El Scott Harrell

Your best friend calls you and tells you he/she's really sick? How do you show you care?

Please visit my blog at http://elscottharrell.com

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The Cost of New Jersey Prison Versus Princeton University

Did you know that it costs more to house an inmate for one year in a New Jersey jail than to send a student to Princeton University?

 

Created by: Public Administration

Schooling The Republican Candidates [infographic]

Created by: Online Schools

Midway, Georgia is Killing the Spirit of Small Business in America

In the tiny backwoods community of "Historic" Midway, Georgia the police have shut down a lemonade stand being operated by 3 girls who were attempting to raise money so that they could buy tickets to a popular waterpark. Here is the Fox New video interview wherein the girls describe their treatment:

Shame on you, you HEARTLESS BEASTS running Midway, for running the lemonade stand girls out of business! It is the short-sighted, money-grubbing bureaucrats, such as yourselves, that are KILLING the spirit of small business in America.

$50/day and $150/year to run a lemonade stand???? Are you effing kidding me????

The only thing historic I find with your town is its thinking and lack of leadership.

The scoundrels of Midway, GA in particular are:

• DR. CLEMONTINE WASHINGTON, Mayor
• KELLI MORNINGSTAR, Chief of Police
• MARK RICH, Police Officer
• DUVALLE PAGE, SR., Police Officer
• JOAQUIN CORTES III,Police Officer
• JOHN HARVEY, Municipal Court Judge
• LYNNETTE COOK-OSBORNE, City Clerk
• CURTES ROBERTS, SR., Mayor Pro Tem
• LEVERN CLANCY, JR., City Council Member
• TERRY DOYLE, City Council Member
• MELICE HAMILTON, City Council Member
• GWENDOLYN LOWE, Financial Director
• TERRELL CHIPP, Utilities Manager
• RICHARD "RICHIE" BRAUN, City Attorney

Their contact information is:

Website: http://historicmidway.com
9397 E. Oglethope Highway
Midway, Georgia 31320
Phone: (912) 884.3344
Fax: (912) 884.5107

I'm certain that there are others complicit in this scandal as well...

I want to know which one of you owns a stake in a juice or beverage company? Or has a family member with a financial stake in one????

Hey Police Chief, now FDA food inpector, Kelli Morningstar: Great job cleaning up the streets, ace. Just say no to lemonade!

You all should publicly apologize to the girls and their mom for your insensitivity, then immediately pass a public ordinance DRAMATICALLY lowering, or eliminating, the costs for concessions such as these being run by children so that they can run honest and profitable micro-businesses. They're not running the streets, doing drugs or not otherwise causing mayhem like the other kids without something productive to do...

The sad part of this is that the Midway Lemonade Stand Scandal is not the only instance in America where GOVERNMENT HEAVIES are going after kid-owned businesses. Perhaps they all are complicit with Barack Obama's current reign of terror being foisted upon small business, entrepreneurism and a free-market economy?

Let's just get down to the Voodoo Hex you have so rightly earned:

voodoo.  vooDOO.  VOODOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Voodoo on you aforementioned scoundrels and beasts of Historic (aka backwoods) Midway, Georgia for dashing the hopes of a joy-filled day frolicking in pool and on waterslides and scaring a few hard-working young ladies turned small business owners in the process. Voodoo on you all of the Federal, State and Local government thugs for otherwise causing the needless plunder of micro-business coffers and leading by way of this shining example of "Too much government is actually good for us all." Voodoo on on you all because you have nothing more important to do with your resources than kill capitalism.

voodoo.  vooDOO.  VOODOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that the good people of Midway, Georgia, nay... AMERICA, who are paying your taxes wake up make make you all HEX-civil servants in very short order.

Not Guilty - DNA Evidence Exoneration

Created by: Forensic Science

I am Moving to Costa Rica (Yes... the Family is Coming, Too)

So my wife and I have decided to move out of the country for a little while... much to the shock and horror of our parents. We've wanted to move to a foreign country for a very long while but for one reason or another have had to wait; chasing careers, building businesses, having two beautiful daughters, etc. all took priority and understandably so.

We find ourselves in an advantageous situation right now, my online businesses are growing beyond my wildest expectations; I can do business from anywhere that I have an Internet connection. The girls (1.5 and 3 years old right now) are at that age where they "really don't know what they don't know" but are up for just about anything and, of course, are also at the age where learning a second language is easiest. Julie is feeling pretty burned out at her job and ready for a change and I have wanderlust, again... badly.

Our friends, 100% of whom have shown total support for our decision, think that it's a fantastic idea for the very same reasons.

Are you going to be a Private Investigator in Costa Rica?

No. Not the plan. I am going to stick to building my online businesses and creating a few new ones (you REALLY can make money online, I promise) that are completely different than what I have going on right now. Julie and I have both talked about them and we lose sleep over how good these new business plans really are.

Of course, CompassPoint Investigations will remain in place here in Pensacola, FL as well.

I completely understand that life in Central America is not going to be nearly as easy as we have it here in the states, but quite frankly that's the point. Call us gluttons for punishment but we have both agreed that things are a bit too easy, but at the same time overly-complicated. We both have an idealized vision about how we'd like to live: a little simpler, a little quieter, more focused on the growth and development of our beautiful daughters and farther from the sheer stupidity coming out of the US political machine right now - particularly the Democrats and our sitting POTUS. What a mess they are making.

