Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: The podcast for those who find themselves immersed in adversity and choose to write their story instead of having others write it for them. I'm Drew Duraney and I'm your host.
Today's guest is Steve August. Steve August is the founder of the ADHD Entrepreneur Accelerator and a coach dedicated to helping ADHD entrepreneurs overcome overwhelm, focus on what matters, and grow a thriving business.
A seasoned entrepreneur himself, having taken a startup from IDEA to Exit and served as CMO of a $100 million company, Steve brings a unique blend of strategic insight, lived ADHD experience, and compassionate coaching to his work. His mission is to give ADHD entrepreneurs the tools, systems and support they need to focus, prioritize and succeed. He believes ADHD is not a flaw, but a different operating system and when understood and supported properly, it becomes a superpower.
Through programs like Focus Formula and his LIVE workshops, Steve empowers six six figure ADHD founders to break through plateaus and scale to their next $500,000 in revenue and beyond. Steve's approach is grounded in simplicity, authenticity, showing up every day and creating delight. He designs ADHD friendly planning systems that reduce decision fatigue and work with the brain, not against it, especially in those golden two hour windows of high executive function.
He is also the creator of the popular Are you an ADHD Entrepreneur? Quiz and writes a daily LinkedIn newsletter for a growing community of ADHD founders. Steve's vision is to build a business that generates $50,000 per month in revenue while helping thousands of ADHD entrepreneurs create freedom, fulfillment and real results on their own terms.
Enjoy the show, Steve. It's great to see you.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Great to be here, Drew.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: It's my pleasure. I'm excited about this and I always in the beginning thanked the person who introduced us and it was funny before we hit record, Frank introduced us and then we were trying to determine how we pronounce Frank's last name, P I U C K.
So I looked it up and Frank, you're gonna have to I'm gonna have to reach out to you and find out how you really pronounce it. But what chatgpt told me is that P I U C k can be pronounced pook like rhyming with duke or puck or pick or puke. So I'm not really sure how, but Steve and I thought we're just going to go with Puk Frank Pook. So hope we got it right Frank. 25% chance anyway, so. So why is Steve August here? You know, I often talk about how when we're young we're taught many different things. And the specific teaching I'm going to talk about is how we're told that life is linear, it's a straight path. If we all do the same thing, A plus P, B plus D plus C, D is going to happen.
And it's not a malicious teaching. People believe it or want it for us and we, we do what we're told. And for the most part, life is linear. It's a straight line until it's not.
There are external circumstances that ultimately get in our way and derail that straight path, more circuitous route.
And in life, I believe there's three types of men. And you could be any one of these men during any course of your life. Even in a day. You can be man number one who's got so many blind spots he doesn't even notice what's in front of him. He knows what he's been taught. He just follows the rules, lives on autopilot. And when he dies, he hadn't changed anything. So that, that's his life. Then there's man number two. Man number two notices the adversity, yet he is the victim. Everybody else is to blame. Life's doing it to him and he can't change it. He's got no control. It is what it is. And he lives life with no changes. And on his deathbed, boy, does he have a ton of regrets. And then there's man number three. Steve August is man number three, as are the men and women I have on the show.
Man number three has a heightened self awareness. He sees the adversity and he says, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. This adversity is not a barrier. It's an opportunity for me to do something different and change my life and be a stronger man on the other side.
And so Steve, I ask you, reach back as far as you need to for that defining moment or defining moments that transformed you from whatever man you were to man number three.
Whether it was the tap on the shoulder, the whisper in the ear, or like I needed the two by four upside my head. What was that defining moment? Steve?
[00:05:08] Speaker A: That is such a good question.
And as I think back over my life, there's a number of them, but I think the one that, that punches out and is really relevant and still very much in progress is about, let's see, it was 2018. So going on seven years ago, my 16 year old kiddo started to have some serious health issues.
And you know, and I had, you know, we were going on the track you know, you.
