Entrepreneurship

On launching and running an investigative agency and thriving in the business

Cash Flow: The Lifeblood of an Investigative Business

Keeping your firm afloat isn’t just about profitability. It’s about having the right amount of cash at the right time. Cash: The Secret Ingredient That Keeps Businesses Operating Businesses rarely close simply because they are unprofitable. More often, they experience financial distress because they run out of cash before they can pay employees, vendors, landlords,

Marshall Gardner

27779

Second Time Around: 7 Lessons I Learned from Losing My First PI Firm

Here are some things I wish I’d known when I first pursued my dream to open a private investigations business. From noir novels to the real-life case grind, one of the reoccurring motifs of the private investigator’s world is the ability to take a hit, get back up, and keep going. While I’ve never been subject

Shaun Gustavson

26545

Two Powerful Business Lessons from One Painful CrossFit Workout

Whether you’re working out or pushing past your professional limitations, getting stronger means showing up consistently and leaving your comfort zone. I remember the moment like yesterday: I was splayed out on the floor in a pool of sweat, gasping for air. And I hated myself. It was February 2019. I was about three years

Brian Willingham

25890

The Magic of Volume: Grab the Low-Hanging Fruit

Would you rather have one case that paid $10,000 or ten cases that paid $1,000? We’ve chosen the latter strategy. Our experience has been that ten “small” cases will produce ten more cases a lot faster than one large case will produce another large case. Those ten cases typically came from four or five attorneys,

Mark Murnan

22370

14 Client Types Private Investigators Encounter — and How to Handle Them

This article is excerpted from "How to Start a Private Investigation Business," by Edward Panico, with permission of the author.

Edward Panico