Well, It's "Put Up Or Shut Up" Time For Me....

[Kalisiin]

Hi, I'm celebrating, and had to tell someone, or I'd just bust...but here it is...I have been in the process of launching my own work-from-home business for the last six months now, actively...and this has been in the planning nearly two years.

It all had been coming to a head, we finally got all the hardware and software working with each other and talking to each other, so that we were finally ready to accept business...and so the spending for laying out the foundation of the business took off, and I have now sunk nearly ten thousand dollars of my own personal money into this to get it started on a solid footing.

Today proves to be the day the payoff starts happening, I have gotten my first client, and they have already put down a deposit on the job.

In case anyone is wondering, it's a transcription company, and I will be transcribing a book from an author in New York State.
It isn't exactly where I was looking to start or end up, but, I'll take what I can get for the moment.

Ideally, it is supposed to be a medical transcription company, but there are a lot of barriers to entry for new companies in this field, and, to overcome them, we need lots of money. So this ought to be a good start.

I'm, thrilled to death to finally have money coming IN the door, instead of all going OUT!!

 

[Cablephish]

Yeah I started a pyramid scheme that will make thousands for me. I told people to donate 25 cents, and they told other people, and they told more people, and they told way more people.

Currently I have raked in $11.75

And why can't it be medical transcription? Why a book? Is it a medical book?

OH, yes. Congratulations. So it's really hard to get clients, huh?

 

[purplesludge]

Congrats

 

[Kalisiin]

Yeah I started a pyramid scheme that will make thousands for me. I told people to donate 25 cents, and they told other people, and they told more people, and they told way more people.

Currently I have raked in $11.75

And why can't it be medical transcription? Why a book? Is it a medical book?

Well, basically, in order to make medical transcription feasible, at this point, one has to use "speech-to-text" technology. You can't charge enough, per line, to make a profit, doing it the old-fashioned way, with a Dictaphone, and typing out everything.

The problem is...speech-to-text software comes in two varieties.
The kind everyone can afford, things like ViaVoice, for example...are what's called "speaker dependent." they must be trained to each and every individual voice that you feed it...in order to get any level of accuracy. And you have to give it a good 15-minute-long sample of that voice...speaking a very specific text.

Most doctors would not be willing to spend 15 minutes just to train MY software to THEIR voice. And I can't blame them.

The other kind of speech-to-text software is known as "speaker independent." This means you needn't train it on any voice at all, it will work with anyone's voice, and has a sufficient vocabulary (300,000+ words) in order to do what is needed.

Your cell phone, for example...has speaker independent "voice commands" that you don't have to train...but it is a very limited vocabulary. So it is fairly cheap.

the type of software I need...most of the folks who have it are hospitals, government/military, and really big medical transcription companies that outsource their work to India, and so on...big multi-nationals. the reason is that the software costs in excess of fifty thousand dollars.

And this is the ONLY kind of software that will do what is really needed...in order to make medical transcription actually a profitable, and viable business...at the rates one can actually charge these days (the market will not bear the price I'd have to charge if I had to do it the old-fashioned way)

In order to be at all competitive in the field, and to be able to make money at today's market rates, one absolutely must have the kind of software that, for most people, is price-prohibitive.

It is a barrier to entry in the field for small, independent companies like mine.

the big multi-nationals do NOT want competitors like me to have a chance to make it, and so these are the sorts of barriers they throw in the way, and which must be overcome.

No different than Nintendo...throwing up barriers against the homebrew community. They do not want the competition...they want to monopolize the marketplace. They want to squash any possible competition before it gets a chance to even get their heads out of the water.

In short...when you are a guppy...like I currently am...you don't go swimming in the shark tank.

You start out with the guppies and goldfish, where you won't get eaten. You get a bit bigger, and you move on to the next pond....until you are strong enough...and big enough...to swim in the shark tank.

Understand?

 

[Kalisiin]

Congrats

Thanks!

 

[Cablephish]

Yeahhh, they have a game like that on the internet.

Here's a link it's pretty fun
Cool Fish Game

But yeah, I understand your points. Thanks for taking the time to explain.

 

[Kalisiin]

Yeahhh, they have a game like that on the internet.

Here's a link it's pretty fun
Cool Fish Game

But yeah, I understand your points. Thanks for taking the time to explain.

No problem.
See, when I set out to start this business, I didn't know any of this stuff, either. I had envisioned doing it the old-fashioned way, with a Dictaphone, foot pedal, and manually typing it all out.
It wasn't long before I discovered that one could not charge a sufficient rate to make this a profitable venture, and we had to re-think how we were going to go about doing the work.

Took a lot of time, and a lot of research...and cobbled together a system that WILL work, for non-medical clients, of the type I'm getting now...and with the profits from those jobs, I should then be able to afford the type of software I need to launch the other stuff.

