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Biscuits & Jam


1 Encore: Jessica B. Harris Believes in a Welcome Table 42:14
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Episode Description: Jessica B. Harris may have been born and raised in New York City, but she has Tennessee roots through her father and has spent much of her life split between homes in the Northeast and the South – specifically New Orleans. For more than fifty years, she has been a college professor, a writer, and a lecturer, and her many books have earned her a reputation as an authority on food of the African Diaspora, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the James Beard Foundation. A few years back, Netflix adapted her book, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America , into a 4 part docuseries. And I’m very proud to say that she’s a longtime contributor to Southern Living with a regular column called The Welcome Table. This episode was recorded in the Southern Living Birmingham studios, and Sid and Jessica talked about her mother’s signature mac and cheese, the cast-iron skillet she’d be sure to save if ever her house were on fire, and her dear friend, the late New Orleans chef Leah Chase. For more info visit: southernliving.com/biscuitsandjam Biscuits & Jam is produced by : Sid Evans - Editor-in-Chief, Southern Living Krissy Tiglias - GM, Southern Living Lottie Leymarie - Executive Producer Michael Onufrak - Audio Engineer/Producer Jeremiah McVay - Producer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices…
15 - Private Investigators Watch out! From Repo to Pretext we get the Skip Trace Secrets you've been dying to hear from the skip trace goddess herself.
Manage episode 407524377 series 3562893
Content provided by Michael Reid. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Michael Reid or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
From Repo to Pretext we get the Skip Trace Secrets you've been dying to hear from the skip trace goddess herself.
Show Notes Coming Soon...
28 episodes
Manage episode 407524377 series 3562893
Content provided by Michael Reid. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Michael Reid or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
From Repo to Pretext we get the Skip Trace Secrets you've been dying to hear from the skip trace goddess herself.
Show Notes Coming Soon...
28 episodes
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Process Server Daily

1 28 - Process Server in Texas and she is leading up the TXAPPS expo 47:49
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Jessica Jester Saucedo is a certified Process Server in Texas and she is leading up the TXAPPS expo. She is an experienced Process Server and we have a great conversation.
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Process Server Daily

1 27 - fellow Process Server dominates his area using google reviews. 42:19
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Jason Burke is the President of DR Legal Process Service LLC is a pro at getting good reviews on Google. Listen to this episode and learn how a fellow Process Server dominates his area using google reviews.
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Process Server Daily

1 26 - Austin Texas Process Server tells his story. 27:19
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Rob Henderson from Austin Texas drops some major value on us in this todays episode. Give it a listen and tell me what you think.
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Process Server Daily

1 #25 Texas Training Director Dan The Man Teaches Us How Training Can Improve Business 48:27
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Dan is the President and CEO of Express Process, He’s the Training Director for the Texas Process Servers Association, and has been serving papers since 96 when he left the security police for the United States AirForce. He loves to teach and mentor and he has a great training in store for us! Show Sponsor: www.processserverdaily.com/servemanager…
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Process Server Daily

1 24 - Celebrity Server Tells His Story and Pranks Some Fellow Servers! 34:53
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Celebrity Server Tells His Story and Pranks Some Fellow Servers! Brandon really brings some great tips for identifying the servee at the door and he is an ethnic word ninja with his different accents. Our Guest Website: https://www.oncalllegal.com/ Who Did We Prank: Michael Santos: http://www.superiorprocessservers.net Commercial Process: https://www.comproserve.net/ Show Sponsor: www.processserverdaily.com/servemanager *The Views and commentary expressed on the show do not reflect the views or beliefs of PSD University and/or it's sponsors. This show is for educational and entertainment purposes only!…
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Process Server Daily

1 22 - Risk Mitigation Expert Tim Santoni tells us his story 39:22
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My conversation with Mr. Santoni revitalized my passion for wanting to become a private investigator. He and his team are doing things at a next level but It's important to understand the risk your clients incur can be minimized and even eliminated with the proper training. As a family and business man, Tim and I agree that the ROI on creating a podcast may not be Immediately evident to others but the networking power is exponentially valuable.…
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Process Server Daily

