Episode 215 – Capturing your life with Story Terrace

Preserving special memories for the future is something we are very passionate about here at the Declutter Hub. In this podcast I am talking to someone who helps preserve memories every single day.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
[00:00:00] Lesley: I dunno about you, but I find it endlessly fascinating to have long chats with my dad and my father-in-law about things that have happened in their lives. Preserving those special memories for the future is something we are very, very passionate about Here at the Decla tub. Today I'm going to be talking to someone who helps preserve memories every single day.

[00:00:19] It's a fascinating podcast and one I can't wait to get started on.

[00:00:23] Now today. Super excited to welcome Rutger Browning, who is a Dutch native. Ingrid will be gutted that she's not doing this one, by the way, who now lives in London.

[00:00:33] He's the founder and c e o of a business I'm endlessly fascinated with. We're going to talk more about that later. So welcome, Rutger. Hi. Good morning. 

[00:00:42] Rutger: How are you? I'm very well. I'm very excited to, to talk about Story Terrace. 

[00:00:46] Lesley: I know Story Terrace. So exciting. So as with all good stories, let's start at the beginning.

[00:00:54] Tell me where your passion for telling story started. 

[00:00:59] Rutger: It goes back a long, long time. Um, when I was in school, uh, during the holidays, um, I probably made a little bit too much noise at home. Playing tennis against the walls of the house, other, other noisy stuff indoors. And my mom, um, she worked as an academic and she had to read a lot of papers for her work.

[00:01:17] So I think that made, uh, her decide that it was good for me to spend some time with my grandparents over the holidays, which I actually really enjoyed. So I lost spend a lot of time with them. Uh, they lived in Belgium while, uh, lived in Holland. And, uh, my grandma would take really great care of me and my grandfather would play bag gamon with me all day, a board game, and he would smoke lots of cigars and tell me stories about the good old days.

[00:01:41] Uh, that included stories about the Second World War when he set up a small resistance group in the south west of the Netherlands, um, about how, um, he traveled with my grandmother. How, um, um, they moved to the Caribbean after the war to start a, a doctor's practice, a GP practice there. Uh, and lots of other stories, uh, and adventures, uh, that he had.

[00:02:03] And every time he told the stories, there seemed to be, you know, more detail, uh, to them. But when he passed away, they faded incredibly quickly and, um, I really regretted that I didn't record them and that I will never be able to play them back in the same way as he told them. To me, and so I've been thinking around a problem why we don't record the stories of the people we care about for quite a long time.

[00:02:26] Lesley: It sounds like a lot of good stories in there and I think I know with my dad and my father-in-law when I'm chatting to them, I mean, to be fair, my dad tells stories and I'm not entirely sure that they're all truly honest. I'm a little bit like making that up cause it sound a little bit farfetched, but I'm with you and it's just, there's something very magical about that isn't there, about hearing about something that is definitely.

[00:02:46] You know, my, my, my dad grew up in a mining village in the northeast of England, and so we don't understand our generation, my generation, certainly my kids' generation have got no understanding of what that is. My father-in-law came over from rural island when he was 16. These things are really fascinating from a historical perspective and from a.

[00:03:04] A family perspective. So you're so right. So preserving them, because you hear them over and over, don't you? But they're kind of one little memory here and one memory there. And they're not all joined together. And then as you say, they're, they're, they're gone with them. So, 

[00:03:18] Rutger: Yes. And it's, it's, it's really, really, you know, it's beautiful that we still have, you know, I still have some of the memories.

[00:03:24] Of course I still have, have some of them, but, uh, yeah, I, I, I wish I had more of them at the same time. You know, some people don't tell a lot of stories. My grandmother was someone who was much more quiet. Um, she lost a lot of family during the war, and it was very difficult for her, I think, to talk about her youth.

[00:03:40] So, with her, actually, I have the opposites. Problem. It's, I, I actually never heard the stories and I wish I did ask her more. So I also have regrets. So I, I have it in two different ways. So in, in both cases, I've been thinking about, you know, that I should have done some things differently when I was younger.

