In this episode of the Mighty Process Server podcast, host Mighty Mike Reid interviews Valerie McGilvrey (the "skip trace goddess" and author under the pen name James O'Riley). Valerie shares how she stumbled into skip tracing through gritty, real-world marketing, then dives into high-adrenaline repo stories, de-escalation lessons, and the creative strategy behind some of her biggest wins. She also breaks down practical skip-trace tools, privacy protection, and how she'd rebuild from scratch today. 00:00 Introduction to the Mighty Process Server Podcast 00:14 Valerie's origin story (bar marketing → skip tracing) 04:05 Worst field experience: repo confrontation + staying calm 07:35 Key lesson: de-escalate, don't escalate 09:10 Greatest win: pretext strategy to recover a Mustang 15:55 What she's working on: Skip Trace Wiki book update 18:05 Favorite skip-trace tactic: MyCarfax + service-history intel 20:05 Online safety: removing your personal data from the internet 24:10 Rebuilding from scratch: calling note lots for hard repos 28:10 Parting advice: compare database results + don't ignore "no date" records
