Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show. I am Rashwan McDonald, the host
of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to
stop reading other people's success stories.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And start planning their own.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with nod profits who are making a.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Difference in their local communities.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Now sit back and listen as we unlock the secrets
to their success on Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I'm
Rashan McDonald, our host the weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show.
The interviews and information that this show provides are for everyone.
It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
start living your own. I'm here to help you reach
(00:48):
your American dream. Just keep listening, my guests. There is
a season hr professional with over twenty five years of
corporate experience, but he has transitioned from corporate to entrepreneurship.
This company, in the Guardian, is a private security corporation
with three separate division armed and unarmed uniformed security officers,
personal protection and private investigation. He's serving the States Georgia, Alabama,
(01:14):
and North Carolina. Please work with the Money Making Conversation
Masterclass Travis t Wade.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
How you doing, Travis, I'm good, pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Thank you for coming on the show to talk about
your company in The Guardian. Like I said, I've been
in a position I owned a couple of businesses and
one was a comedy club, and I use the term.
I hope I'm not being a unprofessional. I say this
rent a cop. And that's when we said, when you're
a rent a cop man, come by and make sure
our place is protected. And now those are the type
of people that you provide when I say the term
(01:43):
rent a cop.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
So no, we don't I don't find an offensive or
we don't use the word rent a cop. You know,
when you think of a rent a cop, you think
of an off duty officer. You think of someone who
has that legal ability to either arrest or detain. You know,
for us is more of our first thing is about safety,
and it's more of working with our clients to build
(02:07):
a tailor made uh tailor made option for them in
their security, in their security efforts. You know, it's more
of a partnership of us working with them to make
sure all of their security needs are met.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Now we've used the word partnership.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
That means that I can set the standards of the
type of security I want based on the attending event.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Correct, absolutely, you know, prior to us the assignment or
the start date of the services we work with. We
sit down with our client and we talk to them
and we tailor make we customize, you know, their security needs.
If they are a medical facility, that works for for example,
we have a medical facility for rehabilitations for children, so
(02:53):
we use a guard that is more customer friendly, more
more personable, has a more of an open and polite
personality than more of the physical presence. Right for some
of the for some of the locations that we may
have like an hotel or warehouse, you know, we may
use more of a physical preference there. So you know,
(03:15):
it's a terrible approach. We sit down with our clients.
We sit there, we listen to all their needs, all
their wants, all their concerns, and we work together again
like a partners would work together.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
What Travis, you got that great voice man that comes
from that twenty five years of HR experience.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Hope it does. You have to have the calming voice
to speak to some of these employees. Some make it violent.
You got to be able to calm them down. You
got to be able to talk to them and meet
them where they are. So that's something that you learn
with over twenty five years dealing with employees crazy non crazy.
(03:54):
You know, it's fun though. I love it. I love
what I did.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Now, this is really interesting because of the fact that
whenever I hate the word, you know, private investigation, you know,
I take I think TV TV, you know, because because
that's all I because I've never actually actually not I've
never called upon anybody to from a private investigator. Stay
break down, you know, the non TV version of what
(04:18):
private investigation really is all about.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, it's it's not all the you know, we're not
looking into who may murder the neighbor or anything like that.
We're not looking and stuff like that. Most of the time.
You know, in the corporate world, it's more so looking inside,
coming into their corporate environment and finding out certain things. Right,
they can have maybe some inventory missing, right, they can
(04:42):
maybe have some some some uh uh uh, you know,
some money missing from a till or something, or from
somebody's money box or something like that. It's for us
investigating that also some investigations as far as you know,
maybe someone who was assaulted by a of employee or
something like that. We go in and it's just information
(05:03):
that can be provided. If there's any lawsuits or any
insurance claims or anything like that, we provide in that
information that we found an investigation.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So I won't call you if I thank my girlfriend
cheating no meat and you follow around.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
You wouldn't do that, you know, because you would call
that MTV show a cheater. They'll do that. But for
for for us, you know, we concentrate on the corporate
environment and also small businesses. Now we don't leave our
small business partners you know, out of the fold there.
