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SOMETHING VENTURED
Private Security A veteran of the $48.1 billion industry tells what it’s like protecting the rich and famous By Ed McKinley
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ere’s how a rookie mistake provided the founding principles for a thriving business. Todd Sheets was working as a cop in a medium-sized city in 2008 when his part-time gig in private security took him to a beautiful hotel in Brazil. He was assigned to guard an A-list tech CEO, and he and his client were assigned adjoining rooms. Everything seemed quiet early one morning, so Sheets decided to squeeze in a workout on a treadmill in the hotel basement. He was SAFETY FIRST jogging on the machine Want to secure a house from when his squawk box intruders? Security expert blurted his name and Todd Sheets recommends having summoned him to the a dog, a chain-link fence and command center. motion-sensing lights. It seemed that Sheets had left his BlackBerry in his room, and the device had automatically turned itself on and sounded a wake-up alarm. It rousted his justifiably displeased client out of bed. Prepared for the worst, Sheets presented himself to the client, explained what happened and asked for forgiveness. “Don’t even worry about it,” the client said. “Have a nice morning.” By responding so reasonably, the client— Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg—taught Sheets the importance of direct communication and owning mistakes. What’s more, he was reminded that people make mistakes but learn and move on. Those insights became mantras for Big Bison, the Atlanta-based security business Sheets launched in 2014. Beyond law enforcement After 20 years as a cop, Sheets had sometimes found the job dull. “You can only write so many traffic tickets and catch so many jaywalkers before that becomes a bit stagnant,” he said. So, he welcomed an opportunity that arose to manage arena security part-time for big-name entertainers, professional athletes and other wealthy VIPs. He liked dealing with the varied personalities and found it challenging to figure out how to work with those clients without annoying them or disrupting their routines. The early gigs tended to last from one to three days at the arena and beyond. But ensuring the security of celebrities can
Luckbox | January / February 2022
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