New Year's Challenge

A short video wherein I challenge you to make one of your resolutions life story capture for 2009. Be an an LC, refer an LC, be a client or all of the above . . . this year will fly by as fast as 2008, so we need to get on it right away!


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Supporting Your Team of Legacy Consultants

Another short video presentation designed to help Legacy Consultants begin think about leadership and ways to support those they sponsor as new LCs.

Mary Kerr Television Debut

Priceless Legacy Office Manager Mary Kerr made her PLC University video debut today in a very exciting video entitled "Zipping Files." Enjoy both the content and her wonderful Manchester, England (somewhat diluted by decades in Texas) accent. Stay tuned for more from Mary!

Company Overview

This presentation is designed to help Legacy Consultants use our generic company overview Powerpoint (available in the Legacy Consultant area of www.pricelesslegacy.com) to present the company to community organizations and others who are interested in our mission and purpose. It is a bit longer than most because it is a "presentation inside of a presentation."

Winter Solstice

This is the day of the year when I think of my pagan Norse and Celtic forefathers.

The Winter Solstice was an important day for them. It marked the turning point in the long dark winter.

I often think of those men and women sitting in their turf houses trading stories and telling of their ancestors and their accomplishments. A few names are recorded in the Icelandic Sagas but of course the bulk of those stories are lost forever.

In our modern age we have no excuses. The failure to preserve a life story today will deprive uncounted future generations of the satisfactions of knowing the people from whom they came.

We must see that that does not happen!

Veterans History Project

A few days ago I had the privilege of interviewing a gentleman for the non-profit Veterans History Project.

The project enlists the help of volunteers like me to interview veterans who saw service in any of America's wars of the previous century. The end product is an audio CD that I sent to the Library of Congress. As a courtesy, I also sent a copy to the gentleman.

What a fantastic experience! This gentleman told me his tale of service as an Army Air Force B-24 tail gunner during World War II. I learned a lot about that period of history and I was overwhelmed by the dignity and selflessness of the man.

The experience was humbling but it rekindled my fervor for Priceless Legacy and what we are accomplishing on a daily basis.

I highly recommend the program to anyone with time and the heart to do a few interviews. You will relish the opportunity.

Your-Life-Your-Story

We had a nice write up at the Your Life Your Story website of respected life story expert Tom Gilbert.

Tom is a guy who "gets it" when it comes to life story capture and the mission that we both feel passionately about . . .

Mission & Purpose of Priceless Legacy

Life Worth More than Tires?

I had to buy new tires for my car today. Who would have thought that original factory tires would only last about 33,000 miles? I must confess the cost of $1,370 was a bit of a shock . . .

It got me thinking that in another few years and another 30,000 miles, I will need yet another set of tires and it will no doubt cost me even more.

For less money using the Priceless Legacy process, one can capture the essence and key stories of a loved one's life with a Priceless Legacy LifeStory package.

Consumable tires or eternal stories . . . I know where I would rather spend my money!

Ben Franklin on LifeStories

A old Marine Corps buddy of mine who, very appropriately, is from Philadelphia sent me this quotation from Benjamin Franklin. It is another perfect encapsulation of the Priceless Legacy mission:

"The next thing most like living one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing."

What does a Legacy Consultant do?

What does a Legacy Consultant do? How are they paid? How much money can they make?

Check out this 5 minute video presentation to find the answers.

Getting Started as a Legacy Consultant

Another training video. This one explains the basics of getting started as a Legacy Consultant.

Values of the Priceless Legacy Company

The Priceless Legacy Company believes in certain values:

1. Every life story is precious and deserving of preservation.
2. The preservation of one’s life story is not a vanity but an obligation to the future.
3. The only act of selfishness is to not preserve one’s story
4. Something is better than nothing: do not let perfectionism abet procrastination.
5. Our legacy consultants have an extraordinary and special mission to preserve life stories – PLC will support their efforts at every turn.
6. If we “do the right thing” for our customers, legacy consultants, staff and investors, good things – including financial gain – will ensue.
7. Mistakes are OK. The failure to learn from them is not.
8. Time is of the essence. Priceless stories are lost when we do not attack aggressively in the marketplace.
9. Respect clients' and subjects' wishes for privacy and confidentiality.
10. Conduct yourself with fairness and integrity at all times.

Passion & Process: The Business of Priceless Legacy

This video is the first of many of its type which we will use for field training of our Legacy Consultants.

Dec 7 Remembrance

We all know FDR's referral to the Pearl Harbor attacks of December 7, 1941 as the "Day that will live in Infamy." Like September 11 in contemporary generations, December 7 is a date that requires no subsequent description. Anyone with a smattering of historical awareness knows the significance of the date.

