What do you do when you find your secretary overworked on a project and you urgently need to get some correspondence out?

Why not call on a Virtual Assistant (VA) to help you.

There are many advantages that you can gain for your business by using a Virtual Assistant. A VA can help you with general correspondence, diary management, a telephone answering service, research, web design, graphic design, book keeping and so much more.

Why not try a VA for that next once off project that you have planned but you know that there is just not really enough hours in the day for your existing staff to be able to deal with it.

The only important thing to remember is that a VA is not an employee. They are not accountable to you for their time off the project. You can ask that they are available to take your calls or email during certain hours and while I’m sure they’ll do their level best to facilitate that if something comes up and they need to be out of their office then they don’t need to ask your permission first.

 

You will also need to check with your VA what services they offer. Not all VA’s offer the same services. While the VA you have been working with might not offer a particular service feel free to discuss your needs with them as they may well know someone who is reliable and can help you.

You can start with something simple like an advertising mail-shot. If that works well then why not see what other services the VA has to offer you. You’ll be surprised at how much work can actually be outsourced to a VA without loosing the integrity of your business.

The only downside for you is that you will eventually have to start making your own coffee. That is one of the few things that a VA can’t do for you.

Before you start working with a VA you need to sit down either in person or virtually (using Skype, or one of the other messenger programs) or on the telephone and explain exactly what it is you want the VA to do for you, how you want the work returned to you, how you will get the work to the VA, as well as the layout that you require. The VA will then go off and do the work for you. Remember that as VA’s work virtually they may often have some other ideas on how to best do the project. Be open to new ideas and you may well be pleasantly surprised at how well your working relationship with you VA will become.

Well I can't believe it's over two and a half weeks since I last wrote, which just goes to show how busy it can get. so this is going to be short and sweet.

I've been working hard for the last few weeks and sure packing in the hours. However said that working from home gave you lots of time to spend with the children lied, but then I knew it was a lie to begin with.

Apart from actually working hard myself, I find in the last couple of weeks I've been involved in providing proofreading/editing time to some other IC's who work with my one client, this is due to the fact that one of the typists is on leave for six weeks so her work is being distributed around.

I'm also busy actively looking for medical transcriptions for the same client as they have a lot of work they could send to SA if we had the typists. If you are interested in medical transcription please contact me so that we can discuss how to move forward.

Lastly, I'd just like to take a moment and say a big congratulations to Lauren, Brian and Jessie on the arrival of little baby Jack born today. Congratulations to all of you and I'm sure Jack will brighten your days!

Just yesterday I was given access to a wonderful web server that facilitates the transfering of digital voice files to either a single, or pool of typists. They can then transcribe the documents using specialized software on their computers, and at a click of a couple of buttons the document is returned to the originator.

For those that still use analogue tapes or who e-mail or courier digital files to their transcriptionists the speed and ease of these web based services is now so advanced while remaining user friendly is amazing.

Depending on the how the web server is set up, it can allow you the ability to access your reports anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night.

If for instance, you are called to an emergency at 2 in the morning, depending on where you and your typist are based, you could dictate and upload your file to the server and potentially have the report back on your desk when you get to the office in the morning.

If you are still using an analogue recorder, the option of moving to digital may seem exorbitant, but the amount of ease that it will allow for you and your transcriptionist to work will make the outlay pay for itself in no time at all. Also, factor in the cost of having to have two machines serviced, the costs of replacing the tapes (which ideally should be done yearly) and the potential that you may need to replace one or other of the two machines involved in teh process (either your dictaphone or else the transcription unit) and really there is no comparison.

If you're still unsure about moving to digital, contact one of the many companies that offers digital transcription using a web based server and see how easy the whole process can be.

As it's such a glorious Monday and we've not had rain for a couple of days in Cape Town it reminds me why I love living here. So I thought I'd take some time and tell you a little about a Medical Transcriptionist (which is kind of what I am).

An MT as defined by the AHDI is "Medical transcriptionists (MTs) are specialists in medical language and healthcare documentation. They interpret and transcribe dictation by physicians and other healthcare professionals regarding patient assessment, workup, therapeutic procedures, clinical course, diagnosis, prognosis, etc., editing dictated material for grammar and clarity as necessary and appropriate."

Basically they are responsible for transferring the doctor's written or dictated notes into a correctly typed and accurate account of the doctor/patient encounter. The accuracy part is highly important as errors in the record can and have lead to incorrect surgery being performed.

That said, the work is very interesting and constantly challenging as there are new things to learn every day. Just went you think you are getting a handle on it someone comes along and changes the boundaries. It's the joy of working in a constantly changing and developing scientific world. The day I am bored typing medial work is the day that I know I need to seriously change profession.

If you want to find out more about medical transcription then go to
www.ahdionline.org This is the home of The Association of Healhcare Documentation Integrity which used to be called the American Association of Medical Transcriptionists. While it is an American site and mainly geared towards the American, it is a good place to get an overview of what is needed to be a Medical Transcriptionist.

The Medical Transcriptionist along with most other VA type work can now quite comfortably be achieved at home thereby reducing the costs of having to have space for office staff to type the work. The advent of digital voice recorders has improved this immensely as the turn around time between the work being sent to be typed and the time that it gets returned has diminished greatly.

Alternatively if you want to ask me any questions please feel free to do so.

What is it about some people. They moan because they have no work in one breath and then in the next breath they moan because they have too much.

This happened to me this week at work. One of my colleagues was complaining when she'd been called on not  getting her work in on time, because she didn't realize she had to apparently. And then in the next breath she was moaning because she wasn't making enough money. This is someone who's apparently been in the business a while and when she was working at her last company was a Team Leader. So you'd think she'd understand the cause and effect relationship that goes between meeting deadlines and work flow, but obviously not.

Then there's the one who was sick for a couple of days, didn't bother to tell anyone or ask anyone to let us know! At least she had the decency to apologize when she made contact.

Nothing to majorily serious you may be saying missing a deadline by a day and being off sick for two days and not letting anyone now. Well maybe in normal circumstances this would be the case, but these two were working on separate files for the same client and therefore all their work was late back. No the impression you're trying to project as a professional company.

All it really takes it to remember some manners and a little common sense and courtesy. Losing your voice doesn't stop you from writting a message, or an SMS in today's ultra-connected world. And while we fully understand emergencies happen, a little smattering of common sense in the business world goes a long way.

Well this is my first time at blogging so here goes lets just jump in the deep end.

It always amazes me as an IC/VA specializing in medical transcription how I can go from days or weeks of being snowed under to having next to nothing for a week. We're on Thursday now and I've hardly spent any time at my computer this week working. But the weekend is a coming so I know that's certainly about to change. It seems to occur to everyone that Thursday/Friday are good days to dictate their work so that the poor soul who does their typing can manage to have it back on a Monday morning for them, and heaven help you if you don't.

Who ever said that working from home would give you more free time to spend with the children, well they certainly lied. My two wonderful daughters go to creche Monday to Friday till 3:00, but Saturday and Sunday when they're at home seems to be when I get the most amount of work, which means working in the evenings and often late in the evenings too!

That said, I wouldn't change my work for anything in the world. I so enjoy the freedom of being at home, not having to dress in corparate wear and I certainly don't miss the office politics. The big pluses are that I can be around for my daughter's when they need me, if they're sick or anything else. I get to attend doctor's visits, special days in their lives, and don't have someone telling me that I can't have the time off.

Well that's that for now.