The Life Story Coach Podcast

Should we ask our life story clients about their sex life? If yes, how? Karin Jones believes sex and intimacy are a big part of our lives, and she challenges personal historians to gently explore this topic with their storytelling clients. Links & Stuff Karin's controversial article appeared in New York Times' "Modern Love" column. "What Sleeping With Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity" Find Karin Jones' bimonthly column, "Savvy Love," at the Erotic Review Magazine, or on her Savvy Love blog at https://www.savvy-love.com/blog. Follow Karin on Twitter: @mskarinjones Curious about Esther Perel? Read about her fascinating story, then check out her TEDTalk below.

Gloria Nussbaum of Real to Real, a personal history company that produces audio projects, talks equipment, prices, and more. Gloria's website: https://www.real-to-reel.org/ Gloria's Equipment List

Personal historian Gloria Nussbaum captures clients' voices and stories on audio recordings. She tells us why it's important and how she does it. Gloria's website:https://www.real-to-reel.org/ Gloria's Audio Equipment List

Illustrated Heirloom Books, and What Goes into Creating Them In this episode, we're going back to the first part of our conversation with Lisa Kagan. As an artist and writer, Lisa is fascinated by the intersection of visual art and storytelling. She brings all her gifts to bear on the illustrated heirloom books her company produces, allowing the clients a chance to become intimately involved in the creation of the words and images of their life story book. She also talks about: connecting to her community as an artist and creative, and how that has helped her organically grow her business contracting other personal history professionals for editing, book design, production, and more the elements of her initial sales conversations If you missed the first part of our conversation, where Lisa talks about her workshops and retreats, you can find that here. Links & Stuff Family Heirloom Arts Website Book Designer Emily Garcia Workshop Offerings Upcoming September Retreat: Self Portrait of the Inner Landscape, Exploring Personal Mythology Through Writing and Mask Making

Workshops serve clients and creatives, and help to build a personal history business Family Heirloom Arts offers the usual range of services to its personal history clients: interviewing, writing, editing, photo management. But its founder and owner, Lisa Kagan, takes things a step further by inviting clients to create their own personalized artwork to illustrate their books. That's just one of the things that makes Family Heirloom Arts unique. In this interview, we talk about: Lisa's roster of workshops and retreats, and how she leverages established organizations such as the library to market them the difference between outcome-based and process-based workshops and retreats how fans of her workshops sometimes turn into personal history clients a good place to start if you're just getting going with workshops We also talked about Family Heirloom Art's upcoming weekend retreat, Self Portrait of the Inner Landscape: Exploring Personal Mythology Through Writing and Mask Making   Links & Stuff Family Heirloom Arts Website Workshop Offerings Upcoming September Retreat: Self Portrait of the Inner Landscape, Exploring Personal Mythology Through Writing and Mask Making

Marketing with a local newspaper column and more Lisa Lombard O'Reilly of Your Stories Written joins us for a conversation about personal history. Listen as we discuss: Lisa's experience writing her dad's life story book using Kindle Direct Publishing for cheap proof copies and supplying friends with print-on-demand books Lisa's monthly column on personal history for Coastal View, a local print publication Lisa approached the publisher of Coastal View after attending a workshop given by Annie Payne, a colleague out of Australia. Annie gave expert advice on mastering your community and becoming the go-to personal historian. Lisa also talked about being featured on a blog post by a woman with an historical press. Clairitage Press specializes in local history, with titles written by Karen Dustman. Read the article here or here. If you want more ideas about writing local history, check out Episode 47 with Patricia Hamilton. Links & Stuff Find Lisa Lombari O'Reilly at her website, Your Stories Written Karen Dustman's Clairitage Press Check out the book she did about her dad:

Part 2 of our interview with Lettice Stuart, Portraits in Words Join us for an insightful conversation about the business of personal history and the art of interviewing. In this episode, Lettice discusses: how much she charges for life story projects, and how that number has grown through the years a clever pre-meeting tactic that gets Lettice into the right frame of mind for that always-difficult money conversation with clients [Correction: with this technique, it doesn't have to be diffult!] how, when, and why to bring in outside editing help working with a partner the extreme importance of listening, no matter how you do it best [Knitting optional] Links & Stuff You can find Lettice Stuart at Portraits in Words Other episodes mentioned: 29: Rutger Bruining of Story Terrace 53: Part 1, Christine Norton Helps Life Story Writers Get Up and Running 54: Christine Norton, Part 2

Lettice Stuart on Personal History, Part I Lettice Stuart was a journalist with stories in the New York Times when she shifted to writing life stories. While her writing credentials helped give her credibility, it was good old-fashioned conversations with people that grew her business. In part one of the interview, we discuss: the importance of talking about your personal history work in any social situation, and why it's easy how and why to contact groups looking for speakers what to include when you give a public presentation We also talk about why family members may not be capable of getting to the same stories that personal historians do. And what a magical moment it is when you see the light go on in the storyteller's eyes: the book is important, the telling of the stories even more so. In our next episode, Part 2 with Lettice Stuart Stay tuned for the second half of our conversation with Lettice, where Lettice shares how much she charges for her life story books, how she prepares for the money conversation with clients, working with outside editors, and more. Links & Stuff You can find Lettice Stuart at Portraits in Words Want to hear more about the art of interviewing? Check out Episode 3: How to conduct a great interview

