By: Diane Fusco

With the rise in both the popularity of voice recognition (VR) software as well as outsourcing of transcription work overseas, the professional forecast can seem a bit gloomy for the average work-from-home medical transcriptionist these days. As a veteran MT with eighteen years experience, I can tell you that I have, indeed, lost accounts to VR. I can only wonder if any of the clients I couldn’t hold onto were lured by outsourcing. However, I would hardly conclude that the MT’s days are numbered. In fact, I believe that with a little fine-tuning of one’s personal and professional goals, today’s transcriptionist can be just as busy and successful as ever.

Change Your Mindset
Anyone who works in an industry that is undergoing rapid change is likely to feel anxious. Many times this worry comes from having a scarcity mentality—thinking that there simply isn’t enough work to go around. Common bothersome thoughts may include:
• The fear that one’s job may become obsolete
• Concern that someone younger and less experienced may take one’s job away
• Not daring to raise one’s fees when other options for clients might exist that appear more affordable to them

These thoughts may lead an experienced transcriptionist to take on a client at a much lower rate than is reasonable given her level of skill. And all this stems from doubts about her value in the current marketplace. Well, I’m here to tell you that medical transcriptionists are still very much needed. The US Department of Labor estimated that 105,000 MT’s were working in 2004. To some, that might appear to be a lot. But if you think about how many Americans have medical records,105,000 seems like a measly number of workers to be typing all those reports! I believe we don’t have enough medical transcriptionists. So I suggest that MT’s make a major switch in mindset from scarcity to plenty.

Persistence Pays Off

Because most transcription seems to be accessed through the platform of downloading audio files swiftly via the computer, it almost seems laughable that a doctor might still dictate into a tape recorder and that the MT would use a desktop transcriber as well as—gasp!—cassette tapes in order to carry out the work. Believe me, this scenario still plays out. And it is one of the more profitable accounts an MT can get, in fact. A physician who just “doesn’t trust” what to him or her might be the new technology of voice recognition may very well feel more comfortable dictating reports the way he or she has always done.

I believe these are the best accounts to acquire and I happen to know that physicians do exist who dictate onto cassette tapes! Recently, the Medical Records department of a local hospital offered an excellent rate for transcription of their tapes, which were done as a back-up to the more sophisticated equipment they were using. Yes, jobs like this might include pick-up-and-delivery of the reports, but that is something that an MT can factor into the price as it is a service that few will offer.

My advice? Query the Medical Records department of regional hospitals as well as individual physicians and see if they are interested in your services. This is where it is essential to have a superbly-written sales letter as well as excellent people skills when you meet the department director or physician. Persistence will pay off when you dedicate yourself to landing these types of accounts.

A Goldmine of Transcription

Sometimes MT’s seem to forget all about general transcription. GT, as it’s called, definitely has its advantages. Every industry has its own lingo and terminology. However, in my opinion, nothing is as difficult to learn as medicalese. And while just about every medical report seems to be a stat report, folks who transcribe more general reports routinely ask for higher rates when the required turnaround deems that a job is a “rush.” The relaxed turnaround seems to give the transcriptionist more room to breathe, and personally, I find this type of work to be less stressful.

I am saving the best news for last: with the popularity of teleseminars, Webinars and podcasts, it seems like just about everyone has some audio that needs to be transcribed. In the last six months I’ve had more requests to type general than medical audio. These clients just find me. But do you want to know where to get clients who are in a field that uses a lot of transcription? Coaching! That’s right—personal and business coaches do their fair share of teleseminars and each of these needs a transcript. And with coaching deemed one of the hottest professions of the next ten years, that’s indeed good news for transcriptionists.

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Diane Fusco is a veteran MT with 18 years of experience. She has a free-spirited approach to a changing medical transcription industry. Please visit her blog at thrivingandtranscribing.com.

By: Nell Taliercio

“You must have a career plan before you go out into this big world of ours,” reinforced the professor delivering the commencement address during graduation! High school and college guidance counselors repeatedly tell students of the importance of having a career plan.

It is important to note that career plans aren’t just for those who work offline. Telecommuters should have one also. Before you can map out your career plan, you need to understand career plans.

Consider a career plan akin to planning your next vacation. You need to decide where you will go, in which mode of transportation you will travel, determine the best route to take and then how to ensure you have a good time once you arrive.

Spontaneously deciding one Friday night that you will not ever again return to your job because you want to telecommute is not a recommended course of action. The first decision you have to make is deciding what kind of work you want to spend your time doing.

Do you like working with numbers, databases, marketing collateral, search engine optimization, building websites, writing content or something entirely different? If you don’t settle in with something you like to do, your telecommuting career won’t last long.

