Praise & Thanksgiving

I am ecstatic to share that as of this evening I am EMPLOYED!!!!!

Officially I am subcontracted to Protype, Inc. based out of Denver, Colorado doing medical and surgical oncology transcription for Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital.

HAPPY DANCE!  w00t!

In addition to digging into the requirements of being self-employed, I now just have to get good enough (i.e. fast enough) to make getting paid by the line make money. It's going to be an 'indentured servant' haul for a while, but I will get there eventually.

My first work files will be sent to me tonight.... Fortunately, night delivered files aren't expected to be started until the morning, but they do have a 4-hour turnaround time and my files are due in before noon.

[Trust me, I will be getting up early tomorrow to pad my time a bit.]

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Hopefully, Mr. Squirrel's remaining portion of training (completed this coming Thursday) will allow him to start working, too!
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God bless & Godspeed

Update: Testing part 2 still pending

I did get a nice email from my job-contact last night. She apologized for not getting to my files, yet. She's been swamped and hopes to get to the files this weekend. She also added, and I quote, "I really need to get you on board."

To me, this little phrase sets my hopes over the tipping point for consideration for a job. If testing #2 is acceptable, I'm in. It also sounds like my past employment opportunities in that I will be hitting the ground running.

At least in the interim, I did finally get through the Career Step post-graduation tutorial. There was a lot of good stuff in there, and some scary stuff, too. Having only experienced being an employee or a volunteer, the world of independent contracting and subcontracting is quite daunting to me.

I've been researching through the student forums (particularly with the working graduates), and I've been gathering and reading all I can on LLC businesses. This coming Monday, I have a phone appointment with someone who will hopefully give me some knowledgeable advice on whether or not an LLC is even necessary. Most of the transcriptionists I've corresponded with did not go that route and have been quite content.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

For the last year, I've puttered on designs for business cards. In the module about "setting up a business," one of the things they warned about was to avoid "cute" at all costs. I had worked on several ideas that I liked very much, and didn't think were cute. However, the new information is leading me towards something a bit more unique and a bit more professional looking.

This is my latest logo image (cobbled together from bits of free clip art) that will be added to a very standard business card. In a simple way, it highlights my home state as well as my occupation. I may try to play with the idea further, but for right now, this is the winner.

I confess that this was rather an accident as the Gimp program slapped them together in those positions. I would have overlapped the northern border a bit more... if I could have figured out how to do it. [I really need to spend some time learning more how to use the Gimp program effectively.] Truth be told, it was blind luck that got the scroll and feather to go transparent at all so as to show the colors of the state behind it. Unfortunately, the areas that I would re-cut on the state for better centering (the west and north borders) do not exist on the sample. I would need to find another source at this point. However, for the time being, this works for me.
:-)

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God Bless & Godspeed

Update: Passed testing part 1

I got word back from my job-contact. She liked what I had done for the testing and gave me excellent feedback on desired formatting and some things that she wanted changed, not to mention corrections on my “best guesses.” [It probably would be easier if she’d just given me account instructions, but I’ve worked for so long in places where you must “discover the rules” on your own, that it’s no big deal. I’ve just started a list of observations that I will cross-check against her feedback. Eventually I’ll have a set of my own instructions to use as a guide.]

Ultimately, as I appear to have passed the first stage of testing, she will be giving me another test with some more advanced dictations. She also gave indication that we could then begin discussing “starting” me on transcription. In my mind, that translates into discussions about “hiring” me. [Plus, yesterday she asked me to confirm my phone numbers, as she wants that discussion to be person-to-person.]

It almost makes me nervous as this will essentially be the "interview" and the time when I learn about her pay rates and expectations. [They warned us at the school that companies typically don’t give you the pay information until you’ve been tested and they are considering you for hiring.]

In a way, it is funny. I've been given access to the school's post-graduation tutorials for learning how to put together resumes, what to expect at interviews, lists of companies who hire Career Step graduates without further testing, etc. Confession: I haven't done any of it yet, as I've been busy working with the job-contact (and catching up on some sorely neglected housework). Part of me wants to scramble into the training to get that information before I "get the call." Part of me wants to wait and see what happens. [I do have access to the post-graduation materials for a full year from my official graduation date.]

Fortunately, today is shaping up to be a day where I can start looking at that post-graduation material. However, we'll have to see what the day brings. If the testing part 2 comes through, it will take priority.

Have a nice day, all.
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God bless & Godspeed.

The process begins, I hope.

This post is about the transcription job-contact I have been mentioning. As it seems that things are beginning to move forward, I realize I've forgotten to mention a few things that happened within the flurry of exam re-submissions and results that have become important to the process (hopefully) of gaining employment.

The day I received word that half of my exam was missing (10/24), I also received word from my job-contact that the program I had available on my computer would not be compatible with her dictation formats. She recommended a free software that would be compatible and I told her I would look into it as soon as I finished re-submitting my exam. So, the evening of 10/25, I downloaded the free software with the intension of beginning to work with it the next day.

On the 26th, I began to read through everything associated with the software (including the student forums through the school). I must say the tutorials were rather sparse, but enough to get functional. In that research, I also discovered that the program's access for specific dictation formats was time-limited. The free version would discontinue access after a specified time, which (oddly enough) was not specified in the literature. [My job-contact was not actually surprised that they started to charge for their software, but it was free when she started using it.]

Be this as it may, I started looking into what it would cost to get the registered "professional" version and thus permanent access to the format compatibility. I wonder: Does God smile when we see and jump on the opportunities He presents for us? It did not take long for me to mull over the pros and cons, but the morning of the 27th had me investing in the registered version of the software. [It was on sale until October 31st for $30.] Not that we have the money to spend, but this software will allow me access to all of the proprietary formats that I might encounter as an independent contractor. This is a foundational building-block that I could not afford to ignore.

Later that same day I notified my job-contact that I had secured the program and that I would begin practicing with it. In that same conversation, my job-contact offered to send me some sample dictations so we could make sure everything was working properly. I said: "Yes, please!"

The next day (10/28), of course, I got the results of my Final Exam.

Now for the "updated" information. ------------------------

On the morning of 11/2, I received three dictation files from the job-contact. These were not just for testing the functionality of the program. These were for TESTING ME to see if she wants to consider me for hiring (i.e. make sure I know the basics).

After some initial set-up hiccups, I was able to access and play her files. I did have to tell her that I had an obligation to attend to (church cleaning for another concert), but that I would start working on them as soon as I got back. I was into the files right after lunch, and submitted the transcriptions back to her the next morning, less than 24-hours after she sent them. [In the transcription industry, it is not unheard of to have a 24-hour turnaround time. Note: She did not give me any deadline at all, but I wanted to respect her time and that industry expectation.]

This brings me up to date. I'm actually a bit more nervous about this testing than I was for the final exam. However, in many ways, this is also a 'final exam,' and the results of which will directly affect all the days ahead -- good, bad, or indifferent.

Many thanks for your continued prayers!

P.S. Mr. Squirrel is still in a bit of limbo. The school has included him in their first-aid training to renew his card, and they won't let him drive kids without it. Unfortunately, they have broken the training into two days, set them a full week apart, and not starting until 11/10. And so, we wait, yet we are still hopeful that he will eventually have income.

Personally, I was praying for sooner rather than later, but God has set the path ahead of us. I have to constantly remind myself that His timing is not our timing. His thoughts are not our thoughts. It is our job to trust in Him and have faith that He will provide according to His will.
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God bless & Godspeed