Believe it or not, when I was laid off from the legal tech field in October 2008, I decided to turn my hobby of genealogy and family history into a profession. I now own my own company - High-Definition Genealogy (
http://hidefgen.com) - and serve as a consultant for several tech businesses looking to sell their products and services in the genealogy community.
Right now, with the wave of Baby Boomers just starting to retire and wanting to continue using their tech skills in retirement, they are seeking out interesting hobbies like genealogy. There is still a big need to education these "Silver Surfers" on how to use different technologies to help find their ancestors.
