Agree with Shemah. Older Works didn't have it. Newer ones

• Wanting to buy used Word,(is this legal? ) only have works. - SM
  • Word - mtathome
    • Word vs. Open Office - Jan
  • Leave email address. Might be able to - help you. nm
    • I'd like to know this too, as I have the same problem and would like to buy used Word. - dw
  • Word comes with Works as an add-in. - Wordy
  • You can buy it pretty cheaply on eBay - Shemah
    • Agree with Shemah. Older Works didn't have it. Newer ones - no name
  • Me too. Let me know if you find it. I will purchase it also. I also don't know whether or not - me too

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I think it was a "teaser."  The MTSO may offer 17 cpl at some point, but it certainly isn't clearly stated at what point or with what experience.  Most of us already do very difficult ESLs for half that rate.

I personally have had much better experiences with small MTSOs than large nationals. 

Ignore 'Shroom.  Don't let yourself get into that mentality.  Life is what you make it.  MT CAN be a very profitable profession.  It's not for everyone and not everyone can do it.  But if you are good at spelling and grammar, and you can type fast, and you are dedicated to really learning and not just doing a crap job as fast as you can so you can get paid more, your patience and hard work will pay off.

My #1 advice is:  Get a job in a hospital transcription department.  Not acute care at home for a service.  Get a job with a hospital.  The pay not NOT be as much as you could make at home for a service, but that experience will prove invaluable.  Work there for a few years.  Learn the ropes.  Learn to do all types of reports - the basic 4 plus everything else.  I have worked for a service and for a hospital and I learned so much more at the hospital.  The service was about production; the hospital was about quality.  They wanted us to really KNOW what we were typing and when there were words no one could get, the MT supervisor would ask the doctor and we would get it straight from them.  Doctors would also come down to talk to us and explain things to us sometimes, and that was a big help.  I worked at a hospital and a service at the same time and there were so many things (terms) that the service MTs didn't know that I knew only because of my hospital experience. 

Now I own my own service.  I get all my accounts through word of mouth, partly (actually MOSTLY) from my contacts that I developed back when I worked IN a hospital.  I have never had to advertise.  I have always been praised for being an excellent MT.  The hospital supervisors at the hospital where I used to work know that.  When they get a call from doctors or other hospitals asking who they recommend for transcription services, guess whose number they give out?  Yep, mine. 

When I first started out I didn't make much money at all.  But I worked hard and learned everything I could.  I never had an attitude like some on this board, that I wasn't being paid fairly, or that someone owed me more money, or that I was being cheated.  I worked and gained knowledge and experience, and made sure my quality was excellent, and added to my expander, and developed new ways of using shortcuts, and kept looking for the next opportunity that would move me up a little more.

I never make less than $25 an hour.  I usually make $35 to $40 an hour.  I have had an occasional hour where I made over $100 - yes, $100 - and no, I am not lying.  It was a surgery center account and one day a week I would transcribe routine cataract extractions with lens implantations.  I had that I had a template for and all I had to do is pop in the patient's name, right or left eye, and the size of the lens used.  I would do one right after the other, over and over, and make over $100 in an hour.  Would have been nice to do that all day long, but after an hour I was done with the cataract surgeries. 

Anyway, don't sit there thinking you are never going to make any money in MT.  Don't listen to the people who want to bring you down.  Don't waste time thinking your glass is half empty.  Look at the opportunities that are in front of you and start taking them.  Maybe you make 8 cpl now.  Do the best work you can do for that company.  Be valuable to them.  Become an asset to them instead of a liability.  And when you find something that's a little better, do the same thing there.  Work your way up. 

After you get the experience (hospital preferably), keep working and honing your skills.  Then decide "Okay, I am going to spend X hours a week working on getting my own accounts."  Maybe 4 hours every Saturday.  So you set aside that time and you think of points you want to make to potential clients.  Set up a business number or a separate phone number to receive business calls.  Put a business message on the line so if you miss a call they can leave a message.  Figure out how you will receive dictation - dictation system, TASP, or whatever.  Make flyers.  Drive around and check out potential clients in your area.  Go through the phone book or the little blue book of doctors in your area and start sending out flyers or walking door to door.  Every Saturday spend 4 hours doing the next step.  Decide you'll send out or deliver 20 flyers a week, or whatever you want.  You may not see results right away.  Don't get discouraged, just devote 4 hours a week to it, every week. 

