How Do Successful Entrepreneurs Answer the “Now What?” Question – In Just 7 Minutes with Yanik Silver

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to Know How to Answer Every Entrepreneur’s Greatest Business Question, “Now What?”. Learn more on why you should be listening to your cosmic alarm clock and be the world’s greatest gem: Evolvedenterprise.com

Summary

Have you been feeling buzzed with not knowing the answer to your question “Now what?”?

Do you feel like you haven’t been fulfilling your potential in the world through your business?

Are you ready to connect with yourself and pursue your best next step?

Yanik Silver has called a Cosmic Catalyst, a Maverick Mischief-maker, and a Galactic Goofball. He redefines how business is played in the 21st century at the intersection of evolutionary growth, impact, and fun. Yanik is the creator of the Cosmic Journal, author of Evolved Enterprise, and the founder of Maverick1000, a global collective of visionary entrepreneurs making a serious difference in the world without taking themselves too seriously.

In this episode, Yanik talks about why it is important to connect with ourselves in order to know your next step and make a greater impact in the world. He also shares his experiences and insights on how connecting with yourself can not only help you grow as a person but help you pursue what is truly yours to do.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 02:00 – Yanik’s ideal client: “The ideal client is someone that has had success, is successful. So typically a 7-, 8-, 9-figure, founder, CEO, entrepreneur, who is asking themselves, “Now what?”
• 02:34 – Problem Yanik helps solve: “There’s a lot of things we can do, but what is truly ours to do? And so it’s how do we connect our head, our heart, our higher purpose? So our head is our business side, the marketing side, whatever it is.”
• 03:50 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Yanik: “I call it the “cosmic alarm clock”. It’s this little whisper that gets louder and louder. You can either hit snooze, or you can answer it. And it’s usually going to be, so for me, it was asking a very simple question, which is, “Am I happy? Would I be happy doing what I’m doing 10 years from now?”
• 05:23 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Yanik’s solution: “A lot of times, it’s simply saying, “Well, if I get to this next spot-“, whatever that is, a $5 million company, a $20 or a $100 million company or, you know, whatever reward you want to materially compensate yourself with, that usually is very short-lived.”
• 06:15 – Yanik’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “One of my favorites is, “Your questions dictate your answers”. So I love great questions. And so what I said before, right, what I’d be happy doing from 10 years from now? Another one is, “What would my 111-year-old self tell me?”
• 06:57 – Yanik’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Yanik’s Website: Evolvedenterprise.com
• 07:31 – Q: What is another question that they could be asking themselves or another action they could be doing? A: That would be something called a “cosmic checkbox”. Something that just brings you joy, and fulfillment no matter what.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Your questions dictate your answers.” -Yanik Silver Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. My name is Tom Poland beaming out to you from little Castaways Beach in Queensland, Australia, joined today by the highly and globally esteemed Yanik Silver. Yanik, good day. A very warm welcome, sir! Where are you hanging out?

Yanik Silver 00:24
So, yeah, I’m right outside of Washington DC today.

Tom Poland 00:27
Perfect! Thanks for joining us. For those of you who don’t know Yanik, Yanik’s a really interesting blend of- if you like the earthly and the cosmic, he’s got- Yanik doesn’t know I know this, but, first of all, he produces quality products and services. And he cares deeply about his clients and he cares deeply about humanity and people. So that kind of sets him apart a little bit from your average marketer. He’s been called a Cosmic Catalyst, a Maverick Mischief-maker, and a Galactic Goofball. Love the alliteration there! I don’t know if you- do you still sell your copywriting course still yet?

Yanik Silver 00:58
No, not really. No. If someone wants it, I’m sure we could dig it out.

Tom Poland 01:02
Right.

Yanik Silver 01:03
I mean, the principles remain the same.

Tom Poland 01:05
Well, I went down to the- I ordered it and arrived here in Australia and the post office thought it was a washing machine or something because it was this massive box of manuals, and it was of great assistance to me. Thank you, sir. These days, Yanik redefines how business is played in the 21st century. And I think that’s a rabbit hole, you’re still exploring the bottom of, Yanik. But it’s interesting, this sort of this intersection of evolutionary growth, impact, fun, and revolutionary growth as well. He’s the creator of the Cosmic Journal, author of Evolved Enterprise, and founder of Maverick1000, a global collective of visionary entrepreneurs making a serious difference in the world, but at the same time, not taking themselves too seriously. The title today, Yanik, is, “How Do Successful Entrepreneurs Answer the Question, ‘Now What?'”. Our seven minutes starts now. Yanik, question number one, who is your ideal client?

Yanik Silver 02:00
The ideal client is someone that has had success, is successful. So typically a 7-, 8-, 9-figure, founder, CEO, entrepreneur, who is asking themselves, “Now what?” And that is the- you know, because when you have that level of resources and success, whatever got you there is not going to get you to this next stage.

Tom Poland 02:19
I guess that’s a question that a lot of us are asking, regardless of the level we’re at. is whether it’s working, “Well, now what?” or whether it’s not working, “Well, now what?” So, it’s relevant. Question number two, and we’ve got six and a half minutes left. How would you define the problem that you solve?

Yanik Silver 02:34
Yeah, the problem that I solve is that they are- there’s a lot of things we can do, but what is truly ours to do? And so it’s how do we connect our head, our heart, our higher purpose? So our head is our business side, the marketing side, whatever it is. The heart is the impact you want to make in the world. And then the higher purpose is like truly, “Why are you here? What did you sign up for when you showed up?”

Tom Poland 02:56
Would you say that the latter, the “Why are you here?”, is a question that people ask themselves once they’ve established financially? Do you think that’s a question that comes more often to people who’ve had a modicum of success?

