13 - Luke Smith | Mighty Process Server

Full Transcript
0:01Luke Smith:Mother and attempt. 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.

0:15Mighty Mike:How do you, how do you deal with that, Luke?

0:17Luke Smith:You know, 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's deal was just heartbreaking. And I even tear up now sometimes when I think back to that child screaming and yelling, wanting his.

0:35Intro:You're listening to Process Server Daily, the show where hustle meets strategy in the high stakes world of process serving. From elite pros to the new servers taking massive action, these are the voices of a rising industry. Hosted by the founder of 1, 2, 3 Legal Support, Mighty Mike Reed. This is your backstage pass to building a profitable process serving empire. Let's get into it. We are joined by the owner of Alaska Investigation, 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.

1:26Luke Smith:Thank you, Michael. Glad to be here.

1:27Mighty Mike:Excellent. So, Luke, tell us a little bit about how you got started in the industry.

1:32Luke Smith: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. And so the investigations morphed into process serving. And so now I do both.

1:50Mighty Mike:That's excellent. So do you remember your first job, your first investigation job?

1:54Luke Smith: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.

2:04Mighty Mike:But you've learned a lot since then, right?

2:06Luke Smith: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.

2:16Mighty 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.

2:32Luke Smith: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 attempt 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.

2:57Mighty Mike:How do you. How do you deal with that, Luke?

2:59Luke Smith:You know, 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, wanting his mommy.

3:17Mighty Mike:Yeah. As a parent, we. As a parent, we always related to our own relationships. And you want to be able to help him. But like you said, it was probably what was best. You know, if the mom spends a few weeks without her kid, she might turn things around, you know?

3:31Luke Smith:Absolutely.

3:32Mighty Mike:Luke, what do you want Server Nation to take from your story?

3:35Luke Smith:What I want Server Nation to take from that particular story is just do right by your kids. Yeah. Just be good parents.

3:42Mighty 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. And, I don't know, in some respects, it makes you happier. You know?

4:02Luke Smith:It does.

4:02Mighty Mike:Let's go to the positive now. Luke, tell me about your greatest experience working in the field.

4:08Luke Smith:I tell you what I did. 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.

4:31Mighty Mike:Wow.

4:32Luke Smith: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. And 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.

4:49Mighty Mike:So I'm going to sound like a total noob, but did you feel like a CIA agent or something?

4:53Luke Smith:Every day?

4:56Mighty Mike:That's awesome.

4:57Luke Smith:No, I feel like I feel that way every day.

4:59Mighty Mike:What I take most from your story is enjoy what you're doing and, you know, go after it. What do you want Server Nation to take from your greatest experience?

5:07Luke Smith:You know, 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. 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.

5:29Mighty 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.


5:38Mighty Mike:That's a pretty cool. You guys still call that sub rosa?

5:42Luke Smith:Yes.

5:43Mighty 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 excited.

5:51Luke Smith:I guess probably one thing that I love that I have coming up is I'm adding a K9 unit to my. To my business.

5:58Mighty Mike:That's definitely something worth being excited about. Are you getting a German Shepherds or.

6:03Luke Smith:I'm getting Belgian Malinois. And actually, I have the opportunity to hire a handler that already has two mals that are already trained.


6:15Luke Smith:So I'm super excited about that.

6:17Mighty Mike:So, Luke, tell me why. Why would you need a canine unit? And I think I the answer. But could you just tell the audience, as a private investigator, what would you use a K9 unit for?

6:28Luke Smith:You know, there's. There's so many different uses for a K9 here. Recently, Alaska has become one of the states that marijuana is now legal. However, you have a lot of corporations up here that is 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'll 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.

7:16Mighty Mike:I never thought about that perspective. Just the civil. The civil service.

7:20Luke Smith: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 just. We're really excited about that part of our business.

7:32Mighty Mike:Well, that's definitely worth being excited about. I am excited to hear about how you go and serve people on snowmobile. How does that happen?

7:42Luke Smith:Yeah. So Alaska offers unique challenges to the lower 48. And, you know. Where are you from, Michael?

7:53Mighty Mike:I'm from New Mexico, but I'm here. Based in Chico right now. Chico, California.

7:58Luke Smith: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, you know, if you call me and say, hey, what counties do you serve? We don't 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.


8:51Luke Smith:So there are tons, I mean, hundreds of villages across Alaska that are only accessible in the summertime via plane or boat or four wheeler. In the wintertime, you either take a plane or a dog sled or a snow machine. And I mean, that's just part of what we do. And, you know, we have planes and snow machines and four wheelers all at our disposal for serving papers and working cases.

9:24Mighty Mike:That's why you feel like a CIA agent when you're out there, because you, you're getting planes and. You ever jump out of a plane to go serve someone?

9:32Luke Smith:No.

9:34Mighty Mike:Come on.

9:35Luke Smith:No. I did jump off of a four wheeler once.

9:39Mighty Mike:Wow. And then, and then I heard something about a moose chasing you.

