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Teenager to Millionaire in Two Years: Trent Silver
Written by Pace LattinMarch 7, 2012 # 10:40 am # CEO Interviews, Specials # 39 Comments
Trent Silver is a perfect example of someone who took on the industry and became wealthy and famous in the industry within only a few years. While there are tons of guys who talk about how to become rich in performance and affiliate marketing, he’s one of the few that actually did it and have built several businesses around what he’s learned. He’s become known as the Cash-For-Gold king, but has also expanded his business to include tons of verticals. We were fortunate to talk to him about his perception of the industry and found that he’s very critical of what is being taught in the industry, and most interestingly thinks that affiliates generally have it all wrong. For a guy who is only 21 years old, he dislikes all the flash in the industry and is really taking on all the fakes he see’s walking around the conventions.
He just recently opened Capstone Leads to drive a bunch of his offers, and we felt it was time to see what he is doing.
How did you originally get started in this industry?
When I got started a little over two years ago at eighteen years old, I didn’t even realize I was getting into direct response marketing. I thought I was just building a mail-in cash for gold business, essentially just a gold buyer. It wasn’t until later when I realized I had to learn the art of balancing my lead generation costs with my direct-mail return rate (returned gold packs) that I realized not only did I have to get the best leads possible, but also at the lowest rate I could. I started optimizing my ads, split testing, looking for ways to bring my CPA down with upsells, data monetization with email list managers and call centers. This was my advantage which allowed me to turn my first real campaign of $18,000 into over $160,000 in refined gold – I began approaching it from the standpoint of a marketer who happened to be operating a gold business, rather than a gold buyer who was trying to market. That is what allowed me to take over an entire industry in under two years with Goldster and Prestige Gold Buyers.
You’re known mainly for your Cash for Gold vertical, have been named the “Cash for Gold King” in the last year. What do affiliates need to know in getting into this vertical?
Affiliates, you have to be careful who you work with in this vertical. It takes 8-12 weeks for a gold buyer to determine their conversion return rate of your leads into gold packs to their facility. If this return rate is low, you can bet that it’s going to cause problems in your payment for leads. It’s best for the affiliate to have a vested interest in these deals, take a smaller CPA up front and ask a direct gold buying advertiser for a revenue share of their returned gold packs. Leverage the quality of your traffic – the best gold buyers have an average returned package of $1,000. There are really only a few legitimate gold buyers still around that can still manage an affiliate program. I’d be more than happy to make the introductions directly.
What do you think is the most exciting upcoming vertical right now and why?
I happen to be in the upcoming vertical, so I can’t give this away 
But I can suggest choosing a mass market with a mass desire (no limit on upside) rather than a small niche. Something you can passionately market across all channels – Internet (Affiliate networks, Mobile, SEO, Contextual, Display, Email), radio, television, direct mail, telemarketing and even word of mouth (something many short-sighted marketers never consider)
Payday loans seem to be picking up. If any affiliate wants to run these, how should they know if they are legit? What is the best way to run them?
There are really only a handful of aggregates (networks) where you can pick up payday offers that you can be sure you’re getting paid what you deserve for your leads and that your data isn’t being destroyed. Those are Capstone Leads (mine), T3 Leads, PartnerWeekly and LeadFlash. I recommend a split-test of all four. My friend Chelsea Peters at Commission Edge also has some neat offers for payday. We’ve all got many of the same lenders, but my main selling point is I offer lifetime profit-share of the revenue generated from affiliate data whether its from decline upsells or complementary cross-sells if they choose to let us manage their data. For payday, email traffic and SEO work great. Lately I’ve been building out hot transfer call center campaigns that have been doing very well.
What strategy would you recommend a newbie affiliate concentrate on if they wanted to become independently wealthy within the next two years?
I’ll probably upset some people for this, but I recommend they get out of the “affiliate” mindset and think more of owning a real business where they are their own “affiliate.” I don’t drive traffic or generate leads for any offers other than those that I own. I’ve advertised on the radio, Internet channels (internal campaigns, affiliate networks, direct publishers), direct mail and call centers, all either pushing my own offers or monetizing my data with complementary offers (that I also own). To demonstrate, I have an affiliate network called Capstone Leads that specializes in payday loans/cash advances, cash for gold, cash for electronics and auto title loans. So not only am I pushing traffic to my own offers, but on the exit pages and thank you pages I’m upselling my three other businesses. At the end of the day, not only did I make money driving leads, but I’ve got ownership in something of real value and a customer base that keeps coming back to either take advantage of referral cash or for more of our financial products. So to sum it up, rather than create a mono-line business, create three or four that complement each other and add more value to the consumer. That will increase the bottom-line.
You’ve mentioned to me that you’ve built a real business, not just running something in mom’s basement. How important is it that someone learn to build a business and what skills do they need to learn?
This is probably the number one thing that separates the guys that make 7-8 figures a year from those that make it look like they’re rich by posting exotic cars and flashing $100 bills on Facebook. It’s very easy to run someone else’s offer for a few days and make some quick cash, a lot like gambling at the casino. It’s a whole different story to set up a fulfillment center, a customer service center, design top-knotch landing pages, generate traffic/leads and on top of that, scale it to 7 figures and beyond. There really is no secret to business, it sounds cliché but you have to “just do it.” I don’t care how smart you are, how many business plans you develop, how many sick business cards you have or fancy offices you rent, if you don’t just take action you’ll have no shot at success.
What advice do you have to give to young men wanting to enter the industry?
Naturally a lot of guys in this industry are going to be young, most under 30. This is simply because the Internet is still young. So a lot of these “new money” guys make their first $100,000 and become somebody they’re not. All of the sudden, they get to go to four trade-shows during the year and go from being a nobody in their hometown to walking around trades-hows with Gucci scarves, Louis Vuitton Shoes, cheap diamonds, ridiculous haircuts and girls they pay to hang around them. It becomes a popularity contest rather than a place to build traffic sources and make deals. It’s a joke. