So what do you do all day? Can Tell Us Something really be a full time job?
Recently someone asked me how I fill my workday. A reasonable question since I work from home and am my own boss. There is the typical office work that goes along with running any business.
A summary:
- Plenty of emailing, marketing on a variety of levels
- Keeping up with social media
- Event promotion including flier distribution of 200+ fliers
- Courting sponsorship
- Updating current sponsors on progress and future plans
- Meetings
- Fundraising training
- Internship recruitment and training
- Storyteller recruitment and coaching
- Workshop development and hosting
- Bookkeeping
- Website development and maintenance
- Podcast editing and production
- Video shooting and editing
- Professional development
- Writing business model and business plan development
There is more, of course, just as in any other job and I won’t bore you with the minutia of a day in the life of Tell Us Something. I love what I do. I love curating an oral history of Missoula, Montana. I love helping people believe in themselves and feel validated, feel heard.
Since its inception in 2011, the mission of Tell Us Something in a nutshell has been to give a voice to those who may not have a voice and help people get their stories heard.
Everyone has a story. Everyone’s stories matter.
That 600 + people come to listen respectfully and quietly as storytellers share their true personal stories from memory — often very vulnerable stories — is astounding. The power of stories to bind us together as a society is incredible and every time a storyteller gets up on that stage I am breathless for him or her. And proud. Many of the storytellers have never spoken in public before and most of them do not write much less memorize their stories.
So all of the volunteer work that I do I’m doing with love and in service to the Missoula community and beyond. In service to the storytellers. I want to get their stories into as many ears as possible. Usually I try to stay out of the way and let the stories speak for themselves. And getting those stories heard takes work.
Thank you to all who help support the project by attending the events, offering financial assistance, subscribing to and downloading the podcasts and most especially to the storytellers.
Your story matters.
–Marc
