HOW TO GROW YOUR PI

BUSINESSBy Cameron Jackson, PI #25146

SPEAKER BACKGROUND

PI since 2005

Former San Diego Police Officer

Generalist PI

Hired my first employee in 2013

Service primarily Southern California

OVERVIEW

Why You Want to Grow

When to Grow

How to Grow

How to Sustain Your Growth

WHAT KIND OF PI ARE YOU?

Working because you have to

Working because you love to

Working because you have nothing

else to do with your time

Generalist or Specialist

DOES MY PI TYPE IMPACT MY ABILITY

TO GROW?

NO!

WHY DO I WANT TO GROW?

You need a new challenge.

The grind of PI work is getting you down.

You want more money.

You want more time for yourself.

Prestige.

You’re a workaholic.

Whatever else motivates you.

HOW MUCH CAN I MAKE WORKING

ON MY OWN?

Most PIs should be able to make

between $50K and $150K per year

in gross revenue on their own.

Any number exceeding $150K

requires either higher fees or growth.

Usually you need growth.

WHEN TO GROW

Your time is the greatest limiter on

how much money you can make.

Gross revenue exceeding $150K per

year generally requires you work 12 +

hours per day, 7 days a week.

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Investigation Time v. Everything Else (Sole Proprietor)

Investigation Time Admin Time Client Management Time

Time

Income

THE SIGNS GROWTH IS NEEDED?

There are two signs you will get when it is time to grow:

1) When your admin time takes up more than

20% of your day or week (that’s two full days per

week).

You are losing money!

2) When your routine investigation tasks are

taking more than 40% to 50% of your time.

Routine defined as backgrounds, asset

searches, locates, and service of process.

HOW TO GROW?

Who do you hire first, admin or an

investigator?

Is it the chicken before the egg or

the cart after the horse when hiring?

Generally speaking you will want

investigation help before admin

help.

WHY INVESTIGATION HELP FIRST?

Because admin help costs you money.

Investigation help makes you money.

You can manage more investigation,

admin, client management, and

marketing time because you have an

investigator who will pick-up the slack on

routine tasks.

WHAT NEXT?

Once your admin time exceeds more

than 25% to 30% of your time after hiring

an investigator, you need an admin

employee.

After an admin employee is added you

can continue to add as many

investigators as needed to fulfill your

clients’ needs. That might be 1 more or

20 more.

HOW YOU HIRE MATTERS

Your first investigator hire should be a non-LE

and non-PI trained person.

Three reasons:

1) They don’t have a built in bias and bad

habits.

2) You can train them properly based on

your business model.

3) They won’t cost as much as a former LE or

current PI.

HOW YOU HIRE MATTERS Remember you are still doing the heavy lifting in

regards to your primary investigations, admin, client

management, and marketing at this point.

However, after your admin hire, then you are ready to

add someone with prior LE or PI experience.

The reason?

You will need to transition into a full-time management

and marketing role. You need an investigator with

skills similar to yours.

At some point a case manager will be required as

well.

WHERE TO HIRE

Craigslist?

It sucks.

The reason?

Most people are just looking to extend their

unemployment, they aren’t really looking. Of the 50

responses I got on Craigslist, 12 were scheduled and 3

showed up.

I had better luck with Zip Recruiter.

The best is referral – ask friends and family first.

BUSINESS STRUCTURE

You

PI PI PI PI PI

AdminCase

Manager

WHAT POSITIONS SHOULD I HAVE AND

WHAT SHOULD I PAY?

Senior Investigator with Law Enforcement or extensive

PI experience working LE and civil cases. $30-$40

You want and need a good researcher/computer

tech. $15-$30

A runner/process server. $15-$25

Possibly a surveillance investigator (the runner can be

trained to do this as well). $40

Admin/Office Manager $15-$30

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT

HIRING?

Be sure to have a training regime in

place.

The first employee is easy.

You need a training manual after the first

employee.

The realities of sexual harassment and

work place issues needs to be

addressed as well.

WHY WOULD ANYONE WORK FOR

THOSE RATES?

Because most people

aren’t entrepreneurs.

BUT WAIT CAMERON, WHY CAN’T I

JUST SUB THIS STUFF OUT?

You can but you lose control.

Control over management,

quality, and most

importantly responsiveness.

THE GOLDEN ADVANTAGE OF

HAVING EMPLOYEES!

Scenario 1

Client calls and needs it

NOW!

Scenario 2

You’re in the field and need

research or assistance.

THE GOLDEN ADVANTAGE OF

HAVING EMPLOYEES (CONTINUED)

Scenario 3

More R&D can occur.

Scenario 4

You can be in two places at

once. Sometimes even 3.

