Prologue

Getting a private detective license is not easy. First, you have to get at least three years or 3,000 hours of investigative experience. This can be done either within a Government body such as a police force or working as an associate under a licensed private investigator. In order to be an associate, an associates license is required. To get this, the following are needed:

Fingerprints, there was a fee

Digital photograph

Proof of High School graduation

$188 in application and processing fees

Notarized release of records form (notarizing cost money)

Online criminal history check, there was a fee

Plan of Supervision form

Five personal references

Then, after the three years is up, this same process – with associated fees – is followed again in order to get the full private detective's license. And then, if the intent was to start a multi-person company, then there were more fees and more forms in order to get a business license. Total elapsed time from desire to be a PI to being a PI is about four years. And that is if a licensed PI was willing to hire you for three years.

Unless you are Scooby Doo.

Scooby's special status with the federal, state, and most local governments as a worldwide minority of one – the world's only talking dog and US citizen – yielded lots of benefits. One of which was cutting through a huge amount of red tape and getting quick resolution of special requests. The special request in question being whether he could use the 134 documented investigations (the scripted episodes did not count) from television to count as his experience requirement. This was adjudicated in 4 working days. The request was granted. Fingerprints were waived for obvious reasons. Application fees were waived and Scooby became a licensed private investigator in just under 3 weeks for a total cost of $38.

Velma, Shaggy, Fred, and Daphne, being run-of-the-mill human beings, were provided no such special status. They were told that their request for special exception due to their documented investigative experience would be heard within about six months. At a total cost of $250 each, they had applied to be associate private investigators and, after six weeks, were still waiting to get their confirmation and license. When they got it, officially, they would be working for Scooby Doo. And they would be being trained by Scooby Doo.

This was a bitter pill to swallow for some of the gang. Some being, of course, all of them. Which led to the great corporate name debates. They had called themselves, Mystery, Inc. from the beginning but never actually incorporated. Fred had originally come up with the name and did not expect there to be any debate that it would become the official name of their agency. Scooby, being the sole licensed professional, disagreed. They ended up officially incorporating under the name of Mystery, Inc. But their business cards all read Scooby Doo Investigations, A Division of Mystery, Inc.

Their previous case had paid them each $10,000 which was an amazing sum for a week's work, but it nearly came at the cost of Velma's sanity. They each paid their personal debts as up to date as possible from the windfall which left them with balances in their savings accounts ranging from a high of $8,422 (Scooby) to a low of $287 (Velma). But, at least Velma's parents were now paid up to date for rent on the bookstore and her apartment. This good news for Velma's parents was tempered with the news that Velma was closing the bookstore and going back to college. Which meant they needed to find a new tenant. Crystal Cove downtown area was going through something of a revitalization and Velma's parents found another tenant quickly in the form of a telephone store. Part of the deal with the store was that Velma was allowed to remain in the apartment. They charged her no rent as their participation in her college costs. This had cost them in monthly rent since neither the telephone store nor their insurance company were pleased that the only entrance and exit to her apartment was through the store. The insurance company added a rider and the cost for that rider came out of the rent. But their daughter was back on track for her dream.

Within a week, the refit began on the store and Velma watched from her apartment window as box after box of books were taken and dumped into a large dumpster brought in for that purpose. She picked up the empty box that had sat for weeks on the floor next to her last remaining lab equipment, walked it down to the dumpster and thrown it in. The lab equipment was going nowhere.

Pooling their bank accounts, the gang started the enterprise with a total of $24,987 in assets. The $1,038 in licensing fees and then another $250 for the business license, left them $23,699. College start-up costs for Velma and minimal rainy-day funds for the others took another $4,287 which left them a total $19,412. Rental space for the smallest possible office which would fit them all (500 SF) was $2,000 per month plus utilities. They priced out computers and used furniture and that came to $17,000. Internet and other utilities would be about $1000 per month.

The end result of the above exercise was that Scooby Doo Investigations, A Division of Mystery, Inc. was founded and began business on the kitchen counter in Fred and Daphne's house. They were yet again violating zoning ordinances as for a business to be located in a single-family residence in Crystal Cove, it could have no employees from outside of the family.

The painful part now began. They had to start spending money out of their meager $19,412. Business cards cost $50. So far, so good. Getting the website designed and launched was $4,875 with the discount from a previous mystery client. That hurt.

They then began a phone call campaign to attorneys and insurance companies in the surrounding six counties which included Riley, the biggest city in the area, and received the same question from them all. Were they insured against on-the-job injuries of their employees and were they willing to sign a hold-harmless agreement. The insurance requirements stipulated by their most-likely employers were $300 per month per employee which was $1500 per month.

Adding all of the costs together demonstrated that they needed to be bringing in a steady revenue stream of about $50,000 per month within 9 months, or it was not going to work.

To obtain this revenue stream, they would have to bill themselves out at $80 per hour and each be billable at least 75% of the time. Fred made a few phone calls and batted ideas around with Daphne and decided that they would bill Scooby out at $120 per hour since he was fully licensed which brought his required utilization rate down. They also decided that they would require a nonrefundable upfront payment of $420 for a new case which would cover the first four hours after which the client would be billed hourly. All of this seemed to be in keeping with their one competitor in Crystal Cove and their many competitors in Riley.

But they were in business.