33 - Sandra Kimbrough | Mighty Process Server

Full Transcript
0:01Intro: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 path to building a profitable process serving empire. Lets get into it. Welcome back to another episode of Process Server Daily. Today. I'm really excited. This is episode number 33 with the wonderful Sandra Kimbrough, private investigator and process server out of Baytown, Texas and the Houston, Texas areas. Welcome, Sandra.

0:52Sandra Kimbrough:Hi. Thank you.

0:54Mighty Mike:Yeah, I'm so excited to have you on as one of our leaders. I could call you a leader in the community. You're literally so engaged and you help so many people inside of our community. I'm so very grateful to have you in the community and to have you in our mastermind meetings today talking about how to hire different process servers and what fees. It was just so cool. It was such a good mastermind. Me. I appreciate you.

1:19Sandra Kimbrough:Not a problem. Love to help.

1:22Mighty Mike:Yeah. And so you're a professional. You're a president, CEO of Swan Legal Services llc. The first question I love to ask on the Process Server Daily shows always like, what made you choose process serving?

1:35Sandra Kimbrough:It was something I stumbled upon while I was studying to take my PI license exam for my company. And it's actually in the public safety field, but in Texas, for whatever reason it is, it was kind of like cut out. It's still there and I think they're trying to make it back more into that field. But for right now, the servers in Texas are certified through the jvcc. So that's the judicial branch of the Supreme Court.

2:10Mighty Mike:Okay, so you. But what made you choose you just wanted to be.

2:13Sandra Kimbrough:I. I just wanted to try it out. I remember seeing some people do that and I just wanted to. Yeah. What.

2:21Mighty Mike:What.

2:22Sandra Kimbrough:What is this? So I checked it out. Easy to get, sir. I actually got certified to be a process server before I got my PI license and got my administrator's license for my company. So I just started doing process serving to just make money until everything else fell into place.

2:41Mighty Mike:Very cool. Yeah, it's cool to hear how people get started. It's all. It's always so different. There's never a story that's even closely the same. So one theme though, is always that, you know, you want to stay busy, you want to earn a living, you want to try to make some money. And, you know, for a while I was teaching real estate, but What I realized is it's such a long learning curve. Like people usually get their first closing. It takes them six to nine months to get their first closing. But with process serving, you could literally and in the challenge that I did in the community, we got to $10,000 within two weeks.

3:16Sandra Kimbrough:Right.

3:16Mighty Mike:So I tell people like no matter how new you are, you can do this and you're, you're a professional, you've been doing this and but you see in the community so many people have these experiences where they are able to earn a decent living serving papers and you're a great example of that. So what do you, what do you think is, is makes somebody a good process server?

3:41Sandra Kimbrough:Many, many things. But first you, you have to love what you do. If you don't love what you do, if you don't love talking to people and, and having patience with people, keeping your, your cool. Because every situation is different. People are dealing with a lot of things and the last thing most of them will are expecting is for someone to knock on the door trying to handle those legal papers. To them that's just sometimes one more thing that they can't handle. And sometimes, you know, you have to be the sounding board for them to just vent, get it out and, and you know, still stay professional, stay within the legal realm. But you have to have a heart for people.

4:30Mighty Mike:At the end of the day, that's so true. Because understanding you're a third party non biased, you know, you don't judge, of course, that's your job. But you are going to get some people that are going to be upset with you.

4:43Sandra Kimbrough:Oh yeah.

4:44Mighty Mike:And when they do, are you able to keep your cool and understand that hey, they just got served divorce papers from their ex that took everything or whatever. And so you kind of have some empathy. I like that. Yeah, I like that. Okay, so, so you're so swan legal. You, you're, you're in Houston, Texas area. You're, you, your, you have multiple different things that you do with your business. You process serving. You do a notary?

5:13Sandra Kimbrough:No. Well, my son does the notary. I used to be a notary. I'm not in one spot long enough to be a notary. But so my son is doing notary but I, I do most of the PI in the process serving courier. Um, and basically just sometimes again that, that council, sometimes I get calls and yeah, people want to just talk and vent and for on the PI side I actually have to talk people into not hiring me.

