Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Tiny Coffins, Big Emotions: The Hidden Side of Childhood Grief image

Tiny Coffins, Big Emotions: The Hidden Side of Childhood Grief

The Glam Reaper Podcast
Avatar
35 Plays13 days ago

What if we stopped judging grief and started honoring it instead?

In this powerful episode of The Glam Reaper Podcast, we sit down with Michaelene Dowers, a licensed funeral director, thanatologist, and founder of Pollen Care—a one-of-a-kind resource for children facing grief, from the loss of a parent to the pain of divorce or even the death of a pet. We open up about the hard conversations many avoid—how children process loss, why every type of grief matters, and the emotional cost of showing up for others in dark moments.

We also explore why some families avoid holding services, how judgment sneaks into our grief culture, and the deeply personal ways loss can show up. From a missing stuffed goat to a life lost too soon. Michaellean shares how she curates books and tools to help kids and parents cope when words fall short, and why no loss, no matter how “small”—should ever be dismissed.

Tune in to feel seen, understood, and reminded that no one’s grief should be compared, measured, or ignored. Whether you're a parent, a professional, or someone who's simply loved and lost—this one will stay with you.



Key Topics:


-Children deserve honest tools to process grief

-No loss is too small to be acknowledged

-Judgment has no place in someone’s mourning

-Grief after tragedy needs care for all involved

-Healing begins with presence, not pressure



Quotes from the episode:


“The grief is as real for a child as it is for an adult—it just looks different.”

-Michaelene Dowers



“I don’t understand this hierarchy of grief—why does it matter whose pain is worse?”

-Jennifer Muldowney





Timestamp:

[00:00] Podcast Intro

[00:20] Michaelene Dowers, a funeral director and thanatologist, shares how she helps grieving families by carefully choosing books and resources for children based on their age, background, and the kind of loss they’re facing. 

[09:40] Michaelene and Jennifer talk about how grief often shows up in quiet, unexpected ways. They reflect on how parents make tough choices during painful times and how even small moments, like missing a funeral or losing a pet, can leave lasting marks on a child’s heart.

[16:09] The conversation opens up to the deeper truth that every kind of grief matters. Whether someone is grieving a person, a relationship, or even a cherished item, what they feel is real.

[22:40] As they wrap up, they speak honestly about the emotional weight carried by those who work with grief every day. From tragic events like school shootings to heartbreaking family situations, Michaelene continues to offer comfort and hope through her work with Pollen Care, making sure no family feels alone.

[28:09] Outro



Connect with Michaelene Dowers:

LinkedIn:linkedin.com/in/mdowers

Websites - Pollen.Care (Company)

Quietusbee.com (Company)



Connect with Jennifer/The Glam Reaper on socials at:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jennifermuldowney/

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@therealglamreaper

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheGlamReaperMuldowney

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermuldowney/

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/MuldowneyMemorials/

Email us - glamreaperpodcast@gmail.com

Shop Merch - https://the-glam-reaper.printify.me/products

Listen to The Glam Reaper Podcast on Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-glam-reaper-podcast/id1572382989?i=1000525524145

The Glam Reaper® AMAZON Storefront - https://amzn.to/4hObpOh 

Recommended
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
My stepbrother murdered his mother, my stepmother, a couple years back on Mother's Day. And, you know, he's, I don't like him, obviously. he's

Introduction and Content Warning

00:00:20
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Glam Reaper podcast. We are in season five. I can't actually believe it, it's crazy. But today on my podcast, I have a very interesting guest. and It might touch a few people, so we're just going to give you a sort of um warning label, not a spoiler, but a warning label that we are talking about

Meet Michaelene Dowers

00:00:40
Speaker
children and grief. And so and I just want to put that out there that that that's what this episode is about.
00:00:44
Speaker
I would like to welcome... Michaelene. Am I getting that name right? You are, you are.

