Starting a Bail Bond Business

Bail_Bonds

First of all, what are they?

Bail bond companies, such as Amistad Bail Bonds, pay the money the courts are asking to free a suspect back into the community (for a fee of their own) until his or her trial starts when he or her, or their family, cannot raise the amount themselves. Basically, they are like knights in shining armor that come swooping in in order to protect a person from themselves in prison, or to give them the chance to really get themselves together before their impending court date.

Where to run your business from

You could run your bail bond company from an office, but you could just as easily run it from you home. In fact, running it from your home might be the ideal choice, at least at first, especially if you do not have a high number of employees working for you, as it would save on costs. But, if you were to start your bail bond company from home, you’d have to ensure you definitely had certain things. You’d need a dedicated and-line used for business purposes, as well as a dedicated fax line. You’d need computers, printers and scanners that are trustworthy and relatively modern. You’d need a postage machine. You’d need to set up an answering service, both on your phone and your email, to let people that try to contact you out of hours that you will be in touch as soon as. And you need a website that is always up and running — to ensure this is the case, enlist the service of an uptime robot, such as UptimeRobot.

You need all of these things because, like any other home-based business, you need to look and be as professional as can be in order to beat the stigma of working from home being deemed as unprofessional. You also need these things at home because being a bail bondsman means you are liable to be hit with business demands at any point, because suspects could get realised from prison at any point. No, this doesn’t mean working all day and night and being on call. This just means that during your working hours you are always willing and able to take the business that comes your way, and have the resources to do just that.

Target a market and hone in on your USP

Although bail bond companies are in a very specific market, you will still have to target a specific market and hone in on your own unique selling point (USP) just like any other business. What this means is that you should target specific kinds of cases that you are willing to deal with in regards to the justice system, such as abuse allegations, fraud allegations, battery allegations or DUI convictions. You could choose your target cases just on personal preference, depending on what your own beliefs are in regards to certain things. Or, you could choose your target cases based on the statistics in your geographical area; for instance, if your business is based in an area where a certain type of case is more rife than another, then go for the one that is more rife as that will draw you more business.

By doing this, you will instantly forge the DNA of your business as this will be what your business is known for. And, in part, you will also be creating your USP, too. But, you won’t yet be honing in on it. No, to do that you’re going to have to do a lot more. For instance, you’re going to have to really tap into your chosen market and make certain things available to your potential customers; this, for example, could be the promise to give a certain amount of money back to them if they do in fact appear for their court case and do not flee.

Advertise your business

It may sound redundant to mention that you must advertise your business, but as a bail bond company you absolutely must do this. You must do this because, quite frankly, most people still do not believe such companies exist or can help them.

When it comes to advertising your business, you should be thankful that pretty much anybody could come to you a a customer, as anybody could find themselves in trouble with the law — of, course, other people’s misfortune is not something to be thankful for, this is just a figure of speech. More to the point, then, you should be thankful for the fact that you do not have to do anything explicitly different or difficult when it comes to advertising — you can take the usual routes. This means you can utilize all the usual advertising techniques, such as billboard branding and search engine optimisation (SEO).

How much capital and funds in general do you need to start the venture?

After doing all of the above, you could find yourself starting this type of business with as little as $10,000 (which really is little when it comes to business starting). If you then go on to spend around the $1000 mark in advertising per month, you’ll find yourself frequently and consistently making this money back; in the not-too-distant long run, you’ll even begin to start making a profit.

The biggest thing you should consider when it comes to your funds is the actual bonds you will be writing and paying. First of all, make sure you can pay the bond you promise to pay. Second of all, make sure you get legal clarifications in regards to the collateral you hold on any bonds that you pay, because if the suspect you pay for flees, you will have to pay the bond in full anyway. In to stop yourself being out of pocket then, make sure you have lawful monetary collateral to back you up.

Starting a bail bond business, or venturing into the bail bond sector with your current business, may not ever have been something you have considered before, but it should be. It should be because there is big business to be made in it!

For stonewall advice on starting a business, make sure to check out this article.

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