09 - Chris Svelnys | Mighty Process Server

Full Transcript
0:00Chris Svelnys:Happens the first time I got bit by a dog. Flesh wound, cut the skin. Second time I went there, I locked my keys in my car. And the guy I served was the boyfriend of the lady I was serving. And he was nice enough to accept the papers and help me get back in my car and break into my car. And then the third time, which was the worst serve ever, I was going out, it just rained out, and it was like a single wide trailer. And I walked around the corner and I ended up slipping on the mud and pretty much thought I broke my leg. I did a full half split right to the ground, screaming bloody murder. I thought I broke my leg.

0:43Intro: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.

1:13Mighty Mike:Owner of Central Washington Legal services. He has 10 years of experience serving papers and can bowl his butt off with a regular score of 300. Chris Vilniz, welcome to the show.

1:24Chris Svelnys:Hey, thanks a lot, brother. I appreciate it.

1:26Mighty Mike:So, Chris, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in this industry.

1:30Chris Svelnys:Well, it's all started back in 2000, I want to say around 2007. I was working at Walmart and I kind of befriended the department manager really quick. That's how I roll. Make good friends with the bosses, you know. And he's just a couple years older than me and he's a nice guy. And he asked me one day after working for him for about six months to a year, he's like, hey, you want to make some extra money on the side? And I kind of knew what he did on the side. And I said, oh, do what? He's certain papers. And I'm like, oh, man. Okay, I've seen the movie Pineapple Express. Is it kind of like that? And he's like, oh, no, no. Sometimes he's like, tell you what he's like. His mom kind of half ran the office and it was used to be her business like 30 years ago. She was her and this guy Junior was helping out this older lady that was doing it. She only had like 10 customers, you know, just, you know, barely making a few hundred bucks a month. Well, they took it over and she passed away. So they took it over and they ran it 10 times, fold. And grew the business exponentially. And so her son Derek, my boss, you know, he was helping out. And so, you know, he's a goal. Just swing by the office and the guy will take you out for a day and, you know, test you and make sure your. Your mind's all cleared and you're not a crazy person, you know, which I know you're not. That's why he's telling me about it. Kind of like who you know, not what you know. I said, okay, so took me out for a day and went up north to Oroville to the border of USA and Canada, and we maybe hit three or four, all of which he went out of the car and I didn't get to see any dialogue. So I'm getting super nervous and wondering how I'm actually gonna serve papers if I don't know what the dialogue is like. And. And he comes back and we just, you know, he asked me about my whole life story, the 12 hours that we drove, and he come back that night and the next day, I guess he told the owner, you know, said, hey, yeah, he's a good guy. Hire him, you know, and. And the rest is history. So the first few days I went, you know, I started out as an independent contractor for a few months. I was only doing it part time, so it wasn't worth my time, especially being new to the areas and not knowing where everything was at and new to the business. So I ended up going on the books with the company for eight, nine years until last year we took over the business again, my buddy and his mom, because she shared the business with another owner in Alaska on the west side. And he broke off and he's doing his own thing. So they took it over last summer. So now I became an independent contractor again. And it's more fortunate for me now since I know everywhere, all the counties and all the clients and the clientele and the process and everything. So that's pretty much how I started it.

4:19Mighty Mike:Well, that's awesome. Chris, you got a family?

4:22Chris Svelnys:I do, yeah. I have a dad out here. I have a mom. I'm from Connecticut, born and raised. I moved out here in 05 after 9 11. My dad moved out here and I have a bunch of step family out here. One of my middle brothers is out here. My oldest brother is back east, my mom. So I got family up and down the east coast and New York and New England area. And then I have a bunch of. Bunch of step family out here in Washington state, Idaho and parts of Oregon. So super blessed and just awesome people out here. In the West Coast.

