Work

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Replying to a Comment About Working From Your RV as a Transcriptionist

Reader Jayne asked a couple of questions in comments on the Street View post about working from you RV as a transcriptionist that I felt warranted their own post:

I know it’s best to do one’s research before jumping in, so I am hoping to learn from those are already in this field [transcription]. Hoping to learn about what you love about your job, what attributes /skills one needs to be successful? I can type fairly fast but definitely would need to improve my accuracy and knowledge of punctuation. I see many online programs for certifications as well as local schools.

What I love the most is probably specific to me in that I got really lucky and found a great client that provides me with a variety of projects. One day I’m transcribing in the medical field, another I’m transcribing a hearing, and the next I’m doing a focus group.

Skills that are necessary include:

– a good ear for voices (I struggle if I have more than four really distinct voices)

-good broad general knowledge (to understand, not just hear, what someone is saying)

-good typing skills

-patience (sometimes you get files that are very difficult)

-self-discipline (to meet deadlines)

I looked into accreditation and discovered that experience goes as far as a degree in the field of general transcription. If you want to go into medical, then a certificate could be helpful to learn the specifics of that trade, such as privacy rules, document standards, and terminology. But you can also get all that from someone willing to take you on as an apprentice of sorts. You don’t have to have a certificate to get into the medical transcription business.

A misconception about transcription is that it’s a mindless job that anyone can do. But it takes a certain amount of writing skills to turn words into readable text. I often have to break grammar and punctuation rules to make a transcript legible.

One of my first questions is understanding if technology might change the need for transcriptionists with all the voice recognition products on the horizon.

My client and I have talked about this and neither one of us is concerned. Software won’t be able to muddle through thick accents, stutterers, and mutterers. What I could see happening is that people may use software for the first transcript and then have a human do a review, but most people will realise that this is not cost efficient.

The second most important is what industries use them and which might be the best to target. I am only familiar with medical and legal but am sure there are niche needs and would it be better to think about this.

I am a general transcriptionist who dabbles in medical and legal thanks to that one client. Having had a taste of all three, I prefer being a general transcriptionist because it offers more variety. Industries that use transcriptionists include police departments, mental health professionals, research companies (eg. focus groups, surveys), political offices, the entertainment industry, and on and on and on.

you have the French / English translation skill, which I am sure opens the door for additional opportunities.

It does, but not as much as some would think because I am not an accredited translator. My translation clients are folks who can’t afford an accredited translator.

I have one occasional transcription client who also pays me to translate the transcript into the other language. I love those jobs!

If you had to go back and do it over again, would you select your current industry or another?

I wouldn’t change anything because my path has led me to an awesome client who is the backbone of my business and who provides me with a wonderful variety of things.

Last, but certainly not least is income. Wondering what I might expect to earn as an hourly rate in the beginning and what the more experienced folks out there are billing.

Billing in transcription is a thorny issue. Medical and legal pays by the line, but I’m not too familiar with that. I’m paid by audio minute, which is the standard in general transcription. The problem with being paid by audio minute is that most people looking for transcriptionists don’t understand how long it takes to transcribe one audio minute. The industry standard for good quality audio with a couple of speakers is 1:4. That means that an hour of transcription takes four hours to transcribe. I can type up to 100 words a minute and I can only beat this standard when I have a solo speaker with a prepared speech.

So all that said, I would not accept less than $1 per audio minute, which means $15/hour, minus taxes and expenses. But I usually get $1.20 to $1.40 with my big client (as I am a sub-contractor) and I charge $1.50 to $2 per audio minute to direct clients.

This brings up another challenge with transcription. I can’t tell you the number of times someone has offered to pay me $15 to transcribe an hour of audio. To those folks, I explain how long it takes to actually transcribe an hour of audio (and provide links to support my argument). Some reply, “Oh, that’s why no one wants this job! Will you do it for $60?” and others outsource to other countries where wages are lower (a common issue on Elance).

I am 55 and wonder if it is realistic to think I could carry this career into my retirement years to supplement my income.

There is a lot of need for transcriptionists, and it seems to be a bigger field in the US than in Canada based on how many ads I see on Craigslist. I think that a good transcriptionist will never be out of work.

As a final note, transcription does involve investing in some equipment: a reliable way to get online on the road, a good noise-canceling headset, a good keyboard, and a foot pedal, as well as an ergonomic desk setup. Transcription isn’t a job that can be done efficiently from the couch or a coffee shop. So keep that in mind when setting up a home office in an RV, and plan your electrical set up so that it will allow you to keep working even on 12V power. I have actually never transcribed with all this equipment while traveling in the RV and I am curious to see how it will affect my battery usage. I may end up having to spring for more batteries.

