The Security Circle

EP 129 Fearless and On the Record: Mark Ledlow’s Mindset Mission The Security Circle Meets The Fearless Mindset” — a Clash of two Podcast Powerhouses

• Yoyo Hamblen • Season 1 • Episode 129

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🎙️ Podcast Summary:

In this dynamic episode, Yolanda welcomes fellow podcast host and security entrepreneur Mark Ledlow, founder of Fearless Mindset and CEO of Ledlow Security Group. From humble beginnings in the Marine Corps to leading a thriving executive protection firm, Mark shares his unfiltered journey into the world of security, resilience, and digital storytelling. Together, they dive into the power of mindset, the lessons podcasting teaches us, and the importance of authenticity in a black-and-white industry. Mark’s personal reflections—from near-death experiences to the transformative moment of watching his father’s final breath—bring depth to a conversation that’s as real as it is inspiring.

 

🔑 Key Talking Points:

  1. From Imposter Syndrome to Industry Voice:
    Mark opens up about his early doubts in podcasting and how consistency and storytelling transformed his confidence, brand, and influence across the security industry.
  2. Security with Soul: The Power of Authentic Conversations:
    The duo reflect on why traditional security narratives fall flat — and how bringing vulnerability, humor, and humanity into podcasts connects with wider audiences.
  3. Executive Protection in a Changing World:
    Mark shares real-world insights from the field, including the post-COVID spike in digital threat management, high-profile protest risk, and what today’s CEOs really need.
  4. Legacy, Leadership, and Living Fearlessly:
    Inspired by his late father’s battle with cancer, Mark reveals how the concept of a "fearless mindset" shaped his company, his media platform, and his commitment to lifting others up.

About Mark

Mark Holds a Bachelor's Degree in Criminology with a Minor in Psychology 

From Southern Oregon University  one of the Top Criminology Programs in the Country. 

Mark Graduated on the Dean's List 

Mark also Served an 8 year contract in the United States Marine Corp 

and was honorably discharged a week after 9-11

During Mark's College Years he also Served in the Marine Reserves 

Worked for the Oregon Youth Authority in Youth Corrections and Served as a Police Reserve. 

Once Graduating from Southern Oregon University he went to work in the Corp Banking with both Key Bank and Washington Mutual which is now Chase Bank. 

Mark is the President of Ledlow Security Group A boutique Security Consulting firm which is  Headquartered in Frisco Texas. Ledlow Security Group Executed over 250 Missions last year. 

Focusing on Intelligence, Residential Security, Executive Protection, Providing the Executive Assistance and Chief of Staff a high level of  Personal Touch

Mark is also the Founder of and Host of The Fearless Mindset Podcast with over 119k subscribers on YouTube. The Fearless Mindset Podcast can be found on all Podcast platforms. 

 

Security Circle ⭕️ is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

If you enjoy the security circle podcast, please like share and comment or even better. Leave us a fab review. We can be found on all podcast platforms. Be sure to subscribe. The security circle every Thursday. We love Thursdays.

Yoyo:

Hi, this is Yolanda. Welcome. Welcome to the Security Circle podcast. That's it, the award-Winning Security Circle podcast. IFPO is International Foundation for Protection Officers and we are dedicated to providing meaningful education information and certification for all levels of security personnel and make a positive difference where we can to our members' mental health and wellbeing. Our listeners are global and they are the decision makers of tomorrow. And today, and I wanna thank you personally, wherever you are for being a part of the Security Circle journey. We are on all podcast platforms and don't forget, if you see the post on LinkedIn, don't forget to subscribe, like, share, or even send us a cheeky comment. Thank you for your company today. Well, I have with me another podcasting legend. I'm laughing'cause that implies I am one as well. Of the American Ledlow variety Mark LED Low. Welcome to the Security Circle podcast. How are you doing?

Mark:

Thank you for having me. That was funny actually. Okay. All right.

Yoyo:

Are you thinking about making your podcast intros more funny then now

Mark:

I need to have some humor. It's been dry lately.

Yoyo:

Security industry isn't a very funny industry though, is it?

Mark:

It's very black and white, not much gray, all black and white. And I think that's why it bores so many people. And that's why they, they go to the sci-fi, the murder, you know, diary, uh, podcasts that are out there. The business podcast, you know, security is definitely black and white. Good versus evil, you know, um, right. Actors and who's gonna get you in the middle of the night, you know, who's your ghost goblin in the closet, you know, that type of stuff. And, uh. Security is just different, you know, in the podcasting world. And I'm always thinking, you know, how do I get more listeners? Listeners, oh, well I think if you double down on what you know and master what you know and do that, keep it simple and start having conversations, I think a lot of hosts in podcasting get stuck on the volume of listeners versus the quality of the conversation.

Speaker 3:

You think?

Mark:

Yeah, because they're all, I want to get sponsorships. I need to get sponsors. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I want to get

Mark:

picked up. I need get a contract with Spotify, apple. And they're so caught up in, um, the what if down the road they don't focus on, they're not almost like, they're not present. The conversation now, because they're, they're thinking, okay, is this gonna be a bait click or what? I think they overcomplicated

Yoyo:

Let's go back. Obviously we wanna talk about your profession and, your subject matter expertise. Why did you get into podcasting? What was it that drew you to it? Mark?

