Welcome to the Scaling Success Stories series!
If you’re new to this series, I ask online entrepreneurs questions regarding growing and scaling their business.
This is the series description:
You can get your fill of online business tips by reading the other interviews on the Scaling Success Stories page.
Interview with Caitlin Pyle from Proofread Anywhere
It was my pleasure interviewing Caitlin, founder of Proofread Anywhere, the multi-million dollar media company that teaches people how to make money while working from home. Caitlin was fired in 2011 from her $16/hr corporate job and started side hustling as a proofreader, which quickly replaced her income. Since then, Caitlin’s business has grown exponentially and now she’s helping other people learn how to work from home as well.
Check out what Caitlin had to say to my questions!
1. Why did you start an online business and how does your passion still drive your business’ growth today?
My passion for proofreading started when I studied abroad in Germany for a year in college and would help students proofread their college essays.
I loved using my grammar talent to catch errors and help others turn their writing into masterpieces.
That love for proofreading continued to grow. I took my general proofreading skills to the next level when I got into proofreading transcripts for court reporters back in 2012.
I was so good at spotting errors, I became known as “Eagle Eyes.” In fact, proofreading transcripts became my primary source of income in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Because I was so passionate about proofreading, I started ProofreadAnywhere.com as a blog back in 2014, and it’s exploded since then. I wanted to share my passion for proofreading with others so they can grow their own freelance business like I did.
2. At what point did you realize that your business was “taking off” and that you could really make money from it?
Probably after the first few hundred thousand.
I was living and traveling in South America at the time, working 14-16 hour days and really throwing myself into work. It was almost a nervous anticipation.
I was excited and a little bit skeptical.
In fact, when I first started my blog, I only bought the domain for the year because I didn’t think it’d make it past a year. I had quit so many things in the past that I just assumed this was something else I would quit.
I was wrong, and as the business continued to grow, I enjoyed helping other word nerds.
I especially enjoyed (and still enjoy!) getting messages from my students about how I have impacted their life.
3. At what point did you realize you were living the life you wanted to?
Through my proofreading career, I’ve been able to proofread literally anywhere, including a whole year I spent in South America!
Living the life you want is possible for anyone willing to do what it takes to get there. I’ve never met anyone who said it wasn’t worth it!
4. One of the biggest fears of outsourcing is trusting the people you hire to run your business the way you would. How did you overcome this and where did you find the right freelancers and employees to help you grow your business?
There comes a point in your business when you just can’t do it all yourself anymore, especially if you want to grow.
This is where having a competent person — a clone, so to speak — to help you accomplish your everyday tasks becomes essential to being able to grow your business. If you don’t have help, you end up just spinning your wheels and getting pulled in 50 different directions every day.
Having a virtual assistant who knows how to write well, who can mimic everything I do, can easily take care of a bunch of smaller tasks for me so that I can focus on the things only I can do in my business is so valuable.
While I understand the fear of trusting people with your business, I can’t afford to allow that fear to hold me back.
The value my virtual assistants have given to my business has been absolutely worth the risk!
I have had to learn some lessons along the way in that respect, but learning to trust the people who work for me has been worth it.
5. A common myth is that as you grow and scale your business, you have to sell your soul to make money, especially when you venture into paid advertising. How do you debunk this myth in your business?
We do run ads on Pinterest and Facebook, but a lot of our traffic is organic, too.
If people love your product and it works, they’re going to want to share it.
You don’t have to sell your soul to make money. 🙂
Money isn’t the end goal — changing lives is.
Can I improve someone’s quality of living? Can I make their life a little brighter?
That’s what I want to do, so that’s what I focus on in my business. And when you focus on helping people, the money will come.
6. Why do you think most people fail to grow their businesses and what advice would you offer them to keep pushing, despite all the setbacks?
They’re scared or focusing on themselves.
We can almost always do more than we think is possible — if we’re willing to entertain the idea that there’s more out there for us.
