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Career Advice

The first step in starting your career in executive protection is to truly make up your mind if this is the profession for you.Â Make sure your job is going to be your passion, something you wake up wanting to do.Â The bodyguard industryÂ is filled with people thinking they can make a fast buck.Â â€œDo it well, do it right, do it with passion or donâ€™t do it at all.â€

One of your biggest choices in this field is to decide if you want to branch out on your own or if it would be a better fit to work for an established entity.Â Donâ€™t let what you may consider limited experience weigh this decision.Â Finding the right job is all about how you market yourself and how you present what you have to offer.Â Use whatever skills you may have and make sure people know what it is you have to provide.Â This goes for a future employer or a future client.

Remember this, networking and marketing are a large part of the private sector.Â If you chose to branch out on your own, you and you alone will be the one telling people what it is you do, what service you provide, what you have that others canâ€™t give them.Â You are self-employed, you sell yourself!Â The next best thing to selling yourself is to have friends and colleges selling you as well.Â Network, a term that you will hear over and over again in any business, so pay attention!Â Get plugged in with a network, go to the local bodyguard schools and find groups that branch off from them.Â The more people that know about your abilities and skills the more people there are out selling for you as well.Â Many people have acquired great jobs through â€œconnectionsâ€.Â Ultimately you want to get business through referrals; business should come to you, not you going to find the business.

Big Chick What I Wish Everyone Knew About Him

Executive Protection Articles, Insider Tips

Charles Big Chick Huntsberry

When I think about Charles Big Chick Huntsberry, my mentor, and friend, the man who taught me about working hard and helped me on my career path in executive protection:

These are the words that come to mind.

Strong.
Funny.
Competitive.
Outgoing.

Most people recognized him back in the day–At 6’8″ nearly 400 pounds, and with his distinctive Santa Claus beard, Big Chick had become something of a celebrity in his own right. Prince’s former bodyguard who had a cameo appearance in the film Purple Rain, and served as his personal bodyguard until 1985.

Prince’s Bodyguard

I first met Big Chick when my boy BrownMark invited me to band rehearsals for Prince and the Revolution. Big Chick had been in Law Enforcement in Tennessee at one time and worked for the band AC/DC. After meeting Chick, I was inspired to do this type of work, and thankfully, BrownMark put in a good word for me. I was a big guy but, because I was not 6’8″ and 400 pounds both guys pretty much laughed when I naively stated: “I want to be a bodyguard, too.” I spent the next 6 months working out like crazy –yes, I was under the assumption you just needed to be big to be a bodyguard.

I would later learn the truth about this career! Which is, Brains Before Brawn. Research and preparation aimed at identifying potential threats and contingency plans that supersede the need for a big bouncer like bodyguards. Executive protection professionals receive training in skills such as defensive driving, emergency medical response, and physical fitness. They know how to prepare for important events ahead of time and counter threats. For more information on executive protection click on this link: Bodyguard Training.

Big Chick thought I had the right personality and skill set for the job, and saw the work I’d put into getting physically fit. He gave me my first job as a bodyguard. He then taught me there was a lot more to the work than being a big man.

Purple Rain Tour

Big Chick and I spent a lot of time together on the road in the mid-1980s, working on the Purple Rain tour. He was a funny, funny guy who loved to laugh, loved to cuss, and was constantly busting me with practical jokes. I remember the one time I got him pretty good, though. I went to his room and knocked on his closed and locked hotel door well, what he didn’t know was that I had my stun gun on the metal door handle, and hit the juice, so when he tried to open it to let me in, he got a little jolt. He yelped, then tried it again. Another jolt. “What’s wrong?” I asked, “I keep getting shocked when I touch the M.F. door,” he replied. (Insert any number of colorful expletives) I told him it was probably a malfunction with the electronic card reader, and to try again. Well, I zapped him a couple of times, then put away my stun gun.

