Astute Public Records

Me: I think the booth looks pretty good. Chance: I think it looks we set it up. Come by and see us at the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) Mid year conference!

Three years ago this weekend, I proudly announced the launch of Astute Public Records. These past three years have been some of the most rewarding and enjoyable of my 25+ years in the industry. While expertise in something is valuable when starting a business, being a successful business owner requires knowledge in many areas. I had to learn a lot about many topics that I was not well versed in, including healthcare benefits, indemnification clauses, and the I-9 process.?I now know more than I ever wanted to about all of them. However, the success of Astute has little to do with me. I attribute 100% of our success to the incredible team here at Astute. The core group that joined me left secure jobs to be part of a startup with no guaranteed success. Every new team member since then has shared a common belief in our vision and has enthusiastically contributed their expertise to help us build what I believe is the best wholesale screening company in the industry (though I might be biased). I would mention each team member by name, but they all share a dislike for social media. They know who they are, and I am forever grateful for their contributions. I also want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our customers who have entrusted us with their criminal searches. Our mission is to help our customers grow, and we have succeeded in doing just that for many of our clients. Reflecting on our clients, I realized that over 90% of them came through referrals. To everyone in the industry who referred clients to us, I cannot thank you enough.?I am a simple man who knows very little about sales and marketing. Word of mouth and providing great service is how we survive. ? That's it for my big anniversary speech. Thank you for reading. If you will be at the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) mid-year conference this weekend, please stop by our booth and say hello, especially if we haven't met yet. The biggest lesson I've learned from starting Astute is that you can never have too many friends in the industry.

If you're heading to Arlington, VA this weekend for the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) mid-year conference, I look forward to seeing you there! You won't have to search hard for Chance Cogdill or me, as we'll be at the very first booth you see when you enter the exhibit hall. Please stop by and say hello. For those arriving a bit early, we'll still be easy to find. On Saturday evening, we'll be at the hotel bar (shocking, I know). If you're around, join us for a relaxing evening before the conference kicks off. #PBSA #BACKGROUNDCHECKS #WEAREASTUTE

People ask me all the time what I believe our strong areas are.?It doesn’t matter what I think.?Our clients are the ones that decide what areas we are strong in.?These are the highest volume statewide criminal searches that we have run so far this year with their turnaround times (in hours): Maryland: 2.66 hours New York: 16.66 hours New Jersey: 8.96 hours Pennsylvania: 1.89 hours Oklahoma: 2.31 hours North Carolina: 3.07 hours Kansas: 16.27 hours Michigan: 10.60 hours Illinois: 14.93 hours Washington: 10.68 hours Are these turnaround times faster than what you are currently experiencing??We can beat your current pricing and we can beat your current turnaround times!?All you have to do is email Chance Cogdill ([email protected]) and we will get you set up today. We are integrated with Accio, Digital Delve, Deverus, and Tazworks. If you are coming to the @PBSA mid-year conference, please stop by and see us at our booth.?We will be the first thing you see when you walk into the exhibit hall. #PBSA #WEAREASTUTE

That's a wrap for 2024! Unless, of course, you have some epic plans for this evening. As for me, I'll likely be heading to bed at a reasonable hour and enjoying sleeping in tomorrow morning, which I'm quite excited about. On a personal note, 2024 threw a few challenges my way, but nothing I couldn't handle. I know there are folks out there dealing with much bigger issues, so I'll just count my blessings and leave it at that. Professionally, it was a great year. Astute Public Records continues to grow, adding some of the most experienced professionals in the industry to our team. I couldn't be prouder of the team we've built here. They are the best of the best. I try to tell them frequently how much I appreciate them, but I can never do it enough. Astute wouldn't have gotten off the ground without the brilliant folks working here. Of course, I must take a moment to show some love for our clients. We more than doubled our number of clients in 2024, with the vast majority coming through referrals. So many people have helped us grow, and I just want to say thank you to all of them. A big thank you to all of our clients. Our sole focus remains on helping our clients grow their business. If you're considering adding any new criminal records researchers in 2025, I hope you'll consider Astute Public Records. If not, we'll wait until you're ready. We don't do a lot of hard selling here; we don't need to. Our service sells itself. I hope you all have a joyous and safe New Year, whatever that means for you. I'm looking forward to meeting the challenges of 2025 and continuing to forge new relationships in the screening industry. If you work in the screening industry and we're not connected here on LinkedIn, let's fix that. Happy New Year! #WEAREASTUTE #BACKGROUNDSCREENING #BACKGROUNDCHECKS