Home Business

My name is Michael and I started my own medical billing home business when I was 23. Actually I first heard about it from my girlfriend, who is my ex-girlfriend now, I should say. If you don't know what exactly it is, it's basically a system to help doctors with patient-related tasks, for example by filing claims for them over the Internet.

About a year ago I thought that I was wasting time and goofing off too much, and I decided to try to do something for myself. So I remembered what my girlfriend had said and I proceeded to take a local medical billing course and visited my business center to get some advice.

I soon realized my main expense would be the medical billing software. As you know, starting any kind of business will require making an investment. I think you can get different flavors of software for pretty cheap but I bought one for $3000, a pretty good one.

Some people might not like this type of work, there's a lot of data entry and calling involved, but it's really easy for me, maybe it's just my style. The hardest part was getting started; it took me about a month to get my first client, but I had 5 clients within four months. But once you have steady clients your data entry tasks are greatly reduced. I work about 3 or 4 hours a day, but I did work more hours in the beginning. Sometimes I had to work long hours, but not so much these days, which is probably the best thing about this job.

I think pretty much anyone can do this home business because it's not too difficult. You just need to get some training and a desire to stay motivated and be your own boss. Sometimes there's a temptation to get lazy but it helps if you work out and stay physically active. I go to the batting cages that's right around the corner from my place to take breaks and clear my mind.

If you are interested in this field, one advice I would like to give is to not try to save every penny on your medical software, because that is your "bread and butter"...you're going to be using it every day, and if you don't have efficient tools to do your job then how can you do your job well?

Financially, I'll probably make about $40,000 this year but I want to double that amount next year, which I am determined to do. I'll probably work about the same amount of hours too.

I feel lucky to be able to work at home and enjoy my free time, which is my biggest priority. I am very active--I enjoy surfing and mountain biking and sports--and this job allows me to maintain that lifestyle. I can also help out my older sister with her financial situation and I plan to hire her next year to help me out.