It was President Roosevelt's mention of a day that will live in "Infamy" that has me contemplative this year. Infamy and its related if more positive cousin "fame" are words often associated with remembrance. With such language it is almost implied that an occurrence must conform to either end of that spectrum to be "worthy" of recollection and preservation.

My take is decidedly more democratic. While the "great events" like December 7 can and do define a generation and give it a common historical reference point, it is not such grand events alone that merit capture and preservation.

Indeed, it is simple and the common which have even more relevance to family and loved ones. The fact that a grandfather was a Pearl Harbor survivor is clearly a point of interest and pride, but should it define the life of a man who also did so much and loved so much else? As we contemplate life story capture and preservation, it is important that we recall the value of the simple aspects of life: especially those that occurred on less dramatic and globally significant dates on the calendar.

God's Work?

We're only coming up on the end of the second month of the founding of this company, but I already have identified my favorite activity. It is meeting Legacy Consultants and people who are considering becoming LCs. They are, without exception, the most amazing people.

Their backgrounds are very diverse. Neither social background nor professional experience unite them. Rather is it is a curiosity about people and a genuine belief in the dignity of life and the special - almost sacred - nature of each life story. Our LCs clearly believe, as I do, that it is a serious tragedy when a life ends that has not been respectfully acknowledged and preserved in some way.

One LC who signed on today told me that she felt that the LC opportunity was sent from God. That really touched me. I do not pretend to know God's will or understand his actions, but I am both honored and humbled that this woman was moved to cite her faith when discussing Priceless Legacy.

I love this company and I love my job!

Thanksgiving Reflections

The four day weekend that was the Thanksgiving holiday was both restful and a cause for contemplation.

As is customary, we had my mother over and my sister-in-law and her family who were visiting from New York.

My sister-in-law and her husband were enraptured by my mother's recently completed Waskada to the World life story book. Even though she has known my mother for almost thirty years, Jean was thrilled to learn more about her sister's mother-in-law.

When she left for the airport at the end of the weekend, she repeated her resolve to complete LifeStories both for her own mother but also her in laws.

I love how infectious the life story movement really is. I found myself especially thankful that we have devised a system and the human organization to bring joy and satisfaction to so many families.

Legacy Consultant Experience

If someone believes that life story preservation is a good and important thing to do . . .and who does not . . .work as a part-time Legacy Consultant may be for you.

Whether you do the occasional story every few months or treat the experience like a near full time job (three or four or more engagements per month), there may be something for you in service as a Legacy Consultant.

The work itself is not technically difficult. All that is necessary is a an open mind and an open heart. Preparation is key - and the Priceless Legacy Company helps you do that with tools like the Subject Profile and the Interview Guide. Once you have prepared, all that is left is to organize and scan photos, conduct the interview and then manage the book draft approval process . . .

But when you deliver the LifeStory book to the client and subject, there is no feeling like it anywhere. Through your efforts you give the gift of life in a manner of speaking.

If this sounds appealing . . . get in touch with us and give it a shot!

Blog Directory

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.

The Only Failure is not Finishing

We all know the expression "something is better than nothing." With life story capture this is especially true.

Too many people obsess over the "hypothetical comprehensiveness" of their life story or personal history when they should really be more concerned with starting and finishing their basic work.

A simple life story is as important a gift to the future as a multi volume professionally written memoir. In fact, a more condensed and pithy work is actually more valuable.

So please don't use the excuse that is not worth doing if it is not comprehensive and definitive. . . while you are incubating that perfection you may find that you leave nothing at all behind.

And that would be a shame.

Creative Gene: Genealogist vs Family Historian, Who Are You?

Creative Gene: Genealogist vs Family Historian, Who Are You?

Three Obstacles to Life Story Preservation

Three factors are the primary obstacles to the completion of life stories. Two are human attributes and one is economic. We know these factors as procrastination, perfectionism and price. I started the Priceless Legacy Company specifically to address and overcome these alliterative enemies. In subsequent blog posts I will address each of these in turn.

Price

Price is the final and only economic factor that gets in the way of accomplishing life story and lesson preservation.

Official biographers and ghost memoir writers have been around since alphabets were invented but they were always the privilege only of the very wealthy. In recent decades a cottage industry of "personal historians" has also emerged. The personal historians (some of whom are, like me, members of the trade association called the Association of Personal Historians) are typically diligent, earnest and effective. What they are not, to generalize, is cost effective.

