In Part 1 of this series I introduced you to writing life histories as a freelance service. Today we’ll look at the specifics of what you can offer.
Specific Services You Can Offer
You can offer a full menu of services that will net you more clients. Some of these services are rarely offered by others so you’ll become the go-to provider for them. This field is wide open and the demand is there. Consider what you’re drawn to the most as you plan your business.
You can offer to do:
- In person interviews
- Phone interviews
- Email interviews
- Online services
- Group interviews
- Fundraisers
- Mini memoirs
- Legacy letters
- Memorials
- Weddings
- Births
- Businesses
- Milestones
Teach Others to Create Personal Histories, Biographies, and Memoirs
It’s amazing to offer this service to others. You can make a great business from that alone. But you might want to offer this additional service and perhaps even specialize in it.
There are many people out there who want to learn how to create personal histories of their own. They want to interview their family and publish the book. This group of people might not have the funds to hire someone else to do it or they just love the idea and want to pursue it as a hobby. No matter the reason, you’re in prime position to earn extra money teaching them.
The personal historian field is wide open– it’s even more the case with this part of the business. There are very few resources out there where people can learn the art of documenting their family’s history.
There is another benefit to this as well. There may come a time where you’re feeling burned out by the detail and dedication you’ve been putting into these personal histories. Teaching others helps you earn money without dedicating yourself quite as much to the service based aspect of your life as a personal historian. You might go back and forth on what you prefer to focus on. That’s the cool thing about being your own boss.
What You Need to Teach Them
You can’t just jump into creating products, writing books, and running workshops for would-be personal historians. You have to figure out what they need and want to know. Think about what you had a hard time with when you first started out. Consider what you can do to smooth the path for those who are learning.
Questions to Ask
It’s important to teach your students how to prepare before they interview their subject. Give them a list of potential questions, but also teach them how to come up with questions on their own. Explain that it’s great to have questions prepared, but they should also be flexible and go with the flow of the interview.
At the same time, they should be ready to steer the interview back on topic if it goes too far off center. Instruct them on how to research before and after the interview to enhance the project. Ancestry.com and Google can reveal more than most people realize, even about those who are long gone from our lives.
Interview Techniques
Learning how to interview is both exciting and nerve wracking. Just as I had you start on a friend or family member, have them do the same. They will learn so much from this exercise– more than they can ever learn. You can also model great interview techniques to make them feel more comfortable.
Teach your students what equipment they might need. For most, just point them to their smartphone or computer and ensure they have a backup.
Explain how to make their interview subject comfortable and how to get them to open up. A good interviewer can start to feel like a friend and a confidant. Make sure your students know that they will get better and become more confident over time.
Transcription
Teach your students how to transcribe interviews. Note that it’s often just a series of starting and stopping the recording as they type the words. Experiment with your favorite transcription apps and point them to the ones you like best. You can also get a list of transcriptionists ready and refer them to a professional if they don’t want to do it themselves.
Writing Narratives
Teach your students about the power of a narrative. Give popular examples of great memoirs, biographies, and other non-fiction narratives. Narrative writing can be a series of lessons on its own for you to share.
Turning this into Their Own Business
Here is something that can be yet another leg to your business. The business-to-business industry is booming. There are always people who want to know how to work for themselves. You are now experienced as a personal historian and you know just how viable this business is. You’ve built your reputation online and you know all the ins and outs. You’re in a great position to not only teach others how to create personal histories of their own, but how to start a business doing it for other people.
You might decide you don’t want the competition, but you should think beyond that. This is a wide-open field and truthfully, there are a lot of “dreamers” out there. Some who learn from you (despite your best efforts) will go on to the next “shiny object” or business opportunity. And some want to learn how to do it themselves just so they can interview people in their own family without having to pay someone else.
There are some (like you) who will run with it and create thriving businesses. This benefits all of us. It helps it become “the norm” for people to hire personal historians. It helps us all grow and get more clients. All that is to say that you shouldn’t be scared off because of the potential for competition. There is a lot of money to be made in teaching others how to make money. Teach them how to run a solid business and they’ll be very grateful.
Get Started With Person Histories
It’s time to take that first step. Start with someone in your family, get rid of the jitters, and move on from there. Create your website, start advertising, and talk about your new venture. Grow your business and start to teach other people.
None of us can know where we’re going if we don’t look to the past. In these days of fast moving information, it’s easy for people to get lost in the shuffle. The people are what are most important. Our connection with others is what keeps us strong– it’s why we’re all here.
You’re about to embark on a noble profession. It’s going to make you smile and it’s going to make your clients smile. You’re going to change lives and capture our most unique resource– our memories.