To kick off the 2018 Advisory Perspective Series, I am delighted to feature Michelle Beckman, the Founder of Sunday Dinner Stories. The Advisory Perspective asks six questions of various professionals to provide you an overview of who they are and how they work with people.
Valentine’s Day is around the corner – a time we enjoy with loved ones. How do you preserve the stories, memories and people in your lives? Michelle is an amazing woman who personalizes life stories for generations. Let’s hear from Michelle!
Michelle Beckman, also known as the Regret Preventer, works with you and your loved ones to save their life story heirlooms as books, audio playlists, and organized photos before it’s too late. She wants all generations to know they belong, have been heard, and will be remembered forever.
Michelle is a regret preventer, a memoirist, a photo organizer, and the founder of Sunday Dinner Stories.
- She left her 25-year IT career a few years ago to partner with families who want to know their loved ones on a deeper level before it’s too late.
- Michelle helps parents and grandparents save their life stories as books and audio playlists so all generations of their families know they belong, have been heard, and will be remembered.
- You can find Michelle with her family and friends in church pews, hanging out by the swim team pool, teaching in schools, visiting in retirement communities, and talking about all things legacy throughout the Merrimack Valley.
She’ll help you and your loved ones get your life stories from your heads and your hearts on to paper and an audio playlist. She conducts interviews in your home or by telephone, use your own words to create 5-Minute Memoirs™, design the book and audio packaging, and order your books and flash drives for you. You share your story as if you were sitting at Sunday dinner with your family. Additional packages are available for photo scanning and/or organizing. Your stories are their priority.
Welcome Michelle!
Question 1. What do you enjoy about working with your clients?
There are so many things I enjoy about my clients that I can hardly call it work. By the time my clients and I have completed our projects, my clients feel like family to me. I learn from their lessons, laugh with them, and feel their pain. I help them see themes in their lives that foster understanding and grace. For some, I help them become more confident and at peace. For others, I help them say what they cannot say to their family members. When my clients’ families read or listen to the stories and a deeper, forever connection occurs, I am overjoyed.
Question 2. How would you suggest a potential new client prepare for a 1st meeting?
Before we meet, I want my clients to realize that we’ll just be having conversations like they would around the dinner table. I want my clients to know that this will be a pleasant—and hopefully, a fun—experience. They’ve worked too hard in their lives to do something that feels like work. Inevitably, they will start remembering stories that they want to include, and they can jot a note down so they don’t forget to tell the story. They should not worry if they don’t have topics. Right before we meet, they should plan to pour a cup of coffee or tea and just settle in for our chat.
Question 3. When someone agrees to become a client, what can they expect immediately? Over time?
Immediately, my clients have a grace-filled audience that will not judge them. They will be heard. We will capture much of their family history, beliefs, values, and life lessons and pass them down to their families as books or audio playlists. As we work together on full-service books, many of my clients grow in ways they never expected that they could. Many discover their purpose in life, understand themselves better, forgive themselves and their loved ones, and realize that their lives really do matter.
Question 4. What is your service philosophy?
Most importantly, I never force my clients to share stories that they don’t want to tell. Before we start our storytelling sessions, I discuss the goals of the project. Why does my client and/or the family want the stories to be told? I use these goals to structure our interview sessions. As we edit the stories for a full-service book, I help my clients share their stories in the “best way” possible. The “best way” includes crafting an interesting way to write the stories, creating a pleasing narrative, softening prickly stories and accentuating endearing stories, following memoir best practices, and producing finished products that fit within my clients’ budgets.
Question 5. What resources do you provide to assist “laypeople” with understanding what is being discussed?
Some of my best resources are sample books and audio recordings. I frequently loan out books from clients who have graciously allowed me to share their memoirs with potential clients. My Forever Connected eNewsletter, my free eGuides, and my website’s Life Story Library all educate and inspire people who want to connect more fully with all generations of their families. I also speak to groups and teach some of these concepts. Of course, I always welcome questions!
Bonus Question! If you were to relay one piece of advice to anyone reading this, what would it be?
I firmly believe that the conversation begins when we publish my clients’ memoirs, and they share the books and playlists with their family members. That’s why it’s important for families to ask their loved ones to share their stories before it’s too late.
I worked with a client who was given a gift certificate to work with me, but she was too afraid or too humble to accept the gift. We put the project on hold. When she entered hospice, she called. She wanted to share her story because it was her story to tell and no one could tell it better than she could. Four days later, she told her life story in six hours. She knew exactly what she wanted to say. Unfortunately, she passed away about two weeks later and never had a chance to talk with her family about what she said. Although I felt blessed that we finished the project, I was heartbroken that she did not have a chance to converse with her family about her life story. So my advice is to be the one who asked and do not delay. Share your stories often. Save your life story forever.
Thank you Michelle for this valuable service for all.
The Living Planner proactively helps you assess your situation in business and home and explore ways for you to protect what is important to you by asking questions. What is your risk? Your plan? Could someone step into your shoes to assist, if you are unable? When you’re ready to explore how to better be ready, we’re here for you.
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