Website: www.theproofreadingteam.com

Firstly, I would like to thank you for the opportunity you are providing to those venturing into the business world. I don’t wish to take up all of your time with a long-drawn story about my life and business – you must have many applications to trawl through, so I will attempt to keep it as brief as possible.

A year ago, I started a proofreading business with the aim of helping students improve their English writing skills. Whilst studying at university, I noticed that many students, particularly international ones, had brilliant minds but found it difficult to communicate their ideas.

To date, we have handled approximately 100 projects. These include theses, dissertations, and assignments of all kinds. This may seem a small number, but given the resources available to me, I was proud to have found even 1 customer. Not only do I proofread assignments, I also offer my customers tailored advice to help them improve on their next project. When I started this venture, I had virtually no money, was working non-stop (7 days a week) and struggled to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Armed with an old laptop, I taught myself the basics of business, spent a month building a website and attempted to build a brand.

The Proofreading Team became more than just a venture for me, it became a full-time job. Some projects mean that I must spend around 30/48 hours working away to make sure I meet deadlines. I absolutely love the feeling of working for myself, but am starting to struggle under the pressures of handling everything on my own, and want to expand. Moreover, I have noticed a fairly sizeable gap in the market – website proofreading. Very often, I have spotted mistakes on websites, which automatically dampens my trust in their reliability. I intend to capitalise on this and reach out to businesses with my services. I assume that they are generally simply oblivious to these errors, and need someone to point them out. That is where my team and I could step in, spending time scanning through websites looking for errors, and provide suggestions on how the English could be improved.

Case in point – I absolutely do not mean to be rude or condescending, however, I did spot a minor typo on your site. I have included a screenshot so that you can fix it 😊. Yes, there are sites like Grammarly, however, even Grammarly has its limits. Its biggest weakness is that it’s a software. It does not have a mind, and struggles to take context into consideration at times. Creativity and thinking outside the box are key when it comes to writing. We are a creative team and provide suggestions and solutions that no software would be able to output based on a few algorithms.

The grant could not only help me expand my business, it could also change my life.

Most of the money I have made this past year has gone back into the business in the form of website and designer fees, equipment costs (my laptop gave up halfway through the year), and very basic advertisement. Although this has helped to obtain new customers, it was not enough to make a real difference. If I was to get the grant,

I would use it for:

– Rebranding

I used a portion of this year’s profits to design and print out posters, and well as to be recommended by various university societies. This yielded very limited results, but was a learning curve for me. After much research, I realised that building a good brand is paramount to effective advertising. This is why this time around, I would invest more into rebranding, including streamlining the company website, revamping the logo and generally refocusing the brand image.

– eBook

I am currently in the process of drafting up an eBook that I want to make available for free. This book will be based on the most common mistakes that I have found throughout my proofreading career. The grant would allow me to get this book published. I plan to distribute the first book for free, but to sell subsequent books. I have approximately 4 e-books that can follow on from this. These will be sold at an affordable price, and aim to help with writing and avoiding errors.

– Expanding the team

With a little baby boy and a growing demand for my services, I am beginning to struggle under the pressure of holding down a business on my own. I would love to employ a member of staff who has the dedicated role of analysing websites/blogs and drafting proposals to businesses. They would also scan websites, collate the number of errors found, and provide suggestions to businesses in the optic of improving their content. By proving to businesses that they need our services, and keeping our prices competitive, we would make it very difficult for them to say no.

– Additional training

Training is a must in the proofreading business. Despite the fact that I have an English degree, I dream of completing an official proofreading course. Not only would this help me on a personal level, it would also lend the business further credibility and allow me to train employees in the future.

I aim to complete the aforementioned targets by the end of 2018, and want to triple the amount of business I obtained in my first year. With regards to long-term goals, I want to be able to take a step back and let the business run on its own. I want to be able to guide and mentor others with my experience, and create a reliable and trustworthy brand that works to help people and businesses around the world.

This business has offered me the opportunity to enjoy a job which is worth my time, and in which I can invest in. In the long run, I hope it can bring me independence, help me to support loved ones and perhaps most importantly, help many struggling students to find their voice

Thank you. Under the heading Amazon FBA, profitable is misspelt.