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Yuri is a Fortune 500 Personal Development Consultant, board member, startup advisor and official member of the Forbes Coaches Council and Forbes contributor.
A regular guest on top podcasts such as Entrepreneur on Fire, As Told By Nomads, Conscious Millionaire and The Blind Entrepreneur, heās also been published or featured on Inc., Fast Co., Time, Mashable, PBS, BBC and numerous top blogs, TV and radio.
Yuriās consulting, advising and coaching portfolio includes speaking engagements, workshops and advisory work on personal + professional development.
He is well versed in customer experience, PR/Media, and business strategy which has enabled him to impact thousands of Fortune 500 and startup executives.
In his corporate work, Yuri trains client teams on ways to maximize their customer experience and talent retention and development using storytelling, branding and proprietary Ā personal development strategies.
I got the fortunate opportunity to interview Yuri because he is leaving normal behind as a Future Shark.
He shares incredibly practical tips that you can implement within your business, especially if you are a startup founder.
Here we go ā¦
ā
Where are you from?
Moscow, Russia, then Lexington, Kentucky
What are some of your hobbies?
Listening to and writing stories, adventures with my kids, reading obsessively, world travel, gourmet cooking
What is your favorite quote?
āIf you donāt ask, the answers is always no.ā ā Nora Roberts
What are you working on?
A thousands things at any time. A book chapter, my own book project, a few articles at any one time.
My time consists of speaking engagements, 3-4 podcast appearances a week, client work, advising a portfolio of startups, being on several advisory boards, being part of an elite tech incubator, creating an online course, and working on a few strategic partnerships.
How did you come up with this idea?
All of these projects grew out of my vision of helping as many people as possible to find, pursue and monetize their life mission.
The vision grew out of my crazy professional journey (neuroscience, law, finance, tech, then coaching/consulting), through which I finally realized my two superpowers (language and psychology) were meant to be used to help others find and deploy theirs to help improve the human condition through the avenue of business
How is your company different?
Master The Talk is a human-first consultancy that prides itself on providing clarity, actionable planning, unparalleled support and accountability, as well as guaranteed results to each client throughout their business, career and/or personal transformation.
Whatās your dream with your company?
I want the work of Master The Talk to empower tens of millions of brilliant people around the world to thrive by helping them access the right mindset and language, as well as accountability and support to establish, pursue and fulfill their individual life missions by serving others through successful coaching and consulting businesses.
What makes you special?
In every client or potential client encounter, I lead with my story, which is crazier than most, even for a Millennial.
Iāve experienced 4 career changes, the Great Recession of 2008, $250K in student loans, living in NYC with a family.
Telling my story of survival and thriving despite massive challenges, setbacks, and failures has enabled me toĀ break boundaries, and encourage + empower other entrepreneurs to make career changes and succeed despite whatever may be in the way of their success.
How do you creatively advertise?
Iāve had Quora posts get picked up by Inc. and PBS, for example.
Iāve let platforms like LinkedIN, FB, The Muse and Noomii do my SEO for me by optimizing my profiles and standardizing my branding.
When youāre working without a budget, you learn how to hack your own PR by getting into top publications like Forbes and HuffPost, Fast Co. and BBC, as well as onto top blogs, podcasts, TV and radio.
Leverage your time and story and become a superb story teller, then go out and tell your story to anyone whoāll listen.
There is no better advocate for you or your business than YOURSELF.
Whatās the special sauce that makes you successful?
Aside from language and psychology, itās a combination of endless curiosity and focus on gaining clarity, high standards for myself and the people I work with, as well as relentless focus on results and constant improvement.
What were your biggest failure and biggest success? What did you learn from them?
Biggest failure: Too many to count, but two failed startups before my current company are at the top of the list.
What I learned: failures are really intense learning experiences and shouldnāt be stigmatized, but seen as a critical part of the journey.
Biggest success: Aside from marrying my wife and raising our 2 daughters, my biggest business success has been to deliver consistently transformative results for my Fortune 500 and startup executive clients, create a thriving consulting and coaching business in less than 18 months, become a trusted thought leader in my industry, to create lasting connections with top leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as get featured in top publications like Forbes, Inc. and Fast Co., as well as on top podcasts, TV and radio, all while working from home and taking care of a kid undergoing cancer treatment.
What I learned: When life throws you a lemon grove, make lemonade, limoncello, create a stand and export your crop!
Yuri, give us the best advice you have for startup entrepreneurs ā¦
Before you plop down thousands of dollars you donāt have as a startup guy or gal on a PR agency or an SEO agency, learn how PR and SEO actually work and hack them yourself. Both are critical to the success of your business and have the highest ROI in terms of investment in a short time.
Always be resourceful and pay top professionals when you know exactly what you need and who exactly can get it for you.
Whatās something new youāve learned in the past month?
Doubters and haters will always be around, no matter your age or level of success in business or in life. Your reaction to them need never be aggressive. Success is the best revenge and is always served cold š
What do you think you do better than most people?
Figure out the language and psychology of any audience Iām faced with.
What is the most practical and actionable framework you can share for other Future Sharks to use in their daily life?
My 4-Pillar Process.
When you find your life mission, affirm your values, clear up the outcomes you enjoy most delivering and your natural, organic role in any situation or organization (not just at work), you will always have a clear picture of yourself to reference daily.
Address the negative scripts holding you back and write down your āfounding stories.ā
Put these pieces together and youāll have an unimpeachable treasure trove of what makes you who you are.
Now use this framework to clarify hell yes or hell no in all your relationships, business, personal or otherwise.
It will make your life easier and create an easier passage through uncertainty and setbacks of all sorts, no matter what comes your way.
What should an entrepreneur focus on?
1 or at most 2 key KPIs that measure the success of your business.
That might be revenue, number of clients, burn rate, runway, etc.
Choose 1 or 2 that matter most to you and stick with them and focus on breakthroughs with those 1 or 2.
What holds most entrepreneurs back and how can they get through it?
Mindset is the #1 issue with most, who canāt handle uncertainty, massive setbacks, the ups and downs, the stress and all the other downsides of running and growing your own business.
What are some of the best books youāve ever read?
Business: āReinvent Yourselfā by James Altucher / āDriveā by Daniel Pink. Fine
Literature: āRemembrance of Things Pastā series by Marcel Proust.
Where do you see yourself and your product in a couple years?
I see myself accessing a much larger audience of professionals and entrepreneurs in a couple years through top speaking engagements, books on the market, plus running a
What do the words āLeave Normal Behindā mean to you?
Itās a self-fulfilling prophecy insofar as ānormalā left me behind years ago when I stopped using it as a reference point, since itās a fictitious and unrealistic standard. The rest, as they say, is history.
Which Social accounts should we follow?Ā
(hyperlinked, example: Leave Normal Behind Facebook):
You can follow be on my social accounts below!
Facebook.com/MasterTheTalk / LinkedIN.com/in/yurikruman / Instagram.com/masterthetalk / Twitter.com/MasterTheTalk
āā
Yuri gave incredible insight in this Future Sharks interview. Implement his 4 pillar framework.
Be resourceful and increase your skills.
If you increase your skills then you will increase your ability to earn.
Increasing your earning capacity is essential for every Future Shark.
Keep leaving normal behind.
If you are, or you know a Future Shark that is leaving normal behindĀ send me an email [email protected] to connect and collaborate.
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