Business Writing & Editing
There’s no substitute for experience
I understand that when you hire a writer for your business, you need more than good language skills. You’re looking for a writer who understands business and doesn’t need a lot of hand-holding to get up to speed on your project. I didn’t just graduate college and decide to strike out on my own. I learned business writing by working in businesses:
- While working at an injection-mold manufacturing plant, I learned to write training and procedural manuals. When the company applied for ISO-9000 certification, I learned to write ISO documentation.
- Working for a consulting engineering firm, I learned to simplify engineer-speak into plain English, so that our sales people and PR people had materials to explain our services to non-engineers.
- Selling luxury cars, I learned the art of converting prospects to buyers. If you can’t show the value to your prospect on his own terms and close the sale, you might as well go home.
- As a recruiter, I placed tech staff, engineers, accountants, and executives. I learned that specialized employees and hiring managers don’t always speak the same language. Understanding the audience and choosing the right words makes the sale.
- Working with several non-profit organizations, I learned how to write effective grant proposals and direct mailers for prospective donors, and how to publicize organizations and fundraising events.