For Steve Pender, personal history comes alive in Legacy Video When Steve Pender started his legacy video company years ago, it wasn't to produce videos, but rather to teach DIYers how to make their own. Then technology changed. You still needed the know-how and the artistic flair to produce top-quality videos, but you no longer needed the big commercial studio. That's when Steve pivoted to do what he loved most: create compelling, beautiful legacy videos. Give them options I shape the production to fit the client's wants and needs." Steve uses a winning strategy when he sits down with potential clients for the sales meeting. Instead of shooting out a price right away, he asks lots of questions, then goes back to work up a proposal, complete with costs. He believes in giving the client options: a price for what they said they wanted, and a fallback option that's less expensive. His packages start at $7,500 for a Q&A-style basic video, and increase to $20-25K and up for more deluxe packages. These premium videos include music, archival footage, and more. Listen as Steve talks about: traveling to Italy to shoot as his client visits his ancestral home how Family Legacy Video was featured in the AARP Bulletin Steve's appearance on a local TV show [hint: This was a PR move any of us can use!] how using a freebie as a lead generator can build your email list how the Rotary helped launch his business   A short clip of Steve's legacy shoot in Italy:   Links & Stuff Family Legacy Video website

Baby Boomers Get Their Own Media Platform in Australia This week's episode isn't about the life story profession per se, but about connecting with the Baby Boomer generation, what their needs and wants are, and how one woman built a media platform catering specifically to this underserved market. Rebecca Wilson was a marketing specialist when she put two and two together. First, the Baby Boomers—those roughly 60 years old and up—were being ignored by marketers and the companies whose products and services they touted. Second, the Baby Boomers in Australia (and it's not much different here in the US) hold the purse strings in terms of assets and consumer spending. That translates into a market of people looking for the things they want and ready to spend money to get it, but not finding it online. Enter Starts at 60. Starts at 60 coffee group With a $40 template and a hypothesis, Rebecca set out to change this. She invited people to submit there blog stories and was astounded by the response. Not only did people want to be heard, they wanted to be engaging with the others on her newly-minted site. Word grew, contributors multiplied, and Rebecca's idea took off. In six short years, Starts at 60 has grown to a platform with a million and a half visitors per month. They've also launched a travel arm, Travel at 60, where they can bring the best value in travel offers to an audience hungry to pack their suitcases and go. Now Starts at 60 is looking toward markets outside the US, and there's room for us life story professionals to leverage the systems they've already built. The idea I like best is starting monthly coffee groups. Maybe it's because I saw how lonely my dad was after my mom died. Maybe it's because as a waitress in my teens, I saw how the people who lingered over coffee after dinner seemed to be the best conversationalists, the ones I liked to eavesdrop on as I cleared away their plates (and ashtrays; yes, this was a long time ago!). And what better way to get people interested in preserving their life story than getting them talking about it over coffee, in a safe place among new friends? In this episode, we also discuss: the need to find a group of people with similar mindset, especially after a transition like retirement how Baby Boomers, like the rest of us, want a hybrid experience of online and off-line the importance of building and safeguarding trust among clients or in a community how storytellers of all ages are turning to online research when looking for services (Hint: Have your website and Facebook page up to snuff!) why Baby Boomers make great storytellers (let me know what you think about my new slogan: More wrinkles, better stories). and more. Links & Things Visit Starts at 60 Want to get your client a byline and possibly feedback? Contact Starts at 60 about blog submissions. Establish a Starts at 60 coffee group in your area

Running and growing a video life story business This is part 2 of our interview with Mike O'Krent (listen to part 1 here). In this episode, you'll hear Mike talk about public speaking and how it can grow the public's awareness of our services. (Hint: Check out Toastmasters for improving your speaking skill and spreading the word about your services) the power of seeking out influential people and connectors in your community how to ask for referrals and virtual introductions (via email) how being humble can hurt—read Mike's article, "Being Humble is Nothing to Brag About" listening with your whole body (check out this TED Talk with Evelyn Glennie) speaking at family business programs Mike's TEDx Talk It wasn't easy, but Mike made his dream come true: After sending out over 60 pitches, he landed a spot on the TEDx stage in Wilmington. One of the key factors was enlisting the help of Taylor Conroy of The Idea Collective, a company that helps people "land the talk, do the talk, spread the talk." Mike's video for Beldon Roofing Beldon Group of Companies video (short version) from Mike OKrent on Vimeo. Mike's TEDx Talk Links & Stuff Mike's company, LifeStories Alive, LLC Toastmasters USC Shoah Foundation Listen to our interviews with Rich Polt, episode 55 and 56.