Mark:

Um, funny, funny story. I was in Southern California. COVID just hit us hard and I was running around. Flights were cheap. So I was in Southern California visiting a friend of mine in Sherman Oaks that I spent most of my career in LA County and, uh, as an exec protection agent. And, uh, sat down with a friend of mine's son-in-law. He goes, what are gonna do now? There's no conferences and COVID hit us and you can't make any money and can't go to networking conferences. Whatcha gonna do? I'm like, I have no idea. He goes, have you ever thought about a podcast? I'm like, huh, what's that? What's a podcast? I'm just didn't know. I'm never listened to one in my life. I just didn't listen to him. And then it took a millennial to explain to me the value and where podcasting was and where his vision of where podcasting would become. So you're gonna sit around, do nothing, and when you could possibly bring in your entire network that you worked with for the last 15 years in security. That been off the grid with you and doing ops with you that trust you, you can bring them, having conversations, ramp it up for a year and build credibility of your name while everybody's sitting around doing nothing. I'm like, huh? And I'm thinking, well, I can always do Google ads. I'm like, you don't understand the power of the story. Digitally is gonna be the most powerful venue platform in the world. If you get in it now, that was five years ago, you will have a piece of that pie and building your credibility and your brand. I'm like, whoa, this kid's smart. I'm like, okay. I thought about it. I'm like, you mean I gotta get on video and do podcasting like these other guys? I'm like, I'm not those other guys. And so I went in imposter syndrome immediately going, oh wow. And I'm naturally an introvert. Uh, but gimme any crowd of people. And you know, I talk to everybody, but you know, the challenge is looking in that camera or face to face mic on your face, and you're wondering how many times you're gonna edit that episode. And, you know, it took me 50 episodes to start relaxing and not sweating with a legal pad in my hand. Thanks to Mike Trott. He's, over there four branches, bourbon, you know, former CIA Um, he was on the, uh, protective team where, um, his principal and he just jumped on my first one, said, Hey, I'll give you, I'll give you a hand couple across the first one. He was my Guinea pig. But what it did, I had no idea. No clue. But I would be where I'm at now if I, I really believe I would not be in the position I'm in now without the podcast.

Yoyo:

Like you, I hadn't also listened to a podcast before I started making them. I went to YouTube and I, and I looked up, you know, how to make a great podcast. What do I need to think about? What, uh, what's the message? And there's so much help. I mean, when I started, I we're in our third year, I can't believe it, you know, we've just put out episode 1, 2, 3, uh, 4, 5, 6. And, and yet YouTube's got everything. But interestingly, my niece, who's only 20, you know, she said to me, auntie, yo-yo. She says, you know, if you're an idiot these days, if you don't know how to do something, because there'll be a video on YouTube that will show you how to do it. There's no excuse for not knowing is there. I think you've just gotta be a little bit brave. So what's your podcast about and why did you choose that subject?

Mark:

We're in the middle of the pandemic and everybody's just frozen back here. Are we ever get out of this and are we gonna ever go back to normalcy with the government shutting everything down globally, government's shutting everything down. I'm like, what the heck? So I'm like, Hmm, the fearless, and then I was struggling with the title, and then I'm like, wait a minute, why not? You know, as in more of a memory and honor of my dad who had been battling brain cancer at the time. And, um, he passed of course, before I launched the podcast, but he was basically fearless. He had a fearless mindset in his battle of cancer because him being a pastor, a preacher, he just had that belief in him, that faith in him that when he took his last breath, he knew he. Where he was going. And so he had no shadow fear in his head even until his last moments on earth. And I, I can remember being there with my sister surrounding, you know, the bed when he took his last breath and watching the transformation from his body leaving. It was like the most powerful, supernatural thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I mean, he was blind for a couple weeks and couldn't talk because of the cancer in the brain. And a couple seconds before he took his last breath, he woke up. It was almost like paramedics got pads on his chest and put pads on his chest.

Speaker 3:

Yep. And a

Mark:

surge of energy that came out. I don't know where he woke up. He gasped per air and he was breathing and he looked at all of us. Me and my sisters made eye contact with each other, each one of us, and we're like, what is this? Are we living in a sci-fi movie or something? No, this is real. We're not living in a movie. He's looking at us. He got a sight back. Made eye contact and he had to, I think, a couple, a taste of dementia or something. So all I could say was help. He was looking around at us and he, I think he said, trying to say goodbye, I'll see you in heaven. And then he looked at us and then all of a sudden he started engaging with something on the wall. Like he saw his, his mouth got so big, his eyes like, were bigger saucers. I'm like, what is he looking at? And then. 30 seconds later, Dawn,

Yoyo:

you think it was the light?

Mark:

Mm-hmm. So experiencing that, I'm like, you know what? In memory, your dad, the fearless mindset,

Yoyo:

I follow you. I follow your podcast as well, I think. I think it's important, isn't it, to have, you know, engaging guests. So what you doing here, mark? Um, no, I just, it's important to have guests that are gonna bring something unique. I kind of like imagined my listeners in mind and I was quite fortunate'cause I was at the House of Lords and, um. Cracky. You know, Sandy Davis was presenting something, I can't remember what it was, and she said, oh, has anybody here, you know, heard of the Security Circle podcast, and like almost everybody's hands went up. And I thought, holy mo, that the, I hadn't realized as I was engaging in a networking event with peers that these were all. Potential listeners, if not actual listeners. And, and then, and then I, I'm always thinking, you know, how can I not let them down in the sense of they are my focus. So I don't really care if my numbers drop. I don't, I, you know, the, the numbers fluctuate. We get peaks and troughs and everything, but ultimately we stay in, in the same lane. We're usually around, we average around top 20% podcast downloads. For Buzz Sprout and we've peaked to 12%, which is really phenomenal. But I don't expect to stay at that level, you know, all the time. And I'm thinking, how can I not let them down? I'd hate for them to listen to somebody and think, oh my God, that was so dull. I had to turn it off. So I'm always focused on, on that. What do you do to keep it interesting, mark?

