Coming down from the Baby Expo

July 1st, 2008

So, other than accidentally asking a woman with a 4-month-old if she was expecting again, we had a successul Baby Expo.

More than anything, one thing stood out: The sheer number of people with kids without any kind of estate plan. Our booth was right across from Mother’s Milk, which was always jammed, and right on top of an expansionjoint that every stroller got stuck on.

So I had a lot of time to talk to husbands.

The conversations went like this:

Me: So, how’s your will? Do you have a will?

Them: Um, no.

The latest statistic has something like 55 percent of Americans without a will. It’s understandable. It’s a depressing thing to think about. Death. The end of family time. All that. And it’s a pain to do a will. I spoke to a couple from Wisconsin who had sent a packet of information over to their attorney a year ago. But they couldn’t decide on a guardian, and that’s when everything broke down.

But if you have a family, you need a will. As awful as it is to think about, you and your spouse could both die at the same time. If there’s no will, then the kids’ future is at the mercy of the state’s judgment.

And if they can’t fix roads, how can you be sure your child or children don’t end up somewhere very bad?

Get wills, people.

Arizona Baby Expo booth set up

June 27th, 2008

Wanted to let you all know that we’ve finished setting up the booth at the Baby Expo at University of Phoenix Stadium. We’re booth 817, between ADT and Read to Me, across from Mother’s Milk.

Stop by if you’re there. I’ll be the one limping from a scorpion sting. We’ll also have Erin, the Customer Service Queen, at the booth.

And since this is my first post, let me say hello. I’m Judd, and I’m manage WillNation’s operations. I’m over most of the stuff that’s not legal or financial. If you call to ask a question that has nothing to do with the law, you might end up talking to me.

If you have a question about your will or legal stuff, you might end up talking to Chris, who runs the Legal Stuff division of WillNation.

To keep things straight:

Chris = smart lawyer guy

Judd = really good hair

Why you shouldn’t record voicemail greetings barefoot

June 27th, 2008

Had to share this one with you…

Since we’re publicly launched now (and no turning back), we were putting together the voicemail greetings. It’s one of those systems that you set up over the phone, and so Judd was doing it from home.

Judd lives near a desert preserve and his problems with — and hatred for — scorpions are well known in the office (once his wife was shocked by a scorpion in a window frame and Judd went after the thing with a sharpening steel yelling “How dare you do that to my wife!”).

Anyway, he’s recording the voice mail greeting, and it sounds like this:

“Hi, you’ve reached Judd in Operations at WillAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!”

It’s pretty awesome. Judd won’t let us put it up here, though, since he said some words that might not be appropriate for a site that sells family-oriented products. You’re going to have to trust us on this one, though: The man has some pipes when it comes to getting stung by poisonous insects.

And for the eight of you who’ve been reading us religiously, it was a desert bark scorpion.

Arizona Baby Expo

June 26th, 2008

We’ll be debuting live at the Arizona Baby Expo on Saturday and Sunday, June 28 and 29. It’s being held at University of Phoenix Stadium. Our booth is humble, but helpful.

Stop by if you get a chance. We’re offering great deals for grandparents, new parents (or new parents to be) and other folks.

See how we’re changing the face of estate planning and making your life easier at the same time.

Birth

June 26th, 2008

So we’ve just run the 97th test on the system… and it worked. Flawlessly.

In the last two weeks we’ve run protocol tests, form tests, usability tests, login tests, logout tests. We are thoroughly tired of tests.

But it’s all to the good. Because tonight we went live. WillNation.com is up, and we hope that it ushers in a new era in estate planning.

Let’s be honest. No one has a dream of changing estate planning, like, say, people have a dream about pitching in the World Series. WillNation was born out of desperation: We needed wills, and the existing ways of getting — the Internet or visiting a lawyer — didn’t really fit the lives or lifestyles of many of our friends.

So we’ve blended the convenience of the online experience — fill out forms in your jammies, people! — with the knowledge of attorneys. A will with us is prepared by an attorney, and you’ll actually get to consult with the attorney.

So we begin… Stay tuned to this space for updates and more explanations.