"Entrepreneurship is hard" with Cheri Williams-Franklin
Cheri Williams-Franklin is the Founder & CEO of Life Snapshot, a technology platform that helps families organize and securely store personal assets, final wishes, and critical documents so their loved ones can easily find them while dealing with hospitalization or end-of-life. After the untimely passing of her 36-year-old sister in 2015, Cheri uses her experience to help others put their personal affairs in order. The business is growing and recently added its first celebrity client to the platform
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I was born and raised in Chicago alongside my mom and sister. My sister and I were eleven months apart, which I have been told make us Irish Twins, but nonetheless, it was always exciting to be the same age for two weeks. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication with a minor in Journalism, as well as a Masters in Business Administration. Growing up in Chicago, I thought I’d become the next Oprah Winfrey but ultimately settled into a 20-year career as a leader in Sales, Marketing, and Research & Development for mid-large sized manufacturing companies across the country – primarily focused on custom solutions and taking products from concept to commercialization. Much of my career has been working alongside designers, engineers, and project managers. I absolutely love innovation.
What inspired you to start your business?
Life Snapshot helps families put their affairs in order and protect their financial legacy. Our digital storage vault consolidates personal assets, final wishes, and critical documents into a custom report that is safeguarded and easily shared among families when dealing with hospitalization or end-of-life. I started the company after the unexpected loss of my 36-year-old sister back in 2015. This was the first time that I had to finalize someone’s life and devastation, as well as confusion, do not begin to describe how I felt. I found myself in her home just two days after she passed away, looking for paperwork that the funeral home required - with no success. Walking through someone’s home and looking through their belongings feels like a complete invasion of privacy.
Years prior my sister casually mentioned that she had life insurance, but I never bothered to ask her the insurers name. I began randomly calling around to insurance companies to determine if they had a record of her as a policyholder and in the end, I came up empty-handed. It took us almost 2-years to put her affairs in order and realize that it’s this lack of awareness that contributes to the $40 billion dollars in unclaimed money and properties being held by the US Government because beneficiaries often do not know that these assets exist. With an estimated $7.4 billion alone in unclaimed life insurance. I created Life Snapshot to put families on the road to preparedness by eliminating frantic searching and missing information.
Where is your business based?
Our office is in Chicago, Illinois, but we are an international platform.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
As someone with a strong background in research and development, prior to starting my business, I needed to validate that the struggle of finding documents and finalizing a loved one’s affairs was a challenge for others. I began interviewing friends and family, as well as networking with a few local funeral homes to learn about their experiences with families. Following that validation, I started brainstorming what elements would be required in a solution to address the pain-points that were communicated through the various discussions. From there I networked with friends in the technology space so that I could move forward with the development of a prototype. I came up with the name when a technologist asked me what my ultimate goal was and I answered, “to provide families with a Snapshot of their loved one’s life – like a Life Snapshot document.” From there I secured the name, domain, and social media handles across all platforms.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Here is an unexpected story, I had a birthday party in November 2019 and invited 70 of my closest friends and family. It was there that I surprised them by launching Life Snapshot. I shared the company video and a demo of our backend functionalities. Half of the people in the room signed up to private beta test our solution and several were added to our waiting list. We launched to our small waiting list and began generating revenue on day one. Every person that signed up for a membership from the waiting list received a personal call or text from me so I could understand their experiences as it relates to onboarding, necessary adjustments, or if they felt anything was missing from the platform. Based on their feedback, we made visible changes within 72-hours and surveyed them again. These early adopters have become evangelists for our platform and helped us build brand awareness. Furthermore, we partner with end-of-life planning experts for referrals and affiliate marketing opportunities.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Our biggest challenge was navigating the pandemic, as we clearly didn’t see it coming. First, we struggled to gain visibility as a newer brand without in-person meetings and events – while also not fully understanding what COVID’s impact would bring. Early in the pandemic, I chose to pull back our marketing efforts, so we did not appear opportunistic during such a frightening time for most Americans given our offering. I didn’t want anyone to question the validity of the platform but foolishly thought that COVID was going to blow over quickly. However, as we began talking to people about our service - families signed up and were grateful to have us as a resource. Throughout the pandemic, we had multiple members hospitalized. For those that had medical power-of-attorney or advance directives on file, we were able to support their families by immediately sharing those documents with their designated contacts electronically - providing instant access and the ability to make timely decisions. It was knowing that we played a critical role in supporting families that helped us overcome our concerns.
