Not only am I a Virtual Assistant who specializes in proofreading and editing , but I have also always excelled in spelling and grammar since grade school and later high school.

I have a hard time reading a book for pleasure or enjoying a blog post because I can NOT turn off the part of my brain that sees the spelling, grammar and word usage errors. That is honestly a downer in my personal life but a big plus in my professional one.

Today, I am going to share three of the most common spelling or usage errors I constantly see both on the net and offline. These are on even the biggest famous name web sites and often in the biggest famous name print books. I am hoping that someone who reads this post might actually learn and benefit from these tips.

Number ONE

The number one, most often mis-used word I find both on the net and off is it’s and its. As a matter of fact, in the 10th grade, I LOST a city wide (St. Louis public schools) spelling bee over this one! I had managed to out-spell hundreds of other straight A & Honor roll students to get to the spell-off between one other student and ME, and with some of the hardest words you can imagine, and then LOST with its versus it’s!

Its is the POSSESSIVE. Something belongs TO IT.

An example would be: The dog wagged its tail when it saw its owner.

It’s is a contraction for the words it and is.

An example for this would be: The dog is wagging its tail because it’s happy to see its owner.

The second most common one I see AND the one I edit the most is the usage for these: your and you’re.

The POSSESSIVE for this one is your, as in:
Your dog is wagging its tail because it is glad that you’re its owner.

Likewise, you’re is the contraction for you and are.

Your dog is wagging its tail because it is glad that you’re its owner.

Number three is the there, their and they’re usages.

There are three ways to spell this word that sounds the same but they mean totally different things and they’re always ready to mix up their users.

Their is the POSSESSIVE form of this word. If it belongs to them, it is theirs.

They’re is a contraction for they and are.

There are lots of other usage errors out there but these three are the ones I see the most.

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing , proofreading and
transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com

Today, as I was editing different areas of several of my own web sites,
I realized yet again that although I actually LOVE doing this task, a LOT
of bloggers and webmasters DO NOT. This is just one more reason you might have to consider having your own Virtual Assistant .

Yesterday, I celebrated TEN YEARS of being the editor of my online newsletter for marketers and small business owners, Rim Digest ezine
and spent a couple of hours last night and a few more today updating the many pages
on that domain and some here at my Virtual Assistance site.

I do quite a bit of proofreading for clients, both on their web pages and in their advertisements or email newsletters, but rarely make updates like changing dates, facts, resources, etc. and yet I realize this is another part of editing that is very necessary for those who have online businesses.

My dream, to be honest, is to someday be so busy with my Virtual Assistance assignments that I can hire my own helper to do the things I do not like to do or take up my time and keep me from doing those I love to do. The first thing I would want a helper to do for me would be to assist with my eBay store , which is my biggest time waster. I do not want my eBay listings to be the same boring, blah blah cookie cutter stock descriptions and images but really nearly go into a coma with the monotony of looking up each movie, book or memorabilia item I sell on eBay and giving each an exciting description.

Maybe until that time comes I will be lucky enough to find someone who LOVES doing that kind of task and hates doing his or her own editing work and we can swap! Hey, if I am going to dream, why not dream big?

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing , proofreading and
transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com

Hard to believe that January is already GONE and tomorrow starts February of this fresh, new year! I have no idea where the time went to and everyone I talk to agrees, it just FLEW~!

I know a lot of bloggers, online business owners and others who I am involved or connected with who seriously need at least one more hand or even one more head. Why not give the “gift of time” to someone you know that has so much to do they feel they will never catch up?

Or, even give the gift of time to … YOU! All of the experts advise to outsource the busy-work or tasks you do not want to do or that drain your time so that you can be free to concentrate on what you love doing the most and/or are best at. This is a wonderful way to test the waters, as they say, with having your own Virtual Assistant .

Take my help, for example … Love to write blog posts but hate the actual posting? I can easily do that for you and love doing this. Until I have a designation on the site for that purpose, you can just use the Schedule a Product option and tell me what you want me to do for you.

I see a lot of really informative, beautiful and entertaining blogs and web sites but they are full of typos and spelling & grammar errors – this is my favorite task of all so you can hire me to proofread and edit your pages so that you can showcase your work in its best possible light.

If you offer seminars, blog talk radio or other shows, do webinars, etc. it is a great idea to have those audio recordings transcribed and yes, I do perform this service . Plus, as an added bonus, your file is triple proofread / edited before I consider the assignment to be finished!

This option is often over-looked by web masters, coaches, performers, etc. because they offer a down-loadable mp3 or other file for people to listen TO, but I can tell you from not only some of the shows I have transcribed but also those I have just attempted to listen to, a lot of times it is hard to hear every word, especially with talkers who talk over each other, run on sentences that should be cut into paragraphs, start one story and then interrupt his or her own flow by going in another direction entirely and so much more that you might not realize unless YOU were trying to type it all up for a file people can read!

The other way I can help you save some time for the fun things you want to be able to do is with assistance with your Social Networking maintenance. I can search for others in your chosen niche for you TO connect with, weed out those you would not care to associate with, send hello, welcome and thank you messages to those you want to connect or interact with, etc. and free YOU up to just do the fun part; the interactions and conversations. This is another service that is not yet designated on this site but can be scheduled with just a message to me.

I plan to offer help setting up Face Book and Face Book Fan Pages soon – I am still learning my way around them myself but as I learn, I will be glad to share that expertise as well as help you set up and maintain a Twitter account and/or a professional networking presence on LinkedIn .

If you are needing help with any of the above mentioned Social Networks, just let me know and we can work things out – I have insisted on keeping my name and reputation clean and honest for over 11 years on the net so you can rest assured your passwords and log in information are safe with me and if in doubt, feel free to contact any of my wonderful clients who will be glad to vouch for me.

If hours of assistance is out of your budget, or if you are just curious about how much time a helper really can be, I have reasonable and highly competitive rates and you can try “just an hour” or just one project. I do offer discounted rates on bigger or long-going projects, so this might be the option you prefer. I am easy to work with and love what I do and think I can safely say it shows with the service I give my clients and the tasks I perform for them.

Have a wonderful, love-filled, Happy Valentine’s Day and I am “wishing” you the Gift of Time for this holiday and every other day.

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing, proofreading and transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com