How volunteering for Steven Spielberg sparked a career saving stories (This is part 1 of our interview with Mike O'Krent. Listen to part 2 here.) Mike O'Krent was volunteering for an organization in Austin when he learned about Survivors of the Shoah, a foundation created by Steven Spielberg to interview and record the stories of Holocaust survivors. His training in L.A. set him up for successful interviews with survivors in Texas. In an article by Rich Polt (a previous guest on this podcast), Mike says, “These conversations are not going to be easy, nor should they be. In some cases, you’ll be asking loved ones to recall events and memories that have long been dormant. That’s OK. Don’t shy away from asking the hard questions.” Don’t shy away from asking the hard questions." Mike's work with the Shoah Foundation helped him discover his passion for interviewing people and helping them save their story. Today, he runs LifeStories Alive, LLC, a video company that documents the stories of individuals, non-profits, and businesses.     Links & Stuff Mike's company, LifeStories Alive, LLC USC Shoah Foundation

Photos contain hidden clues, and Maureen Taylor knows how to find them. Maureen Taylor's early career as a curator exposed her to lots of photos. But it wasn't until she opened shop as a photo historian that she discovered just how many unidentified photos people have. Frequent questions she hears: Who is in the photo? What is happening in the photo? Where was the photo taken? Rachel Rifkin's photo experiment Rachel Rifkin, a fellow personal historian, posted photos of herself alongside images of her relatives. Donning similar clothing and mimicking the subject in the old photos, she bore a strong resemblance to her relatives—including a bearded man from yesteryear. Click on photo to see Rachel's post. Patterns Change perspective to see the unseen in photos. That's where the big reveals come in. Not everyone can see faces; not everyone can see details. Some people suffer from "face-blindness," the inability to differentiate the faces they see. Go here and scroll down to find the quiz, "Are you a super-recognizer?" Maureen does her detective work on my family photos     Links & Stuff Visit Maureen's website View Maureen's photo detective courses The Burns Archive, a collection of post-mortem photos Listen to The Photo Detective Podcast on iTunes or watch on Maureen's YouTube channel And just because it's so fun, take a look at her video on hairstyles through the years:   Maureen's books:

Recording and Editing Video Legacy Stories In part 1 of this episode, Rich Polt talked about the lead-up to recording day. Today, he breaks down exactly what happens when he and his crew show up to film the storyteller. He also discusses phase 3 of the process: editing the footage. When he first started Acknowledge Media, Rich spent hours teaching himself Adobe Premiere Pro. But while he sees the need to have the skills that are foundational to the projects he creates, he recognizes that his team of videographers (including Jordan Freeman), editors, archival producers, and media directors are better suited to the technical side of things, while he handles the rest of it: new business development, sales, marketing, HR, and, of course, the most important task of all—conducting the interviews. Backed by a solid (and growing) team, Rich makes sure that all the projects are up to his standards, with each undergoing a final pass by him before being delivered to the client. Types of Projects Rich's offerings have grown over the years, and now include three distinct packages: a 3-4 hour narrative, including all footage shot a showcase, including the above 3-4 hours plus a 5-6 minute highlight reel a feature, including both products above, plus a highly edited documentary film with music score, b-roll footage, archival assets, and more. Gear When he began, Rich and his videographer used two DSLR cameras and lav mics on all. Today, they've switched to two high-end video cameras and a boom mic for the storytellers. My biggest surprise? When Rich said that a beginner can get great results with two iPhone cameras. It won't be the same quality as what he produces, but it's the listening and questioning skills you bring to the interview that will define your core value, not the high-tech gadgetry. (Hint: Two cameras, no matter what kind you use, will give you far greater results than just one.) Rich also spoke frankly about his prices: where he started, what he charges now, how those prices will likely rise in the future. The important thing is to make your prices reflect the quality of your work. And then, of course, identify the market willing to pay for that exceptional quality. You can find part one of our interview here. Bonus: We didn't mention this in the podcast, but if you want to know what a great email newsletter looks like, check out how Rich does it here. Better yet, subscribe to his newsletter. Links & Stuff Acknowledge Media

Rich Polt started his legacy video company in 2016; three years later, it's growing by leaps and bounds. (This is part 1 of our conversation. To see part 2, click here.) Rich Polt left a lucrative career as owner of a public relations firm to pursue his passion—helping people record their legacy stories on film. And he did it all without knowing a thing about movie-making. It started with a personal project called Talking GOOD, where Rich interviewed change-makers with the power to inspire others. The epiphany came when Rich went off-script to ask his interviewee a highly personal question, something he didn't normally do. The man cried, and so did Rich. That was all Rich needed to understand the power of sharing stories. Acknowledge Media brings the same high production values of documentary filmmaking to the world of legacy preservation. Listen as we discuss: how Rich gave himself a year of working for free to build up his portfolio some of the mistakes he made as a novice interviewer (hint: get comfortable with your inteviewee's emotions!) the benefits of having regular meetings with his mentor, Mike O'Krent of LifeStories Alive (and soon-to-be guest on this podcast) the three phases of any legacy video project Because Rich had so much great stuff to share, we're breaking this podcast into two parts. In this episode, we get into the specifics of phase one of his projects. Rich gives a breakdown of the 2-3 hour session he spends with the interviewees before the cameras make their appearance. He uses this conversation to create a detailed roadmap for the recorded interview. A few tips: In order to keep the storyteller from launching into an anecdote during this first conversation, Rich asks them to name the stories that come to mind with a headline. He includes it in his notes, a reminder or tag to include that topic in his recorded interview. As part of phase one, he sends the storyteller's adult children a questionnaire, which includes the following questions: What are the stories you want to hear? What are the red flag topics that may be difficult for your parents to talk about? What are the things you've always wanted to ask but never have? Rich then creates a spreadsheet with questions, pouring in the answers to those he already knows, examining the whole to find the narrative shape that will guide him during the recorded interview. Listen to part two of our conversation, where Rich discusses the recording, editing, and pricing.   Bonus: We didn't mention this in the podcast, but if you want to know what a great email newsletter looks like, check out how Rich does it here. Better yet, subscribe to his newsletter. Links & Stuff Acknowledge Media Mike O'Krent's LifeStories Alive Talking GOOD The interview that changed the trajectory for Rich: Real Father from Matthew Paul D'Agostino on Vimeo.

