Welcome to another edition of Issues and Answers. 00:00:31.45\00:00:33.65 What an exciting program we have 00:00:33.69\00:00:35.17 for you today. We have a real 00:00:35.20\00:00:36.61 live private investigator who has 25 years of experiences and 00:00:36.65\00:00:41.14 has solved 9600 cases in the city of New York of all places. 00:00:41.18\00:00:45.63 Join us. We are so excited to have Mr. Ashley Cobb. 00:00:45.67\00:00:49.69 Welcome to our program, Ashley. It's a pleasure to have you 00:00:49.72\00:00:52.47 today. Thank you. What an exciting story you have to tell 00:00:52.50\00:00:55.80 us I'm sure. Yes. First I'm just really wanting to know, 00:00:55.83\00:00:59.71 how did you get started in becoming a private investigator? 00:00:59.75\00:01:03.60 Well Karen that's a long story. We don't have time to tell all 00:01:03.64\00:01:07.46 of it but I will tell you some 00:01:07.50\00:01:09.13 of it. When I was a young man, probably as a youth, I always 00:01:09.17\00:01:13.24 wanted to be a private investigator or an actor, but... 00:01:13.27\00:01:17.25 An actor? Yes, I always wanted to be that, that was my 00:01:17.28\00:01:21.35 dream to become an actor, but after moving to New York City, 00:01:21.38\00:01:26.13 and seeing how things were going private investigator became the 00:01:26.17\00:01:31.47 the major driving force in my life. So I took some courses at 00:01:31.51\00:01:36.19 nights started as an insurance investigator and on and on 00:01:36.22\00:01:40.87 until here I am today. 00:01:40.90\00:01:42.30 Well now tell me, did you grow up in the city of New York? 00:01:42.34\00:01:44.86 No I didn't grow up in New York. I grew up in the South. I grew 00:01:44.89\00:01:51.28 up on a farm in south Georgia. My parents were poor share 00:01:51.32\00:01:55.31 croppers. How many in your family? 00:01:55.34\00:01:59.50 Well at the time there were 10 children and I was the oldest. 00:01:59.53\00:02:02.91 So that's a lot of responsibility when 00:02:02.95\00:02:05.35 you're the oldest. Oh yes. My parents made me 00:02:05.39\00:02:08.28 responsible for the actions or raising them. Dad used to tell 00:02:08.31\00:02:12.64 me, he says now when your brothers and sisters are doing 00:02:12.67\00:02:17.33 something like the chores or taking care of farm duties, I'm 00:02:17.37\00:02:21.88 going to hold you responsible. As I grew up I realized maybe 00:02:21.91\00:02:26.54 that's what caused me to be a leader today because I was given 00:02:26.57\00:02:31.16 that responsibility at a very young age. 00:02:31.19\00:02:33.74 Now what type of farming did your family do? 00:02:33.78\00:02:36.26 In South Georgia my father planted and grew tobacco, 00:02:36.29\00:02:45.16 cotton, corn and peanuts. So those were the major crops that 00:02:45.20\00:02:50.67 he grew. This is how we survived off what we could raise and sell 00:02:50.71\00:02:55.93 at the end of the year. 00:02:55.96\00:02:57.51 So now tell me, as the son of a share cropper, it sounds like 00:02:57.55\00:03:03.53 you had a wide rotation of crops 00:03:03.57\00:03:05.30 Oh yes. Year around farming. So did you have time to do much 00:03:05.33\00:03:13.02 schooling? Yes we had time for schooling. 00:03:13.06\00:03:16.21 We had time but much of it was in work. There was about nine 00:03:16.24\00:03:21.83 months of schooling. Many times we had to miss days from school 00:03:21.87\00:03:26.92 in order to harvest the crops. During those years that was the 00:03:26.95\00:03:31.85 thing. Share croppers would have a lot of children and the 00:03:31.88\00:03:37.42 children were to help cultivate the crops and do all that. 00:03:37.45\00:03:42.91 So there was time for schooling but during those days we missed 00:03:42.95\00:03:46.33 a lot of days from schooling. 00:03:46.37\00:03:47.92 So you had no problem finishing your education all the way from 00:03:47.95\00:03:50.45 kindergarten through high school? 00:03:50.49\00:03:51.98 Well I don't know anything about kindergarten. In those days 00:03:52.02\00:03:54.75 there wasn't anything like kindergarten. I'd say from first 00:03:54.79\00:03:59.21 grade. When I was around ninth or tenth grade, I dropped out of 00:03:59.25\00:04:04.40 school. In fact, my parents were very disappointed about that. 00:04:04.43\00:04:09.55 But after leaving the farm I decided that it was the best 00:04:09.58\00:04:14.13 thing that I finish school, so I went to school at nights and 00:04:14.16\00:04:18.67 I was able to finish my high school working at night. 