By John Crist, CPBL
President & Founder, Prestizia Insurance
Author, The Prestizia Protection Playbook
I’ve spent 28 years helping business owners protect what they’ve built.
I help them find the gaps.
Identify the risks they can’t see.
Prepare for the threats they hope never come.
Then, during the week I launched my first book…
My LinkedIn account was stolen.
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
What Happened
A sophisticated hacker gained access to my LinkedIn account and changed both my email address and phone number.
Within hours, I was locked out of my own professional identity.
The same week The Prestizia Protection Playbook went live on Amazon.
The hacker renamed my account.
Operated under my name.
Used my reputation.
For 30 days, I had no access.
Recovery required:
Identity verification
Multiple support escalations
A notarized affidavit
And more patience than most people realize it takes
It was frustrating.
It was humbling.
And it was one of the most valuable lessons I’ve experienced in my career.
What I Did While I Waited
I made a decision early:
I wasn’t going to let a hacker steal my momentum.
So I kept building.
I launched The Protection Circle—a weekly newsletter delivering practical insurance insights to business owners.
Within weeks, it grew with real engagement from people who needed exactly what I had to share.
At the same time,
The Prestizia Protection Playbook climbed the Amazon rankings.
I kept writing.
I kept publishing.
I kept showing up.
Because after 28 years in this business, I know one thing for certain:
You don’t get to choose when the loss happens.
You only get to choose how prepared you are when it does.
What This Taught Me About Business Protection
This experience reinforced what I’ve been telling clients for years:
1. Your Digital Identity Is a Business Asset
Most business owners insure buildings, vehicles, and equipment.
Very few protect their digital presence.
Cyber attacks—especially social engineering—are one of the fastest-growing threats today.
2. Recovery Takes Longer Than You Think
A physical loss might take days to recover.
A digital breach can take weeks—or longer.
The disruption is real.
The reputational damage is real.
The lost time is real.
3. Redundancy Is Strategy—Not Paranoia
Because I had built an email list through The Protection Circle, I still had a direct line to my audience.
When LinkedIn was gone… my voice wasn’t.
Owned platforms—your email list, your website, your relationships—matter.
More than most people realize.
A Fresh Start
Today, I’m back—with a new profile and a clean slate.
If we were connected before, I’d be honored to reconnect.
If we haven’t met yet, I’d welcome the introduction.
I’m John Crist—commercial insurance broker, risk advisor, author…
And someone who now understands digital risk a whole lot deeper than before.
🔐 Protect What You’ve Built
If this story tells you anything, it’s this:
Protection isn’t something you think about after the loss.
It’s something you prepare for before it happens.
📘 Get the Full Playbook
If you want a deeper look at the coverage gaps that cost business owners thousands:
🛡️ Go Further (Insider Access)
If you want ongoing guidance, real-world claim insights, and strategies most people never see…
Join The Protection Circle Insider.