When Trusting the Universe Becomes the Strategy

When Trusting the Universe Becomes the Strategy

There comes a moment in growth where doing more stops working.

Not because you are lazy.
Not because you lost discipline.
Not because you are suddenly incapable.

But because the version of strategy that once worked has taken you as far as it can.

In my conversation with Yanik Silver, we explored what happens at that moment. The moment when force, optimization, and pushing harder no longer produce the clarity or momentum they once did. What emerges instead is something many high achievers resist at first.

Trust.

The Stage Where Strategy Breaks Down

Most entrepreneurs are taught to solve problems with effort.

More plans.
More tactics.
More refinement.

That approach works, until it does not.

Yanik shared how he reached a point where the same playbook that had produced multiple seven figure successes simply stopped working. This is not uncommon. Growth has stages, and each stage demands a different way of leading.

When people try to force an old strategy into a new stage, the cost is often internal. Frustration rises. Energy drops. Joy fades. The business may still function, but the person running it feels constricted.

This is usually the first sign that something deeper wants attention.

Entrepreneurship as a Spiritual Journey

One of the most powerful reframes in this conversation was the idea that entrepreneurship can become a spiritual journey.

Not in a vague or abstract way. In a very practical way.

Business has a way of confronting us with ourselves. Our fears. Our attachments. Our identities. Our need for control. It asks questions that no checklist can answer.

Who are you without the version of success you built before
What happens when the thing you mastered no longer fits
Are you willing to be seen beyond what worked

For many people, this is where growth slows, not because they lack ability, but because the next step requires a different posture.

Letting Go of the Old Identity

A recurring theme in this episode was identity.

Success often comes with symbols. Titles. Roles. External markers that say, this is who I am. Over time, those markers can quietly become cages.

Yanik spoke candidly about letting go of identities that once felt important. Cars. Appearances. Expectations. Not because they were wrong, but because they no longer reflected who he was becoming.

This is one of the hardest parts of growth. Releasing something that still works, but no longer feels aligned. Most people wait until they are forced. Fewer choose it willingly.

Yet this release often creates space. Space for clarity. Space for joy. Space for a more honest expression of self.

Trust Is Not Passive

Trust is often misunderstood.

Trust does not mean waiting.
Trust does not mean hoping.
Trust does not mean disengaging from responsibility.

In this conversation, trust was framed as an active strategy. A way of making decisions when certainty is unavailable.

Trust shows up in how you act when guarantees are gone. In whether you listen to what has energy instead of what looks good on paper. In whether you are willing to slow down enough to hear what alignment is asking for.

This kind of trust requires courage, not comfort.

The Role of Stillness

One of the most practical insights Yanik shared was the role of stillness.

Clarity does not come from more noise.
It comes from less.

Journaling. Meditation. Contemplation. Quiet walks. These are not indulgences. They are tools for discernment.

Stillness allows you to differentiate between what your small self wants and what your deeper guidance is pointing toward. Without stillness, every desire sounds urgent. With stillness, patterns emerge.

This is where many high performers struggle. They are excellent at action, but uncomfortable with pause. Yet pause is often where the next direction becomes visible.

Synchronicity as Feedback

Another theme that stood out was synchronicity.

Synchronicities are not instructions. They are feedback.

They often appear after action, not before. They reinforce alignment. They confirm direction. They invite trust without demanding belief.

Paying attention to these moments does not replace strategy. It complements it. It reminds us that not everything meaningful can be predicted or controlled.

For leaders who rely heavily on logic, this can feel unfamiliar. But unfamiliar does not mean ineffective.

When Trust Becomes the Strategy

There is a moment when trust stops being an idea and becomes a way of operating.

It is when you ask yourself a different question.

What would I do next if I truly believed I was supported

This question does not eliminate risk. It reframes it.

Instead of acting from fear of loss, you act from alignment. Instead of forcing outcomes, you respond to what is emerging. Instead of clinging to certainty, you develop relationship with uncertainty.

This is not a downgrade in leadership. It is an evolution.

A Different Kind of Success

The kind of success discussed in this episode is quieter.