00:04:18.70\00:04:24.08 Now what made you drop out of school? You know we have a high 00:04:24.11\00:04:27.97 dropout rate with a lot of young people around the world. 00:04:28.00\00:04:32.42 Was there something in your life at that time where you 00:04:32.46\00:04:36.84 decided that school was not for you at the moment? 00:04:36.87\00:04:39.16 Well let me put it this way. I always loved school but the 00:04:39.20\00:04:44.43 great responsibilities say in the 50s and early 60s of living 00:04:44.46\00:04:50.35 on a farm, we were poor share croppers, I missed days from 00:04:50.39\00:04:55.25 school. See I was the oldest one in my family that dropped out 00:04:55.29\00:05:00.09 of high school. But being the oldest my responsibility was 00:05:00.12\00:05:04.64 great. I had to deal with my younger brothers and my younger 00:05:04.67\00:05:09.51 sisters. There were crops to be planted and we'd spend long 00:05:09.55\00:05:14.78 hours in the fields working. I guess I was young and I became 00:05:14.81\00:05:20.05 frustrated and I said look I just don't want this. I want to 00:05:20.08\00:05:24.27 do something better. But as I got older I realized it was a 00:05:24.31\00:05:29.32 mistake. Today that's no excuse for any youth dropping out of 00:05:29.35\00:05:34.20 school. Usually when I give my motivational speech I talk about 00:05:34.23\00:05:38.59 how a person can pick themselves up by the bootstrap and pull 00:05:38.63\00:05:42.92 themselves up. Very seldom that I would talk about dropping out 00:05:42.95\00:05:47.31 of high school because some young people may say oh yeah 00:05:47.34\00:05:50.48 well Ashley made it so I can do the same thing. You can't do 00:05:50.52\00:05:53.62 that. Your education comes first because education opens the 00:05:53.65\00:05:57.19 doors for an individual to climb the ladder of success. 00:05:57.23\00:06:01.82 So then from Georgia how did you make it to New York City? 00:06:01.86\00:06:06.42 The Big Apple. Well in those days, Carol, it 00:06:06.45\00:06:10.79 wasn't called The Big Apple. No, it was New York City. 00:06:10.82\00:06:15.39 I had an aunt living in New York City and I always was ambitious 00:06:15.42\00:06:20.24 and motivated. I wanted to be a movie actor, a rock-n-roll 00:06:20.28\00:06:24.72 singer. So you sing? No I don't sing; I was going to learn to 00:06:24.76\00:06:30.45 sing. I wanted to have a good time. I wanted to be a rich 00:06:30.49\00:06:36.11 individual because I was tired of just working on the farm and 00:06:36.14\00:06:43.29 just being poor so the bright lights caught my 00:06:43.32\00:06:48.40 attention. So as soon as I reached 18 I kind of sneaked 00:06:48.43\00:06:53.50 away from home without my parents' permission and I came 00:06:53.54\00:06:58.63 to New York. My dad was upset, but I assured him that even 00:06:58.66\00:07:03.66 though I was living in New York City I would do what a son was 00:07:03.70\00:07:08.83 raised to do. See I was very religious, very Christian, in 00:07:08.86\00:07:14.14 those days and so when I got there I got a job. 00:07:14.18\00:07:17.59 See I was dreaming about making it 00:07:17.62\00:07:19.30 big so this is what brought me to New York City, the bright 00:07:19.33\00:07:22.23 lights. I thought you could come 00:07:22.27\00:07:24.01 to New York City and you know and pick money off the street 00:07:24.05\00:07:27.22 or pick it off trees, that it 00:07:27.26\00:07:29.17 grew on trees but I soon 00:07:29.21\00:07:30.80 realized that wasn't the fact. So would come by success which 00:07:30.83\00:07:36.34 would come by me studying hard and taking God on and let him 00:07:36.38\00:07:41.01 direct my life. Without God I would never would have made it 00:07:41.05\00:07:44.95 this far. I probably would have made it. Maybe I would have made 00:07:44.99\00:07:48.86 it in rock-n-roll field, maybe a movie actor but I could 00:07:48.89\00:07:52.62 have wound up on drugs or some other or alcoholic. I'm not 00:07:52.66\00:07:56.61 saying everybody does that but I know in my case life was too 00:07:56.64\00:08:00.31 great for me without putting in the Creator and letting him 00:08:00.34\00:08:03.98 direct me wherever I may go. 00:08:04.01\00:08:06.77 So now you're 18, you've arrived 00:08:06.81\00:08:09.53 in New York to stay with 00:08:09.57\00:08:10.78 relatives and now what was your first job? 00:08:10.82\00:08:13.34 When I came to New York it was a Saturday morning before day and 00:08:13.37\00:08:21.32 I had an aunt who was religious and it was Sabbath morning. 