When taking a big risk like starting a security company, what personal qualities do you think that you need? Most people would immediately think of courage. It takes guts to take a leap of faith, to step into the unknown trusting only our only instincts and whatever skills we have. Others might think It takes a great bit of optimism because the deciding factor in a sink-or-swim situation often comes down to luck. And of course, our most ambitious ventures take a willingness to work very hard, and in many cases the willingness to sacrifice in the short term for the possibility of long-term gain.
But one essential quality, on the path to creating a successful security guard company, that must not be overlooked—is that of resilience. As a security company owner, you must be prepared to keep working when things are just not going well, when you are tired, and when the sacrifice is well beyond what you were prepared for.
So what is resilience? Resilience is like an emotional muscle that allows us to tolerate stress and maintain momentum in the face of disappointment, pain, and fear. Some people have more natural resilience than others. The good news, though, is that it’s possible to actively work on building our resilience. When stepping out into a new enterprise or taking a radical new direction in life, we’d even do well to take some time to work on our resilience beforehand. However, even in the midst of struggle, we still have an opportunity to take a step back and strengthen ourselves to push through trying times.
Reconsider your current situation
A lot of building and maintaining your resilience is done through mentally reframing and re-imagining your current situation. One tool that you can use to accomplish this is using the optimism that spurred you into starting a security company. Starting your security company was exciting and exhilarating, but you might eventually experience more problems than you thought you’d have. Rather than thinking, “I was so stupid to take this on. What was I thinking?” you can reach back for that first moment of optimism when you looked at the security guard industry and thought “I can do better than this”. I would encourage you to think, “I got into this because I had a vision for what was possible. It’s absolutely still possible, and I started this security company because I knew I could do it.” Imagine how successful your company will be after all of the work that you put in, and all the pride you’ll have knowing what it took to achieve your vision. Remember, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it!
It’s not about you
Another way to weather the emotional toll of owning a security company is to realize that it’s not about you. When you are experiencing hard times don’t look at yourself as a failure. The fact of the matter is, running a security company is hard. Bad things will happen no matter what you do. The good news? It’s temporary. You will learn to adjust and accept the bad things because every security company owner does, especially the successful ones.
Take Inventory of your security company’s successes
I have learned through personal experience that it is important to frequently take inventory of the times you made it past big obstacles. It may not feel like it in the moment, but you absolutely have what it takes to overcome big challenges. I can recall obstacles with my security company that I thought would surely be the end of the company, but we made it through those obstacles and went on to fight another day. Again, speaking from experience, overcoming obstacles builds confidence, which in turns builds resilience.
Support other security company owners
Finally, and this may come as a surprise, you can build your own resilience by supporting other security company owners. You may or may not have heard that the best way to learn something is to teach someone else. This also applies to learning how to overcome setbacks, misfortune, and personal failures. So take opportunities to support other security company owners by imparting wisdom that you might not even know that you have.
Taking all of these steps won’t remove an obstacle, or reverse a mistake, or undo something bad that has happened to you. What it will do is make sure you have the tools you need to give you the best chance possible of achieving good outcomes in the face of inevitable adversity.
What techniques do you use to stay resilient? Do you think there are more important traits that a security company owner should have? Please feel free to leave your comments below.
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By Courtney Sparkman
OfficerReports.com is a software company that provides security guard companies with an easy way to monitor their officers, better manage their operations, and win new business. Take a tour of our software to see how we combine Electronic Reporting, Real-Time GPS based Tour Tracking, and GPS based Clock In and Out into one easy to use platform.
