So, first off, I agree with everyone else: stick together.

I was fortunate to be operating one of the few "attorney states" in what was considered the Los Angeles of North Carolina, and the surrounding counties, so while a lot of Abstractor's were struggling or competing with India, I was not having to deal with it as bad because no Attorney in their right mind would sign off on an off-shore Abstractor (although I have seen Attorney's do some pretty bad things...very crazy things...I love them though!)

Second, from what I understand Title Search has evolved, like everything else, into the digital age. Be ready to network like crazy, both in person, and online. LinkedIn Premium for example, basically shot my business up from a start up to over 22 active clients including a global account. The other 50% of my companies growth came from being here on Source of Title as well as some other resources. Another aspect? Typed reports. Clients love them. 

More tidbits you ask? Well then: customer service < customer intimacy. I worked at a HIGH BRAND hotel during undergrad so I have a lot of customer-love skills. When I first started, I called up my competition for kicks and giggles as if I was a potential client. As soon as they picked up, this was the response, no joke: "(backwoods accent) Who's this and what do you want?"...I am not even kidding. I used that as the basis: "Thank you for calling ______ this is _______, Director of Operations How may I assist you?". At the end of the call: "If you have any questions or concerns let me know and I will be MORE than happy to assist you. Thank you for your business and have a nice day". Red Bull flowed like water in my office so we had a lot of enthusiasm.

This one drove me, INSANE: I would show up to courthouses and see other "Abstractors" in hats, sneakers, jeans, t-shirts, thongs hanging out. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? If I was going to the courthouse I WAS IN NOTHING LESS than dress slacks and a dress shirt(suits especially if I was working Charlotte Courthouse that day). YOU are the FACE AND VOICE of YOUR COMPANY and its ENTIRE OPERATION. Why on EARTH would you operate IN PUBLIC with POTENTIAL CLIENTS dressed in street clothes?

Also, someone in the thread mentioned they only got the complicated cases. To me, that is a BLESSING IN DISGUISE. I too encountered that, and I came up with an idea my CEO LOVED which was this: every order would start out as a current owner or 2-owner search depending on how the client sent it to us and we would lower the price. However, during our preliminaries if we saw a foreclosure, we raised our price (for example) from a 75 dollar 30-year/foreclosure search to 100-dollars a pop. This especially came in handy with our global client, who on average sent us AT LEAST 9 of those a day: most of what they sent us would turn out to be a foreclosure search conversion. What's that? The search goes beyond 30 years into the 1930s you say? Cha-ching!  I even got a call from that client asking why we kept changing orders to expensive foreclosure orders. The answer was simple: because your policies you sent us mandated we do so. We even gave them 3 months notice of this policy change: not that they even bothered to read it.

Many professional Title Searchers (especially ones that are old school based on my observation) have lost site of the fact that they are business owners, sometimes (like in our case) CORPORATE business owners. Title Search is just part of the equation the other is: client acquisitions, client retention/problem resolution, business development, innovation, creativity, drive, and being PROFESSIONAL (DRESS PROPERLY AT THE COURTHOUSE).

If you do not believe me, that is your choice but these fundamentals I have discussed helped quickly build my business in a span of 1 year and then 2. One potential client called and using these skills, I landed a complicated project from them. Mission accomplished, and it turns out they were one of the largest, if not THE LARGEST litigation firms in the entire state of North Carolina.

 
Title Searchers of the United States: I have given you much ammo. Band together. Be innovative. Be Driven, and SOAR!