Do your research before you offer a service. Simple, right? But sometimes it's easy to overlook. For example: I learned about tracking changes in Word over a year ago.
(In Microsoft Word 2007, you just go up to the "review" tab and click "track changes." Easy.)
I had fun with it - it's almost as satisfying as a red pen! Plus, the tracked changes helped me land my first ongoing job. The client hadn't seen it before, and really liked the feature.
As you can imagine, I felt quite good about my Word prowess after that. And I started offering a guarantee of tracked changes with each product. In fact, I offered two copies - a clean copy and a tracked copy. Guaranteed!
Some of you are probably shaking your heads already. But for those that don't know - you always have the option to view a clean draft. It's quite simple. Just go up to the "track changes" section like before, and where it says "final showing markup," click it and select "final." Like magic, the changes will disappear, until you change it back. You don't need a clean copy and a tracked copy.
If I had taken the time to experiment with the feature and learn this very simple fact, I suspect I would have gotten a few more jobs. Nothing contradicts the image of a competent editor like not knowing the basics of Word. It's pretty cringe worthy, imagining a company reading my proposal incredulously and dismissing it out of hand.
The corollary to this: if you're not totally sure about something, don't offer it. I might have also gotten more jobs if I hadn't proudly declared my ignorance. Most of them didn't even ask for tracked changes!
Since then, I've been exploring the different options much
more closely; any time you think you know about a program, do some
research. It will make a much better impression in the long run!
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