Private Investigator Mentoring

I often get emails and ‘phone calls from people wanting to become Private Investigators but not having any idea of where or how to start. As a consequence, I accidentally stumbled into mentoring and have assisted a number of people who have since gone on to be very successful within the Private Investigator Industry.

Company, Agency or Freelance?

One of the issues that raises itself when people start out in the PI industry is whether to start an agency as a sole trader or partnership under a trading name, form a Limited Company or to remain self-employed and therefore be known as a freelance private investigator. Each has its pros and cons as I am sure you will appreciate. Firstly, you must decide whether you want to build and grow a business and subsequently enjoy increasing profits from that business or whether you simply wish to earn a living. Deciding this can be the biggest indicator of which way to go i.e. the way of the business/agency/company or whether to be happy working freelance.

An Agency/Company

Most private investigation agencies or companies are small; consisting of one or two investigators. It is rare that a private investigation agency will employ investigators as work can be sporadic and a small company can ill afford to have employees sitting around getting paid when there is no work to do. For those of us that took the ‘business’ route there is no need to remind you how difficult it can be. Setting up, with offices and equipment and having a website built can be time-taking and often frustrating tasks, couple that with the costs and logistics of advertising and marketing and you have a potential nightmare situation which can be emotionally and financially draining. Many people starting up believe that all they have to do is send out some marketing brochures or letters, place a couple of adverts and the work will come flooding in. NOT true! The reality is that there is a lot of quality competition out there and it is not until after many years of hard work and a significant emotional and financial investment (as well as good old fashioned luck) that you could be reaping the rewards of having a successful business, but it is by no means guaranteed. The Yellow Pages is full of Private Investigation Agencies that are paying thousands of pounds for big adverts and struggling to meet their overheads because of the competition.

Freelancing

If you enjoy investigation work and are only interested in life-style based self-employment and in making a living then maybe freelance investigation work is for you. You get to be your own boss, decide which work you want to do and weed-out the work you don’t want to do (in theory). In practice the freelance investigator cannot afford to turn work down after all he/she is trying to make a living and the more work you do, the more money you make. The freelance investigator doesn’t have the overheads that the agency has, there is no need for offices, all you need is your mobile phone, your investigator ‘equipment’ and YOU and you are good to go. But where does the freelancers work come from? Generally freelancers, because they don’t advertise and market a business, will work for private investigation agencies carrying out ‘over-spill’ work i.e. when some agencies get too much work and cannot cope then they retain freelancers to assist.

Basics Needed Before Setting Up

As I mentioned earlier there is lots of quality competition in the private investigation industry. The industry has traditionally been dominated by individuals with previous and lengthy investigation experience such as former police investigators, ex armed forces investigation specialists, government investigators and very experienced investigators from the commercial sector. Having said that, quality professional training and development is now readily available making it possible for potential investigators who do not possess the benefits of previous employment or experience as an investigator to project themselves into the industry with a recognised qualification.

• Have you thought about becoming a private investigator?
• Are you already a PI and have some information or advice to pass on?

If so leave a comment or some words of advice.

Have a look at the range of investigation related books in our store.

Related posts:

1. Top tips for choosing a Private Investigator!
2. Surveillance and Private Investigation!
3. Does a UK Private Investigator Have to be Licensed?
4. Tracing People – No Trace No Fee
5. DNA Profiling and the Private Investigator