My first job out of college, and the title on my business card was Associate Video Producer. Not wanting to be a one-trick pony, I occasionally found myself glancing over the shoulders of the web designer and another graphic designer, in hopes of maybe learning something new. What I learned was that we were churning out a massive amount of material at rapid paces, with no one really looking at everything.

A shipment of company newsletters arrived in our offices, fresh from the press. Its intent was to inform existing clientele about some new personnel and projects, as well as drum up some new business. Genuinely interested to see the work of my colleague, I read a few paragraphs and came across an egregious error. The misspelling of “excellence.” Excellance? Really? You want that going out to prospective clients?

I pointed out the error to the powers that be, and subsequently, the shipment was trashed and the newsletter was re-released to the printer. The company was ready to plunk down another $1,500 in reprinting costs rather than suffer embarrassment from misspelling the worst word possible, and rightfully so.