5:46Mighty Mike:You're like, you probably don't want It. But you know what's funny is that's one of the number one sales tactics, actually. We call it the push away. You know, you push away. Like in real estate they say, I, I don't want to sell. Like, yeah, you should just keep it. And that. They're like, well, what do you mean? Well, you just keep it. They're like, could you maybe list it for me? No, keep it. And they're like wanting to hire you the more you say that. So with PI work, what type of private investigation work are you looking to do?

6:13Sandra Kimbrough:Well, I, I kind of do. I, I do criminal and civil defense. I'm, I'm certified in those areas. I do judgment recovery. I do repo, self help repos, Knock and talk. I do background checks, witness locations, skips. So it runs the gamut as to, you know, depending on what the, the client wants and how in depth they want to go. So that's, that's pretty much what I do. A lot of attorneys want me to just review their, the, the files and see, see what may have been missed or get another perspective on.

7:02Mighty Mike:You know, what's different there in Texas too though, because you guys have specific laws that some other states don't have. I'm excited about doing a roundtable with you in the future and some other professionals from the local area. But in Texas specifically with like skip tracing for example, or surveillance, like, how is it different in Texas?

7:24Sandra Kimbrough:Well, for if you're just a process server is not to make you feel bad. And, and even though some people, you know, hey, they need to get the PI license to do some things that some servers do. But if you're going to do wait time on a process serving case and you're just a process server, five minutes is your max.

7:51Mighty Mike:Oh, wow.

7:53Sandra Kimbrough:Otherwise you're doing PI work. So you'd be considered doing PI work without being licensed. Skip trace. Now they will allow you to like locate an address, but again that's where you stop if you do anything else. You, you're considered practicing PI without a license.

8:16Mighty Mike:So almost like practicing law like a lawyer.

8:19Sandra Kimbrough:Yes, it's, it's similar thing. So.

8:21Mighty Mike:Okay.

8:22Sandra Kimbrough:And also with the PIs, you know, you hire PIs, just like an attorney, you have a PI client privilege so you can break that privilege. So if you have a case where you have an attorney. Yeah, we pisces, most of us say, yeah, we gonna talk to your attorney. Because then your privilege now extends to your attorney's privilege, which is greater than the PI privilege.

8:53Mighty Mike:Interesting. And as a process server, We're a third party non biased. I, I'm not, I'm not putting the attorney or the client ahead of the person I'm serving. As a matter of fact, sometimes I'll go the other way and say, you know, they say, well just drop it or drop it in the slot or whatever. It's like that's not, that's not val.

9:13Sandra Kimbrough:Yeah. That's not going to be proper service in Texas unless you have an alternative service.

9:19Mighty Mike:Yeah.

9:20Sandra Kimbrough:From, from a judge. So you and I did serve in Georgia for two years and I just, I just love some of their laws. But again compared to Texas, you know, you. We have to still verify whether or not the person we're trying to serve lives there. But we cannot just leave it there. Once somebody tells us, oh yeah, they live here, have to hand. Texas is a personal service state. We have to put those documents in that person's hand or if that person. We identified them and they are that person. Now we can do a drop serve. But that too is kind of crazy. No barriers can be in between. So if you have a door, a screen and that separates you, that is not going to be proper service. You have to, you know, try to drop it at their feet. Put it, you know, I, I did a drop serve one time for a child support case and I just needed the guy to just open that glass screen door enough. And when he did, I threw those papers in there. He touched the papers, he picked them up to try to throw them back. You served and make sure you document that. So yeah, I didn't have a problem with that. But sometimes you, you in Texas, you just our, our part, our job is also to protect the rights of the party that we're serving.


10:49Sandra Kimbrough:Okay. So yeah, we have to protect their rights. So that's what this is about. Because again when you have sometimes some of the what we call trash servers has helped cause the situation because sometimes they say they did something and then a camera says they did not.

