Seagal Investigations

...I get asked this a lot, so I thought I would share a little knowledge!

And because I have some free time... "hip, hip...."

Although I haven't contributed much recently on the forum lately, there has been a good reason for it. It's a long story and I am certain many of you "couldn't care less" what I have been up to, the fact is, I started my business exactly one year ago this month... with nothing!

I had no capital, no bank loans, very little in the way of credit card funding and only very basic equipment (laptop and phone... literally!)

The company is now doing exceptionally well, to be honest, and this is the truth, I hadn't noticed that much. I get on with work and I enjoy it immensely, which, leaves me little time to realise what is coming in and going out (I leave that up to my skivvy - oops, sorry, I mean "Office Manager", as she likes to be called!)

From the first day I enlisted myself on another forum and had my first contact/call from an established PI offering guidance (thank you Dave (ISW), I really do owe you one!) I never realised then that I had found my forte in life. I was destined to be a professional Investigator but I hadn't realised it until recently.

The business started part-time with nothing more than a laptop and a mobile phone, a printer, some undesirable stationary and terrible logo BUT within a few weeks I had my first Agent to Agent assignment, oh man, I was buzzing!
In November (5 months on) the business went "full time" quite literally utilising 18 hours of my day, promoting the business, improving the image, creating a brand for the company and ploughing every penny back into it to buy materials, books, equipment...

It was bloody hard but then again, I believe in the saying "you reap what you sow". It is a FACT, no doubt about it, that if you want to make something work you have to put work into it. It's all well and good "thinking" you know what you are doing or "believing" you think that what you are doing is the right way to do it. Sometimes, people cannot be told either way, this is where things go wrong!
It's all about using snippets of other businesses success, even looking at the bigger boys and commercial organisations, analysing what they do and simply follow their lead on a much smaller scale.

It's pointless spending hundreds of pounds thinking the ROI (Return of Investment) is going to blow you out the water if it has no purpose or relevance to the industry you are in. Forgive me for saying this and no offence intended to those I know that use it... BUT, in my personal and professional opinion, social marketing is POINTLESS!!! - YES IT IS! If you can provide me with an example of how profitable it is to your business (that being Private Investigation) spending hours a week or day on there I will bow at your feet at profusely apologise.

It may be fun, sometime interesting, you may even make a few friends doing it, BUT, it will not make your business a success, not this one anyway! Don't get me wrong, if you enjoy (and it can be fun and interesting) then that's all well and good but if you are in it because you think it will make your business more profitable then forget it, go and buy some Asprin and bang your head against a wall, why? because it's just as pointless.

There are no secrets to making a business work for you, there are no secrets as to how you can make it profitable, successful or bigger and better than anyone else. It is simply hard work, dedication and motivation. Not sitting on your behind waiting for work to come to you, actually going out there and getting it - I mean go and get it, no, not by advertising, or social networking, or even emailing (which I detest, as I am sure you do when you get tons of junk email) I mean go out there, yes you may have to do some walking!

IT'S ALL TO DO WITH HOW MUCH YOU WANT IT and deciding WHAT YOU WANT!

Some people are happy to earn "beer money" part time, others are equally happy as long as the bills are paid.

One thing is for certain, it has been said many a times and proven in many different ways. I even remember Jorge (PI Guy) mentioning this a while back, IT PAYS TO HAVE A DECENT WEBSITE!
I don't just mean make it look pretty or have fancy graphics (although this can look good if done right) you also need to pay considerable attention and effort to SEO (if you don't know what that is - then get someone to build your site, re-vamp it or take a look at it for you) Believe ME, it pays off to have a good site, rich in SEO and well marketed!

In fact, in some cases, it is the difference between no enquiries and receiving 2,3,4 or more per day! - This then leads onto other topics... such as customer relations...

Imagine a trainee solicitor is tasked with obtaining three quotes from an Enquiry Agent for a process serve...

You can either put on your best voice and charm or you can sound like you have just been dragged away from playing on the XBox! - You have one chance to impress the client, if you succeed that client may remember you and use you again, better still, do a great job and they might remember you for life and in 5 years time when the trainee solicitor starts their own law firm, you may just be remembered when the need arises!

Have fun, stay safe and don't work too hard!