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[Whitestar55]

Hi all, has anyone else started a new thread yet?

Hi all

I need some advice! 😊

I'm a fellow dict8er and I have been approached by a private London clinic to type for them.

I usually charge per audio minute for other work however this clinic, for tax purposes, want to employ me on a zero hours contact PAYE which is fine by me.

They have asked me to name my hourly rate. I have no clue where to begin! I don't want to go in too high and look unreasonable. But I also don't want to under sell myself!

For reference they are in London and I am up North.

Does anyone else charge an hourly rate for non dict8 work?

Thanks in advance!

@deflatedbirthday Secretaries in private London clinics charge upwards from about £18 per hour.

INVOICE 2 (via email)
XXXX lines x 2 pence = YYY 😂

@deflatedbirthday you could ask them how much they pay in house secretaries/typists and perhaps add on extra for using your own equipment and utilities and for holiday pay, if it is zero hours???

@Whitestar55 they don't currently have anyone in house as that was my first question to them. I don't want to undersell my service!

When I used to freelance for private sector I would go in high and negotiate down towards my fee

@deflatedbirthday : when I worked for private consultants (not based in London) from home [eons ago it seems] I was charging £17/hr in line with the rest of the PA's in my area. This was not just for audio typing though; this was for running diaries, taking all the telephone calls, scheduling/cancelling/moving op dates, arranging theatre lists AND booking appointments, typing all the letters plus invoicing + chasing debt, liaising with insurance companies. It was a long time ago. I have no idea what the going rate would be now. I probably would settle at negotiating for £13-£15/per hour depending on the circumstances of what is required ONLY for audio typing. No clue really!!

I was band 3 started as PA to cover the band 4's messages and type more than them under "protected typing" rules. The role changed in 2019 to Support Secretary, i was miffed the term medical was taken out as we were doing nothing different. My band 4 took liberties with anyone she could. during lockdown when typists went home and band 4's were expected to rota days in with band 2 admin, she even left all her work for the new band 4 who sat across from her! He left for a managerial role and rightly deserved. the other remaining band 4's bar her left almost at the same time for a private firm. One because she suffered a lot of migraines and downgraded her role to cope better from home and the second left before she was sacked as it came out she had commited a data breach by looking up a family member!

If they had appreciated the reasons why we wanted to remain at home to type i may have been still working full time but i did ask for less hours due to my sons mental health (he's autistic too) wasn't getting any better and he hated the fact i had to work in the hospital a few days. I asked to reduce my hours to three, they said no one wanted 2 days a week jobs, and yet i could see a few popping up all over the place in various different roles. In the end enough was enough, i handed in my notice a week after another band 3 was leaving due to carpal tunnel and wanted off the typing role altogether, that backfired on her and found it wasn't far from our one! The day i left, on the way home, i was offered a part time job at Asda Pharmacy which i was looking forward to but the management of the role was dire also, i was stuck with different locums from all over the country literally! They weren't allowed to train you and with so much training courses to do and no one in place to cover your time I was under pressure for that too. I'd already heard of dict8 a few years ago from another colleague (who ironically had left my department due to that band 4, quite the bully) and spotted it pop up on Indeed. That's my story, Its not great money and if it hadn't been to this price of living increase we had budgeted that i could do what i wanted when i wanted for some pocket money. Now its a case of getting to a target i've set to budget the increase of fuel bills and if i'm lucky theres a bit aside for a bit of spends towards my hobbies etc. We don't go too far but still its too expesive to think about it now. My disabled hubby loves the allotment so i've bought him a second hand mobility scooter to ride on around there every day rather than take the car it saves us quite a bit. Its all we seem to be doing now watching the electric switches..

I've been reading your posts its a true eye opener and like others have said before, i left my department with 3k plus letters and they were outsourcing to the filipines or somewhere like that. Which i thought wasn't allowed. Perhaps its worth advertising services to bring in a bit more extra income, you never know where it might go.

My husbands friend was a high paid accountant for the council and has now gone freelance over lockdown and enjoys the fact its all zoom calls and phone calls from home.

I'm just in it for part time but if you think there's an opportunity to do this I may just be interested. Make the company our out of founding members initials or something.

