Start a Genealogist Business
If there is one thing people want to know
about, it is their past. People are
always striving to find out where they came
from and who their ancestors are. Many feel
they are related to famous people, or great
historical figures, but the truth is that
most of us are related to run of the mill
people who simply lived their lives.
One of the most overlooked types of
businesses, yet one of the most sought
after, is the genealogist business. In this
type of business, it is up to you to unlock
the past for your clients and tell them
where they came from.
The Concept
The concept is essentially that you take
biological information about your clients,
their parents, grandparents and other
relatives, and use that to craft their past.
In many ways, you are a detective and you
have to comb through a lot of information to
find the people who make up the past of your
clients. It is not always an easy task and
it takes a lot of reading old censuses,
combing through newspaper records and
spending a lot of time reading.
However, for the individual who loves
history, it is the absolute perfect job.
Every day they get to delve into history and
learn something new. Perhaps your client is
related to the first settler in the area, or
perhaps they are a distant relative of King
Henry VIII! It is yours to unlock and you
never know what you will find when you work
in a genealogist business.
Startup Costs
Startup costs for this type of business are
minimal, but essential. Typically, your
startup costs are going to be related to
being able to get access on census records,
ancestry websites and more. To get complete
access, you are most likely going to have to
have several memberships on various websites
and this can run upwards of $1,000 to
$2,000.
You will have to renew these costs on a
regular basis as you go on with your
business, so unlike some other businesses,
you do not pay once for what you need and
work with it. To continue, you will have to
keep paying. However, when compared with
other businesses, these startup costs are
minimal.
How to Market It
The marketing for this type of job is wide
open. You can market in the newspaper, and
many genealogical businesses have. You may
find a few clients through the newspaper who
want to find out about their records, but
you may also get no call backs because this
is such a specialized job.
You should make sure you put up posters and
brochures in areas where your type of client
is most likely to be. This includes
libraries and museums because a love of
learning and history usually translates into
a hope for knowing about one’s past.
Another, more specialized, part of the
population you can go after is those who are
relatively famous in your area. The famous
want to know where they come from, and so do
those who are related to them. It is not the
best bet for your business, but it could
work out, so give it a try.
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