Christine Norton has expanded her life story business by taking on business licensees.

How a life story writer ramped up her business with licensees Christine Norton is passionate about telling people's stories. And she knew others were, too. But not everyone is comfortable with creating a business from the ground up, and that's where her Forget-Me-Not Life Stories writing partner program comes in. In exchange for a business license fee, her writing partners get everything they need to get their own memoir-writing service companies up and running. Listen as we discuss this and much more, including: the high-end, hand-bound book design, created especially for Forget-Me-Not Life Stories, that allows clients to later add more pages to their books the value of celebrating photos and memorabilia in highly designed life story books her mentoring and coaching program, offered to clients who need some help as they write their own life story how the success of her business licensees equates to her own success what her licensees get as an official Forget-Me-Not Life Stories writing partner Because Christine had so much great stuff to talk about—and I don't want anyone missing any of it—I split our conversation in two. Check back next week to hear part two of the interview.   Curious about how her writing partners are finding clients? Check out this incredible list of their speaking gigs.   Talks given by the Forget Me Not Lifestories members up to end September 2017 AUCKLAND Bupa Wattle Downs Retirement Village Bupa Erin Park Retirement Village Ryman Grace Joel Retirement Village Ryman Bruce McLaren Retirement Village East Coast Bays Library Highgrove Retirement Village Rosedale Retirement Village Lady Allum Retirement Village Bert Sutcliffe Retirement Village The Poynton Retirement Village Birkenhead Rotary Club Northcote Rotary Club Devonport Rotary Club Takapuna Probus Glenfield Probus St Andrews Parish Ginger ‘n Bread Group One Tree Hill Ladies Probus Club Inner Wheel Club of Auckland East One Tree Hill Rotary Club, Onehunga Lynfield-Hillsborough-Mt Roskill Rotary Club Auckland Harbourside Rotary Club Ponsonby Probus Rotary Western Springs Manurewa Gardens Probus club Summerset Retirement Village, Manukau Ormiston Probus, Auckland Takapuna Probus, Auckland Selwyn Park Retirement Village, Hillsborough WAIKATO (including TAUPO) Views on Vogel (Resthaven) Retirement Village, Cambridge BUPA St Kilda Retirement Village, Cambridge BUPA St Andrews Retirement Apartments, Hamilton Lauriston Park Ret Vill, Leamington, Cambridge Selwyn St Andrews Ret Vill, Cambridge Tahuna Lions Club, Tahuna Golf Club Trevellyn Retirement Apartments, Hamilton Cambridge Lyceum Hilda Ross Ret Village, Hamilton Cambridge Senior Net North Gate Community Church, Hamilton Alandale Retirement Village, Hamilton Aged Care Network Hub, Hamilton Age Concern, Hamilton Summerset Retirement Village, Taupo BAY OF PLENTY (including the Western and Eastern BOP) Aged Care Network Hub, Tauranga Recycled Teenagers, Mount Maunganui Age Concern, Tauranga Branch Ryman Bob Owen’s Retirement Village, Bethlehem Ryman Bob Owen’s Retirement Village, Bethlehem (Show and Tell) Katikati History Group Association of Anglican Women, Gate Pa, Tauranga Tauranga Women’s Lions Group Sunday Scribblers, Katikati Baptist Church, Mount Maunganui Papamoa Branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Lions Club, Omokoroa Somervale Retirement Village, Tauranga Age Concern, Tauranga Vision Retirement Village, Papamoa, Tauranga Metlifecare Bayswater, Tauranga Rotary Club Sunrise, Tauranga Rotary Club of Tauranga Rotary Club of Katikati Althorp Retirement Village, Tauranga Rotary Club of Otumoetai Carmel Country Estate Retirement Village, Tauranga Bureta Probus, Tauranga Vision Probus, Tauranga Avenues Probus, Tauranga Katikati Probus Mt Maunganui Probus, Bay of Plenty Men's Group, St John's Church, Otumoetai, Tauranga Kowhai Rebus Probus Omokoroa Beach Probus Omokoroa History Group Acacia Park Rest Home, Omokoroa, to celebrate International Elders’ Day Workshops,

End of Life Coach Janet Bieschke on serving the dying. Dr. Janet Bieschke has turned her retirement into a double career: She serves the hospice community as both life story gatherer and life coach. In her work with the dying, she makes room for a "sigh of relief"—the chance to share not only stories, but also regrets, forgiveness, and "I love yous."