1 21 - From Serving Strippers in California to Expanding his Business to Oregon Mr. Santos tells his story. 32:28
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Michael Santos is a career process server that knows how to tell a good story. He started as a young man in California and has recently expanded to Salem, Oregon where he is pounding the pavement and building the empire similar to what he has accomplished in California. Michael tells of his sad moments when the job can seem too difficult and how he wishes he didn't have to serve a person that was having a hard time but with a sense of duty he gets the job done. Every time. Michael Goes on to tell about his experience trying to get by the bouncer and how he ended up serving a headline stripper using some tough guy tactics that you have to hear for yourself. He tells us about the difference between California and Oregon for building a business and his plans for getting it done. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. You can reach Michael at his information below. You can read the show notes below: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in this industry? My oldest sister was a process server then ended up starting her own company. When I was 16 or so, I would go out regularly with my brother in law who also was a process server more so just to get out of the house and as such, he taught me the documents, what could be served in what manner, most importantly he taught me my navigational skills, this is back in the day before GPS where Thomas Bros. mapbooks were your co-pilot. So once I turned 18, I was quite able to hit the ground running. So in effect, I have more or less being in this industry my entire adult life and for a bit before becoming an adult. Tell me about your WORST experience working in the field? I went to serve a wage garnishment to this travel agency, and when I went in, I served the owner, who also happened to be the sister of the garnishee. I get that quite often and didn't think twice about it. What made this one odd, was the owner asked if she paid the sheriff's office the full judgment amount, would she have to still inform the garnishee of this order. I told her I can't give any legal advice, the law requires you to as it is stated on the order, but if the judgment is satisfied in full, I can't see anyone having any grounds to do anything and then I asked her why would she do that other than if for helping her sister. The owner stated that their mother had just passed away the week prior, and after the services, they were all back at the mortuary, and her father sat down...and died. It was as if his will to live after his wife died only lasted long enough to make sure she was taken care of and then gave up. At the time of service, she had just returned from her father's funeral. It could have been a story, but the look on her face, the tone of voice and body language gave it the ring of truth. I couldn't work anymore that day and wished I could have just shredded that order. Tell me about your GREATEST experience working in the field? Every day is a ticket to a new show. The freedom of schedule mostly is what I like most. As to an actual serving experience. I wouldn't call it the greatest experience, but it was without a doubt the funniest. I had the subpoena to serve on a stripper at a strip club. Basically, there had been a fight where big guy beat the snot out of little guy, and she witnessed it and was being called to testify at the civil trial that ensued from the little guy getting mud stomped. I had no desire to go in there, more so I had no desire to go back and back over and over again attempting service which was personal only. So I arrive at the location, I park down the block and I call the club. A man answers and I asked if she was working tonight, being "she's my favorite." The man answer yes, she's on stage right now. I'm like "Awesome" and ended the call. I then go up to the door and the guy taking the entrance fee and I start to talk when I asked for her by name, he notices my clipboard, and answers, she's off tonight. I told him, I know she's here. He responds, she isn't. I said I know she's here, because I just talked to you on the phone, I recognize your voice, and "she's my favorite". The look on his face was a hallmark moment. So he starts with that I have to deal with her on her own time. I tell him, look, we can do this one of two ways. The easy way or the hard way, but one way or another we will be doing it. He asks what the easy way, I said she comes up here dressed in something that would at least be suitable for the beach, I take 30 seconds of her time, and I am gone. He asks what the hard way means. I said I go back to my vehicle, put in a call for a civil stand by from the sheriff's office, being it's Wednesday night about 6pm, probably not much going on and considering where this is, entertainment is where you find it and I wouldn't be surprised if 3-4 units roll here. Do you want the front of your place looking like a first responder's convention? Imagine your customers coming here, pull up, see that, they are going to keep on trucking and how much do you charge per person? Well comprehension struck him finally and he had her come up, I served her, and left. Absolutely priceless. What are you working on right now that has you most excited? Recently I have relocated to Salem Oregon and have recently started the process of building a business here in Salem. The differences in the serving industry between California where I had served for 26 years and the 2 years I have been in Oregon are night and day different. I never thought I would say I miss the California court system, but I do. At least the code sections in California are pretty cut and dry, the code sections here in Oregon are exceptionally vague and open to interpretation. That said, I am glad I moved here and wish on hind sight moved here a very long time ago. ___________ Sponsor ____________ Rapid Fire Round What is your favorite skip trace tactic? I use IRB Search for online skip tracing, for in the field, I talk to neighbors, co-residents, etc. What is your favorite tool for defense? Sig-Sauer or H&K, whichever I decide to bring with me. Thankfully I have never had need to use it. How do you track your Serves? Favorite software? I have used a variety of different server databases, the one I use right now is WinservePlus from Tristar. The software is a little bit more expensive than others software packages, but like anything, you get what you pay for and the service support has been excellent. I am quite pleased so far. What book would you recommend? I like Tom Clancy, R.A. Salvatore, and pretty much anything that has to do with history, mostly WWII history. To pick a specific book, I would say "Without Remorse" by Tom Clancy. What is the greatest advice you've ever received? Be honest. First time and everytime. If you screw up, own it. What would you do if you woke up tomorrow, with all of the same skills and knowledge but you didn't know anybody and only had $100, a smart phone, and a car. How would you re-grow your business? Print some business cards at home, and start canvassing the local law firms, collection agencies, property management companies, and call all the other process serving companies in the area to see who needed a subcontractor. In a way, other than the $100 part, I have done that by my relocation to a new state. What is your parting piece of advice? The two biggest skills a server needs to to first, know your navigational skills, how to get from point a to point b, etc as well as know the area you operate in. Next would be learn how to talk with people and not at them. Treat them the way you would want to be treated and that will solve alot of your problems before they escalate. What is the best way that we can connect with you, and then we can say goodbye? Our website is www.superiorprocessservers.net which lists our services and contact information.…
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Process Server Daily

1 20 - From Off Shore Investigations to Missing Persons, Oliver Tells us his story. 31:09
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Working for 11 years in Australia government sector he decided to enter the field of Private Investigations and comes on the show to tell his story! Thank you, Olie for dropping some major value bombs on ServerNation! Follow him on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-laurence-72125b10a/
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Process Server Daily

1 19 - Former FBI Special Agent in Charge and Host of Crimes and Times comes on the show! 49:51
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Retired FBI Special Agent in Charge. Former Kansas Gubernatorial Candidate. Host, Crimes and Times, and renouned speaker joins the program to tell us his journey, how to successfully manage a situation with Law Enforcement and he tells some really cool stories! He tells us about his three books and then about his awesome show, "crimes and times." Crimes and Times is a weekly live stream talk show that airs at 8pm CST. It is hosted by retired FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Tabman. The show features expert guests such as forensic scientists, FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel as well as prosecutors, defense attorneys, subject matter experts and politicians. The show is centered around discussing the current hot topics in crime and politics across the country and around the globe.…
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Process Server Daily

1 17 - The Tennessee Mom turned private investigator that solved her roommate's murder 24:05
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Tennessee Mom turned private investigator that solved her roommate's murder has helped to find answers for families in need. She has some great stories about her journey and is leading the way with crowdsource investigations with her new podcast. "Without Warning" Go check it out and see if you can help solve her case. She gives us some great tips and Shiela is genuinely an amazing person to share her experience and knowledge. After listening to her podcast, "Without Warning" you have any ideas that might help to solve the case, Call Her Hot Tip Line: 888-599-0008…
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Process Server Daily

1 16 - The Windy City Server gives an insiders look at working in the corporate world and his take on moving to the cloud. 31:31
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The Windy City Server gives an insiders look at working in the corporate world and his take on moving to the cloud as a business looking to move forward. Show Notes Coming Soon! Sponsor: ServeManager: www.processserverdaily.com/servemanager
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Process Server Daily

