Disillusioned with your 9-to-5 job, but you don’t know how else to make money?
Want to stay home with your kids, but the fear of living on one income is hanging over your head?
The good news is you don’t need to feel disillusioned with your job or worried about money.
These days the options to earn money from home are endless.
You can hire yourself. And fire the ridiculous notion that you need someone else to give you the privilege of creating income. You don’t. It’s all you.
Invest in yourself by learning in-demand skills you can use to earn income from anywhere whenever the heck you want.
Obtain skills. Create income. Be free.
Elisa worked as a teacher before she became a stay-at-home mom. After a long search for ways to contribute financially to her large family, she hit on proofreading transcripts and earns up to $3,600 a month! Now she no longer worries about justifying her decision to stay home with her kids.
Take it away, Elisa!
Q: Hi, Elisa! Tell us a little about your background. What did your life look like before you crossed paths with PA?
I’m a forty-six-year-old mom of nine kids, having adopted four through foster care after having five biologically. I married my high school sweetheart during my last semester at Texas Tech University, where I obtained my bachelor’s in English with a minor in education. I intended to teach high school English and expected to do that throughout my adult life — the life I expected — where I thought I would have maybe two to three kids. After teaching for one year, however, I became pregnant with my second child and decided to become a stay-at-home mom. It was actually a difficult decision for me. I constantly felt inferior somehow, like I was lazy or unable to contribute financially to our family, and I always felt the need to tell people that I had previously taught English but chose to stay home with my children.
Maybe it was because my family was full of teachers, and it was pretty much expected that I would attend college. I never in a million years would have thought that instead of teaching, instead of being a working mom with the cliché 2.5 kids, that I would stay home and have five children. And I certainly never expected that I would then go on to adopt four more children.
Although we made many sacrifices, I was incredibly thankful to be able to be home with my children. However, I still wanted to help contribute financially to our family. My husband worked and attended school to finally obtain a master’s degree in nursing. He spent so much time doing that along with maintaining two jobs during a few seasons of our lives, and I had looked for years for something I could do from home, something that would still allow me to stay home with my millions of kids, but also help earn extra money. Something that was legitimate and, really, something I could do that exercised my skills that I hadn’t used in years.
So I wrote two novels: Linked, We Soar, and Sensing Serafina. But in today’s world, an indie author is a struggling artist. So while I intended to keep writing, I knew I needed something more.
Proofread Anywhere was a turning point for me.
Q: Congratulations on writing your novels! When did you start proofreading, and what made you decide to learn how to proofread?
After searching for twenty-plus years, I finally found Proofread Anywhere. I think I researched it for several months to ensure it was the real deal, and even when I decided to go for it, my husband remained skeptical.
Despite my English degree, I definitely needed the Proofread Anywhere course to not only brush up on my proofreading and editing skills but also to better understand some of the issues that have always been more of a challenge to me.
Commas, hyphens, and em dashes, oh my!
I have always been one to notice mistakes in writing. I’m part of the annoying grammar police, although I tried not to correct people “all” the time so as to keep my annoying guidance to a minimum. This course has allowed me to utilize my skills while also getting paid to correct mistakes; something most people don’t want or appreciate.
Q: That’s the dream — getting paid to do what you enjoy. What was the most challenging part of getting started?
The cost of the course was definitely the biggest challenge for me. It was a leap of faith when I chose to dive in, but I had a plan. I worked extremely hard on the course every day so that I could finish quickly and get started earning my return on investment. I had to put the cost of this course before some of the many needs of our crazy-big family, but I truly believed I could do it, and I was very excited to get started.
Q: I love that you had a plan and you followed through. Kudos to you! What was the most valuable thing you learned during the Transcript Proofreading course?
I definitely benefited from the actual proofreading material; however, I appreciated the inside scoop on the world of court reporting and different types of transcripts. I also needed the marketing skills and the motivation and encouragement given throughout the course.
