Interview With an Inspiring Web Entrepreneur Yaro Starak

Yaro Starak is an extremely successful web entrepreneur from Australia who entirely supports himself from the profits of his blog Entrepreneurs-Journey.com.

His internet business allows him to have a great lifestyle plus travel whenever he feels like it.

I love reading Yaro’s blog posts because his advice is authentic and practical – and, more importantly, it works.

Visit his website for advice on how to build and create successful internet business and improve yourself along the way.

1. What motivated you to start your own business?

The greatest motivation for me to start a business was to avoid full time employment. I hated the idea of having to work for someone else on set standard hours. Thankfully I managed to avoid full time work, although it certainly required testing a lot of different business ideas until I experienced one I liked.

2. Your blog is read by thousands every day and you have a huge loyal readers’ base. Why, do you think, your blog has become so popular?

I believe my blog is popular because of a combination of things -

1. My personality/writing style – I write how I think and simply tell people what I am doing or thinking, which they gain benefit from. This also results in my audience establishing a personal connection with me as a person, not a faceless website.

2. I’ve done stuff that people want to do (create businesses that make money) and I explain how I did it.

3. Every week I publish something new, and I’ve been doing it for five years. Consistency is incredibly important if you want long term success, and although I’ve been through plenty of good and bad times, I’ve ALWAYS published new blog content because I know that is at the heart of my success.

3. Did you experience any major problems at the start of your entrepreneurship and what kept you going?

I’ve had plenty of what you might call failed projects, though I prefer to call them learning experiences because I learn a lot about what I don’t want to do by testing things. I had an English school that never made money, I’ve built many websites that barely captured any audience, I’ve started projects only to stop them a week later, I’ve lost money to credit card fraud – so there has been plenty of challenges along the way.

In hindsight it’s easy for me to say what kept me going was my desire to change my life, however at the beginning I didn’t have the experience, on a belief to know what was possible. I think in my case one of the most powerful inspirations is seeing what other people can do, studying it, and then realizing that I could do it too. Other people’s achievements give me belief in my own potential.

4. What changes did you have to make in your mindset to be able to achieve your current level of success?

One of the major changes I had to make was not being attached to a certain outcome at a certain time. (Simona Rich: Incredible answer!) It’s good to have goals and deadlines, but at the end of the day you don’t know what will happen until you try it, so if you attach your motivation to earning a certain amount of money and then you don’t, and as a result you give up – that’s not going to work.

I shifted my mindset to the belief that if I shared what I was good at and told stories from my own experiences then I would be helping people. The more people I helped the better the chance of my own success. As a result for the first year of blogging I had to tell myself many times – “just keep sharing because you want to share” – that was my core motivation, and if money was to be made then it would happen when it happened, I wasn’t tying myself to that outcome. (Simona Rich: Yes, many people become too attached to their goals and because of their neediness – which means that they have a lack mindset – they fail to achieve their goals.)

5. What, in your opinion, are the main mistakes people make in creating web-based businesses?

The most common mistakes I see are…

1. Taking on board the role of web developer (the tech person) when it is not your strong point. Don’t build websites if that is not what you are good at.

2. Chasing after markets that have no money in them. This one is difficult to know immediately. You can do research and make smart choices, but you won’t really know until you finally try and profit from the audience you build whether you can. Chances are if no one else makes money in that market, then you won’t either – so go where the money is and become someone unique there.

3. Giving up way too soon. This is the most common reason people fail. It’s got nothing to do with anything external, they just decide that what they are doing won’t work for them, hence they guarantee it by quitting.

6. I’ve recently seen some of your self-improvement blog posts. They clearly describe the changes you went through and how they benefited you. Can you share some of the ways you improved yourself and how it affected your life and business?

When I was younger I didn’t really have the self awareness to know what was at the heart of my success or failure at something. Eventually I realized that mindset is the single most important ingredient, and it’s a complex ingredient unique to every person. Even though we are all unique in how we think and view the world, it’s fairly obvious that certain patterns and belief structures lend themselves to achievement, where others hold us back. So it therefore makes sense to adopt beliefs and mindsets that help you, not hinder you, if you want to create your dreams.

I came to realize that it is vital for me to focus on what I want and look at things in a positive light. Seeing the world through glasses that focus on moving forward is critical, especially when you face setbacks. If your frame is negative, any setback you face will simply reinforce your negative belief, resulting in more setbacks.

