think.....many years of MTg prior....sm

I started MTg in 1984 and by 1997 I opened up my own little MTSO business.  I believe the level of self confidence plays a huge part.  All I did was make up business cards and I went and solicited myself in medical centers weekly.  I also brought a resume just in case they wanted to see one (that was rare that they wanted to see a resume in my experience).  I only solicited the fields I was very familiar with and got a pediatric and adult neurosurgeon, 2 plastic surgeons, and 2 neurologists right off the bat.  I keep ledgers and used to do microsoft Excel (which I no longer do the latter). 

Regardless of what the other poster said, I do print for the private MDs, sometimes on my plain Xerox paper, other times on their letterhead, and I give them free paper and free delivery.  Most MDs want to see something for free.  I give them their headers for free as it's only 2 Keystrokes for me on a 5-line header.  I have kept my doctors for 10 years now and they appear very happy to me.  I give them 24-48 hour TAT (turnaround time) without fail.  When I go on vacation (early autumn) they usually go at the same time.  I never have to farm my work out, I simply juggle my days around.

And to cap it off, I then moonlight for a national for 3-day weekends!!  I love that too because it's always a NEW learning experience for me and I polish up my knowledge of all the other fields that I do not do during the week.

BEST OF LUCK.  If I could do it and be a success, I believe most self-confident people can do the same!! 

• Any tips on becoming an MTSO and landing first account? - sm
  • think.....many years of MTg prior....sm - not nearly as complicated as one might
  • I don't think the experience matters as much as... - MTSO

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was at the same company for 8 years.  I left company #1 because they lost the account to MQ and the company only had clinic work after that and I do acute care and didn't want to do clinic.  While searching for another job I tested and was offered positions by 6 companies.  I took PT positions with 3 of them.   I had been using a C-phone with a small local and really had no clue about other companies.   One job I kept for 1 year until they got rid of my account because they were such a pain.   I quit one after 4 months. 

I know someone who had 7 jobs in 1 year and that was only about 8 months into the year.   She was a CMT and wanted the whole world to know it and treat her special, but the quality of her work was very poor.  I don't know if she voluntarily left all those positions or was let go.   When I was testing I was trying to get a feel for what was out there and thinking that company #2 might offer me better than what company #1 was paying.   While this wasn't that long ago, it was when you could still get a decent line rate and I never heard of offshoring.  

drink that tells you if you are or are not an alcohol.  Unfortunately, many people don't realize their disease until it is too late and many people drink "socially" so who is to know what is and what is not going to happen in the future?  As far as AIDS being 100% preventable, I will agree to the point that protected sex is most certainly the responsibility of the individual, but how many people have protecetd sex with their longterm partners not expecting them to be unfaithful or someone who has contracted an illness in ways where they were not resposible?fever

Unfortunately, it is people who judge that keep people who are sick from getting help.  Of course, that does not apply to everyone and mental illness also plays a part in many illnesses, but as a recovering alcoholic I can say that I graduated with an MBA, PTA President for many years, and had no hereditary factors in my life to foresee the possibility of alcoholism to prevent it.  Fortunately for me, I was made aware of my disease and have done everything to prevent a relapse - something I have been successful at for 12 years.  However, I do believe that when people are judge as harshly as you seem to judge, they will more than likely succumb to the label you have given them. 

May God bless you!

The link is not working for me, you can access it at:

www.presstelegram.com/news/ci/_12022094

 Previously I had posted on this board  as my fiance and I were trying to figure out how to handle letting people know that we don't want any wedding gifts (we each have a house and don't need material things as we're giving away tons of stuff with merging the home) but had chosen a charity for anyone who would like to make a donation in our honor.

 My maid of honor and a couple of friends decided to host a party for us and on the invitations put on there that in lieu of gifts that we were requesting donations to a children's charity that we chose because of the reputation of spending the money wisely  and being well known for its work.  

This has gone over very well with the invitees.  I've had many of them call and e-mail me or my fiance saying that they thought this was a wonderful way for us to help others less fortunate and yet celebrate our upcoming marriage.   The charity  agreed prior to our announcement to not pester these people afterwards with mailings and is simply sending those that send a donation a thank you card, and then they're sending me a weekly list showing who made a donation and their address, but not the dollar amount as I don't care to know what they gave. 

So... for future brides that don't want gifts  I suggest doing what we did - it's a win for the charity and lets the family/friends that wanted to do something special do this in a way that we chose (and we aren't stuck with household items we don't want or need!)

From Wikipedia, searching the term Oriental. See what I have bolded and underlined.