4:55Mighty Mike:That's awesome. Chris, I gotta tell you that one of the main reasons I wanted you to come on the show is when I heard your story. And we may get to that. If you want to share that same story, that's fine. You got a lot going on with these kind of stories. You gotta. You gotta be able to share them, and you can't keep them to yourself.

5:10Chris Svelnys:I know, I know. And really, really quick on that one story, if I do get into it, my boss was actually at an apps meeting, an apps meeting a couple states away. And after it happened, I was so distraught and I called her up and she just started, you know, busting out, laughing, and she's like, hold on. Repeat what you just said to me. You're on speakerphone with about 10 other NAPS members. Hey, Chris, what happened? That's why I told him. And they're all just like around a bonfire or something, just dying, laughing. Like, how does this. And then from that point on, just the most bizarre, craziest stuff happens to me, and it's just laughable.

5:42Mighty Mike:Well, we always like to get started. We don't want to focus on the negative things in life. But there's a reason why you're on the show. You got a lot going on, you got a lot of great stories. But first we're going to start with your worst experience in the field. Can you tell us about that?

5:54Chris Svelnys:Yeah. My worst experience by far would have to be I was going to a house, and I've been there a couple times before. It's a repeater house. Every time I go there, something bad happens. The first time, I got bit by a dog. Flesh wound, cut the skin. Second time I went there, I locked my keys in my car. And the guy I served was the boyfriend of the lady I was serving. And he was nice enough to accept the papers and help me get back in my car and break into my car. And then the third time, which was the worst serve ever, I was going out, it just rained out, and it was like a single wide trailer. And I walked around the corner and I ended up slipping on the mud and pretty much thought I broke my leg. I did a full half split right to the ground, screaming bloody murder. I thought I broke my leg. I'm rolling around in the mud in the grass, yelling for help from anybody. No one's around. So I ended up calling back to my Chevy tracker that I had and hoisted myself up, called my boss, got to my phone, call my boss screaming at her, telling her I broke My leg. I broke my leg. I need to go to the hospital. And she's like, oh, my God. She's like, okay, just call 911. Have the ambulance come there. I'm like, no, I'm already in the car. You know, all of a sudden, the people come up and they pull up, the owners of the property, and they're, you know, I'm screaming at them, you know, not at them directly, but just in pain. I was in so much pain. And they said, did you want us to bring you to the hospital? I was like, no, I'm already in here. And they're like, oh, my God, I'm sorry. And you can see, like, the streak of where my leg came out under me and on their road, on their property there. And I just said, yeah, I got to go now. I got to go now. I just. All I could think about was going to the hospital, and I was going the way so and so here. And they're like, yeah, so here you go. You can serve. So I got paper served. That was all that matters, you know, I drove to the hospital, which is just, you know, five minutes away from there, and I couldn't get out of the car. I saw a couple EMTs washing the EMT van, the hospital truck, and I yelled at them, and they came and got a wheelchair for me, and I ended up pulling, like, the worst hammy of all times from my lower back down to my behind. My leg and my knee just completely black and blue. And I couldn't walk for about three weeks. Had to go on employment for a few weeks and physical therapy. I have yet to be back to that property, so I'm prepared to wear all body armor and go back there again. But that was by far the worst painful experience serve I've ever had to deal with.

8:32Mighty Mike:Now, would you say that you fell because of the rain, the mud, or.

8:36Chris Svelnys:Oh, yeah, there was the rain in the mud, you know, and it was really nothing they could do about it. And, you know, people say, oh, you go after the property owners. I'm like, no, it's. It was pure accident myself. You know, there's nothing they could done about it. I mean, the way their land is at, you know, it's, you know, mud and grass everywhere.

8:51Mighty Mike:Well, that's a pretty terrible experience. What do you want? What do you want, server nation, to

8:57Chris Svelnys:get from your story with that experience? Just to really watch where you're going, you know, and tread lightly on all different kinds of terrain and property. That's not the only time I felt in the 10 years I've been doing this, I felt a lot, but that was definitely the worst. It can happen in our line of work. And just really be careful. Safety is your number one concern, as always. And just to be careful and just watch where you're walking, watch where you're stepping.

