Why I Quit Professional Genealogy and What I'm Doing Now

After six years, it's time to move on.

A realization hit me hard at the end of last year.

I was spending more time avoiding what I didn’t want, than committing myself fully to what I did want.

That changes in 2025.

Today, I want to share what led me here. Grab your coffee (or tea) and let’s dig in.

Starting in 2019: The Best-Laid Plans

Back in the fall of 2019, I was all in—ready to make genealogy my third career. My plan? To help others navigate Pennsylvania’s archives and dig up the records that aren’t online.

Then, 2020 happened.

With archives and libraries shut down, my work came to a standstill. Researching from home only got me so far, and with clients needing answers, I had to pivot. That’s when I shifted to content creation—launching the Your Pennsylvania Ancestors podcast, expanding the PA Ancestors website, and even writing two books.

But something was missing.

Getting Honest with Myself

The deeper I went into professional genealogy, the more I realized something unsettling—I had spent years helping others uncover their family stories, but my own research? It was a chaotic mess of notes, documents, and half-finished stories.

And I was ashamed of the state of it.

For six years, I spent hundreds of hours a year (and thousands of dollars) doing professional genealogy training. The result? A head full of knowledge and lots of anxiety about doing genealogy “wrong”. Few will admit this, but the genealogy community has its share of public critics and private backstabbing.

Every day I wondered - Will this post be laughed at? Are my colleagues were making fun of my books? Who isn’t talking to me now and why?

At the end of 2024, I got honest and asked: Why was I living like this?

Quitting Professional Genealogy

I am no longer a professional genealogist.

I gave it my best and it’s time to move on to do what matters. My days are meant to be lived with joy, peace, and fulfillment.

And for me, that means writing and publishing my stories of my family.

I created this video to share more of who I am and why the change:

Writing in Public and Sharing my Templates

And if you’re like me—sitting on a mountain of research but unsure how to shape it into a story—I’ll be sharing my process of turning boring genealogy facts into interesting stories.

I’ll share the writing templates I’ve made and how I’m using AI to outline, brainstorm, organize, and even check my work.

For paid subscribers, I’ll go more in-depth with tutorials, so you can follow along and get the same results without the struggle. And subscribers also have access to a private chat community.

So if you’ve ever looked at your research and thought, What do I do with all this?, know that you’re not alone. Let’s figure it out together—one step, one story at a time.

P.S. And yes, I’m still deep in Pennsylvania genealogy (my ancestors apparently never wanted to leave), so PA Ancestors is still thriving. If you’re researching in Pennsylvania, that community and resources are still here for you.