Wealth Managers and Financial Advisors as Referral Partners This week, David O'Neil talks to us about how and why we should be developing relationships with financial advisors and wealth managers.

From Life Stories to Business Histories David O'Neil founded Story Trust in 2007; several years later, he recognized the natural connection between life stories for individuals and stories that recount the history of a business. His most recent book was an outgrowth of an oral history conducted several years ago. With the upcoming centennial anniversary of the family's company, they reached out to him to create a book of memories, recipes, and memorabilia, with an initial a print run of 2,500 copies.

The author of Handling the Truth and Tell the Truth. Make It Matter on how we can help others write memoirs that matter "It's all about the questions you ask." This is advice given by Beth Kephart to memoir writers, but it's just as applicable for those who ghostwrite memoirs.

Last week, Patricia Hamilton talked about the book she created for her community in California. Today, she discusses the ins and outs of publishing books for individuals and for life story writers.

In today's episode, Patricia Hamilton, publisher at Park Place Publications, discusses a project near and dear to her heart: a curated community history with contributions from residents of Pacific Grove, California.

If you're a podcast fan who happens to write memoir—for yourself or for clients—you're probably familiar with the dulcet tones of Ann Kroeker, a writing coach who doles out advice and inspiration on her podcast, "Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach." In today's episode, Ann talks about the role of a writing coach and how she went from "editing with a coach's heart" to "coaching with an editor's eye."   Win a free copy of Scrivener Don't forget to enter our contest before February 18 to win a free Mac or PC version of the writing software Scrivener. To enter, submit a written review of the podcast to iTunes, then drop an email to amy@thelifestorycoach with "I reviewed the podcast" in the subject line. That's it! Until next time, go out and save someone's story. Links & Stuff Check out Ann's online courses here. Visit her website. Listen to her podcast:             Books mentioned: Excerpt from our interview with Ann Kroeker Amy:                                           I discovered Ann through her podcast. She creates these really wonderful short podcast posts about anything and everything having to do with writing. So I thought oh, how perfect to have her on the show. Ann, welcome to the Life Story Coach Podcast. Ann Kroeker:                        Thank you, it's great to be here. Amy:                                           Why don't we jump into things by having you tell us a little bit about what got you into, not so much writing, but coaching writers. Ann Kroeker:                        That is a great question. When somebody proposed that I might be a writing coach I said, "What's a writing coach?" So it's not something I intentionally sought, it's just something I naturally was doing. So I'll just back up a little bit prior to when I launched this business as a writing coach. I had been a writer, I really launched my writing life as a poet out of college, and then went into freelance writing, essays, and then eventually got online, like most of us did, with a website, and used the blog feature to write blog posts and what I now like to say just articles. 'Cause blogging is sort of transforming now. Ann Kroeker:                        But I was creating content. And then I joined various communities, especially too, in particular, that were writing-focused. And through that, I ended up on the editorial team of two of these online organizations. So I was working with other editors and I had a managing editor. But then I was also still submitting content to other places too. So I was seeing writing from different angles. And my managing editor at one of those organizations said, "Ann the way that you edit these people's work is with a coaching heart. You really want them to succeed, you're trying to help them improve as you're editing their content." And it's true. And part of that came from her training. Ann Kroeker:                        So at some point she said, "I really think you should become a writing coach." In fact, so much so that I said, "Oh, that's a good idea." I had already put editor as part of my tagline at the time, and she said, "No, no, no. Just writing coach." And I couldn't bring myself to do it. It used to be writing coach, Ann Kroeker, writing coach, editor, friend. And she said, "You really need to narrow that down to writing coach and just let that be your thing." And it took me a little while to even understand really what a writing coach could bring to people. But I went ahead and foraged on with this editor thing. And then I realized I can't do it all. I didn't have enough time because of some life restrictions that were happening with family. Ann Kroeker:                        So I had to drop something, so I did drop editor from my tagline and from some of my ... I didn't offer that as a main service anymore. And when I did that I had to drop friend too, which my son thought was hilarious. "You're no longer anybody's friend." So I just became Ann Kroeker, writing coach.

Mike Oke of Bound Biographies doesn't write his clients' life stories; they do. Funny how we think our way of doing something is the standard approach. And then along comes someone like Mike Oke, a 27-year veteran life story writer, who says he can't believe everybody else isn't following the model he practices. After our podcast interview, I can see where he's coming from.

Gwen Hernandez is novelist who learned Scrivener the natural way—by using it. She shared what she knew with the online community, and her reputation as someone who not only used the writing software, but someone who could explain how to use it, took off. The author of Scrivener for Dummies talks to The Life Story Coach about some of the ways we can keep our writing, research, interviews, and everything else organized with what she calls the "project manager for books."

Rachel Brenke with advice for life story professionals—it's not as hard as you think! Going into business for yourself can be scary. There are forms to fill out, licenses to apply for, new checking accounts to set up. And then there's the whole business about contracts, services agreements, insurance—do I need it or not?—along with lots of other things that can send your head into a spin.

