Episode 47 | Why You May Be a Hard Target for Criminals with Beth Warford

Beth Warford  00:00

So one of the things I found through my training is that there was a study done called the Grayson Stein study, and they studied 1000s of criminals. And they asked all the criminals to watch a video of people walking, pedestrians on the street and they said, “Okay, now who would you target? Who would you steal from or attack?” and in less than seven seconds, all of the criminals pick the same targets.

Voiceover  00:24

Welcome to the “Lead at the Top of Your Game” podcast, where we equip you to more effectively lead your seat at any employer, business, or industry in which you choose to play. Each week, we help you sharpen your leadership acumen by cracking open the playbooks of dynamic leaders who are doing big things in their professional endeavors. And now, your host, leadership tactics, and organizational development expert, Karan Ferrell-Rhodes.

Karan Rhodes  00:59

Hey there superstars This is Karan and thanks for joining another episode designed to help you better lead at the top of your game. You know, every day on the news, we hear of another story of senseless acts of violence. And if you aren’t feeling safe and secure at work or at home, there’s no way that you can function at your best self. So it begs the question, if you found yourself in a situation where your family’s personal safety was at risk, or if you were at risk in the workplace, would you know what to do? Do you know the signs to look for? And to know if you’re being targeted? Or what should you do if you find yourself in armed combat I’m thrilled to have on today’s show an expert who was a victim herself, which inspired her to follow her passion to educate others on best practices and personal safety. Beth Warford is the founder of Pretty Loaded and inspirational situational awareness and personal safety education and video company. Our conversation was absolutely fascinating to the point that I have already incorporated many of her tips into my daily living. So be sure to listen out for the result of a focus group of convicted criminals. Believe me, the results might inspire you to make changes as well. And then also be sure to stay tuned for just two minutes after the podcast episode for Karen’s tape, where I share a tip on how to use insights from today’s episode to further sharpen your leadership acumen. And now enjoy the show. Hey there, superstars, this is Karan and welcome to another episode of the elite at the top of your game podcast. So today we have a very interesting topic as it relates to leadership. Believe it or not, it’s a little unconventional topic, but you’re gonna see the tie in in just a second. And I’m just curious, you all if you have you ever been at a gas station stop or walked in a dark alley to a restaurant or something and have the hairs on your skin kind of raise or have goosebumps because you’re just not certain of your surroundings? Well, and would you know what to do if you ended up finding yourself at risk? Well, if you’re not quite sure, we are so pleased to have on today’s show Miss Beth Warford, who’s the founder of pretty loaded, which is a inspirational situational awareness and personal safety education and video company, which is a definitely a mouthful. But she has a fantastic story. She was a former ICU nurse, she’s gonna tell us about that. And she made a career pivot based on a close encounter with a would be predator of her own. And she’s gonna give us some real hot tips and important tips on how to increase the probability of our personal safety. And how this connects to leadership is because you know, in today’s world, I mean, you and I are looking at the news every day. And every twist and turn there are incidents that are occurring that are impacting the people we love in the workplace. There are some, you know, safety concerns and just everyday life, there are safety concerns. And the best thing you can do as a leader is be informed on a few best practices so that you can share them with your network in your community. So first of all, I want to officially welcome you, Beth, to the show.

Beth Warford  04:39

Thank you so much, Karan, for having me.

Karan Rhodes  04:41

So awesome. Well before we peel back the layers of the onion of this detailed knowledge that you have that we all need, for as much as you feel comfortable. Would you mind giving us a sneak peek into your personal life and passions?

Beth Warford  04:55

Yeah, so I am the mother of four daughters. And I have a micro teacup pig. I live I live on an organic farm and vineyard and I love tennis, reading and art and food.

Karan Rhodes  05:12

OMG! I think we’re another mother because I have an organic garden in the back, probably not as nearly as large as yours. I’m jealous of your vineyard. But I My dream is to be a sommelier one day. Oh. I love reading too. So we have a lot of commonalities. And congratulations on a great family. four daughters, we’ll add that there’s never a boring day in your life.

Beth Warford  05:39

There’s not?