[00:03:56] Lesley: So how did this then turn into Story Terrace? 

[00:04:00] Rutger: Yeah, I've been thinking about the problem and had some different solutions to them. In my mind, none of these solutions really seemed scalable. I mean, maybe things that I could have implemented myself, know with, with my parents. But not something that could be a business and really change this problem for our society.

[00:04:17] Until, um, the freelancer platforms, uh, went mainstream, I started looking into them and I saw that on the free online freelancer platforms, a very large proportion of the freelancers were writers and people with really great writing degrees, great publications. I realized that they weren't just in. Big cities like London, Amsterdam, or New York where sort of the main, you know, the main media companies are, but that they were all over and that they were all looking for meaningful work.

[00:04:44] Um, uh, that's really how I realized. I think there's a solution. I starting to use these writers who are all looking for work to write a bit of content for companies to start, uh, using them to help write down people's life stories. 

[00:04:58] Lesley: And this wasn't something you did straight out of when as an 18 year old you had a, a, a life in business before that, didn't you?

[00:05:04] So it's quite a, a big shift. And so what were you doing before? 

[00:05:08] Rutger: Um, so initially I was in management consulting. I was working with quite large companies like. Banks, some energy companies to, um, know, write strategy papers for them as part of a, as part of a team. Uh, and then I was in, in the role of finance, which had brought me to, to London as, as, uh, ma many people, uh, sort of from Europe, uh, come, come here for.

[00:05:31] So I had very little experience. I, I knew nothing about books, to be honest, in terms of, you know, as a business. Um, and I personally thought that was an advantage because what I wanted to do was so different from what. Big book publishing companies do. I wanted to make it accessible to, to everyone, to write down their life story rather than to make a few big publishing hits.

[00:05:53] Lesley: And it's so nice to be able to bring that kind of, obviously you've got this entrepreneurial spirit and to bring that along with your love of storytelling and, and what you did as a child and the stories that you listened to and so on. So how long ago was that And, and, and how did that all evolve?

[00:06:08] Because that sounds like a, a big ass to take this dream almost and, and make it into a reality. 

[00:06:14] Rutger: So I, I started, I gave up my job about eight years ago, and then I decided, um, I'm going to, you know, fully dedicate to make, you know, to solve this problem, uh, that we lose the stories of the people we care about.

[00:06:26] Initially, I did a pilot in Amsterdam. I was basically, Doing everything by myself. I was finding, finding some writers, talking to them, learning about how they work, uh, putting together a first questionnaire as I told people what I was going to do. I actually sold a few projects, uh, on the go to people that I, that I met, uh, generally people that I knew from, from previous work, uh, which was a really great way actually to really have to deliver and to understand.

[00:06:53] The nuts and bolts of what it takes to create a book. Um, and things evolved from there. I remember our first book, um, um, the, the book that we made, the spine, we couldn't print anything on the spine because digital printing and creating the hardcover of books, uh, in a small print run, um, was still in its infancy.

[00:07:13] Uh, and only a year later we were able to, to print the spine and make the books, uh, look better. So it's, it's a process that evolved and we launched in the UK in 2015 and then, um, we also moved into America in 2017. 

[00:07:28] Lesley: So, Right. Okay. And so, and this is how I found out about you. I mean, because obviously we're going to talk a little bit in a minute actually about how decluttering and making memories is all sort of related.

[00:07:39] But I first found out about you and I was so excited. Honestly, I was like, this is like the best thing ever. Um, because I saw it, I think it was on an advert or something like that. And that showed that you had been on dragons then. Now for anybody, we've got lots of people all over the world and I'm not sure really.

[00:07:54] Whether there is an equivalent of Dragons Den anywhere apart from in the uk? Probably. No, there there 

[00:07:59] Rutger: is. There is. And uh, is that in the US It's called Shark Tank, right? Okay. Yes, yes. Uh, and Dragons Den is in a few more countries as well. Oh 

[00:08:07] Lesley: really? Okay. Okay. So you went into the drag. So basically for anybody that doesn't know you go, um, maybe I'll explain this.