But it's more of a corporate environment. And when we
(05:39):
talk about private.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Business, let's let's break that down a little bit, because
I didn't think about that private investigation internally. That gets
in other words, if someone steals money, instead of going
in and sitting down and pulling fingers, they can bring
your company in to evaluate basically become an arbitrator by
gathering all the information.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It was about that pathway.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, you know, you got investigating and you know, talking
to all the witnesses talking to anyone involved, interviewing them,
gathering statements, gathering evidence where they were at that time,
whether they see what happened before the incident, what happened
after the incident, what happened during the incident, Gathering all
that information. Gathering uh, you know, the information about the
(06:26):
particular employees, about you know, their life cycle of employment
with the company. You know, look into any disciplinary actions
they may have in the past. You know, maybe there
was some you know, if it's a retail company, maybe
they had you know, a multiple of shortages come up
when they're when they reconcile their money during the end
(06:47):
of the day, which happens in the retail industry, you know,
looking at all that and factoring all that and then
bringing out we don't we don't come and say, hey,
this person is guilty. We don't come and see this
person's not guilty. We provide them with all the evidence
that we have, all the things that we found, and
then you know, they can make that decision or again,
(07:09):
you know, if there's any type of lawsuit or anything,
or they need to take it to their board treating decisions.
That's the information they used.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Cool. I'm speaking with Travis t. Wade.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
His company, The Guardian is a private security corporation with
three separate divisions, armed and unarmed uniform security officers personal protection.
And he was just describing the private investigation is not
the version you see on TV, but corporate tied to
small business where they go in and probably gather information
so the case can be uh with the person who
(07:41):
is being accused or the company who's doing the accusing
as all the facts from an independent source.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Correct, correct.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Now, I've managed Steve Harvey in my lifetime. I'm also
currently in relationships with a.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
With a managed relationship with Steven A. Smith.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And so I've seen personal security. I've seen personal protection
and sometimes we went to a certain locations where we
had to up to annie because of the crowd size.
How did you get into personal protection business? And describe
your version of it?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, I'll give you a little backstory our founder. Our founder,
mister Benjamin T. Backer was a retired NYPV officer in
New York City when he retired from being n YPV officer,
he went into private protection and his first client was
(08:59):
a music industry record label giant, which was def Jam Records,
and he went into private protection and protecting one of
their biggest artists, which is DMX. This is back in
the mid nineties late nineties, So that's where that started
with our company and when he when he went on
(09:20):
and created Guardian Security Management, of course that fraction of
the business had to be included into that. Included with
the armed and unarmed, it was also the private protection
because he definitely had experience there. So the private protection
comes from that and it's and it's it's all what
(09:41):
it says, entails, you know, private. It can be anywhere
from executives of CEOs of companies to celebrities right two
individuals who just want a different level of security when
they go out. It can be a normal civilian, you know,
if they want a certain level of protection, security to
(10:04):
feel safe, right to feel comfort someone. And it's just
not about making sure that one is harming you. It's
also about you know, you feeling that you have someone
with you that can that you can talk to. We
bring a human aspect to it. A customer service aspect
to it, someone that you can relate to, someone that
(10:24):
you can enjoy behaving with. But it's also one point
protecting your well being, protecting your intellectual property, and making
sure that you reach your destination and home in a
safe and blessed condition.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I would tell you this when I think about the
growth of social media influencers, the growth of hedge funds
and CEOs and all that that portion of the business
probably has grown over the years.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Correct it has, it has, and unfortunately it's grown with
a lot of these mass shootings, a lot of these
really fanatic fans out here that take that part of
them being fan to the extreme right really excuse me,
(11:14):
really taking that to an extreme to where a celebrity
or someone of interest or someone popular will need that
type of protection because you know, a fan is just
too involved with them to engross into what they're doing,
to where they they feel that they're entitled to be
in their personal space. They feel that they're entitled to to,
(11:36):
you know, be with them day and night and do
what they're doing. When you know, listen, celebrities are just
like us, right, They're normal people. They need their privacy,
they need their personal space and when a fan or
someone is violating that, that's when you know the personal
protection comes.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
In a classic example like the head coach of the
Detroit Lions telling his home because his daughters friend posted
their address, I believe on social media and.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Then yeah, absolutely, I read about.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
That and so that that that alarm.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So you know, you don't want to walk out out
your front door with a stranger standing on your lawn
or that that's an uncomfort that people are uncomfortable. Uncomfortable
state a lot of people understand. But what a lot
of people understand is that a lot of ordinary people
out there making a lot of money, a lot of
people out there are influencers and just because you don't know,
(12:27):
but when they get in the wrong area, when that's
in the wrong area, meaning where that fan base is
aware of who they are, then it became security is need.
