According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “a record-breaking 5.5 million new business applications were filed in 2023.” Yet, new entrepreneurs embark on this arduous journey every day.
I sat down with Charles Foster, an Oakland resident and father of four, who recently started a business offering security services. We discussed the unique approach his company takes towards security, his leadership style influenced by fatherhood, and his stress-free business model.
Tell us about your business and what services you sell.
It’s a little bit different than some of the guys that you see with the blue furry coat on and the navy blue pants. My guards are a little bit more tactical looking. We have a different presence and that’s by design.
I don’t want to be associated with just anybody. It’s not just a body sitting in a chair with a security guard uniform on, you’re actually a trained security specialist. We take what we do to a different level. Not that we are bullies or looking for a problem.
My view of security is you have one person in a building that let’s say has another 50-60 people in there. The job of my officer, or me if I’m there, is to make everyone feel like if something happens, this person has it under control even if we don’t, because what am I really going to do if 60 people decide to go off at the same time?
So security is really about making people feel safe, as opposed to the reality of “are you really safe?” It really doesn’t matter how many weapons you carry, whether it’s a gun, mace, baton, taser, stun gun, all of that… if you’re not using your brain as the primary weapon. That generally causes more problems than it solves.
When I’m interviewing someone or considering someone for a position in security, it’s not really related to how big they are or how menacing they look. It’s more related to how they articulate. One of the most important things is having the correct mental state, emotional state and how easily are you unraveled?
You mentioned that your guards have more of a tactical presence, does that come from a military background?
No. Historically, everyone who knows me or who I’ve met as an adult assumes that I have military background or some kind of law enforcement background and I don’t. I’m just a dad.
I manage my business, my friendships and my relationships the same way that I father. Not by forcing people to do X, Y, and Z, not by doing a whole list of rules, but just by living how I live. If I set that expectation or the standard, then the people that I’m around, I don’t really have to enforce it because they know what I’m about.
I don’t enforce a whole lot, I just have a standard and some principles that I live by. I mean, you’ve known me for a number of years, I don’t think there are very many things that I listed. It was more, “you know better than that because of obvious reasons”. So I kind of just carried that over into all aspects of my life. Most people get military training out of that just because I guess they associate it with being disciplined.
It’s really just the father in me. It’s really just the uncle in me, the man in society in me that makes people think I have formal training in law enforcement or the military.
And I have none, zero. Never have never would. I’ve never been interested in being a cop, never ever wanted to join the military, I would have never considered it. Even if I could go back to being a young man, I still wouldn’t consider it.
One of the things that I make sure that my guards know is that I don’t ask them to do anything, not that I wouldn’t do, but that I haven’t already done first. So I’m not asking anyone to take any measure or to complete any task or any protocol that I don’t do if I’m in that same position for a day or an overnight shift. I do the same thing that I ask of the guards to do, just because I don’t get a kick out of being a hypocrite.
And it could be pretty demoralizing to feel like, “oh, these tasks only apply to me”. I do it the exact way that I train my guards to do it, so there’s no deviation. With that, if I do need to sit down for some type of a corrective conversation, it can never be said to me, “but you don’t do it that way”.
When it comes to your hiring and interview process, can you give some tips around how to find the right people that fit your value system?
I’m pretty unorthodox in my method. When I interview somebody, I don’t want to give them an opening to just talk about themselves and tell me unverifiable things. When I interview someone, I talk about life. “Tell me what you’re doing right now. Tell me what this journey has been like” – depending upon who it is I’m talking to.
Then I just listen to the way that they talk about what they’ve been through. As opposed to, “why should I hire you as a security guard?” “because I’m a people person”, etc. I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to hear the script. I don’t want to see your resume. I don’t want to see what you had 12, 13 hours to sit out and type perfectly to make it sound like this other version of you.
What I want to do is sit in front of you and have a stripped down conversation about who you are, because that will tell me much more about you than anything you could write on paper would ever tell me.
So, a lot of it is, “what kind of vibe do I get from this person? What type of personality does this person have?” because there’s certain personalities, in my opinion, that are just not suited for security. If I’m sitting across from you and you’re telling me how much you are just a bleeding heart for everyone that’s out there, you just want to help everyone and everyone is more important – you can’t be a security guard, because when you’re wearing a uniform and tasked with protecting these people, there can’t be any conflict.
What has been your biggest challenge when it comes to running your business?
Well, the biggest challenge is the part that you don’t have control over. If I have this building over here, let’s say it’s an office building with 50 to 60 people in there per day. I have to make sure that the person that I’ve put in charge there, and am paying to be there, is of the same accord that I am even when I’m not watching.
So probably the biggest challenge is just making sure you have someone that has integrity, that has professionalism, and shares your mindset of no-nonsense dealings. That would probably be the biggest challenge. Trying to find clones of yourself, mentally. Security is not hard, but it’s not simple all the time. So ideally someone who’s able to regulate their emotions.
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