WELL, one of my road brothers snitched on me and Big Chick got wind of how I’d messed with him. I was put back on luggage detail for a few weeks–the crummiest, lowest task to deal with on tour. He was the boss, though, and he had the last laugh!

Big Chick had the most sinister laugh–he’d stick his tongue out the side of his mouth, and laugh that evil little laugh–and you’d just KNOW you were in for some trouble. Because he was such a big man, he’d often split his pants–and he’d get so mad!! Meanwhile, we’d all nearly cry from laughing–which would just make him angrier.

One of the funniest things I can recall is when Big Chick decided to design uniforms for all of the bodyguards in the entourage. I still cringe when I think about it. He designed suits that were double-breasted, purple satin with white belts. We looked like little school patrol boys. All the guys argued and complained and told him we really didn’t want to wear those uniforms. He insisted we put them on. So, we’re all standing there, when Prince comes into rehearsal. He takes one look at all of us and FALLS out laughing if I remember correctly, he said Big Chick, and all of us looked like “Friar Tuck and his Merry Men.” We never had to wear those again. I did feel kind of bad for Chick though–he had the best of intentions and was so earnest in his attempt to get the guys looking sharp.

I miss Charles Huntsberry, he was a good man to work with and really made those days on the road fun. We worked hard, but we sure laughed hard and played hard, too. He once told Gilbert Davison and myself. You two are like my sons–and given that he was a good ‘ole boy that lived in Tennessee, I took that as the ultimate compliment.

Chick Huntsberry Death

My mentor Charles Huntsberry, AKA Big Chick died of heart failure on April 2, 1990

Tribute to Big Chick — Prince’s Bodyguard

About Harlan Austin
Harlan Austin is the founder and editor of Bodyguard Careers. If you need help getting started in Executive Protection, Click on this link.

What it Means to be Professional

Career Advice, Executive Protection Articles

These days, it seems any guy who is big in stature is calling himself a bodyguard or Executive Protection Specialist. I receive resumes all the time and sadly the information contained is usually along the lines of: 6″5′, 400 lbs, forty time 4.5 bench press 450 Ibs. There’s usually not much more.

The truth is, any time a client is actually in need of brawn means that someone wasn’t using their brain. And that someone could be you–if you think that this career is about weight-lifting and packing heat.

I recently had the great pleasure of working on a detail to protect former President Bill Clinton on a visit to my state. It was a highlight in my long career serving as an Executive Protection specialist for many reasons–first, Mr. Clinton was a gracious and genuinely nice man to be around, and secondly the Secret Service team was made up of incredibly well-trained, professional and awe-inspiring gentlemen. Now, let me share something very important with you–the Clinton detail team Leader was maybe 5’8″ and 160 pounds. Not what you might look at and call physically intimidating. No doubt, he’s physically fit and probably above and beyond the average EPS in skills requiring physical confrontation–but here’s the thing:

He will probably never need to utilize those skills. [Read more…] about What it Means to be Professional

Working in a Celebrity’s Universe: It Won’t Make YOU a Star

Hucky Austin

“Celebrity current news”

By: Harlan (Hucky) Austin

Lots of people want to be bodyguards to famous people. The truth is, Celebrity Details are probably the most coveted positions, but represent only one small sector of Executive Protection. Details can range from accompanying a CEO of a Fortune 500 company to a shareholders meeting, to acting as a bodyguard/personal assistant to a celebrity, to the reaches of the upper echelon and most dangerous work–protecting political dignitaries from terrorist attacks.

Sasops from Tactical Forums describes a detail representative of the kind of work other people won’t ordinarily do, and which is rarely noted in the job description:

“I got to work in a huge trash dump recently and realized that the location was not one that anyone ever advertised as a lure into the profession¦surrounded by mountains of filth, rotting corpses, pigs (eating the flesh off the corpses) and gun toting bandits.”