Probably, I'll launch the medical as a separate company, as a division of the original parent company...now that I understand how it all works.

So...for now, we are offering different services than I had initially imagined, when I first set out to launch the company. And to different clientele than I had imagined.

But, where there's a will...there is a way!

 

[PettingZoo]

What is a transcription? Like recording you talking the book? Some dude telling you what to write?

 

[m3rox]

What is a transcription? Like recording you talking the book? Some dude telling you what to write?

I believe he is using a speech-to-text app to get a book put on a computer. Basically he's reading it, and the computer is taking everything he says and converting it to text.

I don't believe this kind of thing should pay that well as, quite literally, anyone could do this.

 

[PettingZoo]

What is a transcription? Like recording you talking the book? Some dude telling you what to write?

I believe he is using a speech-to-text app to get a book put on a computer. Basically he's reading it, and the computer is taking everything he says and converting it to text.

I don't believe this kind of thing should pay that well as, quite literally, anyone could do this.

Ah, like those dictating programs. Though it must be payed as well seeing as he might have to go through and correct some dictating errors or maybe his software is really good o:

 

[Joe88]

I thought scanners can just convert scaned pages to txt documents? (with proper software anyway)
my lexmark has that

 

[Kalisiin]

What is a transcription? Like recording you talking the book? Some dude telling you what to write?

I believe he is using a speech-to-text app to get a book put on a computer. Basically he's reading it, and the computer is taking everything he says and converting it to text.

I don't believe this kind of thing should pay that well as, quite literally, anyone could do this.

Not quite. But close.
And, yes, anyone could do it. But it is very time-consuming. Many people would rather do other things with their rime. That's where I come in.

It's a service, it's a concenience, and thus, it should pay.

Besides, I will need to edit and proofread, and fix grammatical errors, etc. ESPECIALLY in medical transcription reports, when I get to the point I can do those...when I am able to have the right software.

Yes, it should pay...because it is a service, it is a convenience...and not just anyone could do this...especially medical.

I dare you to pronounce "esophagogastroduodenoscopy"
In fact, I dare you to be able to spell it correctly...to be able to speak it correctly, or to know what it means.

ALSO...with medical transcription, one has to fix for context.

For example, a doctor might be talking about an injury to the little finger on the left hand...then start talking about the right hand. A trained medical transcriptionist would pick up on this inconsistency, and fix it...whereas the software program would not.

The process is not quite as simple as you might think. Not just anyone could do it.

And again, here's another context issue...

Two medical words...pertaining to two different parts of the body...both pronounced exactly the same...but spelled differently.

the trained transcriptionist knows the difference, and, by context, can tell which is wanted.

The example I will give you is

"ILEUM" versus "ILIUM"

The ilium is a hip bone
The ileum is part of your small intestine.

Both are pronounced the same way. And I mean exactly the same way. Only context tells you which is wanted.

A gastroenterologist, for example, would be speaking, most likely of the ileum...and an orthopedic surgeon would be speaking of the ilium.

This is called "scut work" and it is the sort of stuff doctors do not WANT to do themselves, they would rather pay someone to do it, and put THEIR time to more productive use....like doing another surgery that he can charge $40,000 for.

Medical transcription is exceedingly important, and very exacting work, BECAUSE IT DOCUMENTS EVERYTHING THE PHYSICIAN DID WITH A PATIENT. This can be useful for further treatment, followups...and also useful in the event of a malpractice lawsuit...the doctor can pull out the transcription and say...ok, this is exactly what was done....and this is the common standard practice, the normal standards of care for this type of procedure.

And thus, malpractice case gets thrown out.

Now do you understand how essential this stuff is...and why "just anyone" could not do it?

As to the book I'm doing right now...yeah, I suppose almost anyone COULD do it. In this case...the author would rather speak his book than type it. So I get to type it and send him a text file of the book, for submission to a publisher. Meanwhile, HE is spending his time doing something more productive and lucrative to him...namely, writing (speaking) another book!

Do you see why this pays? Because I am doing this work, it frees up my client to do stuff that is more profitable to him.

He pays me to do that which he does not want to do...because he can then put that time to better use...and make more money for himself.

See?

Lemme guess, you're a real smart 14 year old who thinks he knows everything.

 

[m3rox]

*snip useless garbage*


epic failure dude, epic failure.

 

[Kalisiin]

epic failure dude, epic failure.

Go screw yourself. I own my own business. People pay for my service. THEY obviously believe it ought to pay. just because you have permanent cranial rectosis, and don't believe it ought to pay...well too effing bad for you, the world does not agree with you. There are thousands of companies out there doing exactly the sort of thing I am doing.

YOU, on the other hand, probably flip burgers or work as a greeter at Wal-Mart for minimum wage.

Whereas, me, I own my own business.

which one of us is the failure?