Q: How long did it take you to find your first client? And how many clients do you have now?
I think I found my first client in maybe a month or two. I gained another client in a couple more months, and I was thrilled to earn $60. Then I was so excited when I first earned $100. With each new invoice, I felt empowered and justified, thankful and blessed.
Q: That first paycheck is pretty sweet! How long did it take you to recoup the cost of the course?
It took me around six months to earn the money to cover the course, books, and the iPad that I needed to work.
I made $10,000 last year, which was my first full year. This year, in June, I have already made that much. My lowest month this year was January when I earned around $800, but my biggest month of earning was April when I earned $3,600, followed closely by $3,300 this past month, June of 2019.
When I was deciding whether or not to take this course, I read every single thing I could to gain knowledge of what to expect. I read other successful graduates’ stories, and I appreciated the ones who included their actual incomes. My story is still evolving, but I am very happy with where I am today. My ultimate goal would be to consistently earn $3,000 a month, but I will say that I worked hard to earn that much. I read pretty quickly, but it takes time to do an excellent job. I think the most pages I’ve read in a day was around five hundred. At the moment, though, I typically read three hundred pages per day.
Here’s what some of Elisa’s happy clients have to say:
Recent customer reviews when asked how likely he or she would be to refer my work (from my invoicing app):
10 out of 10 – Silva
“Because you’re fantastic :)”
10 out of 10 – Michael Rodriquez
“Elisa is very knowledgeable of all subject matters and is extremely reliable, particularly in assisting in help meeting RUSH deadlines for your client. I am very grateful for her professionalism and Key Proofreading expertise.”
10 out of 10 – Zoslocki
“Very satisfied!”
10 out of 10 – Kathryn Baldwin
“It’s easy.”
10 out of 10 – Linda York
“Absolutely the best!!!”
10 out of 10 – Laurie Miller
“Elisa helped me when I was in a panic and did a great job — with an orthopedic surgeon expert witness, no less!”
Elisa’s wonderful family
Q: You’re killing it! What advice would you give anyone thinking about enrolling in the course to learn how to proofread? Is it worth the money?
Do it! You don’t have to have an English degree to do this. I have a completely different perspective on higher education after having children of my own. My oldest child is twenty-two and has been stationed as a US Marine in Okinawa, Japan, for four years. Soon, my twenty-year-old son will leave for Marine Corps boot camp as well. My other two older boys, ages twenty-two and twenty-one, are still figuring out their career plans while also having families. I always thought my kids would go to college like I did, but when they just didn’t love school, I realized that there are many other choices for a successful and productive life. Military, trade schools, apprenticeships, and for me, Proofread Anywhere.
Q: It’s all about finding what works for you, even if it’s not college. What does your life look like now as a working freelance proofreader?
I absolutely love my job. Proofreading is actually very fun to me; kind of like doing a long word puzzle. I also enjoy reading the many court-related transcripts. I feel as though I can see other people’s lives through this window of words. Because I work remotely from home, I can work for reporters all over the United States. People from California don’t have the same dialects as people from Texas. I enjoy seeing the differences in culture, but I love reading my home state of Texas transcripts because I understand the euphemisms, the weird ways people leave words out, and I can appreciate referring to all of you readers as y’all. Punctuating these dialects is sometimes difficult, but it’s also fun!
Q: Anything else you’d like to share with the PA community?
Once you begin working, you will have a wealth of support and knowledge from other graduates on a private Facebook page. It is an awesome resource!
Our Take
I love that Elisa made a plan and stuck to it to achieve her goals, despite being a busy mom of nine kids. And she’s the author of two books! What an inspiration!
Your Turn
If you’ve been searching for a way to contribute financially to your household, look no further. You can earn money proofreading transcripts from home like Elisa does. Click here to find out how you can get started with our 7-day email course.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am still trying to decide if proofreading is the right choice for me, so I like reading about others’ journeys. Comparing proofreading to a long word puzzle gives me a new perspective.