00:08:21.35\00:08:24.77 She was a Seventh-day Adventist? 00:08:24.81\00:08:26.24 Oh yes, she was Seventh-day Adventist and I wasn't. 00:08:26.28\00:08:29.81 She would call me son. I was young and she would call me son 00:08:29.85\00:08:33.03 because she always treated me like she was my mother because 00:08:33.06\00:08:37.31 she was my father's oldest sister. That Saturday morning I 00:08:37.35\00:08:41.53 arrived at her house. I'll never forget that Karen. That was back 00:08:41.56\00:08:46.15 in Red Hooks and she lived there in the projects and I arrived 00:08:46.19\00:08:49.82 about 5 o'clock in the morning and she says I know that you're 00:08:49.86\00:08:53.02 tired so you can lie down and get some rest. So I thought I 00:08:53.05\00:08:56.16 was going to be able to sleep all day. So around about 8 00:08:56.20\00:08:58.88 o'clock she came in there and tapped me on the shoulder and 00:08:58.92\00:09:02.09 she says, son it's time to get up. We worship on Sabbath. 00:09:02.12\00:09:05.22 And I said what is Sabbath? She said you know we go to church. 00:09:05.26\00:09:09.87 I was always obedient and so I got up and got dressed and I 00:09:09.90\00:09:13.84 went to church with them. We were out about 12:30 or 1:00. 00:09:13.87\00:09:17.95 As we were walking back to the house I looked and I saw this 00:09:17.99\00:09:22.35 factory and a sign that they needed help. They manufactured 00:09:22.39\00:09:26.68 Christmas cards so I went in and I applied for a job and the guy 00:09:26.71\00:09:31.08 said well I don't have time now but you can come back Monday 00:09:31.11\00:09:35.15 morning. I was eager to get a job because I did not want to be 00:09:35.19\00:09:39.70 on anyone's hand. I'm a very independent person, very proud 00:09:39.74\00:09:43.73 of myself. I thought my aunt didn't see me, but as I was 00:09:43.76\00:09:47.69 coming out she said I want to talk to you. Son on Sabbath we 00:09:47.72\00:09:51.51 don't look for jobs. God will take care of that and I'm saying 00:09:51.54\00:09:55.83 to myself, well I need a job now. She kind of talked to me 00:09:55.86\00:09:59.82 nice and she says now the Lord will take care of you. That 00:09:59.86\00:10:03.61 Monday morning when I got up I walked around in the same 00:10:03.65\00:10:08.28 location and I was hired. I packed Christmas cards for $48 00:10:08.32\00:10:12.10 a week. I remember coming back and telling her, I said Aunt 00:10:12.13\00:10:15.64 Becky, I have a job, I have a job. She was very proud of me. 00:10:15.67\00:10:19.04 She says will I'm glad of that because many times young people 00:10:19.08\00:10:22.15 come here and they stay on relatives and they have to take 00:10:22.18\00:10:25.18 care of them. I see that you're ambitious. So I had a job within 00:10:25.22\00:10:28.38 three days after I arrived in New York. 00:10:28.42\00:10:30.71 Praise the Lord. It's not easy to find work sometimes, a lot 00:10:30.75\00:10:34.39 of times. No it's not. But if you're 00:10:34.42\00:10:35.82 ambitious and I knew that wanted to go places I wasn't going to 00:10:35.85\00:10:39.83 stay in a factory. My dream still was to become a rock-n- 00:10:39.87\00:10:44.14 roll singer. My aunt did not agree with that. She would tell 00:10:44.17\00:10:50.64 me not son let me explain. Now all the breath that Satan gives 00:10:50.67\00:10:55.94 you to sing then you sing, now if he gave you any. Now all the 00:10:55.98\00:11:01.09 breath that God gives you then you use it for his glory to 00:11:01.12\00:11:05.28 glorify him. And I'm trying to figure and I'm all caught 00:11:05.32\00:11:09.36 between that I cannot be a Christian and be part of the 00:11:09.40\00:11:13.38 rock-n-roll world. I was seeing the money and all that you know. 00:11:13.41\00:11:17.36 But when you're young you think a little different. As years 00:11:17.39\00:11:21.77 have gone by I think different. That was some 35-40 years ago. 00:11:21.81\00:11:27.18 So then you got your first job working in a factory. Yes. And 00:11:27.21\00:11:32.55 how long did you stay there? 