You, you know, grow up, you get your education, you go work in the world, you find a relationship, maybe have a kid, have a house, and, you know, the kid grows up and linearly goes through the school and moves on to. To going out and being independent in the world.
And so we were on that track up until about 2018 was, you know, every. Every. Every kid, every life has some bumps and bruises in it, but, you know, we were still on the path. And then in 2018, things just went sideways, and their health really deteriorated. They ended up with what's called a cerebral spinal fluid leak, which is called a CSF leak. And it's when there's basically a bag of fluid around your spine and your brain that cushions things and keeps things in the right position. And if it gets a little bit of a leak, it causes extraordinary pain and problems. And for two years, people couldn't figure out what it was because usually that only happens when you get an epidural or something and a needle actually pokes it. But it can happen if you have connective tissue disorders or things like that, which we are also starting to learn about that they had.
So their health declined going on till 2021 is when we finally figured out what was going on. So two years, and they're in huge pain, and they are not able to attend school anymore.
And there, you know, it's just beyond the pale, having seizures from the pain and just really challenging stuff. And finally we found a doctor who said it could be this. It could be a CSF leak. And so we had a procedure here in Portland, Oregon, where I live, and that fixed it for a very short time. And we're like, okay, we know what it is, but it didn't last.
And so we still had another two years of getting through that, eventually heading down to cedars Sinai in LA for two procedures over the course of 2022 and 2023.
And since then, even in the last two years, there's still a lot of recovery and collateral damage and other things that we're navigating.
So this.
You described the three types of men, and I've been all three of those through this journey. At first, it's just like, you know, don't see what's really going on. And then it's this. This tragedy and why is it happening to us? And then at some point, you get to that point of like, well, here's. Here's what it is. And in that, acceptance turns.
It's not always a comfortable acceptance, but because you don't want to accept things to the point where you stop fighting to make them better. But, you know, the situation is what it is. And I think that has been the most transformational thing in my life for. For, you know, it's not something I would not, you know, obviously, if I had choice, I would rather have not had this transformation, have my kid be totally healthy at that point, if I had to trade. But there was so much about it because, you know, there is this both from a inside perspective and a societal perspective of here's the path, right? The path is we go to school, graduate, go out into the world, do stuff, things go independent, comes independent, you have a second chapter as a couple, as a husband.
You, you know, life has a path, and that's what's supposed to happen. And in this case, yeah, that plans out the window.
So.
And coming to acceptance and being able to say, okay, yes, this is happening, and no, we didn't have a choice in it.
But ultimately we have to get past a lot of the grieving process, you know, the whole stages of grief, and getting to a point where we have this acceptance. And in that transformation, you become. I mean, I felt like I've become somebody who has found that strength is a different definition of, like, here's what being strong really is. And it's not. It always does not always look pretty.
It's like I'm getting emotional just talking about it.
So, you know, it's picking yourself up off the floor and, you know, being there for your kid and doing what's right for. According to how you see the world and. And what you want to do right by your. Your kid. And.
And it's not always easy and it's not always fun, and.
And yet when you do it, there's something deep down that's just like, that's. That's what this is about, really.
This is what we're here to do. And it's, you know, it starts to put priorities in the right place. And it. It's that kind of growth through that kind of pain that I think was, you know, was truly transformative.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: Thank you for sharing, Steve. It's not easy. I understand. And you know what, the way you and your family reacted to the issue with your child, I'm sure taught your child what it is like to be a parent. They saw that you love them unconditionally and that you're going to sacrifice whatever you can to make them better. And there's nothing more challenging than for a parent not to be able just.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: To fix, especially For a father as.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: A child, especially when you're a father, it's. I feel it with my kid. And I think that the strength that you have and you said, and you're right, the word strength has a different meaning before and after.
Your strength of being that man who is comfortable being uncomfortable telling the story and sharing is going to help other people. So I thank you for that. How is your child now that it's been what, seven, seven years?
How has the recovery been?
