"I have to show people how to do this!"

That’s what I said when I solved my biggest brick wall mystery of all time.

I was a seasoned genealogist who’d worked on the problem on and off, but it always ended the same: I searched online, clicked from screen to screen, sorted through tons of information, and looked for clues. I was confused and felt like I was missing something. I did not know if I'd found everything or not and I felt unorganized. And my research question remained unanswered.

And then everything changed. I had this new method I'd developed. I constructed it over the last few years to organize, track, plan, and brainstorm in a hands-on way. It had solved several tough genealogy problems already - but this was the ultimate test. I SOLVED it within hours using this different approach. I was so proud of myself for figuring it out!

In that one afternoon, I finally found the connection that solved the hardest problem I'd ever worked on using this strategy. Plus, it was amazingly easy. I almost couldn’t believe it. 

The answer had been there waiting on me to find it. I was able to do that with my proprietary technique.

That’s when I knew “if this strategy helps me this much, it will help other people, too. I can’t keep this trick to myself. I have got to tell people about this!”

For a while, I thought about just creating a presentation to show people HOW I use index cards and sticky notes in this unique way to conquer research blocks and find answers. But I realized that the best thing I could do is create an all-in-one toolkit that people can have for themselves and use over and over.

I had two conditions: I would only do it if I could create a kit of QUALITY materials that were also of good value and easy to use. (I am practical and was only willing to create something of first-rate quality that was also affordable.)

I wanted to make sure the tool would help advanced researchers organize, plan, and brainstorm their way to new discoveries and solving brick wall problems. AND I wanted to develop a tool that worked to coach beginners and intermediate researchers to research so well that they prevented the brick wall traps that most genealogists fall into at some point.

And that was that. With my goals in mind, I created the Brick Wall Buster Cards to be a coach-in-a-box type of toolkit. And the outcome has been more than I'd hoped. Other people can now do the same research method! Once people get this in their hands, they take their research to the next level. It transforms them into an analytical, problem-solving dynamo. My favorite thing to hear from genealogists who use the kit is "I thought I couldn't do it - but now I know I CAN!" (It makes me smile BIG.)