50% of my time is pro bono.

Caveat: ’tis I who decides how, when, where & for whom the pro bono is administered{:>)

1) @ the Mesa, Arizona Regional FHC tactfully teaching the staff & patrons how to use the ScanPro2000 miracle machine &

2) cracking European genealogy research cases there and on a FEW of FamilySearch’s Facebook Communities: “Germany/Prussia Genealogy Research”

Since 2009, my blog/brag/URL/website is SEOd for the keyword “german genealogist” This position was developed by my webmaster, Paul Andrew Johnson Everyone cannot be #1, but I have consistently been there since 2009.

This organic position has developed Lynell & me several “smaller retainer” clients, a few medium-sized clients, but TWO huge clients that we would NOT have found any other way!

One is now @ $33,000; the other from South Africa is @ $20,000. Both are successful businessmen who just simply cannot read that old German handwriting & also have no clue about where to go, even if they could decipher it!

FACT: Most people have THOUSANDS of $ worth of research to be done. If you want to be profitable AND serve your clients, cease & desist asking for a few hundred $, when a few thousand is often more appropriate.

Please don’t try to tell me this is greed. All our clients know they get from us TWICE that for which they paid. Why? That is what most of us genealogists do anyway, is it not?

Hourly rate? I don’t have one. Why not? It’s that principle of “a buck four eighty.” I’m a genealogy fool.

I’d rather crack a case than watch TV. If you knew how to shoot 3-pointers with a 80+% rate, you’d be shootin’ ‘em, too. Where much is given, much is required.

On Linkedin.com, I have 103+ endearing endorsements. Investment companies have now 5 times paid me $200/hr to consult with them about the online genealogy industry. Where’d they find me? My website? Nope. Linkedin.com

“Karl, we’re going to have to clone you!” Ancestry.com HR manager, Mike Moran. Yes, I was THE very 1st person they handpicked for the short-lived but highly successful paid expert Ancestry.com Research Line. Yes, I also served as THE primary European research consultant for Ancestry.de, i.e. the one who spoke German with German natives about where to go to solve their research dilemmas!

When those entities were disbanded (tearfully to a great team), Lynell & I opted to create GermanGenealogist.com. Best decision we ever made… We are enthusiastically mentoring a friend with ItalyGenealogist.com{:>)

Keep up the phenomenal work you do and don’t loose your child-like passion for seeing the fun in it all (with adult interludes of course when we need a real giggle).
– Eric / Founder

I’m a librarian and recently decided to start my own research business. Not genealogy per se, but historic research with a focus on the business market. A friend of mine does a lot of networking–the chamber of commerce, BNI, a women’s network, etc.–and has invited me to a number of events. She’s introduced me to other business people who seem rather intrigued with what I do. Last week I had coffee with someone I networked with, and the woman hired me on the spot! I’ve noticed people in the business market don’t seem to be put off by a reasonable hourly rate. I am pretty outgoing and like talking with people so this approach seems to be working for me, at least so far.

So, how do I make money with genealogy??? Since 2003 I have not earned one red cent. I have applied to NEH twice for independent scholar fellowships and been turned down twice. I have regrouped…started writing a blog at my archivist friend’s urging, and changed the angle on my project which will eventually become a family history memoir…or an historical narrative. I used to pay for memberships to historical and genealogical societies…but found it got me nowhere but with too many journals to read. To date I have not been able to attend any conferences because of time and $$$. I work full-time as a Deli Manager to earn a living…which I hope changes someday…when we relocate to an area where there are more research and job opportunities.