It values fulfillment alongside results.
It prioritizes integrity over optics.
It allows growth to feel expansive instead of exhausting.

This does not mean ambition disappears. It means ambition matures.

When trusting the universe becomes the strategy, leadership shifts from control to stewardship. From proving to expressing. From chasing to allowing.

And often, what becomes available is more than what could have been planned.

Chapters List

00:00 When Trusting the Universe Becomes the Strategy

02:20 The Pursuit of Full Expression Through Entrepreneurship

06:15 When the Old Playbook Stops Working

11:30 Letting Go of Identity and External Validation

15:45 Trust, Synchronicity, and Acting Accordingly

Full Transcript

Yanik Silver (00:00)

how would you act if you absolutely knew the universe had even more in store for you than you can imagine? What would be your next step now?

Amanda Kaufman (00:22)

Well, hey, hey, and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And today I have such a special guest. Yanik Silver is joining me. He is a serial entrepreneur. He has been around for a minute. But what I really, really appreciate about Yanik is he's so down to earth. He's a leader. He facilitates transformative experiences for entrepreneurs.

That that allows them to really access more of who they are and I was so impressed With Yanik , you know, we got we met through a mutual mutual friend He was so generous. He shared with me his cosmic journey Journal which is I'll let him explain it. It's incredible. It's so super cool. And he also shared with me his cosmic journey Oracle cards, which are absolutely beautiful but

I want to talk about your journey today, Yanik I want to talk about how did you come to the realization that you could pursue your creativity in such a great way and activate through entrepreneurship. All these things we're going to unpack today. Yanik , welcome to the show.

Yanik Silver (01:28)

Yeah, thanks, Amanda. I'm excited. Yeah, I mean, the pursuit of full expression, think, has been the journey. I think so many of us are on, right? Like, how do we truly put our full selves out into the world without hiding? And I'm not going to lie, it's scary at times. And you can kind of stair step into it sometimes, or sometimes you make big bold leaps into it. And so to me, entrepreneurship is the greatest path for that. It's truly a spiritual journey.

Amanda Kaufman (01:49)

Mm-hmm.

Yanik Silver (01:53)

You know, I started, I don't know, 25, 26 years ago on my own thing. And then grew up in an entrepreneurial family. I grew up in a medical equipment sales and service business with my father. So at 14 years old, I was telemarketing. At 16, I was out on the road cold calling. So I got very, very early sales and marketing background and then helped grow my dad's business to a national player from a regional player by using direct response marketing that I learned. And I was just fascinated by that idea that he could get somebody to give you money or raise their hand because I was

I didn't want to cold call 50 year old doctors as a 17 year old kid anymore. That was very painful. So that's part of it.

Amanda Kaufman (02:28)

Yeah, yeah.

I love it. So how did you figure out that it was expression? it was the authentic expression was the thing that you wanted to cultivate or that you wanted to really lean into. Like, was that just an organic thing that happened over time or did something happen that made you realize, ooh, creativity, expression, authenticity, that's where it's at?

Yanik Silver (02:51)

Yeah, I think it's definitely over time. And like I said, there's times when there's big bold leaps for it. And it's like, I have this aspect of, or notion of following your heart is frequently scary, but never wrong. And I can look back at times where it's like leaving my dad's business was scary because he wanted me to take it over. I thought I was going to take it over, but then I'm like, no, this doesn't feel like what I want to do. And so that big leap originally was into the internet digital marketing world where I woke up at three o'clock in the morning with this idea for something called instant sales letters.

and their little fill in the blank sales letter templates and that became my first million dollar product. And after a couple months, people are like, whoa, how did you do that? Could you teach me? And I'm like, yeah, sure. So then I started teaching people how to take their knowledge and information and sell it online. And that went really, really well. I was making a lot of money and had a, know, hot sports car I was driving and great reputation in that space, which isn't that easy. And because I always believed in, actually at 17 years old, I wrote something in my journal, which was I get rich by enriching others 10 X to a hundred X in return. And so I've always believed in this idea of like,

value creation, right? Like, so you can't, it's like impossible to have that scale tipped in the wrong favor. Like if you're continually delivering value, then you're gonna get rewarded. And sometimes it's not immediate, but it's gonna be, it's not like from that exact person sometimes, but it's gonna show up. And so that's the way I've always lived my life. And I was really blessed, I think, to have incredible mentors via audio. I would drive around with all these tapes playing in my car, with Earl Nightingale and Jim Rohn and...