00:11:32.58\00:11:34.13 I stayed there, it was a season, so after Christmas you don't 00:11:34.17\00:11:39.12 need Christmas cards. That was probably October when I arrived 00:11:39.15\00:11:44.26 in New York until April; that's when they closed the factory 00:11:44.30\00:11:50.24 and my cousin's husband invited me and said why don't you come 00:11:50.27\00:11:56.18 over and live with us for a while. I heard that you're an 00:11:56.21\00:11:58.84 ambitious young man and you get jobs so we don't have to worry 00:11:58.88\00:12:01.55 about you laying up on us. So I went over and stayed with 00:12:01.59\00:12:05.52 them so they gave me the key to the house after all the 00:12:05.55\00:12:09.55 instructions you know. This is a God-fearing house and we 00:12:09.59\00:12:13.52 believe in the Lord. Now I had no problem dealing with that so 00:12:13.56\00:12:17.45 they went to work. My cousin who didn't work went shopping. 00:12:17.49\00:12:21.35 And I decided to take a walk through the neighborhood. 00:12:21.38\00:12:25.30 In New York at that time you had factories all the way around. 00:12:25.33\00:12:28.21 It was a residential and a commercial area. So I walked 00:12:28.24\00:12:31.81 down and the first factory I walked in and I told the manager 00:12:31.85\00:12:35.14 of the factory I was looking for a job. He said come on in, do 00:12:35.17\00:12:38.42 we have work for you. So I worked there. We were making 00:12:38.46\00:12:41.81 baby carriages and doll carriages. I worked there for 00:12:41.85\00:12:45.13 about six months. That was in April and in July it closed and 00:12:45.17\00:12:50.31 I was able to go back home to visit my parents for a vacation. 00:12:50.35\00:12:55.39 You know I had a pocket full of money and nice clothes to wear 00:12:55.42\00:12:59.82 and my parents said well Ashley is doing fine in New York. I was 00:12:59.85\00:13:04.21 feeling good about myself and I think my parents were too 00:13:04.24\00:13:07.27 because I was able to give my mother some money. She loved 00:13:07.30\00:13:10.26 New York then because each week I would take a part of my check, 00:13:10.29\00:13:14.05 knowing that they were having a difficult time living in the 00:13:14.09\00:13:17.29 south, because many years Dad would work and he didn't make 00:13:17.33\00:13:21.95 anything. So I think my $10-15 a week made a difference as I 00:13:21.98\00:13:26.57 worked in New York. So that motivated me to keep a job 00:13:26.60\00:13:28.81 thinking about my parents and siblings back home. 00:13:28.84\00:13:34.10 So now from those jobs how did you get into PI work, 00:13:34.14\00:13:39.36 private investigative work? 00:13:39.40\00:13:41.07 I knew you were going to ask that. 00:13:41.11\00:13:43.14 And we were hoping we have time for a good story. 00:13:43.18\00:13:44.73 Okay, one day in a factory I was working. I kept getting 00:13:44.76\00:13:51.62 closer to my rock-n-roll field. I got a job in a get to where 00:13:51.66\00:13:56.67 they manufactured guitars and so when we manufactured guitars 00:13:56.70\00:14:00.69 we made guitars for Bo Dylan and all the rock-n-roll singers 00:14:00.73\00:14:05.53 so my job was when they put the guitar together it's done in 00:14:05.56\00:14:10.07 such a magnificent way. They would paint it after it was put 00:14:10.10\00:14:13.92 together, assembled together and my job was to sand the paint 00:14:13.95\00:14:18.42 down and make it smooth so you can put a coat shellac on it. 00:14:18.45\00:14:22.73 During that time I was standing there sanding my guitar at a 00:14:22.77\00:14:26.79 table and you see these two tall handsome gentlemen with black 00:14:26.82\00:14:31.40 suits and red ties in those days and they were walking, they were 00:14:31.44\00:14:35.98 stepping. One was the plant manager and the other was the 00:14:36.01\00:14:39.72 engineer. So the plant manager