Karan Rhodes  05:41

Well, awesome. Well, let’s start out Beth, if you don’t mind, let’s start out sharing kind of where your early part of your career was in what drove you to recruit pivot. Because a lot of people in the workplace do that. And, um, you have a fascinating story. So will you share that with us a little bit?

Beth Warford  06:02

Yeah, I was a children’s ICU nurse for many years. Also a sedation nurse, I worked in large cities where it was extremely dangerous just to drive to that location. And I had a lot of incidents where, where things could have gone the wrong way. But my intuition always kept me out of that. I took a lot of children off of life support that were killed. I did a lot of sedation for children that were assaulted, unfortunately. And then we moved home to North Dakota, and I started to have my own children. And I was not a nurse any longer. I actually don’t think I could do what I used to do, having my own children now. But in the event led me to what I started today. So I was almost assaulted. And my brother came to my rescue. And I was with my two oldest daughters. And that absolutely changed my life. And I had a lot of why’s leading into this, you know, all the all the whys of the violence that I saw to children, and with the nursing that I did, and then what almost happened to me and my children were with me. So I researched, I looked into self defense, and all I found was martial arts and guns. And so I am kind of an out of the box thinker. So and I love to read. So I just started read about criminals. And I found out there’s so many studies done on criminals. And I found out exactly how they pick their victims, how they target people, I started to learn about body language, body languages, more than 90% of all communication, situational awareness becoming a hard target. And I realized that I needed to start a company, but I tried to give it to my nannies at the time, because I had no time for it. I was also doing another job for my husband and I had four kids. I was four years old. This was nine years ago. And I was terrified of public speaking. Plus,

Karan Rhodes  07:55

 You?

Beth Warford  07:55

Yea, I was terrifed. Plus, I had no background as a law enforcement person or military, so who am I to start a company like this, right, but I did…

Karan Rhodes  08:07

Who are you not? Love it. And so how did that transition to what you’re doing? Now you started that you gotta gather a lot of information and data. And then he started the company  how did you make that transition?

Beth Warford  08:23

And so the transition was i i read every book I could I would wake up, I think there was a divine figure included, because I would wake up at four in the morning, read and just do everything that I possibly could. I started to build modules. And then I started to look into okay, what venues can I present that and then I basically invited all my family, and all my friends. And then people started to hear about this, and I set the price. And I didn’t know how to run a website. I didn’t. I didn’t even use social media at the time. I’m not a big social media fan. Sometimes I am but and then and then I just had to get out there and and people who would come to the class, they would be involved in a corporation. And then they would, you know, refer me to a corporation and I got my first big gig for it was over 400 men from around the nation. And it was their annual conference. And I was so terrified. But when they asked me to present they said, Will you send me your speaking engagement contract? I’m like, Sure. And then I got off the phone. And I said to my husband, what is that? I just Googled it, and then I set the price. And then they loved it so much that I didn’t want to travel because of all the young girls that I had. So I developed online training in 2014. And, and I realized at that time that the best way, you know to influence people is by emotional intelligence, storytelling, and what better way than through video, right? So then you started to create videos and a couple of my videos went viral. Like there were hundreds of millions of views that first week I didn’t even have on YouTube. So that’s that’s kind of how I started. And and since then I keep progressing. So

Karan Rhodes  10:06

Oh, that is fantastic. And I am assuming and maybe this is a wrong assumption. So correct me if I’m wrong, I’m assuming that when COVID hit and people got a lot more comfortable with virtual training, that inquiries went up a little bit. And you were able to, and you already had the platforms by that time, right,

Beth Warford  10:27

right, every month online training, and then also I did a lot of webinars over COVID. So the other thing was just putting things online, you realize that you have the world to educate. So that’s exciting when you start seeing people from other countries are buying your training and following your training. So that’s really neat.

Karan Rhodes  10:45

Wonderful. Well, let’s jump in to a few of the tips that you that you provide in your training those that your, a couple that you’re willing to share? Because we try to add these to our own leadership playbook here on the podcast, and and so we’d love to hear an entry from you on a few things, advice tips that you recommend to your audiences.

