Making Safety A Priority: Real Estate Professional Turned C.O.B.R.A. Instructor-Bob Sutton

bobcover (1) Every industry has safety issues and some are worse than others. Real Estate agents across the world are consistently at risk just by being in their industry. Crime by appointment is a common practice by criminals. It’s done on many scales from calling for a pizza delivery and then robbing the driver to calling on a property and victimizing a real estate agent.

C.O.B.R.A. Defense International has a specific curriculum designed for effective realtor safety. We have graduated many real estate agents, property appraisers and mortgage brokers over since 2002.

This months featured C.O.B.R.A. instructor is also a seasoned real estate agent who started out as a C.O.B.R.A. student and is now a certified instructor. Bob Sutton can speak from experience on the dangers of the real estate business and how to stay safe on the job.

Let’s travel to Colorado and meet this real estate agent turned C.O.B.R.A. Self-Defense Instructor.

Being heavily involved in the real estate industry as I am, COBRA and personal safety in general, are very near and dear to my heart. There are many cases of my fellow agents throughout the nation being attacked and assaulted, and unfortunately, one or two being murdered each year.

Real estate is a unique business in the fact that we constantly put ourselves in vacant homes with people we’ve never met before. Also, every Saturday and Sunday, we advertise on the internet and social media that we are in a vacant house, alone, from this time to this time. Could there be a more blatant invitation for trouble from someone looking for a soft target?

I really feel that COBRA Self Defense and especially the Real Estate Safety program, should be mandatory education for all real estate licensees and I am currently working at the local and state level to make this happen. In the mean time, if you are in real estate, or any other business where you are meeting new people in a strange or secluded location, I would highly encourage you to invest in yourself and your personal safety by finding a local COBRA training center and take the real estate safety course.

1.When and how did you start training in the self-defense / Martial Artsindustry/ fitness industry

I trained for a couple of years in my early 20’s, but I really started training in earnest in martial arts in 2014. I was overweight, out of shape, and living a very sedentary lifestyle. I signed up to do a COBRA academy and instantly got hooked on it. From that point forward, everything changed.

2.How has Cobra added value to your training/business?

I’ve been in real estate sales, teaching and speaking for over 15 years and I’ve had friends, clients and co-workers comment to me how much I have changed for the better. Also, how much more confidence I have.

3.What are your training/business goals for the next 3 years?

I would love to carry the COBRA brand out to the real estate agents, continue building the COBRA brand throughout the community and train for my own health and safety benefits.

4.What do you enjoy most about being a Self-Defense Instructor?

I love being able to work with someone who has never trained before and in the matter of a few hours, see a very noticeable improvement in their ability to defend themselves and avoid/escape a dangerous situation.

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5. If you only had 5 minutes to train someone what would be the most
valuable survival skills you would teach them?

To paraphrase an old saying “An ounce of awareness is worth a pound of escape” I would teach them AAA and SAE.

7.If someone is interested in joining as a Cobra Instructor / School what would you tell them?

COBRA is a great brand. It is a turn key system and a very valuable product to the consumer. I know businesses and franchises and the COBRA system is as solid as anything I have ever seen, both from the business owner side and the consumer side.

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