Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dietrich Nissen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dietrich, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I love being the owner of Inherited Stories®.

I wake up happy everyday because I get to develop and run a business that’s dedicated to loving and recognizing the value of other people. We create legacy documentaries called Vimories® that are designed to preserve a person or couple’s life stories for their family, friends and future generations.

We recently completed a Vimory® of a woman for her large family. The feedback we received from the person’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, filled our hearts with joy and reinforced our passion for what we do. Some of the comments were:

“This is so amazing. I couldn’t stop the tears. It was so beautiful. Thank you for this amazing gift.”

“Thanks SO much for making and sharing this! Just had a chance to watch and was choked up for practically the whole thing. She’s sure an amazing lady, glad we have this. :)”

When you receive feedback like that, you know the work we do is making a positive impact and to me that’s worth more than anything a “regular” job can offer.

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

I started Inherited Stories® almost five years ago as a response to a personal loss — my Grandma Peggy.

Growing up, our family joked about getting a video camera and recording her, but we never did. She got dementia and Alzheimer’s, and we lost our chance to capture her stories. Now, I can’t even remember the sound of her laugh or her voice, and it’s awful.

I don’t want other families to make the mistake mine did. I want every family to have the option of capturing their loved one’s stories before it’s too late, and I want to give them something they will truly cherish — a white-glove customer experience that results in a high-quality, well-produced documentary about someone they love.

Think about this: What do you know about your family from 300 years ago?
Now, ask yourself: What do you want your family to know about you in the next 300 years?

We are our stories, and when we lose our stories, we lose who we are.

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

I think the key to building our strong reputation has been consistently practicing our six core values. Those are: Transparency and Integrity in our communication; Excellence and Quality in our Vimory productions; and, Kindness and Empathy in how we solve challenges.

Each of those six values is built in to every process and aspect of our business model. And because they are, it’s easy to trust that we will do what we say we are going to do because — If we don’t have trust, we don’t have anything.

You owe it to your customers to be able to trust you.
You owe it to your partner businesses and professional organizations to trust you.
You owe it to your employees and contractors to trust you.

Holding yourself professionally and personally accountable for growing and maintaining that trust leads to success.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I started Inherited Stories right before COVID disrupted our world. It was a brutal time trying to survive through the COVID lockdowns since sourcing families relies on face-to-face interactions and conversations. But, instead of shutting the business down, I adapted.

I joined dozens of online networking groups and created a regular schedule of meetings so I could get the word out about what we offer to families. It took months and months of testing different meetings, and a lot of 1-to-1 video coffee calls, but eventually, I ran into a well-known podcaster who featured us on her show.

This appearance led to seven projects in multiple states and provided enough financial stability so that we could purchase necessary equipment as well as pay off our start-up costs — My persistence paid off.

Contact Info:

• Website: inheritedstories.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inheritedstories/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InheritedStories
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inherited-stories
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpzUi3ukv4KzNVauErtjCEQ

Image Credits
Katie Heymer Williams