Beth Warford  11:10

Yeah, so the first thing is the psychological need to feel safe, right. So Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people don’t realize how important it is that if you don’t feel safe and secure at work, or at home, you will never make it to the top to your best self, you know, self actualization. So safety is extremely important with becoming the best person that you can be. And the other thing I like to tell people is that law enforcement will be there to help you if they are, but most encounters are over nine seconds. And the average response time is 15 to 30 minutes. So one of the things I found through my training is that there was a study done called the Grayson Stein study, and they studied 1000s, of criminals. And they asked all the criminals to watch a video of people walking pedestrians on the street, and they said, “Okay, now who would you target? Who would you steal from or attack?” And in less than seven seconds, all of the criminals picked the same targets?

Karan Rhodes  12:04

They did?

Beth Warford  12:05

Yes, they did not just pick women or petite women, they picked men, they picked women, they didn’t pick them on race, or gender or anything like that. They picked them based on how they walked. So body language is everything. So little or no eye contact, that’s a weak victim, that’s a weak target, they’ll go after that. Somebody that’s distracted, somebody that’s a slow walker, somebody that is just not paying attention to their surroundings, criminals are incredibly smart. And they go after the weakest target. We’re just like animals. And so you need to be a hard target. You need to walk with confidence, walk with purpose, watch in front of you watch behind me just pay attention. You know, don’t be one of those people that are on their phone, because you’re going to be a soft target. Right. And so also, if someone stares at you, and it makes you uncomfortable, do not divert your eyes, I want you to look at them with strong eye contact, and say basically, in your mind, say I see you I know who you are, not me, not today, that’s enough for them to be like, Oh, I’m not going to mess with that lady or that man, I’m going on to an easier target because I can find them somewhere else. And then really just, you know, paying attention to your surroundings, what seems out of place is there a van that is coming down, you know, the sidewalk at you. I mean, a lot of people don’t realize either that accidents are now the number four cause of death, it used to be number three, but COVID moved into that spot. So just not paying attention causes people to die because they are texting and driving or they fall off a ladder. So it’s really important just for your health and your safety just to be paying attention. We also talked about pre attack body indicators. A person doesn’t just go from, you know, having their arms crossed and totally relaxed to assaulting someone. They have to go through things with eye contact, clenching their fists, clenching their jaws, there’s all sorts of things that you can look for with that. But the number one skill that I really believe saves a lot of people is intuition. Trusting your gut, like you said in the beginning, when your hair stands up, you know, when you do send something and you’re nervous, they have now found that intuition is the highest form of intelligence. So if something seems wrong, something seems off you have to trust your gut. And when you pay attention, and you understand how criminals operate, operate, you have a lot of time to transition to Nike is what I say and get out of there. Go into a store, go go somewhere else get out of that situation.

Karan Rhodes  14:24

To a public place. Yeah, absolutely.

Beth Warford  14:26

Those are just some of the real simple tips.

Karan Rhodes  14:28

Oh, I love those. And two things I wanted to re emphasize to our audience, as well. You’re spot on based on readings I’ve done as well. I’m not near as an expert as you are. But I understand that in general criminals are super smart. I mean, they could be actually be business leaders for good instead of instead of good being bad, but so you have to be a as smart or smarter or conscious and go with your intuition, as, as you’ve mentioned. And the second thing, and this is kind of in the news, I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet. But there have been, you know, alerts all over news and social media and articles around the new thing where people put fliers or pieces of paper underneath your windshield. Yes. substances on them. And they were they do it at the gas stations and stuff. And everyone’s saying, Do not touch it, because it might knock you out, or what have you. Have you heard of that and read that as well.

Beth Warford  15:39

I’ve read about that. I haven’t heard about that so much. But that’s in one of my safety videos, that’s actually in one of my anti-car jacking tips, because they will put something on your windshield, just you take that extra second to go and grab it. And now Now they have you know, they have your keys. So I recommend to drive to a location drive somewhere. And then you know, where nobody’s around, and then take it off. You could take it off with a sticker or something if you had to. I think what they’re talking about is probably fentanyl.

Karan Rhodes  16:08

Do you think it is I mean fentanyl everywhere now.