[00:08:14] I hope that I explain it correctly. So you'd go in and pitch your business to a, a group of investors that are. Kind of very accomplished business people in the UK or the US or around the world, and they decide whether they want to invest in your company and and grow with you. So how did that go? Tell me about your Dragons Den experience.

[00:08:33] Rutger: Yes, it was quite an experience initially. I, I wasn't really. Keen on going on tv, but a friend of mine went on it and he kept on banging on that this was really good thing to do for the business. And then I thought, well, I'm willing to do anything it takes to make this, you know, a success and, and, and get people to write, let their stories, uh, be written.

[00:08:52] So I'll go on tv. Uh, I prepared really well because it's, it's quite a nerve-wracking thing. Oh, yeah. Uh, to go into a studio. I went, um, with a colleague, uh, and uh, and we were very nervous beforehand, but once we got in, we're actually quite calm. We told each other, as long as we listen to the questions, we can answer any question.

[00:09:11] Um, there's really not much else we can do. Um, so that's what we did. We were very lucky because, um, the Dragons, as they're called here in the uk, so. They really loved the product and we gave them, uh, a nice welcome box, which we also give to our, our clients with a number of books in there, a few of our examples from clients, and we created a book about all of them, uh, but just sort of the, uh, the page of contents with some funny.

[00:09:35] Titles about how their life had evolved, uh, and they really loved that. And it was a really great start. And, um, we got a couple of them, um, who made offers to invest in the business. So it was a good experience in the end. But I remember after we left about an hour, uh, we sort of. All the stress came out of our bodies and we're super excited, uh, because it'd been, uh, yeah.

[00:09:55] Quite a thing. 

[00:09:56] Lesley: That's great. And so, but I believe you didn't take their investment, am I right? Um, 

[00:10:02] Rutger: yes. No, that, that's right. Uh, in the end, uh, it was a little bit, uh, yeah, complicated, uh, to, to make the investment happen. And so, um, yeah, we didn't proceed with that. So 

[00:10:13] Lesley: you went it alone. You've gone on your own and you've done really well since.

[00:10:17] So we're going to talk a little bit more about the actual mechanics of story, Terra. Cause I have personal experience of it, which I'm very excited about. But let's talk a little bit about decluttering and making memory. So how do you think the two are related? 

[00:10:29] Rutger: I think they're. Really related because when you write your life story, you have all these bits and pieces lying around of your life.

[00:10:40] Some of them you're very aware of. Some of them you're, you're not, and it's a little bit of a mess. Um, in a way, that's why when we tell stories, they go from one place to another and you think of something else. Whereas a book is such an organised thing to create and for a lot of people, they have the intention to write their life story.

[00:11:00] They want to, to, uh, you know, to leave that, um, to the future generations. Um, because they know it will benefit them. Um, they can share life lessons, but also just where, where they've come from and give them a sense of the ups and downs that. That every life has, which is really important for, for young people to get.

[00:11:19] Um, so they have this intention, but then there's a lot of procrastination because it's really hard to write a book. And I think that's also, if I look at my own house, we always have the intention to clean it up and to organise it better, but then it never really happens. Um, so I feel like that whole process and then once you do it, um, you're so happy because everything is so organised and you feel.

[00:11:40] Liberated. And I think with our books, that's the same thing. A lot of people have this in their heads, I want to do this, but I don't know how to start. And then, um, they're really excited when the book is finished and they're holding it because they've been able to decide every single word in it, uh, and get it right, uh, which really explains their life in a beautiful way.

[00:12:00] And it's kind of a relief that that's done and it's organised, 

[00:12:04] Lesley: I think. I think that's it. Because during, um, during the lockdown, so I, I've kept, I mean obviously I'm a de and professional organiser, so I kind of understand the principle of preserving memories and quality of the quantity and all those kind of things in terms of my sentimental items.

