It will get better--just keep working..nm

• I think all new mts should be called - Hello
  • Hey, we were all "MT wannabes" sm - Dano
  • Hang tight and don't give up! - 15 years and counting
    • Good advice! nm - Dano
  • It will get better--just keep working..nm - Transcender

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that holiday you refuse to work?  Grocery stores, food joints & seems any store is open on holidays and you expect them to be fully staffed, so why shouldn't we?

Yes, I took off for the first time on Christmas day, in 18 years and it was great, but I worked Christmas eve and this whole past weekend.

Someone has to do it!

There are so many other things I need and want to get done.  I've been working way too hard lately, and summer is just slipping by again.  Well, I'm outty.

Spinning is great if you only want aerobics, but a personal trainer deals with weight training. That's for building muscle, which speeds up your metabolism. You really need both (aerobics and weight training) if you want to slim down and shape up.

In either case, make sure you drink ice water. The body's reaction is, "What the heck is this stuff?! I'm getting cold here. Turn on the shiver mechanism." That's another way to speed up your metabolism.  

It is harder now to break in than it was 15 to 20 years ago when I started but there is still accounts out there.   I got started part-time when working for a local hospital -- not even doing medical transcription.   I was an Admin Ass't but had done this in the past and one of our physicians on one of our boards could not get anyone to do his transcription so I started doing it part-time.  I had been a CMA, CMT, x-ray tech in the old days.  But had not kept up on my certifications when I went to work in the hospital.  But this started the ball rolling.  Since my hubbie then was a truck driver I did it to keep me out of trouble when he was out of town.  Then I started doing it full time.   I get accounts from the private docs that no one really wants, larger companies, and still do tapes, printing, delivering and pick ups.  I advertise and send out flyers and seem to get a bite when I need a new account.   I have 2 Surgical Oncologists, 2 IM's, 1 Plastic/Hand surgeon, and 1 Psych.   I have one permanent part-timer and one that helps out with overflow.  I charge from 10.5 to 12.5 cents a line depending on the account.  My rates are going up this month.  I also work in a clinic doing electronic charts but that is as an employee.    These docs are small and I keep my prices lower because I know what they get back from insurances, etc. are not that great.   I am paid within 3 days of receipt of invoice (usually the next day) have never had my line count questioned, have never had a check bounce and they make me a part of their team.  And yes, I am the one from six months ago that said I would bake them cookies and you know why.  But all I can say is look through the County AMA directories or phone books or if your hospital has physician offices in them, see who works alone and try sending out flyers or going door to door -- never hurts to bring cookies either.   But have been doing it for 15 years fulltime and make enough to support myself through a yucky divorce and pay an attorney $10,000 -- barely but did it.  Good luck.  Maybe if enough would do this for themselves much cheaper than the nationals we could all go back to making a good living.   Am going digital here in the next six months or so, but only to pick up a new account as my docs still prefer the tapes.  Trying to get them to change. 

You can E-mail me for any more questions.

I could make anywhere between $20 and $90 an hour depending on how the work flowed any particular day but the yearly average was $45 an hour before taxes.  My only benefits were 2 weeks paid vacation a year and health insurance for which the company paid the complete premiums.  Since they took care of my taxes, I didn't have anything else to worry about.

Actually, when I kept that job and moved to several other states (Jersey, PA, GA, AL), I continued to make the same pay but the cost of living was less in the south so my disposible income was much greater, giving me a better lifestyle.

I am considering working as an IC employee.  I have always been a full-time employee.  I would like information on what it involves.  Thanks so much.

KG 

Jodi, I am so happy that it is working out so well for you.  You are finding out that you are a lot stronger than you first thought.  I'm glad you took those tears and turned them into strength!  You will make it!!  You have already done the hardest part....even though there will still be rough times, you have made it through the hardest part already.  Nothing can stop you now.  You are a strong, smart woman.  Your children are blessed

I will keep you and your children in my thougths and prayers.  Keep us updated - we care!

Anyone working for JLG?  Could you please Email me?  Thanks.

I'm so glad!  I see everything now...it's all working wonderfully!  Thank you for all of your help!

Sincerely,

Chickadee

I feel like I'm always working too.  I think that is one of the tricky things about not having a strict schedule.  You know you have all day, so sometimes it takes that long to get the work done, at least for me anyway. 

When working in DOS, I was very adapt at creating functioning macros to create logs, move from place to place, do global replacements built into the file save at the end of each working day (all reports in a single daily file).  I was using only Smartype at that time and had only one hospital account for more than 5 years (all specialities and work types).

I have not been working in MS-Word that long and have not taken the time to learn to utilize macros as I would like as I have worked on several platforms that had Word functions stripped out of them.  I imported all my entries from Smartype into ShortHand and my average is different according to the platform I am using, whether or not I get a high percentage of templated reports, new dictators, the number of accounts I work on during a given day, etc.  Regardless of the platform and each report being saved individually, my minimum is 200-250 lph, so you can use that to calculate the wpm if you have the free time.  The biggest time killer for me is not the platform/expander issue - it is being able to save all reports in one file to submit daily versus submitting all reports individually.

BTW, you can be a master at anything, but how well it serves you is your ability to adapt to different ways of producing your work.  I barely hit 64 wpm on any typing test because I have been using Expanders for more than 10 years and my muscle memory for straight typing is simply no longer there.  With more than 25 years of keyboarding under my fingers, I have yet to develop symptoms of carpal tunnel/repetitive stress injuries...something a master typist not using expanders should be concerned with.

I just bought a laptop a couple of months ago so I can eventually go on "working vacations,"  which is better than none at all I guess.  Anyway, it's fine.  I have a 17" screen, which is still shorter than a desktop 17" screen because they measure diagonally but I've gotten used to it.  I use an expansion base, an ergo keyboard, and a regular mouse with it.  With all that on it, I'm using it more like a portable desktop than laptop when I'm doing MT work. 

I plan on plopping it in the laptop bag and the keyboard, expansion base, and mouse in a wheeled suitcase.  I have a small travel printer too. 

I heard last week Dell had some laptops with Windows XP Pro on them that you could get custom built.   

Good luck whatever you decide.