By Mackenzie Kosut (Flickr: Brooklyn Home Office, Minimized, At Night) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Mackenzie Kosut (Flickr: Brooklyn Home Office, Minimized, At Night) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I only wish my home office had such a view or was as nicely clean and laid out as this one! 🙂

Yesterday I posted on my facebook page that Thomas MacEntee of GeneaBloggers is starting a new series this week on the genealogy profession.

I think this is fabulous! As this is a recent profession for me (I officially started my business in September), I have counted on blogs and people like Thomas MacEntee to help get me started. And he really has! Not only did his website GeneaBloggers introduce me to an amazing group of genealogy bloggers that I now take a part in, but I’ve also used his GenBiz Solutions website as well!

The GenBiz Solutions Guides are really great. I’ve bought the Marketing Plan guide, which helped me to create a plan that I am still tweaking as I go. I also received his Creating an Email Marketing Campaign (full disclosure: I did not pay for this but my opinions are my own) which was probably more helpful than I could have imagined! It was my go-to guide when I was creating my giveaway for the Genealogy Lady’s book Dear Mother, Love Daddy. It was chock full of great information, just like the marketing plan guide! They are very reasonably priced and for any person wishing to go the professional route, I do highly recommend his guides. I am NOT a business person! I was an English and history major at school – which means I’m good at researching, reading, and writing reports 🙂 Running a business is new to me so I have greatly enjoyed guides like the ones that Thomas MacEntee has!

First in Series

This new series How to Make Money in the Genealogy Business is another great way that Thomas MacEntee is helping out the budding professionals in this ever-growing industry. Yesterday’s post was “Genealogy – For Fun or Profit?” There were so many great items in that post but I’ll share some of my favorites:

  • …”Genealogy Professional, Not a Professional Genealogist.” – MacEntee makes this distinction with a very good point. Whenever I say I am a professional genealogist, people do assume I only do client research when there is so much more going on! Writing and lecturing (the creation of) are two of my biggest items that I spend a lot of time on, and I think the wording of genealogy professional encompasses a lot more than a professional genealogist.
  • Affiliate Marketing – something I’ve never done before and I am definitely interested in learning more!
  • Keeping a journal – something I do not do at this point but will now. He recommends putting ideas down in a journal and then reviewing it once a week to see what is possible.
  • Exploit your niche – this is something I am struggling to really find. I’ve heard people recommend not starting your business until you have a niche, but I did not do that as I’m still exploring where I’d like to focus and I know many others who have done the same.
  • Discount on one of his GenBiz guides – go to the link for the post and read through it all – a lot of good stuff in there! – there’s a promo code at the bottom for a discount on one of the GenBiz Solutions guides!

Second in Series

Today’s post is “Careers in Genealogy” – There is quite a lot you can do with genealogy as your focus I’ve realized. It’s not just client research, as already mentioned. Your mix of genealogy careers will depend on where you live too. Places like Washington D.C. and Salt Lake City may have client research as their one or main income stream. For me in small-town Indiana, it’s a mix of lecture, writing, and client research. That mix will become heavier on the lecture and writing sections as I’ve discovered during my first year of business as well, but this list also shows what other branches you can consider besides those three basic ones. I imagine my current choices will change based on the environment (business and geographic) and as I discover what I enjoy and do not enjoy.

Again, this post has lots of great information but a few of my favorites are:

  • Author – I love the idea of ebooks and guides and I’m interested in looking at doing something like this in the near future
  • Speaker – webinars are definitely a time/money saver! I love how easily accessible they are to so many people and how much more affordable they are when you want a more well-known speaker but can’t afford for them to physically come to a group.
  • Mentor – I can’t recommend this enough! Genealogy professionals may not be in your immediate area but so many are available online; that’s where I found many of my own mentors in going through this process.
  • What sort of genealogist are you? This is a great question to consider and spend some time thinking about! This was a question we asked ourselves throughout my history undergrad as well but “what kind of historian are you” instead. I always considered myself a social historian – I enjoy people and their stories throughout history; not the big things like wars and politics, but more on how those big things influenced people’s lives throughout the years. It’s no wonder I love genealogy!

I highly recommend checking out the series! It’s great for professionals, those thinking of becoming professionals, and even those who are simply curious. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment here or on Facebook!