THE GOLDEN ADVANTAGE OF

HAVING EMPLOYEES (CONTINUED)

Gets you out of the home office.

THE GOLDEN ADVANTAGE OF

HAVING EMPLOYEES (CONTINUED)

And into a more professional

setting.

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Investigation Time v Management (What You Need to

Grow)

Investigations Management Client Management

Time

Gross Revenue

LET’S TALK ABOUT INCOME VS. REVENUE

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Income vs. Revenue

Personal Income Gross Revenue

Money

Employees

THE REALITIES OF MAKING MONEY

AND GROWING YOUR BUSINESS

Growth provides great short and

long term advantages.

Instant pay raises for yourself do not

occur instantly.

Growth and increases in personal

income happen slowly over time.

REMEMBER

Adding and maintaining

employees (overhead) is:

Expensive

WHAT IS THE EMPLOYEE TO MONTHLY

INCOME RATIO?

$10,000 per person (including

yourself).

OTHER THINGS TO REMEMBER

You want to run your

business.

You don’t want your business

to run you.

AND ANOTHER HUGE REMINDER!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW TO SUSTAIN YOUR GROWTH

Maintaining High Quality

Client Management

Marketing

Effective Employee

Management

MAINTAINING HIGH QUALITY

You need time to review all work product

and direct work flow. 30,000 foot view.

Look professional, be professional.

HOW TO SUSTAIN YOUR GROWTH

The #1 thing you can do to

keep your customers happy

and coming back for more:

Be Responsive!

CLIENT MANAGEMENT

Your clients come to you because you do

good work AND they like YOU.

Keep your clients happy. Reward them. Take

them to lunch, get them a gift card, do

something to say, “Thank you”.

Good client management also helps when

something gets messed up. Clients are more

understanding and willing to forgive if

something goes wrong.

MARKETING

You need marketing because you need

growth.

Word-of-mouth is good but has limits.

Formal marketing gets your name out to

the masses.

Find your target audience and make an

investment in marketing.

MARKETING DO’S AND DON’TS

Market to your audience. Attorneys, people

off the street, housewives, businesses, etc.

Marketing can be complex or simple. Make

sure you keep good tabs on your ROI. Simple

is always better in the beginning.

Avoid, Yelp, Google Ad Words, and SEO.

PITFALLS OF GROWTH AND HOW TO

MITIGATE THEM

Pitfall #1

An employee could potentially steal my clients and/or

trade secrets.

Have them sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Non-

competes are illegal in CA. Remember your clients

like YOU. Do good work, manage your clients and

they will always be your clients.

Also, most people just want a 9 to 5 job. They aren’t

entrepreneurs and they don’t want to run a business.

PITFALLS OF GROWTH AND HOW TO

MITIGATE THEM

Pitfall #1 (Continued)

Remember:

If you make an investment in

your employees, they will make

an investment in YOU.

EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT

You have to learn to delegate.

You can’t micro-manage.

Empower your employees to make decisions.

Be there to help them get their work done.

Don’t get in their way.

Reward employees when they do good work.

PITFALLS OF GROWTH AND HOW TO

MITIGATE THEMPitfall #2

Clients want ME to do the work.

You will have to re-educate your clients and in

some circumstances you may lose clients.

You can’t grow if you’re doing every aspect of

the business. That includes the investigation

part.

A lost client will always open doors to new

clients you never considered.

PITFALLS OF GROWTH AND HOW TO

MITIGATE THEM

Pitfall #3

No one can do an investigation as well as I

can.

If that were true we would never have the

following:

PITFALLS OF GROWTH AND HOW TO

MITIGATE THEM

Pitfall #4

Growth is hard work and requires change.

Like anything new, you will have to change.

But change is good and your business will

flourish because of the change.

PITFALLS OF GROWTH AND HOW TO

MITIGATE THEM

Pitfall #5

The plateau or “comfort zone” you achieve

with growth can make you LAZY.

Getting out of the comfort zone is HARD.

PARTNERSHIPS – TO DO OR NOT TO

DO?Partnerships can be effective if done correctly.

Partnerships can increase revenue if done

correctly.

Partnerships can thrive if you pick your partner

correctly.

The devil is in the details – make sure you write

your contract correctly.

Partnership dynamics can be challenging –

how do you overcome this?

BONUS MATERIAL!

Building the value of your business.

What is your book of business really worth?

How can you make it more valuable?

What else can you do to make your business

a long term success and have long term

value you can sell to someone else?

MORE BONUS MATERIAL!

How to purchase another

PI’s book of business.

PARTING WORDS FOR THE WISE

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

The greatest risk is not taking one.

Not always right but never in doubt.

We don’t know until we know.