Start & Run a Personal History Business. Jennifer Campbell

you can emulate in your own courses. (More on leading workshops in Chapter 15.)

      2.1d Magazines and newspapers

      Read newspapers, or at least scan headlines for items about personal history, memoirs, memory, storytelling, life-review programs for the elderly, etc. Go to the library and look at magazines for writers, genealogists, and family historians. Scour newspapers and the Internet for upcoming events.

      2.1e Read the genre

      Read memoirs and biographies. Your clients are more likely to be “ordinary” people than celebrities, but any well-written memoir will give you a sense of what makes interesting reading. Memoirs can often have all the elements of a good novel or any type of good writing: tension, resolution, believable characters, a vivid setting, dramatic arcs, and an interesting narrative voice. As you read, make your own list of things that you think make a good memoir, and make note of what resonates with you so that you can make recommendations to your clients.

      Read a few business histories, even if you don’t plan on offering them initially.

      Read how-to guides — both books and websites — about telling your life story, writing other peoples’ stories, capturing family histories, scanning photos and, if you plan to do your own design, some good books on layout and graphic design. Even if you don’t plan to do your own design, you need to be able to understand the language, and what goes into good design. Go to the library and browse for books with attractive, appealing layouts.

      Read books and magazines and do Internet research about working with the elderly, life review and reminiscence, and memory. “Active aging” is gaining more and more attention as our society gets older, and you’ll find a lot of material that will help you understand how memory works. Some groups to explore include The International Institute for Reminiscence and Life Review, American Association of Retired People (AARP), the Canadian Association of Retired People (CARP), the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health’s MedlinePlus website.

      3. Business Research and Preparation

      3.1 Know thy market

      If you already know what products and services you’ll be offering, do some preliminary research into your target market. In a typical personal history project, you’ll be capturing and preserving the life story of an older person (the narrator), but your initial contact might be in his or her 40s or 50s. You’ll have to familiarize yourself with both these market segments. Read about self-publishing and learn how it is done (for more on this topic, see Self-Publishing 101, also published by Self-Counsel Press). There is much more information about marketing in Chapter 9.

      Whatever your niche — wedding books, corporate histories, etc. — start to think about how you can sell your services.

      3.2 Brush up on or learn computer skills

      You will probably spend more time with your computer than you ever thought imaginable. It will be your hub for writing and editing in Word, doing accounting or number-crunching in Excel, emailing current and potential clients, researching, checking facts, scouting out potential leads, and much more.

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

      Take a few moments to write down why you want to do this work. What are your motivations? Why do you think you’ll succeed? What are your short-term and long-term goals? Do you want to build a real business, or is this a one-shot deal for a specific project, like writing the history of your town or community? Write one or two paragraphs that capture your vision. (For more about mission statements and business plans, see Chapter 4.)

      3.4 Check out potential competition

      Ask friends and family if they know anyone who has done a family history book or memoir. Ask at the library, historical society, and genealogical society if they know any local people who provide this service. Search the library for self-published family histories or local histories, and take note of who wrote them, designed them, and published them. Take every opportunity to ask people if they have any interest in doing their memoirs or capturing their parents’ or grandparents’ stories. At this stage you’re just trying to get a sense of general interest and elicit responses like, “Oh, Ruth Jones hired someone to do that for her mom. I’ll get the name for you.”

      3.5 Set up your office

      Start planning your special space. For now, you need to decide whether you’ll work from home or rent office space elsewhere. There are pros and cons to both. Working from home is free — assuming you have room for an office and don’t have to build an addition — and convenient, and gives you a lot of flexibility. You can work around children’s schedules, appliance repair people, deliveries, or other commitments that require you to be home. Of course, distractions are ever-present and you need a lot of self-discipline to ignore them and get on with your work. An advantage of a home office is that you can use a portion of your expenses such as mortgage payments and utility costs as tax deductions. (Of course, you could also write off the cost of an outside office, plus your travel expenses.) If you decide to work at home, make sure your office is quiet and away from the hubbub. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does need to be yours. This is something you’ll probably want to discuss with your family.

      3.6 Start spreadin’ the news

      It’s not too early to tell friends, family, neighbors, former co-workers (and current coworkers if you have another job) that you’re going to offer personal history services. You might find that you get your first client from this casual announcement! Start keeping track of names and email addresses of potential clients.