Struggle with your blog? Here’s my secret.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you all to the wonders of the free Temi voice transcription app.  I stumbled upon it when a friend recommended it and I put it on my phone a bit hesitantly. Believe it or not I’m a relatively recent convert to even having a phone (yes, I know, rather odd given that my work is 100% online!), and I don’t tend to randomly put extra apps on my device unless I really think they’re going to help me. I had no idea what a gem I had just stumbled upon.

So one out of every three weeks I am on carpooling duty – including this week. One these days I spend an average of three to four hours in the car, which is a lot. I have found various ways to amuse myself – from personal and business podcasts to audio books (currently listening to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and loving it) and of course, Minnesota Public Radio and Spotify. The Temi app, however, has brought my productivity during that transit time to a new level.

I am writing my blog by recording blog posts using Temi’s voice transcription service.  All I have to do is speak my blog post out loud, it transcribes what I’ve said, and ta da!  All I have to do next is format it. Before I begin my commute, I click record. And as I drive away, my cell phone is recording every word I say. Over the course of my drive to the office or to the school, I’m able to record my thoughts for blog posts as well as various products I’m working on.

So many of you have shared with me your struggle to find the time to actually write a post. And whether that’s finding the time – or the time it takes you to write.  A lot of you will start a blog post and then get caught up on getting it just right, stuck in an endless cycle of edits. If you’re anything like me, talking about something that you’re passionate about is easier than writing it. I’m a good writer, but I find that my thoughts flow more freely when I’m speaking, and especially when speaking to myself. I find that my blog posts go in different directions than they might have if I were simply writing the post because the free associations in my brain allow me to explore topics in greater depth.

So here’s what Temi does over the course of my drive:

It records every single word I’m saying. Now unfortunately, it also records the words from my navigation map. So in the middle of a sentence about search engine optimization, there might also be a instructions to turn left at Larpenteur Avenue. But that’s fine. I can edit those out!  It’s worth it 🙂  When I arrive at my destination, I click “end”, and about three minutes after I’ve parked, I get a ping in my inbox with a fully transcribed version of what I had spoken out loud at the very affordable rate of just 10 cents a minute.

This saves me hours of time. It greatly increases my output of content and helps me explore ideas that occurred to me in transit. This way that I am capturing all those random thoughts that might otherwise pass through my mind and disappear with the next set of directions! If you struggle at all with blog content or feel like you’re not a good writer, or wish you could just find the time, I strongly encourage you to check out the Temi voice transcription app. Give it a try! Your first recording is free, so it can’t even hurt to try. I’d love to know hear how it goes for you. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

EXAMPLE: This blog post took me 4 minutes and 53 seconds to record.  It cost me $0.50 to have transcribed.  It has taken me another 21 minutes to format on my website, including grammar and spelling tweaks, SEO, and making a featured image.  If I had sat down to type this post it would have easily taken me twice as long.

– Sarah