Story & Lesson Highlights with Ian Peterman of Gilbert, AZ

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Ian Peterman. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Ian, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
My morning is not a very ridged thing, but generally the top things are to get breakfast, take kids to school, go for an hour walk, then get ready for the day. I’ve tried all kinds of things, from journaling and sketching first thing, to working out, to jumping into the main task for the day, but those all change on the seasons, how much traveling I’m doing, etc. It’s usually pretty easy to make sure I get a walk in, and it’s always helpful to have time to think and chat with my wife (and business partner) who walks with me.

Having a super ridged morning schedule can be helpful, but often for me can become stressful because life throws curve balls, and being more flexible with my mornings helps keep days starting well. I also try to avoid all phone/computer use until after I’ve gotten ready for the day, that way I don’t start hyper focusing on work right away.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Ian Peterman. I started working for my dad when I was 12, been designing products since I was 16, started multiple businesses, have 6 children, play the violin, and currently run several businesses including a brand new venture studio. I grew up around entrepreneurship and this came easily to me and I love starting businesses, the real work comes at scaling them. My main business right now is the Peterman Design Firm I founded in 2017. We are a conscious design agency specializing in helping hardware companies design, develop, and launch products that are profitable while still keeping people and the environment well. Through that I run Conscious DesignHaus and its podcast, and authored the book Conscious Design with my wife Jessica Peterman. My other business, Sindri Venture Studio, I co-founded this to help fill the gap between real startups and funding while addressing many of the other challenges startups find themselves facing. We work with startups as well as acquiring established businesses in need of scaling.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
This is a great question! Since I was a small kid, I’ve always loved to invent, draw, and be creative. I learned to play the violin, invented and designed games with my brother (physical games before the internet). I think everything seemed very possible and almost inevitable. When you are a kid and highly creative, no one has told you that you can’t be something or do something, or if they have it hasn’t sunk in yet. I believe we all start out this way, everyone is creative and in many ways unlimited in our thinking. I definitely fell into a weird sports/nerdy category when I was a kid.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
Definitely fear of failure. While I am definitely a person of action, the fear of failure is always there. It hasn’t stopped me from accomplishing things, per se, however it’s more like a consistent stress/anxiety that makes everything harder and makes success not as exciting, because there’s always the fear of failure even after success. Not being able to celebrate wins as easily as others creates its own stressors, especially in relationships, and with friends. It’s also much harder to take breaks or relax after a win. Fear of failure also drives decisions like, working too much. For one of my companies, I was a partner at a design firm, and I worked 80-100 hour weeks. While we ultimately closed the business, which was great for my health, I worked far too much and rarely celebrated wins because I was afraid of failing, so I was always doing something to try to make it successful. However, that just burned me out and didn’t provide the actual results I wanted.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Mostly, yes. Of course I share more with my close friends and family than I do publicly, however how I behave and act are always me. Some could argue there’s benefits of changing who you are, but for me I’d rather people like/dislike me based on who I really am, and it makes it so I don’t forget which “me” I’m supposed to be. I think everyone goes through a phase where they try doing that some, especially high school and college where you are trying to fit in as much as possible. However, it’s a lot of work to be multiple people. I believe authenticity helps me to be better at business, so when I’m talking on a podcast or on a panel, I want people to see who I really am, because if they want to work with me, they want the version they saw.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
I would work on the most pressing needs of the human species. While I already focus on working with and helping brands who are here to support people, I think there are some long term goals, like ensuring the survival of our species, ensuring climate change is never again caused by our greed or ignorance, and making us a space fairing species that would be much easier to accomplish if given unlimited time, and the time to build the resources to make those goals happen. I think if you are immortal, it should be your mission to keep humans growing and improving, not just surviving as many in the world still do now. My legacy I’m building, immortal or not, is one my kids and their kids and so on, can follow and be proud of, improving the world and its inhabitants through conscious design.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
For headshot of me only:

Jenna Karwoski, photographer

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