Buisness Idea: What can I do with this??

[livinitup0]

A large part of my current job is spent hunting down deadbeats..(from Wiki)

Skiptracing: The process of locating a person's whereabouts for any number of purposes.
This includes but is not limited to: debt collections, bail bond enforcement (bounty hunting), witness location, questioning, or almost any facet of an investigation that entails making difficult contact with a subject.


I think this could be a profitable buisness for me if I could market it correctly. IE: bill collectors, finding deadbeat dads, lost friends/reletives ..you get the idea.

Basically I'm certified (yes you have to be) to use a bunch of directories and public information sites/offices to find phone numbers, relatives, neighbors, DMV records, Criminal records, public legal anouncements, and addresses of pretty much anyone. (Sounds more interesting than it is)

Ive been brainstorming this for a few days and am thinking of various ways to promote and charge for this service.

There really isnt a whole lot of overhead...basically a few hundred a month for the directory access, Vonage phone, probably some sort of online customer service, and finally advertising...thats pretty much it.

Do you guys have ay ideas? Think someone could make a good living off of doing this? Please discuss...

[UncleSalty]

A quick google search turned up several companies offering these kinds of services. Looks like they get paid fairly well for not much work. ($235 per search on the site below) I assume you can do a fairly thorough online search within an hour or two, correct?

http://action.business-direct.com/tracing.html

[livinitup0]

If someone REALLY doesnt want to be found, you arent going to find them without spending some serious cash to hire a private investigator, and even then its a coinflip... but yes...I can pretty much find anyone within a few hours. The fun part is conning the relatives and friends into coughing up info. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

After reviewing their site...
Wow thats a lot of money. I was thinking more like $100-150.00 per skip. And maybe even having them pay half upfront and half when the person is found...so if the skip becomes too tough or unprofitable I can just give up after an hour or so. The most Ill ever have to pay for my skipping fees would be like $15, and the Vonage phone is a flat fee everymonth so no long distance charges. I dont see why this APS company has so much markup. (especially with a crappy website) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Its ethically questionable but I was thinking about advertising using myspace, maybe writing some articles. Local paper free ads, maybe even Ebay (its a service I can sell it right?)... All the while kinda playing on that whole "find my baby daddy, he dont pay no chile' suppo' " kind of crowd.

What would really be cool is if I could set up a wesite that can generate some sort of report that the customer can view or print from home... to see what info I found. It seems like a lot of thee places use Emailed reports, which seems kinda tacky. Im not sure how much a web designer would charge to set this up...

Any other comments/suggestions?
Any web designers interested in a project like this?

[Freakin]

sounds like depressing work [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[livinitup0]

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sounds like depressing work [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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Not really depressing....I guess it depends on the person...I used to do computer security and loved it, which most people find boring as well. I kinda like my alone time...which is a sharp contrast from my day job which involves managing 40+ people.

All in all if I get to work at home, with no major time constraints of when I work, dont have to deal with retarded employees, time for poker/viseo games, time for house repairs and other buisness during the day... heck sounds pretty cool to me.

Also sounds like a lot less work/money to start up. I also figured that being self employed in reletively the same buisness that I do now will at least look better to a future employer (if the buisness fails) than just 1-2 year hole in my resume.

Still looking for a web designer....No pms yet.

[dippydoo]

This sounds good for you. One of the nice things about it is that you can work at it part time, while still keeping your day job. Once you build up your customer base, you can move into it full time.

[SmackinYaUp]

I saw an ad in an entrepreneurship magazine that might give you an interesting idea. The ad was selling a start-up kit for people who would like to go into small claims debt collection.

The ad claimed that 80% of the people who are ordered to pay another individual X money do NOT pay it. Small claims court only orders the payment they do not enforce it.

Supposedly you can market this to small business or individuals that are waiting for payments. The system the company I am talking about does not require any up front payment from customers. You simply come pick up their old award files and collect the money. You keep half and bring your customer the other half. They are happy with this because they did nothing and got a chunk of money they'd all but given up on.

You do not confront the debtor, you put pressure on him through the use of the court sytem and local sheriffs. The debtor never knows who you are (safety reasons).

I know nothing more but it sounded interesting.

[livinitup0]

[ QUOTE ]
This sounds good for you. One of the nice things about it is that you can work at it part time, while still keeping your day job. Once you build up your customer base, you can move into it full time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it sounds right for me too....and more realistic/profitable than any of the other things Ive tried to do in the past.

Its going to be hard building a client base without my present employer finding out. 90% chance they would fire me as soon as they figured it out or got tipped off.

[Colt McCoy]

I'd try getting to know a few attorneys. I'd think if you could get a few of them to throw regular work your way, you'd be set.

[livinitup0]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd try getting to know a few attorneys. I'd think if you could get a few of them to throw regular work your way, you'd be set.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats a really good idea Colt. I'll have to keep that in mind. I doubt Ill hit the jackpot and just get 1 agency to place enough buisness for me, so Ill have to get a small amount from many places.

Basically I just need to get around 500 accounts placed with me per month to make the kind of money I want to make. Thats about 5-6 hours of actual work for me 5 days a week...Id probably put it into like (3) 2-hour blocks of time during the day.

11am-1pm
Call all the government offices I need to call for the day

3-5pm
call references and other individuals

10pm-12am
All the online stuff that doesnt require phone calls.


Im trying to find some people now that currently do this full time that will kind of mentor me though the process of going solo.

Thanks for all the ideas guys...keep em coming.

GL
Richard