Mark:

I just become myself as a host. Not anybody else, just Mark Ludlow being an inquisitive, curious guy that I've always been, and ask those questions. Not journally like, not like a journalist, but become that curious guy that I was in high school and college like, like ask those questions that the audience wants to know, even the, if they're political or you know, might throw a wrench in the whole, uh, conversation. Put things on edge a little bit, but that's truly a podcast. That's why we call'em podcasts to be organically authentic. And I think people are too afraid of what, that's what my biggest thing was. I was so afraid watching this. I was like, what are people gonna think? I'll never work again in the business, you know? And imposter syndrome. No one's gonna ever hire me as a vendor or contractor after they hear, you know, my story. I mean, the doubts and the fears that flew through my brain was. It was like mental bootcamp all over again in the Marine Corps. It seriously was so, I don't have any degree in journalism. I a crimin injury. I doesn't become a cop or SWAT or something. I don't have any degree in journalism or broadcast or media, and I'm like, I'm just going, going for it, going, oh, what? What do I have to lose if I don't do this? What if the what if thing just drove me, gave me that fire? I'm like, you know, if you put five years into this, what could your business, your brand look like? I'm like, huh. The negative people out there, they feed me. They have no idea when they come after me. Oh, it just inspires me. Like, you have no idea. The marine in me comes out. I'm like, holy yeah. Watch this. I love it. It just, it is very contrary to what people may think, but yeah, I'm human too, and I, you know, we get down, we get discouraged. That's just human nature. But what I found is the trick is around with yourself with. The people that feed you positively, that lift you up, encourage you,

Yoyo:

In fact, you, you brought up the marine, uh, in you, uh, what was Mark Ledlow? The Marine. Like

Mark:

I was a jerk. Complete not a nice name. A h

Yoyo:

or an.

Mark:

Young, dumb and just naive. Ignorant. But I had so much drive and passion that I channeled it to the wrong things. But when I just didn't know what I didn't know, and we, when at that, that younger age, we're so confident, confident and arrogant, it's like, oh, no one can touch me. I'm invincible, but. The Marines, they gave me so much of a foundation to build on mental, uh, mental discipline training. Just the discipline character, just, and the comradery.'cause you don't know what the Marine Corps will do for you until after the fact. I'm still gleaning the benefits of being a Marine still to this day. I mean, doors fly wide open. Calls come in, people reach out. I'm like, whoa.'cause of the, the Marine Corps Brotherhood, the Marine Corps family, it just opens up opportunities that, like when I got out of college, all my offers weren't because of my college degree, because of my Marine Corps background.

Yoyo:

Right. Did Mark Redlow the Marine, know that one day he was gonna be CEO, founder of his own business one day. And quite successful at that.

Mark:

Never would imagine.

Yoyo:

So what happened?

Mark:

You know, mentorship, people that get around, people that are smarter than you. Ask them questions. Look for counsel, look for, look for those mentors in an industry. That's what I did. And I had, uh, another, uh, business interest that I was also in, that it was like a, a business training organization that I was part of for a while just to help me understand business and one thing they, you know, taught. That organization was, take counsel, seek advice, look for people that are smarter than you. I around multimillionaires in a different industry. I'm like, huh. So that's what I did in this industry. I just made friends with those that are leaders. Just started as being like a, become a student from the master teachers, and that's what I started doing. And people would say, you know, you're gonna start your own shop one day. I'm like, huh? I'm like, I'm still a field executive protection agent in the industry in Southern California is going up and down the five corridor working. And I'm like, I, I never saw it. I just didn't see it because I don't think I was ready to see it. And then we have to go through our journey and our experiences to become, and we're ready to become. The key to that door is given to you and then you open it up and next, the next season of life comes your way. But you truly have to go through your journey of experiences. You. You have to get fall down, get back up, get fall down, get back up. Failure, you gotta fall a lot. And that's what I did, you know, I felt fail a lot. And then, you know, listen to the mentors, the people that I worked around in the industry for security for several years. I didn't start my company until 15 years later.

Yoyo:

Tell me a story, the first story that comes to mind from your, uh, from your experience as a marine.

Speaker 3:

Hmm.

Mark:

Oh, being on mission in Nicaragua.

Yoyo:

Go ahead.

Mark:

Being on the, uh, yellow bus being taken from the airport all the way to Managua and just looking outside the window and seeing people washing their clothes in the, whatever the river that was. People that lived in shacks, shacks with little lions going through'em for electricity, and they lived in dirt shacks going, what the heck is this? I'm American. But it took that trip to help me realize how good we had it in America. I was a spoiled American Marine. I didn't know. And so I, I just observed that and looking at poverty in third world country going, whoa. And those people were happy. They didn't know anything different. They had a smile in their, they're always smiling. I bet they were poor, but they were smiling. I'm like, what do they have that I don't that, that, that rattled my cage. Then, uh, went shopping in the mall. Inua got lost. And this lady, I was drinking something, I think it was Pepsi or whatever, and this lady had to be 60 years old, looked like, you know, she, she was just hungry, had a burger and, and she started reaching for my drink. She was thirsty. I'm like, what's she doing? I'm like, oh, she needs water. She's so poor, she can't buy anything. So I went and. Got her a couple bottles of water and gave, gave her some food, bought her some food and put some money and gave it to her and she just started crying.

Yoyo:

Yeah. That's quite moving, isn't it?

Mark:

Being American. You just don't understand how good you got it until you lost it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Mark:

Yeah. That's probably the best, you know, in the military stuff, the discipline and all that. Yeah, that's part of the military, but that's what shook me. Seeing the needs of the world.

Yoyo:

Yeah.

Mark:

Wow. How can I make it be an better impact in the world?

Yoyo:

This is why some of the, the rhetoric frustrates me. I talk about the rhetoric as a whole sum of just nonsense that we seem to focus our, our attention on, because, you know, having traveled to these very poor countries myself, I realized that. I clean my car in water that people, um, don't have the quality, you know, to drink,

Speaker 3:

right?