9:25Mighty Mike:No, that's great. I got to tell you, people so often think, oh, have you ever had a gun in your face? No, but I stepped wrong and went down a flight of stairs. And not just any concrete stairs with the little rocks on them, you know. Right.

9:40Chris Svelnys:I've actually had a few guns pulled on me over 10 years, all of which were really respectful. Once they found out who they knew who I was, they, you know, disengaged her weapon and put it in their holster away from me. And they were super nice. I was way out in the country. I, you know, wouldn't expect anything less, you know, from the owners out there and. But nothing still, as far as scarier as that. I literally thought I broke my leg.

10:03Mighty Mike:That's a good story to start with. Tell us about your greatest experience working in the field.

10:10Chris Svelnys:You know, I serve papers as professionally as I can. I try and treat others the way I want to be treated and with respect. And this one a little different than the most, I would say. My grandmother passed away last. My last known grandparent passed away last September, and I got the news, started my day. She lives back east in Connecticut with my other family over there. And I was driving, I was sending my first job just a couple minutes away. My stepdad calls me up. Everything was good with her, health wise, but she ended up passing away right then and there like that morning. And so I was just really in shock. And I get to my first serve and I try to compose myself and really didn't get emotional. Still kind of in shock. And then I get to the door and this older lady who kind of reminded me of my grandmother answered the door. And I just bawled Right when she came to the porch and the steps, she had no idea why I was there. And I just balled for about five, ten minutes, and she just hugged me and held me and told her that I served her. Finally, it took me about 10, 15 minutes to tell her who I am, why I'm there, and why I'm bawling like a baby. I served the papers. She was super nice, super friendly, one of the nicest people that I ever served. And to show that kind of compassion, being served papers from one human being to another. She just knew that I needed a hug and a shoulder. Cry on. I tell people about her all the time. Well, I just went and served her again a few weeks ago. And I pull up, and as soon as I get out of my car and turn around the face her house, she's already outside with her arms wide open to give me a hug. And, you know, I just, I, you know, of course, I was, you know, more composed this time, and I just told her, I see. No, I tell people about you all time. This lady who I served, you know, who's there for me when I needed somebody, you know, just human interaction, you know, so that's definitely one of my best serves that I can ever think. Because, I mean, and then after that, after I served her and, you know, composed myself, I had one of the best serving days ever. It's almost like my grandma was like, you know what? It's okay, Chris. I'm gone, but I'm gonna make sure everybody's home today. And I knocked out over 35 jobs that day. So it's just like she was with me. You know, I could have went home and just took the day off. I said, no, this. Jobs need to get done. Clients need, you know, attempts and statuses and everything. So I'm going for it. You know, it was like one of the best serving days I've ever had. So that's.

12:52Mighty Mike:That's the part of this job that we don't talk about a whole lot.

12:55Chris Svelnys:That.

12:56Mighty Mike:And I think in both of your experiences that you've shared today, what I've taken from it is that we're people too, you know, and the people we're serving are people like the guys that pulled up in the car. Imagine if they were what everybody else portrays people that we're serving to be. You know, they pull up in the car like, what the. The hell you doing on my property?

13:16Chris Svelnys:Absolutely.

13:16Mighty Mike:I'm injured. I don't care. Get out. Get off my property.

13:19Chris Svelnys:Exactly.

13:20Mighty Mike:So that's.

13:21Chris Svelnys:That's get injured somewhere else. Somewhere else.

13:24Mighty Mike:Yeah. Yeah. Not on my property. Are you so and so. No. And you're, like, having to deal with all that. I think, you know, I think you were fortunate, blessed, lucky, whatever you want to call it. I call it blessed. But the elderly lady. I have a lot of respect for elderly people and the wisdom that they can share with us.

