Yanik’s Maverick Musings – 1st Quarter 2016 Newsletter

Living a Legendary Legacy

It feels like the end of 2015 was a bit of a whirlwind.

Between M3 Summit in Buenos Aires and then the Family Freedom event over New Year’s – this has been a nice time to reset a bit. I hope you were with us in Argentina where the topic of conversation was all about Passion!

It was really incredible to see so many Mavericks engaged and re-exploring what got them excited as kids and thinking about ways of incorporating that into their business. I truly believe entrepreneurs are artists and we use our business as our canvas. Unfortunately, I had to leave Argentina early for one last goodbye to my uncle Jakob (Sophia’s father).

I woke up on day 2 of the Summit and knew I had to leave. He had been getting worse and just had the deep feeling that if I didn’t go at that point I wouldn’t see him again.  I barely made it out of Buenos Aires on time to make my flight. The traffic took me 2.5 hrs to get there, and I was one of the last people to somehow make it on my flight. Only seat available was the last row that didn’t recline. It didn’t matter. I was extremely grateful I made it.

After a 9+ hour flight I went straight to the hospice without expectation if I’d see Jakob, if he’d be coherent or not. Just to be there with him. My brother, Adam, arrived a few hours after me and we both had a chance to tell him how much he meant to us. I knew he could hear us and that’s all that mattered. He was definitely a Maverick and when he passed on at 88 years old, he had truly lived 4 or 5 lives. I was honored to deliver his eulogy. I got a lot of my material from an interview we did 3 years back.

On his 85th birthday a few of the kids cornered him for a 90-minute interview. I’m so happy we had that recording to hear some of his remarkable story. He told us about fleeing Odessa during WWII as a young boy. There were two ships taking people out and the first one was bombed by the Nazis and nearly everyone onboard perished. He picked the right boat.

Upon arriving in a totally new city, his mom fell ill and was sent to an unknown hospital. He was alone with a random host family. And in another amazing divine moment a family friend spotted Jakob on the street and took him in. They recovered his mom and reunited with his father. The war was still raging on and Jakob would be required to serve on the front line as he was turning 18. They found the right person and created a new birth certificate stating he was 16. (Actually to this day his official paperwork has his age at 86.)

A few years later Jakob met a girl from Moscow and within 5 days they moved back to the capital city. It was there he had to figure out his own path. With his partners, he figured out a way to have the official paperwork say his company made scarves when really they took the wool and sold it out the backdoor as more expensive sweaters. He was a true Underground millionaire on the black market.

Jakob was a natural entrepreneur and the Soviet Union was not so interested in that kind of activity. Eventually, he was found out and sentenced to death.

Yes death.

He went to jail in Siberia for 7 long years until he was able to figure a way out. At 47 he immigrated to the DC area in 1973. My Aunt told me that he was the first Soviet Jew here. Jakob started over with nothing and actually lived with a host family sharing a bedroom with a teenager. I think this is a perfect illustration of how strong the immigrant ‘do anything’ mentality is. I’m 42 and not sure I could imagine sharing a bedroom with a teenager in a foreign country.

It wasn’t long before Jakob used his business skills here and thrived in the U.S. Along with my father, my uncle was one of my major entrepreneurial role models closest to me. I would see him operating gas stations, repair shops, restaurants and other ventures.

But it wasn’t just the business side, he was one of the most generous individuals always wanting those around him to be taken care of. In fact, he might have got a bit more than he bargained for with my Aunt and Mom since they were identical twins. It was a package deal. Jakob never hesitated to open up his house to my mom as she recovered from chemo during her battles against cancer. There’s one famous story in our family of going to Atlantic City with the twins and coming home late. He starts taking off his clothes and crawling into bed. Instead of my Aunt it was my Mom. He jumped out blushing. As I said a package deal but not that kind. 😉

Jakob always had stories and jokes for everyone he met. And he was an incredible chef. He loved making food for everyone and to get the ingredients he wanted he’d go so far as sneak a fish down his pants on a flight to Atlantic City.

Was Jakob perfect? No, definitely not. Like all of us he was imperfectly perfect. I was so happy to see family members at the funeral that I hadn’t seen for years come back together to honor him and forgive each other. It was also amazing to see several Maverick members there to support Sophia and our family. We didn’t tell anyone but they somehow found out. In Russian Jakob means Yaakov or shortened to Yan. My name means little Yan, actually. I was named for my maternal and paternal grandfathers, but I’m also very proud to share a name with my uncle.

My father just turned 75 a few days ago, and I want to ensure I capture his legacy, too.

I implore you to add this to your ‘must do’ list, interviewing a family member to truly capture their story. You don’t need anything fancy – your existing computer will do. And if you have no idea what to ask, there are some good questions here on this page: http://legacyproject.org/guides/lifeintquestions.pdf

I promise it’s something you’ll cherish and appreciate.