Well I really need to write a lot more about this because I am sure you have many questions, Dear Reader. Be comforted, however, in the knowledge that I will be writing about this in much more detail as we move toward our goal of making the jump on October 20th or 21st.

Lots more to come... we have a whole house of contents to sell and tidal waves of drama to deal with, which I am sure will make great fodder for new blog posts... and probably a Voodoo Hex or two.

BTW... Anyone interested in a really great 4 year old chocolate aptly named Cannon? He cannot go with us, so my first goal is to find him an awesome home.

Pura Vida!

Costa Rica Private Investigator Sitemap

How the Cost of Healthcare in the U.S. Compares Against the Rest of the World

Via: Medical Billing and Coding

Private Investigator Marketing

Since starting my first private investigation agency in Lafayette, LA (building and selling it just 3 years later) and then starting a new PI business (CompassPoint Investigations) again in Texas, only to move and start all over in Florida a few years later - the one thing I understand very well is private investigator marketing.

I have been blessed to have had several start-ups grow up and become very successful by almost anyone's measure, but these success were not a fluke or by chance. My good fortune has come through a great deal of hard work and my passion for making money.

That's right my passion is making money... but don't let that confuse you with my life's purpose, which is surrounding myself with successful people.  I have always really wanted those who I am connected with to be the very best that they can possibly be and to also share in my passion of making money.

When I left the US Navy many years ago, I quickly learned if I was going to make any money at all working for myself, that I had to learn to market first; whatever I chose to do for a living I was going to have to learn the secrets of convincing others to give me their money and feel good about it first. It just so happened that private investigation and bail enforcement fit my particular skill-sets and personality type at the time, which is why I settled into my eventual profession.

Building a business, private investigation agency or otherwise, happens in 5 simple steps:

1. Offer a product or service
2. Identify the pool of potential buyers for that product or service, these people are "prospects"
3. Convince a prospect to become a buyer
4. Deliver the product or service to the buyer's satisfaction
5. Repeat step #s 3 and 4

Which is the most important step in the process? Is any one of them more important than the other?

I would say that step #3 is THE most important part of building a business... trust me, I know many VERY SUCCESSFUL people and businesses in the investigations profession that do not produce a great product; they are only average investigators and their work product is usually just average, too.

The difference between the investigators and agencies that are crushing it out there and the guys who are barely making a living is that the successful group of business owners understand marketing, advertising and relationship building and take action every single day.

That's it.

If you are one of the guys or gals barely making it in your own PI, Bail Enforcement, Repo or Process Serving business I want you to know that with one minor shift in your thinking you can turn your company around and start making some money:

Stop working in your business and start working on your business

I can show you how but you have to be willing to shift your perspective from "being what you do" to "being who you are." Let me clarify what I mean:

Let's take process serving for example - assuming that you are the owner of your business it is natural to identify yourself as a process server when others ask what you do... but you are so much more than that...

You are an OWNER OF A PROCESS SERVING AGENCY!!!

You are the owner... and as the owner it is your responsibility to take care of the entire business, right? Embrace it. That means actively engaging in the 5 steps of building business not just delivering the product or service to the buyer and that means embracing each step with passion and energy.

Step #1 is easy, and unless you have the core of your business under control and are ready to add additional revenue streams then you only have to accomplish this step once. To further my previous example, let's just say that you have decided to go into the service of process business because you already understand the mechanics of process serving.

Cool. We're done with that one let's move on to step #2 and identify our pool of potential customers.

Again, easy. Ask yourself, "Who pays process servers to deliver legal documents?" Let's keep it simple right now and go with the obvious answer to start: Attorneys and Law Firms.

Check. Building Business Step #2 is done. You don't have to worry at all again about step #s 1 and 2 again until you want to expand your business into other services.

Step #3, "convince a prospect to become a buyer" is where it gets complicated, but this is what defines you as an owner rather than a process server... there's plenty of time for being a process server in step #4, "delivering the product or service."

Getting a prospect's attention and convincing him or her that they want to do business with your company is a product of marketing and advertising, without it you simply do not exist.

You are a ghost and are invisible to your prospects.

They do not buy from you.

You fail.

I can teach you to market your business or I can market your business for you. Either way, I can do it just about better than anyone else.

I have created a FREE Private Investigator Marketing Facebook page for you. Please join me right now. Click on the link and learn all of the secrets of convincing prospects into becoming buyers and turn vague marketing concepts into real marketing action.You'll be glad you did.

My purpose is that you become successful and that you might share in my passion for making money.

 

Marketing for Private Investigators on Facebook

The Origin of the "F-Word" Everyone's Favorite Cuss Word

F*ckby Online English Degree

Louisiana Pelicans and the BP Oil-Spill

Down in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, Boudreaux gets a job with British Petroleum (BP) helping with the oil-spill cleanup. He reports for work and is told to speak to a supervisor about his assignment.
 
He finds the man and asks, “What it is I supposed to do?”
 
The supervisor tells him to go to the animal shelter and clean the pelicans. 

Two hours later, Boudreaux comes up to the supervisor and says, “Okay… dey all cleaned. How do you want me to cook dem???"