A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

How do you make ends meet? - tired

Posted: Nov 05, 2011

I have been transcribing for over 26 years and now I can't even make ends meet. Does anyone else have the problem of having to be a workaholic or not be able to survive financially? PLEASE give me any hints that have helped you out. I'm tired and frustrated. Thanks!

I can't make ends meet, which is why - sm

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I am going back to college to get a degree that is useful and will help me be gainfully employed. MT was an awesome job years ago, now it's awful.

Me too. I'm the one who posted above as... - Always looking for more work! nm

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x

If I get out of debt, I will be able to make ends meet. - thatismygoal

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This time next year, I will be debt free with a good income if I keep at it like I am doing now.

Same problem here. It seems like the harder I work, - the less money I make. (sm) Pro-Occupy

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I've been treading water by withdrawing whatever I was short each pay period from my savings account. Savings will be gone in about 2 more years, then I really don't know what I'm going to do. I keep hoping I'll find a better job, but after 3 years of looking and applying, so far no takers yet. I'm also getting by with accepting handouts from my mom and siblings. I'm getting used to going hungry once in a while, when the cupboards go bare before the paycheck comes in. I've been doing a little sewing on the side for extra money, but it's not a lot, and it's hard to find enough time to sew, when I spend most of my time transcribing, mainly to keep my insurance. I feel like a slave to my HMO.

I'm doing fine now but about 45 years ago I had that problem - sm

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I worked way too many hours back 45 years ago and made nothing. I had nothing. I got lots of help from my parents. About 20 years ago things got really good. In fact, I know people who had horrible skills and were making loads of money. I don't think those same skills would be acceptable these days and most of the people I knew were not the kind of people to work on their skills or keep them updated. I think most of them have given up and are doing a little part-time work selling cosmetics, etc.

I'm seriously trying to come up with some solutions for you. If you need to upgrade your skills, of course, do that. If you need to change to a different employer, do that, if you can afford to take the chance of changing jobs. Analyze your work situation and see if you have anything you can change. Are friends calling or coming over doing work hours? Are you stopping work too much for breaks? Probably not, but it's worth asking those questions. Otherwise, I don't have any great ideas to offer, but I tried.

It has been difficult - MT2

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I have been in it for as long as you and about 3 years ago the bad bad situation hit where things were going ASR/SR and the "no work" situation. I decided to go back to graduate school. I was newly divorced and a single mom, but I thought that made sense. I have been in graduate school 2 years now and I tell you I have been on the brink of homelessness. At first I tried hanging in on MTing but had to switch jobs several times to stay afloat. For a while I just studied and lived on student loans, but the refunds did not pay the rent and you have to depend on the Fed govt's schedule of refunding, so my credit suffered for late payments. After 2 years I got an IC MT job where I just stayed with it b/c I became tired and frustrated of changing jobs but I knew I needed one. I did not know how to do anything else. So still I continued my graduate school, now half time and job full time. The job was so bad, I got paid less than minimum wage, did not pay rent for several months, was almost evicted. I had to go on food stamps. But I continued on. Finally, I ended up flat on my back from stress of not paying bills and I had to take time off from everything. It was then I realized I truly faced homelessness as I have no relatives left alive.
Somehow when things got so bad and my child had to stay elsewhere is when I decided to stop this behavior of victim. I got rid of the job not paying me right and I got 2 jobs transcribing which equal about three quarters of one job now and the pay from those 2 jobs and the student loans and food stamps I can make ends meet. I have no credit, use no credit, because the debt to income ratio with student loans will not allow me to get anything on credit. Don't let it get so bad you are almost homeless or that you are flat on your back from stress. Don't stay at a job that you know is going nowhere. Make ends meet by realizing out in the world, they need cash for your rent/mortgage, utilities, you need to eat. Because they will take away your home, they will cut your lights off. You don't want to get down as far as I let it get because I was naive. Work 2 jobs, if it adds up to less than one, make sure those ends meet. Go back to school. Do what you have to do but do it before the stress of worry gets to you. Sorry so long, but I hope you do not follow my path. And another word to the wise. People in the world have no idea what MTs go through, the games played with low wages by employers, they have no idea how and why we aren't being paid, and you know what? They don't care. They really don't. Just suck it up, find a job that pays well, or two, and make those bills. Good luck to you!