11:10Mighty Mike:This is. Yeah, this is why you gotta like put look at your watch the exact time. Not two minutes. It only takes you two minutes to walk back to the car.

11:18Sandra Kimbrough:Exactly.

11:18Mighty Mike:And if you put the time you got into the car, you're two minutes off and that camera could show for two minutes straight of you not being there.

11:26Sandra Kimbrough:That's right.

11:27Mighty Mike:That's true.

11:27Sandra Kimbrough:And I try to tell the. Some of the service that come to me for mentorship. Look, cameras are everywhere. I mean and when you think they don't have them, they have them.


11:39Sandra Kimbrough:When you Think the neighbor's not being nosy and watching? They're nosy and watching.

11:44Mighty Mike:Take a picture.

11:45Sandra Kimbrough:Just do the right thing.

11:46Mighty Mike:Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. So, yeah, we're going to get into a roundtable where we're going to dive deep into all the things Texas Process. We're going to do a roundtable for each of the states for our online directory, Mighty Process Server. I'm excited to have you be a part of that. 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 content 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 join job same day. Now let's get back to the show. Back to Swan Legal. You guys are, you guys are really doing some cool things there. What, what's it, what what's in store for the next couple years for your company?

13:12Sandra Kimbrough:Well, of course I love to see it grow. I, I want to do more mentoring. I still will be doing PI work. I still do not have employees I try to mentor, but I just threw my hat in the ring to become the director of the east region with Texas Process Server Association.

13:37Mighty Mike:Oh wow.

13:37Sandra Kimbrough:So I just, yeah, I just put a big hat on. So I will have to start my campaigning and hopefully to for our east region which is where I've been started serving and still serving. You know, I've spoken to a few people in the east region and what they would like to see and what I have in mind that I would like to see and bring and. So glad we found your platform. This is a, a it's going to be interesting but I have other things that I would like to add to the company like doing a, doing mandatory drug classes. So like if you go to court and get a case and the judge orders you to take a drug class. So I'd like to add that.

14:30Mighty Mike:So interesting. Yeah, you know, it's interesting those kind of like vertically integrated things that kind of relate because what happens is you end up building relationships with judges who know that you do It. I have a friend, Ken Ringo. He, he's in Texas actually. He's. Where's he at? He's up near Austin, somewhere in that area. But he, he does like a child where they actually do the. What's it called? Visitation. Scheduled visitation.

14:59Sandra Kimbrough:He's one of those good feel.


15:01Sandra Kimbrough:One of those dangerous but good feel

15:04Mighty Mike:so good things to think about, those vertically integrated things. And a lot of people are so limited in what they offer when it comes to their process serving stuff. But for Swan, you guys are doing some cool things that you're putting adding that on. What would you say to somebody who's listening, maybe an attorney who, who needs a private investigator in your area? What would, what would you tell them about Swan and how, what makes you different from other potential people they could hire?

15:32Sandra Kimbrough:Well, what makes me different, it makes the company different. Is again that we truly care. We're compassionate, we have a heart. We do not take aside. I mean we are truly neutral. We, we. I, I don't form an opinion based on what I hear or read. And I'd let the facts tell the story. So I, I can't tell you one way or another way how something is going to end up. I can't listen to a, a recording or a testimony and say, oh, they're lying. I don't do any of that. I go for the facts. And most times again, I, I'm personable. I can just be trying to do personal grocery shopping and walk in the store and I'm a lady stops me and talks to me for over 30 minutes in the grocery store. I just approachable and that's what they need, you know, and they, you, when you're interviewing or talking to people, trying to serve people, you, you, you have. I, I learned how to do de escalation. So I try to de escalate the situation. But also I've learned through, through my training and schooling. Yeah, be back and back because if they're giving those cues, I'm gonna get out of there. I'm not gonna sit and argue with a client, defending or because it's just not necessary. If I'm there, whatever job, whatever hat, because I wear so many. So if my hat is to do process serving, I'm gonna do process serving. And I'm, I'm going to take great notes, I'm gonna take great pictures and I'm gonna get the case served. And if I can't get the case served, I'm going to make sure, especially with some Harris county courts in Texas, those judges Are very picky. So if you do not know how to document the case so that you don't have to make 20 more attempts, you need to document everything that happened. Write down the license plates, write down who you spoke to, try to talk to neighbors, you know, or try to talk to a person in house, Try to get a name. Having the names helps verify and make credible what you're saying. Plus, the judge sometimes went, well, well, who told you this? You know. Oh, well, some lady. Okay, can you describe? So it's just document. Great documentation will help your case and. And just, you know, be truthful about. Actually go to the location. So if you don't use a. Some type of platform, then use at least a date, time stamp, Take photos, but prove that you have actually done the job that you were hired to do and be trustworthy. Your reputation is all you have.

