Entrepreneur Bound; My Dream

I have a dream like many others and that is to start my own business. I actually have had very detailed dreams about where the business would be located, who would work with me, but the 1 detail lacking was….the business!

But in reality I know what I want to do, it is just a matter of the funding/seed money to get started; I lack it and because of recent past events-a typical loan is not an option.

I am a social worker and group facilitator with older adults and I have been for almost 18 years now. I enjoy my work, but in some ways I am ready for change/a new challenge. I have side work that I do which is totally different from my regular job, challenges me a bit and I do believe we need to continue to learn and grow as professionals. Plus, this side work can be done at home, after hours, and weekends if I so choose.

I am also an author and co-authored and co-edited a book with Julie Saeger Nierenberg last year. Journey’s End: Death, Dying, and the End of Life, Xlibris, July 2017. This book is different. This book is unique. This book is to me, a 1 stop shopping resource.

Besides Julie and myself, there are 52 other authors in this book; a mix of professionals and lay-people who joined the journey with us to write about death, dying, and end of life. Not a subject many want to read about, talk about, plan for… but the reality is, in order to be born, we will all die one day. Death is part of the life cycle.

My dream is for this book to become mainstream-read by many because of the subject and all it entails. How many books have 54 authors in it? How many books have a multitude of perspectives to cover a specific topic?

We were fortunate to have well known individuals in the areas of death and dying participate; nurses, doctors, lawyers, social workers, educators, professionals who focus on death midwifery, offer training on being a death doula. We have information on grief and bereavement. The book has meaningful quotes, checklists to plan (paperwork wise) for death, questions to use to get discussions flowing and to be used for book clubs along with legal information re: wills, mandates, and power of attorney.

We cover death through the lens of: spouse, partner, child, grandchild, grandparent, parent, friend, client, patient, pets, miscarriage, abortion and more. We discuss assisted dying and euthanasia around the world and current legislation. We talk about the benefits of hospice and palliative care.

How many books on death out there cover all of this? I look every time I go to a bookstore and what I come across are books that cover 1 relationship or 1 subject from what is listed above.

But my dreams are bigger in that I want to facilitate workshops and discussions on the subject for both professionals and lay-people. I would love to get book clubs organized for individuals to talk about Journey’s End and other books on the subjects of death and dying. I want to offer workshops to raise awareness and to educate. How can one go wrong with combining social work and writing? My 2 professional loves….

It falls down to marketing and seed money. Marketing of the book I am working on. Seed money I am doing research.

How to make the dream a reality? Open to feedback, suggestions, guidance, and advice!

*First published on my website/blog: mswwrites.com/2018/09/29/entrepreneur-bound/

#journeysend #spn #mentoring #education #death #dying #endoflife