I admit it: I’m a snob when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation. As our resident fashion expert, Marcia Zigler asserts—what you wear communicates a great deal to the viewer.

Think of your business writing as an introduction. If you are making an introduction online, in an email or even in a written letter, the content doesn’t just communicate your message to the reader, it can say even more about you between the lines.

Just as wearing your Donald Duck tie or a pair of jeans to a job interview may give the wrong impression, an email, Facebook post or letter with blatant spelling errors also presents a bad impression. I feel that these errors reveal more about a person than they may think, and one of those items is integrity.

If you are the owner of a company, or an entrepreneur launching a start-up, you ARE your business. Everything you do, say or write cannot be separated from your business—just look at how a person’s Facebook page can be used against them in interviews or personnel reviews.

To my delight, I was recently hired to proofread a business plan for a young man with a wonderful idea for an online business. This young man has the right idea! He wants to make sure that his ego doesn’t get in the way of finding funding for his business, and hired me to comb his business plan for any obvious and subtle mistakes. And I did find a few, plus I asked a few questions for clarification and suggested some omissions and additions. He took them all to heart and amended his business plan before sending it out. In my humble opinion, this was an example of integrity.

Then there are the examples that just make me cringe. The introduction emails without even basic capitalization, run-on sentences and abbreviations that should be limited to text messages, like “ur” and “thx” do not impress anyone, not even a 14-year-old high school student. Not spelling the recipient’s name correctly (or “entrepreneur”) will not win you any points, either. I can overlook small mistakes, like “alot”, even though it drives me crazy, because everyone makes mistakes once in a while.

If someone you didn’t know asked you a favor or presented themselves as a viable company to work with or refer, wouldn’t you look for other signs that the person was trustworthy and had integrity? The fact that they couldn’t be bothered to read over an email or a letter for spelling mistakes speaks volumes about a person’s integrity.

And if it sounds like I’m being too harsh, remember this: even though more and more communication happens online, around 90 percent, it is still written. Written. This means there are even more opportunities nowadays to show yourself up as uncaring about your presentation. There have been numerous articles written on how students—in America and elsewhere—are graduating without the necessary skills in English, math and reasoning to actually be good employee candidates.

My entire business is based on quality writing, for online content, social media and printed collateral. It is shocking to me how many people don’t care about the integrity of their business presentation, including (but not limited to): spelling mistakes on their websites; incorrect information on business cards (with the correct information scrawled in by hand); website copy that reads just like every other site that does nothing to differentiate the company; and spelling mistakes in business Facebook posts.

My point is this: When you are just starting out, remember that you are building your reputation. Do you want to build that reputation on shoddy presentations that showcase dubious communication skills? Or would you rather take a little extra time and show people, with more than just words or flashy graphics, that you are an entrepreneurial force to be reckoned with? The choice is yours.

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