Brian Tracy and then a bunch of other marketing people, Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy and you name it. Like I got a really great education very, very early on because I believed in what Earl Nightingale said is you spend an hour a day for three years and become an expert. do it for five years, you can become a world-class expert. So I was fascinated again by that direct response, copywriting, influence, psychology, but for a way of doing it with ethics. And so I would do like two or three hours a day and just be fascinated by it.

And so this idea of expression, like it comes from these moments that are like, you you're choosing yourself even more than maybe before. And so it's like really easy. So I've seen this play out a lot in a micro and a macro way where stage one of a business is like, you're jumping out of the airplane, assembling the parachute on the way down. You're like, you know, I got a great idea. I think it'll work.

And then you're doing it, know, no assembly instructions in there. But now, you know, there's more and more people, you know, like you and other podcasts and other information. And so there's more and more things, but still you're taking that leap. And then stage two is like, awesome, it worked. And you start seeing like, you know, it starts going up, you get PR, get press, get the profits are going up. And then at some point it kind of will level off and it's either you've fallen out of love with what it is.

or maybe you've exited or something has happened that requires a big leap. And so I see a lot of entrepreneurs, you can either go two directions. One is that golden handcuffs where it feels like your soul is dying a little bit every day when you're not truly doing what you're meant to be doing. Or you make this really big leap, which is connecting your head, which is your business side, your heart, which is the impact you wanna make, and then your higher purpose, like why are you even here? Connecting all of that requires a big leap into that next stage.

And that requires usually giving up your identity of who you were before. again, this is big time self-expression and what's happening there. So that's why business is that greatest spiritual journey. And so I experienced that about 18 years ago when I asked myself a really simple question, Amanda, which was, am I happy? Would I be happy doing what I'm doing 10 years from now? And so when I got really honest in my journal, the answer was no. And that's where Maverick was born, which is another level of self-expression, which was a combination of

growth impact and fun. So deep, impactful evolutionary work, fun, and then, and then impact, like making a difference in the world and charitable contributions. And so that felt like a full expression. And then it was the first time ever that the business went sideways. And I'm like, what is happening here?

Amanda Kaufman (06:44)

So you were like totally lined up and then the business went sideways.

Yanik Silver (06:49)

Yeah, and I had seven, eight other things that hit the seven figure mark. So was like, okay, well, what's happening? And really what happened was the same playbook wasn't working anymore. And it was just really, really fascinating. so I went back and I was a bit of a weird kid, as you might imagine. At like 12 and 13, I'm reading books on parapsychology and sacred sites and UFOs. And I was just into everything. I was so fascinated by all of it and put it all away, went into the entrepreneurial world. And then...

Like when things weren't working, I'm like, okay, well what's happening? And it really forced me to go back into like, I had been studying personal growth, self-development for, I don't know, 20 years at that point. Like, what is happening? So breaking it down to like having a good day equals a good week, equals a good month. And then like I went through like a really deep, like a dark depression. And originally it was a depression because I wasn't feeling happy, but what I was doing. And then this was like, okay, well this is meant to make you happy and what, and this is not working. Like, so it was like a real,

It was just like really threw me for a loop and and so it it really made me go back to like deep deep like why and the why wasn't building an adventure travel company for entrepreneurs it was How do we change the way business is played? So I really had to connect deeply into the why and then also I asked my hundred eleven year old self What do I need to know and so this is a great process and I love so I use my non-dominant hand and And so I'm right-handed. So most people are right hands use your left hand and answer

