So you want to be a Bodyguard?
You’ve seen “The Bodyguard” and every James Bond movie 14 times, and you want to be the next Kevin Costner or Daniel Craig. You want to be a high profile, shoot the gun, save the girl bodyguard. That’s great, you have a goal, and you are motivated. One problem – right now you are flipping burgers and haven’t got a clue as to where to start. You ask your family and friends, and one of your friends knows someone, who knows someone else, whose cousin says he’s a bodyguard. Being motivated and wanting answers you have a chat with him. He tells you that the first thing you have to do is get a gun permit and a license carry because all great bodyguards carry guns.
But you want to be more than just a gun carrying thug; you want to be James Bond. You search the web and find numerous sources telling you that you have to go to their course to be the best bodyguard. You might find a website that for $20 will provide you with the top 20 bodyguard schools to go to. Awesome – exactly what you are looking for – or is it? Out of the 20 which one is best? Which one will teach you all there is to know to be the next James Bond? Some schools say they are America’s best, but how do you know if that isn’t some self-appointed title? You dig a little deeper and look at cost and location – two big decision makers. If a school is close by you can save money on travel and lodgings. You opted for one of the “top twenty” schools and shelled out every last bit of your $4,000 in savings, even asking your family to chip in a couple of hundred dollars.
You arrive at the EP training school in good order. Meet others, share your story, and grab a few phone numbers. You receive the training specified on the website, long days and short nights but you made it through. With a handshake and a piece of paper you are a now a “certified” protection specialist and are ready to take on the bad guys of the world. You feel great you’re all smiles; your expectation of finding work is high, and you can’t wait to tell your family and friends that you are now James Bond certified.
You get home and sit by the phone. Weeks and months go by. You make a few phone calls to your buddies you met up with at the school; they’re in the same boat. You apply to ads in the newspaper and Craigslist. They say they don’t know who you are and that you need the experience to work for them. Your mom and dad are getting a little upset to keep shelling out cash to help you “get by.” Slowly you realize that the school overpromised on the “being successful bodyguard” bit. You feel cheated. The skills that you learned in the school were outdated and not geared for the current market.
You revisit the “top twenty” EP schools list and think that you need more training to get your foot on the bottom rung of the EP career ladder. You ask your Mom and Dad and other family members to come up with another $3000 for you to take another EP training course that you feel will help you get you an EP job. So with the solemn promise to pay them back you head off to the training. Seven days later, with another handshake and a certificate of completion, you find yourself back home struggling to make inroads in the EP profession.
You hear from some of the guys you met from the last training that you should get on social media and join some groups. You find some groups and share that you are new and are looking for a job, but it falls on deaf ears. Another week goes by, and you start to read posts in the groups. Not knowing the useful info from the bad you presume it’s all valuable from the way people are responding to it, but you still don’t have a job. Again you post that you are new and are looking for a chance to prove yourself. This time someone recommends another training school which is the best of the best. You share that you’ve already spent $7,000 and are just looking for the experience to get your foot in the door. All you see in response is more rambling and rhetoric. Frustrated you go back to flipping burgers and working security at night hoping for that one phone call to get your big break into the business.
The scenario plays out all across the globe. It points out glaring inconsistencies in training and a need to centralize and vet bodyguard and executive protection training schools and bodyguard courses. Not just once but continually with ratings that need to be posted publicly – online and offline. This process of accountability will never happen unless the market dictates it. So what about the ABCDEP National Certification you ask? (edit 2017 – now defunct) Nope, that won’t change the training schools – in fact – I conjecture that EP training schools will continue to thrive and market so-called ABCDEP “prep courses” and specific training to pass the national EP exam. In other words, prey on the ill-informed.
It is my opinion, that what would have worked for the above scenario was spending a few hundred dollars on business courses part-time at night at a local college or university. To help answer the “you” questions – who are you, what do you want to do, and who do you want to do it for. Establish a business plan, with actionable goals – like joining ASIS – a stable institution, becoming a member of the local ASIS chapter and attending the meetings to network. Find those opportunities and by joining other local business groups in your community. Setting up a website, and not just “getting on social media” but learning how to market your services and to tell the world who you are and what you want to become. No one knows you exist until you stand up and say “Here I am” in your own words and there is no better place to do that than on your website.
Share why you are valuable, why you are unique, and what pain points you can solve. Spread your message, tell your story, on social media networks; engage in the conversation; share your knowledge. It does take time for the right people to notice you, but it will happen.
Being a bodyguard isn’t only about EP training. It’s also about knowing how to market yourself and what you believe in, figuring out who you are, and developing your brand — establishing your name in the right networks for the right market.