Because individual personal historians work alone in most cases, they do not enjoy the benefits of scale and brand. By offering both, Priceless Legacy is able to significantly lower the cost of producing a high quality LifeStory package. We have disaggregated the tasks associated with custom book production. Some are left in the field for the Legacy Consultant to deliver (selling, interviewing, photo archiving, draft approval) and others are centralized at the PLC corporate entity (layout, production, technology, billing, printing, customer service etc.)

Just like a quality off the rack suit at Nordstrom or Brooks Brothers is a better value than a custom made garment at an independent tailor, so it is with our offering.

Perfectionism

Perfectionism is the next factor that prevents people from completing life story preservation projects. Too many people believe that a life story has to be a literary memoir, a comprehensive biography or a complete accounting of their life.

Think back to our ancestors. If we had but one page survive from a great-grandmother that said nothing more than "Joe went out to the fields to day to plow, little Mary's fever still hasn't broken, the blacksmith in town died, and we still don't expect cousin Jim to come back from the war . . ." Would we not think of document as the most amazing family treasure? Yet in our own generation we tend to think that "oh, I am just not that interesting . . . no one would want to hear it."

Imagine three generations from now when a great-grandson sits down to read a Priceless Legacy LifeStory book and says, "My great-grand father was so interesting. For forty years he drove a fossil fuel burning car to an office in a tall building twenty miles away. He interfaced with his computer by tapping on a letter set device called a key board. That is so cool . . . and yet I recognize so much of myself in him!"

Priceless Legacy removes the barrier of "perfectionism" by making the LifeStory Package creation process very easy for the client, subject and Legacy Consultant. We also encourage people to focus on the key stories and in most cases describe the highlights of their life story in a two hour interview. It is not at all that some people might want to talk longer. Rather, it is the observation that while most people put off the creation of the "perfect" memoir; they end up with nothing when time or ability runs out. Our client and subjects are universally ecstatic with their LifeStory books. The only failure or disappointment is not starting and completing one.

The "perfect" book that is neither started nor finished is of no use to anyone.

Procrastinaton

The relationship of procrastination to life in general is well understood and almost universally observed and practiced. Almost all of us put off to tomorrow things that we really should do today. Exercise, financial planning, cleaning and organization are all clear examples of activities that we know are good and necessary yet we find ways to rationalize the delay of initiation and therefore completion.

Life story preservation or personal history is highly susceptible to the forces of procrastination. For starters, we rationalize that having waited seventy or eighty years of a life to play out, what can be the harm of another few months or years of delay? Furthermore, the urgency that we understand to be inherent in the need to capture life stories is related to the "elephant in the room" that we don't want to address, and that is the inevitability of the subject's ultimate death. Ironically, in order to avoid the conversational topic of mortality we risk losing forever the opportunity to preserve the humanity and worth of that loved one's life story.

How classically and tragically human of us ... we risk what is vitally important to avoid what is slightly uncomfortable.

Priceless Legacy addresses the issue of human procrastination on multiple levels. First is to relentlessly draw attention to the need for life story presence. We will tirelessly evangelize the need through our company communications efforts and those of our Legacy Consultants. For their part, the LCs will also cajole, nag and nudge people in their communities both by celebrating positive examples and highlighting lost opportunities in order to strengthen "never again" resolve.

Like fitness advocates who can preach to us to the point of annoyance, we must be clear and repetitive in our message. And like the audience for health and fitness, there will be many who do not hear our message. But if we can influence one we can influence thousands. . . .and that is what we will do until we have tamed the beast of procrastination in such away that it is no longer an effective excuse to delay the start and completion of a life story.

Pegasus News

A web news site called Pegasus News ran a nice piece on Priceless Legacy: click here

It is fitting that Pegasus News was one of the first news organizations to cover our new company. Their mission, as I understand it, is to cover news on a “hyper-local” basis. The theory is that people care most about news and information that is local and intimate. This makes for small markets will intense focus and "stickiness." I agree with this premise but look beyond simple geography for evidence of this fact.

At Priceless Legacy, we know the bonds of family and time to be even stronger than the power of place. It is curious how we often know so much about the location we were raised and yet know so little of those who came before us. That is why we are so firmly dedicated to the mission of helping people preserve their life stories for the benefit of future generations. The old cliché is accurate, we can only know where we are going if we know from where we come.

National Day of Listening

The good folks at StoryCorps have established Nov 28, 2008 as the first National Day of Listening. See www.nationaldayoflistening.org for details.