Beth Warford  16:12

I personally, I personally haven’t had anybody, you know, ask about it, or had it happen to them?

Karan Rhodes  16:18

Oh, interesting. Interesting. It was just something in the news. That was kind of hot right now. But I get your opinion on. So let me switch to you being a leader in this type of business. Because it was a bit of a career pivot for you. And you had to figure it out? Because like you said, you didn’t have a PhD and safety per se, right. So how, how did you? What did you focus on to lead your business? Like in the in the beginning? Like what what did you try to trying to get the question correct? What did you try to focus on to help you launch the business and be a good leader of your business?

Beth Warford  17:03

Yeah, so reading, I read everything, not just on the curriculum I was developing, but it was more for me. I read a book called Start by John Acuff, and that was more like, keep your day job, but work on the business of your dreams. But the book that really inspired me, one of them was Brendon Burchard, a Millionaire Messenger. And, and I remember mowing the yard and thinking, Who am I to, you know, start something like this. And he basically said, you can become an expert in cat litter, if you just like, research everything that you can and, and it was so much more. And then actually, Jen Sincero, you are a badass, she wrote that book, I joined her group, it was her first group. And that really helped me quite a bit. Just get it. It was really just getting over my self limiting beliefs, beliefs. Yeah, we all have, we all do. And so I had to move past the fact that I didn’t think I was good enough to be doing this too. I had such a message that I knew I was gonna save live, and I and that drove me to do everything that I did. And honestly, along the way, you know, there were times where I’ve wanted to quit. And I didn’t, you know, I didn’t have to do this job. But I felt like it was my calling.

Karan Rhodes  18:15

Absolutely. And what are some what is like one of the common questions you get asked when you present your workshops, or when you’re speaking on the topic,

Beth Warford  18:26

They usually have it. So the left brain audience says, Okay, what are the statistics? What are the chances I’m going to be? Alright? And I always say, I’m not a big step fan, because if it happens to you is 100% chance, and that’s too much. And so I say what you want to think about is you want to think about the 10 20% of Americans that admit to being an opportunistic predator, what is the chance that you’re going to cross the path with an opportunistic predator at some point in your life? It’s probable, how many of us have close calls, right? So many of us have close calls, and we got out of the situation. So that’s kind of the left brain crowd and then the the right brain crowd is kind of like, tell me stories, tell me how you, you know, got out of the situation, and they want to know where most crime happens. And so that’s fringe areas. And so fringe areas are in and out of your car, gas stations, parking lots, parking garages are terrible stairwells. So that that’s kind of some of the questions that I get.

Karan Rhodes  19:24

And if you happen to find yourself into one of those situations, are there a day you mentioned about making sure you’re looking them directly in the eye and being confident, but are there any other de escalation measures that

Beth Warford  19:40

Make them unselect you right? And so if you see them coming, because you’re paying attention, so you put your one hand up or two hands up, this is a universal sign for stop. They don’t have to just speak English. And basically with your body language, you know, don’t have your feet just staggered out, have one foot in front of the other so it looks like you can run or you hit you with the command presence. Stop, I can’t help you. And then you try to move away from that person. Most of the time, they’re gonna be like, I’m not messing with you, lady, or I’m not going to go over to the person looking at their phone. Right, right. And we do, we do also teach, you know, some Krav Maga moves, where the weakest areas on the body are because there are times when you might be surprised. And we teach people, okay, what can you do to get out of this situation. So,

Karan Rhodes  20:32

And what’s one move that you recommend when you teach that?

