Start & Run a Personal History Business

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Jennifer Campbell. Start & Run a Personal History Business

START & RUN A PERSONAL HISTORY BUSINESS

1. The World of Personal History

1. What Is a Personal Historian? An Introduction

2. The World of Personal History. 2.1 A business that’s timely — and timeless

2.2 The memoirs and genealogy phenomenon: Capturing the moment — Past, present, and future

2.3 Honoring the past in a rapidly changing world

2.4 The need for story

2.4a Once upon a (life) time: The power and endurance of story

2.4b The magical bond created by storyteller and listener

2.5 Mind, body, and spirit. 2.5a The baby boomers and memoirs

2.5b The boomers’ parents

2.5c Benefits for the storyteller

3. Genealogy and Personal History

3.1 How a personal historian can work with a genealogist

4. Ten Essential Things You’ll Learn from This Book

5. Summary

2. The Business of Personal History

1. What You Need to Know about Being a Personal Historian

1.1 Suitable backgrounds and interests

1.2 Age

1.3 Solo or partners

1.4 A family affair

1.5 Five really great things about a personal history business

2. Is This Right for You?

2.1 Work preferences

2.1a People-oriented

2.1b Information-oriented

2.1c Idea-oriented

2.2 Financial circumstances

2.2a Working at home

2.3 Times of trial and tribulation

2.4 Lifestyle considerations

2.4a Say “no”

2.4b Say “yes”

2.4c Stay positive

2.4d Don’t bore people!

