In today’s marketplace you’ve got to do more than offer excellent service and product. That’s a given. To separate your small business from all the others offering a similar service you’ve got to be unique and memorable. How do you do that?…Read more.
A good personal history interview is like a symphony – complex, engaging, and harmonious. Over the past three years I’ve written extensively about the art of the interview and assembled these articles here in one convenient list. Enjoy!…Read more.
Posted in How to, Interviewing, Life stories, Personal historian, Tips
Tagged How to, interview, Interviewing skills, Life stories, Personal historian, Question, Tips
I spend time here encouraging and supporting full-time professional personal historians.
But what about those of you who may be wondering if it’s time to give up being a personal historian all together? Remember there’s nothing wrong with quitting. I wrote about giving up in a previous post Stop With The Productivity Pitches!
I’ve changed careers at least four times in my life. From my experience here are the clues that tell you enough is enough…Read more.
Posted in How to, Personal Care, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged Business, health, How to, moving on, Personal historian, quitting, self employed, time, Tips
Why do some succeed and others fail? In a word – persistence. It’s that ability to get knocked down, pick yourself up, and keep going. Success of course is entirely in the mind of the beholder. Success to one person is failure to another…Read more.
I get asked this question with increasing regularity. And my response is – it depends. Like most things in life, there isn’t a simple answer. Here are a few things to ponder…Read more.
Posted in Business, How to, Personal historian, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged Business, income, living wage, Personal historian, qualifications, qualities, self-employment, small business, Tips
How many personal historians have found themselves in this situation? You have an enthusiastic client, an adult child who really wants her mom or dad’s life story told, but the parent is reluctant…Read more.
Posted in How to, Interviewing, Life stories, Personal historian, Tips
Tagged Family, family story teller, fears, How to, interview, Interviewing, Life stories, Personal historian, reluctant, solutions, Tips
Every time we meet potential clients, we have to prove ourselves. They’re sizing us up and assessing whether we’re the right fit for them. Here’s a cheeky question. Would you hire yourself?…Read more.
Posted in How to, Marketing, Personal historian, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged clients, hire, How to, Life stories, Marketing, Personal historian, personal histories, self-assessment, small business, strengths, Tips, weaknesses
As those of you who frequent my site know, I occasionally pull together free Internet resources. Previously I compiled a mega list of 100 Free Resources for Personal Historians. This was followed by 20 More Free Resources for Personal Historians and More Free Stuff! Well I’m back with more free resources to help you with your personal history work. Please note I don’t personally endorse any of these sites because I haven’t tested or used all of them. If you are familiar with some of these services or products and would like to leave a comment about your experience with them, I’d welcome such a review…Read more.
Posted in Life stories, Personal historian, Resources
Tagged Directories, Encore, free, free resources, free stuff, Life stories, Personal historian, personal histories
Marc Pachter founded Living Self-Portraits at the Smithsonian and was its master interviewer. In his TED talk below he shares the challenges of getting a good interview.
…if all you’re going to get from the interviewee is their public self, there’s no point in it. It’s pre-programmed. It’s infomercial, and we all have infomercials about our lives. We know the great lines, we know the great moments, we know what we’re not going to share, …
Marc recounts several interviews and how he cut below the surface conversation to have his subjects reveal the truth of their lives…Read more.
Posted in How to, Interviewing, Life stories, Personal historian, Questions, Tips
Tagged courageous questions, difficult questions, End of life, How to, interview, Interviewing, Life stories, Living Self-Portraits, Marc Pachter, People, Personal historian, Questions, questions to ask, Smithsonian, terminally ill, Tips
How many of you could use some further training to enhance your personal history skills? I know I can!
Whether you’re starting out or well established, here’s a select list of sites that can help. I’ve combed the Internet to bring you some of the best…Read more.
email me here
