I can definitely say that Peter Shankman was different from most speakers I have heard in college… IN A GOOD WAY. You can definitely relate to him and see why he is good at what he does just by the way he presents himself. What I took from reading his website and our Skype session in class is that in order to be successful you can’t be afraid to fail and you have to be true to yourself.

I constantly have to remind myself that in this world that has so many individuals, no one is like me and that is my power. But what good is that power if I let society mold me into something I’m not? I think a big problem we face today is that everyone strives to be alike when they have so much more to bring to the table.

Peter is a prime example of that. I could see that he was so unique and it works well for his brand. On his website it states that is is an 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.”

I have heard a little about ADHD and never really thought it was a big deal in society but to see that he took something that was looked at as a problem and used it to create million-dollar project’s, says something about his determination.

When we Skyped in class he mentioned that having an audience is a privilege not a right, and you keep that privilege buy not wasting their time. This is very important with what we are doing in class. As we come up with our products, we have to make sure we are not half-stepping what we are trying to create, or in my team’s case make better.

YouTube is a prime example (sorry I just love the YouTube world) BUT, think about it. You have these public figures who have millions of subscribers and they are making hundreds of thousands of dollars each year just by BEING THEMSELVES AND NOT WASTING THEIR AUDIENCE’S TIME.

You can look at The Ace Family.  They are a family of three with one on the way and they get an average of about 2 million views per video, and they have about 5 million subscribers. I don’t know about you but that couldn’t be possible without them doing something to keep their audience engaged and putting forth a product (i.e. videos) that are worth that much attention.

Peter mentions in his website that “The days of begging for likes are over. The customer economy is all about doing likable things,” This couldn’t be more true with what you are doing, whether it be posting YouTube Videos or getting a startup Idea off the ground.

Lastly, getting over the fear of failing is a hard pill to swallow.

Most ideas never get started or some people never show the world what they have to offer/ who they are because fear causes them to stay stagnant rather than push forward. Peter said Friday if you haven’t failed, then you haven’t tried hard enough, and you’re not doing enough to change the status quo. We never know how something will turn out. If it works the first time then great, but if not, it doesn’t mean you are a failure, it just means you know what not to do the second time around.