Pollen Care: Grief Resources for Children

00:00:50
Speaker
I'm Michaelene Dowers. I'm a licensed funeral director and embalmer in nine states here in the U.S. s I am a thanatologist, which means I have education in death studies and psychology.
00:01:02
Speaker
I'm working on my PhD and I am the owner of Pollen Care. What pollen is, is a curated grief resource program for families who have children who are going through grief, whether that be a loss that is a death or a non-death related loss, such as divorce, incarceration, things like that.
00:01:21
Speaker
Um, What I do is I provide books for children who are grieving, age 0 to 18, based on their very specific situation, whether it be a human loss, a pet loss.
00:01:33
Speaker
I address their disposition, their cultural requirements, whether it be Catholic, Buddhist, or Even um nationalities such as African-American, Asian, Africans directly from Africa and even different countries in Oceania.
00:01:50
Speaker
I have books for all sorts of lost as well as all sorts of kids. Okay. Wow. That is a lot. As you Americans would say, let's unpack that. Okay. You're you're doing a lot of things. You're studying for your PhD. I mean, that's that's a full-time job in and of itself, studying for PhD.
00:02:07
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. I like it to cram as much stuff as I can in my day, apparently. Yeah. Okay. And I do think, so, okay, let's talk about the books. and Now, all the are all the books written by you or are they different authors? Yeah.
00:02:21
Speaker
Absolutely none are written by me. That is not my forte. I do a lot of academic writing for adults and for death care, but I do not do writing for children.
00:02:32
Speaker
So there are so many authors out there that do children's books, especially on grief and loss, that I've read through Not all of them. I can't read through all of them, but most of them and the ones that I curate for children.
00:02:46
Speaker
That's how I'm able to make sure that the books that I curate for a child are appropriate to that specific child. Okay. So effectively, pollen is like a library for this specific. So you're a curator of books for this specific topic, specifically for children.
00:03:02
Speaker
Yes,

Helping Parents with Grieving Children

00:03:03
Speaker
absolutely. um My reason being is because if you think about being a parent and you you've suffer a loss yourself, say your mom passes away and you have seven-year-old daughter who's going to miss grandma, are you in the right frame of mind to go find literature that's appropriate for your seven-year-old or simply have that talk yourself?
00:03:25
Speaker
The answer is probably no because you're also grieving. That's where I come into play. I do the work for you. Yeah, you know, it's a great resource. I'm just trying to am think of even just a personal experience.
00:03:37
Speaker
My nephew, um he lost his great grandmother. I mean, how blessed was he to have a great grandmother, but he lost his great grandmother. And he turned to my mom um when she had him for the day and said, you know,
00:03:51
Speaker
Are you going to go anywhere, though? You know, and just checking in with, you know, her and, and you know, just the the way children deal

Understanding Children's Grief

00:04:00
Speaker
with. And we all know this. Children are not naive, as naive as we think they are. they they're They're like sponges. They pick up on everything. and They pick up on our emotions and stuff like that. and And death is one of those things that I don't think is is fully explained to them. i am and And oftentimes then it's it happens before it's explained, should I say. Yep.
00:04:20
Speaker
Absolutely. That's part of the problem, at least here in the U.S. and most westernized nations. Families think either it's not going to happen to me or my child can't understand it. But research has shown that infants even understand at their own mental level grief and loss.
00:04:37
Speaker
So, for example, say a breastfeeding mother dies and her child is under the age of one year old still. That child is going to feel that grief and that disconnect. Obviously, you're not going to buy a book for the child.
00:04:50
Speaker
But there are resources out there that help facilitate and the beginning of the grief process so that as the child ages, they're not told euphemisms about mom dying. They're told mom died.
00:05:04
Speaker
This is what happened at something age appropriate for them. Is there um just obviously as as much as it breaks my heart, we are in an era where, I mean, we're doing a podcast right now, but we are in an era where there is a little bit more audio and video, a little bit more. is ah She's totally showing great, but there's more audio video than there was when I was a kid. I mean, a book absolutely makes sense. It's why I still love a physical book as much as I love my Kindle for travel purposes.
00:05:31
Speaker
But what about like, do you curate resources from online? Um, communities and places or how does that do you play to people's different you know if I don't if I'm a parent and I don't want to buy a load of books or my kid is just never going to pick up a book and I know that is there resources is there a folder an online folder you can provide there There are plenty of resources. There are so many.
00:05:56
Speaker
um It's quite overwhelming, honestly, for a lot of parents to figure out what's suitable. um But if your kid watches Bluey or Sesame Street, I can absolutely tell you Bluey addresses death.
00:06:07
Speaker
Sesame Street addresses death. um There are places to find them online. I do have those specific episodes somewhere in my computer. Yeah. if anybody were to request them.
00:06:18
Speaker
um I have sent out website options for families if they say, i can't really afford a curated kit at this time, but this is what happened. I'm clearly not going to leave them hanging.
00:06:30
Speaker
ah that's That's not in my realm of doing. So there are online

