As you probably already know, with any business experience is key. In a minute we’ll discuss some ways that you can gain experience when first starting out. First, there is one thing you need to think about before starting your proofreading business.

Offering only proofreading skills probably isn’t going to bring in many clients and if you aren’t bringing in clients then you aren’t bringing in any income. You will need to offer some other services along with your proofreading business. If you look online at other proofreader’s websites you will notice they offer other services. One skill that you will more than likely want to offer with your proofreading skills is editing. There are several different areas you can offer editing services for such as special reports, books, ebooks, technical writing, etc. Now let’s move on to ways you can gain experience if you are just breaking into this industry.

One of the simplest ways to gain experience is to check out a site like Elance (www.elance.com) and apply for some freelance jobs. Freelancing jobs will do a couple different things for you. One thing this will do for you is help you learn how to work for someone, as an independent contractor, while learning how to be professional, reliable and efficient. You’ll also become familiar with how to write online and that’s going to be important for your business because online writing is different than offline writing. It’s also a good idea to pick up a couple local jobs so you can familiarize yourself with editing/proofing paper documents using proofreading marks.

Another option you might consider, if you can find one available is an internship. Generally an internship doesn’t pay so you’ll have to keep that in mind. If you can’t find someone in the proofreading/editing industry offering an internship you always can approach them and see if they would be willing to allow you to do some work for them in exchange for their critique.

Now that you have some experience under your belt, it’s important to make sure you add these skills to your portfolio. If you don’t then nobody will know you have them and without that it makes you look inexperienced.

To find out exactly how you can start your own proofreading business from the comfort of your own home click here to instantly access your step-by-step guide.