The cry often heard on the street from educated Filipinos who have no job prospects is … if only I could find a decent paying job here in the Philippines without going overseas to clean toilets in Saudi Arabia or build roads to make some ultra-rich oil sheik even richer.
The cry often heard from foreigners who want to live in the Philippines is … if only there was a way I could get work in the Philippines at a salary I could support my family on … I’d move in a heartbeat.
Well there’s an answer, suitable to many. read my friend Bob’s blog post here.
Check out this site for more information.
Years ago in Colorado Springs when I had a 300 baud dial-up modem and my online hobby was reading and posting on BBS’s (Bulletin Board Systems) I was amazed to find out that several friends made a decent living online. There wasn’t even an Internet to speak of, just a lot of isolated hobbyists tinkering about.
One of those money-making fellows had a software development business incorporated in Colorado with lot’s of nice contracts and profit, but no programmers. All his developers were in Russia and he sent and received all work assignments via modem connection. I’ll write moire about software development in the future if there is an interest, I know of at least one fellow in my neighborhood here who works for a firm in the US, at US wages and lives in the Philippines.
But the subject of today’s post … medical transcription. The other money-making friend caught my interest when he mentioned he had 20 phone lines and 19 modems in his house … and wanted more but the phone company couldn’t supply the lines. 20 phone lines? Wow! Doing what, Thom? the answer was, Thom’s wife, Vi, had hundreds of doctors as clients .. clients who would fax their handwritten records … a few sent audio files … of their prior days patient visits. Vi, who had worked as a transcriptions in a doctors office, had a couple dozen transcriptions … most of them "stay at home" moms, who dialed in every day to receive their assignments and upload their completed transcriptions … Vi and Thom would print the transcription work and FedEx it regularly back to their clients. The dynamics of the business were such that Vi could charge doctors about half what their on-site costs would be and yet pay her workers quite a bit more than they would have received in a transcription office environment.
Today, with the Internet, the prospects are only better than this fascinating "early days" real-world story.
Here’s why medical transcription (and many other sorts of transcription, such as legal depositions, accident report interviews, etc.) is a real opportunity the Philippines should push for:
- Minimal degrees, exams, certifications needed … much less than say, nursing.
- Can be done any where on a minimalist computer. Broadband is not really needed, either.
- Even for Filipinos well-versed in English, accent and "Filipinoisms" often add difficulty to customer contact jobs. transcriptions don’t even have to be able to speak English, as long as they can read and write accurately.
- The biggest reason … the one I wish the President and other leaders would spend more time thinking about … no need to leave the country and produce yet another financially "dismembered" family.
An honest, profitable way to earn a living at home.
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Ha ha Chas, you amy well be right. The paperless office seems a really distant dream … especially in the Philippines where paper is a way of life.
In the Philippines case I think the lumber was most used for furniture builders and other countries who wanted the rare woods … but there are areas of the Philippines ideally suited for raising pulpwood … another lost opportunity, I’d say.
Hi Philly,just a thought,maybe the shortage of wood is caused by so much being made into paper.When the computer was invented they said this would decrease the ammount of paperwork needed,alas,it did not happen.
Luarence, your comments are always intelligent and on point. You need never worry about being longwinded … unless I ever cure myself of that … unlikely. You may stand upon your soap box any time you care to.
Indeed the web still is still an untapped resource, and not just in the Philippines.
re. the furniture idea. I am not sure about customs rules for Australia. Shipping to the US is eminently practical, there is zero duty on furniture.
I have a cousin in zebu who ships tons, literally, of furniture to Saudi and other Gulf countries. he’s actually more of an artist than a furniture maker, a lot of his stuff is a bit ‘artsy-fartsy’ for me, but it’s near museum quality … he doesn’t sell stuff for a few pesos each. All his business is done via private connections he made when he worked in Saudi, I don’t think he even knows there is an Internet.
The downside? I bought and shipped some furniture from Manila to the US. The store handled all the shipping and even at mall prices and adding on the shipping costs it was a bargain in the US. But I wanted more and the store couldn’t get any more … the guy who made it for them ran out of wood couldn’t locate any more … the Philippines is poorly suited for many mass production ideas because they lack raw materials.
Efforst such as the medical transcription service, though, will never run dry. Especially because of litigation and federal requirements in the US, from the time a parent takes anewborn in for his first ‘well baby’ check until the kid turns 18 there is a mountain of paperwork created … and someone has to type it, store it and recover it if needed … all work that doesn’t depend on raw materials. It seems we will never run out of legislators and their paperwork requirements in either of our countries LoL.
Philly,
I totally agree…and the internet could be put to better use in existing business. Case in point…on my last visit to the Phils I went with my mother-in-law to collect some furniture. The guy at the furniture place (who also manufactured) was showing me his sales catalogue (some very ordinary photos in plastic sleeves in a folder) and informed me that he’d made some sales to the US, mainly to tourists from the US.
His furniture was of a very good standard and when I got back to Aus I discussed with a friend of mine (who had a furniture business) whether he’d be interested in importing from the Phils.
Anyway, I’ll get to the point…if this furniture manufacturer in the Phils had a business standard website that could process on-line orders then he could be making custom furniture and exporting all over the world (and employing more locals).
Business in the Phils MUST make better use of the internet. Let’s hope that the recent batch of College IT graduates have been equipped with the necessary skills to assist business. And the Govt should also contribute with grants or low interest loans to enable business to develop professional standard websites.
Phew! I’ll get off my IT soapbox now.