Just another addition to a prior post, I was started for one speciality although i had worked for two. No sign of the second one being called for yet but its cancer services inclusive.

I'm trying to write a book in the other bit of time i've got, when i'm not suffering of course (touch keyboards :D )

I logged in this morning no work. I typed out 2 dictated chapters of the book i'm trying to rewrite (its one from 4 i wrote as a teen, i'm trying to make it more umph and thus publish it in time). I managed a 3 min letter. had lunch at 12.30, had a walk with my lad down to the shops and back, got home, found another 3 minute letter, typed that..... on system 4 letters from the same guy i don't think anyone wants to type for.... back to the book then. :D

@Frazzledbynature To be honest, after thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that setting up a transcription company would be more trouble than it's worth, not enjoyable, not lucrative and still very gruelling and I'd rather set up something creative, rather than listening to the frustating garblings it mainly consists of now . Perhaps some private work would be doable, but that's it, and I'd have to get some advice on how to go about that if anyone has any???

I understand totally, I'm not the youngster I was, its a shame I didn't have the knowhow when I was younger to look into it, my idea of being self employed wasn't to run a company just to do something I'm happy at doing. You could start by offering services in local facebook groups I think hashtags are the in thing now to get the wider audience. I'm learning that from the author side of my work, so use social media such as twitter and more likely Linkdin? The latter i'm not so used to but i'm guessing it works very similar.

It's not so much in getting the clients that I want advice, but how to set up a system, confidentiality, software, whether insurance is necessary etc. @Frazzledbynature Good luck with your book, I hope you get it published, I know many do online now! I prefer design, artwork and craft myself, writing isn't my exactly my forte.

I have fingers in many pies and not enough hours in the day to do them so i have to plan to do the things i enjoy! I enjoy a bit of sewing, card and papercraft, junk journalling, learning watercolours or is that learning to draw, take your pick lol. I would like to good enough eventually to paint my own book covers, if that plan fails i'm going to a budding artist.

On a side note, I came online and typed a letter this late on. I've done 3 x 5 min letters and earned a rough £10 today, better look tomorrow or its more typing stories out :D

*Luck not look, I'm so used to the edit functions i overlook myown proof reading - sigh!

@Whitestar55

"I want advice, but how to set up a system, confidentiality, software, whether insurance is necessary etc". Would Practice Manager software or something similar be the move ? I know my old boss used this system.

Morning,

I signed up for dict8 last week and have done a few letters so far. Any tips and tricks? 😂

I have a set of shortcuts set out in word to use for those notes to the secretarys which include insert patient/doctors name etc
I also use the template they want as a shortcut too to paste over to the main screen. when i've typed it out i paste it into word for a quick proof read to save time and them emailing me back lol Once its done i delete over it with the next letter on a busy day, which isn't today.

Oh and adding the medical terminology into the word programme is a great help. Even though you know them.

I'm doing great with the books though 😵

@Frazzledbynature - don't forget to hire a professional editor etc for your books when you are ready for that stage. I have a couple of friends who are authors and one was recently sent a book to review - littered with spelling mistakes where the person had spelt phonetically, no syntax, no research on the subject etc, and the person was planning to put it direct on Amazon and expecting people to buy it!

I have just had to look up the meaning of 'syntax'. 😂

I kind of get the feeling that @Frazzledbynature will be pretty proficient when it comes to editing though.

On the subject of editing, does anyone else find that when watching videos on YouTube that have text subtitle thingies, you notice the mistakes and want to correct them?

@Whitestar55 My mother is quite deaf and always has subtitles on TV - some of it is so wrong. Poor people who rely on it for the news!

@Whitestar55 - I often join in the British Museum lectures on Facebook and the subtitles are dreadful, very distracting and 85% wrong. They appear on screen as the person is talking and often appear to be deleted and rewritten. I also watch the Time Team repeat episodes which they screen on Youtube - off hand I seem to remember "Wiltshire" being muddled up with "wheelchair".

I'm wondering if the subtitles are done by voice recognition, although if they are done by a person live, I know I wouldn't be able to listen and type fast enough to keep up.