Aaron Perlut shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Aaron, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Entertaining three semi-insane dogs!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Aaron Perlut and I’m a longtime marketer with a tendency to have side hustles that make absolutely no money but enrich my spirit and for some reason garner a lot of attention.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
My professional mentor is William D Johnson, the former CEO of a variety of major energy companies including the Tennessee Valley Authority, Duke Energy and PG&E Corp.. Bill has taught me a tremendous amount about life and work, and most importantly impressed upon me the importance of exercising emotional intelligence at any juncture. He also taught me a lot simply by watching his behaviors. What always impressed me with his ability to relate to anyone. He’s a brilliant man and an intellectual, yet he played college football at the highest levels. I think it was those experiences that help him relate to anyone—from a blue-collar worker to the most brilliant of engineers.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
I am an alcoholic. It was rather problematic in every facet of my life. Ultimately when I was about 47, I quit drinking, but that wasn’t the end of the journey for me. I felt like I needed to understand what had driven the alcoholism. Alcoholism was merely the symptom. I needed to understand the cause of that symptom. After a lot of soul searching, I realized I had a deep seeded anxiety that had really defined a lot of my life. So I’ve worked very hard to address that. Through all of it, I look back with a lot of regret, and i have worked very hard to speak with those whom I have impacted negatively and to try to mend my ways. The road to success is always under construction. But I’m on that road.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
100%. I try to be pretty transparent and authentic. But I do think because of the changes I’ve made in my life, people who knew me 20 years ago don’t know me at all today. If they want to take the time, it’s all out there for everyone to see every little wart and the growth.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
I think human nature is that people judge a book by its cover. I think based on my past behaviors—before I stopped drinking and addressed my anxiety—people will more than likely judge me based on my life up until those things were addressed. I also think that I tend to conduct my life very openly, with a lot of humor and experimentation artistically that people misunderstand. I’ve had to make peace with the reality that people are going to judge me and that’s OK. All I can do is my best to be the best person I can possibly be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aaronperlut.com
- Instagram: @aaronkyleperlut
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronperlut
- Other: https://Atomic.band