3. Terms You Should Know

3. Getting Started

1. The Entrepreneurial Attitude: Are You a Pair of Hands or a Visionary?

2. Start Here; Get There

2.1 Total immersion: Absorb as much as you can about the field

2.1a Associations

2.1b Institutions and ongoing projects

2.1c Join a memoir-writing group or take a workshop

2.1d Magazines and newspapers

2.1e Read the genre

3. Business Research and Preparation. 3.1 Know thy market

3.2 Brush up on or learn computer skills

3.3 Create a mini mission statement (by writing down your goals)

3.4 Check out potential competition

3.5 Set up your office

3.6 Start spreadin’ the news

4. Business Foundations

1. Branding: Finding the Essence of Your Company

1.1 What is a brand?

1.2 Business name

1.2a The big picture

1.2b Seven tips for choosing the right name

1.3 Tagline

1.4 Logo

2. Your Business Plan. 2.1 Why a business plan is essential

2.2 Parts of Your Business Plan

2.2a Company profile

2.2b Your elevator speech, or 30-second commercial

2.2c Mission and vision statements

2.2d Products and services

2.2e Industry overview

2.2f Key initiatives and objectives

2.2g Regulatory issues

2.2h Risks

2.2i Implementation plan

2.2j Financial Plan

3. Legalities. 3.1 Registering your business name

3.2 Business bank account

3.3 Taxation issues

3.4 Get it in writing: Your legal documents. 3.4a Client contract

3.4b Cancellation

3.4c Indemnity

3.4d Terms of payment

3.4e Invoice

3.4f Copyright/permissions release form

3.4g Client sign-off/approval form

4. Help from Experts. 4.1 Lawyer

4.2 Accountant

4.3 Insurance agent

4.4 Support groups. 4.4a Advisory boards/mentors

4.4b Mastermind groups and dream teams

5. What You Need

5.1 Equipment

5.1a Computer

5.1b Printer

5.1c Scanner

5.1d Digital recorder: No more cassette tapes

5.1e Microphones

5.1f Foot pedal for transcribing

5.1g Business phone/answering machine/voicemail

5.1h CDs/DVDs, printer paper, file folders

5.1i Digital camera

5.1j Shredder

5.1k External hard drive

5.2 Software

5.2a Microsoft Office

5.2b Adobe Reader

5.2c Photo editing software

5.2d Contact management software

5.3 Workspace

5.4 Reference books and subscriptions. 5.4a Books

5.4b Subscriptions

5. Pricing

1. Pricing Strategy

1.1 Good, better, best

1.2 Your position in the marketplace

1.3 Other factors determining your pricing strategy. 1.3a Cost and value

1.3b Prices can be fluid

1.3c Compensating for special circumstances

2. Methodology: Hourly Charge or Package Price?

2.1 Hourly charge pros and cons

2.1a Hourly charge terms of payment

2.2 Package price pros and cons

3. Pricing Your Services for Profit. 3.1 Determining project scope: How much does a typical personal history cost?

3.2 Phase 1: The manuscript

3.2a Setting an hourly rate

3.2b Your quote: Estimated range or fixed?

3.3 Phase 2: Book publication. 3.3a What to charge

3.3b Hidden demands on your time and money

3.3c Extras for income: Would you like fries with that?

3.3d Project creep and how to avoid it

3.3e Do what you do best and farm out the rest

3.3f Should you discount your prices?

