Why John Bechtel Instead of Someone Else?

Why ride in Coach when First Class is available? You can only be as good as the team you assemble. Get the right people on the bus.

Because you realize that a failure to communicate and be understood is going to cost you money and customers, or turn friends into disinterested parties or worse. As John likes to point out, when results are mission critical, inspired writing is no longer a commodity.

John concerns himself with how the task requested needs to fit into your overall message, marketing plan, and brand development. Like all great writers, he is a thinker and strategist first.

John has boots-on-the-ground business experience, and is fluent in the language of production, distribution, promotion, and finance. Working with John eases executive loneliness; he is someone to brainstorm with, who has been in the trenches, who has felt the fears. He is someone with whom you can safely be yourself. He is more than a writer.

John moves fluidly between ideation and concepts and concrete step-by-step implementation requirements. He is reality and results oriented. John once had to fire a well-intentioned young man with a PhD in Organizational Development whose standard response to every customer complaint was to form a committee to study the problem when results were expected in 24 hours.

John knows when jargon is acceptable or necessary (or not), and how much

John can effectively communicate technical data in a motivational and inspiring context. It is rare that a technician can communicate clearly in lay language. They never get past the language barrier. Once when engaging someone to teach him some technical computer skills, John knew they would automatically want to perform the tasks for him instead of teaching him, which is slower. So he told them that if they touched his keyboard they were fired. He went through several “teachers” before he found one capable of walking him through it with words until he could show them he had mastered the new competency.

John is a great choice for foreign companies seeking to sell in the American market. His writing can help them avoid unintentional linguistic gaffes and reduce resistance to a foreign supplier.

Even American companies have a hard time finding good writers, and often they seek foreign writers for whom English is a second language in frustration or to save money, with disappointing results. For quick and easy examples of what I mean, watch a movie with English subtitles or closed captioning on any news program and notice the frequency of poor grammar and spelling mistakes made by people supposedly hired for their fluency in English, whether their mother tongue or not. These people don’t know the difference between hear and here.

John is freelance. He is an agent of cross-pollination, which means he is able to rise above silo thinking and internal politics of his clients. Some tasks are best performed by an outsider who knows and is comfortable with the inside. Every family on occasion needs outside counsel and perspectives.

John believes the clock kills creativity. John charges by the project, and you can see his generalized fee schedule here, but he is generous with his time and resources. He will go above and beyond your expectations with his research without one eye on the clock and a twitchy finger on the billing keyboard. Some things, like wine-making and creating your content, can’t and shouldn’t be rushed. Look at his testimonial page here for what his clients say about this.

Although most new clients begin with a la carte services, John will work actively with you to reduce costs by bundling services and considering longer term commitments.