[00:12:19] But what I did was I had the time then, so I did a whole project, which took me, Months, a few months to go through looking at things that I had kept over the years from my kind of teens, from my twenties and so on, and started to really look at the quality of them and start to sort of catalog them into things that, put them into themes, chron, chronolo, you know, uh, chron, chronological, all those kind of things.

[00:12:42] And it feels so satisfying to have some order in those things. Cause I think what we find is people want to keep memories for something. Do you know what I mean? For, for, for the future, for future generations, because you feel that you don't want this to go somewhere, but you need to have that order in it so you can actually enjoy it.

[00:13:00] And that's the thing. And so, you know, as a result of my sentimental projects, I've pulled things out that I've now got on a, a photo collage wall on my stairs. And so I've got a few bits and pieces, then I've got some photos, I've got some old ones, some new ones, and it's just, It gives me great joy every time I walk down the stairs to see, you know, one day I might see a picture of my granddad in the war and the next one I see a picture of my kids two years ago.

[00:13:22] And, and so it is, but it's having that order and I think that's, that's it. We all have these good intentions. You know, you talk about writing, I mean, Ingrid and I decided when we started this business that we're much better at, um, talking and we're writing. It's not that we can't write, but it's just. It's hard, you know, it doesn't come as naturally as talking and you know, so everybody, like, I would like to li write my life story, but you know, to write thousands and thousands of words is not an easy thing.

[00:13:46] And I think that creating something like this provide you the opportunity to go through and to kind of really understand the. What happened when, and to put it in order, and that's the important thing. It's like putting your house in order. It's the same thing. Putting your life in order and sorting out what is important, what does need to pre preserve for future generations and what's just.

[00:14:08] Not that important. Cause there's lots of things in our life that we keep memories that are not that important and not that special. And it's all about what we've got that gives us that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. When I found out about Story Terrace, which I was very excited about, I, I sat on it for a little while cause I was like, I need to find, I know that at some point a client is going to come along where this is going to be the perfect project for them.

[00:14:31] And as soon as I do, so one of my clients that I've worked with for a number of years, she said, oh, you know, you know her husband's getting a little bit older, and she's like, I'd love to. He's got so much. He's a very accomplished sort of expert, scientific, I don't even know what just really, but you know, An accomplished worldwide expert, let's just say that, with loads of interesting stories in his personal life and his professional life.

[00:14:52] And I was like, you need this thing called Story Terrace. Of course, she came on board. Then we started to work through that process together, and that was about six months ago or something like that. And so as soon as I'd gone through that initial process with her of, of sort of getting her to the point of talking to you guys, I was like, I really, really want to do this for my dad and my father-in-law.

[00:15:12] So the background to that is that, you know, I lost my mum in her late fifties. I lost my mother-in-law in her late fifties. And so, you know, my dad and my father-in-law, they love to tell stories, but they, I just felt like, I almost feel like. They're telling two life stories in one because, because we lost our mum so young.

[00:15:33] They're both in their eighties now. They're talking about my mum and and, and for my husband, then his mom. And I think that's really lovely as well. So anyway, I jumped in and decided that this was going to be a thing, and so I went through that process with my dad and my father-in-law, which I'm in the middle of at the moment, which I want to talk about.

[00:15:53] So I'm going to talk about them again, again in a minute. So how does it all work? So if you decide that you want to talk, do your life story, you want to tell your story, how does the process work? And then I'm going to talk a little bit about how it, where my dad and my father-in-law are in the process. 

[00:16:09] Rutger: So the, the process, um, starts with two things in parallel.

[00:16:13] Uh, firstly, our clients get a questionnaire, um, and that really helps them to bring back memories. Um, so some people that love to talk but don't love to, to write. They read the questionnaire and they, they have some memories, uh, that come back to them. They take a few notes maybe here and there, and they take that into their conversations with the writer, which I will come back to.

[00:16:35] Um, other people, they're quite precise and they're afraid. They're not going to tell everything in the conversations. That's generally not really the case. Um, but my mom, for example, is a very precise person. So, um, the, the questionnaire, they fill it out in, in great detail. Um, so that, that's one side of getting going.

