Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Sterling.
Jamie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have always had an interest in investigating people and situations. In college, I knew I wanted to go into the legal field in some way. I went to college and got a degree in Criminal Justice and fell into teaching law classes. Later in life, I went through a divorce due to a cheating spouse, and this is when I put my investigation skills to work. I spent lots of time researching different tools and methods and using my intuition to help build a case that my now ex couldn’t deny what was going on. Although it was a very tough situation for me and my kids, I did have fun with it and starting helping others I knew in the same situation.
When I was bored, I would look in the paper or online for openings for a private investigator, never thinking I could actually get hired. Well, one day I happened to look on eBay jobs (back in the day when that was the place to find jobs) and saw a posting by a man who was looking for a “rookie” investigator, specifically a young female. I KNEW he was looking for me!
I sent in my resume and insisted he needed to meet me. He agreed and one day later, I met this gentleman at a Starbucks for an interview. I told him about my own personal situation with helping others investigate their situations and that being a private investigator had been a huge dream of mine. I made sure he knew that if he hired me, he would not regret it. He hired me on the spot.
I started working for Richard who owned a Private Investigation company. At that time in his life, he did not want to work nor really train me because he wanted to focus on his family. Therefore, I was really left to swim for myself when I first got hired, but I didn’t mind because it was a fun challenge learning the ins-and-outs of the job.
Unfortunately, Richard was killed a few years later. After he died, his ex-wife took over his company. She decided a year into running the business, she did not want to do it anymore and asked if I wanted to take over the company. This totally motivated me and inspired me to apply through the state to complete the necessary steps and take the Private Security Management Test last year so that I could be a business owner of my own Private Investigation Company and though, I did buy some equipment from her, I decided to start a new company with a new name for myself. This is where Insight Investigations was born.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Getting Insight Investigations up and running has not been an easy road by any means and for several reasons. I am a single parent of six kids and with having so many children, I obviously have a lot more responsibilities than most in this area. In addition to being a single parent, starting a company while having to work two other jobs at the same time (while attending grad school) is not the norm, but a necessity for me to provide for my kids. With only 24 hours in a day and one of me, finding the time and financial resources to start a company has been extremely overwhelming. There have been many nights I got little to no sleep, days I have paid “Peter to pay Paul,” and times I have wanted to give up; however, no matter what obstacles I have faced, I knew that this is what I was called to do. Helping others like myself is what drives me and I have all my little ones to motivate and inspire me along the way. My kids are much bigger now so often times they help me play the part of an undercover investigator when I need to blend in with certain surroundings. One of my daughters even wants to follow in my footsteps and be an investigator too!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Insight Investigations – what should we know?
Insight Investigations is a full-service private investigation firm located in Dallas/Fort Worth. Utilizing the most sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment available, our company specializes in a wide variety of services from domestic affairs, infidelity, criminal, and corporate services. We also run background searches and help with insurance fraud claims as well as civil process serving.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
While my father was very inspirational on motivating me to become a successful person in life, it was more outside forces from certain individuals that actually played the most into my success. To put it bluntly, these have been the haters who wanted to see me fail or didn’t think I could actually make something of myself. I have always been a goal-getter so when someone makes comments that they “don’t think I can do something,” or they are underhanded in me achieving my goals, it just empowers and inspires me even more to show these types of people, they underestimated what Jamie can do and become! As the saying goes and I stand by it, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger;” this has certainly been true in achieving my professional goals.
Pricing:
- Surveillance typically starts between $75-$85 an hour
- Background checks run between $75-$100
Contact Info:
- Address: 12650 North Beach Street
Suite #114, #920
Keller, TX 76244 - Website: https://www.insightinvestigationstx.com/
- Phone: 817-691-2417
- Email: info@insightinvestigationstx.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insightinvestigationstx/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/wespyforyou
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/qTKq/6USKG2lSy4
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insightinvestigationstx
Image Credit:
Corey Lee
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