.
As part of the CastingWords freelancer application process, you would need to provide them with a short profile description(less than 500 words).
Then you will be required to take a short transcription test.
You then will have to wait for them to review your results. It can take anywhere between a few hours to a week.
Should your application be approved, you will be able to access your dashboard area and attempt the various jobs that may be available to you.
HOW CAN YOU MAKE MONEY WITH CASTINGWORDS?
As a freelancer transcriber, your job would be to transcribe work given to you by the company.
If you passed the initial assessment, then you would get a taste of how transcription works. You need to really concentrate on the audio material at hand, and as far as possible, accurately convey to them what you hear.
Some audio tracks can be very difficult to decipher especially if they have background noises added or they feature more than one speaker.
I tried transcription files before and personally found it stressful. That's why I prefer to make money online with the help of this teaching platform.
Casting words works on a grading system. You get graded by one of the editors on the platform.
If you score a grade(from 0-4), it's regarded as rejected work and you will not be compensated for it.
If you score :
- 5, you get paid the base pay amount
- 6, you get 1.5 times the base pay amount
- 7, you get 2 times the base pay amount
- 8, you 2.5 times the base pay amount
- 9, you get 3 times the base pay amount
If you get better grades as you tackle transcription jobs, you earn badges. The more badges you earn, the money you can make.
Conversely, if you were to lose a badge, it can be harder for you to get back to the higher levels.
Pay is bonus-based -- the better quality work you submit, the better the pay and the better grade you get.
CASTINGWORDS REVIEWS- ARE PEOPLE HAPPY WITH CASTING WORDS?
I did not get the opportunity to work with Casting Words or complete any of their tasks.
However, I did managed to find out what the general consensus is with regards to freelancers who have indeed used the Casting Words website.
At Glassdoor.com, a third-party review site, Casting words scored an average of 3.1 stars.
What are the high's and low's according to previous users?
The following points are the positive highlights experienced by freelancers.
- Flexible work hours
- Good staff support
And these points below highlights what folks were not very fond of when they worked for Casting Words.
- Scarcity of jobs for beginners
- Pay is extremely low
HOW MUCH MONEY CAN YOU MAKE WITH CASTING WORDS?
It's not very clear as to how much money you can make with CastingWords. From their frequently-asked-questions section, you can earn anywhere between 8.5cents and a bit over a dollar per audio minute.
In any case, it's safe to say that the starting pay will be low. Especially if you are new to doing transcription work.
One of the users reported on Glassdoor that he was getting paid 17cents per audio minute.
And the interesting part is that these tasks that he was given were apparently more tailored for the experienced transcribers rather than the newbies.
If that is the case, then earning as a newbie can be challenging.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT CASTING WORDS
It's free to sign-up.
They accept Paypal as a payment method.
They have training tutorials and guides to help the freelancer get the help that he or she needs.
They have a good support team. You can contact them via e-mail, and meet-up with members on their FaceBook Group.
They have an active following on various social media channels.
WHAT I DO NOT LIKE ABOUT CASTING WORDS
You get paid per audio hour.
There are no guarantee of jobs.
No proof of earnings on their website.
This is not a passive income earning opportunity.
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IS CASTINGWORDS A SCAM? MY PERSONAL OPINION
Is CastingWords a legit platform or will it be a waste of your time?
I personally do not think that Casting Words is a scam. There were folks who were singing their praise.
I can understand why some users would call CastingWords a scam by feeling that they get paid very little for all of their efforts.
From my understanding, Casting Words is a platform that is delivering a service.
As such, they need to deliver 100% workmanship. This means that you as one of their transcribers would also need to be thorough in your job.
For this reason, they would give out the low paying jobs to newbies, until such time you have proved your merit. Then only I believe you will receive the more consistent and higher-paying assignments.
So if you are considering joining Casting Words, then you may need to be a bit patient when starting off.
Then you also need to consider these two additional issues.
ISSUE ONE: Transcription Jobs Are Not Always Consistent
For instance, during the summer months and the main holidays, the assignments may be in low demand.
It's always a good idea to join other transcription companies such as Appen, CrowdSurf and BabbleType.
ISSUE TWO: You have to be An Active Worker To Be An Income Earner
With most transcription jobs, you have to physically do the job in order to earn money.
In other words, you will be trading your precious time for money.
You would essentially be an Active Income earner as opposed to earning money passively. Take a look at my post active income versus passive income here.
Remember they are paying you per audio-hour. That means that should it take you 30 minutes to transcribe a 2-minute audio file, you will only get paid for that 2-minute of audio file.
How precious is your time to you?
If these issues do not bother you, then perhaps you can give Casting Words a go.
PUT YOU TIME AND ENERGY INTO YOUR OWN ONLINE BUSINESS
CastingWords can certainly be classified as a 'work-from-home' business opportunity. However, it does not fulfill all the criteria of a TRUE work-from-home business opportunity?
The two things that it has, is (1)it allows you to work from home, and (2)it offers you flexibility.
But it does NOT afford you the possibility to build a business with significant income(the compensation is low.) And it does NOT give you the freedom to build a business with passive income potential.
You can invest your time and energy into learning the skills to building your own online passive income business.
I always believe that one of the best assets to invest in, is YOURSELF.
Let me introduce you to an online business teaching platform that has helped me and can and will help you. Take a look at my NR.1 Recommendation to making REAL Passive income here.
Thanks for joining me on this CastingWords review.
i hope that it has helped you.
Have you tried transcription jobs before? If so, what was your experience like?
Looking forward to hearing from You.
Kind Regards and Take Care
FREE 7-DAY
JumpStart Your Online Career
Course
Thinking of Starting An Online Business?
Learn What It Takes To Build a Solid Foundation For Your First Online Venture.
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Great article on home based biz opportunity. In these pressing times most would fund this interesting including me. Incomes are slighly depleted and most of are looking to add on side income. Casting word reviews were super helpful. I have come across so many of these opportunities but this article helped a lot in defining the right one.
Cool I am glad that it has helped you out.
Wish you everything of the best.
Regards
Roopesh
I enjoy writing and, since retiring, I have been looking at a few free lance writing programs. I have seen Casting Words and thought it sounded attractive because it is simply transcribing and not really writing anything original. I appreciate your thorough review of this program. My main concern is the time frame for approving work. I am also wondering if it is possible to look over a job and then reject it for some reason without being penalized. I will be cautious as I look into this program further.
Cool, I am glad that I could help. Wish you everything of the best.
Regards
Roopesh
Hi, Roopesh,
Thank you for sharing this comprehensive review of Castingwords.
I have been looking into a transcription job but I didn’t proceed further namely because of the three reasons: I also felt it will be quite stressful, low-paid, and there’s no way for a passive income.
Although I have heard that there are some people who enjoy it and even make decent money.
You just need to find what works best for you, I guess.
You have a great website, btw, good work!
Cheers,
Ionut
Thanks for the kind words, really appreciate it,
All the best
Roopesh
I haven’t heard of Castingwords, but it sounds confusing to me. If it’s free to signup, what do they accept paypal as a payment for? It sounds like it would be a very subjective in terms of payment, so I can’t see it as a worthwhile opportunity. Thank you for explaining and outlining the company.
A great way to make money but it is something that you need patience for. I often write content for companies and some of them can be trying and don’t pay well.
Thanks for the info.
Thanks and you are most welcome.