How does one go through the process that your company
evaluating this is a client we should bring on board
for personal protection travel.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
So of course it starts with the conversation, right, and
it starts with a conversation with the potential client, just
to make sure that it's a match, right, and it's
with anything right it's it's you know, you want to
you don't want to compare it to like a dating
side or anything, right, but you want to make sure
it's a match.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
We we want to make sure that we can provide
what you need and that you are a type of
client that we want to want to you know, do
business with and partner with. Right. You know, so we
we look at someone I'll give an example of someone
that's maybe high risk, but that might be in a
certain type of business or industry that that doesn't match
(13:24):
with our goals and our priorities.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I don't want to go too deep into it, but
you know, someone might say I need personal protection, and
we asked why why do you need personal protection? What's
going on? We you know, we we interview them, we
allow them to interview us, and we see, as you know, listen,
all money is not good money, right. You know, even
some of the the the more criminal, uh fraction of
(13:50):
our society needs personal protection to look for personal protection,
and that's not where we want to kind of kind
of be in, uh you know, so we kind of
stay away from that stuff. So you know, again, you know,
we make.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Sure everybody needs protection, right, Travis everybody.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
But you delivered it.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
But you delivered the note so smooth. Though Rashana all money,
it's not good money. Even the criminal element needs protection.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And sometimes we just have to say that's not the
way we do business.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
To call you.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
You know what, when I first met you at Travis
at this event, what really stuck to me or struck
me was the fact that you are a corporation. You
are an African American owned business, and you're doing business
not just in the city, but you're doing it in
several states. And I told you that. I said, Wow,
that's unusual. I really want to interview you with that.
Tell us about you kind of mentioned earlier about how
(14:44):
it all started in personal protection, how did the brand
because you was in corporate now now you're in entrepreneurship.
Tell us about that journey if you leaving the corporate space,
but also how this company has grown to be in
business and three states nationwide.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, and you know, I'll start with how it has grown.
And again I have to I have to give you know,
the flowers, the credit, the accolades to our founding, our founder,
mister Benjamin Manor, who founded Guardian Security over twenty five
(15:23):
years ago and built it as a brand to be
dealt with in the Atlanta, Georgia area, starting off with
you know, us being a preferred vendor at the Olympics
in Atlanta in the early nineties and partnering with major
(15:43):
corporations like the Coca Cola factory here in Atlanta. You know,
we started off being their security vendor, and then you know,
also partnering with Georgia Power and then some of the
other entities here in Atlanta, and then moving on to Alabama,
you know, and particularly Birmingham in Bestsemer we have an
(16:04):
office Investmer, Alabama and partnering with some medical facilities Divita
Dialysis in Birmingham, we have around eight locations they're partnering
with them, and also the Vicinious Medical Facility in Alabama.
We have about seventy eight locations there with them as well.
(16:28):
And then you know, doing all that branching off in
North Carolina. Now that's that's probably our newest venture. Branching
off of North Carolina, starting off with partnering with some
construction entities to be a physical presence during their pre
construction phase in their construction phase, to partner with them
(16:49):
and looking to build greater relationships in the North Carolina area.
But I decided to leave my corporate world of over
twenty years in a commercial retail bank in New York City,
(17:09):
one of the only black managed, formerly black owned retail
banks in New York City, Carver Federal Savings Bank, to
where I was the head of their human resource office,
to come down to Atlanta and to run and take
over Guardian Security Management. You know, as a kid, you
(17:32):
always think about you know, I was always thinking about
owning your own, right, you owning your own being a boss,
right your kids? You want to be a boss, right,
I want to be a boss. You know, see you
raise suits and you think about being a boss. And
then and then you see all of these boss figures
all over the place, all these these these black individuals
(17:56):
doing great things and something I always wanted to do.
