Ireland Reaching Out: Will it effect paid businesses?

upncmnhistori

Ok, I am doing a start up my own business course as I am just not finding anything out there at the moment like many. I want to do Genealogy and Historical Research but paid. I don't mind doing thinks for non-profit but at some point when you are unemployed you feel like you have to draw a line somewhere. I know I have the education and experience - six years of it but Ireland Reaching Out are doing it for free are they not? Will this not effect paid business in anyway? Correct me if I am wrong.

Coolnabacky1873

Firstly, best of luck with it. It is a big and exciting step and I wish you well.

I am an Irish guy working as a pro genealogist in the U.S. and have to contemplate these questions regularly as each new record set comes online.

Overall, I welcome them and organizations like IrelandXO as it raises the profile of genealogy in Ireland. But if I take my 'I love genealogy' hat off and slip on the 'make a profit' one, I genuinely don't feel that it will impact to a significant degree.

Now, it might be different for someone based in Ireland to be competing with IrelandXO as to someone based in the U.S (lets face it, this is where the majority of potential paying clients for Irish genealogy are from).

There are those who would never dream of paying someone to do their genealogy as they love it too much, so that leaves you with a couple of different types of potential clients.

There is the large enough group that don't have the time and/or expertise to do it and are happy to pay. That is the group you want to focus on and you can be pretty sure they have not heard of IrelandXO. There are also those who have hit a brick wall and only know Ireland, and/or the county and can't get any further. They are an in between group, they have done a lot themselves but might be tempted to get some professional help. So, another potential target market and one, I feel, that the Irish based researcher is well placed to help.

I can't see a scenario where IrelandXO are able to trace all the descendants of the millions of people who left Ireland, it is just not possible.

So you need to get brainstorming on how to target those potential clients that want to find their Irish ancestry! Not forgetting England, NZ, Australia etc... too!

P. Breathnach

There is a particular problem that impacts on many (not all) people of Irish descent: they don't have the familiarity with and feel for Ireland that most Irish natives have. I correspond with a couple of enthusiastic American amateurs who have probably invested much more time and money in their efforts than I have ever done in my various researches. Yet I can often clarify things for them very easily, mainly because I know Ireland better than they do.

A knowledge of Irish is very helpful in many cases.

upncmnhistori

Coolenbacky1873 - I have sincere gratitude for you help. My market will be global and you have given my great help here. It was just the fear of having my own business and then several hundred people with the same business but doing it for no charge whatsoever. With the way Ireland is now and how hard it is to get a job I just want to turn my work into commerical businesses. I have individuals and community groups coming to me about genealogy and historical research most of the time and there seems to be a growing interest for my help but I just want do Pro-Bono too much. As I said at some point you have to draw the line. Espically if you are unemployed.

shanew

As far as I know the Ireland Reaching Out programs is based mainly around parishes - which is often the detail that many people from abroad dont have...so that's a 'gap' they may need help to sort out before doing any Irish research - particularly if their search involves dates before civil registration.

Sometimes this can be followed up on in family details, with such clues as siblings and parents, but many cases I see involves research wherever the family ended up.

Agree with PB's mention of the local knowledge issue, which is often another area that people abroad need help with .. particularly land divisions, locations and distances, parishes (RC and civil), interpreting Griffith and Tithe records etc


S.

Coolnabacky1873

upncmnhistori wrote: »

I have individuals and community groups coming to me about genealogy and historical research most of the time and there seems to be a growing interest for my help but I just want do Pro-Bono too much. As I said at some point you have to draw the line. Especially if you are unemployed.

I do a good bit of volunteer/pro bono genealogy for a few different groups but make sure to have a very clear line as to where that ends and charging for your work beings. Some people will think 'why should I pay for something like that', so don't be afraid to have that distinction.

You will find that you can expand the range of services you offer. For example one hour Skype consultations, talks and lectures, and individual record retrieval from the GRO, NLI etc..

shanew wrote: »

Agree with PB's mention of the local knowledge issue, which is often another area that people abroad need help with .. particularly land divisions, locations and distances, parishes (RC and civil), interpreting Griffith and Tithe records etc


S.

