I am excited to announce that my ebook on how to do a business history (and what to do with the information) is now available!

If you’re a business or organization, I promise you will benefit from the ideas generated by going through this process.

And if you’re part of the history or library communities, please know that this book represents new revenue streams for you!

The added benefit, which is what really tugs at my hearts strings?

You will be acting in service to your community because you will all be finding and telling new stories about the history of our communities and the people who built and sustained them.

You might uncover a new woman’s story to tell, a veteran’s story, an American success/rags-to-riches story – you really have no idea what you will find and who you will inspire until you start digging in!

You will also be forging stronger partnerships between the business and historical communities, and I feel so strongly about that as well. We need each other, and “history” really needs the support of the private sector far beyond just writing the occasional check.

So…there are untold benefits to be had from doing this work – and it’s all tied to learning the history of your business or organization.

Please join me in this exciting endeavor! Here's that link again!

Instead, for some reason, when I filled out my name tag, this time I decided to include my middle name. The head of the Navy League took one look at the name “Hurd,” gasped, and said, “Are you related to Jack Hurd?” “Yes, I replied, he was my grandfather.”

Yes, I had known my grandfather when I was growing up, but not well. He died when I was a teenager, but because my mother, his daughter, had a difficult relationship with him, I never, ever knew about his Navy activities. I never attended a cookout to see him in action, or go to a Navy League event, or meet men he had served with. Except for the photographs in his study of the men he commanded, I never knew my Navy commander grandfather.

I attended the Memorial Day ceremonies in Ipswich, Massachusetts, this year, and I was very moved by the lengthy, small-town tribute to those who have served. I was particularly struck by the speech delivered by the veterans agent.

As you probably know, this year begins the commemoration of the American Civil War, and he talked about how much of the story we have lost over time – the stories of ordinary people who served or who managed daily life back home. We only have what was written down or photographed, and it’s a tiny fraction of what could have been documented.

Fast forward to today. We have the ability to document anything and everything instantaneously and in multiple formats. Are we capturing the stories of veterans and their families? Not enough. The World War II service men and women are almost all gone. Korean War veterans are getting up there. If you know someone, if you are related to someone, or if you feel motivated to contact your Council on Aging (or your equivalent), please do!

Sit down with a technology your subject will be comfortable with. Come from a place of deep and genuine respect, and start asking questions. (Please don’t say, “So, tell me your story.” Being more specific will help start and guide the conversation.)

Then, what will you do with the information? It should ideally end up with your public library and historical society, but perhaps there is another repository of information about veterans in your community. (The point is, people need to be able to find it.)

Also consider turning your efforts into a community project with a team of people, press coverage, and an event when you’re done. Many communities have done oral history projects with seniors, or a writing project. You could do the same thing but with a special focus on veterans and their families. Trust me when I tell you, the gratitude from your community will be huge.

Story and Idea #2

This idea came to me from a friend who is a grandfather. Every Christmas, and sometimes more often, he and his wife give the gift of written family stories to their grandchildren. These are stories about the family members they will never meet, a place that’s meaningful to the family, or some other special family “thing.”

Isn’t this a lovely idea? I can’t imagine a more valuable gift!

My own grandparents passed away when I was a teenager, and I would dearly love to have 16 years’ worth of their reminiscences to enjoy as an adult! But I don’t, and it’s too late. Such a shame!

As a historian, here are some of the questions I would normally ask if you and I were to have a conversation.

• Was your founder a woman? If so, what motivated her (or you) to start the business or organization? Was she the first woman to start that kind of business? What obstacles did she encounter and how did she overcome them? What kinds of “firsts” did she achieve in her business? What key decisions did she make to get from Point A to today? Did she also play a role in her community (or family) as a mentor to other women? How would you describe her impact on her industry? (I think it goes without saying the impact Oprah has had in all of these areas.)

• If your founder wasn’t a woman, what can you find out about his wife, mother, or daughters? Did any of them play a role in the business? How were they affected by the business? Did a daughter inherit the business? (In the case of one of my clients, his grandmother led the family business through the Great Depression after inheriting the company from her father because her brothers weren’t interested. What a terrific story! And we had her picture.)

• When were women first involved in your business or organization? For example, who was the first woman lawyer to join your law firm? The first woman banker at your bank? The first woman accountant at your accounting firm? Or, when were women allowed to become members? Who was the first woman donor and why? What other kinds of “firsts” for women occurred in your business or organization? (My great aunt was the first woman lawyer to work for what is now Greater Boston Legal Services, and I’m awfully proud of that!)

• Did your business provide services to women when it was founded, or did that evolve? In what way has having women customers evolved? (We all remember the days when car salesmen treated women like idiots!)

• How has the treatment of women employees evolved over time? (I assume your business no longer fires women for being pregnant, and I hope you pay them equally!)

• In what ways has your business marketed itself to women over time, and how has that changed? (Women were really talked down to in the early days of advertising, which we now know was a bit misguided!)

Why should you spend the time to do this work?