13:43Chris Svelnys:Absolutely.

13:44Mighty Mike:So that's good. What do you want Server nation to take from your story?

13:48Chris Svelnys:So getting back to the beginning of that story, you know, I just try and I serve everybody with respect a lot of times when I serve people that have gotten served in the past by other servers, and I'm not trying to put down other process server companies and other independent contract servers, but a lot of them tell me that a lot of people just get the paper served, and the server's super rude, you know, sometimes nasty, you know, and throws the papers in their face. This and that. I never do that. I'm very professional with every serve, and I take it. And I don't know where rail serves if there's, like, no cell service or connection, but when I'm serving people up in the mountains and I'm super nice to them, like I am with everybody, if your car breaks down and you were nice to that person, you can go back to that house and say, hey, it's happened to me before. They gave me shelter, they gave me a phone, they gave me water, they let me use the restroom. You know, they remembered me serving them as a professional. And it goes a long way by treating people with respect, treating people you're serving, no matter what the paperwork is, with the utmost respect that you want to be treated with.

14:52Mighty Mike:So that's awesome. I love that story, and I love that perspective. I like to say, treat others the way that you want to be treated. They're a human. When you're out there serving papers, of course, be prepared, be respectful. Number one things. Chris, what are you working on right now that has you most fired up?

15:07Chris Svelnys:Getting to jobs that are way up in the mountains, that there's just no way of getting to the jobs, Keeping the clients happy, keeping the clients as customers, and trying my hardest to get to properties that I can get to. With all the snow up here in the Pacific Northwest and the terrain of the mountains the way they are every winter, I look forward to this. It's really tough to try and get these. I've had jobs, I'm not gonna lie, that I've had since middle of November and, you know, beginning December, that I just cannot get to, you know, with the three, four feet of snow, you know, I don't own a snowmobile, so I can't park up, get a truck, and get up and get my snowmobile onto the terrain and get up there. But now with the snow melt, it's springs right around the corner. Everything's melting. So now clients are getting happy where I can finally get to these jobs that I haven't been able to get to just because of the terrain that we have jobs for.

16:02Mighty Mike:Right. Well, that's awesome. I got to tell you, there's a guy up in Alaska who, on most of his jobs, he was telling me that he goes to. He goes up to the mountains on snowmobile. Snowmobile. Helicopter. Yeah, no, he did say that. He said that on some of them, he does have to go wait till the ice is actually frozen so that he could go on a snowmobile over the ice.

16:26Chris Svelnys:Wow.

16:27Mighty Mike:Yeah. And then also he'll ride quads and things like that. Most of the serves that he does is on quad or snowmobile. I'm just like, wow. So what I wanted to ask you is how bad do these clients want these people served? Because one time I had a situation where I had to serve a pot grower, and they wanted me to get pictures, and I said, well, there's gates, and I might be able to serve them, but as far as the pictures go, you know, you're probably not going to get very good pictures because they have these big old fences with tarps up and stuff, and they wanted to get pictures of the pot. And so I was like, well, you know, I could get a drone and fly it over and take pictures. And they said, okay, go. Yeah, do that. And I said, well, you know, I'm gonna have to charge the expense for the drone to you. And, you know, and so I was able to do that, you know, $750 drone.

17:16Chris Svelnys:Wow. I'm actually really impressed.

17:18Mighty Mike:Yeah. So maybe you want to call your client and go, look, between you and this guy, we can get ourselves a snowmobile up here, and then we'll be in operation.

17:29Chris Svelnys:That's correct. You know, for the most part, all clients. And we've had the same clients for years and years and years. They know us. They trust us. And as long as they know that I am trying, you know, at least every few days or once a week to go to these impossible areas. Every time I get a little bit closer, a little bit closer, I'll take a picture of the road, the street sign, you know, okay, I'm getting this, you know, this closer. So they see that we're working, and then they're really good with that. You know, clients are really relaxed with that, and they're like, okay, you know, this company, they're trying. Chris is trying, you know? You know, so they just sit on the paperwork and know that I'll get it done when I can get up there. Hey, quick break from the episode today. 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. 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.

