Really? I make a good living transcribing tapes.
Posted By: Sandy on 2006-02-11
In Reply to: Isn't it great! I cringe every time I see the posts here about "tapes" nm - MTSO
Just because it's not the way you want to receive your work does not mean it is worthy of contempt. As far as I'm concerned, practitioners who are reluctant to give up their familiar dictation methods are less likely to give in to the blandishments of VR or EMR salespeople.
You are free to work your way, and I am free to work as I see fit. If that makes you cringe, well, I guess that's just your problem. It doesn't bother me at all. Cringe away.
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I make less than half online than I do transcribing from my old tapes and my WP5.1 with PDR .. :( I
MORE.
You can make more than that per line, but at 125 lph, not a good living. Have to do at least 300 lp
x
It is worth it though. I couldn't make a good living without.
x
You want to make a living don't you?
Then you listen to idiot dictators. You want to be in the spotlight and be on TV, stay in Aruba. You want to grieve the loss of your daughter privately, stay at home and appoint a spokesperson. You ultimately make choices about what you do based on facts and necessities. It is NOT NECESSARY for Mrs. Twitty to be in Aruba or if she decides she rests more easily in Aruba it is NOT NECESSARY for her to give press conferences acusing people of being criminals or incompetency.
to make it official, not living in sin, tax
nm
Can't say I make a great living, but...
I support myself, my disabled husband, and also have 2 grown children at home, which the one pays his bills, but the other is having problems. We are buying our home, paying for our car, and still have enough to eat out a couple of times a week. I make more at home than if I go back out into the work place.
If you make a living with your PC, it pays to
x
You can't fault someone for wanting to make a living.
Outsourcing simply means that big corporations show bigger profits and the CEOs get bigger bonuses. They claim that it's good for the economy because the companies and CEOs have more money to spend, gag me with their trickle down economics theory, but they refuse to see what it does to the working class people. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in this country down the road as more and more working class people lose their jobs to offshoring. What, are we all going to sign up for unemployment and welfare? Will crime go up as we all start stealing just to put food on the table? I wonder what's going to happen.
Is it possible to make a living off of 4 cents a line?
If there is anyone out there new and still considered a mentoree and able to work full time and make rent please tell me because I need some encouragement. I want to quit the day job to be able to do this fulltime but when I do the math it just doesn't add up to the rent:-)
Any words of encouragement would be helpful.
I make more editing or transcribing SM
depending on how the lines are being counted and how good the SR is at transcribing the dictator at a particular institution. Compensaton is particularly subjective and variable in editing, which offers opportunity for lowballing in a period when hospitals are pressuring hard to keep costs down.
I prefer editing, though.
As said, it's significantly easier on the wrists, you're a lot more productive, it's somewhat higher-level work and (if the job survives at all) likely to become more so, in part because only a high-skilled Editor can figure out the leavings of these very clever transcriptionist-computers. The days when a content slob with flying fingers was a valued MT are fast departing.
Agreed! I couldn't stand to make my living (sm)
facilitating the state of California's biggest growth industry. Not to mention the doctors' callous attitudes towards their patients and the things you would have to transcribe would make you ill. You do know our country has the greatest percentage of our population in jail of any country in the world?
The result of MTs' efforts to make a living wage are (sm)
And of COURSE we don't want less - we DO want more. That goes without saying. But you see - the type of verbal attack that you and other "Debbie Downers" like you launch every time an MT says, "Wait a minute... maybe there IS something we can do is so typical of the type of thinking that holds not just MTs, but women in general back. I have already checked and made sure my doc's MTSO doesn't offshore. If that changes, my ins. (which is just your average, run-of-the-mill HMO) STILL allows me to go to other providers. If you "don't have many options", have you ever wondered WHY? Could it be that you keep SETTLING for less and less? And could it be that other MTs, when they read the gloom and doom in your post, will think THEY have to settle, too?
As for pulling other endeavors out of other nations, hey - there are quite a few that I think others would LOVE to see pulled out. Such as tech help for just about everything from your PC to your cellphone being sent to places where they can't understand what you're trying to tell them, and vice versa. I have a friend with a Masters degree in software engineering who is working menial jobs right now in order to pay the rent, while he looks for a job in his field that is a full-time, benefitted position, rather than as a part-time IC with no benefits. He says even the part-time jobs are getting hard to find because so many employers are sending EVERYTHING out, including part time.
The old, "Go ahead and try! Why don't you quit MT? Oh, boy - more work for ME!" song and dance may fly for a while, but why sit back and seemingly enjoy watching your profession go extinct, when eventually it WILL affect you, too? Do you really want to sit there all day as an "editor" and stare at work typed by other entities? How boring is that? Where is any ounce of creatitivity? At least when you transcribe, you are producing something of value, and can take pride in it. And at a lousy 3-to-6 cents a line, where is the pride in speech-rec or editing work?
