PIA 071 : 8 Insightful Reasons to Join a Private Investigator Association and Why I no Longer Belong to one

This episode is brought to you by Audible. For your free audio book click this affiliate link. http://www.audibletrial.com/PIA One of the things I always recommend is to join a Private Investigator Association when starting your P.I. business. Though I think my position is starting to change a little on this, let me first explain why I am addressing this topic. I received this message from an investigator on Facebook that has recently started his own company. Hey Andrew I wanted to get your thoughts on the usefulness of joining PI associations. i.e. USAPI or a state association. A majority of the ones I find don't seem to update information on their sites. I just started my company recently and was wondering if it benefits me to join these. Either for more networking options, or for the client wow factor of being a member of these associations. First I want to say congrats on starting your own company. This is a big step into something bigger than just being an employee (and there is nothing wrong with being an employee). It could be life changing financially for you. It takes courage to make that leap and you should be proud of that. In regards to joining a Private Investigator Association, I will say there are a few benefits to joining and I will provide examples from the association I have been involved in over the past 3 or 4 years. Why I Joined A Private Investigator Association I joined WALI, the Washington Association of Legal Investigators with the hopes of being able to ask questions of seasoned business owners in my state and to add some credibility to my company. WALI at the time had a large number of members and had an investigator named Linda Montgomery who I respected a great deal as an officer in the association. I paid my $100 and was added to the members book which listed all the investigators in the association, their contact numbers and what they specialized in. They also linked to my website on the WALI website. At that time members were active on the email list providing tips and asking questions frequently. If an investigator didn't want to work a potential case they would pass it on to an investigator that was interested in taking the file. On the few occasions that I reached out with questions to the WALI list I received very educated answers. WALI had conferences two times a year. I went to a conference that first year and spent something like $145 to attend. I made sure I spoke with other investigators as I wanted to get my monies worth. I got to see the speakers that were most interesting to me and got a chance to learn about something I didn't know a great deal about. As time went on the email list became less helpful. Investigators that would typically provide friendly advice to other investigator stopped providing that advice because investigators started complaining they were getting too many emails (which was crap). The conference speakers also didn't seem to be teaching anything that I was interested nor teaching anything that I didn't already know. Each year the email list became a little less useful and the conferences didn't seem to be worth paying $150 for. Over the past year the only value I have felt from my association is the back link that I received from their website to my website. This year I have not spent the $100 to renew my membership because I haven't felt any value from the association. I wasn't quite sure where my $100 going to other than a book with other investigator's names in my state and a discount for the yearly conferences. No one ever asked about my association with WALI nor were they ever impressed by it. Let me say that this is my personal experience with a private investigator association. I did meet a couple of members that I feel as though I could email and ask questions to at any time and I probably could have networked with many more but it is just something I didn't have the time for and never got around to doing. What Are the Potential Benefits o