Great Sale to learn more about your DNA

Diahan Southard is THE person to teach you about DNA. She is so knowledgeable and is great at making hard things understandable. And she is just a delightful person. So, we've partnered together to give you a great deal on her book for one week only.   

Between September 27th and October 4th
Family ChartMasters' clients and friends can get 20% off 
Your DNA Guide-the Book
Just use the promotional code FALLBOOK when you order here 

The print edition is only $31.99.  You can also get the ebook for the low price of only $16.99 if you would prefer. 

Understanding your DNA test results,  can help you with questions like: “Who is
that DNA match?” or “Who are my birth relatives?” or “Who is my mystery ancestor that I’ve
been trying to find for years?”

Your DNA Guide—the Book guides you through these and other common DNA questions. You
simply pick a question, then follow a clear, step-by-step plan to explore it. Learn key DNA
concepts on a need-to-know basis so you can stay focused on your question. Diahan
Southard’s fun, easy-to-read writing sounds like she’s talking right to you. She is! Your DNA
Guide—the Book empowers you to start making more confident and accurate DNA discoveries.

If you don't believe me, check out a few of these other testimonials:

• [Diahan’s] friendly, familiar tone could convince anyone that they can figure out this whole “DNA thing,” and with Southard’s clear, step-by-step instructions, they can. – -Mary Kircher Roddy, FGS Magazine
• “It’s definitely not a ‘big overview of DNA testing’ book, but instead a ‘let’s get down and dirty and solve a brickwall problem’ book. And we definitely need a book like this.” – Drew Smith, The Genealogy Guys Podcast and Genealogy Connection Podcast
• “Diahan Southard is...funny and down to earth. Her presentations are always filled with color and graphics and explain the sometimes overwhelming topic in a simple and easy way to understand. She’s put her style into her first book on DNA.”
• "This book is unique. My first thought was this is just like the choose your own adventure books I used to read as a kid. It’s almost like having Diahan there to hold your hand while you work your way through your matches and find your family!” – Cheri Hudson Passey, Carolina Girl Genealogy

I'd highly recommend you pick up your copy today.  

Family History Month Giveaway

Did you that know October is Family History Month?  The U.S. Congress created it by resolution in 2001.  While we think Family History is great year-round, we're happy that we have a month to really celebrate the benefits it brings.  Family History gives us comfort in knowing where you came from and teaches us about the people who left their mark on us and formed our culture.   Some of the benefits of Family History include:

• A sense of identity in the world
• A more secure foundation for healthy relationships
• A knowledge of traits that run in our families--health, emotional, traditional and etc.
  

Understanding our family history is just a better way to have a healthy life. 

 

So, we're participating with our good friends in a Family History Month Giveaway.  There are some amazing prizes.  Check them out:

• New Search Party Course with Diahan Southard, Janet Hovorka and Crista Cowan ($97 value)
• Family History Coaching Consultation with Kenyatta Berry ($200 value)
• Family ChartMasters Gift Certificate ($200 value)
• Diahan Southard's DNA Guide Mentoring Session ($129 value)
• 5GB storage at Permanent.org
• One year subscription to Memory Web ($99 value)
• Family History Writing Consultation with Michael LeClerc the Genealogy Professor ($175 value)
• Maureen Taylor's Identifying Family Photographs course, ebook handbook, and a copy of Vivid-Pix ($180 value) 

Each prize is awarded separately so you have 8 chances to win.  What a great way to kick off celebrating Family History Month!  

Register at https://maureentaylor.com/family-history-month-giveaway by October 2nd

And join us on October 4th at 2pm EST for a Facebook Live on Maureen Taylor's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/photodetective

Another interview and a lot of origin story

Wow.  We've been doing a whole bunch of conferences this spring and early summer.  We've been to Ohio, California twice, New Hampshire and several other conferences.  We love talking to our people.  And in Ohio, I was able to sit down with one of our old friends, Drew Smith of the Genealogy Guys Podcast.  What a delight it was to talk to him about what we have been doing lately and what got us to this point. 

