As a Virtual Assistant, I perform many duties for busy entrepreneurs and small business owners, but quite honestly, my most favorite task is when I am called upon for my proofreading and editing services.

I love reading and also love working with spelling and grammar, so this is the perfect “career” for me. I have gotten to work with some fun, interesting and super smart authors, plus get paid to do what I love.

I also subscribe to some of the best writing and editing newsletters and blogs I could find. A lot of the rules have actually changed since I was an Honor Roll spelling and English student in the 70′s and I like to keep current on the latest rules of grammar, word usage and spelling.

One of my very favorite sites to get tips from is Daily Writing Tips and quite a few of their articles coax me in the direction to take for my blog posts.

Today’s article is called “How to Hire an Editor”. If you are ready to move onto that stage for your creation, you cannot go wrong by reading this interesting and informative gem. Go read it now – How to Hire an Editor and then feel free to let me know what you think in a comment below. I personally got a lot from the article and could barely wait to share it with you!

Spelling & Grammar Errors Are Costing You Business! Sadly, I have heard from some “business” people, webmasters and even authors that they do not actually care BUT, believe me, more of your customers and readers DO care than you might think

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing, proofreading
and transcription assignments along with research, blog posts, article submissions
and social media maintenance!

Why not Schedule a Project now?

Before you can start your own home business you should designate
a place for you to work. The area that you work in should be free
of distractions and have a computer,a desk, a phone, a connection
to the Internet, and, if possible, a bathroom and coffee pot or pitcher
with your favorite drink. ( I always have a cup of tea next to me -
it is the one thing that I love hot, cold or in between temps. )

This way you will have everything you need until you take your lunch break.

Something to remember is that you are ‘at work’ in this area. An ideal solution is to have
every distraction taken care of. This means that you have someone looking after your child or children, if possible. If your children are younger than school age, hire someone to look
after them during the day.

This may seem strange since you are working at home, but would you take a baby
into your office with you? Probably not – your boss wouldn’t allow it. Having someone
look after them while you are working ensures that you will get everything done during business hours.

If your children are school age and old enough to understand, let them know that you are working, and that you should only be disturbed if it’s an emergency. If they are still young, have someone watch them after school.

This may seem like an unnecessary expense, but if you are talking to someone on the phone, they won’t take you seriously if they hear a crying baby in the background, or children fighting. You want to make yourself seem as professional as you can so that people know they can trust you.

I learned all of this first hand when I started my home based office services business 13 years ago. I had, at that time, a 16 year old girl, a 10 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. I had to set limits once they were home from school – they had their special “Mom times” and I had my “Mom is working here!” guidelines. It took some work but we did manage to survive it.

Like I told them, they wanted me to work at HOME instead of going out to another “job” when I got laid off from being a telemarketer – and in order for me to do this, they had to understand that this WAS a job and that I was working. If I had a “real” job, they could not run in and out bothering me with silly snitching, fighting and whining and they had to learn to pretend that I was NOT here.

It worked – they are all grown and here I am, still working at home!

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing, proofreading
and transcription assignments along with research, blog posts, article submissions
and social media maintenance!

Why not Schedule a Project now?

I read a LOT – there is honestly nothing I love more than reading a good mystery or thriller. I find a few typos in print books by really famous authors I collect, as well as on web pages and posts to social media sites.

When I am reading for pleasure instead of for “work” as a proofreader and editor , I try my best to ignore the errors and just enjoy the reading, BUT the proofreader in me is always at least lurking in the background.

I love the articles from DailyWritingTips and save some to use as a guest post here on my blog. Some of the words in one article on miss-used words are also ones that even Microsoft Word’s spellchecker do not catch so it is very important, to ME, anyway, to know which instance of the word works where.

Here are some from the article that I see used incorrectly a lot AND spell check does not usually catch them:

1. a while / awhile: “A while” is a noun phrase; awhile is an adverb.

2. all together / altogether: All together now — “We will refrain from using that two-word phrase to end sentences like this one altogether.”

3. amend / emend: To amend is to change; to emend is to correct.

4. amount / number: Amount refers to a mass (“The amount saved is considerable”); number refers to a quantity (“The number of dollars saved is considerable”).

5. between / among: The distinction is not whether you refer to two people or things or to three or more; it’s whether you refer to one thing and another or to a collective or undefined number — “Walk among the trees,” but “Walk between two trees.”

6. biannual / biennial: Biannual means twice a year; biennial means once every two years.

7. bring / take: If it’s coming toward you, it’s being brought. If it’s headed away from you,
it’s being taken.

8. compare to / compare with: “Comparing to” implies similarity alone; “compare with” implies contrast as well.

9. compliment / complement: To compliment is to praise; to complement is to complete.

10. comprise, consist of / compose, constitute: Comprise means “include,” so test by replacement — “is included of” is nonsense, and so is “is comprised of.” The whole comprises the parts or consists of the parts, but the parts compose or constitute the whole.

11. connote / denote: To connote is to convey (“Air quotes connote skepticism or irony”);
to denote is to specify (“A stop sign denotes the requirement to halt”).

12. continual / continuous: Continual events are frequently repeated, or intermittent. Continuous events are uninterrupted, or constant.

13. credible / credulous: To be credible is to be authoritative; to be credulous is to be gullible.

14. deserts / desserts: If you eat only cake, pie, ice cream, and the like, you eat just desserts. If you have it coming to you, you get your just deserts as well. (However, the connotation is negative, so hit the gym.)

there were 50 “common words and phrases” in this article, but these are the ones that really struck me as occurring quite often and I wanted to share them with you. The entire article with all 50 is here: 50 Problem Words and Phrases.

Spelling & Grammar Errors Can Really Be Costing You Business!

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing, proofreading
and transcription assignments along with research, blog posts, article submissions
and social media maintenance!

Why not Schedule a Project now?