Sharing Works

When you come across an interesting family photo, what do you do with it?

Try sending it (and a few others) to every family member you have an address for . . .and add a small note that requests that they do the same. That way, your collection grows and you spread load the risk of loss to fire or flood since the family photo collection is located in multiple places.

PRICELESS LEGACY COMPANY OFFERS MISSION, MEANING AND MONEY JUST WHEN WE NEED ALL THREE

This is a press release that we are presenting to selected media outlets to help tell our story:

A new company dedicated to helping older people preserve their life stories seeks to train and deploy up to 700,000 part-time workers throughout the country.

Dallas, Texas – March 12, 2009 - The Priceless Legacy Company launched just as the world was falling apart in the fall of 2008. Far from seeing the economic climate as an impediment to survival and growth, the young company sees much to drive optimism and hope for the future.

Priceless Legacy is dedicated to helping older people preserve their life stories for the benefit of this and future generations. The company publishes beautiful Life Story packages that include hardcover color books and audio/visual DVDs. The company is deploying work-from-home part-time Legacy Consultants who sell the engagements, interview the subjects, organize their photos and manage the draft review process. Priceless Legacy has devised a custom publishing system that creates a one-of-a-kind personal biography that is not dependent on the writing skill or interest of the subject.

With over four people dying in America every minute, we have a need to capture the stories of at least 2.4 million people per year. If we assume three stories per Legacy Consultant, we need to find, train and deploy 700,000 or more!

Consider:

1. Demographics are destiny; the recession is only temporary. 55 million seniors today will grow to 75 million over the next ten years.
2. The harsh economic climate has forced people to focus on the important things in life: family, heritage, love and mutual support. The company says: “Honor now. Remember forever."
3. More people are looking for part-time work from home or moonlighting opportunities to hedge or replace their full-time jobs.
4. While people seek economic security, they also yearn for work with meaning and purpose.
5. The “Silent Generation” has so much to teach younger people about resiliency and staying power.
6. Great companies have been launched in uncertain economic times. Especially those with an enduring social mission.

Almost everyone has had the experience of either regret at not having taken the steps to preserve a life story or the strong sense that it should be done and they don’t know how to get started and finished. Using our process, our Legacy Consultants can help anyone preserve the life stories of their loved ones while there is still time to do it.


About The Priceless Legacy Company (www.pricelesslegacy.com)

Based in Dallas, Texas, The Priceless Legacy Company is a privately held custom book publishing company dedicated to helping people preserve their life legacies for the benefit of future generations. The company connects with people through its fast expanding network of Legacy Consultants. Currently active in twelve states, PLC’s Legacy Consultants help people record their life stories. Services include interviewing, photo organizing and scanning and the production of beautiful heirloom quality Life Story books.

Life Stories: Children Find Meaning in Old Family Stories

There was a great column in today's Wall Street Journal by Sue Shellenbarger entitled Life Stories: Children Find Meaning in Old Family Tales. It very nicely reminded us how children listen and learn from the tales of our family members even when we think they are not paying attention. Shellenbarger cites research from Emory University that children aged 14-16 had a lower rate of depression, anxiety and acting out of frustration or anger when they were able to "retell their parents' stories."

This is a fantastic reminder of the importance of our mission. . . now with research to prove what we already intuitively know.

Ethical Wills in the Denver Post

The Denver Post ran a very comprehensive article about Ethical Wills on Feb 22. I prefer the term Legacy Letter or LifeLesson Book. As Priceless Legacy continues to grow, I look forward to developing a product line around these important publications. Not just the elderly should think about preparing a LifeLesson Book. I have prototyped one already, but the company will not introduce products like that for at least a year. We need to remain focused on our LifeStory business. It is where the need clearly is today.

In fact, I calculated today that with 2.3 million Americans dying each year, we are going to need 700,000 Legacy Consultants to capture all those stories if each one does 3 per year! . . . and we assume that 200,000 preserve their stories themselves. I doubt we'll ever get that large but we won't run out of work either!

Mina Sirkin, a Trusts and Estates attorney in Woodland Hills, California shared this with me:

I'm a expert in post-death trust administration. In my line of practice, I come across countless cases of children who regret they did not mend a relationship with their parent before the parent died.

