Why I Do This
Several of my regular blog readers have contacted me throughout the year with questions, comments, and thanks for the content I post. Now is my chance to thank you guys.
Sure, it’s nice to have some loyal readers out there (my biggest fans are my mom and dad), but I get the most encouragement when I see that something I’ve posted has been a help to someone.
I started my private investigator career with the same steps many of you are following. I researched blogs to read, podcasts to listen to, private investigators to follow, books to outline, lists to make, software to consider, databases to subscribe to, and everything else under the sun.
I discovered that there is, thankfully, a solid base of private investigators and other related professionals out there who genuinely enjoy helping people like me who are just getting started. Because of their generosity, I decided early on that I wanted my name to be added to that list of helpful professionals.
Several of my blogs this year have been geared toward private investigators who are new to the field or who are still just considering taking that leap. Call it the old teacher within me or my penchant for writing. It’s probably a little of both.
But here’s one more for those of you who are needing a push, a word of encouragement, or inspiration to take your own leap, whatever that may be for you.
My Three Goals for 2017
This past 2017 year was my first full calendar year as a licensed private investigator. My three biggest goals were to at least cover my expenses (and hopefully make a bit beyond that), establish myself as an authority in the private investigator industry, and gain opportunities through my writing (namely, my blog).
I did it. I covered my expenses. I had more expenses this year than what I will likely have in typical coming years, so I’m pretty happy with my current earning status. I’m definitely bumping up my expectations in this category for 2018, so I’ll be hitting my marketing goals a lot harder next year.
This first year was one of slowly building my own brand, getting my name out there, acquainting myself with those I respect most in the private investigator industry, and providing value to other private investigators, related professionals, and potential clients.
My final goal of gaining opportunities through my writing has easily proven to be the best choice I have made so far as a private investigator and small business owner.
My blog has opened door after door month after month. Without it, the following opportunities would never have been mine to experience.
- Kim Green, managing editor for Pursuit Magazine, caught wind of my blog through social media. She invited me to write a piece for Pursuit Magazine back in January. That turned into three more published articles and more to come in 2018.
- After my adoption article was published by Pursuit Magazine, Francie Koehler invited me to be a guest on her internet radio show, PI’s Declassified. It aired live in October.
- I wrote a blog in October that reviewed my first experience as an attendee at the OSMOSIS (Online Social Media and Open Source Investigation Summit) conference in Myrtle Beach. After I sent Cynthia Hetherington, the creator of OSMOSIS, a draft of my review, she asked permission to display it on the OSMOSIS conference homepage for future conferences.
- Again, largely due to my adoption piece in Pursuit Magazine, the executive editor of the magazine, Hal Humphries, invited me to conduct a webinar with him for his other professional endeavor, PI Education. The webinar aired live in November. Due to it’s success, Hal has asked me to come to Nashville to record a future more in-depth webinar for PI Education.
You Can Do It Too
Let me reiterate. I am a nobody from midwest nowhere. I am a former teacher turned crime analyst who adopted a little boy, which served as inspiration to pursue a career as a private investigator who specializes in adoption-related searches.
So that’s what I’m doing. I’m slowly building a brand, a business, and a future.
I’m combining my love for writing, my curiosity to the nth degree, and my super fueled passion for all things adoption into this package called New Hope Investigations.
It’s only the end of year one. There are so many things to do in year two. I’m so excited for 2018.
Catch the excitement! Wherever you find your fire, stoke it. Stir it up. It will be worth it.