Meet Eric Miller of EMI in Bay Area

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Miller.

Eric, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in a small city in Northern California with a wonderful family. Sure I fought with my older brother, not so much with my younger sister, but I had a great childhood with a very loving mother and father who, after some career changes for my dad, both ended up as teachers. I attended California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks and was able to earn a Bachelor of Science in Sports Medicine and a minor in Spanish. During my last semester at school, I realized that the job I had been training for, which was to be an Athletic Trainer, wouldn’t fit the lifestyle I wanted to have. It was a position where I would be busy every day after school and on the weekends, which didn’t mesh knowing I wanted to have a family and wanted to be active in my children’s lives. So move forward a few years and after I moved to Texas with a girlfriend and then moved back, I was a substitute teacher and a server at Red Lobster (which is where I worked through college). Now, you will have to bear with me because this American Dream of mine wasn’t something I had ever planned. It was a choice I had to make to figure out a way to provide long term stability for my family.

Ok, back to the story. I don’t remember what week it was, but I do remember it was a Wednesday in late August in 2003. I was called by the principal of a local high school and was asked to come to an interview for a Spanish teacher as soon as I could. This wasn’t something I applied for, the principal knew me through some random basketball games we would play on Sunday’s and he knew my mother and father. Again, I don’t remember the date, but this was a Wednesday and school started the following Monday. I went to the meeting a few hours later not really knowing what to expect. The school needed a Spanish Teacher to teach four classes and were pressed on time to find someone. They ended up offering me the position that day. The next day I started figuring out how to teach Spanish. I wrote lesson plans, figured out seating charts, grading rubrics and so much more. I ended up teaching Spanish for the next four years. I absolutely loved helping the students grow, loved seeing the light bulbs go off in their heads when they finally understood a concept and to this day still hear the ‘Hey Mr. Miller, is that you?’ in random places. However, I knew that teaching wasn’t something I wanted to do as a career.

At the end of my 2nd year teaching, I started an online program to earn my Master of Business Administration and after finishing teaching in June of 2007, I earned my degree. That winter I worked as a ski bum in Tahoe because I knew that this would be my last winter being able to “play.” In April I began applying to all kinds of businesses in Northern California. Well at that time the economy took a hit and all the companies I was applying for were not able to hire anyone. This is where things got crazy.

I needed a job. I could substitute teach, but that was sporadic work, didn’t pay that well and was not what I wanted to do the rest of my life. I could go back to waiting tables, and would actually make decent money, but again, wasn’t something I wanted to do long term. A good friend of mine worked for a private investigation company and said they needed surveillance investigators and could get me an interview. Now for you to fully understand what this position is here is a brief description: arrive onsite (different locations every day) at 6:00 am (travel was 2 and 3 hours away). Sit in your car until the person we are trying to find walks out of their house. Videotape and follow that person all day until they get home and don’t get caught. Then you drive home and write your report.

Does it sound boring? Because a lot of the time of sitting and waiting it definitely was. And remember, this was before smartphones, Netflix and anything else internet related. And the kicker, the pay was barely above minimum wage. I remember my first day of training. My trainer told me to look out the back window and stare at a garage of the person we were watching and when it opened to let him know. He then laid on the floor of the vehicle and went to sleep. I remember thinking to myself. I have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, I was a teacher for four years and now I am working for barely any money sitting in a car waiting for someone to leave their house. Is this really what I am doing in my life? Well, that all changed once the person we were watching left their house. Following someone in a vehicle without making them aware, following them inside a store, or to a restaurant, or even to a concert/sporting event is extremely exciting! I ended up really liking the job and was very good at it. Though the excitement and adrenaline of the job were amazing, the downside of the job was that I typically worked 65-80 hours a week. I would normally volunteer a 6th day every week to make more money.

After 2.5 years, I ended up being promoted and became an Account Manager. My pay went up and I went from working Monday through Saturday to Monday through Friday and only for 40 hours. While in this position, I met clients, started relationships, learned the industry and helped my office grow by over 200%. Now I’ll fast forward because you don’t need all the details, I tried to land one of the largest accounts in California, knowing full well I wasn’t going to receive any commission on it, (which was fine with me) thinking that account would open doors for many other large accounts to come on board as well. Well my direct manager didn’t like it and decided to fire me.

Luckily within a month, I had a position with another investigation company as a National Account Manager. This company was great for the first two years and then management decided to make some drastic changes. They changed our pay structure, hired a new manager (who didn’t know our industry), changed our weekly schedules, and wanted us to bring in double the amount of business. As I recognized some of the negative actions of the management team, like I had experienced from my previous company, I knew I had to find a long term solution rather than go from company to company every few years.

This brings us to November 17, 2017, the kickoff industry event to the holidays with a huge group of people from the industry. I met a good friend of mine before the event to grab a beer and catch up. This night of nachos and tall Coors Light’s changed my life. As I told my buddy all about what was going on, my thoughts about what was going to happen and how horrible I was feeling, he brought back to life an idea I had a few years earlier about starting my own firm. We talked through the intricacies of barriers of entry, a business plan, financial projections, and operations. We also discussed how I needed to keep my job until I was ready to quit.

Throughout our conversation, I was nervous, excited, but extremely scared. I had two young daughters (3 and 5 at the time) to provide for. However, after the party which ended around midnight, I drove home and brought out a five-year-old computer I hadn’t used in years and began creating a business plan. After countless late nights, talks with a number of friends and mentors and ten months later, I quit my job and started my company.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Absolutely not. How could I tell my family about possibly being fired or forced to quit. I had a mortgage, car bills, credit card bills, and daycare to pay for. How do I keep my job? How do I keep making money for the horrible management team until I was ready to start my company? I had multiple sleepless nights contemplating different scenarios, days of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to try to build up my savings, all while trying to maneuver my way through multiple permitting requirements, obtaining a license, auto insurance, general liability insurance and figuring out a business name. I even drove for Lyft to make some extra cash that I could put away in savings. One of my contingency plans for my company was every day I didn’t have any work. I would drive for Lyft for 10-12 hours a day just to keep our bills paid. This entire time was a struggle.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with EMI – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
EMI is an investigation company. We specialize in insurance investigations to help prevent fraud. The majority of our work is Surveillance with Social Media, Backgrounds, and Statements as well. Our company has been known for producing results when other firms couldn’t. We take the information our clients give us, create an action plan and do all the necessary research for our field investigators to be successful. One thing many of our competitors do is to subcontract work to different investigators who work for multiple firms. I’ve been able to track the results of subcontract investigators compared to our investigators who are employees and EMI’s employees produce results at a much higher rate, for ultimately a lower cost. At EMI our employees are trained internally and given all the tools necessary to succeed.

Beyond that, I learned from my previous companies how to not treat employees and I have made employee morale one of my highest priorities. Working with my employees to do what we can to help with scheduling, benefits, extra shifts, time off, and overall letting them know how much they are appreciated. I know without my team EMI wouldn’t be what it is today. One of my favorite parts of being a business owner thus far was being able to throw a company holiday party to be able to show my appreciation to the team.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the beginning of the year, I started planning for this year and had some lofty goals that were going to be hard to hit but I think we could have. In February, I was able to hire two more employees and we were getting into a really good groove until the Covid-19 crises started. We are hoping to get back into that groove when the restrictions lessen. However, we have had to change with the demand and are figuring out some innovative ways of doing things.

If you are anyone you know would be interested in private investigation work please refer them to our website.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chooseemi.com
• Phone: 707.564.8012
• Email: info@chooseemi.com

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