Next determine if you can make any money working in your chosen area. Can your family budget support your start up costs? You should have a website, business cards and may need to pay for some initial advertising.
Can your family budget survive the initial lean months? If not, you will have to work your new telecommuting job search and any jobs you are hired to do while you are still employed outside the home. Once your at-home telecommuting income stabilizes, then you can submit your letter of resignation and leave behind the daily commute to work.

Once you’ve reviewed your destination, determined where you’re going and how you will get there, you’re off to a good start. Just make sure you have enough “traveler’s checks” in case of an emergency. Once you have thoroughly examined your road map — your career plan, then hang on and enjoy the ride!

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To access telecommuting information, advice, jobs, and more please go to www.telecommutingmoms.com today!

By: Jill Hart

The trend of telecommuting is on the rise as employers begin to see the savings involved in both gas and office space. With gas prices at an all-time high, many Americans are looking for ways to do less driving and more companies than ever before are offering telecommuting options to their current employees and searching for at-home employees to fill open positions. The question for the job seeker is now how to find these opportunities. Below are five methods you can use to find a telecommuting position.

First, check your local newspaper. When I began my search for an at-home career, I found my first employer through the Classified Ads section of our hometown paper. I was wary at first, but after thoroughly researching the company through means such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB), visiting the corporate office and meeting some of their current employees I found the company to be legitimate.

Second, search online using website such as Monster.com and Dice.com. However, listings found online must be researched carefully to avoid the scams that abound on the Internet. There are also websites that will you allow to do job research in your own community. One such website is Craigslist.com on which you can choose a city and then refine your search with keywords such as “telecommute.”

Posting your resume on websites such as Hotjobs.com is a third way to locate at work-at-home job. Putting your resume online can bring employers to you, depending on your skills and qualifications. Another bonus of an online resume is that you can easily direct prospective employers to view it. It also makes life a bit simpler when applying for jobs, because you can attach your online resume instead of typing out your job history, qualifications, and so on, each time you apply for a job.

When posting your resume on the web, be sure to create an accurate and impressive representation of your abilities. You don’t want to be wordy when describing past job experience, but you do want to be specific about the roles you’ve held as well as your accomplishments.

A fourth option when looking for at-home employment is to open a phone book and call businesses in your area. For example, if you’re interested in doing administrative work, you might contact churches and small businesses in your area to see if they are looking for office help. Even if they are not currently seeking help, they may know of another business owner who is.

Along those same lines, the fifth way to become a telecommuter is to create your own opportunity. For example, instead of finding a company that will hire you as an administrative assistant from home, consider starting your own business as a Virtual Assistant. You can offer your services to many companies, which can both increase your income potential and allow you the flexibility of deciding which jobs you’d like to accept.

You can also create your own telecommuting position by talking with your current employer about work-at-home possibilities. More and more companies are finding that at-home employees are just as productive as those in the office, if not more. Companies also benefit financially by lessening office space and avoiding the costs of many office supplies. Many companies who are not ready to hire at-home workers will allow their current employees to work one or two days from a home office, so be sure to discuss this option.

The telecommuting field has become highly competitive as more and more people find that working from home is a possibility. Searching for a telecommuting position can be daunting, but by looking in strategic places such as online and in your local newspaper, you’ll have a much better chance. No matter, how you find your telecommuting position, make sure it’s something you would enjoy doing and also something you can make money at.

Jill Hart is the founder of Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com. Jill is a contributing author in The Business Mom Guide Book and I’ll Be Home for Christmas and co-author of the upcoming book, Home Based Blessings. Jill has articles published across the web on sites like DrLaura.com and ClubMom.com. Jill and her husband, Allen of CWAHD.com reside in Nebraska with their two children.

Article Source: http://www.ladypens.com/

By: Lori Redfield

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is much like a traditional Administrative Assistant in many ways. VA’s handle correspondence, scheduling, customer support, website updates, writing and design projects, data entry - pretty much anything you can think of that an online company would require for their day-to-day operations.

Many parents who want to stay home with their children have opened their own VA Service. It is a perfect career choice for mothers of young children, or people who must take care of older relatives. You work out of your home office as an independent contractor. Often times the schedule can be quite flexible.

This is an ideal position for women who plan to return to the workforce when their children are older. It will enhance your resume’ and inevitably you improve your old skills and acquire new ones.

Basic skills and equipment you will likely need include the following:

- Microsoft Office - Excel, Access, Outlook, and Word
- HTML skills with either Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage
- Instant Messaging software - ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger
- Cable Modem or DSL - Dial up is far to slow for the pace most online entrepreneurs are accustomed to working at.