Beth Warford  20:36

The palm strike, so the palm strike is lat you don’t want to punch anybody except 26 bones in your hands, you’re just gonna break your hands. So you, you take your palm like this, and you can be really close to them, and you want to push up into their nose and drive it back. And so it hurts and it makes their eyes water, but it’s just enough for you to get away. Also kick him in the kneecap if you’re, you know, if you’re not very tall, kicks out. So the solar plexus right below your sternum, punch him in this right there, it makes them kind of bend over and buckle over. There’s all sorts of things that you can do. So

Karan Rhodes  21:11

I can actually vouch for that. Because I’m my relative was a long term Marine. Okay, I’m five one. And so everybody’s always afraid. Afraid I’ll get taken advantage of so he showed me, he said, hey, you need to do the palm to the nose. He called it the hands of the nose, sent me how to do that. And then, because I’m five one, he said, you know, if you’re in a situation where you can’t do that can’t reach up or they’re blocking you then do the knee kick. So I think you all read from the same book of manual marine manual where ever he got it for. Oh, I love it. I love it. Well, that’s one of the things that I always like to ask our guests listen to is, you know, I wrote a book on leadership execution tactics of some of the, you know, world’s strongest leaders. And I always wonder is there one that pops out for you all seven are important, but is there one that pops up for you. And you were so kind to share that you really enjoyed the leading with intellectual horsepower, our audience, if you don’t remember, that’s all about taking your areas of expertise, and peeking around corners and looking for trends to find opportunities that others miss, or bringing additional knowledge or value to the table. Such as why did that stand out for you?

Beth Warford  22:42

I think intellectual horsepower stood up for me because I took a totally different approach. My approach to personal safety is preventative. And it’s also empowering, it’s a very difficult subject. But I take it to a different level where I make people feel empowered, they know what to look for, they know how to keep themselves safe. And then I also feel that the best fight is the one you’re never in. So most others, you know, personal safety companies just teach how to be in the fight, or you know, when it’s already happened. But I looked at it from a different like, I can teach a mom how to basically protect yourself, and they can learn these skills today. So I went at it from a totally different angle. Also, I think, including the videos, where I show things going the wrong way, and then showing how you do it the right way. And so then you have that visually, you have the action, and you have, you know, the hearing everything included. So I think just the way went at it, and the fact that so many corporations hire me, this was not something that corporations ever wanted to talk about nine years ago. And since COVID, I have never been busier, I have affiliates, you know, that are presenting in all different areas. And so I’m just happy that the corporate world has taken this in as wellness training, because it truly is a wellness training, you know, safe and secure. And we’re all sick of yoga and talking about sit ins and smoking. Right.

Karan Rhodes  24:10

Right. And you know, I mean wellness is huge for organizations right now. And I think those businesses and companies and employers who provide this type of resource and training become can easily become employer employer of choice for many employees because they know that their companies are are trying to address both their physical and mental well being at a be honest with you. I mean, I know you this the workshop costs but they usually have some sort of budget. It’s in there and this is money I think well spent by corporations who choose to, you know, to bring you in.

Beth Warford  24:59

Right. The other thing that I’m really big into is, is not only training the employees, but then their whole family has an online training access. So then you have a daughter or a son or a spouse, then they can do that training as well, because I really feel the whole family needs the training.

Karan Rhodes  25:16

Absolutely. And you know, I’m super excited about what’s coming up for you do you want to give us a sneak peek to your training, I don’t think it’s launched quite yet. But that’s coming up so people can stay in touch with you to see when it launches.

Beth Warford  25:30

Well, the impetus for this is that my daughter is graduating from high school and going to college. So I’m developing an all college online training. And it’s going to have so many videos short. So it’s geared for students, right, all of us are two minutes or less, is going to talk about safe driving. I mean, just because I was talking about earlier accidents are huge with with driving right anti- carjacking fringe areas, how to gas up how to just to navigate your surroundings in college and how to keep yourself safe. So I’m really I’m super excited about that. And I’m also excited about we just delivered another bunch of videos to Grub Hub. So we’re training hundreds of 1000s of delivery partners. And it’s a fabulous company to work for. So we just launched that. So that was great.

Karan Rhodes  26:19

Oh, congratulations on that. You’re a superstar Beth. And you’re all right. Love it. I love it. Well, um, one less question. Well, and if it’s the last, we have a couple more minutes, but I will say if you reflect about your business now, what is one challenge that you had to overcome? And, you know, long launch and your focus on personal safety? I’m just curious to hear if the you know, because you’re a leader within your own right. I’m just curious, you know, what other obstacles that you tackled yourself to stay resilient to see this business be as successful as it was? Because people learn from both great times and times of adversity.

