Posted by Laura Vestanen on 10/12/07 6:31pm
Msg #216303

For Misti Morgan Chumley of TN

Misti Morgan Chumley of TN asked a good question.
"Does anyone have suggestions on how to make it through this rough period. How to make extra money? I am a single mom and this has been the worst for me that I have had in 9 years."

Here is something I posted a long time ago:

Now that the refi market is slowing due to rising interest rates, lots of us are considering adding a side career. For those of you considering getting into the NSA business, you missed the wave.

Lots of us became NSAs because we love working independently. Here are some resources to help you determine just what other work you might want to do. Find a trade for which there is a huge demand with a shortage of workers. Won't that be a refreshing change from NSA industry!


Websites with ideas
Some have message boards. You needn't be a Mom to get great work-from-home ideas. Try to have a positive and creative attitude when exploring. "Yeah, but..." will stop the exploration process cold.

www.BizyMoms.com
www.DrLaura.com The section on Moms working from home.
www.Stretcher.com This website mostly has ideas for living frugally. But there are also some great ideas for working from home and stay-at-home working Moms. Check the topical index.

Look at the course listings on the websites of your local technical and community colleges. These schools try to be savvy about what trades are actually hiring so they do not turn out graduates who can't get work. You may only need a few classes to get the skills for a new trade.


Local resources
In many communities, the unemployment office has gone through a huge overhaul of its services. Rather than just listing the most dreadful job opening, many now offer libraries and computers with programs that can help you explore what work you might like to do. They also have counselors to talk about demographics and other information you will need to know. Everything is free.

Talk to your local Small Business Administration and Economic Development Council agency workers to find out which trades are needed and which are not. They know your local business and demographic stats better than anyone. Find your local SBA office at www.SBA.gov

For example, my town hosts the county hospital and the county courthouse. Court reporters and medical transcriptionists are two work-from-home businesses for which there is a real need here. The skills involved are similar to those needed for NSA work and only a year or so of study is needed to make a great income.

Reply by Margaret_FL on 10/12/07 6:48pm
Msg #216304

My daughter does customer service from home. Many companies that were outsourcing to India have brought their customer service back to the USA. She makes $9.00 and sets her own schedule. She does customer service for babies-R-Us

Reply by Margaret_FL on 10/12/07 6:50pm
Msg #216305

I meant to say $9.00 per hour. She trained for 40 hours and they paid her $6.67 per hour while training

Reply by janCA on 10/13/07 5:59pm
Msg #216410

With all due respect, Laura,

"Court reporters and medical transcriptionists are two work-from-home businesses for which there is a real need here. The skills involved are similar to those needed for NSA work and only a year or so of study is needed to make a great income. NOT!

I went to court reporting school for 5 yrs. which is about average. If you get through it in three yrs you are doing very well unless things have changed drastically. This is not something you can do in one year and it also is not cheap unless you can get government grants and then you can still go in the hole thousands of dollars. You have to take a state test (in CA) for your academics and you also have to pass a stenotype machine test which is very difficult. And have you ever heard a doctor's transcription? You have to know medical terminology inside and out because many medical terms sound so much alike plus some of them are 10-20 letters long. If you have worked for a doctor and have been in the medical field, this might come easier to you but again, this is not easy. There used to be a series of tapes you could buy, called the SUMM (sp) tapes, which had actual doctors dictating. And if you were to practice from these 24/7 you might be able to start working within a year, I seriously doubt it.

I would not recommend these careers for someone who wants to start making money in a year's time. And the skills needed to be an NSA versus those of a court reporter or medical transcriptionist, is comparing apples to oranges.

As with any career choice, you have to do your research. I am speaking from my own experience with the court reporting.

Reply by BrendaTx on 10/13/07 6:35pm
Msg #216412

I dabbled in transcription right before going back to work full-time.

After much marketing and purchasing the $80 worth of equipment I needed I actually landed a couple of clients and then, right off the bat figured out that they were all nicey nice when you agree to do the job, but then there's issues. I had another opportunity come along so I ditched the effort and haven't looked back.

Suffice it to say that transcribing from home can get as iffy on the payment end as bad signing services. Same problem. The people who are contracting you may have gotten a government contract and the money will be there to pay you...but not regularly and if they aren't good managers then you will get stiffed. I didn't stick around with it long enough to get stiffed, however, I got my information from someone who stayed on after I moved along.

I, for instance, took tapes which were for pardons and parole hearings, as well as senate hearings. Having experience with what these things are supposed to look like it wasn't a big deal for me to adapt. However, it would not be easy for anyone who had never had their hands on legal documents of that nature to pick it up without training.

BTW I think when Laura referred to court reporters she meant transcribing their tapes. A lot of times they dictate the information from the data they recorded in court into a tape and send it out. Or, she might have been referring to the type of reporting I dabbled in...legal procedings which were taped.

One thing is for certain, if you aren't a fast typist, or familiar with editing and style, or a great speller or don't have an ear for the terminology it's not an easy thing to break into. On the other hand, if you are good at it, you can eventually get your rate over $1.15 a page/double spaced. Yeah, you need to be a pretty good typist to make it pay. And, also understand when they say "paying $25 an hour" that means taped hour and if you can transcribe a taped hour in two hours you are pretty good. You'll need to make sure they will raise your rate as you prove yourself.

In other words, if that's something you're interested in then you need to start by taking keyboarding courses to get your speed up. That would be Step #1.