Post by Carolyn on Sept 24, 2003 14:54:35 GMT -5
This isn't an actual Swedish job, but it is worth thinking about.
At 53 with my Swedish at a level a ten year old would be ashamed of, I knew my chances of getting a great job in Sweden were pretty limited.
However, in the States, I had 20 plus years of legal transcription and background and the court reporter I had been working for was frantic for me to continue working for them, as many of you already know.
I am now getting set up to have my own little business in Sweden and here is how I did it.
First, in my state of New Mexico, all court proceedings are still recorded on cassette tapes and (a very few) CDs. Attorneys are still doing client interviews, cops are still doing interviews on cassette tapes.
I went back and worked with the court reporter to get proper software on their computer to allow them to change cassette tapes into mp3 files. There are numerous software programs that do this and are free.
You get what amounts to a patch cord that leads from your tape player into your computer and you pop in the cassette, set it to play, open the program on the computer and push the play button and off you go. When the tape is finished, you do a conversion that can compress the file (speaking makes a MUCH smaller file than music does), and then, in most cases, they can just attach the file to an e-mail and send it to you.
For transcription on this end, I found a foot pedal for about $80 that I got sent to me, with free software. You can do a google search for Express Scribe. You hook the foot pedal to the serial port on the computer, download the software, tell your computer to recognize it, load the mp3 file onto Express Scribe, and it acts JUST like you're working from a transcription machine.
You will most probably HAVE to have a bank account in the States, since the cost of sending money to you via wire is very expensive. I have kept my Bank of the West account, provided the court reporter with deposit slips and they will be making deposits for me for work done on the 15th and last days of the month.
I got home Monday night and have already done my first 2 sound file transcriptions and returned them. there are a few hiccups to work out, but I think it's going to work a treat.
I suppose you could keep the money in the States, but I am going to register with Skattemyndigheten and pay my fist-full of taxes. After all, I live here now and want my pension and the benefits. I have heard that as a sole business owner, sole proprieter, I will be paying as high as 67%, but I don't think it will be that much. Even if it is, that will still leave me enough money every month for all those little extras we all miss, and a holiday or two a year, and I really don't mind. It's just good to be earning money again and contributing financially, with a hope for a little land, build a small house and live relatively happily ever after.
Not for everyone, but this looks like it will work for me and may just do for some of you out there that don't mind hard work, want to work at home and know that your Swedish will never be fantastic (mostly due to age, I think).
At 53 with my Swedish at a level a ten year old would be ashamed of, I knew my chances of getting a great job in Sweden were pretty limited.
However, in the States, I had 20 plus years of legal transcription and background and the court reporter I had been working for was frantic for me to continue working for them, as many of you already know.
I am now getting set up to have my own little business in Sweden and here is how I did it.
First, in my state of New Mexico, all court proceedings are still recorded on cassette tapes and (a very few) CDs. Attorneys are still doing client interviews, cops are still doing interviews on cassette tapes.
I went back and worked with the court reporter to get proper software on their computer to allow them to change cassette tapes into mp3 files. There are numerous software programs that do this and are free.
You get what amounts to a patch cord that leads from your tape player into your computer and you pop in the cassette, set it to play, open the program on the computer and push the play button and off you go. When the tape is finished, you do a conversion that can compress the file (speaking makes a MUCH smaller file than music does), and then, in most cases, they can just attach the file to an e-mail and send it to you.
For transcription on this end, I found a foot pedal for about $80 that I got sent to me, with free software. You can do a google search for Express Scribe. You hook the foot pedal to the serial port on the computer, download the software, tell your computer to recognize it, load the mp3 file onto Express Scribe, and it acts JUST like you're working from a transcription machine.
You will most probably HAVE to have a bank account in the States, since the cost of sending money to you via wire is very expensive. I have kept my Bank of the West account, provided the court reporter with deposit slips and they will be making deposits for me for work done on the 15th and last days of the month.
I got home Monday night and have already done my first 2 sound file transcriptions and returned them. there are a few hiccups to work out, but I think it's going to work a treat.
I suppose you could keep the money in the States, but I am going to register with Skattemyndigheten and pay my fist-full of taxes. After all, I live here now and want my pension and the benefits. I have heard that as a sole business owner, sole proprieter, I will be paying as high as 67%, but I don't think it will be that much. Even if it is, that will still leave me enough money every month for all those little extras we all miss, and a holiday or two a year, and I really don't mind. It's just good to be earning money again and contributing financially, with a hope for a little land, build a small house and live relatively happily ever after.
Not for everyone, but this looks like it will work for me and may just do for some of you out there that don't mind hard work, want to work at home and know that your Swedish will never be fantastic (mostly due to age, I think).