Yanik Silver 03:08
Yeah, That’s great! That’s a great question because me and my friends argue about this a lot. Because, you know, do you need that certain level of stability or foundational success in order to start asking those questions? But, you know, I think that the place that we’re moving into now is more integrated, that had a higher purpose. It’s not just like, “Oh, I’m going to make all my money and then spend the second half of my life giving it all away in some way.” It’s like, how do we create that impact into our business?

Tom Poland 03:32
Right. It doesn’t have to be sequential. It can be simultaneous. We can do-

Yanik Silver 03:37
Yeah.

Tom Poland 03:37
Alright.

Yanik Silver 03:38
And all integrated together. Yeah.

Tom Poland 03:39
Interesting. So question number three, we’ve got five minutes left. What would you say are some of the typical symptoms that people are experiencing in their life or their business that would give them a heads up on the fact that they should be finding out more about what you’re doing?

Yanik Silver 03:50
Yeah, I call it the “cosmic alarm clock”. It’s this little whisper that gets louder and louder. You can either hit snooze, or you can answer it. And it’s usually going to be, so for me, it was asking a very simple question, which is, “Am I happy? Would I be happy doing what I’m doing 10 years from now?” And, you know, looking from the outside in, everything was great, very successful, making a lot of money, but when I answered that really truthfully in my journal, I’m a big journaler, the answer was no. And it wasn’t because I wasn’t helping people or helping their lives, but it didn’t feel like that is the greatest expression of what I could be doing. So some symptoms are feeling frustrated, feeling depressed, even, maybe leaning on, drinking a little bit too much, or other drugs, or just other things where you’re just feeling flat, and you’re just feeling uninspired in some way, and you know there’s something more.

Tom Poland 04:35
And other addictions, it could be. I mean, I used to do ultramarathon running and stuff like that. So not that any of those things are bad, but perhaps sometimes our confrontation is missing something in-

Yanik Silver 04:46
Yeah, it could be. Looking at it and reexamining, you know, from that- I don’t know, like a higher vantage point. And that’s why journaling is so powerful.

Tom Poland 04:54
It’s a very- it sounds like it requires a lot of self-honesty.

Yanik Silver 04:58
Yeah, and as masters of our own domain as entrepreneurs, we don’t always want to see that. So that’s why you might need someone else that can reflect that.

Tom Poland 05:06
As human beings, we don’t always want to see it. So let’s move on to question four, three and a half minutes left, what would you say are some of the common mistakes that your clients tell you they’ve made in trying to achieve more fulfillment, and it’d be more so? What would you say are some of the common mistakes they’ve made before they find your solution?

Yanik Silver 05:23
A lot of times, it’s simply saying, “Well, if I get to this next spot-“, whatever that is, a $5 million company, a $20 or a $100 million company or, you know, whatever reward you want to materially compensate yourself with, that usually is very short-lived. And it doesn’t turn into the ultimate fulfillment that you want. And the other thing is trying to go at it alone. So just saying, “Well, I figured this out before, I’m going to figure out this next part alone.”

Tom Poland 05:48
Right. Yeah, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. But, I mean, to get to where we are, perhaps it does. But to get to the next level, maybe not. Interesting, all the, you know, the greatest sportspeople and actors and performances all have someone mentoring them, guiding them, coaching them, training them. Question number five then, two and a half minutes left. Let’s talk about a top tip. You know, we’re not going to solve the whole issue with this one tip, but it might take people a step in the right direction. What’s one valuable free action that folks could take that’s going to move them along?

Yanik Silver 06:15
I mean, one of my favorites is, “Your questions dictate your answers”. So I love great questions. And so what I said before, right, what I’d be happy doing from 10 years from now? Another one is, “What would my 111-year-old self tell me?” Another one is, “What would I do even if I knew it would fail?” So now you’re removing attachment from success from what you want to do. And I’d answer that not just one time, but I keep using the entire page to keep answering it. And I would answer it with my non-dominant hand, believe it or not. That’s a great way of connecting your brain and getting new insight.

Tom Poland 06:47
Right. That’s fascinating. Some great stuff there! Question number six, let’s talk about, where can people go to find out more? A valuable free resource, a landing page of some sort?

Yanik Silver 06:57
Sure, I would check out evolvedenterprise.com. That’s the book that I wrote that really put all the pieces together about how businesses can make a greater impact in the world. It has a lot of different business models for you to do that, for example. And then probably in the first three chapters, it has some of these great questions as well. And a little bit of my story on how I got there.

Tom Poland 07:15
Fantastic! That’s Evolved, as an evolved being, I suppose, E-V-O-L-D-E-D, enterprise.com. Go get it! Thank you, Yanik. We’ve got 70 seconds left. Question number seven is what’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t?

Yanik Silver 07:31
It would be, “What is another question that they could be asking themselves or another action they could be doing?” And that would be something called a “cosmic checkbox”. Something that just brings you joy, and fulfillment no matter what. And if you set yourself up to have a- maybe it’s a 21-day challenge, a 33-day challenge, it could be 108 days, whatever it is, but use that checkbox every single day. And then you’ll see what the byproduct is without even knowing what it’s going to be, just leaning into what is that joyful, fun expression of something that you’ve maybe left behind before?

Tom Poland 08:03
Why would you not want that?

Yanik Silver 08:06
Why not? Yeah.

Tom Poland 08:07
Yanik Silver, thank you so much for your time and your wisdom, and your insights.

Yanik Silver 08:11
Thanks, Tom.

Tom Poland 08:13
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.