9:43Luke Smith:You know, 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 have turned corners and been staring a moose face to face and you just slowly back away. You don't need that 1800 pound animal trying to trample you. You know, we have bears that you have to deal with sometimes. 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. Never been chased by wolves, but I 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. You know, this was their land first, so we're just visitors on their land anyway. And they believe that.

10:48Mighty Mike:It's the truth. Yes.

10:51Luke Smith:I have video of moose walking down the street in Anchorage in the middle of traffic, and they just do not care.

11:00Mighty Mike:That is awesome. Hey, quick break from the episode to tell you about something that's changing the game for process servers across the country. It's called Mighty Process Servers. And yeah, you can join absolutely free inside. You'll get full access to every course Every download and the educational tools that we use to help process servers build profitable companies. We meet every Tuesday at 1pm Eastern for our live Mighty Mastermind call. Come join the conversation. You can connect with other professionals, post on the discussion board, direct message members and become part of one of the most engaged communities for process servers. Don't wait. Go to mightyprocess server.com and join today. Those who get verified, get listed and start bidding on jobs same day. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to the show. Luke. Are you ready for the rapid fire round?

12:03Luke Smith:I am.

12:04Mighty Mike:Michael, what is your favorite skip trace tactic? I imagine it's got to be a little bit different in Alaska.

12:10Luke Smith:My favorite skip trace tactic is going and asking the wildlife if they've seen my skip.

12:16Mighty Mike:You said asking the wildlife. I had to think about that. I had to think about that for a minute. I was like, did you just say ask the wildlife?

12:23Luke Smith:You know my favorite skip trace tactic? I think pretending to be a guide because there's so many fishing and hunting guide in Alaska that you can call Jack, 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.

12:54Mighty Mike:So who do you call for that?

12:55Luke Smith:The skip that I'm looking for?

12:57Mighty Mike:Oh, you call the person. Oh, wow.

12:59Luke Smith:Or their family members.

13:01Mighty Mike:Oh, wow. So they're like, yeah. Oh, you're a guide.

13:03Luke Smith:Yeah.

13:04Mighty Mike:Let me get him over here. What's the incentive for them to help you though? They're like, because their friend, their friend or family and they want to connect them to the guide.

13:11Luke Smith:You know, so many people up here need to hunt and fish just to feed their family. It's a substance thing. So I, maybe this isn't the best wording, but I pray on that a little bit, if you will.

13:22Mighty Mike:Oh, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. I mean, hey, we manipulate things all the time. People say, hey, what are you doing stalking that girl? I go, that's my job. That's what I do. What is your favorite tool for defense? I know you said your arm to the teeth. What does that entail?

13:37Luke Smith: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.

14:09Mighty Mike:Yeah.

14:12Luke Smith:And, you know, 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, you know, like I say, out to remote locations, I'll carry a shotgun mainly for bear protection.

14:37Mighty Mike:Well, that's awesome. Some cool defense. So what kind of pistol do you carry?

14:41Luke Smith:I carry a Glock 19,9 millimeter.

14:44Mighty Mike:Luke, what book would you recommend?

14:46Luke Smith:What book would I recommend?

14:48Mighty Mike:From Guns to Books.

14:51Luke Smith:You know, I. I know a couple of different people that have written books, and one is a skip trace queen. Her name's 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 and mayhem, and she's got tons of funny stories in those. I can't remember the exact name of that book, though.

15:19Mighty 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. So perfect. Luke, what is the greatest advice you've ever received?

15:37Luke Smith: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, to

15:47Mighty Mike:close this awesome episode. Can you tell 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. What advice would you give them?

16:02Luke Smith: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 gonna do in a timely fashion and hang in there and just keep pounding the pavement.

16:20Mighty Mike:That's awesome. So if you had to start your business over again, Luke, how would you. What would be the first thing?

16:27Luke Smith:I would go get a job somewhere.

16:28Mighty Mike:So you would work for another company?

16:31Luke Smith:You know, if I had to start my business all over again. I think I would probably have made a lot of contact prior to opening my business because in this business that's what is very important as your contact.

16:44Mighty Mike:That's perfect. They say your net worth is your network. Build your network and you'll grow your business.


16:52Mighty Mike:Luke, what is the best way that we can connect with you and then we can say goodbye?

16:56Luke Smith:You can connect with me through Facebook or my website alaskaaia.com so Luke, I

17:05Mighty Mike:want to personally thank you for coming on the show. Man. This has been really cool. I'm excited to share it with the world.

17:10Luke Smith:Thanks for having me, Michael.

17:13Outro:That's a wrap on another episode of Process Server Daily where the legal support industry levels up. Want to grow your process serving business with the best marketing tools, the most engaged community and the highest ranking directory online? Visit mightyprocess server.com claim your listing. Join our free community. Surround yourself with process servers who get it and build something real. From the field to the courtroom. This is Process Server Daily. Until next time, stay safe out there and live Mighty.

13 - Luke Smith | Mighty Process Server

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