Yoyo:

I clean my car with drinking water. I think it's insanity personally. I know it's not, it's not the same in every single country, but my cat gets to drink better water than many third world countries have to drink. And you know, that, that for me was my pivotal, oh my God, why are we worried about this shit? Kind of comment, you know, when this is the big issue's going on. It's the way to sort of refocus, isn't it?

Mark:

Yeah. I think the Marine Corps definitely gave me the leadership, the, the mental focus. To execute missions deployments and my, I don't get rattled too often, and I think my team sees that. Like, oh, okay, they're all, what do we do? What do we do? What do we do? Sometimes nothing.

Yoyo:

Resilience is a word that pops up a lot and successful people have a lot of resilience, uh, mainly. And I want to ask you if being a Marine taught you to be resilient or were you resilient already beforehand and being a re a Marine made you more resilient?

Mark:

I think he having a dad that was like almost a quasi Navy drill instructor when I was growing up, he was a Navy Vietnam bat. Holy crap. He was, uh, not easy. He was, um, very disciplined. He made me go work when I was, you know, little kid go paper routes. He made me get up in the morning on Saturday and go do stuff with him. He taught me just little basics, work habit stuff, like go chop the wood and bring it in the wood, you know, high school stuff., He wasn't overbearing, but he taught, you know, just basic. I can remember before junior high, Hey, we gotta do a paper route. Let's go jump in the car, let's go do run a paper route. But dad, at six in the morning, I wanna watch cartoons. No, you're gonna go to work. Like what? Paper out before, before junior high. So I think he had a lot to do with that. Then he made sure I had jobs through friends at churches and stuff. Like I can remember before, I think it was junior high, I was living in Northern California and somebody at the church was a leader at the California Highway Patrol and somehow he got me a job, litter patrol in the summer, picking up trash. I'm like, dad, what are you doing? I wanna go in Oregon, meet girls in high school. I'm like, yeah, me working on this, you know, summers I had had a place to stay and I was picking up trash and I stayed at a friend's from Church house in Y Rico and I did that all summer. Then, you know, next thing you know, you know I had four or 5,000 and I'm like, huh You go buy your own clothes. Go buy a car.

Yoyo:

Yeah. Yeah.

Mark:

Little things and

Yoyo:

re and really understanding the value of money as well. Like I did a paper round and I didn't get much, you know, a couple of pounds'cause it would've been, you know, the eighties. I used to spend that money on getting sweets in the very same news agents that I used to deliver the papers for, you know, uh, but it gave me the independence to mm-hmm. To buy sweeties when I wanted to. I was what, 14. I've worked ever since. I've always seen the value of working, delivering everyone's papers gave me a sense of purpose.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Yoyo:

It's such a small thing, but I think it's so important for kids to identify doing something with purpose, you know, from a very young age. So who shot you? Who shot you? Who taught you to shoot your own gun? No, hang on. Who shot you? No, sorry. Who taught you to shoot your first gun? That's what I was gonna ask, because you're a Texan, right?

Mark:

Right now in Oregon at the moment, that would be the, my best friend from high school, one of my best friends from high school, Scott Martin. That guy got me in so much trouble. He got me grounded like every other weekend. Why? He, he'd call me, Hey, I'm coming by at four, by his four by four truck and jumped in. We go up in the mountain in southern Oregon and go play. And he had a couple rifles and he liked to deer hunt and all that stuff. And so he got me in more trouble than anybody. But, um, learned a lot. Learned how to go hunting and fishing and all that stuff with him. And my, my dad wasn't really into that. He was in, you know, money, you know, he had me and my four sisters, he had five kids in the eighties to raise and he just, he's just, he's a work work. He just had a great work ethic that Scott Martin taught me how to shut shoot a rifle and scope it and all that, and I didn't know any of that. He was a deer hunter. A dad took him hunting his dad with a logger, so that's that. Yeah, he got me in a lot of trouble.

Yoyo:

Tell us one thing that you did that was really naughty then

Mark:

I can probably say this now. Um, naughty Scott. I. Woke up one morning, it was in, uh, up on North Applegate Road in southern Oregon. And Saturday morning I hear dumb, dumb, dumb. I'm like, what the heck? Waking up. Scott's all camoed out face paint all over him. He's bow hunting. He's knocking on my window like, come Mark, I need your help. Everybody's sleeping in the house. He's knocking on my window. I'm like, what? He goes, dude, I just shot a deer in someone's yard. No. And so I put my clothes on, jump in his truck. We go down five miles down the road. I kid you not. He shoots this buck. It's hunting season, and the buck he shoots us, the bow and arrow, and the buck is sitting in someone's yard. Which is illegal. I don't know how he shot it, but it landed in the yard. Maybe he shot it. He said he was jumping from BLM land and jumped into someone's property. So he needed help to pull the buck over the barbed wire fence on the roadway so we can put it in the back of his truck. So we're puffing and puffing this thing massive got antlers, so we're heath heaving, huddled this buck and trying to throw it over the barbed wire fence and it lands on the ground. And then we do it again. I kid not the minute we get it. Up over the truck into the bed of the truck flies in, we jump in the truck. I kid you not, within 30 seconds, state police comes running right by us. That gets, I'm like, oh, oh, we were in soak much trouble if, if there was blood or that, if it would've been another, you know? And I think it was, oh, I think it was a different, I think it was rifle season. It wasn't Bo season until he shot it illegally.

Yoyo:

The cops just drove past you then?

Mark:

Yeah, the state police just drove right past us after the bus was at the bed of the truck. Kid you not we're like, oh my gosh. So we drove up to the mountain and Lori Shotti kinded off and then they took it to the butcher.