• You will show your respect for women and for women’s history – and we do pay attention to these things!

• You will expand your unique story, which is essential in marketing. You can post your new information on your website, create a display, and issue a press release.

• You will have legitimate reasons for publishing stories in your local newspaper, in your blog, and on your website during National Women’s History Month (March).

• For March or for Mother’s Day you will have an excuse to make a special offer in the name of one of “your women,” or host a special event for women customers and staff.

• You will provide your community and “the world” with new roles models for young people.

All of these opportunities await you, but it starts with knowing your history.

I hope you will dig in and find the stories to tell – and then share them!!!

• You get your unique story out into the world.

• You discover all kinds of new opportunities for marketing, PR, events, and products.

• You go a long way toward cementing the “know, like, trust” factor that draws people to you and keeps them there.

• You instill pride in your employees.

• If you’re a family owned business, you get to honor your family.

But here’s the added bonus. Doing your business history enables you to be of service to your community – and I have a feeling that’s important to you.

How can this play out?

• By working with the historical organizations in your community you will establish strategic partnerships that will last a long, long time. You each have something to offer the other, and you can bring resources to these organizations – your expertise, your support through your business, and, yes, your money.

• You will be expanding the story of your community by investigating your story. No one else but you will take the time to do this particular work, and you might very well uncover some real finds. No matter what you discover, you will be giving a gift to your community by sharing your story.

• You might have a compelling founder’s story that will inspire young people. Watching Oprah’s farewell speech the other day, I was reminded all over again about her own incredible story from quite dismal beginnings and low expectations to who she is today. There are so many more stories to tell from our history, including recent history, and we need to hear them and be inspired. Young people, especially, need the kind of role models who show them they can do it too.

• You will be demonstrating to your community, including young people, that you value your community and its history. That will send a very powerful, positive message, and I have no doubt you will inspire others to follow your lead!

And so, yes, the business benefits from doing your business history are there. But so are the benefits to you, personally.

With all my heart I believe that we need more people, more money, more vision, more heart in the history community, and you can be part of it.

Being of service is the highest calling there is. I believe that’s ultimately why we’re all here. We are at our best when we are, and good things always happen!

I hope you will seize the opportunity.

* * *

And speaking of opportunities…my ebook on how to do your business history will be published shortly, and I am announcing today a very special prepublication offer just for those of you on my list.

In just a short amount of time, the investment price for the book will be $37, but starting Friday, May 27, for one and a half weeks only, I am making it available for just $29.97.

Why? Because in case you couldn’t tell, I believe very strongly in this work and I really want as many people as possible to get involved.

I invite you to go to historysmiths.com, and in the Store section you will see where I’ve  described the book. It is called “A Source of Pride (and Customers).” You can also go right to the sales page where I describe EVERYTHING you will get in the book, including bonus sections, checklists, and the ONE secret that will make all the difference to the success of doing your business history.

I HOPE you will take me up on this offer, and I look forward to sending you the link to the book in just a couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

How does this play out in terms of telling your business history, or your organization’s history?

Well, I’ll tell you a quick true story. (Or, you can listen to it on YouTube.)

I was recently hired by a business owner whose insurance agency was about to celebrate its 100^th anniversary. This man was the fourth generation owner of the company. It was started by his great-grandfather, passed on to his grandmother, then to his father, and then to him.

When he contacted me, he said, “Bonnie, I don’t just want to throw a party, I want to do something meaningful and lasting that will honor my family and tell our customers more about who we are.”

Now I KNOW, that you are already drawn into the story!

So, I set about doing a lot of family research and genealogy because there were a lot of missing pieces. I got his family back to French Canada, or New France, where my client’s great-grandfather came from, and even back to France.

Moving forward, I found out why they came to the community they did – Salem, Massachusetts, and how it was that a newly arrived immigrant set up a small storefront and launched an insurance agency.

It was a quintessentially American success story, because his agency flourished. In 1914, when the Great Salem Fire destroyed huge swaths of houses and businesses forcing many people out of Salem, this man stayed to help everyone he could.

Then when he wanted to pass his business along to his sons, none of them wanted it – but his daughter did. And so, a woman inherited this insurance agency at a time when women were not trusted with money, God forbid, most didn’t work outside the home, AND she steered the company through the Great Depression.

Her son, the first in the family to attend business school, transformed the company into the modern era and his son, my client, is doing the same thing today very successfully.

The stories go on and on, but I think you see my point.

And when we told these stories, with pictures, in newspaper articles, in a lobby display, and on his website, people were thrilled. They connected on a very emotional level with this man who had so honored his family, and especially his grandmother.

They loved him for it – and you better believe he attracted more customers. Why in the world would you want to work with another insurance agency when you could work with this one?

And even if you’re not a family-owned business, telling the story of your founder can have the same effect.

But here’s what I see most businesses do. Somewhere in their marketing, they say something like, “founded in 1900 by John Smith, who came from Europe in 1890, started his company, and we are still here today.”

