I once had clients who had already booked a trip to France, planning to stay in Orleans to research their ancestors from there. But when I looked at the actual documents, I was quickly able to determine that they were actually from the island of Oleron (near La Rochelle and hundreds of miles from Orleans)! Luckily the clients were able to tack on an expensive side trip and were quite pleased with the final result.

I would suggest that we full-time professionals are more like real estate agents. Sure, you can buy or sell a house without one, but they know their markets, their industry, and they can save you a lot of time and grief. Also important is the fact that they’re in it for profit, not to do the home buyer/seller, a free favour. For most people who don’t know the real estate market they are well worth the fees they charge.

Likewise, my business is here so that when a hobbyist gets stuck, they can get over the hurdle. I’m here to do the research for people who want to learn more about their families, but don’t have the knowledge or the time or the inclination to do the research themselves. I’m also someone who can save them hours and hours of time because I, like a real estate agent, know my industry, the pitfalls to avoid, and what resources are available.

Most hobbyists don’t seem to have a problem with paying a subscription fee to the big online family history services. A hobbyist could pay five years’ worth of subscription fees to find what I could find in a day or two (I’ve seen this). They also perhaps don’t recognize that these companies have in fact monetized many resources that are free to researchers in their national or provincial/state archives, local museum archives, etc. They’re in effect paying a convenience fee so they can research from their home computer. Which is fine.It’s a very workable business model.

The big companies also monetize what amounts to free research from their subscribers. I would suggest that many of their subscribers take family trees they find on these sites completely at face value, without ever vetting the research themselves. To me that’s a tragedy. Okay, now I’m getting into the territory of the dusty archives researcher, but I’m also a trained historian and I know the value of good research and good source citations. It’s the very basis of excellence in any historical research endeavor.

If you’re a hobbyist and want to go it alone, great, but you shouldn’t expect a full-time professional to do you a free favour. If you were selling your house, you wouldn’t go to the local realty office and ask them to list your house for free would you? This is my career. I do this for a living. I don’t feel guilty about charging a fee, and I think that my service is a quality service and well worth every penny I charge. I have nothing against the part-time researcher who does it for free or for a low fee at the local genealogical society. But we’re not competitors.

So just call me a retail genealogist. It’s the new paradigm.

The client base of people who understand that genealogy is a branch of history with all the concomitant demands for education and expertise is small. We need to educate the general public to increase their perception about what good genealogical research means, why good research is valuable, and why the services of a good professional genealogist (whether hired to conduct research or to provide training) is worthwhile. It’s a case of supply and demand: we need a critical consumer base that recognizes the value of professional genealogical research, and is willing to pay for it.

A few months ago, my local genealogical society invited a speaker from a DNA testing lab to make a presentation to our group. The speaker didn’t know the difference between autosomal DNA testing and Y-DNA testing, but then, neither did most of the audience and the presentation was free (free advertising for the company, really) and everyone was very happy.

Sigh.

I agree, what you said eloquently and professionally makes sense.

Part of my trouble with them is, had they said something akin to what you did so eloquently, I would have had zero problems with handing over all of my records and letting them look through them to their hearts content. Instead, their responses were short and said just what I listed, that they wanted to look at this one microfilm. Had the message been more professional, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. I’m guessing I ran into a few people that Loretta Gillespie mentioned – folks that are new to the business, did the minimum amount of marketing and research to get onto the local gen society’s recommendation list, and that’s it.

I’m not afraid to admit I need help, or that I think my look is comprehensive. But there’s a big difference between sending a potential client with no explanation a bill for $60 and sending a potential client an email with how you’d like to re-review the sources for potential new finds, and how as a professional, you can spot things that an amateur can’t, and then attaching the bill.