Yoyo:

I should hope so. I bet it tasted great. I love a bit of, uh, wildlife myself. Um, so you are the front man for Ledlow security group. Mark COVID was quite an exciting time for you, wasn't it really?'cause you did have a bit of a near death experience.

Mark:

Yeah, during COVID, you know what I did? I just put a mask on and I flew across the country. I was so busy meeting people. I just jumped on a jet and the flights were dirt cheap, so I just was on the chest playing everywhere during COVID, and I didn't get sick. I didn't catch'em until like a year and a half later I got it finally. Oh yeah. I just kept on going. I'm like, okay, just tell me. Keep rocking and rolling. Keep moving around. It was two year and a half into COVID. That's when I finally contracted it.

Yoyo:

What was it like?

Mark:

A lot of fun. I'm like, I'm just gonna keep moving and grooving. I'm not gonna let a virus stop me from expanding my name and meeting people and start building the foundation and the business relationships and all that.

Yoyo:

Yeah, but it nearly did, didn't it? Didn't it nearly kind of like finish you off?

Mark:

Oh yeah. Yeah. I almost died in, uh, Washington, I guess with the Virgin Hotel. That sucked.

Yoyo:

Yeah, that's where I was headed. Mark, with that story.

Mark:

Yeah, that was, um, I met with, uh, Greg Lazaroff and he just caught something from somebody and, um, either Greg or it was, um. A couple of the guys I met in Vegas, Alex Alexios, chat to those guys. I met them, but I think Greg Laro is the one that gave it to me. But I could be wrong. May it could have been anybody.'cause I was in the casino and um, I just flew in on JSX and I was feeling really good. And then after meeting those guys, I'm like, what the heck is going wrong with me? A fever went, yo, you have a high blood pressure and you have a high great fever. I'm like, what? You have COVID. Yeah, the worst time I'm like, wow. And I, I, the, the MAs were watching me and they said they were about ready to call the ambulance. And the, the hospital doc, I guess every hotel has an on-call doctor. I didn't know this. And, uh, they were about ready to call the doctor and have me admitted it was that bad. I, I was as sick as I've ever been in my life.

Yoyo:

And you were a long way from home as well, which must have been horrible.

Mark:

Oh yeah. It was, yeah. Living in a hotel and I forced myself to get up and walk at least a couple miles a day. I, that happened before and that's what I did. And the first time I had it was six to eight and I was feeling okay. I was feeling a better, but this one was like nine days and kicked my rear end and I'm like, God, is this it a rest in peace in Virgin Hotel? Is this my story? Like, wow. But my, my life literally flashed before my eyes that those three weeks, first, it was January last year, and four weeks in the Virgin Hotel. I got to see Richard Branson for the first time. I didn't talk to him. That's

Yoyo:

I understand. He's a bloody nice bloke. Huh.

Mark:

Nice. He doesn't have, he doesn't have all the billionaires. He doesn't even have a security detail. Detail. He's got two ladies that, I think they're his executive assistants. I hope I'm running his company. But he's, he's very approachable. People say, yeah, he is really nice, but no, no security team at all. Which, you know, I don't know if they even have a director of security or chief security officer of various organization. I heard they didn't, but I don't know. But you know, here we have all these executives running around the world. No security measures in place. And some of'em just have a false sense of security maybe. But yeah, nice guy. And uh, Vegas was, I have a different perspective on Vegas now.

Yoyo:

I don't know you, whilst you were talking there, I was thinking maybe he doesn't have the agitations in his. Space. Do you know what I mean? I'm wondering if,'cause he is always been a bit peaceful. He's always been, um, low profile. He's always been, you know, apart from when he had that big legal spat with ba sued them one, I think that was the most high profile he became in a negative sense. And so maybe he doesn't draw any negative attention and a lot of people don't even realize he's there. Do you think it could be that?

Mark:

I think he's one of those guys that's so focused on what he does. He doesn't allow drama or toxic people in his organization.

Speaker 3:

Mm.

Mark:

I think that's smart business leadership. The guy's got what, four businesses that he owns, and he has, doesn't seem like he, he allows drama. He doesn't like drama.

Speaker 3:

No, because I

Mark:

watched, I watched him interact on the Shark Tank. That guy was a wild P, the shark tank. He was funny to watch, but he just doesn't, why? He doesn't care

Yoyo:

really.

Mark:

He has his attitude about him that he just, he's made it and he is really, genuinely wants to help people.

Yoyo:

Philanthropic.

Mark:

But I don't know him. I don't work around him, but that's what I see. That's what I perceive. But I don't think he does chaos really well.

Yoyo:

How is the digital protection world now, say compared to five years ago, especially with the hindsight of the recent CEO that got shot, uh, in New York, how did that shake up? Executive protection space?

Mark:

Oh, the call that we're coming in were created first quarter was we had a historic quarter for us as a business. Now it, it was crazy the amount of volume of business that we did, like we did, we executed over a hundred missions in one month.

Speaker 3:

Wow.

Mark:

We did that in one year, the year before.

Speaker 3:

Wow. It's like,

Mark:

and so we had people from all industries look, uh, reached out to us, say, Hey, do, do the shooting. Our board decided to look into this, and now, you know, the IRS. If there's an IRS policy, that could be a mandate with the board on executives to ensure the safety and security of their executives. But they gotta talk to your CFO about how that works with the IRS and how, how that becomes a mandate. But we have a lot of conversations. Probably may not last first quarter and it's even heightened up second quarter for us. People reaching out, they're just unhappy with the, uh, their current vendors, providers, um. N the quality's not there, what we're doing and, uh, getting charged a lot of money for no product. Why are we paying all this money for?

