Start a Medical Transcription At Home Career
Copyright 2005 Simplistic Solutions
As a medical transcriptionist, I do get asked several times
a month, how I got started in this business. So many
people nowadays want to work from home, especially mothers
with young children. That's the primary reason I started
my home business ten years ago, so I could be there for my
daughter. I didn't want someone else taking care of her
after school instead of me.
It's really not hard to start a medical transcription
business. The start-up costs are low compared to many
other home-based businesses.
You need a form of education, via home study courses or by
attending your local community college. You do NOT need a
degree in medical transcription to start a business either.
In a short amount of time, usually nine months or less,
you can be working from the comfort of your own home, just
like me.
You will need some equipment, such as a computer, a
printer, a transcriber, and some reference books. All of
which can be purchased second hand if need be. The latest
and greatest equipment is not necessary to get started.
Now, there are some special skills you will need, outside
of the education, which include:
* Excellent grammar skills
* Good Listening Skills,
* Basic computer skills with a word processing program
* Research Skills
* Ability to type - your speed will increase with
experience
* Must be detail oriented
* Ability to work on your own
* Ability to maintain work deadlines and be a
self-motivator
You will also need some computer programs such as a medical
spellchecker and a word expander utility to cut down on the
amount of actual typing you do. Some programs, such as
Microsoft Word® include this type of utility. It is the
best invention by far, in my opinion.
Basic bookkeeping is necessary, but not difficult. A good
bookkeeper is great to have when it comes to taxes and
advising you about saving money with tax deductions for
your business.
Medical transcription is usually paid by the amount of work
transcribed. Therefore, it is quite normal to charge your
clients by the line. If you charge 13 cents per line and
type 200 lines per hour, (this is a very comfortable speed
to type) your hourly rate would end up being about
$26.00.
Being self-employed does have some pitfalls. One must
consider, as with any home based business, that once you
become self-employed you are responsible for securing your
own health insurance, and putting away money for
retirement.
However, there are many positive things about being
self-employed, as I'm sure you can imagine. For me, what I
love the most, is the flexibility I have with my time. If
I want to work late in the day I can, and if I want to work
early in the morning, that's up to me. Running a
home-based medical transcription business is a lot of fun.
Medical transcription is not for everyone, and it is
important before venturing in to any business that you
weigh up the pros and cons of it all and do what is best
for your situation.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Michele Miller
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