FORGOTTEN MEMORIES NO MORE! Matt Jacobson's Fight to Keep His Father’s Story Alive! EP 397

You know you need something, you're just not sure what. You've been listening, you're doing the work, but there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place, like you're waiting for the thing that finally moves you. Now maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back, the timing, the money, or you're just not sure you're ready yet. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you. I built a resource for exactly this moment, guided meditations for when the waves hit and you just need to breathe. Workbooks to help you get out of your head and onto the page, ebooks on what near-death experiences tell us about the people we've lost, and whether they're really gone, a full course for widows and widowers who are ready to find their way back to living, and a full course for the evidence of the afterlife. And all of it is available for pay what you want. Nobody gets turned away because of money. I think these resources are valuable, but I don't want to hold them back because you don't have the money to pay for them. You don't have to wait until you're ready for coaching. The next step might be a lot smaller than you think. To find out, go to grief2growth.com/store. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/store. And check out the resources I've made for you.

Lifebooks is a personal venture of mine that I began with the purpose to preserve my dad's memory, his legacy, everything that anyone could share about him into a hardbound book. The guy just gave everything, his life for us, and for him to be forgotten, for his story, for the foundation that it was to my family, for it not to be known, for his story to be lost in vain, really hit hard with me in terms of it being like a second death to him. Preserving his story, I wanted to write a book about him. I started thinking about writing a book, and it's pretty hard to write a book. One person write an entire book, it's a lot. And I also knew that my family, my friends, siblings of my father, they would have stories of my dad that I wouldn't have. Stories that represented his life, his legacy, his commitment, his benevolence. And those stories that are the life that he lived, I want them to live on.

Close your eyes and imagine. What if the things in life that cause us the greatest pain, the things that bring us grief, are challenges? Challenges designed to help us grow, to ultimately become what we were always meant meant to be. We feel like we've been buried. But what if, like a seed, we've been planted? And having been planted, we grow to become a mighty tree. Now, open your eyes. Open your eyes to this way of viewing life. Come with me as we explore your true, infinite, eternal nature. This is Grief to Growth. And I am your host, Brian D Smith. Hey there, I'm Brian D Smith. I'm your host of Grief to Growth. And whether you're a returning listener, you're joining us for the first time, I want to welcome you to the program. This podcast is all about navigating the complexities of life, finding meaning, especially in our most challenging moments. And together we explore why we're here, where we're going, what happens during our time on earth, all those, all those little things like that. Today we have an inspiring story that touches on all of these big questions. I'm joined by Matt Jacobson, a young man whose journey is deeply personal, yet I think it's universally relatable. Matt grew up in Southern California working in his family's mattress store, and his life took an unexpected turn when he received a phone call while studying abroad that his father had been hospitalized. And days later, Matt found out— found himself stepping into his father's shoes not just in the business, but in honoring his father's memory in a powerful way. Matt is the founder of Lifebooks. It's a company born from the love and legacy of his father, and it's really more than just a business. It's a deeply personal project that allows families and friends to capture and preserve the stories of their loved ones, creating beautiful hardbound tributes that can endure for generations. And when Matt called me up to tell me about Lifebooks, I was like, You've got to come on the podcast. I really want people to hear your story and hear about this, this company that you're starting, because I think it's really going to impact a lot of people's lives. So in today's episode, we're going to explore the challenges that Matt faced losing his father and stepping into the family business and how that paved the way for where he is today. We'll talk about how he dealt with the loss, the unexpected responsibilities he faced, and all those things. But before we dive in, I want to remind you that after the episode is over to go to grieftogrowth.com/community and continue the conversation there. So with that, I want to welcome to Grief to Growth Matt Jacobson.