19:04Mighty Mike:Welcome back to the show. Chris. Are you ready for the rapid fire round?

19:08Chris Svelnys:I'm ready, man. Sasquatch of the Northwest is ready.

19:11Mighty Mike:Yes. That's what I'm talking about. Well, that's awesome. What is your favorite tool for defense?

19:16Chris Svelnys:My mind and my mouth. I've gone into many, many altercations that could have been ended up being physical and if I was talked my way out of them. Because a couple things of advice I was always taught by the veteran server who trained me for that one day was that one, no paper is worth getting punched, stabbed, shot or killed over. And no paper is worth spending the night in jail with Bubba. And that's for you and for the person you're serving. You know, I mean, that's advice to them. If they start to get angry, say, hey, you know what, I'm a legal courier. I'm just trying to do my job. And when I worked for the old owner for the good eight years right there, we weren't even allowed to have a weapon on us. We weren't even allowed to have bug spray, we weren't allowed to have any weapons. So now that I'm an ic, I've always had my concealed weapons permit, but I never really bring it with me because I've learned to not have to use weapons. So I just use my mind and my quick talking and talk my way out of every, you know, possible physical confrontation on every. I've never been swung at, you know, I've been, you know, of course yelled at and you know, pretty close as being spit at and you know, people in my face to get me off the property and I just put my hands up and say, okay, you know, sorry to bother you, just try to do my job.

20:31Mighty Mike:Yeah, I gotta tell you, a situational awareness and being able to look at a situation and come come at it from a perspective of I'm just trying to do a job. Just yesterday I was down in Yuba City and I had a situation where pulled up to a property and everyone's outside. Everyone and their mother's outside. I think they're even cooking on an actual stove in the front yard. There's a car parked sideways and another one, you know, a car parked out of the window. I mean, it's just insane. It was insane. Like, you. You're walking up there thinking, I shouldn't be walking up here, and because I'm a little bit stubborn, and I have, like, 40 serves to do, I don't want to come back. So, right in this situation, I just walk up. Before I could even get out of my car, though, one guy's, like, peeking over my shoulder in the car to see what I'm doing. Am I getting out? Do I. You know, am I an officer? Do I have you? I don't do anything to make people think that I'm a cop, you know, for multiple reasons. But this situation, I got out and, you know, I just said, hey, guys, how's it going, guys? You know? And you just be like, that nice guy that's like, hey, hey, what's going on? Do you know the people live in that house? But this guy was. Yesterday was like, no, no. Nobody by that name lives in there. Some lady named Tina lives in there. And I said, oh, okay, and what's your name? And he just walked away. Walks inside the house. And then. But then there's this young kid, like, 18, 16, 17, somewhere on there. He's like, no, that girl moved out. She. She's my age. She moved out a long time ago. And he seemed a little bit more, you know, it's crazy. Situational awareness, being able to see a situation where there's, like, five guys. All, you know, you see they're carrying guns. Don't stop. Just keep going. It like, yeah, it's not worth. It's not worth your life. Chris, what is the greatest advice you've ever received?

22:13Chris Svelnys:On top of, you know, no papers worth getting killed over or spend the night in jail with. Over. But greatest advice, you know, I talked about it before, is just to. Is to treat people the way you want to be treated. It goes so far with. With everything, you know, not just this job, but in your life and period in general. But that is definitely. You know, you want to definitely just be sociable, be friendly, be professional, and that'll just go a long way.

22:39Mighty Mike:This next question, it trips up a lot of people when they come on here. They're not sure how to go about it. But I know that with your awesome skills, the man, the myth, the legend, the Sasquatch of the north.

22:50Chris Svelnys:That's right.

