Outside the Box: 4 Things I think will eventually come to Death Care

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Over my lifetime some things have just stuck with me.  A couple of those things are quotes that share a message of complicated projects or ideas that might seem insurmountable but also give the hope to try. . . because maybe the idea might just work.

The first one I remember is from back in the early 1980’s I had an idea for a business and I sent a certified letter to a Minnesota businessman who was in the Forbes 400 of most wealthy Americans and who’s business touched on the perimeter of this business.  I received this reply from that businessman, “This sounds like an ambitious project and one would wonder how you could ever succeed, however, until I’ve heard the complete proposal I’m in no position to criticize it.”

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Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

That was followed up with an invitation to come and visit him at his offices.  In the anything can happen category, he did not invest but we became friends and one of his children sat in on the meeting and I became friends with him also — and still am friends with both to this day.  At the end of the day I pursued the business, had some success, and the idea eventually became very successful when a larger group with much larger resources than I had took over the concept.

The businessman’s open-attitude to some small town funeral director entrepreneur made a difference in my life as it taught me to always be open to ideas that may seem insurmountable. . . but just might happen.

The second cliche that resonates with me is when Senator Ted Kennedy eulogized his brother Robert Kennedy  (RFK) at the services following his assasination in 1968.  Ted Kennedy summed up his brother’s passion for improving the world with one of RFK’s own quotes.

That quote was, “Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”

It’s with that preamble that I look toward the future and “outside the box” of Death Care to give you four ideas I see on the horizon of Death Care.  These are ideas I see with the ability to become reality in the Death Care business world.  And, while today’s column is to get you thinking. . . . I will expound on each idea in greater length over the rest of this week.

The four thoughts I have are as follows:

1. Family funeral homes being sold not only for cash prices, but with some part of the purchase price paid by the buyer to be in royalty payments moving forward based on a percentage of future revenues that the business generates.
2. The four-day work week for professional employees of funeral homes
3. Hospice services moving into Death Care, and more specifically, Direct Cremation and the offsite Celebration/Service business
4. A higher percentage of Death Care services being paid for by a more socially motivated government.

It’s my thought process that none of these ideas are guaranteed to happen.   However, I also believe the trend-line is apparent for a world where they could happen.

Stay tuned.

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