You can ask your 111 year old self, can ask your 11 year old self, can ask the universe, know, whatever you want, but 111 is a good frame because it's like that person has seen everything, you know, your successes, quote unquote, your failures, your loves, your losses, like all of it. And so from that standpoint, I wrote, light a thousand suns who each had the potential to light another thousand suns. And I'm like, damn, that's pretty interesting. So that that's become my North star and compass for everything. And so that's why, you know,

this idea of full expression and really evolution is at the core of everything that I'm doing. And as a kid, I wanted to be a professional hockey player and a cartoonist in the off season. And so that was my original goal. And it was really fascinating. So the art started coming back in my journaling. I put it away for a long time because my parents saw my art talent, but then they put me in a fine arts program and I did not want to draw. Yeah, right. So was like I'm drawing like still lifes and you know.

Amanda Kaufman (08:58)

Ooh, and it took all of the joy. Yeah.

Yanik Silver (09:05)

whatever oils and fruit bowls. And I'm like, I don't want to do this. And so like, yeah, it took all the joy out of it. And then it took me a long time to come back to it in my journal. And then I was on deadline for this book called Evolved Enterprise, which was all about how do you create an impact in your business, which is part of this journey of like finding the puzzle pieces from when things were kind of going sideways and, you know, connecting to amazing icons like Richard Branson or Sarah Blakely or Tony Shay from Zappos, or, you know, who had pieces of the puzzle.

but then also unknown people that had other pieces of this framework that became the Evolved Enterprise. And so I was on deadline and I was supposed to get it done at midnight. And I'm like, ah. And I put like a year and a half of my life into this. I felt like I put my whole heart and soul into this book. And then I'm like, oh, it's missing something. I'm like, oh, I can add my doodles. And I got this burst of energy. And that's, by the way, how you're going to know if you're on track, like follow the energy, follow that lightness, follow that play.

And so I was up to like five o'clock in the morning doodling different illustrations for the book. And that was the first time ever that was like an expression of me that was starting to come back out again and combine with the entrepreneurial space.

Amanda Kaufman (10:12)

So good, so good. So many people that I've talked to lately, they're getting, well, everybody's getting disrupted with AI coming about and just the way that social media has really evolved to be very, not just ubiquitous, but it's forming and changing the habits that people have. And every time you swipe, it's like another judgment, another comparison, and it's this hyper consumption.

you know, is really causing a lot of change for how people spend their time, how they're spending their money and their mental health and their connections and their relationships. So coming back to my question, a lot of entrepreneurs that I'm talking to these days, they are like a duck on water. You know, they're trying to keep up those appearances, but underneath they're like,

not making the sales that I did. I'm not experiencing the flow that I had. I'm not finding the good collaborators. And I'm noticing a lot more people isolating, retreating. There's an energy that seems to be pushing people. They seem like they're getting pushed down and they're trying to stiff upper lip, just courage your way through it. What would you say to that person who's perhaps...

Maybe they're fearful launching the new thing or pivoting the new thing. I mean, you've done so many different businesses. You've clearly unlocked or tapped into a capacity for embracing change. And sometimes change is not something that it's just ideated that came from within. Sometimes a change is like because, like you said, the playbook doesn't work anymore.

or you had this idea intent that in that old context, sure, good idea, but now the context has changed. What would you say to that person who's maybe fighting the reality of the need for change?

Yanik Silver (11:57)

Yeah, well, change is inevitable. So, you know, you're either going to embrace it or you're to kind of get hit on the head, bonked on the head by the universe harder and harder and harder. So for me, you know, with Maverick, the very first trip that we did was a Baja Doombuggy trip and I lost $40,000. I'm like, ah, whatever. It's OK. It's, know, it's new business. And after about $400,000, my wife's like, what the hell are you doing? And I'm like, I don't know. But but I could have easily gone back to the Internet.

world and you know just done what I was doing but if again it would feel like your soul is dying a little bit inside and I wasn't willing to do that. I was willing to embrace that unknown and sit in it and then it you know came to a head again where we had a lot of bills piling up and the same playbook was not working because I had cut off a bunch of other stuff that was doing really well because it didn't feel like it was in full alignment and you know some people like that's crazy like you know shut down a mastermind group that was making a couple hundred thousand dollars in.

