Hopefully you just read this title and said "Whah????? Has Holly lost it?"  If you didn't, I'm shocked! You can be the best writer, the most connected intuitive, the most accurate accountant, but if you can't proofread your work, you may not come across as the professional you are.

I have read online articles, websites, blogs, emails, and other forms of business communication written by authorities in their field, with important things to say, but their writings contain blatant errors.  Granted I've missed a few in my own proofreading (hey, we're all human), but I am adamant about editing and proofing.  Think about the two sentences below.  Which would lead you to contact the writer for more information?  Which presents the writer as a professional who knows what they're talking about? 

1. Everybody has to profread what their writing so the customer's know they are professional.
2. Everybody has to proofread what they're writing so the customers know they are professional.

Well, obviously (it is obvious, isn't it?) the answer is #2. Many of us have forgotten the basic grade school grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary we used to be good at.  Let's review!

• Their = possessive (I like their new car)
• They're = contraction (They're driving in their new car)
• Friends = plural
• Friend's = possessive (I like my friend's new car)
• The most unique = my pet peeve.  Look up the definition.  Unique = one of a kind.  Can you be the most one of a kind?  I don't think so!
• Hysterical = another pet peeve.  Hysterical means out of control, freaking out, upset.  Hilarious, on the other hand, means extremely funny.  A great comic can be hysterical if he/she gets upset about a bad show, but if it's a good show, it's hilarious.  Think of the comedy club....is it called Hystericals or Hilarities?
• I Like To Capitalize Everything = a title.  The first letter of each word capitalized is called Title Case for a reason - it's only used for titles (of companies, of books, of chapters, etc.).  Otherwise, only the first letter of the first word of a sentence is capitalized. Of course we have exceptions like God, Bible, names, etc. 
• This is a great example of a run on sentence with no punctuation you have no idea where the beginnings and endings are so it's really hard to read. This is a great example, of the overuse, of commas when, you don't really know, how to use them.  There is a happy medium between the two extremes.  Review some basic rules here.
  
• Spell check!!  Every word processing program, blog site, etc., has a spell check function.  USE IT!
  

Well, this is a good beginning of things to review when you're writing.  There are all sorts of online and in-print resources to help you practice and become more professional.  Of course, if you need a good editor/proofreader, I know a great freelance assistant for hire:  Holly@LightseedsOffice.com!