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Interview With Yanik Silver

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Yanik Silver and look forward to attending my first Maverick Business Adventure in March and I will update everyone on the much anticipated experience!

Yanik Silver is a serial Internet entrepreneur and self-made millionaire. He is recognized as one of the leading experts on web marketing even though he still considers himself a ‘techno dunce’. Starting from his one-bedroom apartment and with just a few hundred dollars, Yanik has personally sold over $13,000,000.00 online and counting (with zero employees except his wife, Missy).

He is the author, co-author or publisher of several best-selling marketing books and tools including Moonlighting on the Internet, Instant Sales Letters® & 33 Days To Online Profits. Yanik is a highly sought after speaker addressing groups ranging from the prestigious Wharton Business School to international audiences of 3,000+.

As a self-described “adventure junkie”, Yanik has found that his own life-changing experiences such as running with the bulls, bungee jumping, sky diving, exotic car road rallies and Zero-Gravity flights have not only brought a profound sense of accomplishment but also led to breakthroughs in ideas, focus and business thinking. That’s why he combined both his passions to found Maverick Business Adventures™ creating the kind of “club” he’d want to be part of.

Time For The Interview:

Yanik Silver, InternetLifestyle.com
Title: Head Muckity Muck
Industry: Internet
Type of company:  eCommerce
Year founded: 2000
Location:  Potomac, MD
Number of employees:1
Adam: What is the start-up story behind your business venture?
Yanik: Woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning and had an idea for a silly site. I tried to wake up my wife, but she told me to go back to sleep.
I jumped out of bed to get to work on what was to become my first million-dollar site, InstantSalesLetters.com

Adam: What is your definition of success and has your company achieved it?
Yanik: Definition of success is being to do what you want, when you want and with whom you want to (within reason). It’s about fun, freedom and financial independence. And it’s about taking an idea and turning into a profit center.

Adam: To what do you attribute your company’s recent achievements?
Yanik: Being genuine and authentic. I’ve never tried to “become” someone else or to put up some sort of false positioning. I think the Web is getting more and more transparent every day and the crappy products/services/providers will quickly get called out.

Adam: What three pieces of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Yanik: Quit screwing around with ‘busy-work’ that you gives you the illusion of doing work. i.e. Instant Messenger, Facebook, Twitter. I love Twitter – but I’m not on it except for specific times.

Do just one proactive thing a day. That’s it. Do not go to bed until you’ve taken even one baby step forward in your business.

Take action (as simple and cliche as that sounds). Your ‘real success’ typically comes from moving towards what you think is your goal. But along the way – you’ll discover a detour to your true success.

Adam: What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?
Yanik: Keep the dollar amount/exposure small. It’s great to have failures because you’re closer to a breakthrough but keep those failures manageable instead of  ‘do-or-die.’

Adam: Describe/outline your typical day?
Yanik: It’s changed over the years. Originally it was up til 3 or 4 am really cranking on my business. Now with a lot of things on autopilot – I spend my time focused on new projects and initiatives figuring which are going to pan out or not. Plus with 2 kids under four – it’s tough to do the 3 am nights too often since they get you up at 6:30 or 7:00 am 😉

Right now I really do my best to get just 2 or 3 proactive things down before 12 noon. Because after that it seems like phone calls, emails or other crap work takes over.

Adam: Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?
Yanik: Self-funded with a few hundred dollars. I don’t think you need money to figure out if it’s a good idea or not. Not having a lot of capital forces you to be more creative.

Adam: What stops you from throwing in the towel and giving up during those frustrating days of running your business?
Yanik: Knowing that others were successful and there was a plan or roadmap to follow. Plus my very first “real” job at a yogurt shop breaking down the yogurt machines really sucked so I knew I never wanted to do that again.

Adam: Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Yanik: Not necessarily. I’ve worked with and been friends with all sorts (ultra anal to stoner types). Probably the biggest common denominator is the unyielding thirst for freedom!

Adam: Who has influenced you most and been your greatest inspiration?
Yanik: So many mentors it’s hard to list just one. I learned from Earl Nightingale that you could become an expert by reading one hour per day for 3 years on one subject. Or a world-class expert by reading for 1 hr/day for 5 years. I took that to heart and read approx 1 book/week still. In the early stages – I’d read/study several hours per day, in the car, at the gym, etc.

Adam: What book has inspired you the most?
Yanik: Once again – a really hard question because I have so many great books in my library but if I was to single out one it would be “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. Just the notion of producers versus looters was a big distinction
in my thinking.

Adam: How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Yanik: One of our best ways is partnering up by using affiliates to sell our products or services. We only pay affiliates
once someone they referred to our site makes a sale – so there is almost zero downside.

Adam: In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Yanik: Adventure!

Adam: Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Yanik: I love Virgin. Sir Richard Branson is one of my all-time business heroes and I’ve been fortunate to spend time with him on Necker Island. I love the way they look at a marketplace and really over-deliver for customers while bringing a fun, “cheeky” element to it.

Adam: How do you achieve balance in your life?
Yanik: I truly think most entrepreneurs are spending way too much time in one quandrant of their lives – their business-side. To balance myself out by proactively schedule incredibley, fun activities (for me anyway) like Running with the Bulls, Baja Racing, Skydiving, etc. I realized that if you don’t have these activities scheduled – you never do them. Plus, I’ll come back renewed
and invigorated with more great ideas!

In fact, I’ve turned that love of adventure into a new project called Maverick Business Adventures which combines these unique adventures with business building and helping teach/empower young entrepreneurs.

Adam: Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years? 10 years?
Yanik: I don’t really do long-term planning very well – but I have a 2020 mission to help:

• 1,000,000 entrepreneurs buy into the Maverick philosophy of “making more, having more fun and giving more back”
• 1,000,000 young entrepreneurs impacted to think beyond getting a job
• 1,000,000 cumulative “Big Life List” items get checked off

Adam: If we could introduce you to anyone, who would it be and why? (you never know who we know!)
Yanik: Hmm….would love to meet Mark Burnett

Thanks Adam for this opportunity.