Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paul Lanner. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Paul, thanks for joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

It’s the impactful stories that have happened thru the years that stick with me and keep Haunters Against Hate going. Just this past July, during Texas Haunters Convention, a 14-year old girl came up to the booth to look at the merchandise and see what the organization was about. Having done for this for eight years now, I can read people quickly, especially younger people. I said hello and asked her how she was doing and if she needed any information about HAH. She proceeded to tell me how her family didn’t accept her. I could see she was sad and distraut over this and told her she could always reach out to me, or the Haunters Against Hate family and know that we would always accept her as part of our spooky family. ALWAYS. And I told her I meant that from the bottom of my heart. We chatted more and I gave her a goodie bag of t-shirts, patches and pins. She came back later to thank me again. The next day, as the convention was closing, a girl approached my booth, and asked if I was Paul and I said yes. She said, “I am ***’s sister…and I want to let you know you changed my sister’s life yesterday. Thank you.” And she left.
That is why I do what I do. If I didn’t make one cent at that event, it would have been a success because of that.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Haunters Against Hate is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was formed after some hateful speech was made in the haunt industry regarding the Orlando Pulse tragedy. Out of such negativity, I created Haunters Against Hate to turn hate speech into something positive by going to horror and haunt conventions, haunted attractions and making people aware of acceptance and inclusivity in the industry. With sales from t-shirts, patches, pins and a series of coffee table books (The Book of Haunters) along with subscription memberships, HAH can continue to function and also allows us to give back to the community by donating to LGBTQ+ organizations across the United States, with a. special focus on youth in particular.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The key, for me, in building my reputation with the haunt industry is doing my best to be honest, caring and putting my heart and soul into everything I do. Haunters Against Hate is my life blood and do everything I can to make sure my client base and followers know everything going on and show that it sincere and truly from the heart, not some callous, “non-profit.” I’ll put in the extra effort and mileage – whatever it takes – to show that I am there to support and help any way I can. Especially when it comes to the LGBTQ youth community. And I truly believe people respect that.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

The biggest risk I took was when I decided to create “The Book of Haunters,” a 100-page coffee table book thru Blurb publishing. I wasn’t sure how it would go over. I reached out for submissions from haunters around the country to submit high res pics and their stories about why they got into haunting and why they supported Haunters Against Hate. I received hundreds of submissions. Putting the book together was a lot of work, time and effort. And there was still no guarantee people would want to buy a copy of it. But I wanted to do something for the haunt community and show my appreciation for them. And it ended up selling out within 2 weeks, forcing me to do a second printing. To date, there have been NINE volumes created! And what was really amazing was that Volume 9, dedicated to female haunters in the industry, won a nationwide competition and was featured for a full week on a digital billboard in Times Square in NYC!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hauntersagainsthate.com
• Instagram: @hauntersagainsthate
• Facebook: hauntersagainsthate

Image Credits

Dozer Entertainment
Tristan Sutphin Photography