Personal Protection: Working for Celebrities & Billionaires
Brian Daniel works with some of the world's preeminent security professionals and can assist you with being connected to an expert to have your home, office, yacht, computer network, or automobile collection evaluated.
While working as an Executive Assistant to a high-profile CEO is difficult in itself, being a Personal Assistant to a celebrity or billionaire poses its own special set of problems – especially when it comes to security and bodyguards (aka Close Protection or Executive Protection).
A well-trained personal assistant should know the ins and outs of working for the rich and famous, and when it comes to protecting one’s boss, having the right security team is essential. Billionaires and celebrities are in constant danger of all sorts, including the possibility of being kidnapped.
A well-trained personal assistant should know the ins and outs of working for the rich and famous, and when it comes to protecting one’s boss, having the right security team is essential. Billionaires and celebrities are in constant danger of all sorts, including the possibility of being kidnapped.
Taking protection to the next level
There are instances in which billionaires have been kidnapped for ransom money, so very high-profile philanthropists and business moguls need to take extra steps to ensure their safety. Here is a short list of considerations assistants must take when working for high-net-worth individuals [VIDEO BELOW]:
- Hire the best security team: Never take chances when it comes to your boss’s safety, especially when they have children. Have a personal protection agency make an assessment of the risks and determine if 24-hour-a-day protection is needed.
- Don’t follow patterns: A personal assistant should vary his or her employer’s routine as much as possible. When criminals “case a mark,” it makes kidnapping the celeb much more difficult if they are unsure where the VIP is going to be at any given time.
- Take threats seriously: Billionaires and celebrities sometimes receive death threats, and each should be taken seriously. Obsessed fans or belligerent radicals may target high-profile individuals for any number of reasons, so if you identify any threat as credible, it should be reported to local authorities. Many big cities have special divisions specifically for these kinds of cases.
- Secure the home: Threats to personal safety exist both inside and outside the home. Many celebrities have been victims of break-ins and home invasions. Be sure that the estate and surrounding property are secure with a fence and security cameras.
- Get a safe room (aka Panic Room): Hire a company that specializes in home security. They can build a “safe room,” which essentially is like a giant bank vault. If the celebrity or billionaire does become the victim of a break-in, then the safe room will be the fortress of solitude until the police arrive.
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