Thank you, Brian. Thank you for that warm introduction. I really appreciate it. Kind of going over this story, just where you left off, Lifebooks is a personal venture of mine that I began with the purpose to preserve my dad's memory, his legacy, and everything that anyone could share about him into a hardbound book. The beginning of this story really started, as you said, I was studying abroad and I got the call that my dad had been admitted back into the hospital. Just before leaving to Europe, my dad was in remission from esophageal cancer. It had been 2 years since the cancer had come back and We actually went on a walk just before I left, about a 5, 6-mile hike. And I look back on that hike and I know for sure he knew that the cancer had come back and he wanted to put on a show. He wanted to show his strength to me that way. I left. So because it was only 3 weeks into being in Europe where I got the call to come home. So surely he knew. And, you know, Another testament to, you know, our loved one's strengths and what they sacrifice. Him knowing the hardship, having to say goodbye to me, not knowing if I'd come back and he'd see me. He knew that. And that struck home with me later on when I realized there's no way he did those 5, 6 miles and I was more tired than him without having to know something. So that— thoughts like that in terms of sacrifice, when I'd gotten the call and I'd come home, instantly in my dad's shoes at working at his family, at the Family Mattress Store. He had ran the store for 26 years by himself, no help, never came home complaining, just always excited to see his boys and be able to spend time with us. And then when I was in his shoes shortly after he passed, uh, doing his work, which was 60, 70-hour weeks coupled with school and then just the entire grief environment that my brother and I were in. Every day felt like a marathon and it was extremely exhausting. Weeks passed and I began to really realize the shoes that I had to fill and what had been sacrificed to allow for the life I had lived, for the freedom that, you know, my family had, um, all of it from my dad, all of it from his sacrifice. Um, and wanting— coming home late at night, I was— I'd be driving home from work thinking, gosh, like, the sacrifice, the commitment, zero appetite for complaining. Um, the guy just gave everything, his life for us. And for him to be forgotten, for his story for the foundation that it was to my family, for it not to be known, for his story to be lost in vain, um, really hit hard with me in terms of it being like a second death to him. Because how could I have— you know, I'm in his shoes, I'm seeing what he had to deal with as a man in life and what he had to do for his family, um, and for all that in a generation or two, if not shared will be completely forgotten. And I know that because my grandfather was only— his story was shared to me via, you know, one or two stories, but not, not much to the point where I'd be able to share who my grandfather was to my son. And knowing that, to think, who would my nephew and niece grow up to know my, my father by? Their grandfather. How would my unborn child or child to come grow up to know my father if there were no stories and decades pass and people don't share or don't remember and that life is lost. It became more of a purpose preserving his story. I wanted to write a book. I wanted to write a book about him. The idea of Lifebooks followed suit when I started thinking about writing a book and it's pretty hard to write a book. One person write an entire book. It's a lot. And I also knew that my family, my friends, siblings of my father, they would have stories of my dad that I wouldn't have. Stories that represented his life, his legacy, his commitment, his benevolence. And those stories that are the life that he lived, I want them to live on. So In efforts to capture those memories and those stories, I created Lifebooks, which is an online platform. I've been working 4 years with my developer on getting this ready, but it's an online platform where you can sign up and invite your family and friends to join you in a creative where you can contribute photos, stories, prayers, shared memories, and more. And on the platform, all the contributions are collected, formatted, and proofed by our engine. So there's no scrapbooking. Family and friends can just hop in, type a story, submit, and move on to another story. They don't have to worry about structure, organization, text placement, because all of that is done by our book engine, making it easy for family and friends to collectively contribute into a single book. Further in the book engine, we understand writing can be difficult. So there's tools using GPT AI functions so you can rephrase your writing, check for spelling, check for grammar, and everything will be tuned in our engine afterwards. So no matter the amount of contributions, 200 photos, 500 photos, 50 photos, it doesn't matter the organize the book so it's cohesive into a 100-page hardbound print. That way, if it's 5 contributors or 35 contributors, everyone's stories are in the book that can be held and shared and read for generations to come. Lifebooks has been— has turned into from the pursuit of wanting to preserve my dad's book to now becoming wanting to ensure that our loved ones' memories, our legacy, the generation before us is not forgotten. In, in the, in terms of the American way of death, I have, I, my background is finance. It was not in the commemorative and the grief space. And I have become a little bit personally fired up by the idea that our American way of death has been commercialized in a very transactional, quick manner where after my dad passed, it was shortly after his funeral, then his memorial, then his funeral, and then it was done. It was over. There was no anniversary. There was no second, third year, fourth year, nothing set up for us to come together as a family. I don't feel like this was done without intent. I think this was done with intent because what better way to get you back as a worker bee then forget your loved one who had passed and get back to work. I think that's wrong. I think it's profoundly flawed in the fundamentals we need as our legacy, our heritage, our family are part of how we remain as virtuous individuals. That's how we gather. That's how we grow. It's with what we've learned, where we came from. If you take that away, you're just left with this isolated generation, more isolated than the next. And Lifebooks to me has become a more profound pursuit in making sure that nobody is forgotten and that everyone wants to live a great life because they know that they're going to be written about in a book for their family and they want to make sure that book is great.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

