Rosemary Pahl, MBA ’84, knows how important it is to plan for the inevitable. She created a workbook to help alleviate the burdens that so often fall on other family members.
While working as a registered nurse I heard about the special admission program at Ivey from a chance encounter on a ski lift. Frankly, at that point, I didn’t even know what an MBA was. In 1982, I was accepted into the MBA Program and it changed my life. Not only was I positioned for a rewarding and interesting career in various CEO and COO roles, I was exposed to continual learning and entrepreneurship.
For many years, one of my personal goals has been to help spread the word about the advantages of having meaningful conversations before a grim diagnosis, tragic accident, or death makes it impossible to put your personal business in order.
As a CEO at a rehabilitation hospital, I witnessed families struggling with decisions for patients who couldn’t speak for themselves. I personally had frustration when I couldn’t locate some required documents after the passing of my parents. It became even more important after a friend with an incurable illness made the sad process more painful because of a refusal to plan and an outright denial of the inevitable.
I decided a similar situation was not going to happen to my family and started in earnest collecting all our personal information in a binder. In 2016, when I was organizing educational events for a business group, an executive looked at the binder and was so impressed, he asked to purchase copies of the workbook for his clients. That led to having the binder professionally edited into the Departing Details Workbook, a step-by-step guide to leaving your loved ones with the information they need to know when you die.
In order to achieve the goal of making it available in an affordable way for anybody, I partnered with Steve Harris, a young, successful Internet entrepreneur who established us in the world of e-commerce in April 2017. By October, the workbook had sold in eight countries, 14 U.S. states, and eight Canadian provinces.
It’s an accidental business that came from a passion and it’s rewarding to see it working. It’s not a morbid thing. We plan for everything else in life – from insurance to home renovation – and this is just another face to planning. It’s a smart thing to do.
Learn more about Departing Details Workbook at estateworkbook.com
Photo: Alan Maudie
Art Direction: Greg Salmela, Aegis
