Thinking of Starting a Private Investigator Business

mrsingh

Hi all,

As the title suggests I'm thinking of starting a private investigator business . I've had two businesses in the past (with varying degrees of success, employed people, etc). Although i'm now working full-time, i think this is an opportunity to earn some money on a part-time basis, and hopefully do well enough to go full-time.

I have researched this alot and i'm clear on the services (mainly surveillance and corporate espionage), prices and training I intend to do before I go "all out" on this.

But I have one major conundrum! I dont have an idea on the best way to market my services (apart from having a website - how do you generate traffic if no-one knows about your website?). The reason I say this is that given the nature of the job, i dont think it is something that you can just go out and advertise. I dont think it would be in my interest to have my face known as an investigator.
I hope that makes sense?!?! Common knowledge and my experience has told me that getting the clients in, especially in the beginning will be key to any success.

Any tips/thoughts you have would be much appreciated!

honeypop

I know this doesn't answer your question, but if you work full time already and are trying to fit it round that initially, is your current job flexible? You could be required to work any amount of hours at any time of day while doing surveillance work, you can't just pick and choose when to do it, so it wouldn't work around a current job. A couple of people I know are in this line of work, this is advice they give (along with saying you will get barely any business just setting up yourself with no history of 'cases solved' or referrals from happy clients etc).

WhiteHorse

Don't want to rain on your parade, but this field is pretty full. It's also plagued with dreamers and wannabees. The comments made above by Honeypop are sound.

paddyrg

Do a few freebies then ask for testemonials/referrals? Do you have specific skills (covert video/dossier compilation/email hacking/etc) so you can play to strengths and have a niche to promote?

mrsingh

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Don't want to rain on your parade, but this field is pretty full. It's also plagued with dreamers and wannabees. The comments made above by Honeypop are sound.

I appreciate the responses from everyone, some valid points are made...

Whitehorse what do you mean there are a lot of dreamers and wannabes?

Offering a few free trials etc sounds like a good way to get some testamonials - after all even experienced private investigators had to start somewhere too right?

paddyrg

Without testemonials, you could always instead of handling clients you could see if you could work for another PI company to get some case miles and experience, eg getting video evidence of affairs etc.

I think whitehorse is referring to people who watch a few cop shows on TV, think being a PI is better than working for a. Living, but have no experience or skills to trade on - they just like playing dress-up and being third-rate spies! This is why I mentioned applicable skills to make your mark. For instance you may be a whizz at finding out all about your subjects on facebook and creating a dossier for the client, and that would give you an interesting angle. Or look around for a dodgy company in the rants board, and investigate how the business empire works and who is in charge, find their home address with webcheck, etc.

WhiteHorse

mrsingh wrote: »

Whitehorse what do you mean there are a lot of dreamers and wannabes?

Nutcases and people who have seen too many TV programs. The effect of this being that potential customers are reluctant to try an agency that is not well established.

motorguy

mrsingh wrote: »

I have researched this alot and i'm clear on the services (mainly surveillance and corporate espionage)

I'm curious - what experience do you have in these two fields?

Gazing_On_Sunsets

I wonder if this is the kind of field that people slide into, sideways-like, from related fields. You know, someone with a background in the police may make a lot of contacts, do a bit on the side, get asked to do something and so it grows, for example. Probably very difficult to get into if you don't have half a foot in there already.
I went for an admin job many years ago, for a company in Lincolnshire that didn't officially exist (had no postcode...) that employed ex-servicemen, generally officers, in general battlespace logistics and security consultancy for example.

motorguy

Gazing_On_Sunsets wrote: »

I wonder if this is the kind of field that people slide into, sideways-like, from related fields. You know, someone with a background in the police may make a lot of contacts, do a bit on the side, get asked to do something and so it grows, for example. Probably very difficult to get into if you don't have half a foot in there already.
I went for an admin job many years ago, for a company in Lincolnshire that didn't officially exist (had no postcode...) that employed ex-servicemen, generally officers, in general battlespace logistics and security consultancy for example.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with this.

WhiteHorse

Gazing_On_Sunsets wrote: »

I wonder if this is the kind of field that people slide into, sideways-like, from related fields.

You are correct.