You know, one of the hardest things about grief, most of the people in your life just don't get it. They want you to be further along than you are. They get uncomfortable when you bring it up, so you stop bringing it up. And that's why I started writing. My Substack is where I go deeper, thoughts I don't always get to on the podcast, essays on consciousness, on continuing bonds, on what it actually means to carry a loss and still build a life. The stuff that used to keep me up at night, written out in a way that I hope meets you in the morning. But here's what I didn't expect when I started it, the community that showed up, people who are doing exactly what you're doing, listening, learning, learning, trying to find their footing. Readers who comment, who share their own stories, who remind each other that none of us are as alone in this as we feel. And that's what the Substack has become— a place to go deeper with me and to find your people. It's free to subscribe. Find me at grief2growth.com/substack. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/substack. Or just go to Substack and search for Grief to Growth. I hope to see you there. That's awesome. Thanks for sharing that, Matt. So, um, tell me more about your father. It sounds like an incredible guy. You're, you're an amazing individual, so I imagine that a lot of that was passed along to you from your father. So tell me, tell me about him, about his character and, and memories you have of him growing up.

He's awesome. Old school businessman, everything in his head type of guy. Grew up in Chicago. We big family focus on books and academics. My dad once taught me anything I haven't taught you, you can learn from a book. There are many great men out there. That know more than me and you can learn from them too. And he always pushed me to read and to pursue school and knowing that what education breeds is your ability to see the doors that are opportunity, your willingness to take them. He's an entrepreneur, single father, 24 years running a shop by himself. He was a risk taker. He had a very, very free spirit, would not work for a company, just wanted to work on his own. So just, you know, as many of the boomers were just very hardworking. You can't make them like how they used to be. They grew up post-war era and he showed it. Very virtuous man that really, uh, lived his life once he had kids for his kids. The sacrifice was the acceptance of his life was now committed for his kids. And I know that because he wouldn't— for, for the work year, he would take Christmas and Thanksgiving off.

That's it.

That's it. He would be there every other day of the year. Um, that commitment, it's not because he needed the wealth, not because he, he was greedy. We lived a very frugal, uh, life. My dad was fairly frugal, uh, Jewish household. We didn't serve beyond our needs. Um, and with that, uh, he knew what he was conserving for. He knew what he was saving for, creating a business so that he passed it down to his kids, so his kids would have an opportunity, um, because it is a very competitive world and With that, my brother has been blessed, and we built the store up so that he can work that, and I'm pursuing LifeBooks, and many doors have opened since because of his sacrifice. So I, I have nothing but great things to say about the guy because there's nothing I didn't learn from him that, uh, there's nothing he could have shared to me before he passed. And the one thing he did before he passed is he told me there's anything, it's going to be in books. And, um, he always told me if I read a book and I learned one thing, then it was worth it. Because oftentimes, uh, if you had to write down everything you knew on pieces of paper, how many pages would you fill? And, um, Prof. Brian D Smith, really great golden nuggets are found from reading. It's really hard to write and, uh, That's likely what inspired Lifebooks, because I love reading, I love books. And that's likely what brought me back to him. Yeah.

Well, I think it's great that— and as I was saying in the introduction, when you and I first met, and you were talking about this, because I've interviewed so many people. And I've talked to people who have written books about their loved ones. I've talked to people who have actually even tried to put together projects to try to remember their loved ones and various things. And there are challenges. Most of us are not writers. We don't really know how to format a book and stuff like that. But the other thing I've learned from talking to people is we as human beings are multidimensional, and everybody's got a different view of us, whether it's a sister or mother or brother, wife, uncle, you know, nephew. And when my daughter passed, I realized other people had different stories about her that I didn't know. And what I love about Lifebooks is that it's such a collaborative thing, right? It's not like I have to remember everything and put everything into it. It brings everybody together to share those little tidbits.

