We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Corey Kearsley and Katie Gurney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Corey and Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

In 2016, both of our previous spouses died from pancreatic cancer at the young ages of 49 and 47. We were left with kids to raise, households to run, and careers to manage. We lived about an hour apart and did not know each other until we met at a widow/widowers conference put on by the administrators of a Facebook group for widows and widowers.

Though we eventually married, we stayed active in the Facebook group over the years and were alarmed at the number of posts from widows and widowers who suffered unnecessarily because they were unprepared and ill equipped for the death of their spouses.

We want to change the narrative. While we hope the life-after-loss plans we help families create don’t have to be implemented for many years and decades to come, our mission is to help every family be ready just in case. We want to help prepare the surviving spouse to be able to move forward in life with peace of mind, confidence, and in full control of their life.

We have come up with a systematic approach to getting the legal, financial, mental/emotional and practical affairs of a family prepared, so that when a death occurs, the survivors know EXACTLY what to do and can grieve in a healthy meaningful way. Having everything prepared for loss doesn’t keep you from grieving your loved one, but it keeps you from hating them for leaving you with such a mess.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Prepare Your Affairs was born out of loss. After our previous spouses died of cancer, we met at a conference for widows and widowers and later married. Through our own experience and those of others in our support group, we realized that so much suffering that a surviving spouse often endures is preventable with proper planning. With a strong financial plan, the appropriate legal documents, and honest conversations, a family can be ready for that what-if moment whenever it comes, and it will come.

Through blogs, e-books, workbooks, podcasts, workshops, presentations, speaking engagements, and one-on-one coaching, our focus is on education. Because we are not licensed attorneys, certified financial planners, or life insurance agents, we focus on explaining the options rather than steering families into any one particular planning tool. Using our Four Pillars of Preparation model, we help you create or evaluate your current financial, legal, mental/emotional/spiritual, and practical preparations to date and what options are available to make your plan more secure and impactful.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

This might be stating the obvious, but losing a spouse forces a major life pivot. Before they became terminally ill, our marriages were good partnerships in the raising of our children, doing chores, traveling, social outings, community service, etc. When we suddenly were left to do all the things on our own, it was overwhelming and required major adjustments. And aside from figuring out how to run a household entirely on our own, we questioned our entire existence. In many ways, our identities were tied to our previous spouses and when they died it left us wondering who we are and whether we had anything in life to look forward to again.

Our support group played a key role for us in how we’ve been able to move forward and find joy again in life. Having a community of people who knew the pain we felt and had lived through the unique challenges of widowhood was comforting. The reassurance by the more “experienced” widows and widowers (those who had been widowed longer) was inspiring and gave us hope.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

As we continue to define our unconventional business, we explore new products, pricing, and markets to find what will resonate with families. Everybody knows how important end-of-life planning is, but it requires talking about one’s own mortality while considering what life will be like without a life partner. It’s a scary, taboo item on life’s to-do list that is easy to put on the back burner in hopes of having many years and decades to get ready.

Where we are getting traction, however, is in the telling of our story, which is full of pain, perseverance, and the power of hope. It’s a journey that has literally taken us through the valley of the shadow of death to a resurrection of sorts in a new life together. The sharing of our experience seems to offer hope, encouragement, and inspiration for people to face their own challenges with strength and courage. By being willing to share our experience and what we’ve learned from it, we hope that people will find the inspiration to reflect on where they’re at in their own end-of-life plans and to take action to firm up those plans where necessary.

Contact Info:

• Website: affairsinorder.com
• Instagram: @prepareyouraffairs
• Linkedin: @prepareyouraffairs
• Youtube: @prepareyouraffairs

Image Credits
For the photos of us making presentations to a group and with a couple, photo credit goes to Define Motion.