Thanks for your questions, Jayne. I wish you the best in setting up your online business.

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Making Hay

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in a week. It feels like today is last Monday. I went out Monday afternoon to get some electrical supplies for the rig, and came home to a pile of transcription that hasn’t let up. I still have another nine or ten hours of work to do today (and it’ already 2:30 PM). The last week has been typing, an attempt to sleep, typing, working my day job, typing, an attempt to sleep, typing, working my day job, typing… well, you get the picture.

During my sanity breaks, I’m making a list of what absolutely needs to be done in the rig before I move back in and how I can break that stuff down into short segment of times. I know I can’t rely on having whole days available to me in the next month, so I need to start using up those precious little hours between my day job and my evening work, at least when the weather is good. This weekend would have been too cold to work in the rig anyway.

On the list:

STUDY

-add a 120V outlet and a 12V outlet  (all materials have been purchased)

-paint the non-matching woodwork in the study the same colour as the wardrobe doors and kitchen cabinets

-apply two more coats of green

DRESSING ROOM

-finish the trim

-remove the cloth dresser and replace it with a storage ottoman (probably not going to happen right now)

FRONT ROOM

-do two more coats of yellow

-run an extension cord or wiring permanently from the inverter to the study

The electrical work is all top priority. This will be my first time facing boondocking with the need to have my full computer set up, with my kazillion peripherals, not just my laptop, so I need easy and secure access to my inverter.

That’s all I have time to post. Hopefully, I’ll have something interesting in the next couple of days. 🙂

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The Week That Vanished

Is it really Friday again?! I know it’s rent collection week, but still, it’s been busy! The transcription hasn’t let up either, which is a Good Thing.

For lunch today, I decided that since I haven’t had sushi in weeks, I’ve been (and will be for the foreseeable future) too busy to go out for dinner, and it’s been a manic week I had earned a treat. So I called Dono this morning to place a pick-up order for lunch. I wish I had thought to do this before! I normally pay about $30 (plus tip) for a sushi dinner out and I got more food for lunch today for $19 (no need to leave a tip) than I do for a dinner. I had them make me up a bento box with an assortment of things and was really pleased with what was chosen for me, which including a type of sashimi I’ve never had or seen before (possibly mackerel). I had thought that for $13, I’d get a light lunch, so I added two pieces of nigiri (octopus and eel) to round out the meal, but I didn’t need to, not with the soup, salad, tempura (all included with the lunch special!), five huge pieces of sashimi, two other nigiri, and a gigantic shrimp tempura roll (the only disappointment (and a mild one at that) since that’s a bit too heavy/western for my palate).

This evening, I continued working on the study. Oh? Earlier this week, I took an evening and emptied the study of everything but the desk and the filing cabinet. I have been really unhappy with the paint job in that room so I decided to take advantage of the fact that I’m out of the rig to redo it and get it right. Tonight, I sanded down the walls and gave the whole room a good scrub. I’ll prime tomorrow and hopefully get a coat of paint done on Sunday. I haven’t picked out a new colour yet and am torn. I love the current colour, but it’s a bit dark. It’s just that it’s so hard to get the right shade of light green. I’ll see what options the home store has compared to the green in the curtains and decide then. I’ve also decided to relocate the wall cabinet for what will have to be the last time as I am down to the last possible place to put it! I hope that I’ve finally found a home for it where it will be usable.

Once the study is back together, it’ll be time to start thinking about slowly moving back home!

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Friday Afternoons Are Rarely Fun

Today was fairly laid back. I had a couple of appointments past 4:00 so I went out mid-afternoon to do a deposit and grab an espresso. All was well and even with the late end to the work day, I was easing into weekend mode. Well…

My first appointment was for a move-in. I try to check the places ahead of time, but I knew this one was okay, having done a walk-through after the cleaning, so imagine my surprise when I walked in and discovered that someone from maintenance decided to be ‘helpful’ and mud some spots on the dining room wall, the hallway, and the bathroom door, then obviously forgotten to tell me to call the painter!

I was horrified! The tenant was speechless. I asked him what time he had planned to move in and he said 6:00. I promised that the paint would be done by then. I ran to our paint room and got everything I needed, then came back and did the sanding and painting myself. Thankfully, these were small areas, so by the time I got all the spots and doors done, the paint was dry enough to go over everything a second time. I cleaned up then raced by to the office to meet my next appointment.

As we talked, there came a knock at my door; the son of a tenant coming to inform me that he just got home to an inch of water in the storage room and a leak in a ceiling that looked ready to collapse. Maintenance was off duty except for dire emergencies, so I grabbed a bucket, a mop, and a garbage bag. The ceiling is essentially cardboard tile, so I knocked it all down into a garbage bag, mopped the floor, and placed a bucket under the very slow leak.

