Small Business Managers - Llewellyn's Story
Llewellyn Pritchard
Llewellyn is the Director of Black Belt Security, a business that focuses on close personal protection, armed guard work and some crowd control. He also crosses over with the building industry in electronic security – working with another firm that installs and monitors alarms systems and offers people security solutions.
He likes security, because of its flexible and edgy nature, and the satisfaction of managing and dealing with risks and protecting people.
He says it can be difficult dealing with people who are abusive or out of control. Electronic security can help in these situations by providing good back up data and documentation of events. It can also stand in for guards who are not there or replace manpower in situations where guards could find it quite boring to stare at an asset for days on end. CCTV cameras or passive detectors can be used in place of guards. He believes any difficulties can be managed successfully with good security risk management.
Llewellyn’s background is architecture. He’s a registered architect and a registered builder - commercial unlimited and domestic unlimited. He designed and built two alarm monitoring control centres for a security firm, and through this work developed a real interest in electronic security. He also has a background in martial arts and is an assistant instructor in Tae Kwan Do. Getting into security was a natural progression!
He has an interest in protecting people and also has formal training in security operations. He has a Certificate III in Bodyguard, Armed Guard, Cash in Transit, Crowd Control and General Security Guard and has nearly completed the Certificate IV in Security Risk Management.
Llewellyn believes there is a bright future for the security industry in general. “We need to get smarter about it and work with good people and cross over with electronic security,” he says. “There are definitely increasing risks in some areas, but good security will minimise those risks.”
Llewellyn believes electronic security is one of the more lucrative aspects of the industry. Providing physical manpower security is not as profitable a business. There are definitely good career prospects in electronic security and these will increase, as technology improves, leading to better returns for companies and better value for clients.
Electronic security technicians are very well paid and do much better than security guards. It’s a great industry for those with good hand-eye brain skills. The prospects for women in this industry are also bright - it’s an open industry to get into. Because hours are flexible, people often have three or four careers. On the other hand, technicians can work long hours, but they are well rewarded for these. The potential for technicians to set up their own business as contractors is also great.
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Llewellyn Pritchard
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