Final Proof

Founder: Esther Spencer

1951 N. Meridian Rd., Apt. 52, Tallahassee, FL 32303 • myfinalproof@gmail.com • (419) 320-7852

Final Proof is a writing consultancy, based in Tallahassee and run as a one-woman operation by 29-year-old Esther Spencer. The company specializes in editing and proofreading dissertations, Web sites, blogs, student essays and more; it also offers grammar and writing workshops, as well as tutoring services, to individuals and businesses.

HOW MENTORING WILL HELP: “The main benefit I’ll get from 100 Urban Entrepreneurs’ mentoring program,” Spencer says, “is having access to people who are in the same field as I, or similar fields — they’ll give me advice based on their years of experience.”

HOW $10,000 WILL HELP: The startup financing will help Final Proof become both fully operational and profitable. The money will go toward creating a company Web site, as well as buying the technology (and the marketing) to enable Spencer to reach her target clientele.

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HELPING OTHERS make their writing more clear isn’t just Esther Spencer’s entrepreneurial interest — it’s her day job, too. Spencer, 29, works in the Writing Resource Center at Florida A&M University as the coordinator of Academic Support Services — training tutors, being a tutor and facilitating in-class workshops.

“My experience at my job made me realize that many people struggle with English skills and writing, and need help crafting a strong paper,” she says. “I would always help my siblings and friends, but never charged them. But when a student needed help editing her master’s thesis and told me she would pay, I obliged her and realized I could make money with my skills.”

Final Proof was thus born. It’s still a tiny consultancy; Spencer is the entire company, and lack of funds to market her services has kept her client roster small. “The business is still in its early stages of development,” she notes — but her plans are vast. Given that she offers a service and not a product per se, her potential market is as broad as the entire English-speaking world: Spencer’s ultimate goal is to build Final Proof into an international consultancy — one clean, well-constructed piece of prose at a time. •