 

 

I’ve now done two of these interviews and I started thinking of them as ‘Legendary Legacies’. Another was with Maverick member, Jordan Guernsey, and still one of my favorite interviews. www.YanikSilver.com/lightinside

 

 

 

I believe we are meant to live Legendary Legacies. You’re a Maverick aren’t you?

A perfect illustration is David Bowie as he just passed away, too. Here was someone who absolutely created his own mythology. He continually re-invented himself and simply followed his own path.

But you don’t have to die to live your own legendary legacy. Imagine you are your own hero in this narrative that you get to write. I think we can truly create an epic hero’s journey but being aware of what gives you lasting joy and happiness.

This is what I illustrated in my journal awhile back as a guideline:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, my most important self-growth has been about working on being present in the little moments that matter. This year on New Year’s Eve I took an inventory of those precious moments instead of the “BIG” accomplishments I might have listed (or needed) before to feel like I accomplished something worthwhile.

Here are a few from my journal entry:

•  The contentment and closure from saying goodbye to Jakob and following my intuition to leave Argentina early.
• The contentment of having a daily mediation practice.
• The self-love of keeping to 1x/week sugar and 2-3x/week of drinking.
• The full expression of releasing Evolved Enterprise book with my illustrations.
• The pure joy of table sliding on Necker (Ha! You might have to watch the video on Maverick1000.com/necker to see what I mean. Also there are a handful of spots if you want to come or know an exceptional entrepreneurs who should be here.)
• Being raised in the air by Craig at the end of Camp Maverick (thanks buddy!)
• Zack telling Zoe to be grateful.
• Zoe selling her artwork.
• Moments of open-mouthed awe with synchronicities and magic.
• Doing yoga while watching wild animals off my deck in Kenya.

And this applies to New Year’s resolutions, too.

I’ve personally stopped setting them as I discovered the essence of what brings me joy or happiness is much more important. I talk about this in the Evolved Enterprise book a bit more. But the gist is you can get to the real essence or ‘why’ behind a goal not the actual ‘thing’.

For instance, in my journal several years back I was writing out my ideal day for my 40^th birthday. And one of the specifics I had written down was that I was driving a blue Fisker Karma.

40 arrived and I wasn’t driving one. In fact, I had even sold my Aston Martin at this point and wasn’t interested in buying another exotic car. Instead of driving a specific car, I would rather figure out what the feeling behind the car I want is. To me, it’s about having joy and satisfaction from driving it and something that reflects a bit of my fun-loving spirit. (Interestingly enough, I probably wouldn’t even want a Fisker now with all the issues they had.)

The dollar amount I wrote in my journal was $2M in profits coming in from various business ventures per year. Nope, wasn’t there either.

But what’s the real essence behind that? To me, it’s the freedom to work on what you want, with whom you please, and on what gets you excited!

Actually, I don’t need two mil a year to have that, and you wouldn’t either. I already have the essence of that goal. It’s just about creating freedom from passive income or designing your business to support your most important contributions.

I had also jotted down other specific goals too, including giving away $5,000,000 to cause partners. Sometimes those goals that still match up your deep passion and purpose are coming. It’s just not the right time. But like a train coming down the tracks…you know it’s coming. In this instance, I didn’t hit the $5M in charity contributions, but with Maverick are at $2.5M+ and even more when you factor in the ripple effect through other members. Once again, the essence is there.

Allowing Something Better

One interesting goal I had written down was that by the age of 39, I would go into space on Virgin Galactic. Well…that timing is not of my own doing. It’s still happening, and I can continue to savor the anticipation.

Coincidentally, Virgin Galactic threw a party for 400+ future astronauts exactly on my 40^th birthday. They hosted a big “Behind the Hangar Doors” event in Mojave right on September 25, so that’s why I was even in the Los Angeles area in the first place.

Richard Branson had factored into my journal entry about my 40^th. Here’s what I wrote:

“In a few weeks the family is going to Necker Island again with Maverick members and Richard. It’s become a yearly tradition since 2011, when they first came. I was just reminded of the trip because Richard sent over a wonderful surprise gift for my birthday.”

 

 

 

 

I have been truly blessed to do an annual Maverick trip to Necker each year with Richard hosting—and it has become a family tradition.

 

 

 

Actually, Richard did send me over a surprise birthday gift by way of a personal video that was pretty funny. But even better, I spent time with him on my birthday for the Virgin Galactic event and again roughly a week later when I was invited to a safari in South Africa to support his foundation. Amazing!

All of this is something I couldn’t have pictured happening in this way or scripted it out any better. That’s why having the essence of what you want works. It gives you the flexibility of not being attached to how you think something will appear. I’m always in awe of the surprising new paths opening up or meeting the right person or being handed the right book that allows your “goals” to unfold in extraordinary and wonderful ways.

 

All the best,

 

 

Yanik Silver