When you let fear creep in, it’s going to stop you from emailing your list, reaching new subscribers, starting paid advertising, and more.
My advice would be to take the focus off yourself and put it on solving problems.
Not only will it take a huge burden off you, but it’ll also help you reach more people by genuinely caring about them and solving their problems.
7. How important has niching down been (no matter how hard it hurts) to your business’ growth and profitability?
Proofread Anywhere is this super small niche for word nerds like me, and having such a small niche has really helped.
In fact, I often get emails that say something to the effect of “It felt like you were speaking to me!”
That’s in part due to good copywriting — but more than that, it’s knowing our audience and having a specific niche.
8. What do you attribute your success to and how do you explain it? Do you think the same strategies will help you reach your next monetization goals? Why or why not?
It starts with having a great product.
At the end of the day, I’ve focused on helping people solve their problems.
I’ve given them an opportunity to see that more freedom is possible for them and have given them a way to get there.
9. To scale, you really need to have a systemized business. What steps have you taken to build those systems and how do you optimize them?
We took this step a few years ago by making our primary offer an evergreen offer.
Last summer I heard someone speak at FinCon that helped me take it a step further. This speaker talked about taking off some extended time as they mourned the loss of a family member and how the systemization of their business allowed for that to happen.
Everyone wants more freedom and I’m no exception, so my team and I have been creating longer evergreen sequences so we can continue to reach our audience, even if I’m out of town or taking some time off.
Another strategy that has been invaluable is having the right people on my team.
Since the beginning, I’ve hired people who have been able to act on my behalf.
This strategy gave me some freedom while I was going through a messy divorce.
We’re at a point now that we can build out longer sequences and optimize the funnels and sequences we already have in place.
10. If you could speak face-to-face with yourself when you first started your business, what pearls of wisdom would you impart?
It’s hard but it’s worth it.
You’ll have more opportunities than you could have ever imagined.
Stay humble, invest in your people (both your audience and your team), and spend more time focusing on helping others over building wealth.
Wealth is great, it really is, but without the purpose of helping people along with it, you get to a point where it feels empty.
You are not defined by your business, your wealth, or your relationships.
Spend some time figuring out what you like and engaging in hobbies, too.
About Caitlin
Caitlin began her work-at-home journey in 2011 after getting brutally fired from her $16-per-hour corporate job. Starting with a freelance proofreading side hustle, she quickly replaced her income by freelancing, then transitioned to helping others build their own work-at-home income using the power of the internet. Caitlin’s business has since evolved into a multimillion-dollar media company, and she’s been featured in notable media outlets such as Forbes.com, The New York Post, Business Insider, Fast Company, and Foundr. She can be found at ProofreadAnywhere.com and CaitlinPyle.co.
Interested in Learning From Caitlin?
Caitlin’s flagship course, General Proofreading: Theory and Practice, teaches you how to proofread and make money online without any former experience.
It’s designed for people who…
- Are tired of their corporate job
- Have always caught grammatical errors
- Want to start a side hustle
If this sounds like you, then General Proofreading: Theory and Practice might be the course you’re looking for!
The best part of this course is that you don’t need any prior experience.
That’s right…
Caitlin teaches you exactly what you need to do to become a proofreader and get clients!
And, if you’re not certain that proofreading is for you, then you should consider signing up for The Work-at-Home School. I’m a graduate and loved it!
But, if you think proofreading is your new side hustle…
Learn more about how to make money as a proofreader with this FREE online training!
Conclusion
Thanks for participating in my series, Caitlin!
As you can tell, it’s NOT EASY growing and scaling an online business, but there are some things you can do to aid you in the process.
Inspired by Caitlin?
Now, it’s your turn!
I assembled the Scaling Blueprint to show you how to…
- Outsource Effectively
- Systemize Your Business
- Shatter Your Revenue Goals
After working with six-figure and seven-figure clients, I know the difference between how they function.
Let me help you start scaling successfully.
Cheers to future success!