Figure what you make per hour doing tapes
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BFA in Jewelry/Metals, did craft shows here and there but did not make a living -sm
goal though for this Fall or soon that is, is to get my work done by noon, then spend 3 hours at least 2 x a week in my studio which I have not touched in about 6 years.....see if maybe I can get the ball rolling again with that via local shops, studios, etc. Used to have reps that sold my jewelry in Philly which was quite nice.
I will stay in Podunk and make a living wage if you will take it to a blog. sm
Is that concept so hard to understand? I you cannot understand that simple idea, maybe that is why the lot of you don't have the sense to do something about your situation other than just whine. Take it to a blog, where maybe between you will be able to help yourselves. Or better yet, think of it this way,,, take it to a blog and then you won't have to navigate around the other posts to whine to each other.
Make sure the platform you are transcribing in supports these, many these days
do not.
It depends what you consider a good living (sm)
Some only need $150 a month for rent so the low pay would be fine.
But if you are pulling your hair out for less than what unemployment pays, I'd take the unemployment. 
Top 10 good things about living in Havre, Montana
10.I can leave my pickup running while I run into the grocery store or post office.
9.I lost my house keys years ago.
8.Someone will call me on Saturday morning and tell me if my teenager was misbehaving Friday night.
7.If I have a flat tire, a farmer will stop by and help me out and I don't have to worry about getting assaulted.
6.I can stop and help out someone with a flat tire and not worry about getting assaulted.
5.A traffic jam is 6 cars in a row.
4. No lines at the grocery store.
3. Everyone goes to church.
2.The constant wind blows the bad smells away.
1.This cold weather keeps the riff-raff out.
Just reminding myself that it isn't so bad!!
Anyone heard anything good or bad about Tigerfish Transcribing? nm
You will have to spend some $$. The SUM tapes are available on ebay, along with others not so good.
I don't know of any company that will give you "practice dictation". Even asking would put you even more out of the loop. Buy some decent dictation tapes and practice on your own.
Yoga is excellent. Lots of good tapes.
zz
I make a second living off ebay! I have sold maternity clothes, baby clothes, tupperware, and I have
Christmas dresses and boys' outfits that I will be listing in the next month or so that I bought last year at a smocked closeout and paid 8-10 a piece. Price tags read anywhere from 56 to 88.00 dollars and I will get approximately 25 to 40 a piece depending on what brands and size they are. Plus they pay shipping. I sold approx 35 Christmas outfits on ebay last year which paid for my Christmas. It was awesome and I'll do it again this year! Good luck.
Oh, you do have to have a credit card, bank acct. for ebay. It is worth it though. They just have to verify who you are.
You can check out my auctions with momof3boysal
On 2nd thought, if you're NOT a good Italian style cook, make something you ARE good at. Leave th
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I actually do make good $, but....
I don't care for VR. When you are a fast and accurate Transcriptionist you are already topped out when you start editing. My QA averages 99% and the institution I work for is REALLY strict with QAs. We have an average of 10-12 per year and they look at 20+ reports each time. I would rather do straight transcription, but I have good benefits so I suck it up and work. I fear eventually our work will go completely to an outside agency and our dept will be eliminated, saving the institution $$ for not having to pay salaries, insurance, etc. It also depends on what VR system; we use eScription.
I make between $14 and $20 but good accts. sm
Been at it for almost 20 years too. Lots of templates, shortcuts, etc. Depends on who I'm transcribing. With some ESLs I would only make about $7 an hour if I had to do them all day. My average is right around $17. With some of my local work (on tapes) my templates are so huge, and I'm so used to what they are going to say, I've made $23. But that's onlywith certain dictators. It all varies and some dictators are sooooooo bad, you just lose money.
For example, if I had the $23 dollar an hour guy from my local and then did the $7 ESL from my national and combined 8 hours of work for both, I'm down to $15 an hour. If I get stupid dicators all day from both sides, sometimes I can only average $12. I guess it's the luck of the draw, if you know what I mean.
That's definitely good money. I wish I could make that much.
I'm making about $1,400 a MONTH working 25-30 hours per week. ESLs, run out of work often, lousy platform. What's the point any more? I definitely need to pick up some local accounts and never work for another national.
Oh man....that is NOT good...how do you make any money?
You make some good points.
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Four. And they make very good money.
But I get your point. But you asked!
Oh, but I make really good money
so I did not understand where this was coming from. You see, I have no children at home, only 2 of us, no bills, I only work part because that is all I want but still bring home about $1500.00 every 2 weeks, so no need to feel sorry. I said I type fast.
you make some good points
Your post is encouraging. Maybe we need to study these people you mention and learn the ropes from them.