Beth Warford  27:12

Right. Yeah. So I had, you know, I had some hard times where I just didn’t feel like I wanted to go and present and it was just too much work. And people weren’t signing up for the class. Or one time, I had a company that came to me, and they said that their worker was almost taken in a van. So I put out a blog about it. And then the police department came out and said that that wasn’t true, it was made that I had made that up. And so I had so much hate mail coming in, I had people calling saying that they wanted to like basically take me out. It was it was the worst time I’ve ever had in my life. But the truth came out, they admitted that it was a true story, this woman was almost taken in a van. So that came out. But I had gone kind of through the you know, the media had just really smeared my name. But But I was right in the end. And so I stayed in there for that I, I was very, I knew it was correct. And I knew that what I was doing is right. And so I think a lot of that a lot of the website issues where my website is broken again, and I just got a call that nobody can buy your training.

Karan Rhodes  28:20

Right, right.

Beth Warford  28:21

And mostly, I have had to teach myself how to do so much I, I’ve had to eat, because I went into this thinking that I don’t want to get a loan. If it’s good enough, I’m gonna make it work. And, and I also, so I just kind of kept at it. And so there were times when I thought, you know, I don’t know if I need to keep going. But it’s just that my passion to help people and to save people is really there. So another thing that was frustrating is that in the beginning of a lot of the students would come to my class because they had something happened to them. So most people take self defense, self defense or personal safety training after something has happened to them. So I’ve really switched it to the preventative side, which is been exciting. That is fantastic.

Karan Rhodes  29:07

And that had to be scary for you and disturbing to have your name and reputation on the line. Yeah. in the media when you know a lot of people who are reading that don’t know you and don’t know the real you right.

Beth Warford  29:23

And luckily, it was only like two days until the truth came out. But nobody likes death threats.

Karan Rhodes  29:28

No. Not at all.

Beth Warford  29:31

That was probably the hardest thing that I have dealt with. Yeah.

Karan Rhodes  29:35

Wow. Well, thank you for sharing that with them. Because there are a lot of us out here who including me. Now I can look I can talk to anybody all day and chatted up all day. But we all have bits of impostor syndrome. I don’t think you know, leadership is such a huge topic, you know, who am I to either try to Put my toe in the water in this area, but similar to you, I’m very passionate about it as well. Because all issues, failures, road bumps, you name, the adjective in the road, usually can be traced back to some form of failure of leadership and some kind of way, right. So my passion is making sure that people aren’t harmed by bad acts of leadership, and that we empower those that, you know, do have that influence to with the knowledge that they can do their best, so they can do their best so that others benefit from right, versus being hurt by them. So, so that’s just kind of my 30 seconds around this. And this is really helping your story is really helping. And the last question I have for you is, and I’ll talk a little bit about it. So it can, you can have a chance to think but I want you to think about a leader or brand that really impresses you, it can be a person, it can be company, it can be your local coffee shop, but someone or something or some entity that has that sticks in your mind or has stuck in your mind over the past few years. Is there one that comes to mind? And if so, what? What makes them prominent in your mind?

Beth Warford  31:23

Okay, I would say Mel Robbins. I don’t know if you know who Mel Robbins. She is very with with her advice on every day. She’s like, nobody, nobody’s coming to make you happy. Nobody’s come you know, it’s all within you. Everything that you do is you’re responsible for right. And she’s just a really good. She’s a really good leader. She has a lot of she has wonderful books about just getting started. And she’s like, why wait, why wait to start that company. And one of my stories is to when I tell people that I was terrified of starting this business. But now, you know, hundreds of millions of people are viewing my videos. Think of the potential of most people out there. Yeah, all of us have tremendous potential. And I just read somewhere recently that the chance of us being born is one in 400 trillion. Ah, chance of you being alive is one in 400 trillion. So don’t wait. Yeah, don’t waste this life. Like, go big or go home.

Karan Rhodes  32:25

That’s right. It’ll be your go home audience and it sounds like that. Even that short description of Mel that they have have a they lead with a drive for results. Like they really want you to take the banner and be tenacious, do what you were meant to do and serve and the way you’re supposed to serve. In this world. Is that close to it?

