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First off, let me reiterate that this is going to be a long post.
I am at a critical point in my professional life and I am looking for some advice, or at least some brainstorming that may spark my own thinking.
I am going to go fairly extensively into my background, not to brag, but to help in stimulating ideas.
Okay, here is the situation. About seven years ago I was running a company that specialized in training security personnel (state licensing, CPR, First Aid, patrol tactics, etc.), civilian self-protection courses, and contract security command and control functions (I would hire myself out to other agencies to command tactical security teams at labor disputes). I was also teaching courses at a vocational school in their security and law enforcement program (an AA program).
The company wasn't growing as quickly as I wanted, so I closed it down and went back to school. I completed law school and opened up a small law practice. After five years I closed up shop on the law practice. I hated practicing law. The stress of it (a different kind of stress than law enforcement or other types of business, but that is another story) was causing stress problems and I hated getting up every day to go work.
Prior to opening my training company, I spent 9 years in military intelligence (Naval Security Group), a year as a police officer, two years in federal security, and worked a number of tactical teams at strikes and other high risk situations.
Sorry to ramble, but all that brings me back to now. I am trying to figure out what to do next. With seven years of formal education (and the loans that go with them) I am not ready to go back to standing guard. I have been asked by an Ivy League law school to come and train their staff in the wake of the VT incident. I am very good at training, but not an expert in doing site analysis, so I am not sure if trying to expand this to other schools has a future. I have some money to invest, but not enough to start a reasonably sized guard/patrol agency. I am thinking of trying to find a "niche" in the security industry that needs to be filled, and open a small company to meet that need.
That is how I opened my training company, but that niche seems pretty full at the moment.
I have, however, been away from the industry for seven years. I am not quite sure what the niche might be at the moment. Any advice? Any ideas?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Dave
I am at a critical point in my professional life and I am looking for some advice, or at least some brainstorming that may spark my own thinking.
I am going to go fairly extensively into my background, not to brag, but to help in stimulating ideas.
Okay, here is the situation. About seven years ago I was running a company that specialized in training security personnel (state licensing, CPR, First Aid, patrol tactics, etc.), civilian self-protection courses, and contract security command and control functions (I would hire myself out to other agencies to command tactical security teams at labor disputes). I was also teaching courses at a vocational school in their security and law enforcement program (an AA program).
The company wasn't growing as quickly as I wanted, so I closed it down and went back to school. I completed law school and opened up a small law practice. After five years I closed up shop on the law practice. I hated practicing law. The stress of it (a different kind of stress than law enforcement or other types of business, but that is another story) was causing stress problems and I hated getting up every day to go work.
Prior to opening my training company, I spent 9 years in military intelligence (Naval Security Group), a year as a police officer, two years in federal security, and worked a number of tactical teams at strikes and other high risk situations.
Sorry to ramble, but all that brings me back to now. I am trying to figure out what to do next. With seven years of formal education (and the loans that go with them) I am not ready to go back to standing guard. I have been asked by an Ivy League law school to come and train their staff in the wake of the VT incident. I am very good at training, but not an expert in doing site analysis, so I am not sure if trying to expand this to other schools has a future. I have some money to invest, but not enough to start a reasonably sized guard/patrol agency. I am thinking of trying to find a "niche" in the security industry that needs to be filled, and open a small company to meet that need.
That is how I opened my training company, but that niche seems pretty full at the moment.
I have, however, been away from the industry for seven years. I am not quite sure what the niche might be at the moment. Any advice? Any ideas?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Dave
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