22:51Mighty Mike:What would you do if you woke up today, had all the same skills and knowledge, had no clients, a smartphone, a car, and only $100? What would you do in the next week?

23:02Chris Svelnys:In the next week with just that? I would immediately start making friends with all the local attorney offices, all the local courthouses. The clerks are your best friends at all the courts, the district court, superior court clerk's offices. I can't tell you how much I love all of them over here in the six counties that I cover. They are a huge resource for you. So definitely befriend them. Most of them are good people. A lot of them, you know, can kind of get a little frustrated, you know, with the people they deal with and even servers they deal with. But definitely making revenue generate a lot of business for you. They turn a lot of people your way because they get a bunch of walk ins every day, all different counties, different, either district court. So that'd be like your first step is just to befriend the clerk's offices and then make your way to the attorney's offices and just be very professional, very sociable and have just a, just a good Persona of what you're doing and what you plan to do with your business and you'll see it grow just exponentially.

24:19Mighty Mike:That's awesome, Kris. That's great advice. I have a question. So when you talk about going to clerks and things like that, what is the best way? Because in many counties they don't allow you to, they're not allowed to promote any individual independent contractors or any companies. They usually just send people to the sheriff. Do you find it's different in your county or is there something you're doing that I'm not doing?

24:43Chris Svelnys:You know, some of the courts, they, they actually have business card slots there, your business cards next to the window of the clerk's office windows. You know, generally they're, you know, their rules is they can't give any legal advice to people that are, you know, that's their biggest rule. But as far as referring to people to process servers, I haven't had a problem in any of the counties here in Washington state where they just, they say, hey, you know, check out the servers here. You know, there's a list of, you know, business cards here. And you know, and if you, if you develop more of a better relationship with them, more personal relationship with them, you know, by seeing them every week, day in, day out, they kind of know you personally know, they'll say, hey, this guy He's a good guy, good server, you know, go send the business that way, you know.

25:28Mighty Mike:So, yeah, and I've said this a thousand times, I'll say it again. The court clerks have all the power.

25:33Chris Svelnys:They do.

25:33Mighty Mike:If you go there, if you make an enemy out of a court clerk.

25:37Chris Svelnys:Oh, yeah, we've had our run ins with some of the clerk's offices and you know, even though our favorite clerk's offices, you know, there might be one or two that are just, they're having a bad day and you step on the wrong toe and man, it's no help at all.

25:55Mighty Mike:Yeah, they'll go, you'll show up to their window and I'll take a lunch.

25:59Chris Svelnys:Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Most of them do here, like from 12 to 1, you can't get no. But even if I'm running a little bit late, I can just call a direct number here and there and talk to my favorite person and they'll wait for me and file my paperwork before they go to lunch. So if you're just really friendly with

26:16Mighty Mike:the clerk's offices, that's a really good tip. So what I take most from your story is like we talked about before, you treat others the way you want to be treated. Get out there and make friends with people. Just find situations to be able to grow your network. They say your network is your net worth. You know, if you don't know anybody, nobody knows you. You're probably working a minimum wage job. That's just usually how it works. So that's what I get most from your story. Kris, we're gonna go ahead and wrap it up. What is your parting piece of advice to network?

26:51Chris Svelnys:Treat people with respect, treat your affiliates with respect, your neighboring partners in businesses. We do so much work for neighboring county affiliates of ours and they really, you know, without them, you know, we wouldn't see quite a bit of the business that we do see. And I'm so grateful to just have that kind of connection and networking capabilities with the neighboring affiliates and other serving companies in this state and surrounding counties and just to go out there every day and then, you know, there's no sick days in the shop.

27:24Mighty Mike:So this is not the truth.

27:26Outro:You're in your car for most days, so it's fine. 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 surrounding. 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.

09 - Chris Svelnys | Mighty Process Server

Episode Highlights

Want to Be a Guest?

Need a Process Server?