Beth Warford  32:48

 Do it completely correct. Yeah.

Karan Rhodes  32:51

Wonderful. Well, there you go. Audience members. That’s another leadership tactic that we talked about and the leader the top of your game book. And it sounds like Miss Mel Robbins. Correct. Right. Okay. Mel Robbins is an excellent example of that. So we’re definitely have links to that person’s information in our show notes, as well as a ton of information I had to find Beth. But for those who are just listening, Beth, I want to give you a chance to let our audience know where they can find you and learn more about the great work you’re doing.

Beth Warford  33:26

Yeah, so they can find us at prettyloaded.org and then they can reach out through empowered@prettyloaded.org

Karan Rhodes  33:33

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Beth, for being a tremendous guest on the show. We are so happy to have had you and I was busy taking notes. I can’t wait to include those. These highlights in the show notes. So that, um, folks, definitely catch your full episode.

Beth Warford  33:53

Thank you. This has been such an honor to be on your show, Karan. Awesome.

Karan Rhodes  33:57

Well, thank you again, listeners, for listening to this episode. As you know, I’m gonna give you the friendly reminder, all I ask is that you like and subscribe to the show and share with just one friend because it helps us extend our reach in helping others to lead at the top of your game. Until next week. Have a great, great time. Take care. Bye bye. Well, I hope you enjoyed our conversation today with Beth Warford, Founder and CEO of Pretty Loaded links to her bio her entry into our leadership playbook and additional resources can be found in the show notes both on your favorite podcast platform of choice and on the web at leisure game podcast.com. And now for Karan’s take on today’s topic of personal safety. Well, I know you know that I’m not an expert in personal safety myself. But what I have done is I’ve researched and curated what some of the leading experts caution about on this topic. And so I’d love just to share Just a few with you. The first one is to make sure that you always stay alert, and be constantly aware of your surroundings to prevent being caught off guard. Another tip is to make sure that you spread out your valuables and keep them hidden. It’s a good idea not to keep all your valuables in the same place. But wherever you put them, make sure that they’re very, very well hidden and not obvious to the eye. A third tip is to let at least one person know where you’re going. That way someone can anticipate your arrival. And if you don’t make it on time, then they can report you missing or do some investigative work on their own. Another tip is when you’re walking around, whether it be in cities or at your place of work, make sure you choose appropriate footwear, wear sensible shoes, such as flats or trainers or anything that will allow for you to make a quick getaway, if need be. Another tip is to park into reverse and into our parking spot. And this is something my husband has been reminding me to do for years. But you should consider doing that so that you’re facing the right way in case you need to leave very quickly. And then a final tip especially for my travelers, if you take taxis and rideshares Be sure to sit behind the driver this makes yourself as inaccessible as possible in their vehicle now, please, please, please take two minutes to be sure to check out the show notes because I have supplied links to additional resources, which will help you to become more educated about staying safe. And I do appreciate you tuning in to another episode of elite at the top of your game podcast. You can reach me connect to me on most social platforms. Definitely LinkedIn or on X at Karan Rhodes and I’m on Instagram and not on Tik Tok. But you should be able to find me and I would love love love to connect with you. And then please remember to be sure to subscribe to the podcast and share with just one friend. Because performing this one selfless act will empower you to help others to also lead at the top of their game. Thanks again for the gift of you listening and see you next week. And that’s our show for today. Thank you for listening to the lead at the top of your game podcast, where we help you lead your seat at any employer, business, or industry in which you choose to play. You can check out the show notes, additional episodes, and bonus resources, and also submit guest recommendations on our website at leadyourgamepodcast.com. You can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn by searching for the name Karan Rhodes with Karan being spelled K a r a n. And if you like the show, the greatest gift you can give would be to subscribe and leave a rating on your podcast platform of choice. This podcast has been a production of Shockingly Different Leadership, a global consultancy which helps organizations execute their people, talent development, and organizational effectiveness initiatives on an on-demand, project, or contract basis. Huge thanks to our production and editing team for a job well done. Goodbye for now.