When reflecting on his childhood, it’s safe to say that entrepreneurship was and is a part of Marshall
D. Isom’s DNA. It became a calling, a destiny and a ministry that would lead him to now competing
in a $600 billion industry.
“I was the kid at school with the separate backpack selling candy. I understood business. I can remember getting the big variety packs for cheap at Walmart then selling Blow-pops, Now-and-Laters, M&M’s and all of that to my classmates,” he says. “I used to cut yards and wash cars in my neighborhood. I just don’t remember a time where I didn’t understand that if I do a service or sell a product, that I couldn’t make money and be able to buy school clothes, go to the movies or Astro World, have money in my pocket, and not necessarily have to rely on my parents giving me money.”
Isom grew up in Missouri City, Texas and spent summers in Mobile, Alabama where his grandmother, Clethal Kiser, provided awesome examples of the importance of business ownership. Isom and his sister, Moeshea Danielle, would assist her in preparing lunches that she then sold to co-workers while working as a welder on a shipyard in Mississippi. She also owned and operated a transportation service that her co-workers used to commute to and from the shipyard.
Isom went on to attend Texas Southern University with a major in education out of his love for children, teaching and the ministry. He admits he didn’t go to college to learn how to run a business. However, understanding entrepreneurship was first nature to him, he would launch a minor venture on the yard.
“While I was in school I started the valet parking company that I still own; Cruise Control Valet. I started a valet company because I saw a need. College students, organizations, and fraternities were throwing parties all of the time and the parking was a mess,” he noted. At the time he was working as a valet attendant for another company, so he was familiar with operations. “We started valeting for fraternity parties. All I hired were athletes. If you didn’t play baseball, football or any other sport, you couldn’t work on my crew, because I needed you to be in shape. I needed guys who could run 2-3 blocks and look good in uniform.” The valet company took off and his mind shifted towards business, so he enrolled in a few accounting and marketing courses while still pursuing education.
The Birth of Optimum Security Professionals
Isom worked in Houston, Alief and Fort Bend Independent School Districts as a physical education teacher and behavioral specialist on the elementary and high school levels. He left the education field in 2007 to manage his valet company full-time with his wife Shaunta Shere’.
“We did really well for about three years. Then the country went into a recession in 2009. It was especially bad for Houston because we also experienced Hurricane Ike. We had clients that were closed for weeks,” Isom recalls. “We took huge loses. That was my first time experiencing devastation, business wise. We simply could not work.” To supplement his income, he worked as a security officer, where he immediately recognized large gaps in employee-employer relations, training and job expectations.
“As an officer, supervisor then account manager I overheard a lot of those disgruntled employee water cooler talks. I’m not a complainer, so being in an environment where there were complaints everywhere and people feeling like they’re powerless to change anything inspired me to want to do something.”
Experiencing all of that sparked an interest in running his own security company. He felt the industry was missing the mark and that security officers were not treated well. However, instead of pursuing the business immediately, he decided to follow his father’s footsteps into law enforcement. Although he graduated in the top of his police academy class, he was derailed by a hiring freeze throughout Harris County.
It was during these turbulent times, he calls “God’s hand,” that his wife asked him to reconsider starting a security company. “It was really her influence, plus the birth of our daughter in 2014, that led me take the idea seriously. From that point, I started researching and studying the top companies in the world. I wanted to know who started them and how they grew. I studied their habits, their failures, and the issues they overcame.” Isom said.
Marshall spent most of 2014 taking online courses from Dr. Boyce Watkin’s The Black Business School and much of 2015 developing what he learned was essential to early success, i.e., dynamic company logo, sound business plan, thorough sales proposal and website, standard operating procedures, and unique uniforms. “I knew I needed the book knowledge as a foundation, but my experience in ministry taught me that to get people to buy-in to what we are building, I had to write the vision and make it plain. So, I also developed a mission, vision and philosophy. You must represent something greater than yourself to compete at a high level. I want to create a company that will be one of the top five companies in the world one day; a company our son can take over and build on like T’Challa.” he said.
Optimum Security Professionals (OSP) provides a variety of security services including personal protection for high-profile individuals, executives, dignitaries, and celebrities, residential/commercial facilities protection, and security training and consulting services.
In addition to its recent MBE and HUB certifications, OSP is in the works of developing a strategic alliance with LaneStaffing to increase bandwidth. “A great deal goes into everything we do—from the name of the company to how we hire and develop our Promise Keepers℠ (Officers). We’re about re-establishing the status quo through a contagious culture; partnering with Carla Lane [CEO, LaneStaffing} will strengthen those efforts.” he said. “We want to continue to grow and position ourselves where it’s hard for anyone to question our capabilities or capacity. Our 2018 goal is to become undeniable.” As a husband and father, Isom encourages others to teach their children about business ownership. “It is one of the most important things to know, whether you start a business or not. You need to know how to start a business and you need to know how to manage a business’ day to day operations. Even if it’s something you never do. We teach our kids all kinds of stuff that’s not going to produce any dividends. Fathers spend thousands of hours teaching their sons how to throw a football, knowing he probably is not going to be a professional quarterback. I think it should be the same way for entrepreneurship.”
