In 2011 my life totally changed, as my husband died, after living for a year with cancer. As an author and blogger already, I always knew I would write about this huge event in my life, and sure enough, my book Gifted By Grief was published on 15th September 2015, after a year of intense activity, with a wonderful local celebration in Forres Town Hall. It was a bestseller at the time and continues to sell steadily to this day. (Available in the Phoenix, all bookshops and Amazon).

But whereas I thought that readers would gain a lot from the spiritual experiences I had had after Philip died, it wasn’t these they commented on – instead it was the chapter where I had asked him some very difficult questions.

Questions like ‘what do you want done with your body? What kind of coffin do you want? How do you want your body dressed? What are your passwords? And when should I sell the car? Very personal, very practical and very scary to ask.

After a week of about 6 or 8 people all saying to me ‘I need to answer these questions too’, I realised I needed to take action. This was November/December 2015, and in January 2016, I had researched, put together a list of the questions I had asked Philip, plus quite a few others, and The Good Death Guide: 27 Questions to Ask and Answer Before You Die was born, quickly followed by a practical workshop, held in the Family Room in The Park, to help people actually complete the workbook.

The workshop sold out with 12 places filled, and another 12 on the waiting list. I was amazed – that hardly ever happens up here where there are so many interesting things going on! But happen it did, and gave me enough confidence to think I really did need to follow what was being shown to me. A third course followed, and another in-person course happened for a local carers agency.

Having already been working online and running online courses, the obvious thing was to take the in-person course online, which happened for the first time in summer 2016.

By the Autumn of that year, still working as a holistic business coach, but now with small groups of varying size of end of life plan clients, I was awarded a place on the Entrepreneurial Spark three-month pilot programme, again online, with 3 days of in-person training in Inverness.

It was during this time I realised I had to set up a social enterprise – it just felt like the right thing to do with this kind of work. Everyone was going to die, there was nothing that could be done about that, and dying in a way is a community event (it affects everyone in the community of that person), and with its social impact model, this legal structure felt like the right way to go.

November 2nd 2016 and Before I Go Solutions Community Interest Company was incorporated (the name being birthed itself while sitting outside what is now Café Torta on Findhorn Bay, overlooking the blue choppy waters, sipping a coffee and wondering about a name. It popped into my head and although I spent another half an hour pondering other options, this was the one that stuck, and felt good).

Jane Duncan Rogers TEDx Talk

By this time I had done 5 in-person workshops, and one online, with people from all over the world, and one of the many things 2017 brought was a TedX talk, How to Do A Good Death, in the Universal Hall, in front of 400 people (well-known Caroline Myss was also speaking, I am sure most came to hear her, but they got me too!)

A revised workbook followed, along with End of Life Planning Conversations card deck (for which we received funding), and another book, Before I Go: The Essential Guide to Creating a Good End of Life Plan, published by Findhorn Press.

One thing led to another and over the next few years, Before I Go Solutions became known for who to contact when you wanted support, information, advice on how to get your end of life plans properly prepared.

By this time, I had started an accredited training course for those who wanted to help others get their end of life plans done, as it turned out that most don’t do this essential task unless someone else is helping them. Several (including Cornelia and Sylvia) trained in this way, and End of Life Planning Facilitators can now be found in several different countries.

Jane and James Barnett photo Jane Duncan Rogers

Jane and James Barnett

In 2023 it became clear to me that it was time to step back and let someone else run the business, and we were fortunate to have James Barrett from MyGoodbyes.co.uk come on the Board as Executive Director. He had founded a similar company but could provide an app, along with end of life planning parties. It felt like the two companies were made for each other.

A lovely end to an intense several years came when I became Scotland’s Woman of Inspiration, as awarded by the Association of Scottish Business Women. It felt so lovely to have all the work me and my team have done acknowledged in this way.

I am currently still on the Board of BIGS, as it is affectionately known, although I’m now onto another new project, watch this space!