Читать книгу Start With a Win - Adam Contos - Страница 32

While a deputy sheriff, I also was a part-time entrepreneur. One of the businesses I started was a security consulting firm. At the time, the early 2000s, real estate agents were being increasingly victimized—robbed, assaulted, sexually assaulted, and even murdered while doing their jobs—which was the problem I was addressing. I examined the situation and identified the security vulnerabilities they faced (assessed the problem), looked more closely at the situation, and theorized that the reasons agents were targeted—the collapsed points—included their lack of training or focus on safety. Primarily, many were unaware of their available options if they encountered bad situations, or they didn't know how to avoid them altogether and still do their jobs. They were meeting unknown people in unfamiliar places and not building any avoidance or response options into the process. Agents essentially were going where the police wouldn't go without protection, training, or a partner.

So my company came up with the answer—S.A.F.E.R. (Safety Awareness for Every REALTOR©)—a program that taught individuals the four fundamental concepts of personal safety: awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, and response if action is required.

Eventually I pitched S.A.F.E.R. to RE/MAX, and it was a big hit. More importantly, the solution helped others. S.A.F.E.R. was also my introduction to the real estate and franchising industry. I traveled around North America, speaking to agents and brokers and learning about their industry and challenges. It turned out that many of their challenges weren't safety issues; rather, they were business issues that put them in poor safety situations. Remember, success lies in deconstructing the challenges into smaller, more manageable pieces, and then fixing the problems one at a time.

About a year after instituting the S.A.F.E.R. program, RE/MAX asked me to join the company as a franchise consultant. It meant a pay cut and leaving law enforcement—at the time I was a SWAT leader—as well as trying something new and different. Momentarily my Beast—fear of the unknown—reared its head. Others told me I was making a big mistake by leaving law enforcement. But I believed in my abilities, as did my friend and mentor Dave Liniger. I also recognized that, at best, this move could be a new career and, at second best, an incredible learning experience. Beast be damned.