What is it like to be a Speech and Language Pathologist?

What is it like to be an online Speech-Language Pathologist for services like TinyEYE (http://www.tinyeye.com/) or Therapy Source (http://www.txsource.net/

• Answer:

  I can't speak for TinyEYE, but with http://iCouch.me (my company,) our therapists have a very flexible situation. They're independent contractors and can work as much or as little as they want. Other than meeting our quality control requirements (starting sessions on time, for example,) therapists have the freedom to work how they want. We haven't thought about adding SLPs to our site, but it seems like it might be a decent option at some point. We're focused on psychological therapy/counseling at this moment. As far as TinyEYE, I'm not sure about their pay/commission structure, but in general the life of an online provider is pretty good.   Things to look for:   1. Timely payment. You should expect to get paid either weekly or biweekly from the host company. At iCouch, we have been paying our providers within two days, although our corporate standard is 1 week. This could change for various reasons, but you should expect payment in 2 weeks or less. Any longer interval is unfair to the therapist.   2. Responsive Management. You should be able to talk to your contact at the host company as often as needed. Emails should be returned within 24 hours, at iCouch, our standard is that every email from a client, potential client or therapist is answered within 2 hours. Usually it's much faster. Whichever company you work with, you should expect highly responsive management. If you have a problem, it's vital that it get fixed immediately! That's in the best interest of everyone.   3. Good people. This is somewhat obvious, but it's vital that you work with a company that began for the "right" reasons and has a goal or mission centered around helping others, improving people's lives, etc. There are a few online health-related companies that seemed to have been started as ventures by entrepreneurs without any specific experience in the product they're offering. While those companies might be successful, you'll find a stronger committment to the end-user "product" in those companies that were created by people who care about the field personally as opposed to simply looking for the next “hot” venture. There’s nothing wrong with those guys, but the company should have at least started for the right reasons. That will affect how the company is ultimately run and the corporate culture. Granted, we started iCouch to make money, but the reason we wanted to do this company was because we saw a need that we genuinely care about. It's a subtle thing, but in my opinion, it's vital.