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A MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION AT HOME CAREER
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 fourteen years ago, so
I could be at home 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
Basic bookkeeping is necessary, but not difficult at all. A
good bookkeeper is great to have when it comes to taxes and advising
you about saving money with tax deductions for your business.
However, it's not difficult to keep track of a medical transcription
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. It is possible to earn more
however. It is fair to say that working part-time doing medical
transcription it is quite easy to earn $20,000 per year. Working
full-time on your own you can make $40,000+ per year. If you
want to expand your business and hire subcontractors it is not
uncommon to make over $100,000 a year, depending how many subs you
hire.
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.
(c) 2004 - Michele Miller

Line Counting and Invoice Program for
Medical Transcription
www.count-lines.com
Links
and More Home Based Business Ideas
Home Based Business Advice 101
Online Medical
Transcription Courses
Recommended medical transcription reference books
Tips about Medical
Transcription Home Study Courses
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