potrero view

December 2008

Potrero Hill Author Helps Others Grow Their Businesses

By Anthony Myers

K.D. Sullivan has created and sold a half a million dollar a year proofreading business, written six books, and raised a son, John, now 33, during her three decades of living on Potrero Hill’s Kansas Street.  Sullivan’s success has come despite the fact that she had no formal education past high school.  “Though I left school and home at 16 to go out on my own and I had no formal business training, I never let this stop me.  When I speak and counsel [businesses] I always recommend people get all the education they can!  At the same time, we all have areas of weakness; whether lack of education, finances, creativity.  The trick is not to let any of those stop you.”

Sullivan practices what she preaches.  “About 25 years ago, while looking for work to do at home when I was a single mom, with $50 and stubborn determination, I started a proofreading business,” she said.  “Over the years, I built this into a national editorial service, Creative Solutions Editorial Inc., with up to 100 clients and 30 independent contractors who were writing, editing, and proofreading from their homes in the U.S. and around the world.”

Though she sold her business a few years ago, Sullivan continued to work as a consultant, and began writing books, co-authoring The McGraw Hill Desk Reference for Writers, Editors, and Proofreaders, and most recently, A Cure for the Common Word.   Word was designed to help “people of all ages expand their vocabulary,” Sullivan said.    “The book I’m currently working on is tentatively titled In the Driver’s Seat: A Roadmap to Freelancing.  Everyone through my whole business career told me what I couldn’t do if I didn’t follow the norm and I’ve never followed the traditional path,” she said.  “That’s why I identify well with the start-up people I work with.  I didn’t have education; most people who are stuck and not being able to move forward feel like they’re stuck in some way.  They don’t have the finances or they don’t have the time or they don’t have the creativity and I’ve just learned that for most entrepreneurs you come to a wall and you decide whether to go over it, through it, around it or take a different path, but you’re not stopped.  That’s the kind of the way I’ve always been.”

In addition to writing Sullivan is “designing and implementing proofreading workshops and corporate training programs throughout the United States and Canada.  Part of what I hope people learn from me is to be encouraged and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t think I could do this but I can and here’s how’.  It’s one thing to encourage, but thankfully because of my experience hopefully I’m able to encourage and give them the steps to take; and this is important to me, take the path that’s right for them to reach their goals because it’s different for everyone.  Some companies go, ‘Here we’re going to give you step by step and here they are.’  So I always look for ways to create that path for what makes sense for you.”

Sullivan’s persistence extends to her leisure time.  On a recent trip to South America she bought a purse, which turned out to have been designed by Carvalho, a Brazilian artist.  “When I returned to San Francisco, I continued to be awed by the beauty of Carvalho’s art.  Everyone I showed it to was similarly captivated and asked if they could get a similar piece.  It took me four months to find someone to locate Carvalho for me, and yet another month to find someone to translate for me.  I’ve spent the last few months learning everything I could about how I can help this wonderful artist to display and sell his work around the world.”

When Sullivan isn’t travelling she enjoys living in the tight-knit Potrero Hill community.  “I say hello to my neighbors.  I know the people at the store and at the cleaners and it really is a community.  I walk my dog Boomer two to three times a day.  It’s wonderful in the morning to get fresh air and the views of the City.  I go up to McKinley Square and I work from my home.  Potrero Hill is very diverse; in my travels there isn’t any place else that I’ve seen yet that I would say I want to live.”

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