Upfirst
Community Starlight
November 2023
November Sunset on Forestville Basin
(photo by Todd Carter November 29, 2023)
Winter Blessings and Tips for Successful Remote Work
By Mike OSullivan; November 29, 2023; Marquette, Michigan, USA
Forestville Basin froze over today. Winter is on its way. My home sits on the edge of Forestville Basin in Marquette Township within the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Average snowfall here is about 155 inches per year. My 30-year career as a coding consultant and educator has involved mostly remote work from this home. I am grateful to be home, especially during our icy, snowy, freezing winters. Today I am sending you winter blessings on this chilly November day with my top ten tips for a successful remote career from home:
1. Keep up on industry trends and professional memberships. Maintain and upgrade your professional credentials throughout your career. Earning the Certified Coding Specialist Hospital credential from the American Health Information Management Association in 1997, and the Certified Coding Specialist Physician credential in 1998, solidified my coding career. Earning the Certified Risk Adjustment Coder (CRC) from AAPC in October 2022 updated and boosted my qualifications, which landed me a new remote contract in June 2023 with CRC required (along with the CCS, CCS-P, or CPC).
2. Create a business entity to report income, deduct business expenses, and secure a happy workspace. Upfirst.com, founded in 1998, is owned and managed by me at my home office in Marquette, Michigan, USA. Upfirst shares creative and entertaining content about local events. The main sponsor for Upfirst is my husband's online art gallery and secure shopping site at Todd Carter Folk Art. Create a happy and secure office. Executive desks, new laptops, 27-inch monitors, desktop whiteboards, pictures of my husband and loved ones, and beautiful artwork make me happy. Keep standard accounting records. Have your tax returns prepared by a professional.
3. Negotiate for the top pay range advertised. Know your worth and ask for the top of what you know the industry will bear.
4. Communicate with your team leaders in a positive way with gratitude for their hard work. Contribute to team meetings. Dedicate your efforts to helping to make your team the best team in the business. In the coding industry, accuracy standard is 95% or above to remain on a quality team. Meeting or exceeding productivity standards is crucial to success.
5. Dedicate yourself to the hours you commit to your client. Let your family and friends know they might not be able to reach you during work hours, except in case of emergency. Let them know you will return their call when you come off shift. Protect your sacred work time. It is your responsibility--and your best chance for a successful career--to bring your best work effort to each client and project every day.
6. If your client offers free training, do your best to attend these sessions. Team meetings and learning sessions will help you to work more efficiently. The better and faster you are at your task, the better you and your team succeed.
7. Do not stay stuck in a bad position. If a job is not working out, find another one. Keep your credentials current and updated, do your best work, and always keep learning.
8. Enjoy benefits of remote work. For me, benefits of remote work include setting my own hours and being able to work from home where I live in the U.S.A. with my husband, Todd Carter, on the edge of a northern Michigan wilderness, in a ghost-town named Forestville.
9. Start out your workday with something fun. Practice yoga or breathing exercises. Visit a website you enjoy following. Do something inspiring to ease into your work time.
10. Go outside and play at least once per day and remember to take exercise breaks while you work. Get up at least once per hour, if you can, and walk around, dance, skip, hop, breathe, stretch--whatever movement makes you happy. Enjoy the outdoors at least once per day, if you can.
Remote coding work has been a blessing for me. I hope you enjoyed my article.
Many blessings for a wonderful and cozy winter ahead!
--Mike
--Mike OSullivan is an educator, writer, web site designer, editor, publisher, and multi-credentialed healthcare coding consultant living in Marquette with her sweet husband, award-winning artist, educator, technical specialist--and too many more talents to name--Todd Carter. Todd contributes artwork and photos and technical support and other support for Upfirst.com and for ToddCarterFolkArt.com.
Mike taking a coffee break to visit The Twin Pines
(photo by Todd Carter Summer 2023)
The Twin Pines by Todd Carter
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Land Acknowledgement
The State of Michigan occupies the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabek – Three Fires Confederacy, of the Odawa (Ottawa), Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Bode’wadmi (Potawatomi). We recognize the historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, and those who were forcibly removed from their homelands. We further recognize the ongoing relationship of, dependence upon, and respect for, all living beings of earth, sky and water. In offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, history and experience.
The State of Michigan occupies the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabek – Three Fires Confederacy, of the Odawa (Ottawa), Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Bode’wadmi (Potawatomi). We recognize the historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, and those who were forcibly removed from their homelands. We further recognize the ongoing relationship of, dependence upon, and respect for, all living beings of earth, sky and water. In offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, history and experience.
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