Hate the thought of having to constantly market your business?
You’re not alone! So many people have told me that they’re afraid of marketing.
They’re afraid they won’t be able to find clients.
One way to ensure you don’t have to market your business as much is to choose a lucrative niche. When you choose a niche and target very specific clients, you don’t have to work half as hard to get new clients.
Patrice chose to focus on proofreading for court reporters and now she has 12–14 clients and earns up to $3,000 a month!
Keep reading to hear more about Patrice’s story!
Q: Hi, Patrice! Tell us a little about your background. What did your life look like before you crossed paths with PA?
Before Proofread Anywhere, I was a childcare provider for twenty-four years. This occupation fit in perfectly while raising my three beautiful children because I could be at home with them. I am blessed to say that I spent as much time as I possibly could with them while they were growing up.
Patrice’s beautiful family at a wedding this summer.
Q: That’s wonderful! When did you start proofreading, and what made you decide to learn how to proofread?
I started proofreading in November of 2017. Now that my children have all flown the nest, I still want to be home because my husband also works from home. As I was looking for work-at-home jobs I came across PA. My mother was an English teacher, and I’ve always loved to read. I grew up in a house where my grammar and punctuation were always corrected, and it turns out I’m pretty good at catching those corrections too. I was also very interested in the flexibility that proofreading offered because we love to travel, and my husband travels some with work.
Q: It’s cool that you had a grammar role model in your mother. An eye for detail clearly runs in your family! Why did you choose to take the Transcript Proofreading course
rather than the General Proofreading course?
I really listened to those authorities in the virtual assistant community who said to “niche down.” I also dug deeper into Caitlin’s information about the market research of court reporters retiring in the coming years. It made sense to me that they would be overloaded with work and need help.
Q: Court reporters are crying out for help from proofreaders! What was the most challenging part of getting started?
The most challenging part of getting started was finding the time to complete the course while still working full-time. I was highly motivated, though, because I was feeling quite burned out in my childcare job.
Q: A desire to get out of your current job can be a great motivator! What was the most valuable thing you learned during the course?
The most valuable thing that I learned in the course was Melanie Dodaro’s mini-course on marketing on LinkedIn. I followed it faithfully and found great success.
Q: LinkedIn is an awesome place to find proofreading clients. How long did it take you to find your first client? And how many clients do you have now?
I found my first client the same month that I launched my business. It took about eight months for me to have enough clients to work at this job on a full-time basis. Before I retired from childcare, my husband and I saved a few months of my previous monthly income while I was acquiring clients. Today I have between 12–14 clients that I work for each month.
Q: That’s amazing! You’re killing it! How long did it take you to recoup the cost of the course?
It took four months for me to recoup the cost of the course. Now, working full-time, forty hours a week, I make between $2,500 and $3,000 per month.
Q: What advice would you give anyone thinking about enrolling in the course to learn how to proofread? Is it worth the money?
My greatest advice would be to have patience with yourself while learning the material. The course is designed to challenge you so that you can be very good at your job right from the beginning. The course is totally worth the money! I was actually surprised that it took such a short time to recoup the cost.
Q: I made the course difficult on purpose! I want people to make as many mistakes as they can while they’re learning so that they don’t make them when they work with real clients. What does your life look like now that you’re proofreading for court reporters?
I love my flexible lifestyle right now working when and where I want. After staying home for twenty-four years, I still feel like I am playing hooky when I go to the grocery store in the middle of the day. I love being able to travel with my husband. Luckily, I can proofread in the car when we go on long trips, so the travel time passes quickly.
I also love the court reporters that I work with. They are such an amazing, hard-working group of people who care a lot about what they do. Even though I have never met most of them, we have become great virtual friends.
Q: Anything else you’d like to share with the PA community?
Two things: (1) Keep conversing with people on the PA Facebook groups. They are a wealth of information. When you keep in touch, you never know what benefits will come from getting to know others there.
(2) Keep learning new things in the field. I learned how to use the CaseCatalyst software which opened up to me a whole other group of court reporters who need proofreaders. I proofread in CaseCatalyst for about half of my clients which gives me great variety in my daily work.
Our Take
Patrice made such a smart move when she decided to niche down and target a specific type of client. When you know exactly who your target client is, you can reach them so much easier and cut down on the amount of marketing you need to do. Well done, Patrice!
Your Turn
Interested in getting more proofreading clients without spending all your time marketing? Sign up for our free 7-day proofreading course to see if proofreading transcripts for court reporters is the right fit for you!