How Madelyn Brownell Uses Cloud Storage to Preserve Family Memories

You have photos stored on your phone, or your laptop and you’re wanting to get them all in one place. You also have all those old media files, too, like VHS tapes, slide shows, and more sitting on your shelves. We’re surrounded by computing power yet it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and we can’t figure out the best way to safeguard our memories.

Read on to get the most out of technology and permanently store your most meaningful memories.

A leading voice on the topic is my colleague and good friend Madelyn Brownell who urges her clients to put everything in one place, just like she has in the photo above with a book she makes every year called the Day2Day Album.

Entering the Tech World

Remember those computers in the 1980s running DOS with WordPerfect installed? Madelyn Brownell remembers them fondly because she went to trade school to learn shorthand, discovered desktop computers, and clicked with technology. She graduated in information systems from Brigham Young University.

How much did she embrace tech? Ever tried reading a computer manual?

Madelyn loved writing them, teaching from them and worked in information systems in the corporate world.

Today, she shows her clients how to bring all of their old media files, along with their newest photos and images, into one digital place.

David and Madelyn at a FOREVER incentive trip in Cabo

How’d she get there?

After Madelyn married her husband, David, and had three children and wanted to have a home-based business.

Her other interests included family histories and photos, so when a friend introduced her to Creative Memories she found both personal and professional satisfaction as a consultant.

Teaching the Benefits of Digital Storage

But the exclusive use of printed photos and traditional scrapbooks albums gave way to the emerging digital world and Madelyn began combining photo consulting with her technical skills—and her passion as an entrepreneur.

In 2015, a friend introduced her to an all-in-one memory-keeping solution that was new to the marketplace, FOREVER®. Madelyn was skeptical because she had started her own business, but she discovered how the platform let her scale her efforts and focus on serving clients.

“I got into FOREVER® and fell in love with it. It was so nice to have a company of like-minded people. They have cloud storage, customer support, and they have the software I love,” she says.

She ushered clients into FOREVER® and showed them all they could do with the platform.

A trade show at RootsTech, a genealogy conference, launched her career even further because that’s where Madelyn and I met. Our camaraderie added to her already high levels of enthusiasm as she set out to serve more clients.

“The business took off and I’ve been at the top in sales for several years and was number one in sales again this year. It’s all because FOREVER® is the full memory-keeping solution. People can do whatever they want.”

Madelyn and Glen Meakem, founder, FOREVER

Madelyn enjoys sharing the Big Picture of what’s possible with FOREVER® like:

Digitization
Cloud storage
A phone app
Desktop software
Printing photo books
Gift making
Sharing photos
Creating family networks
Family research / genealogy

“We provide all of it and no matter who I talk to, there’s something in FOREVER® that they need.”

A Life of Sharing Memories Online

Madelyn and her husband of 38 years are a “tech couple,” since he oversees the computer system for the Brigham Young University library. She loves teaching FOREVER® to others because she enjoys seeing how her clients catch the “Aha!” moments.

“Going online and doing things is part of our lives,” says Madelyn.

How about for non-techies?

She emphasizes how anyone will find that FOREVER® is easy to use for permanent photo storage and sharing with friends and family.

Woman holding baby looking at photo book

Madelyn made an ABC photobook for her grandson for his 3rd birthday

“You can get the app and start uploading photos right away and sharing with kids and grandkids. I have children of elderly parents who are thankful for the FOREVER® service. It’s exasperating for many of our most seasoned citizens to be left behind with the rapid technological changes.”

FOREVER® makes it easy to digitize and upload.

“With FOREVER®, they’re not left behind anymore since anyone can use it.”

Madelyn uses all the services of FOREVER® with her clients.

“I can take someone from bringing all their vacation photos into one place and helping them design a beautiful photo book of the memories. I feel privileged that I have amazing clients and an incredible team. It’s a fantastic home-based business.”

The One-Place Storage Unit

Madelyn shows clients the power of organizing their memories and storing everything in one place—from 8mm home movies and documents to wedding videos from yesterday and today.

“People will say that ‘Madelyn’s Mantra is back-up, back-up, back-up’ and prevent loss of photos and more. Where I come in is getting everything in one place. The real cause of loss is disorganization. So many people have things all over the place on thumb drives, SD cards and external hard drives. And, of course laptops and desktops.”

She shows them that they don’t have to keep moving photos from one external drive to another or one laptop to another.

“That’s excruciating,” she says. “Get everything uploaded and let our engineers manage the software which is super easy to use at FOREVER®.com. They’re doing redundant back-ups all over the country. You do the work of getting your photos up there—and once they’re up there, you’re done. It’s your permanent home.”

The service is great for families and it’s useful for small business owners. Madelyn knows of a cake decorator, roofer, and hair stylist that use FOREVER to share their crafts with potential clients.

Digital scrapbooking around the kitchen table

Permanent Storage Guaranteed

What makes FOREVER® unique and powerful is that you can own your digital home. You’re not subject to having your information subject to data mining for marketing purposes.

And FOREVER® guarantees that your information will be safely stored … permanently. That means a photo of your children and grandchildren taken today can be viewed by their grandchildren and great-grandchildren in years to come.

How does FOREVER® stand behind the guarantee?

“We use state-of-the-art technology so you can trust where your memories are being stored. When you purchase storage, about 60% is placed in an endowment fund for on-going research and development.”