It was by this point that I was able to check my email and discover that Jody was having as wonderful an end to her week as I was. Hopefully, we’ll both get sorted out in time for us to go to a bloggable activity. I can’t promise you to stay tuned, but hopefully I’ll have something interesting later tonight. 🙂

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One Day In the Life of an Apartment Complex Manager

In which I try to sum up a fairly typical day for me…

9:55, I come into the office. I check for mail (ah, a payment from a tenant and keys from a moveout). I check my fax machine for a security patrol report and glance over it while I listen to the messages. I open my inbox and then glance at my list of to-dos. Ah, I need a couple of purchase orders, so I call head office for those, then I call for a repair on an exterior plug a tenant drove over and an oven that won’t turn on. I’m promised repairs on both by the end of the day.

My cleaning gal is in today, so I see how she’s doing and then I go to the vacated apartment to do a move-out inspection. A tenant comes with her rent and we catch up while I prepare a receipt. Next, I get a set of keys ready for my flooring guy.

Around 11:00, a couple of potential tenants, brothers, come in with the missing piece of the puzzle for their application. I approve them and send them off to get their damage deposit and first month’s rent while I prepare their lease. I’m interrupted when the father of another applicant comes in to find out what can be done to get his son approved. I have a brutally honest chat with him as I am leery of the candidate and the father puts my mind at ease.

It’s past noon by this point and I know I won’t get a lunch break, so I run upstairs to get last night’s leftover pizza, some juice, and a container of yoghurt, then munch as I finish up the lease for the two brothers. My maintenance guy comes in while I’m doing that and we shoot the breeze in between my getting updates on the work he’s done since yesterday, what he will get done today, and what I’ll still have on the list for him tomorrow.

The two brothers return and I accept money from them, sign receipts, and walk them through the lease. They are fresh off the boat from Kenya and have poor English, so this takes a little longer than usual, but I’m used to it since the majority of my tenants do not speak English fluently.

I finish up with them and my flooring guy arrives, so I give him the keys to the suite in which he’s putting new flooring tiles. The floors were actually done recently, but the last two tenants in that suite were terrible and wrecked everything. I’ve convinced the company to spend a little money on the suite to get a better quality of tenant and was able to compromise on new flooring and counters in the kitchen.

Moments later, the appliance guy arrives, so I take him to the suite with the problem oven. Thankfully, the stove is fixable; I’ve ordered enough appliances this week!

I return to the office to find the other candidate waiting with his father. They finally have everything I want, so I accept money from them and go over the lease. As we’re finishing up, I see another tenant waiting outside to pay his rent. He comes in and we chat for a bit. Done, I close up to bring tenants on the other side of the complex the new key for their mailbox and a rent receipt.

I’m back in the office just in time to get a call from another tenant moving in this week wanting to confirm that we can make an appointment for Friday evening for signing his lease and doing the walk-through on his place. So much for getting an early start to the weekend!

I do some bookkeeping and prepare a deposit and as I finish up, the previous manager comes in to see how I’m doing. We chat for two minutes and are interrupted by a tenant who comes in the rest of her rent for January. I have had issues with her and she knows that she has lost any chance of leniency with me. I chastise her again that her disorganization has cost her a substantial amount in late fees. She is one of those people who needs that sort of kick in the pants; I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t productive.

The previous manager and I chat for a few minutes then she heads out. By this time, my flooring guy is done. I head over to check his work but am interrupted when I see people hauling construction materials out of their truck and placing them in our dumpster. I inform them that the dumpster is private property and that I could have them charged with trespassing. They couple is suitably chagrined, thank me for letting it go this time, and promise to never do it again. My flooring guy says that I handled that well and that he couldn’t do my job. I reply that I never would have guessed I could do my job either!

The flooring looks great, so I sign off, then I return to the office only to find my electricians waiting for me. I tell them where to go and head out to meet them (it’s faster to cross the complex on foot than to go around the block by vehicle) so I can give them access to the boiler room where the electrical panel is located. I make sure to grab a pen because my cleaning gal is about ready to clock out and she’s going to need me to sign her time card. Sure enough, I cross her path and she has her time card in hand.

It’s 3:30 by this time and I need to go to head office, but I decide to hang out for a bit in case the electricians need me. I see them pull out by four, my usual quitting time, so I pack up and go to head office to drop off my deposit and move out report. When I get back to the complex, I remember that I forgot to fax my maintenance report for the next day, so I go back to the office to do that before going home.

This was a busy, but very easy, day in that I had no conflicts with tenants nor any nasty issues to deal with. I do promise to reveal some of those nasty issues in a little while. 🙂

(*with all due credit to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn for the title of this post)