Yoyo:

So can I hit you up? Hit you up with a real life example? Wanna see what you have to say? Okay. A friend of mine, a friend of mine, a very close friend of mine, whom I've known for some 24 years, is a CEO. Uh, a a two 50 business. Right. And she came to me recently because she said they've attracted the attention. This is a real scenario of some protestors because they're still currently trading in Gaza. I'll to protect the business. I won't say what they do, but there's a legitimate reason for them to be trading in Gaza. There's a legitimate customer base. There's a legitimate demand, and so this protestor group have, obtained some rather sensitive information on some of the executive board. They've got banners, pictures, names, titles, you know, some of the stuff isn't on open source, which was a bit concerning. And she came to me and she said, Hey, listen, you know, what do I need to be thinking about when I speak to my global security director? What do I need to be asking him? So I'm gonna put the question to you.

Mark:

Wow. That's a big case study.

Yoyo:

I'll tell you what I said to her, but I wanna see what you have to say. Let's debate it. Yeah.

Mark:

Build the case, um, by how do you build the case? You gotta do your risk assessment, threat assessments, protective intelligence, um, scrubs and social media is the biggest recruiter of all platforms for those organizations. And, uh, risk assessment, threat assessments and POIs on individuals that are involved. And, um, yeah, hire some, a firm like yours or somebody, you know, that. Has credibility, doing risk assessments, threat assessments, and I, I go all out digital and some great organizations that we work with that do that well, that are former agency folks that are good at snooping the, the dark web. Yeah. Those goals and, uh mm-hmm. Find out who those, uh, the actors are. And, uh, that's gonna be, it's good. It's a new way of, um, they have a new way of communicating. They're spreading like wildfire and, uh. I think it's gonna be an ongoing issue, but it is, you know, think about that, that whole area, that whole region, it's a way of life. Yeah. It's not gonna change based on who the president is in, in America, or who the president is and whatever, the country. It's just the way it, it's their way they're raised, it's their culture.

Yoyo:

I did suggest to her though, I said, look, are you advising the business that even though it's legal for you to trade there in the, in the current scope that you're trading, so you're not breaking the law mm-hmm. But that doesn't mean it's ethically right or wrong. And it doesn't mean that it. It should be something you are doing. Like, is it worth the hassle? I said to her, does your organization want to be wrapped up with this type of negative press? You'll see a lot of companies will have a lot lower profile and they'll probably hedge their bets and say, do you know what? We won't drive cruise ships up the, uh, Suez canal, because I mean, look, it's unlikely that we'll get. You know, anything fly across our bow and scare everybody shitless. But let's just not do that. It's not worth it. It's not worth the hassle, it's not worth pr. It's not worth all of the extra measures we have to put in play, blah blah. So we, so we'll, we'll go round to the, the Cape of Africa and we'll go the long way along with everybody else'cause it's the safest, most practical thing to do. I did present that case to her and say, look, you know. When you speak to your head of risk and your security, you know, lead, it's worth asking what your appetite is to see how far you wanna push this boat out. I was using the cruise ship analogy as an example of why a lot of organizations won't take the risk. They will step back and, and so in the sense of when she could easily say to the business, you know, I'm gonna make the recommendation that we cease trading in Gaza because it's not the right thing for us to do right now. We're not breaking the law, but. Let's just wait for things to calm down. We don't want the negative press, we don't want the agitation, we don't need it. Do we have to be there? No. Oh yeah, there, there is that avenue to withdraw.

Mark:

Yeah. Guilty by association on media press. So yeah. Social media. Yeah. You don't even wanna be involved

Yoyo:

And then I said, you know, look, most security. Managers on the ground in your buildings and premises, they usually get to know the protestors. You know, they'll know them by name. They'll go and chat with them. I said, are they going out having a cup of tea with them saying, can I get you some drinks from the machine? You know, what you guys up to today? How long are you gonna be here for? You know, everything's, you know, intelligence. I said, what, what kind of

Mark:

counter surveillance teams gathering intel?

Yoyo:

Yeah. And you know, what kind of relationship are you building with him? Have you thought to bring the leader of the opposition, you know, of that particular group into the business to say, Hey, you know, can we understand why you're really agitated, because we're not really breaking the law, blah, blah, blah. And then work out whether it's something that can be amicably discussed. Mm-hmm. You know, is, is this something that. You could sit down and say, look, you know, to be honest with you, you know, we're just targeting a lot of businesses like you that are doing the same thing. Okay, cool. All right. Well listen, you know, we wanna be open. You always welcome to come in and say hello. Obviously you have to stay outside. Ah, but uh, there is that opportunity isn't there, that kind of deflates the risk rather than amplify it. I think no business in a crisis. Which I would consider this business to be in a crisis right now, because they have boards of directors with their, you know, their, their names registered to company's house with their addresses. And so,, they, they would feel more vulnerable now than they would do normally.

Mark:

I think there's, I think there's a sense of vulnerability with a lot of companies right now. Um mm-hmm. A lot of'em are readjusting their budgets, looking at forecast because of, the new tariffs taking place with the new administration. And I'm hearing a lot of people are just, standing by. There's wait, waiting to see, is what I'm hearing going on across many, many industries with a lot of security leadership. They just, wait. Let's see what's happening here first before we start spending money. I mean, terror are hitting construction. Berner Mine's, uh, head of sales for, um, a manufacturing company. And, they're having to raise their prices on their products every other week, and she does price increase and the tariffs are just jacking everything up. Oh. And so, we're seeing that from different business industries. And so you're gonna see that, you're gonna see a lot of, you know, supply chain plugging up. From China, a lot of ships are out there on boats and not coming in and it's just, uh, there's gonna be a lot of hemorrhaging, I think, and supply chain, probably unions, you know, the labors and the unions and the shipyards going. There's gonna be a lot of havoc I think here soon because of, um, policies being implemented and, uh, but I think things will, I think you'll start seeing business start exploding. Moving from country to country, the next price, two quarters.