Cultural and Legal Sensitivity in Grief Resources

00:06:35
Speaker
resources. If a family asked me or requested me to, I would do a deep dive and find out their local resources, whether it be therapists, support group,
00:06:45
Speaker
um anything like that. There are some public libraries out there in the U.S. s that have reached out to Pollen specifically to curate a kit for their library, their kids section.
00:06:56
Speaker
But even with that, they have to be really careful as to what is discussed with the current situation in America. Texas and Seattle, not the same as we know. So the books that you would have in one location, you wouldn't necessarily have or could have in the other.
00:07:11
Speaker
So lot of locations want to, but have to be very cognizant on laws in their regions based on these things. Laws and people in power. um Like, for example, i I had a recent, so I'm a celebrant and a memorial planner, right?
00:07:27
Speaker
And I was contacted by a family recently enough. m It was actually a mother, right? And i her daughter and was a mother herself. And so the daughter had and two kids.
00:07:38
Speaker
and the daughter's spouse... had passed away pretty by his own hand and pretty violently. um And the mother, his mother-in-law, i guess, but the mother of this daughter, was wanted to have a service. So was reaching out to me in terms of providing a service and for him. and But it was a tricky situation because they were estranged when he passed.
00:08:06
Speaker
There was a lot of anger and resentment and things. And It was a tricky situation. And I, you know, I'm always very clear with my client. Like I'm not a therapist. am Yes, do as part of my job, do I kind of mediate often and between family members and stuff? But I'm not a therapist.
00:08:23
Speaker
um But I do think providing a service, especially for the children, you know, and hearing really good stories about their dad is important. and for them when they grow up. And so this mother really, she thought that and she wanted to have a service, even though she knew it would be a tricky situation. and But her daughter did not.
00:08:42
Speaker
Her daughter did not want to have a service and was sort of like, no. And so the mother reached out to me. we put together ah quote unquote service of what it potentially could look like. And, um you know, the daughter decided ultimately that, no, this was this was not happening.
00:09:00
Speaker
um I'm not of the type where I'm going to convince somebody to have a service. Absolutely not.

