008: Unlock ADHD Superpowers with HARO Founder, Peter Shankman

Background on ADHD Weirdo Peter Shankman:

Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you merge the power of pure creativity with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a dose of adventure, and make it work to your advantage. An author, entrepreneur and corporate keynote speaker, this “worldwide connector” is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about customer service, social media, PR, marketing, advertising, and ADHD.

Peter has spent the past twenty years as an entrepreneur, a bestselling author, and a public speaker who teaches hundreds of thousands of people how to improve their personal and professional lives. Peter is the father of a three-year-old girl. He has also been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. So how did someone with ADHD become so successful? Peter believes his ADD/ADHD is a gift and hosts The Faster Than Normal Podcast, which discusses the benefits of the fast brain and how to leverage it to make extraordinary achievements in life.

He's best known for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO) which in under a year became the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 200,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[0:53] Started his career working on America Online in the mid 90s.
[1:09] Moved back to New York after he left America Online and started a PR Firm, Geek Factory.
[1:28] Wind up signing for an Agency in 2001 and became a consultant for several years.
[1:50] Created a mailing list which eventually turned into Help A Reporter Out (HARO), which changed how PR and journalism work together.
[2:05] Since then he have been writing books, consulting, and become a corporate keynote speaker.
[2:18] He has a #1 podcast in iTunes that focuses on ADD and ADHD.
[2:28] He graduated in Boston University, took up grad school in Sta. Barbara.
[3:15] “I learned that most people don’t expect great customer service, they expect actually crappy customer service.”
[3:37] “You don’t have to be that amazing, all you have to do is to be a little bit better.”
[4:26] Do not assume that because you are hiring some people, you are going to have an easy time.
[6:08] Geek Factory was acquired in 2001.
[8:03] He has 7 people working for HARO.
[8:52] A sign of a good CEO or Entrepreneur is that they know where they are great at and understand where they are not.
[9:15] One of the biggest difficulties for him was when he likes to try a lot of things and ended up getting ripped on by gawkers.
[9:48] “I learned to not care.”
[11:34] He used his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to his advantage.
[12:46] He doesn’t believe that ADHD is a disorder.
[18:44] He make money through ShankMinds, an elite online mastermind of thought leaders, business experts, and changemakers. He has also his podcast “Faster than Normal” and he still write books.
[19:19] After he sold HARO, he was trying to figure out what to do next and that’s how he started ShankMinds.
[19:35] “Entrepreneurship is lonely as shit.”
[20:35] He started with 200 people in ShankMinds and he charge $79/month.
[21:07] They use Zoom to do video calls and they also have their own private Facebook group.
[21:34] “The key to understanding entrepreneurship is to understand that you are in a lonely road but you have to find people to share.”

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? The Warrior Elite by Dick Couch & They Can Kill You But They Can't Eat You by Dawn Steel
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Echo Dot, Sylvania Lightify, Nest
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? OmmWriter, Google Keep
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? How to treat myself as well as I treat my clients