During the month of October, Fingerprinting Express is excited to be celebrating fifteen years in business serving Nevada residents and organizations. Here is a look back at how it all began and where we are today.
How It All Began
In 2002, Becky Rogers went to a local police station to get fingerprinted for her new job. After waiting over two hours to be fingerprinted with one person ahead of her in line, she realized there had to be a better way! After doing some research, Becky learned that in 1998 new laws had ended the one-sided law enforcement agency monopolies on civilian fingerprinting and background checks for non-criminal civilians.
Recognizing the market for these services, Becky jumped into the fray of small business owners who had begun providing these services. Most of these business owners, like local UPS franchisees, began fingerprinting as secondary services several years later. Others began fingerprinting out of their vehicles.
In 2003, Becky opened a 600-square-foot store on the second floor of a small Reno shopping mall. On her first day, she made a whopping ten dollars! With limited advertising funds, Becky looked for creative ways to generate business. She enlisted the help of her daughter, Monica, for ideas which would help propel Fingerprinting Express forward. With Monica’s input, Becky began visiting human resources departments at local casinos, armed with boxes of doughnuts, for the opportunity to sit down with HR executives to pitch her business services. Slowly, she began to get new hires coming in to have background checks done for their gaming cards. Over time, with word of mouth and referrals, Becky’s business began to grow until she became the “go-to” for several different industries and businesses.
Because background checks are required by state and federal law for several industries, including healthcare, bus and cab drivers, education, financial services, casino, youth, volunteer and numerous other industries, Fingerprinting Express was positioned to become an industry leader in Nevada.
Fingerprinting Express Gains the Advantage
Becky and her staff became trained in the use of Livescan inkless technology, and once mastered, Fingerprinting Express gained a competitive edge over others in the industry. Livescan technology allowed customers to get high-quality prints by having all fingers scanned to create a digital image which was then electronically transmitted directly to the FBI and state law enforcement agencies to be run through their databases. Not only did Livescan eliminate the need for messy ink-based fingerprints to be taken, it was also more accurate for lower rejection rates (less than five percent) and yielded exponentially faster results.
Becky also had three other advantages over other small business owners and law enforcement agencies:
- She put an emphasis on excellent customer service.
- She offered convenient one-stop shopping by expanding services to include passport photography and notary public services.
- She trained the staff to master the Livescan equipment, which was challenging because Livescan manufacturers didn’t provide much in the way of product training.
Unfortunately, Becky’s husband fell ill in 2012, and Becky recruited her daughter Monica and son-in-law Dave to take ownership of Fingerprinting Express so she could care for him.
Continuing the Legacy of Excellence
Monica and Dave were no strangers to business. Dave had worked his way up from the bottom of the casino industry. After his talent and potential were recognized by management, he was selected for Steve Wynn’s elite three-year management MAP training program. After that, Dave became director of the marketing department at the Bellagio resort and then eventually secured a VP position with MGM Resorts International.
Monica, who had come to Vegas as a young single mother, became a successful high-end real estate agent in the booming real estate market. She eventually started a business called Vegas Passport, which sold lucrative VIP guest packages to restaurants and nightclubs in coordination with resorts and online travel agencies. It was through this business venture that she met Dave, who was managing part