The above aren’t always necessary - but acquiring each and learning to use them will only increase your desirability and worth.

There are many places to start looking for a Virtual Assistant position:

- One of the easiest places to land your first clients is through an ad placed in your own local classifieds. It seems unlikely - but trust me, there is far less competition for local clients then for jobs being bid on through Internet Job sites.
- Freelance Job Sites such as elance, smarterwork.com, findafreelancer etc. There is an extensive list of these types of resources here: www.freelancemom.com/gigs.htm
- Via Freelance, Home Business, or WAHM forums. Virtual Assistants with an established client base often times search for reliable ‘Over-flow Partners’. Forums are an excellent place to network and seek out these types of opportunities.
- Building your own website. Unless you do some very good website promotion, it isn’t likely you will actually gain clients through a website that you build to promote your service. HOWEVER, you really should have a website. Just as business cards are an expected and valuable piece of your traditional business, websites are like an online business card/resume. You should list your rates, your skills, your availability and your portfolio. A well thought out website will give you the edge when bidding on a position.
When you are applying or bidding on a freelance position, you must come across as a professional. There is something about the online medium that invites a casual correspondence style. You will do well to avoid this temptation. Save similes, abbreviated internet slang (LOL, IMO etcetera) for later on in your relationship with your client.

Your client needs to trust that you are going to help him/her run their business with professionalism. Your first impression must come across as professional as a traditional cover letter for employment. Be confident and clear in your interactions with them. Ask intelligent questions and be very honest about the time that you have available in your schedule.

I strongly advise all aspiring Virtual Assistants to do an honest assessment of what their career objectives are before they begin seeking out work. It is easy, and common to over extend yourself. If your main goal is to earn a part-time living specifically so that you can put raising your children ahead of your career. then be very clear about that when you begin to take on new work assignments.

Start off slow and add clients or responsibilities for clients gradually. Being too eager to succeed can quickly be your worst downfall. The quickest way to lose a good client is by under-delivering. Make realistic promises. You will gain their respect and their trust. And you will find that as their business grows, they will be more then willing to work around your schedule and needs in order to keep you as a valued contractor.

WAHM Articles: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Lori Redfield is a Freelancer and Internet Entrepreneur. Visit her website, FreelanceMom.com for more information and work from home jobs.

By: Nell Taliercio

Chances are your job search will entail much more than applying for just a couple different jobs. It will be vitally important that you have a tracking system in place. Don’t relay on memory; you’ll need to keep track of which jobs you applied for; if you received a response; and also record all follow up information.

Some people prefer to use a spreadsheet to keep track. Set up the column headings listed above and just be certain to keep it updated. One benefit of using a spreadsheet is that you can easily sort it by different columns. You may want to keep it alphabetized by company name; or by date applied.

Yet others would rather utilize folders within their email program. The only real downside is that you may have to create an email to yourself because some companies have an online form for you use. Send yourself a message that says “I applied to ABC Company today”. If you do send any correspondence via email make sure you BCC yourself so you have an electronic paper trail.

One of the simplest tracking techniques is to create a Word document. Take advantage of the strikethrough option under fonts; or color code pending jobs. Entries could look something like this:

1. ABC Company, abcco.com 6/1/06, from Telecommuting Moms, acknowledgment 6/20/06, still pending.

2. Wally’s Widgets, wallyswidgets.com, 6/1/06, thanks but no thanks 7/02/06

3. Excellent Enterprises, job@excellentent.com, from local press, 6/4/06

19. Auction Alley, aa.info, found on Craig’s list 7/16/06, follow up phone call 8/3/06

20. St. Elmo’s Society, no web, Sue told me about it, 7/17/06, follow-up email sent 8/15/06

34. XYZ Company, xyz.com, 9/26/06, from Telecommuting Moms.

The method you choose to track your job searches is not important; it’s the actual data that will be most valuable to you. To get the most benefit from your tracking, keep the following data: job name, company name, company link, where you found the job, when you applied, and when you heard back.
Even if you’re not typically an organized person, you’ll need to be for your job search. By keeping track you have something tangible to see on days when you’re feeling discouraged (it’ll verify that you’ve been busy!). You can also reference the dates in your follow-up communication, “On August 12, 2006 I applied for the position of …. I am still very much interested in this position, etc.”

Don’t give up. Job searching can be a daunting task. However you can’t win if you don’t play. Your efforts will be rewarded!

Nell Taliercio, the Telecommuting Answer Lady, owns http://www.telecommutingmoms.com where you can locate legitimate work at home jobs and practical advice to start your work at home career tomorrow!

Article Source: http://greatarticlesformoms.com