stopped and he focused his eyes 00:14:39.76\00:14:42.90 on the job I was doing and he says, you see there that's an 00:14:42.93\00:14:47.25 unskilled job. Wow. That went home. It suddenly dawned on me 00:14:47.29\00:14:52.11 that my labor was unskilled, I wasn't important, and that hurt 00:14:52.15\00:14:57.25 very much. I made up my mind that day, I said, the next time 00:14:57.28\00:15:02.77 that I get a job no one will ever be able to say his job is 00:15:02.80\00:15:08.34 unskilled; it doesn't pay much. So a few weeks later I was 00:15:08.38\00:15:12.79 reading the newspaper. I always took a newspaper to work and 00:15:12.82\00:15:17.16 I would read it on my lunch time and I saw this sign in the print 00:15:17.20\00:15:22.77 How would you like to be an insurance investigator and 00:15:22.81\00:15:26.51 adjustor? Good salary, a car to drive and expenses. And I said 00:15:26.55\00:15:32.24 wow, that's for me. I immediately got on the phone 00:15:32.28\00:15:36.96 and called up the school and asked them all the details and 00:15:37.00\00:15:41.14 they said okay, we'll send you some literature on it. So a few 00:15:41.17\00:15:45.28 days later I received the literature and I read it and I 00:15:45.31\00:15:48.85 liked everything that I read and the entire course, I think, for 00:15:48.88\00:15:52.81 four months was $160 and I had about $180 in the bank. 00:15:52.85\00:15:57.79 So instead of paying the store man, the next day I went to the 00:15:57.82\00:16:02.50 bank and drew out $160 and I was the first one at class that 00:16:02.53\00:16:07.49 night. I paid my tuition in full ready to start learning 00:16:07.52\00:16:12.41 to be an insurance investigator. That night we enrolled and the 00:16:12.44\00:16:18.04 instructor was telling us they had the experienced 00:16:18.07\00:16:20.69 investigators telling us how they conduct surveillance and 00:16:20.73\00:16:23.76 how they could do this. One investigator said he had this 00:16:23.80\00:16:26.77 guy on the workers' compensation surveillance and the client was 00:16:26.80\00:16:31.12 selling fish. He told the insurance company that he 00:16:31.15\00:16:33.70 couldn't work. So he caught the guy and the guy was running down 00:16:33.74\00:16:36.83 the street with the fish bucket trying to get away from him to 00:16:36.86\00:16:40.05 say sure that he couldn't work. I was all excited about that and 00:16:40.09\00:16:43.24 so on and on. So we continued and one night the instructor 00:16:43.28\00:16:47.35 called me out and he said Ashley I want to talk to you. He said 00:16:47.38\00:16:51.57 unless you do something about your English grammar you will 00:16:51.60\00:16:56.03 never make an investigator or adjustor. He was very serious. 00:16:56.07\00:17:00.90 That was discouraging because I thought I talked all right, but 00:17:00.93\00:17:04.85 I guess my talk was from Georgia certainly it was different from 00:17:04.88\00:17:08.77 the people in the east and especially in New York City. 00:17:08.80\00:17:12.06 But I didn't let that stop me. I says, I'm not going to let 00:17:12.09\00:17:15.63 that stop me. So I continued with the class and I checked 00:17:15.67\00:17:19.24 around and I found a school at nights that had an English 00:17:19.27\00:17:22.81 program. So I took the English course and I was able to 00:17:22.84\00:17:26.29 complete the insurance investigation course. 00:17:26.32\00:17:30.20 So after I completed I thought I would just go out and get a 00:17:30.24\00:17:34.45 job right away. The doors were going to be open. But that was 00:17:34.49\00:17:38.73 totally different. I took some other part time jobs, driving 00:17:38.76\00:17:43.31 taxis in order to get the job that I wanted. It was like I 00:17:43.34\00:17:47.85 had gone to every insurance company in New York City. 00:17:47.88\00:17:50.02 I sent out I guess approximately 50 or 60 letters and 100s of 00:17:50.06\00:17:54.34 telephone calls. They would say well I'm sorry we don't have 00:17:54.37\00:17:57.97 anything. You fill out the application... Don't you call us 00:17:58.01\00:18:01.71 we'll call you and I just knew that my English grammar was 00:18:01.75\00:18:05.42 getting in the way. I just kept dreaming and I was frustrated 00:18:05.45\00:18:09.97 and I kept praying Lord, I've taken the course and I want a 00:18:10.00\00:18:15.02 job in my desired field. So one day I was walking down a street 00:18:15.06\00:18:20.07 in Brooklyn and I saw this sign over an office building. It read 00:18:20.10\00:18:25.75 insurance company. My mind says why don't you go up and apply 00:18:25.79\00:18:30.82 for a job. Then the thought came back and says well you've been 00:18:30.85\00:18:34.80 there. You've gone every place so why should you go up there? 