Unlike a real business you can ask for help from your competition a.k.a fellow Paranormal investigation teams and not just the ones in your area I'm talking about all over the country! Yes you can clap here!
The first thing I did when I was helping a team off the ground is check the internet for help. Some teams have downloadable information for anyone to have, i.e. logbooks, team bylaws, standard questionare forms ect....
Or you can just ask teams by contacting them direct. Since some teams don't like to play well with others. I call them groups (more on that in another blog). You may have to contact multiple teams. I would suggest that you contact at least 10 teams, the more information you amass the better you can get in a shorter amount of time.
For bylaws and questionares pick and choose what you like from all the teams you contact. Also add to them as needed. You may find in a few months or a year or so that you need more questions or a need to eliminate others. I say go for it.
I'm constantly trying to upgrade my questionare. I even have one for kids (still a work in progress).
Electronic paperwork is key. I admit to some fault of my own and to a computer upgrade I lost some files and didn't keep an accurate log of some cases. Shame on me! :(
but due to my hard notes(paper) and my memory of most of the cases I'm in the process of updating the data.
This tip comes from Theresa the Historical Research Manager of Huntington Paranormal Investigations and Research. http://huntingtonparanormal.com/ Theresa has been invaluable to my old group and me when we first started out and kept giving me great advice all along the way as I ventured out to start Windy City Paranormal. Here is her "How to get started advice."
*We also have cool uniform shirts.
*Newbies are mentored and educated and treated with the same respect as oldies. New ideas are welcomed and the whole group gets to have input.
*My boss-guy has helped out other groups when they get in over their heads, like with demonic, so it's always a good idea to keep up a professional relationship with other groups. You might need their help. So don't talk trash, even if trash talk is deserved and they started it.
*No homeowner is going to hire a group that acts like middle school kids. You are not as anonymous on the web as you think...
*Don't charge for investigations.
*Most groups lose members when they realize that it's a lot of boring. Most groups dissolve because of this, too.
*Keep in mind that even the exciting cases on Ghost Hunters have more hours of boring non-action than they do of personal experiences and creepy feelings and disembodied voices. Even when you get evidence, you don't often know about it until you review it. Which can be many hours of boring as well with an occasional flicker on the camera or whisper on audio that makes you feel like you won the Whatever Bowl.. There's lots of sitting around and trying to communicate and the feeling that you are wasting your time, but you owe the client your full attention and time and a professional investigation.
*You will have more cases with no evidence than you will with evidence. You will have to review the hours of no evidence and still keep in touch with the client and present to them your (lack of) findings and do it with respect and sensitivity.
*When you get evidence, you have to know what to do with it. You can't just say, "Oh cool." and leave it at that. Which is where the education and mentoring part comes in.
*Do your homework. Link up with those in your area who are approved by the American Ghost Society, or TAPS. Go out on investigations with a credible group to learn from the veterans. And be respectful of the groups, and the clients as well.
*Getting people to commit the time to make a group work is tough. People don't understand how much back office work it takes for a group to be effective.
Happy hunting from Para Civility!!!!