[00:16:52] And then the main, main purpose is to really help people bring back memories, some turning points in their lives. The most important people they'll mention in there, so that the writer knows a bit, uh, you know, of, of backgrounds. But the very, very most important thing we do is match people with the right writer.

[00:17:07] We work with 700 different ghost writers. We've vetted all of them, uh, and they're all great writers, but they all have different personalities and backgrounds. So what we do is we match people, um, with one of our writers based on, uh, their background. And that's a professional background, cultural background, uh, but also based on their personality, their interests, and if people want to be interviewed, uh, at home.

[00:17:32] Also, based on location, uh, if people want to be interviewed, uh, online, we still look within the same country. Um, But then it would be, uh, you know, anyone in that pool. Um, we'll propose the writer. Um, if, um, our storyteller likes the sound of that, um, they can have a have a chat on the phone to break the ice, make sure it's the right match.

[00:17:54] And then from there we schedule the conversations. Conversations take about two hours, uh, when you do it in person, in about an hour. Online because it's a bit more tiring to talk to someone online than it is, uh, when you're in the comfort of, of your home. And you can take a little break. Um, um, and then from there, the writer will create a structure for the book.

[00:18:14] It's basically, these are your 10 chapters. These are the two to three topics slash anecdotes slash stories that I will be, you know, writing in those chapters. And that makes sure that we've kind of organised someone's life a little bit, what we talked about. Earlier. Yeah. And then the client approves that.

[00:18:33] We also write a sample chapter to make sure that the style is right. We find the voice of the client so that when someone reads the book, Uh, um, say a child or a grandchild, it really sounds, um, like, you know, the storyteller is, is telling the story through the book. We write the entire book. Uh, we take edits from the client.

[00:18:53] We take about two to three photos that the client adds to each chapter, and then we print beautiful hardbound books. 

[00:19:00] Lesley: Brilliant. No, and it is, and it's exactly as you said. So my experience so far, so I wanted to talk about, so obviously this was my idea really. So I had to kind of pitch it then to my dad and my father in life got this really great idea.

[00:19:13] I'd love you to, to. Write a book or like have a book written about you. And I think their first thought on it, they were like, why would anybody be interested in my story? So I was like, well, we're not putting it on the New York bestsellers list. Do you know what I mean? This is just for family. So first of all, this is not going to be a published book, hopefully.

[00:19:33] And um, and so I think once they did it, they're like, there's nothing interested in my story. And, and so I kind of had to. I, I did have to do a little bit of coaxing in the beginning because I think it's very alien. You know, my, my dad's 80, my father-in-law's 82. This is not in their world, you know, having a book written about them is not in their world.

[00:19:51] You know, my dad's my mine in village, my father's and my father-in-law's from rural islands, you know, so they. It's just not what they've ever done or whatever. You know, they're not in that world. And so I did have to do a little bit of Coke saying at the beginning and say, look, you know, we as a family would love to preserve the memories.

[00:20:08] And of course it's quite a difficult conversation because immediately they think that we think they're about to pop their clogs and that we're doing this as a kind of last ditch attempt to get those memories on paper. So there's a little bit of that as well where I said this, that's not what it is, but time is ticking through and we'd really.

[00:20:25] You know, I'd, I'd like to do this for, for my family as well. So they've got that. And you know, the types of things that you went through as a child, you know, from rural island, from this mining village in the northeast re endlessly. Fascinating to, to me even. And then definitely to my children. So it's explaining that there's a piece of history that needs to be preserved and so, It took a little bit.

[00:20:47] They were a little bit nervous about it in the beginning. My dad certainly went through, because they both lost. As I said, they both lost their wives quite young and so it's emotional for them. And so I had to talk to 'em about the fact that there would be difficult things, they might have to delve into memories that were.

[00:21:03] Less positive and that, you know, they needed to be ready for that emotional outpouring, I think a little bit. And so they went through that process a little bit. And certainly my dad struggled with it a bit. He is like, oh, I dunno, I dunno. And so as long as they were happy with it and they were absolutely happy with it.