1 15 - Private Investigators Watch out! From Repo to Pretext we get the Skip Trace Secrets you've been dying to hear from the skip trace goddess herself. 30:15
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From Repo to Pretext we get the Skip Trace Secrets you've been dying to hear from the skip trace goddess herself. Show Notes Coming Soon...
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Process Server Daily

1 14 - Cyber Investigation Expert tells us how he leveraged Social Media to find people and grow this business. 34:16
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Process Server Daily

1 13 - Armed to the teeth riding a four wheeler and getting it served with some help from the local wildlife, Alaska Luke tells his story! 17:28
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Mike: Welcome back, server nation, to Process Server Daily, the number-one podcast for legal support professionals. I am your host, Mighty Mike, the podcast server. I'm excited about today's episode, and I look forward to knocking your socks off. Let's get right to it. Mike: Welcome back to the show, server nation. We are joined by the owner of Alaska Investigation Agency, located in Palmer, Alaska. He started out his career in the Army Reserves and transitioned into private investigation in 2001. Since then, he has owned and operated numerous investigative agencies across the country. Luke Smith, welcome to the show. Luke: Thank you, Michael. Glad to be here. Mike: Thanks. So Luke, tell us a little bit about how you got started in the industry. Luke: About 15 years ago, 16, 17 years ago, a friend of mine was a police officer in Mississippi. He invited me to go do some surveillance with him on some private cases that he was doing, and I fell in love with it. The investigations morphed into process serving, and so now I do both. Mike: That's excellent. Do you remember your first job, your first investigation job? Luke: My first investigation job, I remember it very well. It was a cheating spouse, and I lost the husband in, like, the first block of trying to follow him. Mike: But you've learned a lot since then, right? Luke: I have learned so much since then. I haven't been burned in quite a while. Knock on wood. And I like to think that I'm pretty good at what I do now. Mike: That's awesome. So we don't like to focus on the negative stuff. As humans, we get a lot out of the negative and rising out of the negative and going into the positive, like finding your path in life. And so my first question always starts out with, tell us about your worst experience working in the field. Luke: My absolute worst experience, I was working a child custody case one time, and I was part of the team that located a mother, and I helped the troopers physically take the child away from the mom. Although it was what was best for the child, it absolutely broke my heart, and I realized then that child custody was not for me. Mike: How do you deal with that, Luke? Luke: You go home, and you hug your kids a little bit tighter and a little bit longer, and you move forward. I know it was what was best for the child, but it still was just heartbreaking, and I even tear up now sometimes when I think back to that child screaming and yelling and wanting his mommy. Mike: Yeah, as a parent we always relate it to our own relationships, and you want to be able to help them. But like you said, it was probably what was best. If the mom spends a few weeks without her kid, a few months without her kid, she might turn things around. You know? Luke: Absolutely. Mike: Luke, what do you want server nation to take from your story? Luke: What I want server nation to take from that particular story is just do right by your kids. Yeah, just be good parents. Mike: That's awesome. Yeah, being good parents is a great thing, and so you can ... Being in this job, one of the beautiful things about this job is you get to see the worst of the worst and you know where things could go. I don't know. In some respects, it makes you happier. You know? Luke: It does. Mike: Let's go to the positive now, Luke. Tell me about your greatest experience working in the field. Luke: I tell you what. I did a job a couple of weeks ago, and I followed a gentleman to a restaurant, and I sat down at the bar two people away from him, and I videoed him eating lunch. And then I followed him to his hotel. Six hours later, I followed him to another restaurant, where I sat right next to him at the bar, and we had dinner together. Mike: Wow. Luke: And then I followed him back to the hotel, and I rode up the elevator with him to find out which room he was in in the hotel. In that particular job, I think I pushed it to the limits just to see how far I could go, and it was such a satisfying feeling because he never had a clue I was even there watching him. Mike: So I'm going to sound like a total new, but did you feel like a CIA agent or something? Luke: Every day. Mike: Oh, that's awesome. Luke: No, I feel that way every day. Mike: What I take most from your story is enjoy what you're doing and go after it. What do you want server nation to take from your greatest experience? Luke: Take a few risks, ask that person that you're following to hold the elevator for you, and if you're trying to find someone and serve someone, ask questions. People love to talk, and they will give you just about all the information you need if you sound like you are supposed to have that information. Mike: Interesting. So I've heard it said before that you ask a question, not a direct question, but a related question that some stranger might actually ask. Luke: Absolutely. Mike: That's a pretty cool ... Do you guys still call that sub rosa? Luke: Yes. Mike: Okay, cool. Look at me knowing all the terms. Okay. So Luke, tell me what you're working on right now that you're most excited about. Luke: I guess probably one thing that I love that I have coming up is I'm adding a canine unit to my business. Mike: That's definitely something worth being excited about. Are you getting German shepherds or ... Luke: I'm getting Belgian Malinois. And actually, I have the opportunity to hire a handler that already has two Mals that are already trained. Mike: Wow. Luke: So I'm super excited about that. Mike: So Luke, tell me, why would you need a canine unit? And I think I know the answer, but could you just tell the audience, as a private investigator, what would you use a canine unit for? Luke: There's so many different uses for a canine. Here recently, Alaska has become one of the states that marijuana is now legal. However, you have a lot of corporations up here that it's still against company policy. So we can run the dogs through the companies to ensure that the employees are not breaking policy. There's no law enforcement side to it, but we are not law enforcement officers, so that's okay. The other area is we found that there are a lot of real estate agents that will have us run the dog through a house to make sure that there's no drugs in the house or there was no meth lab in the house or anything like that, just to limit their liability. Mike: Oh, I never thought about that perspective. Just the civil service. Luke: Sure, yeah, absolutely. So we're really excited to get that up and running. We've already nailed down a few contracts, and so we're really excited about that being a part of our business. Mike: Well, that's definitely worth being excited about. I am excited to hear about how you go and serve people on a snowmobile. How does that happen? Luke: Yeah. So Alaska offers unique challenges to the lower 48. Where are you from, Michael? Mike: I'm from New Mexico, but I'm based in Chico right now, in Chico, California. Luke: We're the largest ... obviously, the largest state in the United States. Here's a good comparison. Denver, Colorado, has one and a half million people. Alaska, there's 700,000 people. So we're the largest state in America, but we have the fewest people per acre or per square mile even of any other state. And so of course, if you call me and say, "Hey, what counties do you serve?" we don't have counties. We have boroughs. And we're statewide, but let's say, for instance, I serve the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is the size of West Virginia, so we have maybe 300,000 people that live in the borough. And so if you could imagine West Virginia and 300,000 