This is absolutely true and I find this is what gives me an advantage over American born genealogists who focus on Irish genealogy.

I recently gave a talk about Planning a Genealogy Trip to Ireland and had a section about the land/administrative divisions. That was the main follow up question at the end.

RGM

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

This is absolutely true and I find this is what gives me an advantage over American born genealogists who focus on Irish genealogy.

I recently gave a talk about Planning a Genealogy Trip to Ireland and had a section about the land/administrative divisions. That was the main follow up question at the end.

Definitely, it was the first real problem I had difficulty solving on my own.

On the subject of turning pro, I've given it some thought recently myself as I seem to be cut out for it. I genuinely enjoy the hunt and I've put in full-time hours this year researching my own tree and a few others. My main question is money and how much I could realistically expect to make. From what little I know, I don't expect it would be all that much.

Coolnabacky1873

RGM wrote: »

My main question is money and how much I could realistically expect to make. From what little I know, I don't expect it would be all that much.

You would be right! I treat it as a good part time job and also have another occupation. I would be very young in the industry. Most other US pro's I know are either retired from a career, have a nice big trust fund, do it in conjunctions with another job or have a significant other who is working full time.

There are very few in the US who are doing it full time and earning enough to have a nice lifestyle and support a family, pay a mortgage etc..
Megan Smolenyak, Elizabeth Shown Mills and people who work for Ancestry, Mocavo, ProGenealogists in Utah come to mind. There can be some decent money in probate research from what I hear.

You would be in the Philly area chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Their members would probably be happy to discuss aspects with you if you were interested in starting out.

As an aside, I would love to hear the perspective of any Irish pro's who are on here, or if they read and don't post, sign up and tell us all about it.:D

IrelandXo

Hello from Ireland Reaching Out (Ireland XO ) -

As a charity organisation we seek to reconnect members of the Irish Diaspora with their parishes of origin in Ireland. What we do is going beyond tourism and genealogy to create lifelong connections between local Irish communities and their communities abroad, adding economic, social and cultural benefit to all involved. We now have 400 parishes across Ireland involved in the programme with many thousands of active volunteers. We expect to have participation from the vast majority of parishes north and south by the end of 2013.

As we reach out across the world identifying descendants of Irish emigrants, we are often asked to assist with providing detailed genealogical information for individual family histories. This is not what we are set up to do. In fulfilling this need however, we ask for the support of individual and volunteer community groups that are willing to take these queries and questions and respond directly to individuals. Our supporters include Heritage/Genealogy and Historical Societies around Ireland and also include individual volunteers specialising in the aforementioned disciplines.

It is in cases where researchers have finally located the parish of origin , that IrelandXO can then provide the platform for diaspora to be introduced to volunteers in their parish who will provide a meet and welcome service should they wish to visit and explore the area of their ancestors.
We believe our programme can create unprecedented interest in Irish genealogical research worldwide and can assist organisations and individuals like yourself not just to sustain your work but the opportunity to grow significantly.

I hope this answers some questions and concerns.

Mary
IrelandXO Team

shanew

a quick observation about the parishes used on the IrelandXO website - I didn't see this mentioned on the website, but these appear to be civil parishes (e.g. Arderrig, Whitechurch and Kilmahuddrick in Co. Dublin).

It might be worth clarifying that, in case it might confuse some beginners looking for an RC parish...



Shane

IrelandXo

Shane,

You are very right and as we develop the site to meet the needs of our members we are clarifying this in our website development plan and many other aspects as well , given the international outreach of our users.

Thank you.

shanew

completely off topic.... but piece of trivia that cropped up when I looked into Kilmahuddrick, which I'd never heard of before. It's a civil parish of 161 acres consisting of just one townland, also named Kilmahuddrick.

Kilmahuddrick townland & parish (1st Ed. OSI Map c1837)


S.

IrelandXo

S,

Its the way it is within the civil parish framework , some we have found are hundreds of acres, as we find people willing to administer and volunteer within areas , we are happy to add additional areas/parishes to our list that are sub divisions of the civil parish.

M