Family Disagreements on Memorial Services

00:09:05
Speaker
And it is a tricky situation. It's one of few situations in my 16 years where the service sort of hasn't gone ahead because of something like that. I've i've had two different services for for for people, am you know, where they can't agree.
00:09:19
Speaker
But this was the first time where it's never gone ahead. What would you, would you have any advice in that situation or like, you know, for me to maybe give to the mother of the daughter that, that, you know, okay, we're not going to have a service, but here's something that maybe you can gift to the, to your grandkids that might help open this up or have a conversation.
00:09:40
Speaker
it That is very tricky. I mean, first of all, they, she should have had a service. The mom should have had something, even if just something privately where they sit and they talk about dad.
00:09:52
Speaker
um And even in that city and talking about dad, these kids, they came from somewhere. They're going to ask questions in the future, whether they do it now or five years from now. They're going to say, what happened to my dad? Unfortunately, she's going to have to say, this is what he did. This was his actions. This was his frame of mind. And this is the path I took and why.
00:10:11
Speaker
As long as she can clearly explain those eventually. Okay. um unfortunately, I personally feel like this could be damaging to the children. But if if push comes to shove, the grandmother could provide resources from pollen, or she can go find them herself and provide them to her daughter and say, when the time comes and when you feel it's right, here are some resources, here is contact information, here are some things you can use to help the kids.
00:10:36
Speaker
And then unfortunately, she would have to leave it at that because they're not her kids. Well, and that's Yeah, like we we provided and a list of resources of of people that they could talk to and seek therapy from and one-on-ones or in a group scenario and for the situation. That's sort of how we left it. And again, i would never force the agenda of me or anybody else on Onto a family, but it just did great art a little bit because exactly that we recommended having a really just small intimate. And I said, you know, even the script we came up with, i was like, you know, even if we deviate from that and, you know, ah in the moment we sort of um change it up, I said, that's fine. um
00:11:18
Speaker
But yeah, I... I think every everybody's different. Everybody grieves differently. i think as a parent, I am not a parent, so it's difficult for me to speak on that. and But I do think as a parent, it's tough because you almost have to put your own feelings aside and decide what's right for the children. Like, I might not be comfortable with talking about person X, but my children need to, you know, for them to healthily grow. But Yeah, it's ah it's a tough one. and I don't ever like to put my opinions onto people in that

