Regarding making money, I forgot to mention...SM
Posted By: MissIndigo on 2008-01-27
In Reply to: How long would you say - Typapaloosa
The standard for "average" typing speed is no longer the unassisted "The fox jumped over" standard as measured on a typewriter. You know, back when 75 was considered decent.
I don't actually know the new standard for a competent typist, but it's set by those who have trained themselves to use word Expanders extensively and is at very minimum double that on unfamiliar text. On familiar text with many phrases in storage, much higher.
Current pay rates are adjusting to the new reality that a worker is able to produce considerably more with today's technology than before. Those who aren't using it, and using it extensively, are finding their incomes dropping drastically. Best wishes.
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I forgot to mention how I save money on clothes...sm
The clearance racks are my best friends - often times I can find things there cheaper than on consignment or at Good Will.
Another thing I do is that I have a friend whose daughter is 1 size smaller than my daughter is, so in return for me giving her the hand-me-downs she will occasionally buy my daughter something new or give me the amount of money that I'd get if it went to consignment, and I don't have to deal with waiting for a consignment check.
If your kids/you like named brand items for clothing eBay can be great. My sister buys my nephew's Abercrombie clothes on eBay for usually around $10 a shirt - these are shirts that normally sell for $35-45 in the stores.
Another thing I do is that I have a friend who wears the same sizes that I do and we have similar clothing tastes, so we often do "clothes swap" where we'll swap out some jeans, shirts, etc. That way it sorta seems like you're getting something new. 
Forgot to mention...
Also how many lines you average per day and hours per day. I'm at about 9 hours and 1400 lines. I used to do 1200 in five hours, go figure
Forgot to mention
my hat is off to you for that. I know that you do a lot of extra work with the pick-up/deliveries, printing, and just "account maintenance". That IS the toughest part of our environment.
Forgot to mention ......(sm)
That the insurance plan I chose is not even the cheapest one they have to choose from. Really, check them out. I think you'll like them.
Forgot to mention...sm
I was allergic to the wax. Broke out in hives, so that didn't work for me. I still think the Vaniqa is better anyway because it is constant and don't have to let the hair grow back between waxings.
oh, and I forgot to mention--sm
that one of the persons who took their own life was the father of my three children, who are still trying desperately to deal with his death, much less the way he did it, or the reason why. Perhaps some empathy on your part would be more in order before you make those kinds of remarks about a computer problem.
Forgot to mention
that I have been an MT for a year now. I did not start off with that type of line count. In the beginning I was struggling just to keep my goal of 1200 lines per day but that would take me about 10 hours to do. Now that I know my account, the same account and same doctors, that I have been working on for this year it helps me to be faster as well. Just hang in there and set a goal for yourself everyday. THere are so many things you can do depending on your software program that you use. My company uses Editscript and there are a lot of shortcut keys to doing things and this helps my line count as well.
Try doing split shifts. This will probably help your production as well if you work during your highest production hours. For me afternoons are impossible for me because I am so tired by that time. I am lucky if I get 300 lines during the afternoon.
You forgot to mention in your
an independent contractor you cannot make more than 50% of your income from one company, but I guess you were not properly informed of that little piece of information. I personally do not use an accountant. I use a tax professional, not turbo tax or anything else that I do myself. Therefore, all of these years if I were to be audited, I have back-up with a knowledgable person that knows what needs to be provided to the IRS. There are also claims being made that the 1099 does not match the income given, so how would you answer that? The bottom line is an employee is one thing and an independent contractor is another, and there are markers that the IRS uses to delineate the two. If the company you are working for is crossing those lines defined by the IRS, then they should be employing you and not defining you as an independent contractor. 
forgot to mention
that each day I thank God for the two services I subcontract for.
If you read the boards, you realize I am in the small minority. It is a blessing that I found myself in this position.
Forgot to mention...
...I live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area, where costs are higher than average. I've been doing this type of transcription for just over two years now and have had to turn down requests for this service (lack of time). I am also an MT and, IMHO, meeting transcription is more challenging, overall. But I have found it is easier to obtain my own meeting trans. accounts than MT accounts. Check out RFPs (requests for proposals) for city, state and federal government.