That, yeah, that is the biggest advantage with Lifebooks because it's such a difficult thing to do is to sit down and write on behalf of your loved one. To do it alongside of your family and friends, to see them share stories along the way that you haven't heard, you know, you really just propel inspiration in terms of, you know, that's— there's a time where I was at the baseball game, or there was a time where I had— there's a lesson learned, and I reflect from that lesson. I have this story to share. So the collaborative nature in it The more people that get involved, the more enriched the book becomes and the more enriched it is, the more it's representative of one's life. Absolutely. Really excited. And there's another feature that allows you— we went over, Brian D Smith, for you to invite to collaborate within a story. So if there's a story with a lot about a loved one, maybe it's a particular setting a wedding event and you wanted to invite others within the creative to join you and submit their story at that time of the wedding, you can invite them to collaborate with you within the same story.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's, it's really, it's really fascinating because it's such a combination of what's only available now because of technology, being able to prevent short runs of, of quality books. And we'll talk more detail about the book, you know, that you actually get later on. But also the, the, the AI that you're using to help people to give prompts for how to— because people sit down with the blank page, they don't know what to write— for correcting that and stuff like that. But I don't know if you remember, this is a few years ago, there was an ad because we're all taking pictures on our phone now.

Yeah.

And they were showing pictures on the phone and they're like, the, the pictures were trapped because we don't print pictures anymore. And what people are realizing is I've got thousands and thousands of pictures, but nobody ever looks at them. So being able to take these memories and to put them into a hard copy again, kind of going old school a little bit, makes it more accessible.

The, yeah, the book, like you said, the old school, the book, it has a certain nostalgic factor. I find going online, online memorials, there's a certain sediment that's missing. Where to have the physical, tangible book you're holding. If you, you know, I don't live where my dad was buried and to have his book with me as I travel, to see the photos, like you said, that have been hidden in my photos for quite some time, that became a huge focus of it being a physical book shortly after the Lifebook idea came up. Because knowing, uh, for it to be something you hold and pass down, and with that being able to pass down a book— book manufacturing was another hurdle that you kind of mentioned, Brian D Smith. Getting a book that is something that could last 100 years is quite difficult in that most books' bindings— and the binding is what tells whether or not the book will be durable and last the test of time. But most books' bindings are glued. The pages are glued together to the binding, and they're glued together within the seam as well. With glued bindings, you really only have a 5- to 10-year period of use with the book before the pages start to pull out and the binding starts to wither. And the book in time, in short, won't be something that you could share with the next generation. It would call for a reprint of sorts. When we looked into manufacturing, the main focus was getting a hardcover book that's section sewn, smise sewn, also known as smise sewn print. When you get section sewn books, the only manufacturers that want to do a section sewn book are manufacturers that are producing books of 250, 500. They all have minimum order quantities. These are the books that people go and get published and they're on the shelves. Now, if you want to go get a custom hardbound book, it's really easy to get one with a glued binding one-off. It is nearly impossible to get a section sewn book one-off from any manufacturer. There's too much labor. The machine costs too much. For them to have that set up. And they're working with buyers, not consumers of books. So we've been really lucky to get an American manufacturer to really believe and buy into the idea of Lifebooks, what we're doing, and to be able to fulfill hardbound Smyth sewn books at a very cost-effective rate so that we could go into business. Because if it wasn't for them, we would otherwise have to find manufacturing perhaps overseas. And that becomes another issue in terms of privacy. And privacy is very important for Lifebooks. So we're happy to keep everything in the States.

Yeah, I think it's— that's— you can tell you've really thought this out. And when you and I talked earlier and I've actually participated a little bit with the beta and as the software is getting set up and everything, You've thought through all these things, and I know it's still developing, it's getting better all the time, but those features that you've already got, we talked about the collaboration, being able to invite other people in, so I'm not responsible for the whole thing, and prompts, because, you know, you made me think of things like I might not have thought about, like share a poem that you shared with somebody, or a particular event that you went to, a wedding, or a, you know, a picnic, or a trip to Disneyland, or whatever. And then also the, the fact that the AI actually kind of, um, uh, does all the putting it together and formatting and all that. So it takes all that off the hands of the person. So all you have to really concentrate on is telling the story.