people, they're pretty spread out. Mike: Wow. Luke: So there are tons, I mean, hundreds of villages across Alaska that are only accessible in the summertime via plane or boat or a four-wheeler. In the wintertime, you either take a plane or a dog sled or a snow machine. I mean, that's just part of what we do, and we have planes and snow machines and four-wheelers all at our disposal for serving papers and working cases. Mike: That's why you feel like a CIA agent when you're out there because you're in planes and ... You ever jump out of a plane to go serve someone? Luke: No. Mike: Come on! Luke: No. I did jump off of a four-wheeler once. Mike: Wow! And then I heard something about a moose chasing you. Luke: We have wildlife scattered across Alaska. And inside the city of Anchorage, there's a very large population of moose. I've been chased by moose. I've turned corners and been staring a moose face to face, and you just slowly back away. You don't need that 1,800-pound animal trying to trample you. We have bears that you have to deal with sometimes. Luke: So obviously, everywhere we go, we're armed to the teeth, ready for really the wildlife, not the people. But yeah, I've been chased by moose. I've never been chased by wolves, but I've felt them kind of breathing down my neck, if you will. That one was interesting, a little bit scary. The moose aren't really scary. You just know what to expect from them, and you respect them. This was their land first, so we're just visitors on their land anyway, and they believe that. Mike: It's the truth. Luke: Yes. I have video of moose walking down the street in Anchorage in the middle of traffic, and they just do not care. Mike: That is awesome. Server nation, Luke has been dropping some major value bombs on us today, telling us all about Alaska and the crazy private investigation stuff that he's got going on, from the canines to the planes and the quads, you name it. But prepare yourself, because we're headed into the rapid-fire round right after a word from our sponsors. Recording: Server nation, I know you're with the times, and you want to do whatever you can to have all of the resources for your client. That is why I created 123efile.com. As a process server, attorney, or even an [inaudible 00:10:59], you can visit the website and file your documents in any of the Tyler courts in California. With its easy-to-use, one-page operation, you can have your e-filing done in a matter of minutes and get back to what really matters. If your time is important to you, visit 123efile.com. Mike: Okay. Welcome back to the show. Luke, are you ready for the rapid-fire round? Luke: I am, Michael. Mike: What is your favorite skip-trace tactic? I imagine it's got to be a little bit different in Alaska. Luke: My favorite skip-trace tactic is going and asking the wildlife if they've seen my skip. Mike: You said asking the wildlife? I had to think about that for a minute. I was like, did you just say ask the wildlife? Luke: All right. You know, my favorite skip-trace tactic, I think, pretending to be a guide because there's so many fishing and hunting guides in Alaska that you can call just about anyone up and say, "Hey, I'm a guide, and I'm looking for this person. They booked a thing with me, and I'm just trying to confirm," and they will tell you where they're at, where their mom and dad are at, how to get in touch with them, what they drive, when they come home. They'll give you everything because, up here, hunting and fishing is a big business, and it's a big deal. Mike: So who do you call for that? Luke: The skip that I'm looking for. Mike: Oh, you call the person. Oh, wow! Luke: Or their family members. Mike: Oh, wow! So they're like, "Yeah. Oh, you're a guide. Yeah, let me get him over here." What's the incentive for them to help you, though? They're like ... because it's their friend or family, and they want to connect them to the guide? Luke: So many people up here need to hunt and fish just to feed their family. It's the sustenance thing. So maybe this isn't the best wording, but I prey on that a little bit, if you will. Mike: No, yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, we manipulate things all the time. People say, "Hey, what are you doing stalking that girl?" I go, "Oh, that's my job. That's what I do." What is your favorite tool for defense? I know you said you're armed to the teeth. What does that entail? Luke: You know, my favorite tool for defense depends really on where I'm going and what I'm doing. I always carry a firearm everywhere I go. I am a certified firearms instructor. But if I'm going out to some of the remote locations, I'll carry a shotgun along with my sidearm. I do carry concealed when I'm in most areas because I don't want to approach people looking like law enforcement. Mike: Yeah. Luke: And in Alaska, everybody carries a gun. It's legal to carry a gun here concealed or otherwise, and so everybody has one. So even people walking around showing their sidearms, it's not really that big of a deal. My personal preference is to keep it concealed, though. But if I'm going, like I say, out to remote locations, I'll carry a shotgun mainly for bear protection. Mike: Well, that's awesome. That's some cool defense. What kind of pistol do you carry? Luke: I carry a Glock 19-9 millimeter. Mike: Luke, what book would you recommend? Luke: What book would I recommend? Mike: From guns to books. Luke: I know a couple of different people that have written books, and one is a skip-trace queen. Her name is Valerie. She wrote a book, "Skip Trace Secrets." That's a very, very good book. And then also another friend of mine, Kimberly, wrote a book about process serving and mayhem, and she's got tons of funny stories in those. I can't remember the exact name of that book, though. Mike: That's okay. I'll look them up, and I'll link them in the show notes. Anybody who's interested can go to processserverdaily.com/Luke, and they'll see all the show notes word for word and the links and everything. Luke: Perfect. Mike: Luke, what is the greatest advice you've ever received? Luke: I think the greatest advice that I ever received was be professional, be respectful, and be ready to take care of business regardless of what that is. Mike: To close this awesome episode, can you tell me what parting piece of advice would you give the servers out there that are ... Maybe they're struggling. Maybe they're new. Maybe their business is circling the drain, and they don't know what they're doing wrong. What advice would you give them? Luke: My advice to all the servers out there across the board is be professional, do not be judgmental. We don't know what people's stories are. Do what you say you're going to do in a timely fashion, and hang in there and just keep pounding the pavement. Mike: That's awesome. So if you had to start your business over again, Luke, how would you ... What would be the first thing you would do? Luke: I would go get a job somewhere. Mike: So you would work for another company? Luke: If I had to start my business all over again, I think I would probably have made a lot of contacts prior to opening my business because, in this business, that's what is very, very important, is your contacts. Mike: That's perfect. They say your net worth is your network. Build your network, and you'll grow your business. Luke: Absolutely. Mike: Luke, what is the best way that we can connect with you? And then we can say good-bye. Luke: You can connect with me through Facebook or my website, alaskaaia.com. Mike: So Luke, I want to personally thank you for coming on this show, man. This has been really cool. I'm excited to share it with the world. Luke: Thanks for having me, Michael. Mike: Well, I'm going to have to come visit one day. Luke: You do that, buddy. Mike: All right, partner. Well, until next time, server nation, you've been served up some awesomeness by Alaska Luke and Mighty Mike, the podcast server. Server nation, I want to personally thank you for listening to today's episode and ask you a question. Do you or your staff need additional training? Can you handle more clients, but you're not sure where to get them? I've developed a solution. Psduniversity.com offers a step-by-step online training by the top legal support professionals in the industry. Visit psduniversity.com.…
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Process Server Daily