[00:21:20] I, I have sort of got 'em to a point of, I went through the questionnaire with them to fill it in cause they wouldn't be comfortable filling anything in online. So we were, I went through, so I definitely feel that they needed a helping hand to get them to that point. Um, technically you, you have this fantastic, um, uh, system that you use don't need for login things.

[00:21:39] And so I do feel that not this is a gross generalization, but certainly my dad and my father-in-law are not that. Technical and so they would struggle with that side of it. And so I, I've been there for that part of it, for the kind of initial coaxing, let's call it, and kind of encouragement to go down that route.

[00:21:56] I've tried to encourage them to think about the chronology of their life a little bit, and because you, you know, you talked about these. 10 chapters and stuff, like try and break your life down, not into, you know, 10 to 20. There's, you know, like your childhood and then before you got married and then once you got married, then once you had kids or whatever, your retirement, blah, blah, blah.

[00:22:15] And so trying to get 'em to think about that and to think about key things that have happened in a peer. So I have tried to get involved at that stage, but as soon as the, um, and the matching of the writer, so I spoke to the editor a little bit at the beginning to explain a little bit. Cause I think they would be a bit.

[00:22:30] Nervous to see, you know, I was, I can be very clear with my, I'm like, you know, they're not that well educated. It needs to be somebody who is fully those to working, you know, working, working class people, which is different to my other client that I was talking about who's highly educated and would have a very different style of writer.

[00:22:47] So it's important to get that. And you certainly, you know, the, the matches have been fantastic. Um, But now that we're in that stage of, they're in the interview stage at the moment. So I think both my dad and my father-in-law have both done a couple of hours worth of interviews each, and they are absolutely loving it.

[00:23:05] So like, you know, you said it's an hour online. I'm like, they're talking, I think they're like, okay, now we're done. Now. Have you had enough now? And they're like, oh, keep on talking and keep on talking. So they're finding it much as they were a little bit. Nervous. I think nervous would be the word about, and I don't think it's about nervous about telling their story, but nervous that their story's not relevant to anybody and nervous about the technology and the process and the writing, and thinking that they would be like, oh, you know, am I going to be good enough with the writer?

[00:23:33] You know, it's kind of almost like going, you know, Yes. Go back to school for them. Yeah. So sometimes 

[00:23:37] Rutger: people feel like, oh, there's an investigator coming. Yeah. To me who's going to ask a lot of questions, but you're actually having conversation. And once people have them, people absolutely love talking to their writers because they feel like they know them quite quickly because we match.

[00:23:51] People with people that they're supposed to feel comfortable with, and then they start talking and, and you actually talk about more things than you would normally. They ask that extra question that maybe at home when there's many people around the table isn't really being asked, and then people really start to, to get into it.

[00:24:06] And what you said about this, sort of, know the fear of the process. We, we see that quite a lot. And the good thing about writing a book is you're so in control. Like we're not writing the book for anyone else but the person telling the story. So if you don't want to. Write about a certain chapter later on that you want to change it, we take it out.

[00:24:23] Or if you, how you describe something. So it's quite comforting to know that, that you're in control. 

[00:24:28] Lesley: Yeah, definitely. Cause you know, there's a period of my dad's life that he's like, that he, he felt that he's not that. That wasn't a bit of a nightmare. You know, he was married before he married my mom said a previous marriage.

[00:24:36] He's like, I don't really want to talk about that that much. And I'm like, we don't have to. It's your story. You tell, you know, we can skip. He is like, well I need to include it. Cause obviously it's part of a lab. Be like, what happened there for those 10 years? You know? Um, but I was like, it's your story. And then my father-in-law was nervous about the fact that he was forgetting things from his childhood.

[00:24:52] I'm like, mm-hmm. You could. Like, I don't remember things. You know, you can only tell the story about what you can remember and not about what you can't remember, and, and that's what's important. So I think it's been really interesting to get them to that point. But what I'm enjoying is that it's given them something really exciting to do that they've not done.