But you know, life starts to life like life be
lifing is some of the phrases are now. So you know,
my life turned into a profession of HR, which I
love and I love working with HR and I love
working with people, and I think HR kind of relates
(18:17):
to every industry. HR can be transferred into every industry.
You know, from a corporate industry to small businesses, from
finance to retail to security. Right, it all relates because
you all do. You're always dealing with people, right, You're
always dealing with how to manage people right, how to
(18:39):
work with people in every fraction of hrs relatable to
every industry. So when I had the conversation with our
founding member and he brought the opportunity to me to
come on over and take over, it was of course
(18:59):
a lot of decisions.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
That's New York to Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Now, that's New York to Atlanta. The money is not
the same m hm. You know, the base salaries aren't
the same. So you got to think about that. You
got to think about certain things. The hustle will bustle.
But I just thought about as a kid, how it
was thought about being a boss and owning my own
(19:23):
and running something of value, and being able to help
our community, being able to hire from our within our community,
being able to help our people that are disadvantaged. And
this gives me that perfect opportunity. Of course, I am
a God free man. I prayed on it. God tell
me do what you gotta do. Brother, I'm giving you
(19:45):
the blessing and I did it. Of course, it's not easy,
the struggle and understanding the dynamics here from New York
to Atlanta. Again it's New York to Atlanta. But but
it's been awesome, uh, to the Atlanta metro area. The
(20:06):
people I haven't been meeting, Oh my god. I couldn't
ask for anything. But it is definitely the Black Mecca.
So many opportunities for for for min already owned businesses,
so many opportunities for women owned businesses, so many great
people to meet, like yourself, you know, like you initially
spoke to mister Donald, mister McDonald, it was just like, wow,
(20:30):
you tell me about the great things that you're doing
the podcast, and it was just awesome. And then when
I got the call, I just felt blessed to even
be able to speak with you right now. But you know,
I just think I'm having a good time having fun.
I wouldn't think that you're coming. You're coming into things
and and and bring certain uh you know, uh work
(20:53):
ethics and bring certain priorities from your executive world and
be experience that I'm bringing over to this small business
to try to and to continue to grow it to
be an official corporate entity. You know that we would
have so many resources down here.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
So many there's Atlanta special Man.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
You know when I when when people listen to the
show and the Guardian, that's the name of this private.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Security Guardian Security Matter.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
What is the secret of your success at the company's success.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I think being true to who we are, not being
someone we're not right. We didn't been coming here trying
to be an allied universal right. We're not trying to
come in here and treating our people, you know, unfairly.
You know, it's it's being true to who you are
(21:51):
and being true to your people and your staff. And
I think that's what will continue has continued us should
be where we are and will continue us to grow.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
We know.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I'm so proud of being having you partners in it because,
like I said, I've been exposed to so many levels
of security. I've been fortunately living in Chicago, Los Angeles,
born and raised in Houston, now based in Atlanta, Georgia.
So I've been all over this country. I've seen so
African American men and women who've been in the security business,
but no one who understood the model or how to
(22:25):
turn this into a corporation, how to turn this into
a business other than an individual or just based in
the city, and you can see the tentacles.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Of what it is.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
You are a widespread company that can build on RFPs
for security. And that's important because you have a track
record that says I do like you said, can I
do medical, I do private, I do all levels.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Of it, and I got the insurance.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Plus I have their staffing and the accounting that shows
that we function as a company. Well, if somebody wants
to come into this business, what is their business plan
to be in the security business?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Dravis?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
So what what I've always told UH managers, executives, CEOs
that I've that I've counseled being an HR person is
you have to learn the business first. You have to
know the business. You know you have even with me
coming into understanding HR, I had to learn the business
(23:26):
of security, which I did, you know, joining forums, joining
excuse me, you know, joining some of these great uh
uh chamber of sites that are out there. You know,
you have to learn the business of security or whatever
industry you're getting in. You need to really learn the business.
(23:46):
And the second thing is, you know, there's always good
to have a mentor you know, someone who can guide
you through you know, no one does it by themselves.
