Freelance or Contract Employment
Working for another as a full-time employee can offer trainers some stability in their lives. A steady income, insurance, retirement benefits, sick leave, vacation and the other perks that come with full-time employment can help provide trainers with a comfortable standard of living. Access Technology Trainers who cannot find steady employment are left in an awkward situation. They can either turn to organizations that hire on a contract basis and teach under another's umbrella or seek clientele on their own and hope to build a client base that will offer a living wage.Employers who hire trainers on a contract basis do not have to pay state or federal employment taxes or social security for contract employees. They also have no obligation to pay insurance or retirement benefits for contract employees. While the organizations charge up to $150.00 per hour for their services, the contract trainer receives anywhere from $15.00 to $35.00 an hour depending upon the area of the country in which the trainer is employed.
Contract employers are also under no obligation to pay travel expenses, food
allowances, or travel time. While some provide portal-to-portal reimbursement
(an hourly wage from the moment a trainer leaves his/her office or home until
he/she returns), most contract employers pay only for the time spent with the
student. As you can see, this provides a neat profit for the employer but
provides little, if any, financial security for the trainer.
Financial security may seem like an unrealistic dream to one who has always had
to look to others to seek job opportunities but, it is an achievable goal if one
combines a bit of creativity with perseverance and hard work. There is an old
adage that says, "the recipe to success is to find an empty niche, and fill it."
There are those who have found niches that no one wanted to fill such as picking up dog leavings in customers yards, or cleaning and disinfecting crime scenes to make them livable again While these are two extreme examples, the world of access technology is in its infancy and there are empty niches around every corner waiting for someone to step into a role and provide a valuable service.
Traditionally, training has consisted of students traveling to a trainer or of the instructor traveling to the student. This can limit the number of students a trainer can see in one day. If you consider alternative training techniques, the travel time can evaporate and the number of students with whom you can consult can increase exponentially. Where you may have been able to see a maximum of three students in a day, you may be able to provide services to seven or eight.
With alternative training techniques, geographical barriers also evaporate. When you remove the need for transportation, you also remove the need to find students within driving distance. Your clientele can span a state, country or even the world. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and your willingness to market your skills.
Many students located in rural areas of the country have no access to training opportunities. They may be rehab clients or have an employer who is willing to pay for a trainer to provide one-on-one tutoring. These types of situations provide an excellent opportunity for an enterprising trainer who has good communication skills and a willingness to provide a unique kind of training. By offering your skills over the telephone or on-line, you can provide training to students who would otherwise have to fend for themselves. When offered an opportunity to acquire training at an affordable price over the telephone, most rehab agencies are eager to embrace this opportunity and will facilitate the paperwork necessary to allow you to provide training for their clients.
In most cases, becoming certified with an out-of-state rehab agency is as simple as filling in a form with your name, address, and social security number. Having a FAX machine or FAX software will speed this process dramatically. The rehab agency can FAX the paperwork and you can return it via the same process. It is then just a matter of invoicing the state for payment once the services have been rendered. Your costs are minimal. In most cases, the student will call you and the cost will be covered by the rehab agency. In rare cases, if you have to make a phone call to the student, consider signing up for a service such as that offers low long distance rates of 2.9 cents per minute. Using this service will keep your out-of-pocket expenses to a minimum.
Keeping your costs to a minimum will also allow you to offer your services at an affordable price. If you offer higher quality training at a more affordable price, rehab agencies will notice and turn to you when they need training for their clients. You may also consider offering specialized training. If you are especially skilled in OCR software and that is the only thing you would like to teach until you improve your skills in other aspects of access technology - make yourself the best trainer in OCR, keep your prices affordable and you will be surprised how many students will seek you out for training. The trick is to let them know that your training is available.
Advertising on the Internet and via direct mail are two ways in which rehab counselors and organizations may be reached Prepare a simple flyer explaining your services and costs; offer contact information; and start sending out notices to rehab agencies in your local area and across the country. If you only receive one or two responses for every 100 flyers you mail, that is an excellent start. For a $34.00 investment in postage, you may find students who will be in need of several hours of training each. This is a respectable return on your investment. If you do a good job, you can be sure the rehab counselor will take advantage of your services in the future.
Offer a quality product at an affordable price, spend some time each day marketing your skills and you may find yourself with more students than you ever imagined possible. Find that niche and fill it and you may just find the key to your professional future.