It can happen anytime: Our Coach was Robbed!

After a great time in Nashville on Thursday, we decided extend our stay, meet with some potential clients and really get a jump on the book, etc. After working through the day on Saturday, we took it a bit easier on Sunday and then decided after dinner to go downtown to Mike’s Ice Cream Parlor (forgive me for not linking).

I have a lot of details -but here is the punchline: in the 90 minutes we were gone, a gang of professional thieves (I’ll explain how we know this later) broke into our coach (RV) through a window(s) and stole all of our electronics — laptops, ipods, headphones, cellphone (the battery was dead and charging), cameras, bags. They also managed to do some damage to the interior of the coach.

WE ARE FINE.

My family is and has been safe. We immediately worked with the Nashville Metro Police Department and due to the size of the theft, the CSI Unit. My training left everything undisturbed, documented and we may have gotten one or two useful prints (and sadly, one or two indicators they had on gloves). Other RVs were hit – cash, electronics, jewelry. Some had more damage than ours.

We are back in Albany for a few days to replace the electronics and prepare to head back out. As luck would have it – this was a travel week for us anyway, so we had some built-in flexibility. We have some backups (but not everything). As I’ve explained it – we ate our own dog food, sorta. We – like you and others – had some steps we *should* have followed and others we literally had planned to follow this week.

I also have some new insights after living through this sort of catastrophic loss. You can bet on me doing a full blog/podcast series on what happened, what we learned and what we’re doing different. These lessons will also be incorporated into the Protecting Information Program, our Family Safety Net Program — and in a new keynote/workshop we will offer as we travel around the country.

I may be a little quieter than usual for a few days – I have a few things I need to focus on and some client calls/meetings that require my full attention. I expect to be in full tilt by the weekend. Oh – and I developed an approach to teaching users about passwords. I’ll be putting it to great use this week – and then develop that into an awareness series.

Since my cell phone was lost, I’m considering options right now. Meantime, you can call me at the office if you want to check in. When time permits, I will transparently share a full accounting of the events, the loss, what the learned and where we are heading next. 

Safe, sound and as determined as ever…