Yoyo:

you're not thinking about maybe due to the extra costs that they're going to be some financial disruptions as, or Yeah.

Mark:

Financial disruption, definitely.

Yoyo:

Mm.

Mark:

Everything cost a lot more. That car you wanted from being made in Mexico or Canada, wherever was gonna be made. It's gonna be, you know, 10,$5,000 more because of the tariffs. It is crazy. Some adjustments and stuff, but I think, you know, from, as far as acuity industry goes, I think we're gonna be very busy.'cause you have, you know, the, the polarization that still exists in the country and globally and you have stuff going on in Europe too as well. And I think, um, you always have good and evil horses everywhere. And people just get naughty and they start acting out. They get pissed off. What, whatever that thing pushes them over the edge. You get fired, you get laid off. Um, companies have to make adjustments. People get hurt financially. And I, I saw somewhere where right now, credit card debt is at all time high.

Yoyo:

Why do you think that is?

Mark:

I think during COVID, everybody hiccup. Free money and they already spent it out and they've built up a lot of debt. Now everybody's being on debt now. Housing is at an all time high and cost of living is all time high. So I think everybody's in a pressure cooker right now psychologically,

Yoyo:

but that just seems so irresponsible, doesn't it?

Mark:

You need to get Kid Candy, they'll keep on kicking the candy store candy until they throw up. Well, adults are the same way. You give'em the candy of money and they, oh, free money, free money. Spend, spend, spend, spend. All of a sudden, bills do kid, and you're a 50, 40-year-old adult, male or woman, and they go, oh, I spent the money. I can't pay the bill. And now I got a, I

Yoyo:

got a, I got a little bit of Yogi Bear out of you there. You know that, don't you? You were like boo boo.

Mark:

Hey,

Yoyo:

what's next for you, mark?

Mark:

Um, what's next? Just expanding, growing our operations at level security group and, um, watching what I really enjoy is I feel like I'm a, for Europe, I feel like I am owner of a soccer team or a soccer club. For your listeners in Europe, I feel like I own a soccer club or the us. I own a football team and I'm a general manager and the owner of the team, and my goal is get the best offensive coordinator on in my front office. And we have a great front office. We got Mark Beason, retired federal agent, and we got, uh, Nate who came from the military and did some intel the, in the military. And now I'm just, we're looking for our first string quarterback, as we say in football. And you look, look at your lead star soccer player in Europe, and I'm just having fun building that team, looking for talent to come on the team so we can, you know, win a championship. And we just started, you know, we had, we've had several offers to acquire us. I'm like, you know, that's a compliment. And I'm in conversation with several people, but I'm like, I'm, I just started. We haven't even done anything yet. I just want to, I get a lot of joy and watching people come on our team that didn't believe in themselves, been beat up in life. All of a sudden they get this confidence about'em. They start learning and they start getting mentorship and coaching and watch them rise up and then all, all of a sudden they become a superstar. And that's rewarding watching people grow and get confidence about'em and become somebody and just impacting, impacting lives. That's what I love about owning a company is impacting lives of the team. And, um, we're. Getting a lot of requests for, uh, intelligence stuff. We're doing a lot more intelligence. We partner with Red Five over Chris Coleman. Shout out to him. We've been asked to do a lot with, uh, direct clients for that, um, scope of interest that we're a lot of background checks, a lot of intelligence work, and I think people are just kind of, they're taking a break on the exec protection side of stuff right now, and I think they're just trying to adjust on what the rest of the year is gonna look like. So we're just scaling, getting licensed in several other states and increasing our international reach too. We've got people all over the world that we've worked with and, you know, we, uh, basically thrive and, you know, being that boutique company that we're not for everybody, but we are for some. And, uh, then we got the media company, fearless Mindset Media. We're gonna be doing live, live podcast, live masterminds, uh, networking. You can find that on, uh, mark redlow.com. And, uh, partnership with collaborations where we, you know, get different industries together in a room for a couple days and do talks, do networking, high powered sponsored folks, high powered names, come in and just help people elevate, you know, and I think long gone are the days of Indeed and. Applying for jobs. I think you gotta get in those rooms with people face to face time. That's how how, that's how you win the game and get your name out there. You got a brand like podcasting, like what you're doing. Get your name out there. I think that's the best form of getting to know people. I mean, look at Tim Winslow, shout out to him to what he's doing. With Kanye game with Kroll, he's just, he's all over the place with Lee. They're just crushing it and you're, you are too. You're crushing it out there. And I think we have to understand digital marketing, digital media, where it's truly going. And being an entrepreneur, I got so many interests, I can't keep him all straight.

Yoyo:

Yeah. Yeah, I know. And it is frustrating.'cause you know when you get a guest and that, and you've already recorded the podcast and they say to you, well, when's my podcast coming out? And you recorded them three months ago, but you've just got such a library of everything. Pre I prerecord everything. So I've got, I, I've got a wait list almost like I'm not, I'm not booking anything now till June. Just,

Mark:

you're busy go, yo-yo is crushing it in the yo-yo land.

Yoyo:

You know I said to a very dear pal today, I said Don't worry dude, I haven't forgotten you. It is probably gonna be beginning of May, but I've just got a few to squeeze out, you know, before then. Um. And, and you know, we try and fit around certain themes, especially around mental health, mental wellness and things like that. You know, all the sorts of things that people want to listen to. But the security industry, you know, does get a bad rap for It does when things go bad. But you've said to me, especially in our pre chat, you said, and I'll never forget this, you said our best years are ahead of us. Why?

Mark:

I think once you know your weaknesses. You can work on your strengths and, and then I think people are now more comfortable in being who they are versus who they think they need to be. And I think Tim and Lee at the Kindness Games have created a platform and an environment where people get together and they just, people can be themselves. They don't have to be a certain type. And this industry I think, is gonna flourish. And as long as there's respect and an understanding on a culture of, of kindness, and a culture of be you. Don't try to be somebody, just be you. Don't try to be Mark Ludlow. Don't try to be Yoyo. Don't try to be Tim Winslow. Just be yourself. Come as you are.

Yoyo:

Yeah.

Mark:

There's a seat at the table for you, and with everything I've been through in this industry, I mean, I've probably had 20 burials in my lifetime.

Yoyo:

Too many.

Mark:

What do you realize is at the end of the day, when you take your last breath, Who will be there who'll make the phone call if they're not gonna be there at your marial service? Why should you care? work on the given talent you're given. We all have an identity. We all have a certain DNA and just share that with the world. Don't be, don't be afraid. What the naysayers say. Look at Tom Brady. Look at Michael Jordan. They just came out just fine and just had that mentality. Maybe the listeners. If they have some imposter syndrome going on, look at, I constantly studied Michael Jordan or Tom Brady, their met mindset, all that mindset. You don't have to be a Tom Brady or Michael Jordan. You're just an average Joe Jane trying to live by. Don't compare yourself to Mark Bebo. Don't compare yourself to Tim Winslow.'cause once you find yourself and find out what you're truly destined for and get through your journey, embrace. Embrace the struggles, then we're gonna start hearing your name. But just get out there, take that leap of faith, impact the world in a positive way,

Yoyo:

and do you know what I like? I, uh, there's a particular woman who, I won't mention who it is, but I invited her to appear on a number of different panels that I was running over the last couple of years. I was so thrilled to discover that she's got her own panel at GSX this year, and she's invited four amazing people to be on her panel, and she's gonna be moderating. That's what I like to see somebody who's, you know, come in giving it a go. Realize I like this. We could be talking about the next podcast host. Do you know what I mean? Podcast show, who, who knows? But I, I love to see that. Journey grow. What has podcasting given you in terms of kickback?

Mark:

Oh, it's been, words can't even describe it. Mind blowing. It's been shocking. It's like, wow. People come up, you go to the conference, like you either go to conference. I can't go. Three steps., Someone stopped me. But that's just the podcast. People know you before you know them. And that's just the power of storytelling. And it's like, whoa, this is crazy. This is like, it's weird. People know you and they, they act like you're friends with them and like, okay, you just go along with it, you know? Be nice, be kind. And for me it's uh, it turned, it flipped my world upside down. I had had to work, become a better coach, a better mentor, a better listener.'cause true leaders are the greatest listeners in the industry.

Yoyo:

I agree with you. So now how do you feel, mark, about that imposter syndrome that you had after just saying what you've just said?

Mark:

It was all fear and lies that I actually believed at one time. How did I get over it? Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. Once Kobe Bryant said, once that ball, or MJ even said, once that ball left my hand, it's going in that room. If it doesn't go in, I'll do it again. I'll do it again. I'll do it again. Same thing with podcasting. Repetition. Repetition builds belief. The more you do it, the more you believe you can pull it off. You gotta fail first. You gotta sweat. You gotta get that legal pad out. You gotta struggle. But practice, practice. Practice. How do you think actors become the greatest actress? 20 years of practice doesn't happen overnight. Success does not happen overnight. You're seeing, no, you didn't. You didn't see me 20 years on the road without Facebook, LinkedIn, or social media.

Yoyo:

Right

Mark:

behind the scenes. You know, when you're a law enforcement detective doing your stuff in England, build building your confidence. Building your foundation.

Yoyo:

Oh, that job crushed me. Crushed me. I, you know, there, I, I can't ever look back and say I should never have joined the police, but it was just like, killed me. Really did mentally killed me. Psychological contracts. Yeah. It's just, it's a wretched job. I think it's wretched now for anyone who, who is in our British police service. Pretty tough place to be, but

Mark:

you're an alpha personality. Controlled industry. Everybody you work with is a pretty much an alpha personality. You think about that, I take a step back, go, okay. Everybody's an alpha. Yeah. They have the natural alpha tendencies. The thing about alpha, you have to let people know you won't be bullied,

Yoyo:

establish.

Mark:

Hmm. And I think people are afraid to say what their boundaries are in this industry. They're afraid to call people out. Say, you know what? Stop being a jerk.

Yoyo:

I think we should call it out more. I think we should have buzzes, right? And if you're being a jerk, your seat should buzz and everyone should see,

Speaker 3:

like this is gonna be,

Yoyo:

this is gonna be another Dark mirror episode from Charles Brooker like this. Can you imagine being in this very busy office? Like, no, you're being a jerk.

Mark:

Someone. I think people are afraid to draw their boundaries. Oh,

Yoyo:

oh yeah.

Mark:

That's why I say, because you have a domination of alpha personalities in this industry.

Yoyo:

Yep.

Mark:

And their control freaks. Everybody's control freak. If they can't control their environment, they freak out and they just do. Yeah,

Speaker 3:

for real.

Mark:

And with that comes, you got the bullies out there. And what do bullies hate the most when you don't care?

Yoyo:

Really

Mark:

psychological.

Yoyo:

Oh, that's interesting.

Mark:

Well, you don't care. The bully, dang it. He's not listening to me or she's not listening to me. What was that? Oh, it was an that. Oh, okay. Move on. Don't let bullies rents space in your mind. Brush'em off. Enjoy yourself. Life's too short. Life is way too short.

Yoyo:

What a great way to end there. Mark Ludlow, thank you for your insights, a little bit of your background. It's been absolutely great having you a podcast host on the Security Circle podcast. Guys, don't forget to tune into, Mark's podcast, the Fearless Mindset. It is a really good podcast. Stay here with us though, and Mark all the best. Thank you for joining us.

Mark:

Thanks for having me. See you guys later.