In this episode, we discuss, how productivity is about being effective and efficient at the right time; how procrastination, like any other habit, can be replaced by a better one; how clutter (my old friend clutter!) is symptomatic of delayed decision making (read: procrastination); Cynthia's three dead simple questions for strategic planning.

This one is a quickie! I give you an overview of how I use Scrivener to wrastle documents into order so that I can find them when I need them. You'll also see how the split Editor pane in Scrivener is a life story gal's best friend.

Going from interview transcript to book draft can be hard. That's why I decided to share my system with you. In this episode, I talk about how I used to do it with Mac Pages. In part II, I'll talk about how I edit life story books with Scrivener.

Jenny Doan and her family started the Missouri Star Quilt Company. A decade later, Jenny's quilting tutorials have been watched by millions, and her love of quilting has spurred people around the globe to create quilts of their own. Along the way, fans have sent stories behind the family heirloom quilts that have been collected into several books. Jenny discusses quilting, the importance of family stories, and how the two are related.

Today's guests are part of a VA program that recruits interns, student nurses, community volunteers and others to record the life stories of veterans in VA hospitals. The narrative is included in the patient's medical chart, a tactic designed to allow a fuller understanding of the patient by the care team.

Lili Shank is a life story professional who helps people preserve their stories as told by them, in their own voice. Listen as she discusses:

Donna Strickland knows firsthand how painful writing can be. When she started hating the book she was writing, she knew something had to change. That's when she discovered the principles of mindful writing, a practice she teaches in classes and workshops across the US.

Like a lot of us, Brittany Bare was inspired by a relationship with a close relative to make the jump into the life story business. Where she's different from most, though, is that she's set up My Life, My Stories as a 501(c)(3)—a non-profit organization. On this episode, she talks about matching volunteers to seniors, serving seniors from under-represented populations (including those who speak a foreign language), and pitching her program to residential facilities and community centers.

Life story work is "heart-driven" work, and like other service-oriented professions, it attracts people who may not feel comfortable with the money-making side of their business. Sarah White knows how important it is for us to charge what we're worth; more importantly, she knows how to help us over the obstacles that keep us from doing so. She has taken her training in Guided Autobiography and created a workshop aimed at helping us uncover our "story" about money: the attitudes and assumptions that we absorbed in childhood, the very attitudes and assumptions that may be sabotaging our financial success today.

Mark is the author of 13 books, including Black Hawk Down, Hue 1968, and the upcoming The Last Stone. Listen as we discuss the craft of researching, reporting, and writing.

The Writer's Diet—a book and companion website—won't spiff up your prose for you, but it will point you toward the flaws that can make writing dull and stodgy. Listen to learn about five common trouble spots in writing, how to spot them in your own prose, and what you can do to fix them.

Scrivener is a powerful app created especially for writers. Find out some of the key functions that make it an indispensable tool for life story writing.

Dawn Roode of Modern Heirloom Books creates beautiful life story books using skills she learned from her career in magazines, where she did work with Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, and Parenting. She recently relaunched her life story business with new signature products, including custom-made stories for brides.

Rutger Bruining of Story Terrace talks about creating movement in the world of life stories. He believes that having a book about your life should be the norm, not the exception, and his company is helping make that happen. They match up freelance writers with customers. If you're interested in writing for them, give this a listen.

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing talks about connecting with clients, identifying the problem you can help them solve, and the life story project he did for his own mom.

Janet Kirkman talks about writing life stories for pets (including show dogs) and for cherished possessions. The unconventional focus allows the story of a person or family to emerge.

Today's episode is part 1 or our interview with Janet Kirkman, a 15-year veteran or life story writing. She talks to us about writing life stories, clients who self-publish, teaching memoir classes, and more.

Who takes responsibility of documenting a family's memories? After becoming a mom, Hilary Robison also took on the mantle of "keeper of family memories." Her experience led her and her husband to found Legacy Tale, where they help clients "learn how intentional living, memory-making, and technology come together to build stronger families and make life more enjoyable."