You're welcome to listen in at http://genealogyguys.com/genealogy-connection-057-janet-hovorka-speaker-writer-entrepreneur.  I hope you'll enjoy the interview as much as I did.

Leveling Up Chat with Crista Cowan and the Virtual Genealogical Association

I've been writing a column now for the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly for the last couple of years and I've thoroughly enjoyed researching and studying some new topics for the articles.  Last year I did a full year series on a study we did about the perceptions people have about professional genealogists.  The study had some super surprising results--basically that 2/3 of people who hire professionals are not happy with the results, and combined with the fact that most people don't trust professionals to hire them in the first place, we're really only effectively serving 7% of the market.  There's lots of room for growth and improvement, starting with communicating the value of a professional and making sure the researcher sets expectations correctly so that clients are happy. I was honored to speak about the study as the Keynote for the APG Professional Management Conference in 2018, to give presentations to the ICAPGEN and APG boards and to present it for a Colloquium discussion at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.  I hope it has sparked some new movement in the genealogy industry. 

The latest thing I've been working on though is some articles on the Dunning Kruger effect and how it affects the genealogy community.  They will be published in the upcoming issues of APGQ for 2019.  I'm really excited to get this conversation started and see what we can do to change things up a bit.

Along with that, last night my dear friend Crista Cowan and I presented a webinar for the Virtual Genealogical Association entitled "Leveling Up in the Game of Genealogy"  We've made it available for everyone.  It was a great discussion and as always I loved hanging out with Crista.  I'm sure it will inspire you to be a better genealogist as much as it did for me.

You can see the show notes on Crista's website at http://cristacowan.com/LevelingUp

Lecture Summary: Lots of people approach family history like a video game-collecting the most number of ancestors or chasing the shaky leaves. In genealogy, just like in a video game, or in life for that matter, you don’t know what you don’t know. You could be playing along for years before you realize that there are power-ups and secret passageways in the game that can take you to the next level. In this session, attendees will learn about typical light-bulb moments and how to get to the “Did you know this was possible” stage faster. They will then be given a walk through on how to advance through the levels of the game of genealogy.

Attendees will be introduced to the Genealogical Maturity Model and the new concept of a continuum of genealogical proficiency. They will also be introduced to the high quality resources available for advancing their own skills.

The Today Show!

One of our charts made an appearance on the NBC Today Show!  The segment featured some Ancestry researchers and a client on a recent ancestral home tour to Sicily.  It is such a neat story about the Balistreri family and the connections that were made from his family history research.  It will make you want to travel to all your ancestral homes!

Check out the clip at:   https://www.today.com/video/dna-kit-discoveries-leading-to-new-travel-trend-1446689859528

The chart we made for their family is shown near minute 3:30.  But you will want to watch the whole thing because it is so lovely to see the family's experience.  And as the reporter says at the end of the clip, "The message is, go out there, and find out about your history before, honestly, it's too late!"

A visit with my friend the Photo Detective: Maureen Taylor

I'm so lucky to have Maureen Taylor for a friend--and now you can listen in as well.  Recently, we sat down for an episode of her video podcast and had a great discussion about a chart that she wants us to create for her.  We discussed various options and styles and all of ways she can display her family history for an upcoming reunion.  Take a look:

Episode 28: Charting Your Family History

And if you have any photo identification needs, Maureen is the person to go to.  She has more talent and knowledge than anyone on the planet about styles and situations that might help you identify an old family photograph.  Everyone calls here the photo detective, but I call her the photo whisperer, because she is amazing.  She can pull out details and specific proofs that will help you figure out who the people are in any photo that you might have.  She's amazing.  You can book her for a photo consultation at https://maureentaylor.com/store/photo-consultation or come see her with me at the conferences we attend this spring.  