I forgot to mention, once I put it in there I use it sm
Especially at first so I get it in my brain that it's there. I will even go back and "undo" what I'm typing if I realize I have a shortcut and didn't use it and then use the shortcut...I figure I'm reinforcing it more or something. Whatever...it works most of the time. 
Forgot to mention (sm)
I work 60-80 hours a week, PT at a hospital and FT+ at home, so need more help around the house (than usual). Anyway, you get the point :)
Forgot to mention
Keep yourself hydrated, stop pounding on the keyboard (if you do), get a GOOD chair (not a cheapie), set yourself up with proper ergonomics (arms at 45 degree angle to keyboard (google ergonomics). Those mouse mitts that another poster mentioned are very helpful too (keeps the muscles/ligaments warmed up kind of like leg warminings for dancer's legs). Good luck!
Forgot to also mention, SM
It's extremely important that your dictionary belong to you and that, if you work for a company on their equipment and especially in their offices, you be in a position to walk out with a copy. It should be backed up frequently and a copy kept at home.
Word's AutoCorrect/AutoText functions are a poor substitute for a good word Expander program, but they can be used if you can back them up on a disk and take it home. I've always used those functions just to store templates and report text specific to accounts I would have no reason to take with me anyway. They're extremely good for that.
Ideally, although more employers are supplying expander programs, your program should be your own property, and in any case it should be clearly understood that the dictionaries you develop are your own property. Mine are worth tens of thousands of dollars to me each year and would cost thousands to replace, if I didn't just give up in horror start selling herbs instead. :)
I've put more emphasis on this owning your expanions than I intended to, but I see a lot of posts from people who have worked for one institution for years, are very unhappy and worried with the changes that have occurred, but are staying and suffering them not only because of loyalty and resistance to change but because they lack the independence that would make moving to a new job easy and likely immediately financially beneficial.
Although the way to make good money is to stay with one employer, hopefully for years, and be very good at your accounts, sometimes you have to go looking for that good employer. A skilled home Transcriptionist with a good resume can change employers in a day and start out running. That sort of independence is something to be worked for.
forgot to mention
I also have Windows XP, just posted above, but forgot to mention that, so I would think that free ES should work for you, even the newest version.
I forgot to mention...
I'm in Iowa. We also early 10 hours of PTO (paid time off) during each pay period. That equals 5 weeks per year (to be used for holidays, vacation, illness, personal, etc.) You may also 'cash in' accrued PTO (up to 200 hours per year). That's a pretty good sum of money just for showing up.
Forgot to mention,
This happens on this board also, in fact, I can only see a portion of what I'm typing right now, so I hope it makes sense.
forgot to mention
that I don't know if there are any that hook in such a way that you don't need screws. I would Google and see what comes up. If you do have to screw one on, just make sure the screws aren't so long that they come through your desktop.
Forgot to mention...
The last several summers have not been low on census and there were plenty of hours and overtime available at the hospital. This summer reminds me of the past summers when the patient count would always be low. Summer of 2006 and 2007 were really bad for summer colds, flus, pneumonias and RSV of all things.
You forgot to mention......s/m
the inefficiencies, moodiness, character flaws, unfair treatment, favouritism, jealousy of the MTSOs and all the negatives that come with it.
Sometimes one is even disatvantaged for being that good.
You are lucky, be happy until it lasts.
Also I forgot to mention she was just going to ...sm
bid on radiology dept because Spheris already does the acute care part. Radiology has always been inhouse and now they want to outsource it too. They were going to give it to Spheris as well. But don't know what will happen since the hospital found out Spheris is sending work to India.
forgot to mention
On the FDA site, if you give it 3 consecutive letters that you can hear anywhere in the dictation, it will show you every med with that combination. For instance, if all you can be sure you hear of prinivil is "INI" or "VIL" it will give you the whole list to pick from. Does not tell you anything about what it's for or dosages, still, very handy. Don't leave home without it!