[00:11:57] Speaker A: It's been long. There's still, there's a lot of overlapping issues that contributed to the leak and there's also so things connective tissue disorders like hypermobility form of Ehlers Danlos connective tissue disorder and mast cell activation syndrome, which is when your mast cells which control a lot of histamine response are overactive.
And those things also pop up at this age as well.
So it's just been this kind of big brew and so it's been this constant, you know, slowly grinding and you know, you said what did you know, you mentioned what our kiddo learned from us in terms of their parents. And you know, one of the things was like, you know, when your, your health and your body is a question mark day to day one thing I didn't want them, we, you know, my wife and I both are aligned on it. We don't want them to ever have to question if we're going to be there for them.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Yes. Right.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: So that's one variable they can take off the table. But the flip side is what we've learned from them and their resilience and their dedication to their recovery even when it's a long slog and you know, and they've maintained a positive outlook and they, you know, it's not every day. Some, some days are harder than others and some days they get really frustrated especially after they've had a few good days and they're. It slips back.
It's, it's going, it's still, we're still caregivers.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: And, and we're feeling like this year we're hopeful and you know, so I would just say it's ongoing.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know too with, with your kiddo, the, the, the healing part of it is the physical piece. But then you also have their mental health, their emotional health, their self identity. Right. You don't want this to define who they are.
And your support as a, as a mom and a dad is so important to, to that. And what is your kiddo is able to, is your kiddo Able to go to school now?
[00:14:18] Speaker A: No, they still haven't returned to school.
They're still a little ways from that. Okay, so we're still in getting them back to a basic level of health where they can go out and do things.
[00:14:30] Speaker B: Are prayers in order? Can we pray?
[00:14:34] Speaker A: I mean, you know, at some point during this process, I, you know, people would offer their prayers and I would gladly take them, and that's still the case. It's like, I'll take everything we can get in order to, like, get them to a place where they're. They can, you know, be able to. To. To progress in life in a way. And, and, you know, it's not like they're going backwards. It's just they're.
It's hard to move forward.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: Hard to move forward.
Well, you've had that challenge, you and your family. And I know for you personally, because I'm looking at the background, I know you've learned a lot about adhd.
You learned a lot about yourself recently, simultaneously as being a caregiver. And the important piece here is we caregivers quite often don't care for ourselves while we're caring for others.
And just like when you're on the airplane and you're supposed to put the oxygen mask on yourself first so you can help others, it's the same in life.
So how did you come about noticing that you. You tell your story about the ADHD piece and how you simultaneously were able to care for your kiddo and care for yourself?
[00:15:44] Speaker A: Yeah, so I had been an entrepreneur. I'd had a startup. I took it from my data exit, had some success with that, and, you know, worked for the company that bought us and, you know, was a CMO of $100 million.
And that's. And this is. It was shortly as I was leaving that, that all these health issues, and somewhere along the line in a couple years ago, I stopped being able to function really well in terms of, like, I would. It wasn't that I couldn't finish an email. I couldn't finish the first sentence of an email without going over to YouTube or, you know, just not being able to. And. And I was just thinking, okay, I know we live in a very distracted world, but I think I've gone beyond this next. This next level. So I thought, okay, I've always been very resistant to a ADHD diagnosis because I was never hyper. I was never hyper.
So.
So. But I did. I got the diagnosis and then took the assessment, and the doctor said, yeah, looks. Looks about right.
And.
And as I Learned more about adhd.
Like, the patterns of my life all started to make sense. Like, there is a sense of, like, oh, I finally get me right. And I think that has also helped me understand the journey that I've taken and to also help me get into some more acceptance about different things and the way I react to things.
And the knowledge and awareness of ourself is always the starting point, it feels like, for the knowledge and awareness of the world, because we're always interpreting. It's always, you know, it's always a reflection of what we're seeing inside ourselves, is what we see out in the world.
