If you love genealogy and you would like to work as a professional genealogist, you may wonder how you will be able to do that without making a career change. You do not have to quit your day job in order to be able to work as a genealogist. Many very skilled genealogists are not employed in a genealogy “job” per se. Instead, they work as freelancers, taking on individual projects from clients that they have found, or who have found them.
If you would like to work as a freelance genealogist, you can begin by mentioning your genealogy skills to friends and family. Tell people about your genealogy experiences whenever you have the chance. Somewhere along the way, one of the connections that you make could lead to a person who is interested in having a professional help them with a genealogy question.
You may also be able to find genealogy projects on the internet. I have seen a website called Genealogy Freelancers, where genealogy professionals can bid on genealogy projects for free. As is the case with other sites that help freelance professionals connect with clients, Genealogy Freelancers makes its money by collecting a commission on each project that is completed. It looks like a good web site, but since I am not a professional genealogist, I have no experience with using it. I am familiar with the basic concept, though, because I have done writing work through a similar site and it has worked out very well for me.
The Genealogy Freelancers web site offers opportunities for more than just genealogists. Since the site has a global reach, there are projects on there for translators. There are also opportunities for mentoring, photography, and other related topics. If your genealogy skills are sharp and you would like to do some genealogy work on the side, start talking about it and maybe even visit a web site like Genealogy Freelancers to see if there is a project that interests you.