New process servers waste a lot of time when they’re getting started.
I hear it often:
“I need a badge and custom ID before I can look for clients.”
“I want to get certified before I build a website.”
“I need more money before I can start my process server business.”
These are just excuses. Most of the time, it comes from fear of failure. It’s a lot easier to waste time on badges and certifications than it is to hear “no” from a potential client.
But every “no” is one step closer to a “yes.” And you’ll never be a real process server—the kind that gets paid good money for your work—without clients, no matter how many certifications you hang on the wall.
New process servers get hung up on this. You don’t have to be an expert to get started. In fact, you become an expert process server through experience, through getting out there and making serves.
This means hustling. If you’re waiting on your certification or license, get busy making a website.
Design some business cards (check out Moo).
Make a list of law firms in your area that you want to target and start making calls.
I like to tell the story of Bradley. He wasn’t like most new process servers. He was hungry to serve some papers, make some money. So he prints up a stack of business cards and drives around to some law firms.
The first five or six reject him. But he keeps going. He gets to the seventh law firm, his last stop of the day, and one of the attorneys is smoking a cigarette outside. So Bradley stops to smoke a cigarette with him, and the attorney says they’re looking for a new process server.
Bradley walks away with thirteen papers to serve, all part of the same big case. $650 in fees.
How’s that for your first day?
Now I’m not saying you’ll be like Bradley. We make our own stories. Yours will be different. But it’s never going to start if you’re wasting time on stupid things.
The choice is yours.
You can be like all the other new process servers who spin their wheels and accomplish nothing, or you can surprise ’em all.
I know the choice I’d make.
Want to learn more?
Read my epic guide to becoming a process server.