All you have to concentrate is telling the story. Exactly. Yeah, we wanted the book engine to be seamless so that users could focus on what's important, and that's capturing their loved one's story. The period to contribute, oftentimes we are now going to open up if people want to, say, participate in an annual event. Maybe there's a reunion and they didn't get to create the book or be a part of the first publishing. We'll also be set up on an annual basis where you'll be able to open the creative and add more to it. And do an annual reprint if needed so that the book over years as family come together and there's more memories and more people engaged in wanting to create this book, the book can go through a reprint in the future if need be, if there's anyone that missed out on contributing or if there were any stories missed and you wanted them to be fit in print. So there is a in that, in that record we weren't going to maintain. But because we were able to keep manufacturing in the States, we're able to maintain the books with the shop and everything safe so that if there ever is need for a reprint, we can offer that. But yeah, the, the book has been an absolute— the goal is to get the books in hands as we're in the beta during holiday. And once books are in hands from the beta, as Brian, you mentioned you're participating in, we are going to spend a little time getting some feedback and doing some work, but then we'll be launching the official launch likely in February in 2025 for others to join and create a book for their loved one.

I think, yeah, I think that's like I said, I was really excited when you told me about it because I think like, we all want to remember our loved ones, and we all want others to remember our loved ones. And I think about, like, my daughter was 15 when she passed, and I have another daughter who's 3 years older. So when, when my daughter Kayla has children, you know, they'll hear about their, their Aunt Shayna, but it'll be someone that they've never actually met in person, right? And we can, we can tell stories, but wouldn't it be really cool to have, like, a coffee table book that they could, like, they could leaf through. And, and that, that would prompt, you know, more— you can't capture everything in a book, of course, but that would prompt more conversation. So I, I see this as something that, um, you know, we've got family photo albums now, and those are, those are all, those are really great. I was— my parents just had their 65th wedding anniversary, and this is pretty wild, but we're just having this conversation now. This is just a few weeks ago. And someone had taken a video at their wedding. Now, this was 65 years ago. It had taken this video. It was actually in color, which I still don't understand how that happened. But my parents didn't even know about it till like 10 years ago. Somebody came up to them and said, oh, did you know that so-and-so shot this video at your, at your wedding? And they're like, no, we didn't know. But we all had it up on the Apple TV. All my, my cousins were there, and some of them were at the wedding, and my aunts and uncles. And it was really cool just having that experience. And so something like this where we could actually be intentional about putting it together and having it there, I just think would be a really great thing to continue that legacy for people that, you know, you were saying that like your, your nieces and nephews might not remember your father and your future children are not going to ever have met him, but you've got this, this really cool thing that is tangible.

I really appreciate that, Brian D Smith. Yeah, the, the mention of the wedding and how things come up that in time. Yeah, things come up and you may want to add to the book or to have others maybe want a copy of their own, but to have that physical book with you, for you to be able to read and have that on the coffee table to open up. Um, the physical book, I'd like to show you over the podcast call. It's recorded. If I—

sure, absolutely.

So the physical book itself comes in a magnetic enclosure box, keep it safe. When you open it up, there's a nice pulley tab right here. Now the main part about the book that we kind of went into is the binding, which I'll show on the camera. When you open a book up and you look at the binding of the pages, you can see it's scored into sections. These are sewn in. It's a, it's a hand process where they're setting up the books to be hand sewn into the binding. That way they hold tight. The book is 100 pages. It has a matte soft lamination, so it's got a silky touch finish. And a bit more on the back of the book, you'll have a photo of your loved one and then two quotes. The photo and the quotes that are decided to be put for print are decided through our platform where when loved ones contribute stories with photos, individuals can read the stories during the contributing period and they can click a heart badge on the photos that they love, and the photos that get the most hearts during the creative process will be printed on the back of the book. And the quotes that are read and bestowed lotus flowers by highlighting and clicking lotus flower will be put on the back of the book to represent legacy and remembrance. The book itself is organized with the contributions based on readability. So we have our AI go through it and the stories that go to the front are going to be the vetted stories. And then all photos that are used in the book that exceed the pages, so any excess photos, for instance, will be put in the back of the book in a photo gallery. The book itself comes with the purchase of a creative. So the lead, the person that signs up gets a copy with the creative, and no other person has to pay to contribute or to join. The lead, the person who initiates the signup, is the one that commits to the book. And from then you can just invite family and friends to contribute the photos and stories on the platform, and the engine takes care of the rest. You don't have to worry about scrapbooking or reaching out to users as the system does all that for you.