Setbacks are a fact of life, it’s how you react to them that matters, so believing you have the power to change things towards the outcome you want, even if it just begins with thinking positive, is the key.

7. When your business became successful, did your friends change? What impact, do you think, friends have on one’s mindset?

I’ve been in online business for more than ten years and my friends and colleagues have certainly changed during that time. When I started most of the people around me were not entrepreneurs, friends from highschool who would go on to follow fairly typical life patterns, take jobs and begin “careers”. I was definitely the odd one out, which eventually led to isolation.

Working at home alone, especially when you haven’t had much success is daunting, and I was definitely lonely, depressed at times and uncertain about where I was heading. I stuck to it long enough that I built up enough knowledge to start to enjoy results, and then, once I started sharing my knowledge, that brought new people to me – people more like myself, and people who were much more successful, thus I turned to as role models. Eventually I became a role model for others as well, and today find myself surrounded my entrepreneurs and exceptionally successful and talented people, who think very differently to the mainstream. This is wonderful not just for the influence it has on my own mindset, but also because it gives me examples to follow. Following other successful people is one of my key principles for success.

8. You mix with many high-achievers. Can you name some of the qualities successful people share?

A can-do attitude is definitely major feature, as is a focus on abundance rather than scarcity. That last one may in fact be the most important as I notice many people who fail to become financially independent are often trapped in a mindset of scarcity, believing that it’s simply not possible to have what successful people have because there is a key ingredient missing from their makeup. This is not true, the missing ingredient is simply the choice to keep working towards a belief until it becomes an experience of reality.

Top achievers think big, understand how important it is to work with other talented people. They understand concepts like leverage, they don’t do things or mix with people who don’t support their goals (at least not for long). They are constantly learning – and often that learning is done in completely self-motivated environments, reading books and taking specific courses, or finding mentors.

9. Every successful person experiences his or her share of criticism. How do you deal with negative feedback?

At first when I faced criticism, especially the really personal stuff, I took an emotional hit. My ego flares up and I want to “fight back”. I quickly realize though that in most situations the people offering the criticism are looking for a fight and would love me to fight back so they have more ammunition, so I usually just ignore them, or acknowledge their contribution and then move on.

Sometimes however criticism is warranted, and it’s these times when I have to take a hard look at my own stance. It’s important to remember that you are not any more right than someone else, you just have different perceptions of a situation. Sometimes seeing something from someone else’s point of view can open your mind. What you have to be careful of is not getting too bogged down in a discussion that’s not really going anywhere. Once ideas are expressed, regardless of whether people agree, sometimes it’s best to just move on. Productivity is more important than being right, because action creations change, talking about it doesn’t.

10. From reading your articles, I formed an opinion of you as a helpful, honest and easy to approach person. Is your online persona different from the real world “you”?

Haha, that’s a difficult one to answer. I’m pleased your perception of me from my writing came out positive, but no doubt there are others who have had different reactions.

I like to think my real life personality is close, though I’m probably a little more open with my readership than I am in person, at least until I get to know someone. It’s ironic that you can be so revealing in your writing, which is read by thousands of people, yet in day to day conversation you might hold back depending on the circumstance. (Simona Rich: Amazing. That’s exactly what I’ve experienced: it’s much easier to share your most personal experiences online than in the “real world”.)

Of course it must be said that you cannot ever hope to get an accurate perspective on something as complex as a human being simply from their writing, or even from just a handful of experiences with them. Perhaps a lifetime spent with one person affords you enough shared experience to say that you truly “know” them.

11. You are one of the top experts in your niche. What benefits does being a well-known internet personality bring?

Having a reputation as a thought leader, someone with influence and attention is a very powerful thing. From a practical point of view, things just come easier for you – for example you can meet other talented and famous people, you receive invitations to speak at events, you are provided with free products, you might be invited to write a book, or even have entire trips overseas covered just to attend an event as a guest. From a business point of view, being respected means people trust you, which means they are more likely to buy from you. In a crowded marketplace, expert status is a huge competitive advantage.

12. Do you plan to publish your own book?

One day for sure, hopefully several, however the topics I will cover will probably not be related to what I predominately write about now. I definitely would love to see something I wrote in a bookstore one day soon.

Thank you for finding time in your busy schedule to answer my questions – I really appreciate that. It’s obvious that you will keep getting more and more successful because of your mindset and habits. I hope that my readers will take your advice and use it to create as much success. Wishing you all the best in your business and personal life!

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