Passionate Words Editing Services – Gibson’s passion about words leads him to create Passionate Words Editing Services

LA SHAWNA GRIFFITH

Starting a new business is a scary undertaking, but for Robert Gibson, it was a decision he made to ensure he could maintain his happiness and creativity.

For over fifteen years, Gibson has been a Government employee working as an Information Technology officer, but he was unhappy because writing had always been his passion.

He has published a myriad of books including: Seduction, Erotic, Quotes of Passion, Offering, Passion: The Gemini Project and Make It Raine.

A few months ago, he decided that he would become a solopreneur. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, a solopreneur is a mixture of two words: Solo and Entrepreneur. It means that you are an entrepreneur that prefers to work alone. They might have contractors for hire; yet have full responsibility for the running of their business.

He quit his job at the National Housing Corporation and decided to continue a business he wanted to start in 2015; Passionate Words Editing Services.

I had the opportunity to interview Gibson about why he decided to become a solopreneur amid a pandemic. He said with an increase in the number of persons that were coming to him requesting editing, he decided it was wise to have his business full time.

“My editing was something I did on the side for many years, but a combination of growing tension within my working environment and an increase in editing clients led me to decide that it was time to venture out on my own. I felt that my time could be better spent on my editing instead of at my day job,”

Gibson said the decision to leave a stable job with the Government and become a business owner was scary. He wrestled with the thought of how he would be able to provide for his children.

“I was afraid of whether I would be able to sustain myself or take care of my children. When the time came, however, I was excited. I felt I was ready, and that Passionate Words Editing Services (PWES) was ready to be officially launched to the world,”

The passionate author and editor said he decided to name his business PWES because he is a poet and spoken word artiste who performs under the pseudonym PassionPoet.

“I have been passionate about words from the time I was able to read them. I have had a love affair with words from little, asking my dad to read me the daily comic strips when my glasses broke at one time! I was always reading something, and that love affair transitioned into writing in my early teens. When I was introduced to poetry at fourteen it was all over!”

He realized PWES was a viable service when he had an influx of customers requesting assistance with editing manuscripts and having their books published.

“I started the company in 2015 soon after the release of my first anthology of poetry, which was self-published, and slowly more and more people started to ask for help and were willing to pay me for my time. In 2017 I had my first large editing job, which was a memoir of C. Trevor Clarke, a former General Manager of Cable and Wireless, one of our companies here in Barbados. I must say a special thank you to Carol Pitt of Caribbean Chapters for making this connection for my business,”

Gibson is so passionate about editing words that he has often joked that he would edit your shopping list if you let him. Thus, he has become one of the go-to businesses when people want to have something edited.

“I decided when forming PWES that I wanted to highlight the fact that I would edit any piece of written work, from novels to recipe books and anything in between. It felt really good when a potential customer said that she was directed to contact me for editing services, but she was hesitant because she was only familiar with my erotic work and she was creating a Christian devotional. She felt that it would look weird to have her devotional documented as being edited by The Erotic Empire. It felt good to assure her that PWES is a full editing and book formatting company that is not restricted to the erotic. There is no trace of erotic work on my pages. I was able to assure her of my willingness and ability to edit anything and she’s one of my customers today.”

The former Government employee said he was looking forward to speaking with the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper because he is interested in tapping into the global market, especially Caribbeans living in Canada.

“My clients praise the speed and quality of service often, some stating I am a perfectionist. I have thrown away books because of bad punctuation before because it was difficult to read a badly punctuated sentence. My attention to detail is what customers have come to expect, making them repeat customers many times over.”

There are great opportunities opening up for Caribbeans all over the diaspora. All we have to do is start tapping into these resources and find ways to support each other. If you are interested in learning more about PWES, feel free to reach out to Robert Gibson at passionatewordsediting@gmail.com