You know, yes, you can be very independent and self
start all the things that you preach when you're in
an interview, right, but no one does about themselves, especially
(24:07):
running a business. No one does about themselves. So invite
people to work with you who may know certain things
better than you. You know, and always, you know, be
open to learning.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
As you know I mentioned earlier, was born and rais
in Houston, Texas. So I'm a country in New York
City is my favorite city.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
I love. I love the crowd. I love the hustling bustle.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So you know, now, give me two things you miss
about New York City and give me two things that
you love about Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
All right, so let's start with two things that I
miss about New York City. One thing would probably be
the authentic West Indian food. Okay, gotcha, give me a
good jerk chicken from from Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Flatbush, Brooklyn. Man,
(25:05):
that's awesome. And the second thing would probably be Christmas
in New York. I'm a I'm a holiday per I
love Christmas. The lights in the city, beauty, It's awesome.
It's beautiful when they light the trees up and they
light up some of the department stores on Fifth Avenue
(25:28):
and Madison, It's it's wonderful. So some of the things
I love in Atlanta, Oh my god, I love I
love the people because they're so open to helping, they're
(25:48):
so open to too meeting. It's just the people themselves.
I guess that would be the pro the people in the.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, that stands out because the fact that Atlanta is
unique and the things that that's why Tyler Perry is successful.
That's why African Americans come here. They are successful because
there's a core and that was set up many many
years ago by the structure of African Americans who had
power and didn't offend the white structure. They work together
(26:21):
and it gives us an opportunity to be as successful.
But Travis, you know when again your personal services protection,
armed uniforms, security officers, private investigation. You're serving the states
of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina. Uh, the Guardian is a
private security corporation. Travis, thank you for coming on my
show man. This is really this is really great. Before
(26:42):
we go, how can we get in touch with you
if someone's listening to the show and want to use
your company services.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Then they can go to our website. Our website is
www dot the Guardiansecurity dot com. Let's make sure we
have the Guardiansecurity dot com. They can always reach out
and call the office. Anyone who's looking for work, anyone
who's looking for for to partner with us and looking
for us to potentially be in their apartner with them,
(27:09):
they can call the office at seven seven zero seven
sixty six two six one. One's I'm sorry, it's four
zero four seven sixty six six one.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Let's talk about that real quick, because I want to
bring that in about because you do offer employment opportunities
others one all about the opportunities because you have different.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Levels, they have different level services.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So let's talk about the employment that you offer and
being that you're the HR guide.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
That's right, Guardian Security.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Talk about how people are screened and how can one
listening to the show if they want to get employed
and they feel they are qualified to work for your country.
Because you offer an employment in three states Georgia, Alabama
and North Carolina, how can one work for the Guardian Security.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Well, yeah, so you can come to our office in Atlanta, Georgia.
You can give us a call again. Our phone numbers
for zero four, seven sixty six to six point one.
You come into the office and the days of Monday
and Friday from the hours of ten am to two
pm to fill out an application. We hold your application
on file. Any shifts or any opportunities comes up with
(28:20):
new clients, we give you a call, bring you in interview.
You you just just don't have any criminal record. We
have to do a criminal background check and fingerprinting in
drug screening, and you don't really have to have that
much experience. If you do have experience, is great, but
we also do have entry level opportunities for security officers,
(28:45):
so you don't You don't need to come in with
a whole bunch of security experience or be a retired vent.
You know, we love working with retire events. If you
are a retired vent and you are looking for something
part time, this is definitely the place for you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Cool Again, thank you for coming on my show. The
Guardian Security dot com private security corporation with three separate divisions.
If you're interested in getting a job in armed and
unarmed uniform security, opportunities are available. Personal protection. You don't
have to be a supersized person. You're a smart person,
male or female as well as private investigation is not
(29:22):
what you see on TV.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It's a corporate space and they.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Go in and they mediate with information and providing the
person who's being accused or the person who needs all
the situation that needs to be investigated, because it's not
always a boy somebody being accused. They handle and provide
the facts. Again, Travis, Hey, you know sometime going to
good places like we met a good because I got
the interview of a good guy like.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
You, and.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
You make me feel good, Travis, because like I said, man,
I've seen this. I've seen this title before security, but
never in a corporate design space like this. Congratulations man,
Thank you sir.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
I appreciate it. Thank you again for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass. This
has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass hosted
by me Raushawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests on
the show today and thank you o listening to audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations Dot
com Our social media handle is Money Making Conversation. Join
(30:25):
us next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Keep winning