YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
by Jan K. Allen
SBJ Contributing Writer
Dr. Robert D. Beckett retired Jan. 1, after 34 years as a professor in the English department at Southwest Missouri State University, to embark on a new enterprise as The Word Doctor Inc.
"Actually, it was a career shift that maintained continuity with my past," Beckett said.
During his tenure at SMSU, he served as director of graduate studies in English, helped renumber the graduate courses, and wrote the Graduate Handbook. He served on the University Planning Advisory Committee in the mid-1980s, served as chairman of the SMSU Faculty Senate and was executive secretary to the Programs Committee in the late '70s.
Beckett established his consulting business in October of 1997, just prior to his retirement at the end of the year. As one of his first endeavors, he wrote his own business plan.
"When I sought funding, I had no trouble getting it," he said.
Since then, he has helped other businesses in the same effort. He enjoys not only the research and preparation, but the opportunity to learn about something
new.
The diversity of working with all types of companies, in several aspects of their business, is one of the perks of the job. Active in the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Beckett prepared and made a nine-minute presentation for a local business to the Venture Capital Forum.
For a fee based on an hourly rate, Beckett will take on about any writing assignment. In addition to business plans, he has done grants, quarterly and annual reports, manuals, speeches, r?sum?s, articles and newsletters.
"The goal of communication through the written word is making sense to the reader, while accurately representing what the client wants to say," Beckett stated. The prime aspect of good writing is clarity, he added.
Beckett sees the transition from English professor to word doctor as a natural one.
He said he believes that communication in a growing firm can be a growing problem, and the documenting of rules and policies saves time and prevents confusion.
All businesses need written guidelines, but many do not have the in-house ex-pertise to produce the documentation, he said.
"There seemed to be a gap, a niche I could fill," he added.
As he began to
establish a client base and add new customers through referrals, he set
himself a work schedule to allow some earned leisure time.
He works hard 25 to 30 hours per week, spending 75 percent of the time writing and the rest attending to administrative duties in his one-man business.
His goal is to keep the work week under 50 hours.
"After a 60- to 70-hour work-week while a professor, I consider 40 to 50 hours semi-retirement," he said.
Beckett was born in Detroit, Mich., and went to high school in a small town just outside of Detroit.
He received his master's degree in English at the University of Michigan and taught junior high and high school in the little town of Walled Lake, Mich., before going on for his doctorate at the University of Colorado.
While on the faculty at SMSU he completed studies in Canadian literature and took some courses in technical writing to add other dimensions to his knowledge and skills.
Beckett and his wife Muriel lived at the corner of Kings and Grand in the '60s, when the SMS campus was contained within its original 40 acres.
They moved a short distance to a house on Meadowmere when the school began to expand its boundaries into the surrounding neighborhood. The couple and their eight children spent many years at the Meadowmere house.
Muriel Beckett has been active in community affairs, serving on the Springfield Planning Board.
Both she and Bob Beckett served on the Democratic Committee for a number of years.
At SMSU, Beckett taught English composition, English literature, Canadian literature and article and feature writing. For several years he also did the PA announcing for the Bears' football and basketball home games.
Beckett said he sees his role in the business world as helping small businesses that do not have the time, personnel, or the funds to hire an advertising or public relations firm.
He will edit or produce text for brochures and write reports, manuals and newsletters.
With desktop publishing, he can produce some graphics, or coordinate with a printer for more complicated layouts.
His view of his business is that "It lets me do something I do well and allows people to benefit from the service," Beckett said.
Beckett added that he might consider working on full-length manuscripts if the right opportunity presented itself, but for now he is content to help businesses in and around Springfield on projects that require his special skills.
INSET CAPTION:
Communication in
a growing firm
can be a growing problem, and the documenting of rules and policies saves time
and prevents
confusion.
PHOTO CAPTION:
For a fee based on an hourly rate, Robert Beckett, a.k.a. The Word Doctor, will take on about any writing assignment.[[In-content Ad]]
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