Bookkeeping woes? Candus Kampfer says: Keep it simple. Candus Kampfer knows bookkeeping. When her hair stylist cried with relief after Candus showed her how to pull her accounting reports, Candus knew she wanted to help others. She began making short, focused video tutorials about Quickbooks in 2014, and her following grew. Candus big message: keep it simple. It doesn't need to be overcomplicated. But remember that bookkeeping is a vital part of your business. It's not just for doing taxes! Track the numbers throughout the year. Numbers are a black and white way to view your business. How to get started? Start by opening a business bank account; don't co-mingle your personal and business expenses! Keep records on paper: Use columns to designate expense categories, e.g fuel, office supplies, meals and entertainment [Hint: keep the categories fairly broad]. Or use an Excel spreadsheet to track your numbers   There are three types of reports you should be pulling: 1) Profit and Loss the top--your income, what you're being paid from your clients, based on categories of products or services below--all of your business expenses bottom line: did you make a profit or take a loss for the time frame chosen Questions to consider when looking at the P&L report: Have you been making an income in the areas you expected to? Are you making  more income in one area over another (e.g. producing books vs. producing audios)? Keep track of your expenses; where is your money going, and how does the outgo compare to the income? Compare a date range to a previous date range, e.g. this month vs last month. 2) The balance sheet All assets, all liabilities, all equity, and your net worth (Hint: The net should match the number on your P&L if you chose the same end date). The balance sheet is a snapshot of your business at a particular moment. 3) Sales by Item Summary (this report is specific to Quickbooks) For creating invoices within Quickbooks, use "items"; items are more detailed than the categories on your P&L. These items give details on the services and products you provide. It will show you the income you're generating on this specific services and products, and their percentage of the overall income. Knowing this allows you to proactively guide the business in the direction you want it to go. For example, you may see you need to do some marketing to grow a particular area. How to determine profitability in a service-based business Add a value to your time tracking Set up a non0payroll item with your service item and cost   I use Toggl for time tracking. For most of us, the free version is fine—it's what I used for years. I only upgraded to the paid version when I wanted to start drilling down into the statistics of how I was spending my time. To get your effective hourly rate, you have to track all business-related hours worked, not just billable time. Quickbooks: for each customer, you can enter billable AND non-billable time. When you go into Profit & Loss by job and by customer, it tracks the costs for you without counting it as income.   The entrepreneur's struggle: understanding the value of your work What would I like to earn? How much time do I have to work per month? Being confident with your billing comes over time. Kind, loving praise from clients helps!   Discomfort with invoicing (whether it's on your end or your client's) can be alleviated by stating things clearly in writing. Trust your gut feeling on whether it's a good match between you and a potential client.   Routine bookkeeping tasks Download or manually enter your bank transactions Enter expenses Track your income Reconcile bank and credit card accounts If using desktop version, back up your Quickbooks to an external drive (or any accounting software) [Hint: Do not use Dropbox to back up Quickbooks] Pulling reports P&L,

Set your clients expectations before you give them the first draft If you’re a writer, you know rough drafts are just that: rough. They’re not meant to be polished and perfect. They’re going to have mistakes. But your clients most likely aren't writers, and they’re not going to know that. And when you hand them one thing and they’re expecting another, it has the potential to cause a problem. It’s our job as the professional guiding the process to set the stage. We don’t want the client thinking the rough draft is the final book, minus the official cover. I’m going to talk about the specific steps I take to manage clients’ expectations, but first I want to talk about the kinds of mistakes we have in those early drafts:   Mistakes in the writing There are mistakes in things like punctuation and grammar, transitions, even chunks of material that may need to be shifted to a different section. And that’s all okay, because now is not the time to be delivering a smooth, tightly-written draft. Editing happens later in the process, after the draft is written to completion. For one thing, if you’re still doing interviews, you’ll be getting new information about a subject or time period you’ve already covered in the draft. Nobody tells their story during the interviews in a completely chronological fashion—and that’s why they’re hiring us, to put the bits where they belong, so they don’t have to worry about how they’re telling the story, they can just go along with the flow of it. It doesn’t have to come out in any given order. But when you’re on interview five and they go more in depth into a story that they told you back in interview two, you’re going to go back and work that into the draft. If the writing is already tight and smooth and flawless, then it’s going to take you that much more time to sort of disassemble it, work the new material in, then polish it up again, with the proper transitions etc. So in the end, you’ll spend time un-doing and re-doing the work that you shouldn’t have done yet in the first place. These are the mistakes that will probably bother us as writers the most. But unless your client is a retired English teacher, they’re not going to be paying nearly as much attention to the prose as they are the content.   Mistakes in the content This brings me to the second big category: mistakes in names, places, dates, details of their life story. They know things that you’re just getting acquainted with, so you don’t have the “reading glasses” so to speak, to see them. You can create all the timelines and place lines and gather all the data in a super organized system, but mistakes will still crop up. Now, sometimes that’s because we misread something, or just got confused about something, but sometimes it’s because the storyteller has contradicted themself , or you find something in a source document that contradicts what they’ve said. I’m working with a client right now who didn’t find some new materials written by older members of his family until well into the process, and there was a bunch of stuff he told me that turns out to be flat out wrong. I never picked up that he was just speculating when he was talking about the earlier generations and he never told me he was doing it. And it’s all okay now, because he was ecstatic to find these memoirs written by the people about their own experiences. So mistakes will happen. And that’s perfectly acceptable—as long as you prepare your storyteller. How do you set the storyteller's expectations? Talk to them. For all mistakes that originate with the client, it’s really important to let them know that it’s natural and it happens to everyone. The one thing we want to avoid like the plague is to have them start self-censoring. We don’t want them getting hung up on whether their grandma was born in 1903 or 1906—those things can be verified, or just left out. And if they contradict themselves, even if the draft comes back and they tell us we got some...