6. Produce a Sample

1. Produce a Sample for Your Customers

2. Produce a Sample for Yourself

3. Produce a Sample for Your Pricing Plans

3.1 Time yourself

3.2 Accounting for expenses

4. Free or Not?

5. Help! I Don’t Have a Sample But I Do Have a Lead!

6. Steps to Create a Personal History (Sample or Paid Project)

7. From “Testing, Testing” to Print: A Step-By-Step Guide to Producing a Personal History

1. Prepare a Project Plan

2. The Pre-Interview

3. Scheduling the Interviews. 3.1 How many interviews do you need?

3.2 How long should you allow for each interview?

3.3 What’s the best time?

4. Transcribing

4.1 Hiring a transcriber

4.1a Things to consider when hiring transcribers

4.2 Style guide

4.3 Reviewing the transcript

5. Transcript to Manuscript. 5.1 The unique nature of a personal history manuscript

5.2 First person or third person?

5.3 The editing process

5.4 Polish

5.5 Client review of first draft

5.6 Editing a manuscript that’s already written

6. Book Production

6.1 First step: The vision

6.2 Custom design

6.3 Do it yourself. 6.3a Layout programs

6.3b Print-on-demand (POD) digital publishing

6.4 Book decisions

6.5 Photos. 6.5a Photo selection

6.5b Handling old photos

6.5c Scanning photos and documents

6.5d Photo enhancement and editing

6.6 Printing and binding options

6.6a Working with printers

6.6b Making it special

6.6c Hand-binding

7. Producing a CD

7.1 The audio recording as the end product

8. The Interview — The Heart of Personal History

1. What Makes a Good Interview? 1.1 You can lead a horse to water …

1.2 A safe and open environment

2. Pre-Interview Preparation

2.1 How many, how long, how often. 2.1a Eight is great

2.1b Try for two

2.1c Give me a break

2.2 Time and place

2.3 Information gathering

3. Structuring the Interviews

3.1 Audio-only (interviews on CD)

3.2 Transcript or lightly-edited transcript

3.3 Fully edited manuscript or book

4. Your First Interview with a New Client

4.1 Preparing your client

4.2 Preparing yourself

5. The Interview Environment

6. Establishing Rapport

7. Listening

8. Interviewing techniques

8.1 He said, she said: Achieving balance

8.2 Assess your narrator and tailor your questions

8.3 Fear not the silence

8.4 Keep it flowing

8.5 Go beyond the surface. 8.5a Challenge your narrator

8.5b Open-ended questions

8.5c Thoughts and feelings

8.5d Ups and downs

8.6 Assume nothing

8.7 Keeping the focus on your narrator

8.8 Keeping on track

8.9 Interviewing more than one person

8.10 Ending an interview. 8.10a Wrap it up

8.10b End on a positive note

8.11 Special considerations when dealing with the elderly. 8.11a Understand limitations

8.11b Treat them royally

8.11c The invisible client: The family

8.11d Working with frail elderly and hospice patients

8.11e Working with the critically ill or terminally ill

8.11f Working with the hearing impaired

8.11g Working with people with dementia/Alzheimer’s

9. Marketing

1. Market Research. 1.1 Why you need market research

1.2 Customers

1.3 Understanding your competition

1.4 SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,Threats)

1.5 Suppliers

1.6 Market trends

1.7 Primary and secondary resources

1.8 Primary research: A customer survey

1.9 Sources of secondary research

2. Marketing Your Business

2.1 Your message. 2.1a Sell the benefits

2.1b Be your authentic self

2.2 Your marketing plan

2.3 Marketing to the 50+ demographic

2.3a Baby boomers versus active retirees and seniors

2.4 Marketing materials

2.4a The big one: Your business card

2.4b Custom-printed stationery

2.4c Brochures

2.4d Postcard

2.4e Samples/presentation folder/media kit

2.4f Business video

10. Your Online Presence

1. Your Website

1.1 Do you really need a website?

1.2 Do it now

1.3 Do it yourself or hire a pro?

1.4 Domain name

1.5 Web hosting

1.6 Navigation/general

1.7 Value-added content

1.8 Sections of your website

1.8a Home page

1.8b About

1.8c Pricing

1.8d Client testimonials

1.8e Samples

1.8f Contact

1.8g In the news

1.9 Look and feel

2. Writing for a Personal History Website

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

4. Other Tips. 4.1 Your email signature

4.2 Website or blog?

4.3 Social media: LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter/Eons MySpace/YouTube

4.4 E-newsletter/e-zine

11. Publicity, Promotion, and Reaching Your Clients

1. The Best Things in Publicity Are Free: Getting Covered in Newspapers, Magazines, and on Radio and Tv

1.1 Know your angle

1.2 Writing a press release

1.2a Tips on writing a good press release

1.3 Be prepared

1.4 Television and radio

2. Public Speaking: Discover Your Inner Ham. 2.1 Wrestle your demons

2.2 Why it’s important

2.3 Opportunity knocks: Suggestions for what to speak about and where to speak

2.3a Public speaking tips

3. Trade Shows

4. Local Fairs, Festivals, and Conferences

5. Connecting with People

5.1 Face-to-face

5.2 Be everywhere and be your business

5.3 Local connectors

5.4 Referrals from former clients

5.5 Complementary/supplementary business colleagues

5.6 Networking and working the ’Net

5.7 Networking groups

5.8 Relevant associations

5.9 Make alliances

5.10 Join for fun!

5.11 Volunteer

6. Contact Management

7. Advertising. 7.1 Quantity and quality

7.2 Making it count

12. Sales

1. Before the Meeting: Preparation

1.1 Your sales folder

1.2 Your samples

1.3 Prepare yourself

2. During the Meeting: Show Time! 2.1 Build rapport and establish parameters

2.2 Establish an emotional connection

2.3 Talk price

2.4 Are you talking to the decision-maker?

2.5 Your sales presentation

2.5a Sales dialogue

2.6 Closing the sale

2.7 Winning a “yes” from a “no” customer

2.7a Adjust your price

2.7b Adjust your product

2.8 Contract at the ready

2.9 “No” just means “not right now”

