Preserving Family Memories + More with Chatbooks Founder Vanessa Quigley EP 409

photo books. However, I am still thinking there was hope for catching up, and I used to do one per year via Shutterfly. I did the super easy version where I just like told it to AI auto do it and then I would like make slight adjustments. But I didn't put a lot of work into it. The hard part for me has always been the curation of like which photos will go in there, and I could put a kid to work on that task. I am well aware,

so I think we may catch up someday. And then the other thing has been that I just do the auto upload thing. We use Google Photos. Both my husband's pictures and mine auto upload to there, and it's great. I mean the other day, Laura, I was like, oh, I want to go to this restaurant with Josh.

you know, useful. But anyway, yeah, I have I have a lot of photos on my phone that are just sitting there, and I pay for extra storage because I don't really feel it going through and deleting stuff.

photos on their phones. I will still put a plug for paying a professional photographer to take real portraits of your family. We've done this pretty much almost every year with a couple of different photographers whose work we like around here, and I.

So obviously, also photographer's rates very widely. If you want some well known person, you're probably going to be paying a premium. But I found that this there's like a gig economy in photos, and you can get some really great artistic photos taken for not a ton of money.

something that they might want. I will say, you have to prepare everyone ahead of time for this, and because people often don't want to stop what they're doing in the middle of a party to pose for formal photos, to just make sure everyone knows that they will need to be taking thirty minutes out of the fund to do this. But the memories are great, you know, It's a small price to pay for being able to look

back on it forever. All right, Well, let's see what Vanessa has to say about photos and memory keeping in general.

scrap booking. I was the scrapbook mom with my oldest and my youngest was going off to kindergarten without a single printed photo besides the annual Christmas card. And so chat Books is a solution to that problem that I have, and I've been building it for the last ten Oh man, we're going on eleven years now with my husband and it's been a wild, wild ride.

weird and was it good for your career? Well?

tree nursery. My dad had got my got going so that my brothers could help have actually have a healthy outlet for all of that big boy energy, but also to help raise money for college. I came from a wildly entrepreneurial family, and my mother, who was the primary caregiver for the twelve kids. She was so creative. She was an artist, she was a script she would write plays. She constantly built dream up business plans like that's what she would do. So I was like a coping mechanism.

to be an opera singer. I love to sing, and my parents always told me that I had a really nice voice, and so of course I'm going to go off and be a famous singer. I actually thought I would be on Broadway, like that's really what I wanted to do. I had never seen an opera. I had been to a few Broadway shows, and I was like, that is a life for me up on the stage. And again my parents were just like feeding me into this, like you can do anything, and you're so wildly talented.

And so I went off to college, but I was didn't really understand how my university broke up the programs. There's like a strict music theater tracked and a strict classical music tract. And I just auditioned for the first flyer that I saw for singers, and I ended up in this opera tract. And after I'd realized what had happened and it was too late to drop the class, I stuck with it that semester, and my like world changed.

I fell in love with opera music at all of the new challenges that come with that repertoire and technique. And so yeah, how did growing up weird in Florida with twelve kids and a cow that we would milk, and horses and the pine tree nursery and collecting snakes and all of that that was part of my child? How did that lead me to where I am today? I think just I like taking risks. I'm not intimidated

by fear. Actually fear excites me. And I've learned as I've my career has evolved, and as I've been raising all of these kids through every wild phase of motherhood that when things are scary, it usually means there's something exciting or some growth that's on the other side.

to kind of start going back to work. Like I said, I was a singer and I had kind of hung up the dream of being an international opera singer when I found out I was pregnant with my first baby as a junior in college. Really hard to have an

international opera career and a young family. But I kept up this and after my fifth child was born, I, with the encouragement of my husband, went out for an audition for a Vida and I was cast in that show as the mistress and on the dance core, and so I got to leave the house every afternoon to go to rehearsal for months, and then the show ran for three months, and it was like insane trying to coordinate the five kids and my husband's startup schedule and

all the babysitters and all the help and we had a lot of Hamburger helper during the run of that show. But I came alive again being able to do this thing that I felt born to do, that I had a passion for and unique talents for. And I actually felt like I was a better mother, a better friend, a better wife because I was nurturing this part of me that had been neglected for so long.

be like, no, this is what I want. I have awesome ideas, and you know what, I'm going to try the singing thing. Even so, how did we go from singing?