00:18:34.84\00:18:39.02 But I decided to go up anyway. I walked up and the receptionist 00:18:39.06\00:18:43.21 asked me well what did I come for? I said I would like to 00:18:43.24\00:18:47.82 apply for a job as an insurance adjustor. I just said it all in 00:18:47.86\00:18:51.86 a resonant manner like I know what I'm talking about and she 00:18:51.90\00:18:55.92 says okay. She handed me an application and said fill it out 00:18:55.95\00:18:59.63 and I completed the application. She took it and said will you 00:18:59.67\00:19:02.87 have a seat. The president of the company will see you. He's 00:19:02.91\00:19:06.08 in a meeting. So about 20 minutes later or so this 00:19:06.11\00:19:09.09 handsome guy came out. I guess he was a little taller than me; 00:19:09.12\00:19:11.78 I considered myself to be short. 00:19:11.81\00:19:13.19 He was well dressed in this black, I think, Botany 500. 00:19:13.22\00:19:18.31 In those days that was a suit for $200. He was dressed up and 00:19:18.35\00:19:22.93 he was a wealthy man. He owned the company. He said come in and 00:19:22.97\00:19:26.97 sit down and talk with me. He reared back and I guess he was 00:19:27.00\00:19:30.41 middle age, well experienced with a little salt and pepper 00:19:30.44\00:19:33.77 hair, you know, he knew what he was talking about. He says what 00:19:33.81\00:19:37.98 can I do for you. I said sir I came and I would like to be 00:19:38.01\00:19:41.48 hired by you as an insurance investigator and adjustor. 00:19:41.51\00:19:44.91 He said will I'll tell you what sign your name. I always had a 00:19:44.95\00:19:48.35 beautiful handwriting. Son tell me what you know about insurance 00:19:48.39\00:19:51.76 adjusting. So I go to tell him what I learned in school. 00:19:51.80\00:19:55.20 He sat patiently and listened to me and after I finished he 00:19:55.24\00:19:57.94 said you don't know anything about insurance investigation 00:19:57.97\00:20:01.14 and adjusting. And I was shocked. He said but I tell you 00:20:01.17\00:20:04.27 what, I'll teach you if you're willing to learn. I said yes sir 00:20:04.30\00:20:09.99 I'm willing to learn. How much do you want a week. I said $85. 00:20:10.03\00:20:14.92 He said no I tell you I'll give you $75. He said I have an 00:20:14.96\00:20:19.78 experienced adjustor. I'll never forget that man, Augustus 00:20:19.82\00:20:23.75 Taylor. He's deceased now but Gus was a middle age man and he 00:20:23.79\00:20:28.91 assigned me to Augustus Taylor. Boy, he had us all over New York 00:20:28.95\00:20:34.77 City. Truckers have accidents every day; they back into some 00:20:34.81\00:20:40.39 car, running into some building, etc. He gave me a work load and 00:20:40.42\00:20:44.57 I would be out there interviewing the people, Karen, 00:20:44.60\00:20:48.22 and when I started writing my statement... You see being an 00:20:48.26\00:20:51.79 insurance investigator you must be able to put whatever happened 00:20:51.83\00:20:55.30 on paper and you have to put it in the proper manner. You have 00:20:55.33\00:20:58.49 to know how to use the king's language as we speak, you know. 00:20:58.53\00:21:01.94 I would get there and start off my name is John Doe, I am such 00:21:01.98\00:21:05.33 and such age, I reside at this address, my telephone number 00:21:05.36\00:21:08.46 is such and such, my driver's license number is such and such. 00:21:08.50\00:21:11.55 I've been driving for this amount of years, but when I got 00:21:11.58\00:21:16.19 into the body on say example June 1, 1962 at about 10 o'clock 00:21:16.23\00:21:20.05 a. m. I was driving this truck... and I would just get 00:21:20.08\00:21:24.46 lost. I would just get all mixed up. I finally would get through 