True story: A close friend of mine – let’s call him Jay – lives in a nice neighborhood in East Memphis. When he’s not traveling to meet clients, Jay works from home. One Thursday morning around 10 AM he heard a knock at his front door. Jay was on a conference call and decided to ignore the knocking. About a minute later he heard what sounded like someone kicking the door, trying to force it open.

Jay had very little time to react. He walked quickly to the front door and found himself face to face with a very large man he didn’t recognize. Without even thinking, Jay, who had starred on his high school football team, crouched into the athletic stance of a linebacker, ready for whatever might happen next. As surprised and shocked as he was at this moment, he said the intruder looked even more surprised and shocked. Realizing that Jay wasn’t going to back down, the intruder turned around and ran to his car and raced away.

Jay had several important takeaways from this encounter:

First, he’s gotten serious about his home security. He travels for work several days per week, leaving his wife and kids at home. So he wants to do the best he can to help them stay safe. Here are some steps he’s taken:

1. Installed a home security system with wireless backup
2. Arms the security system while at home and when away from the house
3. Installed iron security doors
4. Enhanced the exterior lighting around the house
5. Installed cameras at the front and back doors

Second, he makes his home look occupied, especially when he and his family members are actually home. If a stranger is knocking on the door and he feels concerned, he can activate the security system using his wireless panic button.

This experience was very frightening for Jay. But he’s glad it happened to him and not his wife or kids. Now, he takes his home security very seriously, and he feels that his family is much more prepared and secure today than before it happened.