Make money? I'm not making any money because of my decision. You read my reasoning
You can agree with me or not, but don't make false assumptions please.
forgot to mention, I'm hourly..nm
x
Duh! I forgot to mention that. Just make sure
you know what gauge you have. I ended up with a bunch of labret rings I cannot use because I had the wrong measurements and bought them online.
also forgot to mention that my first husband was --sm
an alcoholic, as well...and he took his own life a year ago 6/16. He also had uncontrollable rages...that was why he was my ex husband.
Also, forgot to mention how ironic it is - sm
that it's okay for our MT jobs to be lost to outsourcing overseas, and in the same breath, the foreigners are welcome to come here and given loans to start businesses in the U.S. Does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that something is drastically wrong with our government.
I forgot to mention my opinion
about pay & production. Yes, pay has gone down. I have to work so many more hours than I want to work for that very reason. I used to make $30 an hour without blinking an eye and now I am lucky to make $20. The key to making good money in this field right now, in my opinion, is finding the right account. (Of course, they are harder and harder to find because they never have openings!) There are some really good platforms out there on which you can be very productive. There are also some real crummy ones that do nothing but keep you from gaining momentum and you can never hit your groove. Don't be afraid to keep looking until you find one you like. That is, if you can afford to move around a bit. I know I can't. 
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention
that even if I made more doing rad compared to acute care, I would still hate it. It is so boring I want to scream.
I forgot to mention proofing
You're right! I forgot to mention that proofing takes less time. You'll have less to correct, and you should be able to proof as you transcribe.
You can take advantage of those annoying pauses in the dictation if you use them to proof the line above the one you're working on. Even in a tiny pause, you can proof a little bit.
Good luck with this! Let me know how it goes for you.
forgot to mention other purpose was sm
I had XP home edition on my PC and they needed Professional edition for their platform MedRite, so was using their PC.
Bingo about the phone. I forgot to mention that sm
I bought a Tracfone just for emergencies. Everyone that knows me knows not to call, or to leave a message if I'm working. My kids, the schools and my husband have the cell number and know to call me on that instead. I've programmed all of the incoming numbers in so I know who it will be and just ignore the regular rings.
Example: Schools ring in as a siren, hubby rings in with a single long beep, rapper son rings in with a rap beat, daughter with year old twins rings in with the "Barney Song". Other than that, I don't pick up period!
Forgot to mention - kids need fear of someone or something sm
that is my job as a mom, to make them fear authority and always try to do the right thing! I don't care how big they are, and my one son is 6'3" tall and weighs 250 lbs, I will still kick his ass and he knows it!
I'm original poster -forgot to mention that I do.
I quit twice in my life, the last time for about 3 years. Both times just made up my mind to - and cold turkey. Just can't seem to do it now.
Forgot to mention that our account is local to us.
sorry!
Forgot to mention - I am an 80s Teen - younger than you! nm
x
you forgot to mention the most important part...all of those would have said ..go to the ER
Forgot to mention, taking out quarterly
;
Oops! Forgot to mention the pedal!
Sorry. The pedal and headphones both plug into the dictaphone.
Sorry for the confusion.
forgot to mention the massage therapy is
xx
I agree. I forgot to mention that my company
gives each doctor a test to see if they qualify for VR. I do not know what the criteris is to qualify, but I noticed that the ones who are heavy ESL do not do VR. So, I should modify my response above, in that some companies, at least mine for a fact I know, keeps the high ESL on straight typing. That makes sense, because the turn over in MT labor would be enormous. I guess what I would do is delete the VR content and type as fast as the wind on that heavy ESL at 40% less the rate of straight typing. That would be my solution, rather than sit there and correct.
Anyway, you are right about the bad dictators being off VR, and my company apparently recognized that already.
Oh I forgot to mention what actually started our argument today...sm
What started our argument today is his mom and dad have been living in this house, if that is what you can call it, for about 20 years...they never cleaned it or anything (his mom said because "why bother when it is hopeless). Well I don't care how small of a house it is it can still be clean. Well, they come into some money, a few hundred thousand dollars, and they go out and buy this 150k house. They say since we are having a hard time with our payment, being 2 payments behind, then we can "have" their old house. The house is on lease land and the floors are rotted. Well I felt like it would take a load of our shoulders and actually I felt like that was the only way we were going to get out of this mess.. We go down there, begin to clean one day....over 3 HUGE Flex bags by Glad of trash just from their bathroom - filled to the rim!!!! Flexed to the max....
