Red Banyan CEO Evan Nierman talked entrepreneurship with podcaster Eric Rozenberg in a recent edition of “The Business of Meetings.” Rozenberg is CEO of SecuTix and a member of the Forbes Business Council. Rozenberg’s podcast explores strategies, tips and tactics to help businesses grow.
During the wide-ranging interview, Nierman discussed his journey to entrepreneurship and offered crisis communications tips in a free-flowing conversation that also touched on Nierman’s book Crisis Averted, an Amazon best seller.
Nierman told Rozenberg he got his start in public relations during a 7 ½-year stint at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, then spent time working in Washington DC for a high-stakes crisis PR firm in Washington DC.
He made the switch because he didn’t want to get “pigeon-holed.”
“I had an amazing experience (at AIPAC) but I needed to see what else what out there,” Nierman said. He eventually moved his family to Florida and worked briefly for a startup before deciding to go it on his own.
“I started Red Banyan out of desperation,” Nierman said, noting that he had been unhappy at his two previous jobs. “I needed to be responsible for myself.”
Nierman said he turned to PR because that is what he had always done. But getting clients wasn’t his biggest challenge: learning how to be an entrepreneur was.
He joined the Entrepreneurs Organization in South Florida and became a student of other successful business owners. Nierman said he learned what he needed to know.
Today Red Banyan boasts 23 full-time employees with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, Denver, Fort Lauderdale and Pensacola.
Nierman wrote Crisis Averted to give readers a glimpse into unpredictable world of crisis PR. The book, his first – is informative and entertaining peek into crazy world of crisis fixers.
“It’s not only for the big dogs. It’s for everyone,” Nierman explains in the podcast, “A good person with a good company trying to do the right thing … is just a step away from an existential crisis. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when you are going to face a crisis.”
Nierman notes that his book offers tips that business owners can use to help prepare for the unexpected, like planning ahead.
The old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” rings true in crisis communications, he points out. Listen to the entire podcast here.