Monday, January 19, 2015

Good Point Editing

If you've been keeping up with GoodPointJoe's blog posts, you know that on New Year's Day, I gave kind of a soft reveal on the fact that I've been working on getting an editing side business going. This is the "hard reveal," and I'll give you a little more information on my process.

I've been doing editing for friends and family for years, and my time as a technical support staff member at Westat put me into a position where I was constantly writing and reviewing emails, memos, manuals, instructions, and other content. That "wordwork" was actually the most rewarding part of my job, so lately I've been seeking out independent opportunities to exercise that skill set.

The most prominent project I've been working on is assisting a friend of a friend in developing his website, ALTInsider.com. It's a site about how to make the most of your life working as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Japan. I've worked with him for several hours, helping to clarify and refine his message, and I have a standing agreement to continue to offer reviews of new content that he produces.

I've also assisted other friends with smaller tasks, such as college homework assignments, blog posts, and professional letters. I enjoy the opportunity to help someone convey their intended message with the highest possible clarity and readability. Some have been free (usually family), some have been for a nominal fee.

But since I started doing this more regularly, I've been working on creating a framework for offering this kind of service to a broader audience. While continuing to take advantage of personal contacts, I'm hoping to find a way to offer my services to college students, small business owners, and other independent folks who could use a hand crafting their messages. If any of you reading this blog have a need of that kind of assistance, let me know! Friends and family always get a discount!

Since you guys are kind of behind the curtain, though, I'd love to hear any feedback on what I've got set up so far. The two key pages I have are my landing page and my request form. This is a situation where I actually want you to tell me everything that bothers you about either page. The landing page feels a little text-heavy, but I'm not sure what to cut, if anything. Your input is most welcome.

And as I said, your business is welcome here, too.

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