Even worse, I hear or read “family owned and operated since 1900” and that’s IT! Nothing on their website, no more information.

That is NOT the kind of story that will engage anyone. You need to dig deeper, or it won’t work for you.

Do you see the difference?

So I HOPE you will think about doing your business history, and really telling the story of your founder, because the rewards are huge – personal, and financial.

You will also be expanding the story of your community’s history because it’s all connected. It’s all connected.

Dear Friends (you may also watch this article on video),

I wanted to answer some of the questions I am asked most frequently about doing a business history.

The three big ones are:

• What is involved?

• What will it cost me?

• Why should I do it?

Let’s take them one at a time.

What is involved? The answer is: It depends. Sorry!

It depends on what you already know. It depends on the resources available to you. It depends on how much you want to know, how in-depth you want to go, and how much time you have to spend. For example, you might be leading up to an anniversary and you have a deadline.

It depends on whether or not you have the time to do the work yourself, or hire a historian or researcher who can charge anywhere from $25 an hour to $125, depending on who they are. It depends on what you find when you start doing the research, because you will find some surprises and the research might take longer than originally thought. There might be travel involved, or photographs to be ordered…I think you can see what I mean!

The whole process can take an investment on your part of a couple to several thousand dollars, but now let’s talk briefly about WHY – what is the return on investment.

I will go into more detail on this in an upcoming post, but, again, it really depends on you – whether or not you implement what you’ve found in your research.

What you will find, and tell, is YOUR UNIQUE story – what makes you stand out from the crowd. Then, you will tell your story in your PR and your marketing, and I promise you people will respond if you do it strategically.

The return on your investment comes from media attention, new customers, increased customer loyalty, and an appealing, high class reputation.

But HOW is often the sticking point. HOW can you do your history to take advantage of the PR and marketing opportunities that are there, and I am here to help you.

I will tell you more in the coming days, but for now, I hope I’ve gotten some wheels turning in your mind because I really want this to work for you!

I also invite you to visit historysmiths.com if you want to learn more about these ideas. This is Bonnie Hurd Smith signing off!

P.S. If you ARE about to celebrate a business anniversary -- and I give you permission to do it every five years! -- my ebook "Go Beyond the Party" is chock full of ideas for you!

Greetings, friends! (You can also "watch" this blog post on video!)

If you have always wanted to know your business history but you didn’t know where to begin, or you didn’t have the time, or you weren’t able to invest in a historian or researcher, or you weren’t sure WHY you should even do this … 

I understand. Believe me, I’ve heard all of those reasons before, and I understand! It does take time, and you want the process to work for your business or organization.

As a historian, I’ve done a lot of business histories over the years, and other kinds of research projects for clients, not to mention my own historical investigations into women’s history, and I’ve learned a lot of tricks of the trade along the way that I would love to share with you.

But as a marketing and PR professional, I will answer the WHY question now. It’s because your history will reveal opportunities to promote your business or organization that you didn’t even know were there!

You get to tell a unique story that no one else can tell, and people will pay attention!

In the coming days, I’ll be telling you more about the process because I really want it to work for you.

This is Bonnie Hurd Smith signing off!

David McCullough, one of my heroes, thinks we should have embedded historians on military missions just as we often see embedded journalists. What a wonderful idea!

But just for fun, what about having an embedded historian in your FAMILY – and it could be you! Especially if you have a daughter, this role could be incredibly valuable for her development.

Many girls struggle with issues of self-esteem, self-confidence, and envisioning a role for themselves to play in the world. Even today. By exposing them to women’s history you can have a positive impact in all three areas.

The pressure on girls when it comes to their looks and sexuality is appalling, and they need to know – really know – that they can do so much more than just be pretty and sexy. Also, wouldn’t it be wonderful if they got the message that we EXPECT more of them? And one of the best ways I know of to shift this mindset is to expose girls to women who came from modest backgrounds, faced all kinds of obstacles, and achieved great things. It can make girls think, “Hmmm, I could do that too!”

So…

• Look into the women’s history in your town or your state. Contact your historical society, library, museum, historic house or National Park Service site to “find the women.”

• Find a woman or women your daughter can relate to – someone who did something she’s interested in, someone who used to live near you or who went to her school. Someone she will have a connection with.

• Make a project out of investigating the woman or women. Visit her historic home, teach your daughter how to use your public library to gather information, and go online to see what’s there.

What would be particularly gratifying is to find a woman who has not been studied, because then your daughter will be doing original research -- and that is empowering stuff.

• What can your daughter do with the information you have uncovered? Can this become a school project? An article for your local newspaper or historical society? A website? A talk? These actions alone will give her a sense of accomplishment and call out her curiosity and her creativity. (She will also be building her resume!)

We can’t trust our schools to do women’s history because they aren’t doing it. The same is often true with historical societies and museums. And yet, women’s history is TEEMING with role models for girls to learn from, model, and be inspired by.

Whether you’re a mom or a dad, think about becoming the family embedded historian and women’s history teacher for your daughter. You will enjoy the journey!