[00:25:09] It's taken them out of their. Normal, fairly mundane routine and, and allowing them to enjoy those memories. And I think that's really important. I love the idea of the fact that it's recorded as well, so that as well as this beautiful book that we're going to get at the end of the process. Um, we'll get the recordings and so, you know, we've always got that for the future as well, which I think is really lovely.

[00:25:31] Um, so I sort of waxing lyrical about your business, you know, that I'm a big fan, so I just think it's takes. Everything that we do at the Deter hubs, that next level, because sentimental. Um, things and things that we are attached to is such a big part of the people that come to us and work with us. And I think this is, this is really like, you know, we talk a lot about preserving memories and speaking, you know, talking about the memory behind the stuff and things like that.

[00:25:59] And this is the epitome of everything, um, that you could do with that stuff. Now it's not, you know, it is an investment, of course, it's an investment, so it's not something that everybody is going to be able to do. Um, But for me, you know, I, you know, I had to think long and hard about is this the right thing to be spending money on and so on.

[00:26:20] But I just think the legacy that's left behind is so, so important and so lovely. So I'm a big fan as, uh, our listeners will probably tell, I think this. Is just such a beautiful thing to be able to do. My kids are excited, my husband's excited. You know, it's lovely to see this kind of regeneration of of my father-in-law and my dad.

[00:26:39] Um, I think it's a lovely process. I think it's really well managed. You know me, I like organisation and so I love the process and the way that it is all set down into this is what's happening now. These are the timescales, these, the deadlines and so on, but it's also quite fluid and not rigid as well. So quite like that because, you know, Older people and it doesn't necessarily just need to be older people.

[00:26:58] Does it look, I mean, I'm dealing with my dad and my father-in-law, so presumably you've had people who do it for themselves as well, um, who are a little bit younger. So what sort of stories do people tell? 

[00:27:09] Rutger: Yeah, first of all, I mean, we about half our gifts, like you've given it to, you know, your father and father-in-law, about half the people buy for themselves.

[00:27:17] Um, then we work with people from different age ranges. We a large group of our, um, Clients are retired. Um, you know, so, you know, generally that's 65 and up, but we've also seen people that really enjoyed giving it say to their parents and then, uh, their, their husband or wife is turning 50 and they're like, oh, I don't know what to give them.

[00:27:38] Uh, let's, let's write, write their story, and then they can do it again when they're, uh, no, when, when they're retired type of thing. Uh, but um, so that's kind of the range. And, uh, we have lots of different stories. I mean, it's, it's, it's very hard for me to say, I mean, There are tens of millions of stories in, in England, and we're seeing all of them.

[00:27:55] We are seeing people that have lived on, uh, on the same farm for seven generations. We have a lot of, uh, unique stories from people who've come from all over the world to the uk and that story of what life was like in, for example, India and then they may have moved to East Africa and then they've come to England.

[00:28:14] It's, it's fascinating. Uh, and then we've seen people who've had different. Types of careers, uh, or people who've traveled a lot a anything, uh, really. 

[00:28:25] Lesley: I know. So we, we use, I mean, I do love an autobiography, um, but we, you know, we, we read so many autobiographies of kind of celebrities and famous people and that, but actually the real gems are there in ordinary people, aren't they?

[00:28:37] And that's what I love about this process now, you know, writing a book and going through all those interviews and. Somebody write goes writing your story. This is not going to be something that everybody can afford. Of course, you know, this is something that's only going to be accessible to certain people. But if you were then to give some hints and tips to somebody who said, oh my, oh my word, I would absolutely love to do that with my mom, with my grandma, whatever.

[00:28:58] How, what could they do themselves at home if they can't? I mean, I, I would love them to come to storytelling cause I think it's amazing, but obviously not everybody can. So what types of things would you need to do to kind of gather your thoughts to be able to do this at home yourself? 

[00:29:13] Rutger: So there are two parts to it.