So, um, we're talking about this. You, you said, because right now we're recording this, and just for transparency for people, recording this in late September 2024, um, it'll probably add in by the end of the year anyway, 2024. But by the time people hear this, we'll be coming into the point where it's probably going to be going public very, very soon. Um, so what, what, um What are some of the challenges you've had to overcome? Well, we've already talked about some of them with doing this, but this is a, this is a daunting project. I mean, you said you're, you're running the mattress store. Uh, you're still running the mattress store and, and doing this and your background, you're, you were going to school for finance, right?

I went to school for finance. I finished in 2021. Um, so my background was finance. With that, I had little anticipation of going into the grief space before I was bestowed my dad's store, right? That path. In terms of hurdles, where we're at, um, you'd ask me a question earlier, challenges with doing all of this in terms of during grief too, because I'm in grief, in the mist. I would say that When you're dealing with grief, it's a different lens that you're looking through life. It's a completely different lens. And in the first year or so, isolation was a thing in terms of my friends and isolating with the work and school. But I found in pursuing LifeBooks and engaging in ways to commemorate my dad, Slowly that lens, the fogginess began to kind of dissipate as I found it kind of a refound purpose. It wasn't lost because it can be, it can be recovered in the version of Lifebooks. And there's a gravity to the loss that has slowly slowly dissipated as Lifebooks has transcribed, and my dad's book is currently being made by my family and I right now. Um, so it's been a grand pursuit with running the store, with launching the company, and then dealing with loss, but purpose has persisted. Um, I think that's one thing users will have to ask, will have to remind themselves the purpose is it's not just for you, it's for them. You're doing it for them. And it's a commitment for future generations, for yourself, because it is an extremely warming project to commemorate one's, a loved one via stories. But you're also creating the book for them and so that they will never be forgotten. And that should be a prevailing purpose that all users should have with them, that they're creating the LifeBook for their loved ones so that they'll never be forgotten. And with that held, I believe that everyone will want to finish a book for their loved one. The purpose is there. In terms of challenges in writing, since we've gotten started with the beta, we've issued LifeBooks guide. I don't think I went through that with you, Brian. You may have seen it when you're in the beta. Yourself, where it issues prompts and templates. So having our system usher inspirational questions through either lessons learned or family gatherings, holidays, outdoors, career, various questions from various general events to help kind of churn the writing juices. What was the lesson that your loved one bestowed upon you that you continue to share? What was a time that your loved one made the outdoors more memorable and you continue to remember them every time you're outdoors in that moment? Different ways to get writers to keep flowing. That addition was shortly after another beta user actually issued the idea, you know, prompts and questions to help. And she had helped me refine a list of questions and templates to have the AI usher in for the creative. So getting started, it is a lot in terms of it's a book, it's stories. But if you have a group of 5 people and each of the 5 were to write a 2-page story, each of them wrote 10 pages, those stories with a matter of 20 photos would fill the entire book. And the time that we give for contributing stories, 90-day period, so 3 months. We hope that in 3 months that a group could come together, contribute 3 to 5 stories about their loved one, and with a relatively small group and a fair amount of photos, the entire book will be filled. So it's not too intimidating in that the minimum threshold is very minimal. We will be able to scale the font, the spacing, the photos to expand the entire horizon of the book.

Yeah, I think it's— that's, that's wonderful. And it's talking about the Lifebooks is really important. But what I— other thing I want people to take from this talk with you today is the way that we navigate grief, because grief, as you say, it can be heavy, it can be burdensome, and it is, and we get the isolation and loneliness But what I've been so impressed with you, Matt, is you've taken your grief and said, what am I gonna do with this? What am I? And, and you've turned it into purpose and you've turned it into preserving, preserving your father's legacy, which has given you this, this drive to do this thing that you're doing, which is, is massive. I mean, it's, it's so impressive. So when we go through grief, we don't have to just sit down and, and, and crumble, which is an option. We can say, how do I, how do I take this and turn it into something beneficial? And we, and I always talk about my clients about like, whenever we go through something, we can learn from it, we can, we can learn from it, we can grow from it. And we can use it to inspire ourselves. And I've seen you do all three of the above.