Gratitude and The Buzbees & the Booths

I have lots of pictures of Bruce and Mike and Laurie and Sandy (of RootsMagic.com)--and most of them are shots across from a restaurant table. Bruce and Mike are the real definition of mentors.  They have been there for us from the very beginning and we have learned SO much from them. I think they first mentored us because they didn't want to have to do their own chart printing-LOL-but I'm so glad they didn't. We have spent so many hours over the years talking about the genealogy industry, about how to run a business, and how to run a business in this crazy genealogy industry. I can credit them for so many of our business processes and marketing successes.  It was Bruce and Mike who first talked me into starting a blog. Yeah that. So this first photo is to show how far back we go with these old friends.  Yikes.  I don't want to think about how much we've aged.

4th of July 2008

Bruce and Mike have been the greatest of friends--even working for them doing phones for a while to help ease the pain of being a startup.  They have advocated for us and taught us.  Truly great mentors.  And always fun to talk to.  These are the guys who taught us to hit up two restaurants in a night. Talk about mentors!

Which brings us to doing triathlons.  More years ago than I want to admit, I got to spend lots of time with Laurie and some of their kids (Kristy here) doing triathlons.  I'd like to take credit for getting them into that--until my health issues slowed me down.  But they've kept going and they're freaking awesome. It was really lots of fun.

Laurie's surprise birthday party

Recently we've been having dinner together again regularly and we always look forward to talking with them.  I save up all of my analysis about the people and entities in the industry to bounce off Bruce and I'm always interested in his take on the situation. Figuring things out is always fun together and if everyone would just do what we think they should, we'd solve all the problems in the world.  It is so good to have a sounding board and now-- and after all these years, some really good old friends.

Gratitude and Maureen Taylor

One of the greatest blessings I have had in this career in genealogy is in the dear friendship I have with Maureen Taylor (https://maureentaylor.com)  I have so many friends who are impressed that I even know this amazing lady--and they should be.  But I also get to call her a dear friend. She is so talented!  She can identify a family photograph from a mile away.  She's earned the respect of everyone throughout the industry as a hard worker and a brilliant historian. She is a wonderful speaker and a genuinely kind person.  I am just delighted every time I get to spend some time with her.  

When she came to stay with me a while ago, she brought me this cute little dish and I keep my curling pins in it on the vanity in my bathroom.  It makes me smile every morning when I think of Maureen. One of my love languages is gifts, and it takes me back every morning when I think that she may actually think that I make the world a better place.  

Maureen has been an awesome sounding board for the challenges I come up with in my career.  I'm always happy to hear from her over the phone and I know I can always turn to her when I need something. I am so thankful to have a confidant with such a wide range of experience in the industry who I can trust to be honest with and to understand what I'm feeling. We often run into the same challenges in our companies and I learn so much from her. You can't put a price on a girlfriend like that.  

Maureen and Erin in Malibu this summer

We've had many fun times at conferences throughout the years.  She's always silly and up for an adventure--in business and in life.  I've written before about how gracious she was to take care of me when I got to stay with her in Rhode Island.  We've had some delightful time together.  All of the ladies I work with love her too of course.  She's easy to get along with and good to hang out with anyone. We have fun! She has been a lovely addition to my life and my career.  And I can't wait to see what the next idea is that we cook up together.

And most recently, Maureen was incredibly sweet when I was having trauma over a big birthday.  She went out of her way to send these beautiful roses.  She said they reminded her of me because they were in a Victorian arrangement.  They were a beautiful welcome to the "half century" club.  But more than that, they were a great reminder of how blessed I am to have such a dear dear ally.  Thanks Maureen.  I treasure our friendship

Gratitude and Crista Cowan

Silly Crista (with Lorilee Wagner who is also a dear lady)

In this month of thankfulness, I'm feeling the need to express my gratitude for my dearest friend Crista Cowan (Ancestry.com/The Barefoot Genealogist).  I honestly think Crista and I are like Anne Shirley and Diana Berry-bosom friends and kindred spirits "to whom I can confide my inmost soul."  It is hard to put into words how much my friendship with Crista has meant to me.  She is one of the greatest blessings of my life. 

