The Best Way To Support Yourself In Thailand

... In My Humble Opinion

When I originally started thinking about Thailand, my original thought was to work as a graphic artist for 9 months in New York, and then come for 3 months in Thailand. I couldn't afford that though.

Then I decided to move to Thailand, but I couldn't afford that either. Teaching english just didn't pay enough.

Then I decided to try to find work on the internet. Graphic artists doing pickup work on the internet were getting paid peanuts. None of the agencies that I worked for were interested in the slightest in "telecommuting." Unless you are a God-like Java programmer, or have some other 7-figure-salary skill, nobody will hire you out of the gate as a telecommuter.

Then I disocvered medical transcription. Back then... and, I believe, even today... it is the only way to make a living on the internet as an entry-level employee.

Medical transcription is a very simple thing: Doctors dictate, medical transcriptionists type. The doctor picks up a telephone, talks to a computer at the transcription company, and dictates a patient report. The computer changes his voice file into an MP3, and sends it over the internet to the transcriptionist. The transcriptionist opens up the file and — using a foot pedal to start and stop the dictation — listens to the dictation and types what is said. The transcriptionist then sends the typed text file back to the computer at the transcription company, and the computer sends the text file back to the doctor.

The transcriptionist is paid by the line, which is 65 characters long. In America, transcriptionists are currently paid between 8 cents and 12 cents a line, and most transcriptionists can type 1,000 to 1,500 lines per day. That translates into an income of anywhere from 60,000 to 135,000 baht per month before taxes, for a 5-day work week... though most transcription companies place no limit on how much or for how long you can work. I work 5 full days plus 2 half days per week, and type a fair bit more than 1,500 lines per day.

There are three things that you need to be a medical transcriptionist: (1) You need to be able to type; not fast, but 50 words per minute would be a good starting point. You need to be able to type for 5 or 6 hours a day too: The weak-wristed nead not apply. (2) You need to be able to spell, so that you don't spend all your time looking up strange words. A penchant for understanding foreign accents helps. (3) You need a certificate that you have completed a course in medical transcription. (I recommend this site to start your search. My course cost about $2,000, and that included about $600 worth of reference books.)

To answer your questions before you ask:

1. If you are British, don't try looking for work in America. It doesn't work like that. I don't know a single thing about the medical transcription industry in Britian or Australia. Sorry. Don't ask me for references, and please don't ask to contact my company using my name. I don't think that a reference from me is going to be helpful (see #2 below).
2. I sincerely doubt that any transcription company is going to hire somebody living in Thailand. I got my job in America, and then moved to Pattaya without telling my company. Only after 2½ years, and only after I had proved myself to be a top producing transcriptionist among thousands of other transcriptionists, did they find out, and at that point, they were willing to accept the fact that I was "just on a long working vacation." Whether companies today might be more "open minded" about a Thailand-based transcriptionist, I do not know.
3. Even if you do the medical transcription correspondence course while living in Thailand, you will have to go back to America (et. al.) to train at the company which hires you for a few days. You will need to lug a desktop computer from America to Thailand. You will need a mailing address and a bank account in America. You will need somebody back in America at your mailing address taking care of little bits of work-related business (opening mail, forwarding mail, tax forms, answering the phone, et cetera) that pop up from time to time. (Thanks mom!)
4. There are some benefits: (a) You are eligible for the foreign tax credit, and therefore all of your state and national taxes are returned to you at the end of the year. (b) Working in Thailand means that the middle of the day here is the middle of the night in America. Transcription companies love a person who is willing to sit up all night and transcribe... and will sometimes pay them extra. (c) Thai holidays aren't celebrated in America, so it is easy to get those days off, and you probably don't mind working on Easter, Christmas, and July 4th, so you get paid extra for those, and make your company happy by working when nobody else wants to.

Anyway, all the information is my own opinion, and it could be wrong. I just threw it up here for you to consider, if you're looking for a way to make a living in Thailand.