And so our family was actually living in Florida at the time, where I grew up just minutes from the beach, in a beautiful home where I had already imagined where I was going to host all the wedding perceptions of my kids, like this is where we're going to live forever.

And I went to college in Utah, and I loved my time in college, but I did not love Utah. And I know my husband when we graduated, I am never going back there. And at the time he was like me neither. He was from the East Coast as well. I grew up in Florida, but there was really exciting things happening in Utah, especially around consumer tech. And my husband had flown out to Utah a couple times to pitch some investors, and he was like, that is where we have to go. There's like so much energy and

the culture of family is so big there. And this was what clinched it for me. My oldest son decided to go to BYU and he got accepted and so he was going west. I had the hardest time imagining sending my baby across the country, just goodbye, go off to college. And so that was what kind of like finally like tipped it for me, like, Okay, we'll move to Utah for the business, also to follow my son to college, which he hated. Actually, at one point I had to tell him pretend we don't live here, and

he did. I hardly heard from him. In fact, I called him to say, you know, when are you coming home for Christmas? Like when's your last exam? He was in Florida. He just booked his own flight, went to Florida to do his own thing. Anyway, we moved our whole family to Utah to try to give this business

that my husband had been building a chance. And that's when I had my idea of like put all of that expensive code even building on the shelf, and just focus on the real problem that I am having, which is the only way my son can see the photos from the last five years of his life is in the iPad, and I'm constantly taking the iPad and the phones away from him. Right, he was just an addict. With the exception of one printed photo album that his

preschool teacher had made that last year of preschool. She took photos of their parties and field trips and whatever, and she printed them off at Walgreens dropped him in this old dollar store album and he loved that album. He took it everywhere with him. In fact, the night before he went to preschool, I found him up in his room bawling his eyes out. He told me he never wanted to grow up. He'd been looking at these few photos and was feeling all these big feelings and

it was adorable. But it was also this massive gut punch to me that I was failing in one of my most important mom jobs, which is to help my kids hold on to their story. There's so much power in our stories, and it comes across differently scrolling on an iPad than it does with a printed photo. And so that was the light bulb moment that pivoted all of the work that had been done previously. And like I said, it was my idea. I knew who our customer was, I knew how to talk to them, where

to find them. And so instead of going off to play tennis or get yoga certified, when Deklan went off to kindergarten, I went to work. And it was the first like nine to five job I had ever had, and there was a big learning curve there.

We're just taking so many photos, and I think it's amazing in contrast to the few photos that I have of my childhood, right, Like, it's such a blessing. But that overwhelm just causes paralysis, and a lot of us just sort of like, oh, I know I should be doing something with my photos. But a process that I have I call it my Sunday select where at the end of the week, usually Sunday afternoons or Sunday evenings, I go through my camera roll just from that week

and just tackle those photos. Delete all the duplicates, delete all the screenshots, either save them or just get rid of them. I'm really actually not going to ever cook that recipe that I screenshot in, send photos that I have of neighborhood kids or of my nieces and nephews to them, just kind of declutter and pare down to what I actually want to keep that habit alone, and that's something you can start today. You don't have to feel guilty about not going back throughout the years. Start

that today a weekly habit. Some people do it every day. That's overwhelming for me because I take a lot of photos for work things, and usually by the end of the week I know what I need to keep them what I don't need to keep. But just having a regular habit of curation is number one. And then it honestly is so important to back them up. And I think most of us have them backed up on Google or Amazon or the cloud, right. I hope, at the very least have them backed up in one place. I

recommend having to. You can get really detailed in your curation and backup and use folders and by years. But AI has done so many amazing things in photo management that something's better than nothing done, is better than perfect, like let the automation work for you, especially when you're going through the backlog, but going forward, like get those photos out of your phone and into the hands of

your family. We actually have done research with HP and with the Bump to measure the impact that printed photos have on families, and it's amazing the outcomes. I mean, number one, you're going to feel like a better parent because you're doing something that you know you should probably be doing right. And there's something about looking at printed photos that like brings more permanence into our mind, into

our memories. It helps create this narrative of our family story that can be such a source of strength and resilience. There's something called elaborative reminiscing that the professor that worked with us on the HP study helped us understand the power of it's when we tell stories with great detail, and kids love to do this. Sit down with the photo book or with a printed photo, and you ask them what was happening here, and who is with you?

And how are you feeling? And what happened before and what did you do after and what did you learn from this? So often our kids experience of that moment that we've caught on camera is so different from our own experience, and so allowing them to share it does a lot of things. It helps them build a greater sense of identity, it helps create better problem solving language skills.

