Military Veteran and entrepreneur Adam Gonzales along with his wife are the founders of Silent Professionals. Launched in 2017, Gonzales’ mission with the company is to help as many veterans who are transitioning back to the civilian life with employment opportunities within the niche industries of private military and private security spaces.
Prior to Silent Professionals, Gonzales worked as an infantryman and then later transitioned into the private military sector. After his transition, Gonzales spent nearly a decade working for various companies to include the infamous Blackwater. Gonzales describes his experience in the private military industry as what most people dream about.
In 2014, while working in the private security sector, Gonzales provided executive protection, celebrity protection, and kidnap prevention, among others. This led to the creation of Silent Professionals three years later.
What was your experience in the military?
My experience in the military was likely similar to what most boys dream about as kids or men dream about as adults for that matter. I operated as part of a clandestine, six-man, long range surveillance team tasked with parachuting in behind enemy lines and gathering real-time battlefield intelligence on the enemy. This intelligence served division or corps level generals allowing them to maneuver the many elements under their command. For us, success was determined by how far outside the box you were capable of thinking combined with an unconventional approach to planning and mission execution. We were fortunate to have strong leadership giving us the liberty to perform as we saw fit to complete mission objectives. While I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the military and service to the country, I knew deep down that being career military was not the path for me.
Tell us about your transition from military to civilian life?
My transition from the military was directly into the private military sector, but the transition into true civilian life where I walked away from the wars forever was the most difficult, daunting, and at times depressing task I have ever faced in my life. After countless close calls evading death throughout both theatres of war for nearly a decade, I promised myself that I would not return to the wars no matter how dire my attempt at normalcy in America became. I went from a trusted and respected leader and true master at my profession to a lowly electrician’s assistant in early 2013. I gave it a solid year with a Chicago based electrical company and there were mornings where I sat in my truck at a job site before the shift began in tears, wondering how I went from leading men into battle to pulling electrical cable at a commercial job site. While I hated every minute of it and cried on multiple occasions, a promise was made and a promise would be kept. When I finally walked away from it, my best friend (callsign “Mojo”) from Houston, TX had been working in the private security industry for a few years now and said, “relocate to Houston and I will find you work.” Mojo understood deeply what I was going through as he made the same transition. We were teammates off and on throughout nearly 4 years at Blackwater during the early days of the Iraq war. By mid-2015, I had a couple years under my belt worth of executive protection work for ultra-high net worth individuals, CEO’s, and celebrities and was selected for a hostage rescue in Central America. It was a solo operation where I had 36 hours to conduct my surveillance and 48 hours before total loss of life. Resourcefulness and years of experience led to infiltrating a cult to conduct the extraction and a successful extraction it was. This immediately led to a normal person job in America, where I was working from home as a Director of Ops for a hostage rescue company.
What is your business and what do you do?
In late 2017, my wife and I started Silent Professionals. Its purpose was simple – help as many veterans as we can gain employment within the private military and private security industries. We wanted to help the transitioning veterans as we understood how difficult that process was and we wanted to help them for free. That quickly led into creating a free service for not only our veterans, but all warriors that support and defend our nation to include our law enforcement and first responders. To date since launching we have helped over 5000 veterans gain employment at no cost to them. Due to the SEO talents of my wife, Silent Professionals began aggregating clients looking to hire security services and that led to the creation of Hyperion, the action arm of Silent Professionals. Hyperion services ultra-high net worth individuals and families, large corporations, and we created an all-inclusive security solution similar to a jet card, known as the Hyperion Black Card. The Hyperion Black Cardoffers elite security services to clients who do not necessarily need a full-time security solution but are interested in being protected throughout their international globetrotting. With all-inclusive pricing and the ability to deploy within 24 hours thanks to Silent Professionals, it is the first of its kind anywhere in the world allowing us to pivot in ways that no other company can.
What are 3 things you learned in the military that you have applied to your business?
Rule number one, always take care of the men! Rule number two, always protect your men! Rule number three, never let the men suffer due to the failures of others! These three things that I learned in the military have been applied to my business life in everything that I do as it is so important to safeguard especially in the type of businesses we are in. It can truly result in the loss of life if it is not protected and we have seen it happen in other companies many times before. The life blood of any business are the people and that is the number one resource that you need to take care of the most.
How have you used your success to send the ladder back down? (pay it forward)
In every success or windfall that I have regardless of size, the first thing that I think of is who can I help. I always ask myself, what can I do to lift up those around me. This can be achieved through a number of ways. Depending on the opportunity it could be through getting guys employment, figuring a way to incorporate their business into mine so they can benefit as well, or supporting the operations with their companies through leveraging my developed business assets.
Where can readers find you on social media?
Readers can find us on social media at either of the below links: