Making Money Working at Home

by Amy Winter

awaiting publication

Medical transcription is promoted everywhere as a quick, easy way to make money working from home. Although I work at home doing MT, and my hourly rate is well into the double digits, it’s an unfortunate reality that the people most likely to achieve big bucks are the folks promoting the “quick-n-easy” correspondence classes that promise huge incomes right out of the gate. If you understand that, you will have an edge in planning your medical transcription career.

A dose of reality

Medical transcription is an excellent career choice for several reasons:

• It is a growing field with an ongoing lack of qualified candidates.
• There’s high job security, since society is likely to need medical care for some time to come.
• For capable, well-trained folks, the pay can be much higher than other jobs that require a similar level of education and training.
• If you are knowledgeable, skilful, and self-motivated, the field does offer various ways to work at home, have a flexible schedule, and be your own boss

However, to be successful at transcription, you will need to meet the following criteria:

• Develop extremely fast typing skills, well above 60 wpm (I consistently test out at 99 wpm or above)
• Have a good grasp of the English language
• Have excellent hearing
• Be familiar and comfortable with computers
• Be willing to learn complex medical terminology
• Have excellent concentration and ability to stay on task
• Be flexible and willing to exercise judgment to resolve ambiguous situations
• Be willing to be blamed for every mistake while almost never receiving thanks or appreciation (because whatever’s not wrong is invisible!)

Learn more in the follow-up article, "How to become a medical transcriptionist."