I'm not sure how I got so lucky as to be able to be close friends with her.  Well I am a little--I stalked her one year at SLIG and I love making healthy dinners for her (we've both been recently diagnosed as diabetic). But in return it is hard to quantify how much that has changed my life. But from the first night we had dinner together at SLIG, we clicked.  We have the same world view.  We care about the same things.  We usually have the same opinions on people and situations. We both want to save the world in the same way.  It's like we've known each other for much longer than just this lifetime.

I am privileged every time I get to spend time with her.  There are so many who clamor for Crista's attention.  I once called her "she who gets 10,000 likes with every sneeze and 12,000 comments with every cough." or something along those lines.  There are so many who clamor for her talents and skills.  She changes lives right and left with her storytelling skills and unbelievable research talents.  She uncovers family stories and finds adoptees' lineages like the rest of us blink.  She changes lives daily. She makes it look easy.  And what I love about Crista the most is that she understands the power that this family history holds.  She knows what we are doing in genealogy and finds it a sacred duty.  She is truly a woman of light and power like no one else on earth.



Crista has made an immeasurable difference in my life and in our business.  I couldn't begin to list all of the things I have learned from her.  I bask in her passion for family history.  Even though we often talk late into the night, I often can't sleep afterward because I am so excited about the ideas she's brought me.  I am so grateful for how Crista's breadth of experience enriches my professional life, but I'm even more grateful for her influence in my personal life.  She is truly a great treasure and I honored to call her my friend.

Here's Where to See Us IRL

You can always see what we are up to at https://familychartmasters.com/calendar.php

We have just a couple more conferences and lectures this year and then we'll be on to all of our big plans in 2019.  Here's what's happening next:  

15 Sept 2018  Welby West Jordan Family History Fair.  This is my last opportunity to speak with my son Matthew who is giving his "Get to Know Your Geezers" lecture before he leaves for a LDS mission for two years. Speaking with Matthew and seeing his success there has been one of the highlights of my career. I'm sure he'll be helping people with his family history there too so that's good.  

28-29th Sept 2018 Family Roots Expo in St George Utah.  I'm taking our new employee Stacy with us to introduce her to all of the fun we have talking to clients.  I'm giving four lectures, 6 Steps to Choreograph Your Research Across the Internet, Zap the Grandma Gap: The Ten Best Ideas for Youth and Family History, Voila: Professional Charts to Impress Your Clients & Family, and Where To Start When You Get Stuck.  Looking forward to it!

12 December 2018 Family Tree Webinars (in your slippers) I'll be giving my lecture on 101 Ways to Design a Genealogy Chart.  Hopefully all of our newsletter readers here realize that it is good to get your holiday orders in before that though right?  We want to have enough time to make sure everything is perfect for you!

27 Feb - 2 Mar 2019 RootsTech in Salt Lake City.  We just received word that we have a great spot up front to show off our charts in the vendor's hall.  We're super excited to display our 2018 favorites and all of the new trends we are working with to show off your family history.  I'll be giving a new lecture "Heirloom, Documentation or Junk"

3-6 Apr 2019 New England Regional Genealogical Conference in Manchester New Hampshire.  We love New England and we're always so excited to see this conference roll around again.  I'll be giving my super popular Archiving Lessons From My Great-Grandfather’s Family History Records lecture as well as the 6 Steps to Choreograph Your Research Across the Internet.  I have to leave this conference a little early so we're actually looking for a little help in the booth.  If you are planning to be close by (or know someone who is) and want a free ticket to the conference and some extra money, let us know in a return email.  

1-4th May 2019 Ohio State Genealogical Conference in Mason Ohio.  We haven't been back to Ohio for a while so we're super excited about this one.  I'll be speaking on Where to Start When You Get Stuck, and Heirloom, Documentation or Junk.  Will we see you there?
30 May-1 Jun 2019 Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank California.  It's the 50th anniversary of one of our favorite conferences so we'll be doing something special there to celebrate.  Stay tuned.  

