Had an old white Compaq board that was so "soft" & quiet. Newer

• Keyboard recommendations, soundless & light touch? - Moving on
  • IMHO, you don't want silent...you want quiet. sm - Brian
  • The Microsoft 4000.....ahhhh....awesome, quiet, soft touch, ergo..nm - Dani
  • I think a Goldtouch? was rek'd before. Might do a net search - for geek forums that discuss keyboards. NM
  • There's one on Amazon - Me
    • Brand is Saitek.... - AnnieM!AnnieM!
      • But it clicks? Usually this means not a light touch? Thanks - Moving on
        • Expounding.... - AnnieM!AnnieM!
          • Please, don't "ex-pound," I probably meant expand!. It's late! Thanks - Moving on
          • Not the OP, but man I can't stand that noise! Need very - little clacking & a light touch. NM
      • Here's my question... - quickerpickerupper
        • My Dell ... - Soxfan
      • You guys using the Saitek gaming, multimedia, Eclipse or - another style keyboard? NM
        • Mine is Saitek Eclipse II (nm) - AnnieM!AnnieM!
          • Saitek - Soxfan
      • AnnieM! Was it you who told me.... - Hayseed
        • Yup. That was me.... - AnnieM!AnnieM!
      • Not the OP, but you had me there until you mentioned clicking. - Hate clicks! Still looking myself. nm
        • Me too, I can't stand noise. - Me
          • Had an old white Compaq board that was so "soft" & quiet. Newer - ones & cordless ones just don't cut it. NM
          • Clicks... - AnnieM!AnnieM!
            • It's quiet to me! - Soxfan
              • Can you disable the lighting on this if you find it distracting? nm - Wondering
                • Lighting not distracting (sm) - AnnieM!AnnieM!
                • Lighting - Soxfan

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accessories and window treatments to bring it together.  Personally, I like neutral color walls and like to decorate around them.  You can bring the rooms together with nice window treatments, throw pillows, and candles with candle holders. 

Pier-1 imports has great decorating ideas.

Good luck.

I bought my original Compaq laptop in 2000 and it didn't "die" until January of this year.   It was used all of the time.  I replaced it with another  Compaq because of my great experience.   I only had 1 technical problem that arose with it early on while owning it and when I called them because it wouldn't turn on they had  DSL pick it up that day from me and the very next day it arrived back at my home completely fixed.  I never expected it repaired and returned that fast!!!

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

tragedy.  So I'm pretty sure I'd look WITHIN and gather strength and then focus that on my kids and getting them through school.  Plus I'd need to so some weight losing/revamping to go looking for another man!

But the "traumatic amputation" thing.  I just posted about that the other day on another board, saying my aunt told me when my uncle died it was not like a death, it was like an amputation, because they were so close.  Just wondered if you picked that up from there.

and solitude and are more introverted than extroverted.  Most people don't understand the nature of the job and the skill set it requires along with the personality.  We are not librarians but we have to have the aptitude and the research skills that most librarians have along with a desire for knowledge and understanding of medicine.  People who have to be around people all the time naturally would think people who worked from home and actually liked it were odd. Just look at all the people looking for jobs they can do at home these days. Most people think jobs from home are scams.  MT is a legitimate job and for some quite lucrative.  No one has it easy these days with the job market the way it is so maybe some people only wish they had MT skills and get frustrated because they are stuck and have to play the people game every day.

But most MDs dictate near the unit stations where the nurses and other people are talking loud and seemingly don't care that there is an MD there trying to dictate.

I STILL work for MQ (only on weekends for 9 years and work privately during the week).  They quit the *cesspool* stuff and have given us all 3 accounts (possibly more for other people).  I sometimes do get a 4th account if all my 3 others are done.

Have a good one!!! 

Trying to avoid interruptions in the home.:)  Any of you work from an added room or trailer that you turned into an office?  Closing the door is not an option.  Would need to actually leave the house even if it is to go to a room added on or to a camper in the yard.  Wondering if others have done the same thing.   I saw in the paper where a company rents out an office for a day, a week, or however long you need it for.  Wondering if that would be worth it just to have the chance to work in peace.

And then you just walk away or change the subject to something like, "DO I SMELL SMOKE?!!

I'm actually thinking "David, shut up." But that not only is not nice, I'm sure there is a "go to hell" card in his "Meet My New Religion" game for that expression.

Goooooood luck

And don't get married because you're going to fry in hell if you don't. Trust me, it only makes more laundry and dishes.

Merry Christmas!!!