I thought of you as one of the stars of genealogy -- you've written books and you're presenting at Rootstech (you're on Robin Stewart's dream list for Rootstech -- like Robin, I'm attending virtually and disappointed we won't be able to view it).
I hung out my shingle as a professional genealogist in January 2019. I wanted to live the dream -- get paid for what I love to do. I was hoping to make the average yearly income of a professional genealogist. Then I was hoping to make enough to pay for my memberships and subscriptions. I get one or two clients a year, and it is very stressful. People want to do their own genealogy and only come to me when they've hit a brick wall. I hate it when I disappoint them, but sometimes the records just aren't there.
I don't regret the time and effort I put into trying to get the Certified Genealogist status. I was hoping to teach online for a college and they wanted the CG, but then it turns out the two colleges I was considering cannot hire in my state. It took me a while to let go of the CG dream, but I finally got my priorities back in order. My goal was teaching at a college, not being a CG, but studying to be a CG definitely took my research and writing to a higher level.
And then I discovered Substack. I'm enjoying the freedom to write about anything I want. It keeps my research skills sharp and I can see my writing improving. Will it pay for the memberships and subscriptions? Probably not, but with #MissionGenealogy and #GenStackCoterie I feel part of the community which I never felt with the Association of Professional Genealogists, and I get to read interesting stories (sorry National Genealogical Society Quarterly, while you're great for studying case studies, they can be pretty boring).
I love this video. Such a wonderful one to introduce us to you, and your decisions. Happy for you that you've made the decision and looking forward to what comes next.
Thanks so much for your openness and honesty Denyse, that takes a lot of courage. But at the end of the day when you look in the mirror the only person that you need to be true to is you. Like you, I am still paranoid about acceptance within the wider genealogy community and my peers. I am not a professional researcher and never will be and because of the amateur’ tag I still be,I’ve that some look down their noses at my work. But I do what I do for me and not them! So good for you in your change of direction.
Paul I assumed you were a professional from the way you write and depth of research you do. I love your work and it’s part of what inspired me to do more with my family history.
With you 100%! Spent a fortune for BU (and it was not worth it). Did ProGen (which was fantastic but it also went through changes). I was on the clock for three years. The BCG kept changing the rules, FamilySearch stopped lending microfilm (it took awhile for things to get digitized and it’s not all done yet…even thought they claim it is), people like ESM are worshipped as gods. The writing being churned out in the journals is awful. And of course my health took a hard left turn. And no one pays a living wage for speakers.
I belong to the Certification Discussion Group on Facebook. They collect some interesting statistics but they don’t really collect data on people who walk away. I have no doubt that I could have been certified (1/3 of my portfolio is done). The flip flopping on DNA usage in the last five plus years made me want to tear my hair out because everyone interpreted the standards differently.
I’ve read many portfolios at conferences and through the CDG, and many that pass are questionable, in my opinion. The proof arguments are convoluted and sometimes unreadable. As much as I want/ed to be certified, I just don’t need to be. I would much rather write interesting and engaging stories about my family at this point.
I also did a calculation based on numbers - If I spend 500 hours doing a portfolio, that's 500 hours I'm not doing my own family history, and how many 500 hours of time do I have left?
Good on you, Denyse! Like you, I try to be very intentional in doing what “fills my well”, and pulling myself back when my gut tells me what I’m doing doesn’t meet that requirement.
We all change. Our focus and our needs change. What fills our well changes. Having the courage to see that, admit that and act on it is commendable and heroic and inspirational.!
It is important to find your natural style. I see professional genealogy as basically academic style writing with a little narrative. I find it far more natural to use a chronicle style of writing that injects me into the story as I uncover it bit by bit, with a grand reveal. Kudos, Denyse! I get it. The only guiding principal I use is, "How will someone 100 years from now, like this?"
On board with everything you presented and I am, or have, found myself in a lot of the places you have/are. So I empathize. I watched the video and have to say (okay, I choose to say) as somebody who's "produced" (made by myself with a video editor) dozens of videos, and subscribe to almost 20 YouTube channels that I usually check everyday and watch some number of mass quantities of minutes ... I was distracted by the music. I'll leave it at that, although I did watch your interview about RootsTech with Andrew Redfern and that was great. More like that, please. Otherwise I'm looking forward to learning from and sharing with you and your media channels. :)
An interesting moment to read this piece as I am hesitating about pursuing certification. I am really interested in preserving family stories, less interested in citation formats.
It’s definitely frustrating that there is no standard citation format in genealogy. Each publication has their preference and there’s no software to help.
I have heard stories of people failing certification over a very small perceived error in citation. The example I remember is someone failing because they used "FL" instead of "FLA" ...they were told that "FL" was wrong because 'FLA" was the abbreviation in usage at the time the cited document had been created (fair enough). But for this the person failed the certification! I personally don't have time for this sort of thing.
You know what side of the fence I am on. Good for you! I am making progress. There is a lot to do, and always will be. But I am writing, and sharing, my family stories and legacy.
I thought of you as one of the stars of genealogy -- you've written books and you're presenting at Rootstech (you're on Robin Stewart's dream list for Rootstech -- like Robin, I'm attending virtually and disappointed we won't be able to view it).
