30under30 is an Anthill initiative that was launched in early 2008 to encourage and promote entrepreneurship among young Australians. Each year, we invite our readers to nominate young Australian entrepreneurs deserving of recognition for their outstanding entrepreneurial endeavours. Anthill’s editorial team then trawls through hundreds of applications and identifies and profiles the top 30 Australian entrepreneurs under the age of 30. The process culminates in an event held in Melbourne where the 30 winners network and celebrate. We’ve been releasing profiles of this year’s Anthill 30under30 winners via our Twitter account – youngest to oldest.
With no employees or office space, Yaro Starak makes half a million dollars a year sitting in a café typing on his laptop. He represents a new breed of digital entrepreneurs, one of just a handful of people who make good money from professional blogging.
Starak’s most successful blog, entrepreneurs-journey.com, draws on his experience and passion for web businesses and shares with others just how to build and manage successful internet enterprises. Leveraging the community that has coalesced around his blog, Starak also operates a premium blogger coaching program, blogmastermind.com, which he teaches through teleconferences.
Before getting into blogs, Starak started a number of businesses, including an English school, proofreading service and trading card website. “I’ve never had a ‘real’ job,” he says. “I’ve deliberately looked to start businesses so I could avoid the 9 to 5.”
While running his online card store, Starak once encountered a credit card fraudster in Thailand who cost him $10,000 — all his savings. He found himself fresh out of university with no job. The hard lesson taught Starak the danger of selling physical goods online, and that shaped the business he’s in today — selling digital content.
With a 70 percent profit margin, Starak’s blog empire has doubled each year for the last three years. He currently has 70,000 subscribers and customers from all over the world. “I’m essentially an online celebrity in my niche as well, which is nice and has led me to meet all kinds of very successful people.” He is aiming for an impressive million dollars in income for the next financial year.
When asked about the motivation that led him to pursue an entrepreneur’s journey, Starak answered with just one word:
“Freedom.”
ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACCORDING TO YARO
What has been your most significant failure?
My English school was a failure in the sense that it never was profitable. I have trouble calling it a failure though, as I learned a lot. I learned about renting office space, having employees, needing to be somewhere during working hours — all things I didn’t want.
Because of the experience of this business, I went strictly to an online model as it eliminated all the things I didn’t like about the English School.
MULTIMEDIA
Yaro Starak talks about how to rapidly build traffic to your blog.
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