Thank you, Brian D Smith. I really appreciate that. Yeah, highlighting on, you know, what is going through grief, and what it is, who you are, how you sometimes can lose yourself because how you walk life, how you saw that through that lens, it's never the same. Everything is fundamentally changed when you deal with a loss. And I think it's very important for people to engage with the world, to engage in their interests, to re-evoked the fire that was in anything, whether it was an interest in trading cards, or you like to go to the gym, or you like walks, whatever it is. Omission, the act of not acting, has been the most detrimental to me in terms of my pursuit out of the grief. The act of acting, whatever it may be, allows you to figure out what you like. What you don't like, what you want, what you long for, what you— what inspires you. A lot of these things, life is very watered down after loss, almost tasteless. And life is full of taste. Life is full of life. And that abundance is lost when you isolate, self-isolate. That abundance is lost when you don't try to engage with the world because the world shows you what you love, what you like, what your interests are, where your— just where your focus lies. It's very difficult to find focus when you're isolated and confined. You find yourself through others. You find yourself through experiences. You find yourself when you look past the past. And look forward, um, it all becomes easier as you just take one step. And omission is the one Achilles heel to that step. It'll hold you in that seat, and I just— I won't stay seated.

Yeah, that's so well said. And, you know, speaking of focus, because we, we can choose what we focus on, and you were, you were faced with the, you know, the loss of your father at a— you're a young man, so at a young age, and, you know, taking over the business. And so you could look at all these and say, this is, this is terrible, look at all these challenges, you know, life sucks. But instead, you like, you're like, okay, you, you cherish the memory of your father, you're honoring the memory of your father, you're continuing on with, with the business, and you've launched something brand new, which I'm sure your father is very very proud of?

I, uh, what I give for him to see where we're at. Um, yeah, it'd be everything. Uh, I would be extremely excited. Just, I'm extremely excited to see him on the other side, that's for sure.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I know he's, I know he's proud of you. I know he's got to be proud of you. And, uh, as I said, to launch something brand new and exciting from, from, from that loss. And the lotus flower is a perfect emblem for the, for the company, for the book, because the lotus grows out of the, out of the muck, and it turns into something beautiful.

Absolutely. Lotus flower, beautiful, a beautiful flower. You see it in the midst of the mud, and it's clean. It's clean as slate. I I really appreciate that, Brian. I really appreciate your understanding also of just the, just how difficult everything has been. And when you're trying to pull an iron out of the fire, it's hot, and trying to make something great out of something so sad. Has been very daunting, yes. But the purpose in knowing that it's not just my dad, it's, you know, your daughter, my uncle, others, family members, they need their Lifebook. They need to be remembered. There's no future where my dad's story isn't held in the hands of my nephew and niece. So, Um, yeah, just, I, I really appreciate that you have the same denomination as me in that preserving legacy and, uh, their memory is in fact a way to keep them alive. Um, it's been, it's been quite a journey, Brian. It's been quite a journey.

Yeah, I know. I, I just, when I talked to you the first time, you're telling me about what you've put, what you've gone through. And I've started a company before, so for anybody that's listening that has, you— we know how challenging that can be. And before we started recording, I was asking how your day was, and you were saying, oh, well, your, your day job, your, your mattress factory job, it's still presenting you with challenges. So you're starting this up while, while doing something else, but both of these things are continuing your father's legacy. So, uh, you're, you're well motivated to do both.

Absolutely. My dad's mattress store was similar to Lifebooks. I never knew that I was going to have to take over the family store. My older brother, who is like my younger brother, I like to say, he didn't have— when we took over, it was him and I. And I went to school in finance business and he didn't go to school. He just worked in sales with my dad. So for him, he didn't know much how the business operated, but just knew how to sell. So I had to come in and, um, I didn't tell you, Brian, I was served an audit by the state a month into running my dad's business based on my dad's prior business. Disgusting audit. Um, nasty audit. 3 years working at that. Why all this too? Working with the state, fighting them. Mm-hmm. Um, but the store has gone to a point where I'm able to work on Lifebooks 4 days a week, focus 3 days at the store, and, and able to keep this going. Um, in terms of the pursuit for Lifebooks, uh, funding has to come from somewhere, and, uh, I gotta keep working because I know what the end goal is, and, uh, In terms of the, the taxing nature, I mean, I'm filling my dad's shoes. It would be unlike me if I didn't get my 60 hours in for the week.

