3 Steps to Sending Out Your Best Work
By Valerie Kendrick, President of Kendrick Resources LLC

Dear Readers;

I must apologize for a mistake in my recent article in the Melissa Data newsletter. As the “Grammar Guru” it is very embarrassing to admit one of my documents was sent out with an error. In my last article entitled “Five Rules to Break when Writing Marketing Materials” I did not catch the mistake of using the word “loose” when I meant the word “lose.”

One of the readers very graciously pointed out my mistake and softened the blow by stating how it can basically happen to the best of us. So true! We are but humans who invariably make mistakes. I am, however, a true believer that all things happen for a reason. The reason here seemed so clear to me. As a trainer, I need to use the opportunity to turn this into a teaching point.

It is time to remind everyone of some of the steps we can each take to make sure we send out our best work at all times. This is especially true of our business documents. We need to use all of these proofreading tips whenever possible.

1. Ask a colleague to quickly proofread a document for you. It is so easy to miss errors in our work because we know what it is supposed to say.

2. Read the document backwards from last word to first to check for spelling errors. In this way you are less likely to see the words correctly since you are not reading for content.

3. Use a pacer to move line by line through your document. A pacer is any full size piece of brightly colored blank paper. You use it to move line by line, down or up a document, to keep the eyes focused on only one line at a time. Some of you may use a ruler for this, yet please be aware that a ruler will not block off the rest of the page and this allows our eyes to roam over the page and not stay focused on just one line at a time.

Since I work alone, I did not have a colleague I could ask to proofread my article. I truly believe that had I read the document backwards I would have spotted the spelling error in the word loose.

So please remember your reputation is at stake with every document you send out. Make sure your best work represents you. Use these proofreading tools and share the ideas with others in your work group. And whenever you spot a mistake made by others-- be gracious.

To your continued great writing,

Valerie Kendrick