Net profit and I'm like, this is not fully what I want to do. And, and so it came a point where I was either going to sell my tickets to space on Virgin Galactic or sell my Aston Martin. And so I decided I was going to sell my Aston Martin and, and then of course, like, especially guys, I think, but you have that, identity really tapped into like, you know, a car or your, you know, outside world in some way. And I could have easily like least of Mercedes or BMW or whatever, just keep up appearances. And I'm like,

No, I'm going to sit in this like, what is it here and allow that identity to unravel. And I had like a, you know, a sort of a beat up MDX, an Acura MDX that we had as a third car. And at some point, I started really feeling so much gratitude and appreciation for it. I'm like, oh, I can throw my paddle boards in here and not worry about the mud from the river. I don't have to get it detailed all the time. I don't have to pay the dude $20 at valet so he doesn't Ferris Bueller my car.

You know, and I just heard like having so much joy and appreciation for the car and actually synchronicities and magic would start lining up. Like I remember listening to an audio program on there about oneness and it was like the odometer or yeah, the odometer was like, I forgot what it was, but exactly at the number and the same number of like what the audio was at. And like, it was like all this magical stuff aligning. And to me, synchronicities are like my love language.

And I think synchronicities are a love letter from the universe across time and space for you. So paying attention to the synchronicities are going to tell you the right direction. so it got to that spot of like, OK, now I feel good to buy another car. And it wasn't another hot sports car. I didn't really need that anymore. So I got a really cool Mini Cooper. it just fits my personality. It's quirky.

Amanda Kaufman (14:15)

you

I love a Mini Cooper.

That's a great car. I love that. And you you mentioned something kind of cool. Like you were like, well, you know, for guys, maybe we're externalizing it through our possessions, right? And speaking as a woman, we also externalize. And it's actually the same thing going on that you're describing. It's like we externalize maybe through like other things. Maybe it's not a sports car, but.

Yanik Silver (14:39)

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Amanda Kaufman (14:55)

you for me, was like externalizing through the quality of care that I'm offering my family and like how happy those relationships are outside of me. But again, it just like same thing of trying to like keep up with the Joneses or the expectations of the former identity instead of examining like, well, if we did just like surrender for a sec here.

Yanik Silver (15:01)

you

yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (15:18)

and imagine a new way and allow that new way, perhaps that new way is even better. And, you know, when I work with people, I do see that externalization factor of like, well, my bank account says or my friend count says or my view count says and it's like, well, it's actually the narrative or the story that you're telling about those things more so than the things. So write a new story. ⁓

Yanik Silver (15:44)

100%. Yeah, exactly.

Or like to me, it's really about what's intentionality of all those things or what's the underlying aspect of it or the energy of it. So like I wrote in my journal for my 40th birthday, like I wanted to be having this much in my bank account. I wanted to hang out with this person for my birthday with different celebrities. I was like, I wanted to drive this particular car, this Fisker Karma and like all these other things. And then I read it a couple of years later on my actual 40th birthday and I showed it to my wife. She's like, oh, are you sad that...

Amanda Kaufman (15:49)

Thank you.

Yanik Silver (16:12)

These didn't happen. I'm like, I stopped, thought about it for a moment. I'm like, no, not really, because the money represented freedom to go work on projects that I wanted to do with people that I want. I'm like, I had that. The car actually was a bit of a lemon anyway. So I'm happy I didn't get that car. And then the celebrity thing, like it was like a local sports team. And I'm like, I got an even better invitation. Like I had, I was actually on my 40th birthday. was in a Mojave desert watching a Virgin or Spaceship Two roll out of the spaceship.

the inaugural sort of rollout of it. And then I got invited by Branson, by Richard to a safari like a month later. So it's like, that was even better. So I believe in this aspect and I have this on my desk to kind of remind me, which is trust the universe has even more lore for you than you can imagine. And then you can kind of the rest of that, that's the simple aspect, right? Like just really trusting that the universe has even more.

then you can imagine available for you. And especially when you're in alignment, like, know, like Richard's been a big business here of mine. And, and originally way back before I met him, I wrote like, have lunch with Richard Branson. And if, if I got exactly what I wanted, I would have been happy. And now I've had like 50 lunches with him, 60. I don't know because we do an amateur.