Sunshine and Jessica Taylor

I had the delightful opportunity to have lunch with Jessica Taylor again yesterday, this time at the Trellis Cafe at Thanksgiving Point.  The Tulip Festival is in full swing and it was a beautiful day to eat out on the porch.  If you haven't ever been to Utah during the Tulip Festival, you must come.  Last fall we finished the new windows in my office and I've been itching to plant the flower garden I will be able to see from my desk.  I had a few pots outside with tulips and daffodils, but it is nothing like the majesty of what is going on at Thanksgiving Point.  So it was a wonderful break from our busy days to take a break with the beautiful Jessica and the beautiful tulips.

Jessica is a great friend.  She owns Legacy Tree Genealogists and has won several awards for the amazing business she is building.  She and I are trying to figure out the details of how to scale our businesses so it is good to have someone to share ideas with.  We both find ourselves in the position of knowing more about our company's subject than we do about how to run a company--much like most entrepreneurs--but we're figuring it out.  We founded the Genealogy Business Alliance together and I think that has made an impact on the industry and been a support to other startup companies.  She is a light in my life and hopefully together, we can light the way for others as well.

Yesterday, it felt like I was a bundle of concerns, about business, about family and about stuff.  We were sitting in the sunshine, and it really helped. (Do you ever have a day like that?) It was great to have a safe place to talk about it all.  We both came away with notes about new avenues we wanted to try and resources that we could follow up on.  I'm so thankful to have a partner in crime and someone who understands, someone to work on projects with and someone who is figuring out the same puzzle.  It is always so nice to get together. 

I'm thankful to have such a great friend. 

What's in Your Attic and What to Do About It.

This Thursday I get to present a Virtual Chapter meeting for the Utah Genealogical Association with my Dad.  We've given this presentation at RootsTech and at the BYU Family History Conference and I really enjoy presenting this one because it is something that we all deal with.  How do we work together to deal with all the stuff we've inherited?

Here is the description:

Great Grandfather was a wonderful genealogist, but even with the best plan, three generations later some of his treasures are now hard for family members to find.  This Father and Daughter team wants to do better.  What is the best plan for digitizing and archiving the items in their family history boxes?  Where do they find the time and resources to implement that plan?  Where do we put the most important items so that all of the family can find them?  How do they make sure that all future generations have access to the stories, artifacts and pictures that bring recent and current generations to life?  

And here are the bios:

Don A Carpenter has a PhD in higher education administration from the University of Utah and B.A. and M.A. degrees from BYU.  He retired as Associate Commissioner for the Utah System of Higher Education (State Board of Regents).  He also served as Assistant Dean at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.  Don was president of the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges, president of the National Association of State Approving Agencies, and  president of the  Jordan (Utah) School Board.  He currently serves as a volunteer collecting histories at the LDS Church History Library.

Janet Carpenter Hovorka received a B.A. in History and a Master's in Library and Information Science from BYU.  She and her husband Kim own Family ChartMasters the official printers for most of the genealogy software and database companies and GenealogyDOTcoach, a new online service that helps family history enthusiasts connect to professionals to get the specific help they need.  Janet is also the author of the Zap The Grandma Gap book and workbooks to help people connect with their family by connecting them to their family history.  Janet shares her passion for the nutrition family history brings to the soul on her two blogs and has written for numerous genealogy publications. She is a past President of the Utah Genealogical Association and teaches library science, business and genealogy courses at Salt Lake Community College.  


You can register at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7882703811691568897

The UGA Virtual Chapter meets online on the third Thursday evening of each month, except December.  Free to the public, you can register for the live presentation by clicking on the link above or go to virtual.ugagenealogy.org.  You will receive an email confirmation and link to access the meeting when it starts.  Archived videos of these presentation are available to UGA members on the website.  If you would like to join the UGA. only $35 per year, go to ugagenealogy.org and select the option "Join UGA!"