I hung out my shingle as a professional genealogist in January 2019. I wanted to live the dream -- get paid for what I love to do. I was hoping to make the average yearly income of a professional genealogist. Then I was hoping to make enough to pay for my memberships and subscriptions. I get one or two clients a year, and it is very stressful. People want to do their own genealogy and only come to me when they've hit a brick wall. I hate it when I disappoint them, but sometimes the records just aren't there.
I don't regret the time and effort I put into trying to get the Certified Genealogist status. I was hoping to teach online for a college and they wanted the CG, but then it turns out the two colleges I was considering cannot hire in my state. It took me a while to let go of the CG dream, but I finally got my priorities back in order. My goal was teaching at a college, not being a CG, but studying to be a CG definitely took my research and writing to a higher level.
And then I discovered Substack. I'm enjoying the freedom to write about anything I want. It keeps my research skills sharp and I can see my writing improving. Will it pay for the memberships and subscriptions? Probably not, but with #MissionGenealogy and #GenStackCoterie I feel part of the community which I never felt with the Association of Professional Genealogists, and I get to read interesting stories (sorry National Genealogical Society Quarterly, while you're great for studying case studies, they can be pretty boring).
Love hearing your journey. I share so much of it.
I love this video. Such a wonderful one to introduce us to you, and your decisions. Happy for you that you've made the decision and looking forward to what comes next.
Thanks so much for your openness and honesty Denyse, that takes a lot of courage. But at the end of the day when you look in the mirror the only person that you need to be true to is you. Like you, I am still paranoid about acceptance within the wider genealogy community and my peers. I am not a professional researcher and never will be and because of the amateur’ tag I still be,I’ve that some look down their noses at my work. But I do what I do for me and not them! So good for you in your change of direction.
Paul I assumed you were a professional from the way you write and depth of research you do. I love your work and it’s part of what inspired me to do more with my family history.
I’m glad you’re moving on to something more fulfilling and wish you all the best.
Thanks for being honest with yourself
With you 100%! Spent a fortune for BU (and it was not worth it). Did ProGen (which was fantastic but it also went through changes). I was on the clock for three years. The BCG kept changing the rules, FamilySearch stopped lending microfilm (it took awhile for things to get digitized and it’s not all done yet…even thought they claim it is), people like ESM are worshipped as gods. The writing being churned out in the journals is awful. And of course my health took a hard left turn. And no one pays a living wage for speakers.
I often wonder how many people pursued professional genealogy and were turned off for all the reasons you name and more.
I belong to the Certification Discussion Group on Facebook. They collect some interesting statistics but they don’t really collect data on people who walk away. I have no doubt that I could have been certified (1/3 of my portfolio is done). The flip flopping on DNA usage in the last five plus years made me want to tear my hair out because everyone interpreted the standards differently.
I’ve read many portfolios at conferences and through the CDG, and many that pass are questionable, in my opinion. The proof arguments are convoluted and sometimes unreadable. As much as I want/ed to be certified, I just don’t need to be. I would much rather write interesting and engaging stories about my family at this point.
I also did a calculation based on numbers - If I spend 500 hours doing a portfolio, that's 500 hours I'm not doing my own family history, and how many 500 hours of time do I have left?
So true!!!
Good on you, Denyse! Like you, I try to be very intentional in doing what “fills my well”, and pulling myself back when my gut tells me what I’m doing doesn’t meet that requirement.
We all change. Our focus and our needs change. What fills our well changes. Having the courage to see that, admit that and act on it is commendable and heroic and inspirational.!
Appreciate the support. What finally got me to hit publish on this was our conversation. Been sitting on this for months!
It is important to find your natural style. I see professional genealogy as basically academic style writing with a little narrative. I find it far more natural to use a chronicle style of writing that injects me into the story as I uncover it bit by bit, with a grand reveal. Kudos, Denyse! I get it. The only guiding principal I use is, "How will someone 100 years from now, like this?"
I love your guiding question! That really sums it up.
On board with everything you presented and I am, or have, found myself in a lot of the places you have/are. So I empathize. I watched the video and have to say (okay, I choose to say) as somebody who's "produced" (made by myself with a video editor) dozens of videos, and subscribe to almost 20 YouTube channels that I usually check everyday and watch some number of mass quantities of minutes ... I was distracted by the music. I'll leave it at that, although I did watch your interview about RootsTech with Andrew Redfern and that was great. More like that, please. Otherwise I'm looking forward to learning from and sharing with you and your media channels. :)
Thank you! I’m still trying to figure out sound mixing so thanks for bearing with it.
An interesting moment to read this piece as I am hesitating about pursuing certification. I am really interested in preserving family stories, less interested in citation formats.
It’s definitely frustrating that there is no standard citation format in genealogy. Each publication has their preference and there’s no software to help.
I have heard stories of people failing certification over a very small perceived error in citation. The example I remember is someone failing because they used "FL" instead of "FLA" ...they were told that "FL" was wrong because 'FLA" was the abbreviation in usage at the time the cited document had been created (fair enough). But for this the person failed the certification! I personally don't have time for this sort of thing.
You know what side of the fence I am on. Good for you! I am making progress. There is a lot to do, and always will be. But I am writing, and sharing, my family stories and legacy.
I love the work you are doing. Our conversation stuck with me and was a part of my decision making process.
Just curious if you've read any of my family history/genealogy stories? Happy to comp you a month to read Secrets from my Twilight Zone.
Wonderful! I believe 2025 is a year to release what no longer serves us in huge ways and be and create what we are here to do. Hooray for you!!!!
🙏 thank you!