Yes, I've seen the pictures of the MTs in India. Reminds me of typing class in high school. And that's what I'm saying, just like you -- how long can this last? You question how long before they get carpal tunnel. Great point! How long before they get burned out? You can't work people like that, not at this job where you have to listen so intently and be so absolutely correct. Transcribing a difficult dictation is akin to doing a hard math problem. The brain can only take so much at a time. Couple that with trying to understand a dictator whose language is not your primary one and speaks in slang or idioms you never heard. If they work the overseas MTs like that, there's going to come a point where something has to give. The quality of their work might suffer, even the good ones, due to burnout. Will the American companies still want them? How desperate are they for our work? Desperate enough to endure those conditions? Do they have other choices? We see them as the foe, and yet as you say, we are turning into that kind of situation with many of our companies but we do have other options, fortunately for those who want to pursue another career.
The medical record must endure. There must be good MTs. You can't work people to burnout either here or overseas. In this country, you need to make the job inviting in order to keep the workforce up. Lowering salaries here is not how to do that. Running sweatshops there is not how to do it either. Something has to give at some point. Then maybe people will take us seriously again and this job will be what so many of us want and need it to be.
You're right about the middle class. Something has to happen -- this is affecting too many jobs, too many sectors of society.
Good for you, too bad you won't make anymore than you already do,
your own self satisfaction. Jamie
it asked what you think is good, not what you make
nm
You make a good point
Keeping track was doable but you have to keep track. I still am not making that much hourly counting lines though. I'd better invest in some new tools.
AHDI is just trying to make MT look good, so
Good for you. Did it make you feel better?
MAKE GOOD $$ AT THE MOMENT BUT I WANT OUT
Have just landed a great job. Good $$. No nights, weekends, or holidays. How long do you think that is going to last? Look at the trend 6 months ago, now, and 6 months from now - or a year from now. The face of the MT business is changing. No one is secure and one thing is for sure - we can not all stay. I have a good client in a specialty I love now. I guarantee you, this client is going to obtain a cheaper source than me in the next 12-18 months. I am at the age where I need steady, secure, decent paying work. When this one goes, I am hanging up my headphones too. Hope to get my social security figure up first though.
I used to make really good money.
Anywhere from $28-50 per hour. Same few dictators, lots of templates and Expander usage, pay averaged out to be $.12 per line. I only wanted to work part-time, but the company would have worked me full-time. One particular doctor was so easy, I could do 400+ lph for him. He only had maybe an hour of work per day. Voice recognition has my job now. I've been unemployed for the past six months. But 537 lph consistently? I don't know about that. It would have to be the same pool of dictators and the MT's expander stats would have to be HIGH!
Better yet, if it's REALLY good, make an expansion for it. sm
Especially with op notes ... once you get a feel for a dictator's normal patter, whether that be an operative procedure, ROS, PE section, closing, or whatever, make a shortcut/expansion for it ...
I do the same thing for letter addresses, since the same addressees seem to keep popping up over and over (i.e., docsmitha would bring up all of the Smiths I have saved with a first name starting with an A) -- saves a lot of time in the long run.
Wow, getting far afield from the original question here; I must need that first cup of coffee.
I would please like to know how you make good money at it.
Would you care to share your cents-per-line and lines-per-hour with us? Roughly?
It would help alleviate the anxiety about it for some of us if we can hear from the horse's mouth (no insult intended) how this can be a good living for us. Especially when there are so many things to slow us down like ESLs and poor dictators and bad sound.
Thank you.
not true, I make good $$$ and manage to come
nm
It is "speed" and yes, it will make you very moody, not in a good way either! nm
x
Elvis? LOL! Did he ever make a good movie?
x
Is it possible to make good money working for someone else?
.
I think that is all attitude. I make very good money at MT.
Lisa, you make a very good point. sm
I guess I should have been a little more specific. If ALL MTs were to go on "strike" and not accept the low wages these MTSO's are offering, they eventually would HAVE to offer a decent wage we can live on. But, the other side of the coin is, if the MTS WOULD STRIKE, then the MTSO's would no doubt just hire those non-U.S. MTs anyway, because that is the reason in the first place they are paying so little. The U.S. MTs have no support, that's for sure. (and I apologize for the misspelling of a word in my previous post.)
or make sure its a good google source.
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Because MTs in the US become the "editors" to fix their work and make them look good. nm
;
This would make a good Seinfeld routine.
Of course probably only MTs would understand the jokes. Somebody needs to write a book about MTs and what they go through. It really would be touching and funny, and a bit tragic, I think. It could be marketed in the Stedmen's line of books or something. It could have cartoons. This title where did QA come from? This makes me want to be all creative. Of course, this MT is full of talk, but not a whole lot of action. LOL.
I can make good money without overtime
I posted below but when I saw your post and it said crap- I type mostly VR and I work 8 hour days 4 days a week. I make at least $160.00 per day- add that up if I worked full 40 hour week or lordy if I worked overtime like years gone by. I get paid no more because of my years of doing this- work for national- the pay is low but I am fast. I just wanted to make about the same as when I worked in the office and set my goals accordingly.
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