is especially appealing to those 45 and older who can relate more closely to their clients’ experiences, and whose circles of contacts probably includes the target market of 50-plus. It’s an ideal second career.
1.3 Solo or partners
Running a personal history business could work very well for two or more people sharing resources and the workload. The Internet, email communication, and file-sharing make it possible for each partner to have their own office, where regular face-to-face collaboration and strategizing will produce the backbone of the business. One person could provide skills and experience in, say, marketing and outreach, while the other concentrates on the editorial work.
1.4 A family affair
Many husband-and-wife teams draw on their diverse strengths to run personal history businesses. And many personal historians employ sons and daughters for a variety of tasks, from transcribing to proofreading to scanning. The kids get the training and money, and the parent gets work done at a reasonable rate. This can be a wonderful intergenerational family business.
1.5 Five really great things about a personal history business
Here are five wonderful things about personal history businesses:
• The personal history business has very low overhead.
• Your office can be anywhere in the world. This is a highly mobile profession. It’s entirely possible to spend a few months in the sun belt helping snowbirds with their memoir projects.
• The work is soul-satisfying, important, and has a lot of variety. I love the thought of the narrator’s great-grandchild taking a book from his or her bookshelf and reading about an ancestor’s life and times. Helping preserve something so enduring, and historically important that it becomes a family treasure … you can’t ask for a better way to make a living.
• There are few barriers. Starting and running a personal history business doesn’t require formal education or training. This book is as complete a source as you will find. Experience is the best teacher and the skills required can be learned: interviewing, writing, editing, marketing and sales, etc. Anyone willing to learn and work hard can have their personal history business up and running within three months.
• You are on the cusp of an industry that’s still young and has limitless potential. Now is the time to establish yourself as an expert and “catch the wave.”
2. Is This Right for You?
Here are some considerations when deciding if a personal history business is the right business for you.
2.1 Work preferences
You may have taken a career assessment quiz that identifies your core personality traits as they apply to an ideal career. Some of these quizzes determine whether you’re better suited to a job that deals primarily with people, information, or ideas. I think a personal historian has to want to deal with all of them. Here are the traits essential to a personal historian:
2.1a People-oriented
From my own experience and from what I’ve observed, a personal historian must definitely enjoy dealing with people. From the moment you first discuss a project, you establish a relationship with your client that could last a couple of years. And, people being human, a relationship has its ups and downs. Any relationship requires sensitivity, empathy and compromise. The client and business-owner relationship takes that to a whole new level.
2.1b Information-oriented
A personal historian must also like gathering information. This is done primarily through firsthand accounts from your client, but you will also find yourself doing a lot of research. Having an interest in and knowledge of history is essential. Also essential is an attention to detail, not only in the stories you’ll be recording, but in the finished product. If you’re creating a product that you want to last for generations, you need to make sure it’s letter perfect by checking facts and figures, proofreading diligently, and working with subcontractors for quality control.
2.1c Idea-oriented
A personal historian’s work involves a lot of creativity. As you listen to your clients’ stories, you’ll be thinking of how to make the stories as interesting and meaningful as possible. When it comes to editing and organizing the material, you’ll be shaping the whole manuscript into a flowing narrative, thinking of how all the puzzle pieces fit together or how you could give the story more impact by structuring it this way or that way. Even if you hire a graphic designer to execute your ideas, it’s up to you to provide the creative vision of the finished product. Of course, you can let your imagination soar as you think of all the ways to preserve history in any format.
2.2 Financial circumstances
Assuming you’re working from home and you have a spouse, partner, and/or children, it’s important that everyone understands how important your business is to you. Ideally, they will be in full support and encourage you. If not, you have some challenges ahead, but they’re not insurmountable.
If you’re employed outside the home now, try to lay the groundwork for your business before you quit, and make a realistic plan for finally kissing that job goodbye and doing what you want to do. Start saving now. If you’re laid off and get a severance package, get some advice from an accountant or financial planner about how much you can safely put aside for your business start-up. The beauty of a personal history business is that there can be very little start-up cost. But you still want to have some cash put away for those rainy days when you have no clients on the horizon and the basement starts leaking.
As in any business, it may be a while before you start to see a tidy profit. There will be a learning curve where you might not be charging as much as you will once you’ve got some experience and a reputation. If a partner or spouse can carry you through lean times, great. But if you’re on your own or you need to contribute to the household cash flow, you might want to have an alternate income stream or at least a financial cushion. You’ll spend money on a leap of faith and tell yourself it’s an investment, not an expense (you’ve heard that one before, right?). That’s true, but there will be times when you might feel guilty and foolish for “wasting” your family’s money. My advice: Don’t!
It took me a long time to realize that in order to make money you have to spend money. I think this is a misguided mindset of a first-time businessperson. After decades of having everything supplied to you by an employer — paper, pens, computers with all the bells and whistles, and a technician to do the upgrades — one day you’re looking around for some staples and you realize you have to go and buy them! When I was starting out, I told myself I wouldn’t spend any money until I got my first client. I passed up the chance to attend a personal historian conference because I wasn’t making any money yet and it seemed like such an extravagance. It was expensive, but I’m convinced that had I gone, I would have learned so much and made valuable connections; it would have been a very wise investment. I would have really kick-started my business, rather than having it cough and choke as it sputtered to life.
If you’re leaving a job and a regular salary, there will be some financial sacrifices for a while. If you have a spouse or partner, have a frank and open