And so that journey has been so important. And it really, as I started to learn about it, all the different traits of adhd, whether it's, you know, emotional dysregulation, time blindness, working memory deficits, you know, their typical procrastination and distraction and things like that.
Like, oh, it just, you know, I was at that point coaching startup founders, and I realized, oh, this is kind of the. The meshing. Like, I always felt a little bit like, yeah, I was a startup founder, but I don't think on that that there was something that wasn't in alignment. And then when I realized the ADHD side and as I started talking and sharing about my journey and other people who are like, oh, my gosh, you just described me to a T, I was like, oh, this is where I line up. And so that was like coming into myself at 50, 54 and finally saying, oh, I finally get me.
I understand what it is that all these patterns and why is there's brilliance and then there's this kind of sense of pile of stuff that's never finished.
And it was like, oh, I get this. I can work with this now that I understand what's going on.
And I think that also was a big turning point in that, for going from that step two of, like, this is all just happening to me. Because if you don't understand how you yourself are operating, it's gonna feel like it's happening to you. And then all. Once I stepped into that awareness of, like, oh, my brain is gonna take this input and do X with it, depending on where it's at.
And then it was like, oh, okay, yeah, it's happening. But it's. It's more that I have a understanding of why it's. Why what is happening on the outside is triggering the things on the inside. And that makes me able to navigate it much better.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: No, I. It's. It's true because it starts with Self awareness. And then when, when you learn that you can control certain aspects of becomes I. I think healthier. Because it's not controlling you.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: When you're unaware, it's controlling you. And then once you really get to know yourself and you can start to realize that you can. There are certain things you can do to not make it as debilitating.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: As it is make it work for you. I mean sometimes the attention deficit stuff can work for you, but it's about reining it in and, and having it work for you and knowing how to do that.
And you know, it's true. It's true too that many people with special needs, they may have one diagnosis. ADHD touches a lot of the diagnoses that are neurological.
And I think the more studying that occurs on the brain and, and the realization that it's, it's something functional in the brain. It's very important because what I've seen is a lot of people with attention deficit or autism or whatnot, they're kind of like not ignored in society kind of, but kind of pushed aside. Because you know, because I've, and I say that because I look at some data that I think it's 8 of all the able bodied people with autism who are able to work in a standard work environment, 85% are still unemployed.
It doesn't mean it's lack of ability and lack of willingness on the individual's part. There's something out there in society that's holding people back from accepting people who are atypical or have atypical behavior. I think that's what we need to have changed. And I think you speaking about what your, your life and what. And you know, and I'm talking about it goes on with my son.
Very important to get.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: And I see that. I mean I've coached people who are key execs who are adhd. And, and part of what my job is to, is to translate how ADHD brains work.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: So that there can be that understanding because I think it's a balance like a business needs what it needs.
[00:21:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: And so if you can understand where somebody's going to thrive and where they're going to struggle and where. And the kinds of support you can give them so that you, you leverage their strengths because the strengths are immensely powerful for innovation and creativity and problem solving, then everybody wins. But it's, it's only recently that people are even kind of acknowledging it as a conversation to be had versus just something to be managed.
[00:22:01] Speaker B: Right. At least the conversation has started and the awareness is there now publicly, which is very important.
Now I see books behind you.
Tell us about your author. Start how you did with the. What made you want to write and which one was your first book?
[00:22:20] Speaker A: Well, to be fair, there's only one of the books behind me that is my own. Okay, so. And that's the 33 meditations for seed stage founders. So this is one of my books that I wrote.
I basically took great quotes from great thinkers like Alan Watts and Marcus Aurelius and Eleanor Roosevelt and Thich Nhat Anh and would then interpret them through the lens of entrepreneurship, especially as a founder. And so a lot of founders found it to be very like, nightstand, have it on your nightstand, pull it out when your mind is spinning and just read a passage or two. And really I found it.
People really responded to it and it calmed them and kind of gave them that. That ability to navigate a little bit more smoothly the inevitable roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: So when did you write that book?
