Family History Recording Methods
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Two approaches to capturing and preserving family history through either structured weekly prompts or casual conversation recordings.
StoryWorth - Structured Weekly Prompts
- $100-200/year subscription service
- Sends weekly email prompts to family members about memories
- Process:
- Family members spend ~10 minutes journaling responses
- Questions focus on specific memories (e.g., "best memory of your father before age 10")
- Responses collected over the course of a year
- Compiled into a printed book at year's end
- Benefits:
- Creates structured documentation of family history
- Helps people remember forgotten memories
- Single person business model, simple but effective
- Potential Challenge:
- Some people feel intimidated by writing requirements
One-Hour Podcast Style Recording
- More casual approach to capturing family history
- Process:
- Set up one-time recording session
- Have natural conversation about life experiences
- Focus on deeper personal history rather than day-to-day topics
- Benefits:
- Less pressure than writing
- Captures voice and personality
- Creates meaningful conversations that wouldn't normally happen
- Helps uncover forgotten memories through natural conversation
- Good for people intimidated by writing
- Value:
- Creates lasting memory of loved ones
- Reveals unknown aspects of family history
- Moves beyond surface-level daily conversations
DNA Testing Considerations
- Services like 23andMe and Ancestry provide family insights
- Potential risks:
- Privacy concerns with DNA databases
- May reveal unexpected family secrets
- Can be "earth-shattering" for some families
- Some choose to avoid testing due to privacy and emotional implications
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After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.