I think the record is pretty clear.

Me = business owner.

You = a pathetic little puke with an overinflated sense of self importance, who, if you are employed at all, probably work in a shit job for minimum wage, and will probably forever be stuck doing exactly that.

Piss off.

Oh, by the way...while I was in the process of adding a couple of other buttheads to my ignore list, you also were added, m3rox...so don't bother replying further.

 

[FAST6191]

Just thought I would offer my congrats, I too am playing this self employed game right now but it is making enough from the immediate circle of acquaintances so I have yet to go looking for stuff.
As someone with only a passing familiarity with medicine in the US I can imagine competition is somewhat cut-throat. However as someone in engineering it might be worth looking at my side of things (field, forensic, civil, production.......) or health and safety types as it is rapidly heading into the same arena (reams of notes) and such services are largely unheard of in said circles and the good engineers are paid as much or more than most medical types.

I suppose this also means I will finally have to revise my jokes about speech to text stuff.

 

[vergilite]

epic failure dude, epic failure.

Go screw yourself. I own my own business. People pay for my service. THEY obviously believe it ought to pay. just because you have permanent cranial rectosis, and don't believe it ought to pay...well too effing bad for you, the world does not agree with you. There are thousands of companies out there doing exactly the sort of thing I am doing.

YOU, on the other hand, probably flip burgers or work as a greeter at Wal-Mart for minimum wage.

Whereas, me, I own my own business.

which one of us is the failure?

I think the record is pretty clear.

Me = business owner.

You = a pathetic little puke with an overinflated sense of self importance, who, if you are employed at all, probably work in a shit job for minimum wage, and will probably forever be stuck doing exactly that.

Piss off.

Oh, by the way...while I was in the process of adding a couple of other buttheads to my ignore list, you also were added, m3rox...so don't bother replying further.

First off

great news on your business and i wish you all the success you could want, but i am 17 and work at macdonalds as my first job as a fry cook so please watch what you are saying as you offended me and might offend others. oh but im going to college then uni so its not like im staying at macdonalds

 

[Kalisiin]

Just thought I would offer my congrats, I too am playing this self employed game right now but it is making enough from the immediate circle of acquaintances so I have yet to go looking for stuff.
As someone with only a passing familiarity with medicine in the US I can imagine competition is somewhat cut-throat. However as someone in engineering it might be worth looking at my side of things (field, forensic, civil, production.......) or health and safety types as it is rapidly heading into the same arena (reams of notes) and such services are largely unheard of in said circles and the good engineers are paid as much or more than most medical types.

I suppose this also means I will finally have to revise my jokes about speech to text stuff.

Thanks for your congrats...and I wish you success in your endeavors as well!

Power to the entrepreneurs!!

P.S. thanks for the tip-off, that your industry may also be a good target market for the type of services I provide.

 

[Kalisiin]

epic failure dude, epic failure.

Go screw yourself. I own my own business. People pay for my service. THEY obviously believe it ought to pay. just because you have permanent cranial rectosis, and don't believe it ought to pay...well too effing bad for you, the world does not agree with you. There are thousands of companies out there doing exactly the sort of thing I am doing.

YOU, on the other hand, probably flip burgers or work as a greeter at Wal-Mart for minimum wage.

Whereas, me, I own my own business.

which one of us is the failure?

I think the record is pretty clear.

Me = business owner.

You = a pathetic little puke with an overinflated sense of self importance, who, if you are employed at all, probably work in a shit job for minimum wage, and will probably forever be stuck doing exactly that.

Piss off.

Oh, by the way...while I was in the process of adding a couple of other buttheads to my ignore list, you also were added, m3rox...so don't bother replying further.

First off

great news on your business and i wish you all the success you could want, but i am 17 and work at macdonalds as my first job as a fry cook so please watch what you are saying as you offended me and might offend others. oh but im going to college then uni so its not like im staying at macdonalds

thanks. and sorry if I insulted you. Not my intent.

There's a difference between a 17-year old, like yourself, working your first job, flipping burgers...and going to college eventually, in order to better themselves...and someone who is 25 years old, blowing smoke out his butt, thinking his excrement is sweeter than the ordinary...and can't even congratulate someone on good news...and instead has to insult them, put them down, and say that they think that what they do shouldn't pay anything, "because anyone could do it."

You see, that creep insulted ME first.

That said, if my words insulted you I am truly sorry.

That was not a crack at someone who is a teenager and flips burgers, because that's the kind of jobs you can get part time while still in school.

It was a crack at the guy who insulted me, because it is clearly obvious that HE is a loser. A loser who can't stand someone else's success, and must pee on someone else's parade in order to make himself feel better.

There is no shame in working for McDonald's...if you're 17 and still in school. Many people's first job was McDonald's or something similar. If you're 25 and still sticking your hand in the grease trap, though...that's a loser.