[00:23:16] Speaker A: That was back in 2016-2017-2016-2017.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: Prior to the stuff going on with your kiddo and prior to you realizing adhd. I'll tell you, writing a book's not easy with your ADHD and not be where you had it. How'd you handle being a first time author?
[00:23:32] Speaker A: The thing was, is I gave myself a challenge to write a post a day.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: So rather than being one, one kind of flow of narrative before, you know, beginning, middle and end, it's really a collection. So I took the easiest path, which was take a collection of thoughts, a post, and basically collate them into a book.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: Love it, love it, love it. There's so many different approaches to get your voice out there.
So are you, are you writing anything now or are you just sticking to the coaching stuff for.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I would say I'm doing research and development on the next book by doing the coaching and the programs that I have for ADHD entrepreneurs.
So, you know, working with people one on one and in groups to understand what the journey is, I'm seeing a lot, especially for what I'm calling second act entrepreneurs. And that is people who have gone through a cycle or two and have had success in the past and now they've started their, they're in process on their current journey and they've just hit a wall and they don't, you know, like suddenly they, they just show up to their computer and their brain will not let them do anything.
And so all that understanding is being and help and what's working and the results are being basically formed and will emerge into a book as well.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: I look forward to that because you're going to start to unearth some certain patterns that you see that are similar in each of your clients who, who have adhd. And if you're able to put it into something where, where they can, you know that a lot of people can understand, that's, that's going to be important work, Steve. So, yeah, it's going to help you too, you know. So I think, I think every one of us has a little bit of attention deficit. I don't know about the hyperactivity piece.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: But yeah, it's a really big.
Sorry to cut across you, but it's a real, really big misnomer. The way ADHD is named is actually does not. Do the people who are diagnosed with it help? First of all, it's generally not a deficit of attention. It's almost a surplus of attention. It's the ability to control the attention that is the issue.
And hyperactivity is just one form. So I was never hyperactive as a kid, so I never thought about it. But there's actually three types of under adhd, there's inattentive, which is kind of the, you know, the surplus of attention but an inability to control it. There is the hyperactive where it's like. Yeah. Bouncing off the walls and.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: And then what they call combined that.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Has features of both interesting. And what do you think you have Inattentive.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I've never, the only, the only kind of like hyper side is that I will pace if I'm thinking or talking.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: Okay.
But I understand the piece of starting something and not finishing it. I get that. I get that. And especially with the fast pace of the world right now, there is a lot of overwhelm that's created for people who have the inattentive.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
And you know, you think about it, with the social media in our lives, those companies hire the biggest and best brains they possibly can find to figure out how to get us to stick.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: I know. Yep, you're right.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: Right. How to hack our attention. And so that's. So everybody does feel a bit adhd because there are very well funded and well resourced companies that are, are, you know, depend on our attention.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: For their business.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: That's so true.
Think about one of your clients now and just tell, tell a story of a, of a success where you felt very proud that you were able to help him or her not necessarily overcome, but be able to manage and thrive rather than just survive with adhd as an entrepreneur.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean I give you a really simple one that is maybe not as like feel like huge on the surface, but when you unpeel the layers, it's like a huge victory. And that is. So part of my program is I host co working sessions sometimes they're called body doubling sessions every day. So. And that helps people actually be able to get out of procrastination and focus and get stuff done. And so one of the people in my group said about something he was working. Oh, I just finished this. Now I don't have to worry about it on the weekend.
And for an ADHD brain, ADHD brains are always overloaded, always with that feeling of having to finish something up that they weren't able to finish before. The fact that he was able to get to his weekend and have achieved something, done the thing he meant to do and didn't have to worry about it, like that's the angle.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: It is, absolutely. And I love the fact that he or she was able to articulate and realize that, wow, that's a win. And celebrate that win for him or her because then they'll be able to then hopefully recreate what they did by learning in your working sessions. That's a wonderful example.
