Interview with Ryan Allis
Ryan Allis is a 23 year old entrepreneur who has accomplished a lot in a short period of time. At age 9 Ryan was introduced to the world of computers. By the time he was 12 he had already created a computer business. Then at 16 Ryan moved into web design and web marketing consulting with his company, Virante, and in that first year Virante made $1 million in sales!
Since then Ryan has launched another successful company, iContact. Since it’s inception in 2003 it has grown to over 80 employees, 18,000 customers, and $10 million in annual sales. Ryan is dominating the business world and in 2005 he was named one of Business Week’s Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25.
Ryan wants to use his entrepreneurial skills to change you and the world. He is a social entrepreneur and wants to help reduce poverty in America and across the globe. For entrepreneurs he has published a book called Zero to One Million: How I Built My Company to $1 Million in Sales . . . and How You Can, Too. A few years ago Ryan self published this book but he now has the backing of the McGraw-Hill publishing company. Ryan has set a goal to become number one on Amazon.com and make it onto the New York Times Bestseller List.
I got a chance to ask Ryan a few questions about his success in business and in life.
What was the toughest obstacle you ever faced?
Starting a company without having any money.
What is the one thing in the world you believe needs to change?
The fact that 26,000 children die every day from preventable disease and starvation.
You have met many successful people including The Big Idea host Donny Deutsch, but who is the one person you still wish to meet?
Mahatma Gandhi
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Hopefully making a difference to reduce human suffering and increase access to education, technology, and healthcare globally. Perhaps at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government or HBS.
What are you most thankful about?
Life, friends, memories, relationships, health.
What is your favorite quote?
“People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway.” — Mother Teresa
Is there one person who has had a pivotal role in your success?
Not really there were many. Parents, high school economics teacher, my business partner, my best friend, our VP of Business Development, our CFO.
Do you think money brings happiness?
Opulent wealth does not bring happiness, but going from poverty into having basic human needs can.
Is there anything about yourself that you think needs to change or you need to improve?
Of course. I’m working on trying to align what I deeply believe in with how I live my life.
If you are interested in learning more about Ryan Allis’ success story please visit his website and be sure to buy a copy of his book.
5 Responses to “Interview with Ryan Allis”
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Great interview,this man is an inspiration and a great philanthropist.
Great find. Ryan is a great guy and an inspiration to many. All of these young entpreneurial success stories definitely help motivate me to succeed, too.
Great interview Andrew; Lyved has certainly come a long way!
Ryan is also an inspiration to me. It’s impressive to me that someone his age has already begun to tackle global challenges that I’m hoping to face one day. The world needs more people like him!
Remember to buy his revised book, Zero to One Million on Amazon Feb 5th, so we can make him #1 on the Amazon site!
Again, great work on the interview, now we need more interviews like this one!
Dan
I agree going from poverty to basic human needs will make someone very happy as I myself have experienced.
I also feel the same way as him on creating jobs for the community once you have came up as he has and hope to do the same one day.
His business all started from *helping people* for $5 per hour.
His book will also generate alot of money for sure, i think especially because he looks so young to have made his money already.
Its people like this that will change the world as we know it.
Definitely people like Ryan ARE changing the world.
Creating businesses with the main focus on helping others is going to become an even bigger trend in the coming years.
-Andrew