1 12 - Oregon Process Server takes on the Nation Armed with Superior Customer Service 27:22
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Mighty Mike: What's up, Server Nation? My name is Michael Reid, the Podcast Server. You are listening to Process Server Daily. On this podcast, we interview the top legal support professionals and get the tips, tools and tactics that they use to get the job done and build a successful company. I'm a big fan of storytelling and I'm excited about today's guest. Mighty Mike: Before we get started, let's give a big shout out to my new sponsor, ServeManager. They have a special gift for all of my listeners at the end of today's episode. Mighty Mike: Okay, Server Nation. We are joined by the owner of On Time Process Services, located in Klamath Falls, Oregon. He specializes in skip trace investigation and serving hard to find individuals. Gary Clayton, welcome to the show. Gary Clayton: Thank you. Mighty Mike: It's good to have you on. Gary, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in this industry. Gary Clayton: So I started in 2014, as kind of a just a side gig as I worked for Sears for approximately 10 years. I went through a divorce myself and during the processes of the divorce, I had to hire a process server to serve my ex-wife. It took him about five minutes, cost $125 that was the moment that said I was in the wrong industry. Mighty Mike: That's so funny, because that's exactly how I got started. Except for he got paid ... Actually, I'm the one who got served and he told me he got paid 50 bucks. How funny. It's crazy. Gary Clayton: Yeah. Mighty Mike: Some of the saddest moments in our lives end up giving us the greatest joys, so that's pretty cool. And so, how about now, you got a family? Gary Clayton: Yeah, so I got five kids, a wife. Being in this industry and being a business owner, sometimes it's got its ups and its downs, and I like the idea of being able to make my own schedule to be with the kids more or with the wife more. Mighty Mike: Yeah, family's definitely the most important and that's one of the reasons I started my own business because I didn't someone to tell me that my life would be turned upside down because I missed one day to go to my daughter's dance recital or something like that. I didn't want anyone to have that kind of control over me and so I'm with you there, brother. Mighty Mike: So Gary, there's a reason why you're on this show, as I always say, you know everybody's got different things going on, but I noticed you over the last doing a lot of really cool things, and so sometimes in the most tragic things come out the greatest triumphs, and so what is your worst experience working the field? Gary Clayton: So probably our worst experience was doing a serve for a divorce party kind of like that are what a majority of our serves are. And we were actually, there two of us servers out there, me and a colleague and we had actually gotten held at gunpoint by three individuals, two males and a female, for about two hours before we had actually gotten rescued. Gary Clayton: That was probably our worst experience as far as serving goes. Mighty Mike: Wow, so tell me more about that. And I don't wanna take you back to you know, much trauma, but take me back to the moment when they were ... did they just pull the gun out, you were at the door, knocking on the door? How did it happen? Gary Clayton: Yeah, so we walked up, we knew it was gonna be a difficult serve, and we were warned that the defendant actually had firearms and was hostile. So we went in a team. We knocked on the door, as soon as we knocked on the door, the defendant opened the door and had had a pistol in his hand right, both me and my colleague. Gary Clayton: We proceeded just to back out of the situation, but as soon as we backed out, two individuals come around the side of house, and both of them had pistols as well. So we were kinda trapped. I was able to reach down and hit real quick on my phone for dispatch, and I threw the phone into the bed of my truck and it took them a little while to get out there to us. Gary Clayton: But we were pretty well trapped, they had us go around to the back of that house and we were stuck there. Mighty Mike: Oh my gosh, what do you think they were gonna do? What were they saying? Gary Clayton: Well there's so many things that go through your head at that time. We were both confident that we were gonna get out safe, but when you're in the moment, five minutes turns into five hours in a couple of seconds. You know it's just crazy how fast it goes. Gary Clayton: When the sheriff's department pulled up there, and finally got us out of that situation, it felt like a ton of bricks off of your shoulders. Mighty Mike: Wow, so tell me about when the sheriff arrived. I mean, they had to have came out guns blazing, right? I mean, hey, "Put your guns down," this type of thing, or? Gary Clayton: Well, actually what happened was, because they didn't have any communication back and forth through the phone, it was just an open line, they didn't really know what was going on. So they came in being cautious, but they didn't bring nearly enough manpower with them. And so it was one officer that came out and once he kinda realized what was going on, he retreated back to his car and then that's when they just started coming in from every angle. Gary Clayton: The defendant and his team, the two individuals that was with him, they came to their senses fairly quick, put their guns down, and surrendered. Mighty Mike: Oh, okay, good. Yeah. That's a pretty ... man that's an intense situation. I've actually never had something that intense. Mighty Mike: You know, I gotta tell you, being able to have ... in the pre-show, we had a little conversation about, you know, being connected to dispatch and stuff. You guys have that privilege I guess you could call it, to be able to speak directly to dispatch, right? Gary Clayton: Yeah, so we all have radios here, where we had to go to actually a pretty extensive training class, each one of us, to be able to connect with dispatch. And when we're out in the areas where cell phones don't work, that's our only communication and so dispatch is pretty good at making sure we're checking in with them and they're checking in with us. Gary Clayton: And if we need backup, depending on what it is, they'll send a sheriff out. We had the incident last week that you had seen online about me following an individual down into California. We had actually radioed to dispatch to see if they would assist us in stopping the vehicle and they were like, "Nope, it's civil, follow them until he stops or you run out of gas." Mighty Mike: Wow, that's crazy. And then, in that story, you followed him down there and