I get back thinking of how bad it would hurt to walk out my door at my house for the last time and go live there. So I said, "NO, I will fight for my house. I will work what hours needs to be worked, etc. I am saving my house." He gets mad, because his parents say we are going to lose it anyhow. But hey - they had all of that money...we only needed $1,000.00 - could they not have lent it to us????? But he thought I was wrong for asking after I told him I WOULD WORK TO GET US CAUGHT UP....I said, "well, if my son EVER needs anything like that, especially something to save his home, I will do what it takes to help him...And surely if I had came into hundreds of thousands of dollars, I think I could spare or lend 1,000.
Sorry...I am hurt.
forgot to mention... yes, flash drive would work
x
You realize by doing that they're making more money & you're making less? You should reconsid
Not to mention you're letting the govt use your money INTEREST FREE
Ack!
Now that said, I usually have them withhold a little too much simply because we can't take a payment hit.
Making money with VR
Any of you who do this, how in the heck do you make any money? I accepted a job with a company for 4 cpl for VR, but I nearly have to type the entire reports over. I was doing it part time and it takes so much time that I figured out I am only making 5.00 per hour. What's the average rate for this? I gave it up, it's not worth it for the line rate, considering I was editing typed transcription as well that came back from India and it was just as bad and took just as much time.
making money?
I think the only way we newbie MTs can make any money is to make it ourselves, like counterfeiting. 
I consider myself still a newbie at almost 2 years of nearly full-time working at home with IC status. Love my company and enjoy my work; it is mainly VR and 3 cents per line. I am rather slow because I keep double checking everything, but on a good day at 8-10 hours and 800 lines I will make $24. Isn't that encouraging?
The extra dollars do come in handy and so appreciated for my farmer husband's income, but this could no way support a single income.
Working for $3.00 per hour was great sometime in the past, you know? Like 35 cents per gallon of gasoline in 1969. But it 2009.
I do think if we newbies hang in there long enough and become good at our work then we will move up to better pay. However, we who work for 3 cents or 6 cents per line and are so thankful to be making even that are probably the ones others may blame for the poor pay since transcription companies can hire us so cheaply.
Don't know what the solution is.
No they're not because I'm making more money on it....sm
than before the program was implemented. I also know others who are making more money per hour - and no one argues with more moolah!
And you still end up making more money paying LD. sm
If you consider an 80-hour pay period (which I don't do), at $27 per hour with the 800-number company, you'd make $2160.
At $33/hour, paying $1.80/hour, you'd make $2640 minus $144 (a deductible expense also), still netting you $2496 -- substantially more than the company giving you the toll free number and less pay.
Makes no difference to me. I personally wish you all would stay away from MDI-MD so I could have more work ... LOL
Making money - just curious
Just curious, but how does anybody here make any money if you are on this board all the time bashing people- that really takes a lot of energy up that could be spent on making money.
money-making docs? sm
As a hard worker in this industry to put my son through school to become a medical professional, I can tell you that after all my hard work and broken back, he is still paying student loans, works like an animal, hardly has time for his family, continues his education and is not "rich." He treats his staff like family (constantly haunted by his mother to do this) and barely has time to take a bathroom break. I know there are those with fast cars (always thought they did it to get to the patient faster, but I'm sure that's not the case with some of them) and those who are rude (perhaps not taught right by their moms) but some are just ordinary guys and gals who put their pants on one leg at at time like the rest of us and worry about the next payment like the rest of us. They're not ALL the same. I read another post about docs yawning while dictating. I think in most cases they're exhausted and the paperwork is just another thing to deal with after they put their kids to bed, if they get the chance to do that even. I didn't understand this until I "lived in it". As the babysitter, I can tell you, "it ain't pretty." They suffer just like the rest of us. 
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