Before I promote you, anything else you want to share with the audience that may touch them or something you're working on or like them to know about?
[00:29:09] Speaker A: Yeah, no. I think one of the most powerful things that I've seen and one of the biggest reactions I got to any of the LinkedIn posts is something I call just dropping the mask.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Is that a lot of times people who have been neurodiverse in their lives feel a little weird, have always felt a little weird, and they have felt like they've had to mask that weirdness.
And so what happens is you become a little bit of a stranger to yourself because you're always trying to present as something else. Exactly. And one of the most powerful things that I've seen in my groups and just in some of my writing and the reactions to it is just the power, the just the opportunity to drop the mask and be with others that share a similar brain. And I think that's true for everything when it comes to this stuff, whether it's caregiving or whatever aspects of your life is, is sharing it with other people who are in similar circumstances or just experiencing life in a similar way. This is so powerful.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: It really is. And people can't read our minds. Right. So if, if we don't share what we're Going through. I'm not saying tell everybody everything, but if we don't share what's challenging us, then it's, it'll be very, very challenging to be able to improve. And there's so many people out there. Like when we talk about special needs, everybody has somebody who's been touched by some type of special needs. And I believe we're all caregivers in one shape or another, you know, and I admire what you're doing and, and the best to your kiddo.
You're going, you're a resilient man, Steve, and keep, keep doing what you're doing.
Folks, you certainly have captured the essence of Steve August and I want you to be able to get in touch with him.
Steve's website is Steve augustcoaching.com so please go to his website.
His writing is wonderful. So. And I'm looking forward to that book coming out, man.
LinkedIn. Check him out on LinkedIn.
Having a good, deep conversation with Steve is well worth it, trust me.
All right, so I got two final questions for you, Steve.
Let me give you the opportunity to sit down. Say you're in wherever your happy place is and you're sitting down with young 7 to 10 year old Steve August. You want to give him advice about life. What are you going to tell him?
[00:31:47] Speaker A: Well, I'm going to tell him that he's adhd because that'd be a really important piece of information for him to know.
Right. And I will also tell him that one of the most limiting things in life is not giving yourself permission for anything. Right. Or whether whatever it is, and most of it is down to you giving yourself permission to do that. And it'll feel like it's coming from outside, but it's probably coming from inside.
So always take the, always take permission.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: I love that. Thanks for sharing that. Permission is very important. Give yourself permission to be who you are. All right, different hat now you're older and you're now sitting with young Steve, the young businessman, young entrepreneur.
You've got some business advice you want to share with him? What are you going to tell him?
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm going to tell him don't be afraid to be the disruptor.
That was one of the big, big lessons of my first startup. We could have been a lot bigger if I had been more disruptive versus trying to support what was already going on.
And also get somebody who can operate to be a co founder with because you're not an operator, you're a great visionary and a great pitchman, but get somebody who can make everything run the way it should.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: And that speaks to what you said before. Everybody has a strength and everybody has something the an opportunity for improvement. If you can match people up with what they're strong doing with other people with what they're strong doing, that's a ends up being a well oiled machine. So great advice, great advice. Steve, I want to thank you for coming on. I want to thank you for coming into my life. Frank Pook thank you for introducing us.
Steve. Keep doing what you're doing. You're doing some amazing things.
God bless your family and you and I just appreciate you as a human being.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: Thanks for having me Drew. Really appreciate you having me on.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: My pleasure. Everybody out there, please take care of yourselves.
Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and give us a review to help others find it.
I'd like you to answer this question.
Are you living the life you want to live or are you living the life others want you to live? I'd like you to think about that for a second because I strongly suggest you live the life you want to live. If you want to learn more about what I stand for and my services and how I'm able to help many men get out of their own way, please go to my website at www.profitcompassion.com.
feel free to also email me at drewrophetcompassion.com I'd love to have a conversation with you.
Take care of yourself and choose to write your own story instead of letting others write it for you.