then the, what is it, CHP, the state police? Gary Clayton: Yeah, we were originally at the individual, the defendant's house, and as soon as we'd seen him pull in, we pulled in behind him and he was able to wedge his self around my car. And so I pulled out, followed him through town, he jumped on Highway 97, which a highway here, and he started heading towards south. Gary Clayton: A lot of the individuals here Klamath, since we're so close to California, they think that if they go into California, that they can't be served. So as soon as they get on 97 South, we automatically know that they're heading into California, so we contact the Department of Agriculture down there, 'cause they have the transfer station, the bus station we call 'em. Gary Clayton: And they'll typically assist us in stopping 'em, however this day, there was a CHP officer that was actually passing through about ten minutes before we were coming through, and the transfer station supervisor actually stopped CHP and asked him if he would hang out to assist with that. And they did, they were really good at helping us with it. Gary Clayton: However it ended up being a pretty serious situation, they did step in and help us. Mighty Mike: So, a couple things I want to say about your worst experience. First of all, do everything you can to be prepared, because when you think, "Oh, it's probably just one guy, and we got this handled. You know, I got my gun, if he has a gun then we'll handle it," right? Mighty Mike: I know that's a very simplified version, but you know, in this case there were multiple people and then if you did have a gun, now you're having a shootout with three guys. I mean, it's insane what can happen if you're trigger happy. That's one thing. Mighty Mike: It's insane, I mean, did anyone end up getting shot that day? Gary Clayton: No, there was no gunfire and actually we don't carry here. Each one of my process servers, I allow them to make the decision, however, I strongly discourage my individuals or my process servers from carrying, maybe keeping it in a vehicle or something like that. Gary Clayton: We've seen in the past with open carry or concealed carry if the defendant or the individual we're serving sees it, it brings a higher threat. And so we were seeing a lot of pushback from it, so without having a firearm ... Gary Clayton: And yeah, it's a dangerous industry, but we were able to eliminate a lot of problems just by taking the firearms out of the equation. Mighty Mike: Yeah that's, I mean, each business has to make the decision based on their area, based on their ability to handle different situations and I think that's commendable that you made that decision. Mighty Mike: I think maybe too, another way could be to have a concealed weapons permit so that ... I'm not familiar with Oregon's laws on that. Are you able to, is it a law where you can conceal carry? Gary Clayton: Yeah, you can conceal carry. And my process servers, they do conceal carry. We just try to keep the intensity between a firearm and open carry at a bay. Mighty Mike: Well what I get from your story most is be prepared, and be cool and calm and collected and then to be able to get your phone like that and hit it and throw it in the back of the truck the way that you did, I don't know that I could have or would've done, thought to do something like that. 'Cause had you not done that, you'd have been at their mercy for who knows how long. Gary Clayton: Right yeah, and so the idea was that when we went into this group, we were prepared because we had gotten word beforehand that the individual may act like this. So before we'd even gotten to the house, we had already had 911 dialed into our phones. 'Cause we didn't know what we were walking into. And you never know what you're walking into. You can walk in and they can have a conversation with you for 20 minutes about their day, or you can walk into guns. Mighty Mike: And sometimes you walk in to have a five-minute conversation, and then they find out you're there to serve them, and then they're pulling out guns. That can happen too. Mighty Mike: Well, that's great. So Gary, what do you want Server Nation to get from your story, your worst experience? Gary Clayton: Well, just to be safe and always be prepared. And the idea is to go home, if you have a family, to go home to your family every day, or if you don't have a family to go home alive every day. You know, stay safe and always be prepared for the worst. Mighty Mike: So Gary, that's awesome. Tell me your greatest experience working in the field? Gary Clayton: So this actually just happened not too long ago. We had a locate, a serve locate. It was kind of like a will, where an individual here in Klamath County was getting an inheritance from relatives out of Texas, and we were hired to do a locate and then to do the serve. Gary Clayton: And when we did the locate and found that this individual who was inheriting a large amount of money had to be notified of it, we were kind of intrigued that most of the time we're bringing bad news to people and this instance, it wasn't bad news, it was kind of a cool story where this guy has been living a mediocre life working 9 to 5, and now he no longer has to. Gary Clayton: So it was kind of a cool experience to have. Mighty Mike: That's a really cool experience. How much money was it? Gary Clayton: Oh, you know, I don't remember right off hand, but I think we're ... it was well over $2,000,000. Mighty Mike: Oh man, how much did you make on that one? Gary Clayton: Well, first we quoted it at 65 for this serve, and then at 65 an hour to do the locator, 125, whichever one we went to. Afterward we were like, wow, we don't think we charged enough for this one. Mighty Mike: Exactly. You were more like private security for that delivery. Gary Clayton: Yeah, you know the funny thing is, is that the individual when we were going to serve them, he avoided us. For several weeks he avoided us. We had a location form, we tried to explain to him what it was and he didn't believe it, he kinda blew us off. And then finally when we got him pinned down to actually get him served with the notice of what he needed to do next, it was ... he still didn't believe it. It took him several minutes to actually comprehend what was going on. Mighty Mike: Wow. And so you just never know, that's one of the other cool things that I love about this industry, is you never know what you're gonna get. You know one day, you know ... I don't know. You get some of the same things over and over, and I look at it like those keep the lights on. And then other days you get things you're like, yeah, this is cool. And I get to serve a pro-NBA player, you know? Or you know, Fergie or you know you go serve some celebrity