Amanda Kaufman (17:21)

I mean,

opened yourself up to like you opened yourself up to the possibility of something that you really, really want, what you really want to desire. And I love what you're saying about like the timing because there's just so many examples that I can point to as well where it was like, this is a desire. Let's call it in. And then the thing I got was just so, so much like bigger, better. But it was also still in the direction of what I had asked

Yanik Silver (17:46)

Yeah, yeah, our desires

definitely point us towards things. And it's like also being able to, I think, discern between what's our small cells want and what's almost like the, what's the, I'm just gonna use a very general term, what's the universe pointing us to? And the only way that that can really come is to me by stillness, by more awareness, by practices like journaling or meditation or deep contemplation or prayer.

Amanda Kaufman (18:02)

Hmm.

Yanik Silver (18:14)

And then not prayer from like, oh, hey, God in the sky, can you give me the slot machine thing that I'm asking for? But really this two way aspect. And I really look at our hands as like the hands of the universe. And so how do we, and you know, our hands, our hearts, like how do we embody what is the evolutionary impulse that's coming through us? And the only way we get to that is by getting, becoming a clearer

Amanda Kaufman (18:44)

So good. Yanik , what is the best way for people to keep up with you and learn more, hear more?

Yanik Silver (18:52)

Yeah. I mean on Amazon, I've got a couple of books that are great. and then I also have something new I'm doing, which is a daily, doodle, but it's really more than a doodle. It's called a 1000 sun sparks. the number 1000 and this idea of like a little sun spark can turn into a sun. And it's like every single day I'm putting out a new illustration and, and the art has been, you know, again, this really great full expression and I see birthing a new, almost like alchemical art that feels like it's coming through me. So I feel like a man that we should pull a card to leave people with.

Amanda Kaufman (19:21)

Let's do it. Okay, so completely mix these up. I'm not an expert at this, but I think that's kind of the point. You just let it happen, right? So I'm going to pull a card super randomly, shuffle things. Here we go. Here we go. Trust and act accordingly.

Yanik Silver (19:26)

Yeah. Okay, you don't have to be.

Yes.

⁓ nice.

That's pretty perfect.

Amanda Kaufman (19:45)

Talk about a

Yanik Silver (19:45)

Yeah, so that's the only piece of art that I pulled out. so, trust and act accordingly. we'll leave you with what it says. Trust and act accordingly. How would you act if you absolutely, yeah, how would you act if you absolutely knew the universe had even more in store for you than you can imagine? What would be your next step now?

Whatever we think we want typically comes from our small selves, and that's not always in alignment with our divine destiny unfolding. Think back to when you made significant leaps. Where did the support come from?

Consider what kind of allies, resources, and even synchronistic opportunities have opened up only after you've acted. The universe is always nudging us forward and revealing itself in our crazy ideas and perfect nature. Trust. So the prompt for everyone is, what would I do right now if I fully trusted that I'm supported no matter what?

chop.

Amanda Kaufman (20:33)

Trust.

That's a message, man. And you know, hey, listener, if it resonated, make sure you let us know in the comments below. Be sure to grab the link to this episode wherever you happen to be watching and just share it with a friend. ⁓ Three of your friends, actually. They could use an uplift, I am sure. And ⁓ Yana, thank you so much for being here.

Yanik Silver (20:58)

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Amanda Kaufman (20:59)

Yeah, yeah, amazing. And listener, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. If you're like me, I watch for notifications and then I sometimes forget to do the subscribey thingy. That helps a lot. And you know, if you really love in the show and you want to hear from more amazing people like Yanik , do make sure you pop by and leave us an honest review because it helps people to decide whether they want to spend time with us or not. And we are so appreciative of those two minutes.

Until the next time, just remember one foot in front of the other, do what matters, and we will see you in another episode.