Perceptions and connotations

[edit] American English

Controversy surrounds connotations of the term in American English. (See also American and British English differences.) According to Abdurrahman R. Squires, "politically correct terms have taken the place of the word 'Orientalism'".^[2]

While a number of reference works used in the United States describe Oriental as pejorative, antiquated or offensive in some instances, the American Heritage Book of English Usage notes that

It is worth remembering, though, that Oriental is not an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. It is most objectionable in contemporary contexts and when used as a noun, as in the appointment of an Oriental to head the commission. In these cases Asian (or a more specific term such as Vietnamese, Korean, or Asian American, if appropriate) is the only acceptable term. But in certain historical contexts, or when its exotic connotations are integral to the topic, Oriental remains a useful term.^[3]

Random House's Guide to Sensitive Language states "Other words (e.g., Oriental, colored) are outdated or inaccurate." This Guide to Sensitive Language suggests the use of "Asian or more specific designation such as Pacific Islander, Chinese American, [or] Korean." ^[4] Merriam-Webster describes the term as "sometimes offensive,"^[5] Encarta states when the term is used as a noun it is considered "a highly offensive term for somebody from East Asia." ^[6]

I don't mind doing legal and will do it now from time to time, but be prepared to be totally bored out of your mind.

At least that's the way I feel.  I love to transcribe, learned legal in college, went on to get my paralegal degree, etc., etc., but I did temp work when the kids were younger, which was about 90% medical and I would never go back to legal except for once in a while.

Booooooring.

It would take me all night and pages and pages to describe what a bad person my ex-husband was.  After six years of putting up with his OCD, verbal abuse and alcohol, I left him the house, took the kids (5 and 1) and didn't look back. That was 20 years ago.

I wasn't looking to get married again, but I did.  After 13 years I only complain when hubby doesn't see things my way. :) 

My older kids, who were 5 and 1 when I left, are married and have kids of their own now.  My husband gets the Father's Day cards.  Their "real" father sits alone in the perfect little house I left behind and let him have and he drinks himself into oblivion every night because nobody is "perfect" enough, including his kids and his grandkids that he never sees. 

Sad, but true.  So glad I smartened up and got  out of there when I did.

What is the big deal.  Look at your clothes, cars, items in your house.

IMHO

however, I am working fewer hours and making more money. I think maybe the answer here is working as an IC for a one-owner company. MTSO was an MT for many years and she knows the secret to making lots of $ is putting your MTs doing what they do best and leaving them alone.

I don't think it is the "national" part of services that hurts. I think the low wages can be gauged by the number of suits in the company. More suits = less $.

And why pay QA? Just hire people experienced/good enough to do the work correctly the first time.

Lots of little "stints" in between, just trying to keep my head above water.

9 years at one hospital, 8 years with 2 services, then went out on my own (11 years ago) and got a bunch of surgeons and I moonlight on weekends for a national (9 years with national). 

If I knew what I know today, with how the MT business has gone down $$-wise for us over 20+ years, if I had my druthers and could start over again, I would have stayed with CODING/BILLING instead of MT work (though I love MT work) as billing/coding is still lucrative in this country....

just my 3 cents

and I try to keep my goals realistic dealing with rheumatoid arthritis, etc.  I don't like to see a minimum of 200 lines/hour; occasionally can reach nearly 300 lph but depends on the dictators.  Seems the account I do now mostly has dictators from India, the ones I dislike the most.  I love Russians, Japanese, Germans, French, etc., etc., but for some reason I find the Indian accent very difficult!!!! 

I, like you, do not use expanders or "normals" etc., mostly because I'm from the old school and I type every word.  I'm sure if I used some of the crutches I could easily reach 275 to 350 lines/hour, maybe more who knows!  I keep telling myself one day I'll relearn how to do all that but right now, I don't care....when the time is right I'll know.  Mainly I just keep trying not to stress myself out too much.  I've put in my time and paid my dues and do a great job.  I'm not a young chick anymore and don't expct myself to produce these huge line counts, but believe me, I know I could if that was my wish!!!  Don't worry.....Be happy!

into a supervisory role.  My current day consists of such things as:

Teaching new physicians at hospitals/clinics how to dictate and the information we need to provide a complete medical record for them.

Keeping up with information to assist clients and employees with current 5 different platforms as well as staying aware of changes these platforms foresee coming in the future.  Yes, I'm always learning new things.

Answer questions about various accounts that arise.  Some of these answers are by the MTs who don't look at the written information we give them on an account but the majority of the questions are "one time" incident items for an account. 

Answer questions about turn around times, process stat requests, vacation requests, schedule changes, questions about bills and all sorts of other things during the day from clients as well as employees.

Answer inquiries and provide insight to senior management about things going on with a current client, which of course means I'm talking to the current clients frequently to ensure there aren't any problems not being resolved as well as looking for future additional business with the client. 

I also transcribe when needed, usually averaging transcribing between 1000-5000 lines a month while filling in for the accounts having peaks or  MTs out for various reasons (including, like Dano said, the one whose grandmother has died 6 times.).   I currently have 1 employee who has I presume about 8 grandmothers in nursing homes on feeding tubes in 8 different states and of course all of these grandmothers happen to develop "potentially life-ending" medical crises 1-2 days before a holiday.   I do "wonder" how this employee is going to handle it when all 8 of these grandmothers do die if they die at the same time!  

I do love what I do, even when I get a phone call from a hospital waking me at 2:30 a.m. stating that the entire hospital computer system is down for maintenance and they forgot to tell me it was scheduled previously and that is why our transcriptionists can't get in to work).