that's always fun. Gary Clayton: And challenging. Mighty Mike: And challenging. We're up here in the sticks, you're further up in the sticks, but I'm up in Chico and it's still pretty far up here, so the best we get is I guess, Tom Hanks. He lives in Redding. Gary Clayton: That's always fun. Mighty Mike: Yeah, good deal. So that's great, that's what I get from your story. What do you want Server Nation to get from your greatest experience? Gary Clayton: Take everything positive. And enjoy what you're doing. If you don't enjoy what you're doing in a career, then you always should change things up. So even though we're typically, as I call doing this devil's work, or bearing bad news for people, you're just a messenger. It's all we are is we're messengers. We're just out here to do our job and be positive with it. Gary Clayton: If you're ... Most of the time if you go out, and you're negative when you're going out to do these serves, you're gonna get a negative reaction. If you go out and you be positive with these individuals or these defendants, they're only defendants to somebody else, they're not a defendant to you. So being positive can take you a long way. Mighty Mike: That's great. Gary, what are you working on right now that has you most excited? Gary Clayton: So we're actually expanding. Our biggest thing right now is that we want to move from just Klamath County or Oregon, we serve all of Oregon, but we wanna take this nationwide with the approach that what On Time Process Services has been doing for multiple years. You can go to our Facebook page or our Google page, and you can see our reviews that we've even had positive reviews from individuals that we've served. And we wanna be able to take that across the nation and open it up across the nation and we're working, doing our due diligence to make everything work right. Mighty Mike: What I take from what you're most excited about, you say you're growing nationwide. How does somebody even fathom that when they're just starting out. How do they go from just starting out to where you're at, where you're like, "Okay, we're getting ready to set off on a nationwide jaunt."? Gary Clayton: So I would say, starting out, definitely get used to your area, the law, the restrictions, and the way service is done before you even approach going nationwide. If you can't make your local customers happy, the chances of you going nationwide and making customers all across the country happy is probably gonna be slim. Gary Clayton: Know your area, know what you're doing, read, do a lot of research, reach out to mentors. NAPPS is a very good platform for new process servers to reach out to and get the education that they need. Gary Clayton: Your local associations is also huge, you know reaching out to your local associations. Mighty Mike: Yeah, Gary does Oregon have an association? Gary Clayton: Yeah, Oregon has the Oregon Association of Process Servers. I think the people that's been sitting on the board has been doing it for quite a long time, and we're not too involved with the association, we're members of the association, but we're working on our business, our [inaudible 00:16:32], our PR, to work with that, to start moving that in the direction we want it to. Mighty Mike: That's great, so if you're an Oregon process server, definitely go and check out the Oregon Association, the National Association of Process Servers. Mighty Mike: Server Nation, Gary has been dropping some major value bombs on us today, but prepare yourself because we're headed into the rapid fire round right after a word from our sponsors. Mighty Mike: Server Nation, imagine what you could do with another 25 minutes per job. This is how much time process servers who use ServeManager are saving. At just 100 jobs per month, that's over 40 hours that can be spent growing your business but doing more important things like spending time with your family. From job creation to affidavit generation, ServeManager is fully featured and hands down the most intuitive process serving software on the market. I use it for my business, I think you should use it too. Mighty Mike: In my firm it's important for me to be able to automate the systems that get things done. ServeManager has done just that with their API integration, where you can set up literally any app that integrates with Zapier will integrate with ServeManager. I love it. I have set my whole firm up. Mighty Mike: Go to ProcessServerDaily.com/ServeManager to get your free trial. If you like it after the 14 day free trial, they've offered to give you another 60 days for free as a thank you for being a Process Server Daily listener. That's ProcessServerDaily.com/ServeManager. Mighty Mike: Okay, welcome back to the show. Gary, are you ready for the rapid fire round? Gary Clayton: Absolutely. Mighty Mike: Awesome. What is your favorite skip trace tactic? Gary Clayton: I would definitely say that we use court records a lot. Most of the defendants that we're trying to locate at one point in time or another they've either had a traffic violation or some of type of a civil case. Gary Clayton: And you can pull a lot of information just from your local court records. I know Oregon is huge, we're set up with tailor hosting, which we get to pull all the records for that. And then of course we run plates. DMV's really good here, we can link [inaudible 00:18:46], we can run names and first and last name with a possible date of birth, and they give us a lotta information from that as well too. Mighty Mike: Yeah, California's got it pretty locked up unless you have a, I think there's maybe 500 certificates or something like that. It's very difficult to get that kind of information here. That's pretty cool that Oregon does that. Are you able to just be able to just search it right on the database or do you have to call 'em, or? Gary Clayton: There are multiple platforms so you can, for DMV we can call in, so if we're in the field and we have an individual who believes is there, we have a car in the driveway, we'll run the plate right there and if it comes back to that individual, we'll go up and confront him that. Gary Clayton: We can call in, we can fax it in, or they'll have an online access come 2020, they're gonna go online for DMV. Court documents, we can call or we can access it online for court documents. Mighty Mike: Wow, that's really cool. So you're the first person who's come on this show and mentioned the court documents, so I wanna dig a little ... I know this is rapid fire round but I want people to learn from it as well. Mighty Mike: So when it comes to a court document, do you go ... so you get Michael Reid, how do you use the court documents. Do you search for my name via the court record? Gary Clayton: Yeah, so we