[00:29:14] One is, I guess, getting the information from the person. Uh, and that just starts with scheduling, you know, a few conversations and asking them questions about their life. And anyone can do that really. Um, you could also use a bit of a questionnaire that, that you, you can find, um, ask someone like, who are the five most important people in your life?

[00:29:35] That's kind of a. Overarching question that then starts people to think about a lot of things. In the end, it doesn't really matter who the five are, but it just gets people started to think about things and talk about turning points. Once you have all that information, actually the hardest part comes, which is why you know.

[00:29:51] Obviously professional writers are trained to do that, is to then turn that into a narrative, uh, that makes sense and a structure. Um, so what some of our writers do, they use post-it notes of different things that they have and they start moving them around. So you could do that, right? And then the writing starts for that.

[00:30:10] I have a very simple tip. You have to set aside a specific time each week where you're going to write whether you like the writing. Or not. Um, you have to do it, and you can always throw it away because once you start saying, ah, today, I don't feel like it, you're never going to write it. We get a lot of clients who have the intention to write their stories, and they've written a bit, and they come to us because they get stuck because it's, it's really hard.

[00:30:34] So you have to be extremely disciplined. And then of course, it, it is possible. 

[00:30:39] Lesley: I know it's, well, it's hard. I mean, we've got, people are like, when are you going to write a book, Ingrid and Lesley? And I'm like, yeah, soon. Soon. We've got everything is there. But actually getting to a point of scheduling that time, finding the time to write it, you know, gathering your thoughts, putting it into a chronology, something that people want to read.

[00:30:56] You know, it's not an easy thing is obviously a a huge scale that not everybody has. So you've got the option to go to a company like yours, which is amazing for those people that can do that. Or if you've got that skill yourself, you can get that started at home. So people are going to be like, I would love to do, do this, but how much is it going to cost me?

[00:31:15] So it gives us an idea. I know it's going to be different for everybody. Gives an idea what type of money is involved in this. 

[00:31:22] Rutger: Yeah. So, uh, we have different packages which are very transparent, uh, in terms of how long the book will be, and, um, you can choose the seniority of the writer. Our packages start at 1800 pounds.

[00:31:33] Um, but for the Declutter Hub, we also have a, a special discount of, uh, 200 pounds. Woo. Yes. We look we're, which we actually really, genuinely, you can Google story terra discounts. You won't find anything online. So it's a genuine, unique offer. Brilliant. 

[00:31:49] Lesley: So yes, so, um, well I definitely think it's worth it anyway, but, um, it's something, and, and the nice thing about it, of course, actually, and what I'm doing at the moment is that you can pay in installments as well, which is fantastic, so you don't have to pay it all upfront.

[00:32:01] So yes, go to. Story terrace.com/declutter hub. And that is where you'll find all the details about this fabulous offer. Um, as you can tell, I'm completely behind this process and I would love for some of our members all around the world to take advantage of this. I think Rutger has said there are, uh, you work in, which countries do you work in again, Rutger.

[00:32:22] Rutger: We work all over the world in the English language. Um, uh, mainly, you know, we're focused on the UK and the US but we also work, for example, in Australia. We've worked in the Middle East and we sometimes also work with writers who are, um, bilingual. So they will interview in, uh, say Mandarin, uh, or, or Hebrew or Arabic.

[00:32:42] And then, um, we write a book in English. Brilliant. 

[00:32:46] Lesley: Thank you so, so much, um, Ruger, um, for coming to us today and explaining your fantastic business, how fab to have a business that is in the business of making memories and when Ingrid and I think we've got the best job in the world and you have got the best job in the world too, which is all about people and memories and getting that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

[00:33:05] And that's what it's all about. So really appreciate your time today cause I know you're a very busy man. So what's coming up next week? So next week we're going to, Flip it all the way around and we're going to go talk about making the most of your digital calendar. Now you know how much Ingrid has had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century with her digital calendar, and we're going to be talking all about that.

[00:33:27] So do tune in next week. Thank you all so much for listening and see you soon.
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