Thanks, Elissa. As a librarian, I have no problem finding enough work *grin* so probably will skip the middleman this time. Traci Thompson, MLIS, CG Local History/Genealogy Librarian Braswell Memorial Library 727 N Grace St Rocky Mount, NC 27804 252-442-1951 ext 247(voice) Opinions expressed are my own. CG and Certified Genealogist are proprietary service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and are used under license by Board-certified genealogists after periodic genealogical competency evaluations. The Board name is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. -----Original Message----- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2017 11:51:27 -0500 From: "Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL" <Elissa@powellgenealogy.com> To: <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> Subject: [TGF] Broker companies Message-ID: <011b01d28f87$68cb8150$3a6283f0$@PowellGenealogy.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dee Dee, It is funny how you say that these firms come and go and just this week I was cleaning up old email from 2011 and found a message from such a company seeking to solicit professionals to work with their clients. The website no longer works and it looks like they don't exist anymore. They do indeed "come and go." When I was a transitional genealogist in the B.C. era (Before Computers) there was a company that advertised for clients in the _Genealogical Helper_ (the largest means of genealogical communication at the time). I worked for them on projects that they garnered. Communication with the client was a problem because of the middleman involved. Eventually as my own clientele and hourly rate grew I went past what I was getting paid from the broker firm, so we parted ways. So if you want to get a little experience, it could be an interesting way to gain clients. However there are problems with understanding what the client really wants (typically uninitiated clients who don't understand the realities of research) and communicating with them for clarification. Plus all the copyright and contract issues that Dee Dee brings up. Your business, your call. You can probably gain clients for yourself just by being helpful on email and Facebook groups and then someone contacting you from that. -- Elissa Elissa Scalise Powell, CG , CGL www.PowellGenealogy.com www.GRIPitt.org 25-30 June 2017 and 16-21 July 2017 in Pittsburgh, PA CG, CGL, and Certified Genealogical Lecturer are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluations. Certified Genealogist and the board name are trademarks registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.