18:33Mighty Mike:Well, there are many states that are requiring using an app or something to guarantee that you were there. And a date and time stamp photographed is kind of like an entry level. Like, that's a basic thing. Photo of the house, the address, the cars, the license plates. I mean, how valuable is it to get a picture of a house with the car and the license plate? You could run it, find out they own it. And now anytime you see that car, you can pretty much attach it to that person if it's driving around town.

19:02Sandra Kimbrough:And that especially helps if. If they won't open the door. Like, I had a client call me this morning, and she was so upset because it's. It's something dealing with child support, and she got served, and now she wants to hire me. And I'm like, ma', am, if you got served, are you going through the state? Yeah, because see, now most servers would say, oh, yeah, let. It's 150. Let me take your case. Well, again, I convinced her not to hire me. If. If you are dealing with child Support In Texas, nine times out of 10, it may be through the state of Texas. That's Texas Attorney general's office, baby. Somebody's already on your case. You just have to wait. It's a protocol. If he won't open the door, hopefully they're a great server. They know what to do. I said, now, I'm not gonna go into the weeds with what that protocol is, but it's a protocol, so as. As long as whoever has that file to serve that other party, you're good. Just. Just be patient and wait. You don't need to pay me any extra money.

20:11Mighty Mike:Yeah, well, it's so it's so cool to catch up with you and learn about everything you're doing there at Swan Legal and as a PI too. It's anytime you can add that PI piece on as a process server it's huge. And, but I appreciate you. How can everybody reach out to you to either hire your services or maybe even like reach out for the questions. I know you like to mentor people and help people along like I do.

20:39Sandra Kimbrough:They can reach out through the website www.swanlegalservices.com and I'm on many platforms. I'm on Texas Process Serving association in Texas. I'm also on Texas Apps Association. I'm also on the Mighty Mike directory platform. I'm on so many platforms. I'm on Tally. If you need a PI, check me out on tally. But yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. You can look me up Instagram. So there you go.

21:11Mighty Mike:Connect on social. Give her a call. Connect on social and join us on mighty process server.com. it's for free. You join the community for free. Come say hi to Sandra inside there and check out all the awesome resources that we have. And I'm excited for the roundtable coming up and good luck with the association. That's going to be so cool. I'm excited for you. You gotta like promote.

21:36Sandra Kimbrough:I'm excited. Yeah, well, the association is going to promote. But yeah, I, I need to go and meet the people. I need to hear from the people. I mean I have some ideas and things that I would like. I've been a member of that association since 2018 when I started and I would like to see some, some changes and some things added especially in the area that I'm in. And I've again been kind of talking to some of the servers that I do know and getting their input. So yeah, I, I, I'm going to, I'm, I'm a try. All they can do is say no. So you know, vote for yes or vote for no. But yeah, I would, I would love to try to help our association grow and get better.

22:23Mighty Mike:Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on and we'll, we'll see you in one of our future masterminds. I know you come to pretty much all of Tuesdays at 01:00 Eastern Standard Time and thanks again, Sandra. Appreciate you.

22:35Sandra Kimbrough:Thank you.

22:36Mighty Mike:All right, take care.

22:40Sandra Kimbrough:Might be

22:43Outro: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 mightyprocessserver.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.

33 - Sandra Kimbrough | Mighty Process Server

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