Meet Brett Yanoski | Editor-in-Chief and Co-Host of The Inner Gamer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brett Yanoski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brett, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. I appreciate the thought behind this quote but in reality if you do what you love you’re working hard to make sure you continue to love it. When I started The Inner Gamer with my co-host Austin and another friend, we loved talking about video games. It was fun, it was new and it was exciting. As time went on, it started to feel like work because the honeymoon phase disappeared and soon we were working to grow and expand our brand which is hard when you don’t have a product to sell. How did we fix that? We leaned harder into making sure everything we did was something we wanted to be doing, even if it meant sacrificing faster growth, easier money etc. It’s hard work but it’s work we love doing. That is the real difference. Starting a business and building a brand doesn’t get easier. There are always new, more challenging problems to solve but what’s exciting is that if you look back on where you were to where you are now, the growth is invigorating.Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Inner Gamer is a hobby turned into a business that is ever-evolving. Our focus from day one has been on the casual gamer. As we get older, we have less and less time to play the games we love. We get a job, get married and start a family. With all this big life moments, how do you find the time to play? With our podcast, we wanted to fill that gap and help gamers find the games worth their time, stay in the know with the industry they love and be part of a conversation with people they care about. It’s not easy and we’re still learning how to make it better and how to connect the right ways with our audience. Every year we take a look at what worked and what didn’t and set up goals to strive for in the coming year. The biggest lesson we’ve learned is consistency. In order to build a community, you have to be consistent. Consistent not just in releasing content but consistent in content, messaging and promotion. If there was one thing we want people to take away from us is that they walk away having learned something new from gamers that feel like friends. We’re not journalists or game developers. We’re gamers just like you and we want to share the love of the game.Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m from Fort Worth so i’m biased towards the Western side of the metroplex. However, if someone comes to visit Dallas I have a pretty fun itinerary I like to use. I’d start by taking them for some breakfast tacos at Taco Deli and a coffee at Houndstooth. We’ll then go take a walk at Klyde Warren Park or make a pit stop at the Dallas Museum of Art. After a bit of exercise, find one of the several Cane Rosso locations in town and have a delicious wood-fired pizza. We’d then head over to Community Brewery for some of the best craft beers in town. In the evening, if it’s getting chilly I’d bring my friend to Meddlesome Moth where you can get a great cocktail or an out-of-the-ordinary craft beer with some delicious dinner. If the weather is nice, head towards Lower Greenville for dinner at HG Sply Co and head upstairs to their rooftop patio for a cocktail and a view of Downtown Dallas.The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The podcast wouldn’t be where it was without the team we have. In the beginning, it all started with my friend and co-founder Austin Morales and our good friend Travis. It was the three of us who had had a conversation that inspired us to press the Record button. Over time, our team has grown and adapted. We’ve grown an amazing community we call our TIG Friends. Pre-COVID we had amazing in-person events with regulars who came back for more to hang out with our welcoming community. Now we’re working on expanding our digital audience and it’s the community that’s helped us get through the hard times of 2020. I also want to give a shoutout to my parents, they support everything I do and that support and encouragement help me push through the challenges.

Website: https://theinnergamer.net/

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/theinnergamer

Image Credits
Julia Cooper, Brett Yanoski, Austin Morales