Wow.

Wow.

That's a lot. That's, that's, it's a lot, but I'm sure it's well worthwhile and it's such a noble pursuit. So I know it's going to do well and I think you've got a, yeah, I know. I think you have a great vision. Um, it's, it's, it's a great thing. It's a service to, to people. That. And as I said, as far as I know, it's unique. I've looked at other things that are, you know, have elements of it, but not anything that's as put together as this is. And for people that are listening, thinking, I, you know, and I know so many people, so many people, when they lose a loved one, say, I'd like to write a book. I mean, I talk to them every day. I'd like to write a book, but I don't know where to start. I don't know. I don't know how to write a book. I don't know how to get it published, you know, whatever. This is something, and I always tell people when they say they want to write a book, I'm like, well, what is your, what's your goal? Is to sell a million books? Is it to make money? Is it to preserve your loved one's legacy? You know, what is, what is your goal? And this is a, this is a legacy thing. It's very clear. This is not to, you know, we're not publishing this to try to sell millions of copies. This is to do that thing that I think that most of us want to do is like preserve that legacy and make it available to family members and friends, but also with this, this help of this artificial engine, this AI engine, which kind of helps prompt you along and does all the, all the heavy lifting for you.

That's, that, that's it in a nutshell. Brian D Smith couldn't have said it better. A book engine that does all the heavy lifting and allows you to seamlessly invite family and friends to make that book. Yeah, I, I'm very excited, uh, towards our launch in the new year. We're gonna have all the features, uh, firing off and everything going. There's a few additions to the new book too, for those that want to do a book for loved ones, not just an individual, but perhaps, um, there's grandparents that passed or parents that passed closely together. You'll be able to make a book for loved ones, so joint death. And yeah, we're just excited to see as Lifebooks progresses what people create and what they have in mind in terms of future additions to the book. And grateful anyone that would bite on this apple in terms of the commitment that is to make a book for your loved one. It's a very beautiful process. 3-month process, engaging and collaborative. And the goal is to make the contributing part easy so that they can focus on what's important— capturing their loved one's story.

Yeah. Well, as we're talking, I know it's still in beta, but again, this is going to be out probably a couple of months from now and it'll be available soon. So let's talk as if it's available. So where do people go? What's the process to get started?

To get started, you just go to lifebooks.io. And as the lead or a family friend of the lead, you can click on the Get Started button and join by either inviting a lead to sign up the family, or if you are the lead, you can sign up with just a $25 deposit towards the actual book. And that deposit will open the creative and allow you to begin inviting family and friends to write, contribute, and share. And then that, that link will be live as of right now, February 21st.

Okay. Yeah, that's— I think it's, again, when you, you know, you first reached out to me, I was like, we have to get on and talk about this. Because I know for, for my audience, for people that want to preserve that legacy, and I think about the, the obstacles that people have, well, I don't know how to write, I don't know how to to format it. I don't know where to get it printed. You know, all, all those things, they're all kind of taken care of. So, and even, and even like the collaborative part of it, I think is going to be really, really great because just that people have different stories, people see people from different points of view. So this kind of helps us to put together that, that can more of a complete rounded picture of the person that, that we loved, that we still love, that is and preserve that legacy. And the book, for people that can't see it, if you're just listening to the podcast, if you go to the YouTube channel and look up the video, you can see it. It's a beautiful, beautiful book. I mean, you've done such a good job of making it something that you really want to hold on to.

And if you want to see the demo and how the actual platform works, inviting and contributing and collaborating, We have a demo link on our website at lifebooks.io. You can see a full demo of the Lifebook Creative and how, uh, just behind the engine, how everything works.

Yeah, sounds great. Uh, well, Matt, I think we've kind of covered what we, we wanted to cover today. Any, any last thoughts you want to share?

I just want to, um, thank everyone and wish them blessings as we're all in this pursuit to find ourselves out of grief and to remember our loved ones in a special way. So just blessings to anyone that's in that boat and getting to the other side and, you know, seeing the island. I'm hoping that Lifebooks can be a tool to kind of help aid in that journey.

Yeah, awesome. Thanks for being here today, man.

Thank you. Thank you, Brian D Smith.

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