There's more connection happening between parent and child, and they are crafting this narrative of their story that is going to serve them throughout their whole life. So my suggestions are, do a regular curation of your camera starting today going forward. I've seen people share on Instauce. One hack is whatever day you're doing it, go back throughout your camera, roll back the years on that same day and curate those two.

That's an amazing way to work on that backlog. But I just really feel like if we start to think about all of the years where we've done nothing, we will just feel so overwhelmed that we'll do nothing. So I like to just say that's for a later day. Maybe when I'm retired, I will get to that, but now is the time to start doing something, something's better than nothing, and then print your photos, whether it's with chatbooks,

there's so many companies that do photo books. I will say the thing that is different about Chatbooks is when we built the app and built the website, I had busy moms in mind, like me and I had tried making photo books on the other platforms, and there are a million different ways to build a book, lots of templates and cute fonts and colors and designs and shapes and sizes of collages, all of those fun things. And if you have tons of time.

all the catalogs and ads and media. What if you had an ongoing, regular delivery of a photo book with the memories and not just the ones that would traditionally get made into a photo book, like the graduation and the big trip and the family reunion, all those things. Yes, you should be printing those photos and hanging on with those two. But it's the everyday magic of our everyday lives that really that is what really tells the story. And you know, when I look through the few photos

that I have of my childhood. One of my favorites is a photo my mom took my room when I was in seventh grade when I decided my favorite color is purple, and I wanted the whole room purple, all the things purple. And it was a disaster. And that is just such a snapshot into my life as a seven year old. I mean it is a seventh grader. I make it a habit of taking picture. Anytime I see one of my kids rooms just horrendously out of control messy, I'll snap a picture, and that goes in

our chat books because that's part of our story. And one day they will be grown adults and they will have immaculate homes. Maybe I don't know who cares, but they'll have this little snapshot to look back on, and I will too. When my house is clean and quiet, I'll remember this is where the magic was happening in the middle of this chaos and mess.

And I know, yes, like these things are living in our phone somewhere, but we're just not going to bring them out in the same way than if they're actually like part of our environment. So I really do feel like it makes sense that there's value there. I saw there's research on the kids, and I would like to know what the research is also as favorable for the adults.

And I know I'm in the thick of teenagers and young adult kids and that can be very trying at times, and sometimes I have an older child that I'm just absolutely losing my mind with. But looking back at photos, especially older photos, and being like, oh, yeah, we had some really special moments and at the core that really difficult teenager is a sweetheart, Like I remember those days

and so it helps me like reground and reconnect. Yeah, there's powerful, powerful outcomes for parents and especially around mental health. Like that was what we were really focusing on in the survey with the bump that all the things that we can do and we have access to for our mental health, Like a photo book is like one of the most powerful mental health tools that we have at our.

want to ask you like a slight pivot. I read that Chatbooks was actually named one of the best places to work for women, and I want to know what is your company doing structure wise to make it so awesome, Like, because we have a lot of leaders that listen to this podcast and if they want ideas on how to make their workplace amazing or maybe to present it to their leaders if they're not the ones in charge, give us some ideas.

the company culture to reflect that. And we were in a season of our life where I didn't want to be absent from all the amazing things that were happening, and so we just created a company culture that was family first, recognizing that everyone that works for us has a life outside of Chatbooks, and we want to and expect every team member to come and bring their best self to work for eight amazing hours, but we can't be blind to the fact that they have full three

sixty lives with people that depend on them and school assemblies that they need to go to and kids that get sick overnight, and then you can't come into work, And so what is it going to look like and feel like to work here at Chatbooks while being a mom, being a dad, all of those other responsibilities, And so we just center everything around five values. After working, you know, those early startup days are a grind and you're just trying to like just keep the wheels on the bus, right.

But when we had a moment to think about, all right, how we want to be really deliberate about the kind of company we were building. We're building a product that serves parents and is primarily moms. We need every level of this organization to represent our customer, like we need women everywhere. So how are we going to create this working environment that will be welcoming to all kinds of

women at different levels of their career. And so these values that we just have heralded, We have them painted on the walls in our offices, We use them for every interview, for every evaluation, we talk about them constantly are five star values. The pinnacle is to be a

grown up. And this came out of an experience where the first little office that we had, and it was honestly just a bunch of guys developers, and my husband and I would have to put the toilet paper on the toilet roll because these guys are used to their mommy doing it and I'm like, this is not happening.