Makes fetching a mocha latte for a celebrity employer seem like a walk in the park, right? I have been fortunate in that the scope of my duties as a Bodyguard have never included flesh-eating pigs–rather, I have protected the famous, the beautiful, and the self-absorbed. Yup. You read that last bit right.

“Twisted Black my Town”

In The News

Rapper’s bodyguard caught in Michigan

Source: MyWestTexas.com
Midland Reporter-Telegram

The former bodyguard of one-time Fort Worth rap musician and crack cocaine dealer Tommy “Twisted Black” Burns has pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy after being apprehended in Flint, Mich.

They said Leroy “Big” Shelton had been a fugitive from the U.S. Marshals Service since disappearing when Burns was arrested at Scarred 4 Life Records in Fort Worth last July.

Convicted by a U.S. District Court jury in Midland Nov. 23 last year, Burns was sentenced to 30 years in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Feb. 22 by U.S. District Judge Robert Junell.
Â

Shelton and Burns were indicted for engaging in a conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine between January 2001 and June 2005. Officers had said Michigan was a particular point of interest in Shelton’s pursuit because he and Burns are Detroit natives.

In a plot Midland police and federal investigators said traveled Interstate 20 from Fort Worth to Midland, Shelton was accused of involvement in the sales of 5 grams of crack here April 5, 2005, and more than 50 grams June 2 that year.

Aspiring Midland rapper Zeteral “Zet” Perkins went to trial in a closely related crack conspiracy in September 2005 and received a 22-year term.

Officers at Burns’ sentencing said he was complicit in the sale of a total of 1,022 grams of crack during his visits to Midland, which his attorneys characterized as promotional trips to popularize his records.
“Twisted black my town”

“Free cover letter samples”

Insider Tips

This is a good article on examples of cover letters for resume.
Enjoy

“Fantastic cover letters sample”

Writing Cover Letters That Get Your Resume Read First
By Freddie Johnson:
Writing cover letters that target the requirements of the job and demonstrate a healthy understanding of the organization and industry you want to work in will greatly increase your prospects of obtaining an interview. So how do you go about writing cover letters that get your resume read first?

Your cover letter creates the first impression of you and can influence the way a potential employer views your application. Writing cover letters that grab the readerâ€™s interest and encourage a careful reading of your resume must therefore be considered as important as writing an effective resume.

Do not send generic cover letters with your resume if you want to be considered seriously for a position. Each cover letter must be individually targeted to each position and if necessary, your resume should also be adjusted to suit. Your cover letter should be well written and free of errors if you hope to gain an interview.

However, if you are not confident that you are able to write an effective cover letter, there are templates for writing cover letters freely available for download from the internet. Cover letter templates simply provide an outline of what you must include in your cover letter and even provide you with an order.

For some people, this saves a great deal of anxiety and they can focus on the more important issues of content. Once you have completed a first draft using a template, you are free to personalize your cover letter and reveal your personality if you wish.

A typical cover letter template will guide you to include all the necessary contact information, the employerâ€™s contact information, and direct you paragraph by paragraph to include all the necessary elements of a good cover letter.

You can add more to the cover letter than is suggested if you feel it is necessary, however, cover letters should be relatively short. They should be no longer than two pages at the most, but ideally one page of three to four paragraphs is what you should aim for.

Remember when writing cover letters that they should be short, concise and to the point. Do not include anything that is not directly relevant to your application. Make it as easy as possible for a potential employer to see that you fulfill all the specifications for the job.

Your cover letter is meant to both inform and influence. In a sense, writing cover letters that are effective and interesting will predispose potential employers in your favor and they will read your resume more proactively and positively than otherwise.

Learn more about how to write an effective cover letter with Freddie Johnson’s free articles on resumes, cover letters, interview and job search tips at http://www.resume-cover-letter-and-career-tips.com
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“fantastic cover letters sample”

Need Money Try Networking

Big Chick What I Wish Everyone Knew About Him