This complicates the process of grieving in that the child at times may bear anger towards himself for his failure to address the relationship, which anger leads to self-destructive behavior in the child's personal life. If I have learned any lesson from watching these children, it would be this: Thou shall respect your parent. This is unconditional, regardless of whether the parent remarried, etc.

There is one cure for the regret if the child has not mended the relationship: After the parent dies, pray for the parent daily.

What greater way to show respect for a parent that to take the time to listen and record? It is more than flattery to show interest in the life story of another. It is really the ultimate homage, especially to a parent or grandparent.

Carine Firestone shared with me a very poignant story about parental love and loss.

Sadly and unfortunately I have nothing but regrets surrounding both of my parents and their deaths. My mother died when I was 21 years old. She was 44. She and I had a very tumultuous relationship. My parents had divorced when I was 15. My Dad abandoned us, and I blamed her. We were always fighting, she and I, and I said so many terrible things to her including "Drop Dead" which she did. You know the old saying "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it". She died suddenly, and I was not able to get to her side before she died. I never had a chance to say "Mom, I am sorry, and I love you". As a mother now of a 13 year old daughter I realize all of the sacrifices she made. I understand how difficult it was for her as a mother of 3 young children without the help and support financially and emotionally of a husband. I have made peace with my regrets, but I will always regret the way I treated her and the fact that she and I never had a chance to make peace.

My father died 2 1/2 years ago. He and I had a loving close relationship. When he returned to my life 5 years after abandoning us I accepted him back and was thrilled to have him back. He became ill in May 2006 and I saw him slowly deteriorating. I saw him fighting back with courage and dignity. We, my family and I were there for him in his final months. I regret that on the day he died, at the moment he died, I was not there by his side to hold his hand and tell him one last time "Dad I love you always have and always will".

Yes, I also regret not having all of my questions answered by my parents while they were alive. My sister, brother and I have so many questions that will forever remain unanswered.

I added the bold font treatment to Carine's account becuase I think it is so very important.

Thank you, Carine, for sharing with us.

Storytelling can Change your Life

A friend and former colleague sent me a very good story on the importance of storytelling from the Christian magazine Relevant. It is worth a quick read.

Lost LifeStory of Love

I received a very moving story from Linda Lowen who writes for the About.com Guide to Women's Issues. What a great testament to the need to capture life stories while our loved ones are still alive. Linda writes on a broad variety of topics but she has a passion for helping women in particular deal with unresolved grief.

I regret that I never asked either parent to tell me the true story of how they met.father (an American-born Jew) met and married my mother (a Japanese Buddhist) in Osaka, Japan - her hometown. He was a sailor on shore leave and she, to the best of my knowledge, was a secretary. Different family stories exist about their first meeting. One version says he was exchanging dollars for yen in a bank, and fell in love with her there. Another says that they met at a party through mutual friends.

I thought I had plenty of time to ask them. My mother, diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, lived 18 months beyond her diagnosis, and because she was doing so well I hesitated to ask 'those final questions' because she wanted to act as if nothing was wrong. When she declined, it happened within hours, and she slipped into a coma before I could tell her all I needed to say. My nursing home-bound father, in good health, died two weeks to the day after her death. A massive heart attack - totally unexpected. I am an only child with no remaining relatives who can answer that question. To my lifelong regret, the story of their blossoming love died with them.

I have heard similar stories often in recent months. When we wait too long to ask and record the key stories we stand the risk of great regret.

Thanksgiving Greetings

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the ultimate holiday to highlight the spirit and purpose of Priceless Legacy. With no gift giving or other distractions, we are encouraged instead to contemplate family and gratitude.

There is also a timelessness about Thanksgiving. A sense that there have been many before and that there will be many to come. We enjoy family fellowship and almost ritual story telling.

We never want to contemplate the inevitable cycles of life, but we know that change comes whether we like it or not. What will we have of our loved ones when they are gone? What can we pass on to our descendants?

As you are thinking of these things, please help our young company identify people who will enjoy the work of a Priceless Legacy Consultant.

Sure they can make some extra money and build a profitable side business, but you will know a future LC by the degree to which they really enjoy people, respect their stories and derive satisfaction from helping.

Happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for friends, family and acquaintances who can help me spread the word about the need and solution for life story preservation.