At a past Reminiscence Conference Want to earn an online certificate in Reminiscence and Life Story Work? Then this episode is for you. Today we talk to Esther Gieschen at University of Wisconsin, Superior about the academic field of reminiscence and life review and what we as practitioners of life story work can learn from it. Topics discussed: the role of reminiscence and life story work as narrative therapy how the academic field can serve as a foundation of knowledge for practitioners out in the field, whether that's life story professionals running a business or volunteers serving their community (e.g. one student applied what she learned in the program to a group reminiscence project with cancer patients) Barbara Haight, who conducted tests to create her structured life review the benefits of integrating memories from the past and how it can enrich someone's present and future Erik Erikson's stages of life development Cheryl Svensson and Guided Autobiography (listen to Sam Uhl about her experience as a student in Cheryl's GAB class) the value of sharing common memories how each person processes and retrieves memories differently, so even when we are experiencing something together, our memories of that shared experience will vary. Faith Gibson and her book, Reminiscence and Life Story Work: A Practice Guide how group reminiscence sessions can act to heal conflict within a community; the example of a woman from the UK who used a group session to have recent immigrants sit down with long-term residents, some of whom had been immigrants themselves 70 years earlier. The conversation helped them see how much they had in common. [As an interesting aside, I follow the work of Laird Schaub, a consultant who helps intentional communities (think communes) resolve the conflicts that inevitably arise in their communities. He writes about it here.] the storytelling certificate program through the Kansas City-area Mid-Continent Library System (incidentally, also the home to the Midwest Genealogy Center, the largest free-standing public genealogy facility in the US and a favorite destination for family historians) James Walsh, professor at University of Colorado and his talk on reminiscence theater. A book by Pam Schweitzer describes it as "seeing and realising the dramatic potential in real life stories. [Reminiscence theatre] takes verbatim memories as the basis for theatre scripts, using the experiences of older people as a source of artistic productions and therapeutic creativity." The 2018 Annual Reminiscence Conference: the who, what, where, and why The conference takes place November 12-13, 2018, at the Hilton Boston Back Bay, in Boston, MA, with pre- and post-conference workshops on hospice/end-of-life reminiscence and on cultural perspectives. The keynote this year is Jefferson Singer on “The Varieties of Remembered Experience."   Want to sign up for the certificate program? Click here to get on the waiting list for 2019. Not sure you're ready to take the plunge? Esther advises that you look at the course reading list. the books used in the course: Listen Up! The Art of Interviewing for Personal History by Paula Stahel Mountain Girls, by Stephanie Kadel Taras   Click here to pre-order the new book, International Perspectives on Reminiscence, Life Review and Life Story Work (due out November, 2018) Want to join the Reminiscence and Life Review registry? It's open to academics, researchers, and business owners. Find out more here.   If you enjoyed this episode, click here to leave us a review on iTunes. Thanks for helping us spread the word! Now go out and save someone's story.

Erika Ettin gives people A Little Nudge up in the dating world What does online dating have to do with life stories? A lot. If you've ever looked at a dating site, you've seen a user profile, that miniature snapshot, in words and pictures, of a person in search of a partner. And just like with life stories, some people need help writing them. Erika recognized this need years ago when friends started asking for her help with their own profiles. She got so good at it that she left her job in the finance industry and created A Little Nudge, a service that caters to singles ready to jump into the online dating pool but not sure they know how to swim. Erika assists her clients through profile writing, picture selection, coaching, and date planning. In this episode, we talk about what it looks like to write a client's dating profile and even the messages they send to potential dates. Listen as we discuss: Erika's biggest demographic— Women over 50 (a typically common demographic, incidentally, for life story clients) turning what you love to do into a viable business the process of creating a client's online dating profile the narrow line between coaching and therapy serving a population of people who are single, but don't want to be managing clients' expectations the gratification of working with someone fresh out of a long-term relationship who is just getting to know herself again   A few questions life story writers can borrow from Erika I'm always looking for interesting, conversation-stimulating questions to ask my storytellers. Here are a few that will elicit more playful responses: What's something about you that your friends would make fun of? Do you have any stupid human tricks (i.e. something you wouldn't put on a resume!)? Tell on yourself! What's a funny or awkward story about you that makes you shake your head and say, "Yep, that's me!"   What it takes to be a good dating profile writer-for-hire You have to be an excellent writer. You have to be intuitive about people. You have to be a good businessperson and salesperson.   Links, contacts, and stuff: A Little Nudge Erika's book: The New York Times article featuring Erika and her business Listen to Erika's podcast, So, We Met Online... Like this episode? Help others find it by leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening! Now go out and save someone's story (or help them find a partner!)

Welcome to episode 1 of the Nitty-Gritty This is the first episode of a new occasional series within the Life Story Coach podcast. In the Nitty-Gritty, we'll talk about the practical aspects of our work. Today, we're going look at file naming conventions. Yep, it's dry and boring. But you won't think it's boring if things go haywire with your files because you never bothered to adopt a naming convention. Why do we need a file naming convention? So that we can put our hands on our files quickly and easily, and so they don’t go missing. Or if they do, we know how they’re named so we can go look for them. Let your naming convention evolve; then make sure to stick with it consistently! HINT: Start your client folders with a # (this will bump them to the top of your folder list in Dropbox’s finder window) Standard folders within each client’s folder: interviews and transcripts drafts delivered scans (including a separate folder for online scans) research Want to see what my naming convention looks like? Download the PDF here.   Links and tools mentioned: Pat McNees' Writers and Editors Rev.com Dropbox Adobe Bridge (available by subscription only; try looking for an older version to buy)   Like what you heard? Help spread the word by leaving a review on iTunes.