There is money to be made in MT.  You have seen people on this board tell you how much they make.  They didn't answer an ad for an MT school on a matchbook and suddenly they are making $35 an hour.  It takes time and patience and a good attitude.

would not send them to the "z" section of a book or any website.  Maybe a Google search would have worked, but I didn't try it to see.

How about lightening up on the new MTs asking questions on the Word Board.  I am not a new MT (20 years), and I've asked questions.  I'm not so sure there is a "level of word asking."  Why be so brusk and hard on the new MTs?  Are you afraid they will take your job?  Don't worry there is plenty of work to go around.

I would hope if you had a question on the Word board, someone does not go on another board and post how horribly incompetent you must have been to ask that question on the Word board.

This is a wonderful resource. 

Thought I'd put my 2 cents in - I have been with Transolutions for about 4 months now, and I agree with the statements about how nice they are - they really are.  I am working really hard to increase my production and get up to level 5, which is the higher pay.  Dolfan, do you have any suggestions on that?  You said you just stay there no matter what it takes - does that mean you just put in as much time as it takes to get that many lines in?  Does it usually take you significantly over your scheduled time?  I keep resolving to do that, but then I get tired and end up between level 2 and 3.  I am still adding docs to my glossary on a daily basis, so I keep hoping that I will get there eventually. 

I agree also about the benefits - I am part time (25 hours/week), but I am earning PTO, holiday pay, etc.  When you do have to work a holiday, you get benefit pay, PLUS time and a half - I think that is fairly unusual for an MT company. 

The scheduling is flexible, too.  I worked for as an IC before, but I actually found that I needed a schedule or I would leave work too late and burn out.  But, that is just me.

Hope that is informative, and Dolfan, thanks for any help in advance!  (Or any other Transolutions people out there reading this, if you have any suggestions.) 

Melissa

Sounds like you need to find a good one, #1, and #2, one who really specializes in the cervical spine (mine does - he does it all, but he really specialiizes in the head and neck). 

Hope you feel better very soon!!! 

How old is John Travolta anyway.  He was so cute in Grease too.  Loved his dancing and now I just wonder if he has the same moves since he gained weight.  He didn't look all that bloated in Pulp Fiction either.  It's just lately he has looked too heavy for his frame.   

I can assure you that I'm not an older woman.  Thirty is not old.  I still get carded buying alcohol.  I've never bleached my naturally blonde hair either.  The clothes aren't skimpy.  I have full coverage with nothing hanging out.  I certainly don't shop in the plus or women sized departments either.  It's just a change from slob mode, which is the point I was trying to make.  Women will feel and look younger by taking a few moments to care about their appearance.  Try some trendier clothes, a new hairstyle, a touch of makeup.  Besides, if I was a fat, ugly, old lady as you're implying, troll, hubby would tell me.  He's the one who didn't like my "comfortable" work clothes to begin with.

than your older children.....25 and 23....didn't want you to think I'm a real old biddie....*lol*

Hope you resolve things....sounds like a family therapy would help solve because if you don't resolve....these buildups you get....will continue until you die.  Best get into some therapy - it works WONDERS if one applies it!  *S*

Best of luck!! 

Sorry if I offended you, I was joking because I'm older and I do read many blogger sites of much older, more journalistic type writers, and famous people who are also bloggers.

Again, sorry for any offense taken, none was meant! 

I got less than a decade on you but it starts happening around 40+ (*winks at the 39 y/o poster) and it happens.  At 40, I started writing down lists, whereas prior I never needed a list (to go shopping, let's say).  About halfway through my 40s, it was "where are my keys and/or my eyeglasses" things.  I talked to a bunch of women who confirmed this (older than me).  Now, I do the room - "why did I just walk in here?" - thing. 

I try not to worry about it.  I had a dad (who died nearly 2 years ago at a very old age and more than twice my age *S*) whose short-term memory was not great from his 60s on into his 90s, but his long-term memory was so EXCELLENT that he could tell you a story about a horse, his neighborhood, and a situation that he experienced at 5 years old (an emotional trauma) with such clarity and lucency, you could picture the entire situation yourself.  That, in and of itself, amazed many!

So, don't beat yourselves up about this stuff.  There are lots of books out about this very subject.  When you think about these things, well....what's the alternative?  (I'm thinking some extra serotonin *LOL*) - but really, these things will occur and I'm not choosing the alternative, that's a given (i.e., death).  *LOL*  So, I'll live with these challenging things happening and try not to kick myself every time I mess up. 

I will tell you I am much better about my keys and eyeglasses today because I made places for them to sit (if I remember to not toss them wherever *LOL*)

You are all not alone, that's a given too