How do you stay focused?
At a practical level, I’m extremely organized. I block time to get work done and try to limit my distractions. I love technology so I have multiple calendars synced, reminders, and alerts to keep me on schedule, but I also love a handwritten to-do-list that allows me to check things off as I complete daily tasks. It’s important to me to look over the list at the end of the day and feel as if I’ve accomplished something.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
We are the only platform on the market that is fusing the human element of customer service with technology to build meaningful connections with our members. First, our Support Specialists partner with our members to conduct monthly wellbeing checks to ensure that in the event a member becomes incapacitated or has reached end-of-life documents such as an advance directive, power-of-attorney, insurance policies, wills, succession plans, and more are shared with their loved ones. Secondly, Life Snapshot offers complete privacy of information up until it is necessary to share - without the need for social security numbers or financial account numbers. This enables complete peace of mind when families need it most.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
I adjusted the Life Snapshot marketing strategy to include things that are not necessarily scalable such as participating in virtual meetup events on topics related to our industry or entrepreneurship. As well as leveraging podcasts and radio to discuss the importance of putting one’s affairs in order. We also began utilizing social media to introduce tips, as well as videos that are relevant for potential customers so that we build connections and address frequently asked questions. The goal is not to sell, but to share insights that educate.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Any entrepreneur will tell you that entrepreneurship is hard. There are good days, bad days, and moments that you will want to give up, but what will sustain you is knowing that you are engaging in meaningful work. Assuming your business has been completely validated – following your passion and contributing meaningful work will help provide value to your customers and ultimately fuel your soul.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
App: Aside from Life Snapshot, my favorite app is Clubhouse because it’s an incredible live networking platform.
Blog: Fast Company but I had to subscribe to the magazine because I enjoy all things business and tech, so there are some articles that I like to reference.
Book: Soar! By T.D. Jakes because it’s all about creating a vision for your life with an accompanying workbook for practical application.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
My favorite business resource is a book that was recommended to me by a business mentor called Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth written by Gabriel Weinsberg and Justin Mares. This book explores the various channels any business should evaluate to build a customer base and how to select the channel that is right for your organization. Not only do I have the book, but I also have the audible so I can replay sections that I need to hear again.
Who is your business role model? Why?
I can learn from anyone that is open to sharing. However, I come from a family of entrepreneurs that have always emphasized the importance of having multiple streams of income. My mother is an entrepreneur. As a child, I remember her running a clerical service where she created resumes, bulletins, flyers, business cards, and other administrative items – while also working a full-time job. Even now she owns a non-emergency medical transportation company, so she has always been an incredible role model.
How do you balance work and life?
Early in my career I was not balancing my life well and found myself struggling with burnout trying to do everything. One day I stopped saying yes and reclaimed my time by creating a vision board that is broken into four categories: Family, Sales, Marketing, and Personal Development. If the activity demanding my time doesn’t fall into one of these categories, then I decline. If there is a conflict between my family time and any other category outside of business hours, then I choose my family.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I start each day with prayer, meditation, and daily devotional. This quiet time helps me prepare myself for the day and start my day with clear intentions. I also have a gratitude journal that I utilize that asks me to write down something that I’m grateful for daily. It helps me stop and take stock of the amazing things that are regularly happening to me.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
I am really excited about some upcoming partnership opportunities and continuing to build brand awareness so we can support more families.
How can our readers connect with you?
Website: www.lifesnapshot.com
Life Snapshot Instagram:
Life Snapshot Facebook