00:21:24.49\00:21:28.37 with it and so I would bring it back. He watched me for two or 00:21:28.41\00:21:31.58 three months and he says I want to talk to you, why don't you 00:21:31.62\00:21:35.46 come in my office. He says, you have great ambitions of being an 00:21:35.49\00:21:39.42 investigator. You're an aggressive person, but he says, 00:21:39.45\00:21:43.31 but I'm going to have to fire you. I said, sir, I can do the 00:21:43.35\00:21:47.40 job but I just need some time. He looked at me and he said, 00:21:47.44\00:21:51.46 Ashley, why don't you stop a while. Sometime if you're 00:21:51.50\00:21:55.70 going something that's so hard stop a while and wait and come 00:21:55.74\00:21:58.43 back. He said, I tell you what, if you go back and get some more 00:21:58.47\00:22:01.12 schooling for your English grammar and come back and I'll 00:22:01.16\00:22:04.54 rehire you. So that's just what I did, Karen. I went out and I 00:22:04.58\00:22:08.39 found a local college this time and I took another course and 00:22:08.42\00:22:12.20 I came back and he hired me again. For some reason when 00:22:12.23\00:22:16.58 I got back to the part of my statement I would get lost. 00:22:16.62\00:22:20.51 He says, well I'm sorry, I'm going to have to fire you again. 00:22:20.54\00:22:24.72 But he said, but you're so determined. Go back and get some 00:22:24.75\00:22:28.86 more training and then I'll hire you again. But when I came back 00:22:28.90\00:22:32.54 I was ready that time. I was able to go through my statement. 00:22:32.57\00:22:36.18 I was able to do my surveillance, I was able to take 00:22:36.21\00:22:38.93 photos, I was able to interview, I was good with it. Just like 00:22:38.96\00:22:43.04 anything when I became good and experienced I moved on to 00:22:43.07\00:22:47.51 another insurance, a larger insurance company. But when I 00:22:47.54\00:22:51.14 got to that insurance company they said well we don't have a 00:22:51.18\00:22:54.81 job open for adjustor, but I tell you what, we have a workers 00:22:54.84\00:22:58.31 compensation clerk position, will you take it. Well I didn't 00:22:58.35\00:23:01.75 want to take it but in order to get where you want to go in life 00:23:01.78\00:23:05.28 you have to do some of the things you don't like to do. 00:23:05.32\00:23:09.81 So what I did, I took the clerk's job and once I was 00:23:09.84\00:23:14.26 inside... Once you get inside a company you can move around 00:23:14.30\00:23:17.70 and I kept pestering them till they wound up making me an 00:23:17.74\00:23:21.07 investigator and I succeeded and I remained with them for four 00:23:21.11\00:23:24.95 years and then I went with the Brooklyn District Attorney's 00:23:24.99\00:23:28.80 Office and from there I was employed by a private 00:23:28.83\00:23:31.87 investigative firm and at that point I realized that there was 00:23:31.90\00:23:35.63 a lot of money to be made as a private investigator. 00:23:35.66\00:23:38.14 Why shouldn't I have my own license. So I was talking to a 00:23:38.18\00:23:41.49 friend and I said, why don't we go in business together. He said 00:23:41.53\00:23:45.02 well I'm doing fine myself Ashley. I make $1000 a week. 00:23:45.06\00:23:48.56 I said, yes, but look. This man is making $10,000 a week. 00:23:48.59\00:23:52.05 We can do that. He said, no, you just go ahead. So what I did 00:23:52.09\00:23:56.07 was for a few months I studied and I got my license and I 00:23:56.11\00:23:59.94 opened up by own business and then that's where I am today 00:23:59.98\00:24:03.63 I did make the Creator part of the business. Any time that 00:24:03.66\00:24:07.41 you're going in business, make God your partner. If you make 00:24:07.44\00:24:11.15 God your partner, you'll never go out of business because he 00:24:11.19\00:24:14.86 is the resource of all success. 