StoryCorps has recorded more than 40,000 life stories in audio form and has done great work in highlighting the dignity and worth of every life. Priceless Legacy is dedicated to these principles too. We are a for-profit enterprise in the sense that we think the profit motive will encourage even more people to become involved. The more Legacy Consultants who are active, the more life stories we can capture. While simple in concept, life story capture does take effort and time and we think our Legacy Consultants should be paid for both. That said, StoryCorps, like Priceless Legacy, understands that the primary satisfactions of helping people preserve their life stories are intangible in nature and not related to money.

So, please find time to record one life story on Friday, November 28. Whether for Priceless Legacy or on a pro bono basis, this is work worth doing.

The Economy and LifeStory Capture

Some business friends have said to me "What are you thinking by starting a business dedicated to preserving life stories in a turbulent economy like this?"

I have to confess, it does take a certain fortitude or maybe pigheadedness to defy conventional wisdom when the business press is streaming an endless parade of doom and gloom news.

But Priceless Legacy and the capture of LifeStories is a company and a cause that cannot wait. It is a sad fact that our elders grow old and someday die. The timing of their passing is not regulated by Wall Street and the economy but by forces far beyond our terrestrial understanding.

Our desire and need to preserve the life stories and lessons of our loved ones cannot be just "put on hold" until the economy bounces back in eighteen months. There is an urgency to our mission that cannot be denied.

Furthermore, it is times like these that are so hard on families and individuals that people turn back to the important things in life. If fancy cars and exotic vacations are out of reach, maybe getting in touch with the wonder and love of family and friends becomes more appealing. We also learn to understand the emotional impact of growing up in the Great Depression or the other economic dislocations that our parents generation survived and we of the Baby Boom and Gen X largely escaped.

Nobody likes a down economy (OK, few like a down economy) but we have a concept that cannot be kept down by even a serious recession. Also, this is a time when more people will consider becoming a Legacy Consultant. Since attracting and deploying LCs is key to our strategy and mission, this can only be a good thing.

Stories Lost

I took my Boy Scout Troop on a camping trip to the LBJ National Grasslands near Decatur, Texas over the weekend. It was cold (by Texas standards) but beautiful. Naturally, as we sat around the campfire, the conversation turned to what was new with each of us. When it was my turn, I talked about the exciting start to the Priceless Legacy Company and how much fun we were having building the company and identifying Legacy Consultants.

I directed most of my comments to the other two adult leaders, but the boys (aged 11-15) could not help but join in. I was fascinated on how they were taken with my idea. A few started sharing fragments of stories about their own grandparents. They were clearly curious and proud of their family stories, yet none had seriously contemplated that they would not always have access to them. In fact, many stories ended with "or something like that" since this "one more generation removed" had only the most loose grasp on fact and detail. These scouts were excited that some grandparents (to them) would take the important step of creating LifeStories and virtually all expressed hope that their families would be similarly blessed.

It is amazing what the young can perceive and what they can teach us if we will listen. Many are far less self-absorbed and aware than sometimes gets credit.

In Color Video

This is a video that captures the emotional context for what we are trying to do at Priceless Legacy. I hope you enjoy it:

Legacy Consultant Interest

I have been amazed and, I suppose, flattered that so many people have expressed an interest in becoming a Legacy Consultant. Sure, in a down economy one would expect there to be interest any part-time opportunity for people to make good money performing fun and valuable work. But it is the passion and enthusiasm that potential LCs have shown for the Priceless Legacy mission that is so encouraging.

A lot of people ask me "how will I know if I am suited to be a Legacy Consultant?"

The answer is very easy. If you love people and have a special respect for the wisdom that can come from life experience, you have the most important attributes to become an LC.

It also helps to be reasonably well organized and basically computer literate (uploading files and accessing email . . .). 

It is really more about attitude, interest and motivation than it is formal credentials like degrees and resumes.

We have about fifteen LCs who have started so far . . . what a great and diverse bunch they are.

Starting Priceless Legacy

I have never been as excited about any business idea or company as I am about Priceless Legacy. The mission of helping people preserve their life stories and lessons is dear to my heart and a source of great personal satisfaction.

I am proud that generations not yet born will intimately know their ancestors because of the work we will do today. Likewise, it saddens me that we will not be able to get to everyone, no matter how large we grow. This is why I have invested so much urgency in the culture of this company. When I know that every minute five Americans pass away, it pains me to think that so few take the time to preserve their memories and life stories.

Don't those of us who possess something special of our own ancestors like a diary, letters or photographs hold those items as precious beyond description? Why then will not generations to come similarly value our stories and lessons and those of our living parents.

We have a lot of work to do at Priceless Legacy. But every day is a privilege and we attack in with vigor and enthusiasm.

Week 5

I can't believe it's only been 5 weeks since we began this great adventure - and accomplished so much already.

I work with the best team ever!