Family Genealogy
Family Genealogy/Tree Research
So many families today have a deep interest in their family roots. Because we live in a country that has such a variety of different cultural and social backgrounds that have come from several other continents, we are curious about our past generations. We are just enough generations away that it is not always easy to find out from close family about our distant relatives. So you may find this choice of a 'business idea' to be right up your alley of interest, especially if you love investigating and have the keen interest in putting puzzles together. If you are an investigating sleuth at heart, this is the career choice for you!
Researching one's family ancestry is difficult and usually very time consuming. Most people would love to have the knowledge of their family's past, but they cannot find the needed time to do all of the research involved in learning about their ancestors. This is where you get involved. You will perform the research for them! Most people would love to pay someone else to do this research for them.
How much would people be willing to pay for all of the needed research? You should be able to charge $500-$1000 per month of investigating and tracing their family's past. This should include an extensive family tree that they can proudly refer to after the research is completed. Remember that the more information that you can find, the better.They will not be very happy to pay you a large sum of money for something that looks like you spent a couple of hours working on. You could also choose to charge them for providing information on a set number of generations of people.
You will need to use the Internet, public libraries, and a lot of patience. This can turn into a full-time job for you. Using the Internet will be extremely helpful, but it isn't the only source of information you will need. You may want to invest in subscriptions to several ancestry search sites so that you will have access to as many records as possible online. Public libraries are an excellent source of information too. So make sure you use them extensively for needed research. It will take a great deal of patience on your part to compile the needed information. You will need to record everything that you find in a highly organized manner. This will make it more enjoyable for you in the end and easier to document the information results.
You need to start your investigation with a person's mother's and father's given names and the places and dates of each of their births and deaths. Your customer may also want information on both sides of the family so make sure you find out exactly what it is they want when you first receive their request. Do they only want the information on the father's side of the family line or mother's side only, or both sides and as far back as when? These are very important facts to find out first and include in some sort of contract with them if you choose to do the work for them.
To start your business you will need to contact people that would like you to do this work for them. Advertise with the various different information sites and maybe even have a site of your own. Try to incorporate a brief description of the type of work you will be performing in the name of your business and the name of your website.
Once you have done several family trees, you should start receiving referrals from your happy customers. Encourage them to do this for you by offering some sort of incentive to them. It should be something special that they didn't want to spend the extra money on, possibly a replica of their family crest, or tartan, or pictures of former family members; something like that. It will cost you much less than advertising and will work just as well.
Resources:
http://www.ancestry.com/
http://www.familysearch.org/
http://www.genealogy.org/
http://www.ancestralbranches.com
http://expertgenealogy.com
http://www.forgenerations.com
http://www.kindredkonnections.com/index.html
http://www.onegreatfamily.com
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