Parental Decisions and Children's Awareness of Death

00:11:49
Speaker
way. I think part of the problem is, and this is true to a lot of families out there, is they don't think it's important.
00:11:56
Speaker
um Full disclosure, when when my biological father, he didn't raise me, but when he died, my mom died. I showed up at home one day. i was ah i was like 18 years old. And she goes, sit down. We need to talk. And me being me, I go, oh, God, what did I do?
00:12:12
Speaker
um What did I do? what am I in trouble for? What happened? And she goes, your dad died. And I freaked out because it was supposed, I thought, the man that raised me. And she goes, no, no, no, not him. He's fine. He's at work.
00:12:23
Speaker
Your biological dad. And I just said, oh, okay, what do I do with this info? And she was like, I don't know. I just let you know. you want to talk about it? And I was like, not necessarily with you. At some point, you do talk about it. It does come out. But even if there was not that physical bond there...
00:12:45
Speaker
My mother didn't like the guy. Clearly, they hadn't been together since I was an infant. And she always talked poorly, very poorly about him throughout my life. But the opportunity was still there for me to ask the questions if necessary, if I felt necessary.
00:12:59
Speaker
But I do understand that there are so many parents out there that they don't see the value in this. When they have been estranged from somebody for yeah however long, even if they're close to them, they, again, go back to the whole, my child doesn't understand or I'll figure it out later.
00:13:15
Speaker
If they don't see the value in it, that's probably because they weren't raised just see the value in it. Yeah. And that's that's exactly it. It's and to all parents out there, it's you're you're you're constantly, I guess, or at least until they're of adult age, making decisions for your children.
00:13:34
Speaker
And I mean, I know personally, I'm going to throw my going to throw my mum under the bus for this one. but I don't mind. i'm I'm always an open book on this podcast. You know, and when my uncle passed away,
00:13:46
Speaker
I was in the middle of my exams and for college and my mum chose not to tell me because she didn't want it to affect my studies. she So she told me sort of after my exams were done and i was so mad at her, so mad at her and because she took the choice away from me.
00:14:05
Speaker
And, you know, she took the the the time. and I may have gone to the funeral like she just, you know, I know because I have a very open relationship with her and we talked about it afterwards. And I said, I understand you did this from a a caring point of view.
00:14:20
Speaker
But i I don't want you to make decisions for me like that anymore because just give me the option. And I it's a tough one. It is a tough one. i You know, she would it have affected my studies. Probably. I mean, she probably isn't wrong, you know, and so she had to make the decision in the moment. But.
00:14:39
Speaker
I also was was sort of like, OK, but hear me now. Let me make the choice. You know, there might be another child out there who sort of says, i you made the right call. I would have been a mess. That's fine. You make that. I trust you to make the call. It's not that I don't trust her, but I just I'm I guess probably as well.
00:14:56
Speaker
I didn't know I was going to end up in this business, but I'm very attuned into I always have been into going to a funeral and into sort of being in that moment. And, you know, I missed, to be honest, the majority of and my relatives' funerals um just because of being traveling or not being told or being too young, things like that. ah and But yeah, it's interesting looking back.
00:15:21
Speaker
It's a tough one. I don't envy the parents out there. It's a tough one. So... know me either. But one thing the parents have to realize is, again, putting those emotions aside. Yeah, she probably had really, really strong emotions about her partner or your mom would have obviously wanted you to pass you your classes and your tests and everything, because that is really the opening to the rest of your life. i Not a funny story, but back when I was in mortuary school,
00:15:49
Speaker
ah 12 years ago, 14 years ago, long time ago, ah I had a pet loss at home and it ruined the whole semester. I basically threw away what four months worth of work. And I know that sounds, some people are going to say it's silly because it's a pet, but...
00:16:08
Speaker
I don't think so. Those words are not allowed on this podcast. Anybody who knows me is, I mean, even did my TEDx talk about this specific thing. Like I just, no, we had a loss last year and it was, oh God, I'm probably still going to cry It was the day, she died the day after my birthday and I was going on a trip on a holiday.
00:16:30
Speaker
My only holiday for the year that was pure vacation, nothing to do with work. I was going to zone out. You were crying the whole time. I cried my eyes out the entire time. I was exhausted.
00:16:43
Speaker
And then even when I came off the trip, I had to go straight into work. And again, this is just scared of adulting. I had to put on my big girl pants and just keep on going. And it's like, no, anybody who says pet loss is that I'm like, I won't even hear it.
00:16:56
Speaker
Because i I just firmly believe that, and scientifically it could even be proven to me, um i just believe that grief is equivalent to the love you had for whatever it is that you're agreeing whether it's a divorce, whether it's the loss of a job. i don't it's Your loss is your loss. Why are we judging them? Why are we putting them on a scale?
00:17:18
Speaker
Exactly. Even tan non-living items. like I have a stuffed animal that my husband got me from a carnival when we were dating. We've been together 12 years, I think.
00:17:30
Speaker
10, 12. don't know. A long time. um He exists. We're here. I took it on a trip with me. Actually, i took it to Baltimore for NFDA a couple years ago. And it's a goat.
00:17:41
Speaker
Goat just sits in my bag. That's it. And then I got home and I don't remember goat coming home. He just stated, oh, it gets worse. I didn't know where goat was for months. I contacted the hotel, the airline. I talked, called the people who made, who manufactured this darn thing.
00:18:00
Speaker
I called the county fair commission, say, I need a replacement goat. I cannot be without this goat. The fair felt so bad. They sent a stuffed bear the size of my couch and i go that's sweet but that's not i gave it to my daughter that's not my goat i think four months goes by and i hear my husband laughing his ass off in the bedroom and he goes you need to come in here and i go what and i go in and he comes out from underneath the bed we have a split king with it's a movable box
00:18:33
Speaker
And he, I don't know, he was doing something with the electrical. And he'd go, I'd go, what's up? And he'd go, stay over there. And I'd stay at the foot of the bed and he pops up from the other side. Goat in the air.
00:18:44
Speaker
I started crying. Oh my God, that's so hard. And I go, what the hell? The goat had been stuck between the two the backs down under i it doesn't make sense how he went straight down and under two layers and was under the mechanical device that raises and lowers the head and foot of the bed and he was perfectly fine you He was traumatized from the NFDA.
00:19:17
Speaker
So what I did is I took an AirTag, an Apple AirTag, and I slit. He has a seam in the top his head. I slit his seam open. I pop that in there, and then I sew the seam back up.
00:19:29
Speaker
Every year, i pop it open. I change his head battery, and i sew it back up. And he doesn't leave my house. p dayss He stays on my desk in our bedroom.
00:19:42
Speaker
Oh, my God. he's falling apart he's gross he gets cleaned i send him off to a special um restoration lady in alabama who restores stuffed animals she's I forget what she's called, but she's a stuffed animal clinic, I think.
00:19:57
Speaker
And I send him off once a year. He gets a deep clean. Everything gets tightened up and he comes back to me a month later. um Christine, he's fallen apart. But the the grief, i the point is, like this is an object that doesn't matter to nobody but me.
00:20:14
Speaker
And my husband. this This thing. Yeah, ah yes I get it. I was devastated. Yeah. and And I just think it look it's, look, it's kind of, don't want to say it's one more thing for society to just be cognizant. But like, I mean, my TEDx talk is nine years old this year. At least I think it is. Yeah.
00:20:32
Speaker
And I just like the whole point of that talk was to just let's just stop judging each other. Like and it's sort of like I don't why are we judging each other based on our color of our skin, our identities, our gender or what we're great like what?
00:20:49
Speaker
It's human nature to judge. I get