I think it's disgusting that MTSOs can get away with - what they do to their MTs, and - (sm)

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that they seem to be getting off scott-free, too - without being held accountable for the economic and labor mayhem they have wreaked.

They're greedy, blood-sucking GLUTTONS, all of them.

AGREE!! - Always looking for more work! nm

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x

I agree also and I think it is absolutely ridiculous - sm

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that they "require" specific things and then want you to test. I don't think so!! Greedy is all they are.

Yes, I'm having the same problem and hoping I don't get - evicted this month because of it nm

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nm

Same boat here - Alice

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I'm hanging on by a thread and slowly going down the tubes. Interestingly, once I started looking, I actually found many other jobs that can be done from home.

With the MT work, I kept waiting for things to get better, but I now realize that it is not going to get better. Then, I concluded that I complain all the time but the fear of change and moving out of my comfort zone is what's keeping me from totally quitting MT work. However, it would be better to be a little uncomfortable while I still have access to food and shelter, rather than wait until I'm totally homeless.

The last company that I worked for lost the account and laid me off without a day's notice, even though I had worked for them for almost 5 years. It turns out that they knew the client was going to an in-house system any day, but did not share that info. They also laid off one of their key support personnel and likely many others whom I do not know. I had actually been fooled to think that the company cared about me. At this point, I was shocked back to reality and realize that I was only a piece of equipment to them. The end of any good MT work at home is coming and I'd better get prepared. A part-time job at a fast food joint is looking quite good at this point in time. At the very least, it would pay minimum wage for hours worked, and if they should lay me off due to no fault of my own, I would be eligible for unemployment benefits, which is not so in the case of an IC MT job.

Time to stand up and say, "We're sick of being treated badly and we're not going to take it anymore." Yes, easier said than done, but there is such a sense of freedom and renewed energy that comes from doing this. MT work is not the only job that can be done from home.

I agree. - mt2

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They really do not care if we go homeless. And this is not a "tall story." We can if we believe and wait or flex our hours. I honestly tried checking in over a 24 hour period and I never got more than 700 lines. S/R. At 4 c a line that is 35.00. My checks trying very hard were 200 a week. That's it. And the Salvation Army charges after a while, and you can't work from "home" there. I think that on a whole the personality profile of an MT is a person who is extremely intelligent, extremely hardworking, book smart, but perhaps too trusting, or someone who believes that hard work will pay off in the end. I believe the majority of us are like that, which is why the majority of us are taken advantage of and why a lot of us have lived in hotels or have seen the brink of disaster. This is a global scale taking advantage of and I just hope if karma exists then it will swing back. Problem is we can't wait for that. The landlord will put us out, the food stamps only cover so much and as I said above this is no lie, the "real world" doesn't believe we are treated this way so they think it is us. Some of us even do believe that lie. No paranoia here, but the truth. So the faster we personally realize it's them and not us, and we go for the money, even if it's 3 MT jobs with school to get out of it the better. I hate to blame we victims but we have to stop acting like victims. We have to get ourselves out of this hole, and in the future stop trusting too much and start thinking of ourselves. That is what I realized through all of this anyway.

Addendum to above - mt2

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That 35.00 figure was not 28.00 because I assumed a little straight typing was in there at a higher rate. Just FYI.

Heard of jobs lost in 2 different careers last week - sm

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I have a friend who owns a tag agency. Now people can buy their tags directly online. They will now have to lay off people.

We used to have to buy our turnpike passes in person, but now the people who work there are no longer needed because it's all online.

There was also a big company that is laying off 3,000 people. I wonder where they are going to find jobs.

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