00:24:14.90\00:24:16.83 Not only have you made God your 00:24:16.86\00:24:18.75 partner in business, but I 00:24:18.79\00:24:19.76 understand that God has blessed you to become the president of 00:24:19.77\00:24:22.74 a group of international business people, the Adventist 00:24:22.77\00:24:25.91 Laymen's Services Industry Council. Tell us about that. 00:24:25.94\00:24:29.01 Yes, Karen, I'm glad to do that. We call that ASI. That is a 00:24:29.04\00:24:34.85 group of business Christian entrepreneurs from the Adventist 00:24:34.88\00:24:40.82 churches. We meet once a year at various pods in North America 00:24:40.86\00:24:46.80 We learn more how to witness in the work place to those that 00:24:46.84\00:24:51.92 we come in contact with as well as our employees and those who 00:24:51.95\00:24:56.98 may not know God as we do. It's more than just making money 00:24:57.01\00:25:02.44 God expects each one of us to tell others about his love and 00:25:02.48\00:25:07.88 saving power. You see, we are in this world. We are here to help 00:25:07.92\00:25:13.85 each other. You see, we know, and I know for myself, that our 00:25:13.88\00:25:19.30 main purpose for living is to serve each other. So the ASI is 00:25:19.34\00:25:24.15 dedicated to doing that and it fits with me just like a glove 00:25:24.18\00:25:28.96 and 1000s of other entrepreneurs across this 00:25:29.00\00:25:32.28 country. Well praise the Lord. What an 00:25:32.32\00:25:34.08 exciting organization it sounds like. Also for those who are 00:25:34.12\00:25:39.44 watching at home, Ashley has written a book that is soon to 00:25:39.48\00:25:45.29 be published. Secrets of Success and also he has a video called 00:25:45.32\00:25:52.01 The Secret of Success. And he is also featured in Sharing Ideas. 00:25:52.05\00:25:58.71 This is a magazine that goes all around the country for 00:25:58.74\00:26:02.78 motivational speakers. It seems like we're out of time today. 00:26:02.82\00:26:07.44 We will on our next program talk with you and we know we 00:26:07.48\00:26:12.03 would live to hear one of your exciting stories. I understand 00:26:12.07\00:26:14.68 there is a story you're going to tell in our next program 00:26:14.72\00:26:17.84 about a young woman who was lost in New York City and was 00:26:17.88\00:26:20.93 lost for years and presumed dead Give us just a little snap shot 00:26:20.96\00:26:24.72 about that one. Okay, well this is a young lady 00:26:24.75\00:26:27.50 that got on drugs and her parents thought she was dead. 00:26:27.53\00:26:31.38 She left Philadelphia and went to New York City and so one 00:26:31.41\00:26:34.96 day a private investigator called me and said will you help 00:26:34.99\00:26:38.73 me out? I want you to help locate this young lady. He sent 00:26:38.77\00:26:42.31 the information over and after I prayed about it and did some 00:26:42.35\00:26:45.86 investigation within two weeks I had located her. 00:26:45.89\00:26:48.29 Now don't say any more. We want to save this for our next 00:26:48.33\00:26:51.43 program to talk about this and other exciting stories that you 00:26:51.46\00:26:55.26 have in your 25 years of experience as a private 00:26:55.30\00:26:57.41 investigator in New York solving 9600 cases, 98% success rate. 00:26:57.45\00:27:01.93 How exciting this is going to be. I'd like to speak now to our 00:27:01.97\00:27:06.42 viewers at home. What an inspirational story we've heard 00:27:06.46\00:27:08.87 today of Ashley, who is the son of a share cropper, the eldest 00:27:08.90\00:27:13.05 of 10, moving to New York at 18 and making the choice early with 00:27:13.09\00:27:17.20 his aunt's encouragement to include God in his plan. 00:27:17.24\00:27:20.28 Now he is a private investigator all over the city of New York. 00:27:20.32\00:27:25.42 If there's something in this story that has touched your 00:27:25.45\00:27:27.72 heart, we would like to pray with you right now that you will 00:27:27.75\00:27:31.21 allow God to use you, too, to do his work and to be successful 00:27:31.24\00:27:34.66 in life. Will you pray for us now please. 00:27:34.69\00:27:37.13 Yes. Father in heaven, I pray that you would bless others 00:27:37.17\00:27:42.43 to see that what you have done for me you will do the same for 00:27:42.47\00:27:47.97 them. Motivate them to live all that they can in this life and 00:27:48.01\00:27:53.47 serve you and they will be a great success to themselves as 00:27:53.51\00:27:57.32 well as humanity. Amen. 00:27:57.36\00:27:59.74 Amen. Thank you so much for coming and thank you for joining 00:27:59.77\00:28:03.48 us for another edition of Issues and Answers. 00:28:03.51\00:28:07.05