2.10 After the meeting

3. Sales Possibilities

3.1 Turning a $600 project into a $6,000 project

3.2 Cross-selling

4. Repeat Business: Marketers Would Kill for the Information You Have

5. Cold Calling

13. Client Relations and Customer Service: Nurturing and Managing Potential and Current Clients

1. Communication

1.1 Active listening

1.2 Methods of communicating

1.2a Snail mail versus email

1.2b Phone calls can have downfalls

1.3 Absences

1.4 Frequency of communication

1.5 Honesty and openness

1.6 Conflicts

1.7 Expectations

2. The Many Hats of Customer Service

3. How Can I Wow?

3.1 Let’s give them something to talk about

14. Time Management and Project Management

1. Time Management

1.1 Stay focused on the real priorities

1.2 Recognize your work habits

1.3 Take a break

1.4 Email and the Internet: The great time wasters

2. Project Management. 2.1 Schedule your projects

2.1a Taking on new projects

2.2 Plan your projects

2.3 Track your time

2.3a Billable versus non-billable hours of a project

2.4 In sickness and in health

2.5 Work flow

2.5a Stay organized

2.5b Keep a business diary

2.5c Think ahead

2.5d Keep it moving

2.6 Managing difficult clients. 2.6a Handle criticism with professional grace

2.6b Set boundaries

2.6c Breaking up is hard to do

15. Growing Your Business

1. Expand Your Offerings

1.1 Questions of the heart and soul: Ethical wills and legacy letters

1.2 If these walls could talk! House or heritage building histories. 1.2a Heritage buildings

1.2b B&Bs, hotels and inns, resorts

1.2c Houses

1.3 Corporate or business histories

1.4 Family reunions

1.5 Community/local histories

1.6 Engagement and wedding books

1.7 Memorial books or books of remembrance

1.8 Pet tributes

1.9 Videobiographies

2. Teaching Life-Writing Workshops

2.1 Length and venue

2.2 Pricing

2.3 Preparation

2.4 Environment

2.5 Structure

3. Coaching

3.1 Coaching memoir writers

3.2 Coaching personal historians

16. Accelerating Your Success and Managing Business Growth

1. Avoid Burnout

2. Avoid Veering off Course

3. Definitely Don’t Throw in the Towel

4. Taking Your Financial Pulse. 4.1 So how are things going?

4.2 Business on a tight budget

5. Managing Growth. 5.1 Delegating, outsourcing, subcontracting

5.2 Markup

6. Ongoing Education, Skills Development, and Training. 6.1 Running your business

6.2 Professional development

6.3 Connecting with kindred spirits

6.3a Oral history associations and institutions

6.3b Entrepreneurial and small-business associations

Appendix — Resources

Websites. Genealogy and Family/Local History

Oral and Personal History Associations and Collections

Projects and Institutions

Digital Recording

Bookbinding

Memoirs

Writing Memoirs, Personal and Family History, Leading Workshops

History

A Note From The Author

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Other Titles in the Start & Run Series

Notice to Readers

Self-Counsel Press thanks you for purchasing this ebook

Contents

Отрывок из книги

When I tell people I’m a personal historian, sometimes I hear, “A what?” or, “Like, you do genealogy?” After a quick explanation — “Well, genealogy and personal history are related fields,” — I explain that I help people tell their life stories and publish them in heirloom books for their families and future generations. Within a minute, they’re telling me about a relative who’s led such an interesting life who really should do his memoirs. Or, sadly, about a relative who just passed away and used to tell great stories but no one got a chance to write them down, and now that branch of the family has lost its history. It seems everyone knows somebody who needs a personal historian.

What does a personal historian do? A personal historian steps into other people’s lives for a brief, intense time, asking questions about their background, ancestors, events, and experiences that shaped their lives, relationships, foibles, struggles, accomplishments, regrets, highlights, and low lights — whatever memories, thoughts, feelings, and reflections they wish to talk about and have preserved. In a typical book project, a personal historian guides a person through the telling of his or her life’s stories (or some aspect of his or her life) for a number of hours, records the interviews, transcribes word-for-word, and organizes, edits, and rewrites the transcripts into a polished narrative. Once the manuscript is completed, photos and memorabilia can be added to enhance the story, and everything is laid out in book form and published for the author, his or her family, and friends.

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Boomers want everything for their kids, too. Now that people are recording every waking minute of their children’s lives (including ultrasound images!), a huge piece of the puzzle would be missing if they didn’t also give them their roots and family history. Boomers are the Sandwich Generation, that is, they are between their parents, who are elderly and dying, and their children, who are quickly growing up. If those from the older generation aren’t documenting their lives for the family history book, it’s up to them. They are the storykeepers, the link between generations, feeling a yearning to preserve and pass down their parents’ experiences.

The problem is, most people are just way, way too busy. They lack the time and the knowledge to get it done.

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