We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tracie Yamauchi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tracie below.

Tracie, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

Let’s talk about investments in my PI firm, the good the bad and the ugly; actually just the good ones right now. I like to find the silver lining in everything, even what some might call bad investments. For me, it’s just a way to learn and allow others not to make the same mistakes I made. Lets focus on my top three good investments and I have one that is currently in the works. One of the best investment’s will be when I rebranded my company from T and C Protection Firm to Tracie Investigations LLC. I had hired Lawson House, a Branding company to take my vision and put it in a brand. At the time I was operating mostly alone with a few moonlighters and wanted to grow my brand into something larger. I felt this was the first step. The brand design and colors were perfect and truly helped me understand the identity and focus I wanted my Investigations Firm to have!
The second-best investment is offering Tracie Investigations as a franchise. Creating the framework for others who are interested in owning an investigations firm has been an extremely rewarding experience. It is also allowing me to expand our footprint without the need to run multiple offices as once. I am able to coach and mentor individuals to help them become not only licensed private detectives, but also to own their own licensed private investigations company.
The most recent investment was hiring a salaried office manager. This was a huge step for me as a small business owner. With COVID coming to an end, gas prices on the rise and the issues with inflation, I had to review out cash-flow trends often and carefully. I was scared and excited when I made the offer to Caitlin Ginn, both a licensed Private Investigator and a Board-Certified Family Law Paralegal. She has stepped into the role full force and handles client contact, case management and sales. Having her as my office manager gives me the availability to scale my business, which leads to me to my newest endeavor.
Currently I am working on a phone app which will connect clients with Private detectives nationwide. Currently it is entering into Beta testing but should be live for both apple and android users by the beginning of July 2022. The goal is to ensure clients are paired with private investigators nationwide who are able to hand their case appropriately, with a high level of care and within the clients’ budget. We vet, train and verify licensing and backgrounds of all detectives who apply to work through the HireaSpy app. This way the client knows they are getting the same level of care regardless of their situation, budget, or state. I cannot wait for the HireaSpy app to launch and to connect clients with experts, quickly, efficiently, and affordably!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Tracie, I am the Owner and manager of Tracie Investigations. I hold the Agency License and am licensed as a Private Investigator (PI) and PI Continuing Education Instructor. I hold a master’s degree in criminal justice from Tarleton State University and a master’s degree in psychology with a focus on behavior analysis from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Before I got into the business of helping clients through investigations, I served in the active-duty military and still currently serve as a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army Reserves. I am a military intelligence professional. My expertise is in signals intelligence (SIGINT) and I have specialized training as a Language Analyst. I have one combat deployment and have been all over the world including, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Morocco and Kuwait. I truly loved serving on the active duty when I chose to leave and the active duty, I had trouble finding my place as a civilian. This is common for many military personnel who choose to leave the service for one reason or another.

It wasn’t until I met Clifford Ginn, a seasoned PI, by happenstance. In 2015, he took me under his wing, and I became a licensed Private Investigator. That year I worked one of my first emergency cases. A young woman, who was in an abusive and controlling relationship (and her baby), needed help. Cliff had told her (our client), the day before to hide a getaway bag somewhere in the house. That day somehow her abuser had found out she was leaving. He left work and was at the house holding her captive. The police had been called but for some reason, the police were under some sort of spell from the abuser. The police were talking with the abuser as though they were friends. Cliff handed the abuser a restraining order which had been signed by the judge that day. We prepared to leave with our client and her child, but the police wouldn’t have it. Despite having been served a restraining order, he demanded to have the child. The police on scene were GOING TO GIVE HIM THE CHILD! My mind was boggled. Cliff stayed strong and offered moral support to the client reminding her that this was not an order she should comply with and that she must NOT give her child to her abuser. After several hours on scene we were able to reason with the police and finally we escorted our client and her child to safety. This is when I felt, in my soul, that I had found my calling.

As I listened to client needs throughout the years and advised other detectives, I noticed three common issues.
1) Clients often need more than one service in order to have the most complete and informative investigation.
2) Many Private Investigators are ill equipped to handle every aspect of a case due to
– working solo or part-time
– being inexperience or untrained
– operating on obsolete tactics from 30 years ago
3) Private Investigators who do have a niche expertise don’t cater to other aspects of the client’s needs, don’t offer payment options and are usually overpriced or best used for court testimony only.

This is what sets us apart from other Investigations Firms. Here at Tracie Investigations, we have licensed subject matter experts so that every portion of the case is handled appropriately. Whether you need a scent dog or handler, a cyber expert, interview agent or surveillance detective, we have individuals who specialize in those areas.
My goal is to offer investigations that utilize the client’s retainer in a way that yields relevant information the fastest; no going down aimless rabbit-holes here! I understand that most clients have never wanted to or had the need to hire a private detective and I want you to know that myself and our team is here to guide you through every step of the way.

Any advice for managing a team?

I have a wonderful team and each of them have voiced that they enjoy operating with me as their lead. When I was writing my thesis for a master’s degree in psychology, I wanted to understand what made a good leader. I found that good leaders meant high moral and that the leaders ranked high in two of the big five personality traits: agreeableness and consciousness. This moral was linked not only to these leaders, but also impacted effectiveness due to consideration the leaders had of their subordinates. Thus, I ensure that I am thinking of each of my team members, likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses when assigning them cases. Additionally, I ensure they all have a voice. The goal is for them to be able to approach me with their needs so we can resolve issues together and allow them the ability to make their own decisions when need be. I trust them to be creative thinkers and to understand my intent with each case we take.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first got into this line of work, I was fresh out of the active-duty army. I did wonderful operating on my own but was very cut and dry with cases. At one point I took a step back to finish my master’s degree in psychology with a focus on behavior analysis. This was my pivot point. When I returned to a fully operational office, I had new tactics I had learned while earning this degree. I now look at cases in a way that reviews data and trends before making a decision for the case. This has ultimately increased our overall success on cases and as a company. This has also allowed me to stand out as a licensed private detective and has allowed me to write articles for magazines such as PI magazine and teach classes for state associations such as the Texas Association of Licensed Investigators.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hireaspy.org
• Instagram: @hireaspy
• Facebook: Tracie Investigations LLC [@hireaspy]