can pull up records with just a name, first and last name, and then we can kinda plug and play to see where it's at. It's not just putting in somebody's name, and then you get just that individual, 'cause there's a lot of Gary Claytons and there's a lot of Michaels out there. Gary Clayton: You have to pinpoint ... if we have a small claims document we're serving, we can see that they have this small claims, so we can link it to that individual and then we go back and ... We had a hard to find individual, the credit union, that we were looking for. They were trying to find this individual for almost a year, and then they contacted us. Gary Clayton: We put him into the court records, and come to find out, he had a restraining order put on him a couple weeks ago and so we were able to link the address to where he was served by the sheriff's department to link right back to him. So it was a very good tactic to be able to use that and the credit union didn't have that information. Mighty Mike: What is your favorite skip tracing tool? Gary Clayton: Favorite tool ... I like Delvepoint, I think it is? Or IDI, I like both of those programs. I really use, I try to go for what is inexpensive first. There's actually a program out there called SpyFly.com and it's very inexpensive, and it gives you pretty good record information. Gary Clayton: Sometimes you have to look through and go through different things, but SpyFly was our number one platform that we used for a long time. Mighty Mike: What is your favorite tool for defense? Gary Clayton: So, favorite tool for defense is for one, our dispatch. Being able to reach out to dispatch, that's huge for defense for us. Gary Clayton: I use ... I don't carry a firearm, but I do carry a baton or ASP. I carry a bear mace just in case. And also, my flashlight. I have a high powered flashlight and if I'm serving at night, ain't nobody gonna see me once that goes into their eyes. Mighty Mike: Is it like a spotlight? Gary Clayton: It's not really a spotlight, it's Bushnell, it's just a high powered, high Lumens Flashlight. Mighty Mike: What book would you recommend? Gary Clayton: The NAPPS book, that's what I would recommend. Mighty Mike: Yeah, that's a good one, no that's a good one. It's actually kind of shocking that those books are huge, and they ship 'em out to all the members. Mighty Mike: What is the greatest advice you have ever received? Gary Clayton: So, the greatest advice that I have ever received, I have a mentor that's been in the industry for about 35 years that retired out and I ended up purchasing his business from him just to basically let him out and take over the contracts that he had. And he said, "Always be pleasant. Always be pleasant to the person you're serving, don't ever come at 'em with judgment. If you're judging the individual, it's not your place to judge, whatever they're going through is their own deal, it's not your deal, so don't ever judge 'em." Mighty Mike: Yeah Gary, that's perfect. Being able to go out and to be able to handle yourself well around people and not judging them. Okay, that's great advice. Mighty Mike: Gary, what parting piece of advice do you have for the struggling server out there, where his business is circling the drain? What advice do you have for that server? Gary Clayton: Always pay, if you're outsourcing serves, always pay your outsource companies in advance or fairly quickly. Customer service is huge. If you're making your customers or your clients happy, they're gonna come back and use you every time. Gary Clayton: We're fairly expensive for our area, roughly $35 more than any other server in our area. So we have a majority of the business just because they can track our information online. We send them regularly updates, and they know that they can call and get one of us on the phone at any time of the day. Gary Clayton: I'm not saying answer your phone at ten o'clock at night, but customer service is huge and it's key for this industry. Mighty Mike: So Gary, what I take most from what you just said is that, 'cause you said to pay your servers on time and to pay them ahead of time, many times if you deal with these big process serving companies, many times how a lot of severs get started, right? They contact all these companies all over the country and say, "Hey, I can do your serves." Mighty Mike: But even though they're doing serves so inexpensive, they end up still being owed, you know, five thousand, seven thousand, some outrageous amount by this huge company that should be able to pay them on time. Gary Clayton: Yeah, definitely. You know, I have a philosophy about the big companies out there. It's different for different areas. My area is small, we don't have a lot of people, a lot of process servers to choose from here. But if you're in a secluded area where you don't have a lot of competition, if you are not using those big companies, then that serve's still gotta be done. And if they can't get that big company to do that serve, who are they gonna call? They're gonna call you, and you're gonna get that business, and you're not gonna be paying the middle person. Gary Clayton: I started out doing serves for ABC and a lot of other pro reps and other big companies, and then I slowly kind of backed out because I was paying them for what I was gonna do anyway. Mighty Mike: Hey brother, one man's failure is another man's success, you gotta capitalize on that stuff, so that's good Gary. I really feel Server Nation has gained a lot from this interview. Mighty Mike: Gary, what is the best that we can connect with you? And then we can say goodbye. Gary Clayton: You can go to www.ontimeproserv.com without the e at the end, or 541-810-3411. Look up process servers for Oregon, we come up typically #1. Or if you wanna get directly to me, call our office in Klamath Falls, 541-810-2172. Gary Clayton: I'd be more than happy to, if anybody's out there that's wanting to get into process serving, or has questions about it, give me a call, I'll sit down. I'm all about working for yourself and mentoring with the information that I have. Mighty Mike: Gary, I wanna personally thank you for being on the show today. I've been impressed with your story and I'm excited to share it with the world. Gary Clayton: Thank you Michael for having me on the show. It was a pleasure. Mighty Mike: Until next time Server Nation, you've been served up some awesomeness On Time Gary, and Mighty Mike, the Podcast Server. Mighty Mike: Don't forget to get your free 14 day free trial of ServeManager. If you like it, you get another 60 days for free, Server Nation. Even if you love your current software, you should at least check it out. ProcessServerDaily.com/ServeManager…
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