Societal Judgments on Grief

00:20:51
Speaker
it. Right. but It's just like just I don't you know, I don't understand this hierarchy of grief. I'm like, who cares? Right. cares If my grief is scientifically harder than yours, it shouldn't matter. It should just be about accepting each other and just not judging each other. And I just think if we were a lot more kinder to each other, I just like I'm doing a celebrant training course at the moment where I'm training people and not on doing it, I'm teaching it.
00:21:20
Speaker
And like one of the things I actually talk about is, you know, taking that judgment out of the equation and just sort of being there for people. because That's really what it's all about is just being there for the family, you know, and and and this idea, which it has become a huge trend now in our space, which I do love, like the life celebration, celebrations of life and stuff.
00:21:43
Speaker
Great. I love it because a bit like the death doula trend, it's bringing something that was already behind the shadows and in the dark into the light. And I love it for that reason. But what I don't love is that people are now throwing parties instead of funerals.
00:21:59
Speaker
And even though I'm an event planner, I am always crystal clear that, yes, we can do a celebration of life. We can have a party. But we also have to be cognizant of the loss that's there. We have to have a taught an entire service where it's just a party.
00:22:14
Speaker
We're not actually tapping into the grief. We're not. There's an empty chair, for God's sake, whether it's at the bar, in the boardroom, at the kitchen table, like wherever it is, somebody somewhere is missing.
00:22:27
Speaker
And even if, and I know this is an extreme, but even if, you know, God forbid the deceased was like sort of a multiple serial killer or whatever, or, you know, but going to the most extreme, they're still missed by somebody.
00:22:41
Speaker
Somebody gave birth to that person. Somebody created that person. And I actually do have those kinds of connections. You know, it's horrible. But bad people, they were still somebody's baby. They weren't bad when they were two.
00:22:56
Speaker
For example, and this is don't want to really unpack this, but my stepbrother murdered his mother, my stepmother, a couple years back on um Mother's Day. And, you know, he's I don't like him, obviously.
00:23:10
Speaker
He's a horrible person. But he has a dad. I know who his dad is and I know where his dad lives and i he's grieving. His son's in prison for a very, very long time and his ex-wife is dead because of what his son did. That that whole part of my family is just a family unit that's destroyed.
00:23:31
Speaker
Yeah. And when he eventually dies, he's going to, obviously. mean, I'm assuming in prison, but we'll see. um His dad's going to grieve. Whether anybody else does or not is not the point.
00:23:43
Speaker
Somebody will. Yeah. Yeah. We need to be able to address that. And that's exactly it. That's exactly it. It's it's the you know, these parties or. Yeah, it's just it's such a fascinating space, and I think, to be in. And I just I become more fascinated every day with the the different situations and even.
00:24:05
Speaker
um talking to a funeral director a year ago um about, and even at the grief convention that was held in Dublin before Christmas, about how, especially with all these school shootings that are happening in the US, and a funeral home, and this is another thing, that like funeral homes aren't sort of trained up to deal with this.
00:24:22
Speaker
Like if you go shooting in your in your local um area and suddenly your funeral home has to manage maybe up to 10 children's funerals. I mean, that is such a toll to take emotionally and physically on every member of that, the staff of that funeral home.
00:24:41
Speaker
But then and I didn't even think of this until I had this initial conversation. I think it was about two years ago now, actually, and where It's just, again, it's just so interesting how

