Kristie Scott’s business, The Death Planner offers a unique, yet important, service to the people of Dorset. The company provides a range of services that help individuals and partners plan for their death to ensure that the complexity of modern life is covered when someone dies. As Kristie states on her website,

“It is seemingly not deemed important for people to pre-plan for their death. However, I believe that we all have a duty to make the end of our life as easy as possible for those we love and leave behind. Plus, you get the send-off you truly desire.”

Support from the WSX Transformational Business Support Team, partnered with Dorset LEP enabled Kristie to take the business from a part-time to a full-time venture and increase revenue.

An important service

The former funeral director and qualified estate planner offers a comprehensive range of services including:

• Will writing
• Letter of wishes
• Lasting Powers of Attorney
• Advance Decision Document
• Digital Estate Planning
• Planning for the Care of a Pet
• Death Cleaning (decluttering your home before you die)

Kristie explains that her key message to her clients is “It is always too soon until it is too late.” And with more complicated family situations and new assets such as cryptocurrency and NFTs (Non-fungible tokens), the need to plan earlier is essential.

The Death Planner’s clients are from a wide range of communities and demographics. Dorset-born, Kristie is based in Weymouth and West Dorset has areas of affluent older communities and she knew this was one area where she could grow her business. Community is at the heart of the business and Kristie often gives free advice to groups in the area.

Equally, East Dorset she described as the ‘Silicon South area’ of the county where a younger demographic already owns cryptocurrency and NFTs as part of their estates.

Support from Transformational Business Support

Kristie used the online video content and received a 1-2-1 support session from a WSX Transformational Business Support Advisor. She also attended online and face-to-face workshops and events. All of this she found useful,

“The 1-2-1 time validated the way forward to grow my business and facilitated an environment where plans could be robustly tested.

 

Part of the experience was not being alone in the business world. As a sole trader it is important to understand the wider business community which the online and in person events has enabled.

 

Throughout the take-aways were doable and the ability to discuss the thoughts and processes on expansion was invaluable.”

As a result, Kristie was able to scope ideas to create more time to drive the business forward. She was also able to focus her marketing spend and time to deliver the results she wanted.

Kristie Scott: Owner of The Death Planner

Praise for WSX Transformational Business Support

Overall, Kristie found the experience with the team very useful to her business.

“A valuable resource which is needed by the business community, the advice helped with my strategic thinking.”

Kristie’s Top Tip for future entrepreneurs

Kristie has learnt a lot since working with TBS and has the following advice for new businesses starting out,

“Plan fully and ensure you are solving a problem for your potential customer.  Research the market fully. Never forget to undertake extensive competitor analysis.”

You can find out more about what services The Death Planner offers on their website or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.

Find out more about Transformational Business Support