You know, if number one, a chat booker is a grown up, so that entails putting the toilet paper on the toilet roll, cleaning up after yourself, and obviously, like all of the other things that we expect from grown ups, be considerate, be kind, be thoughtful, like all of those things. And the other other values are being kind and optimistic,

being willing to ship and do amazing work. Those things come intention But we have this all stark culture with family first benefits that are at like the top of what is being offered here in Utah and including like full mental health services for each employee and their family. We have access to a platform that allows them to have therapy like all those things. As moms, we all

of my kids are therapy right now. Like how I don't know how you live in this life without having help, but just access to tools and resources and support from the highest level of childbooks leadership to do what they need to do to bring their best self to work. And it's just we have an incredible team, a very diverse team. And yeah, getting an award like that was just super validating and super grateful for it.

take that on that I would have earlier. And so I hear a lot of people saying, I just really want to build a business. I really want to build a business, and it's doable to do with a bunch of young kids. It is, but it might not be right for you just because someone else is doing it. So just really look at your situation and with your partner talk about what your real goals, long term goals are and your values and if now is the time,

then you just got to find the right support. And whether it's a co founder, I am like hot on a hot co founder. My co founder is very hot. No, my husband is like amazing. I love building a business while building a family with the same partner because that give and take that always comes, like we're there for each other, like with the same goal, with the same values, able to help as you go through those ups and downs of it all. But the other thing I would

just say, yeah, talk to a lot of people. I think as entrepreneurs sometimes we think that our idea is we've got to guard it and keep it secret and safe. But the more people you talk to, the better the outcome. Like if it's something that someone can rip off really easily, let them like find a different idea, Like you don't want to have entering a market and being like so vulnerable to competitors. But I really feel like when the more people you talk to, you're going to learn more

about the market. That you're entering the way that you want to find and sell to your customers. That's how you find the best people to come work for you. Yeah, just like network network, talk to as many people, listen to your customer, really identify who your customer is, and

then really listen to what they're saying. Because I will say one of the things that was the downfall of what my husband had built for those years before chatbooks was I would actually gather these focus groups of moms, you know, to have them do demos, and they would politely listen and say, yes, I should do that. That is a really great idea. I should totally do that. By the way, should is the kiss of death. If you hear that, that means I will never Sorry, I

don't have time for that. But the all question was always couldn't I print all of this in a book? And my husband at the time thought print is dead. All this is going to be safe and sound and shareable in the cloud. But I'm sorry, we should have listened to our customers say they want this printed is It turns out that was the key that is why chatbooks finally took off, because we were finally printing the photos that they cared about and we're curating. So yeah,

that's so funny. Make sure this is the right season for you, and then talk to as many people as you can and learn as much as you can, especially from your perspective customer.

you know, like they could be in another city. But then I'll go out for a walk and steamy South Florida and they'll go for a walk in like somewhere much more pleasant, and we'll chat and the time goes by in like no time, and it's not quite as good as walking next to the person, but it's like eighty five percent is good, which is awesome. So I'm super into walking talks.

little grand babies is the best. And I've been digging in the basement pulling out the few little toys and books that I've saved from my kids, and watching them play with these now vintage toys is just like forget about it. It's the best. But they do leave in a week, and I'm not going to be sad about that either. So they brought three dogs with them, so we had a lot of dogs in our house right now.

to moves we've made for my husband's career. Because he works in a specific niche industry, We've moved a lot based on the location of companies that he would work for. But now that the kids are in school, we are not going to work anymore.

for how to justify the many jobs I've had. I have nothing to hide, but I'm not sure how that's going to be perceived as I go for more senior roles.

on moving because the kids are in school. I mean, if your interviewer has children, they will totally understand that. And so you're looking for longer term opportunities, and you can even talk about that, like, I am so excited to now be able to take on a longer term opportunity. I'm so excited to see myself at this company long

term and keep working that language into it. And it's hard to know how any of this will play out, but I have found interviewing is also about getting a lot of practice, especially if you're.

It was just a circumstance sort of thing. So this means that you've got a pretty warm network I would imagine of all those places, because a lot of those companies probably regretted seeing you go out the door, and you may have been happy to have continued working for them. It just didn't work because you needed to live in California and they were in Pennsylvania or something. So I would start by reaching back out.

on this journey. We wish you the best of luck.