Funeral Homes: Challenges and Sensitive Cases

00:24:52
Speaker
the human. The firm that takes the shooter.
00:24:54
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. The saying is, is somebody has to do something with the body, whether you like, it has to go somewhere. i don't. Why are you mad at me? The funeral director, like, look, the family's going to contract with somebody by law.
00:25:09
Speaker
They got to do something. Yeah. But it's even, even, and I had a conversation with somebody recently about this where we kind of delved into it even more sort of what about as a hospital, you know, if you've brought in a victim and you've brought in the the murderer and both of them have been shot, like, do you save one less?
00:25:26
Speaker
Do you try less? the the The doctors and nurses, I don't believe do. And I don't, I mean, it's, Yeah, it's just, it's a whole thing that I don't think we talk or think about too much. but um Anyway, I have books for those exact situations, by the way.
00:25:43
Speaker
Amazing. um Amazing. I have books on murder, incarceration, school shootings. I i hate that have them. have these books

Literature on Difficult Subjects

00:25:52
Speaker
that's amazing now can i ask um how do people reach out to you ah how do you get paid for this like how do how does that listen it's a question um we started asking a lot more people because there's so many people in this space that don't get paid at all or well for their services oh well i'd like to get paid um more so i can only do this but i i do unfortunately have to have a day job usually
00:26:18
Speaker
so um But in building pollen right now, I'm just trying to recoup money that I've already spent. So I buy in bulk a lot of the times. ah My common books are in bulk. um People come to me. I don't mark them up because I do buy them in bulk wholesale. So I get a bit of a discount. They are sold MSRP. And then I do a flat rate shipping of $20 per pack.
00:26:42
Speaker
That covers tax and shipping. So I'm usually breaking even... um at best. And honestly, I am the type of person that if I give somebody a quote of, let's say, $100 and they pay me $100 and then something comes up and I'm like, ooh, this other item would be really good for them and I think this is going to heal their kid it's going in there.
00:27:05
Speaker
You know, it is. Yeah. So I'm not going to hold

Contacting Michaelene for Resources

00:27:09
Speaker
back. So yeah, the best way to find me is at my website or on Instagram. Great. Well, this, this has been an eyeopening conversation. I think most people will agree. Um, I think the service is incredible. Um, I think it can only grow honestly.
00:27:25
Speaker
Um, and I really hope that people seek you out and, um, yeah, I really hope that people check out your website and all the work you're doing. So, yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker
I work with the general public as well as funeral homes, hospice facilities. Anybody interested can reach out. Well, if you're, we have a bit of both that listen

Episode Wrap-up

00:27:45
Speaker
to the Glam Reapers. So if you're, whether you're a funeral home and or a hospice or anybody like that, or even a librarian, as you were saying, that want to build a certain um category, um yeah, definitely reach out and you'll get them sorted.
00:27:59
Speaker
Love that. Thank you so much for joining us. And maybe we'll have you back again next season and see how it's going. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
00:28:12
Speaker
you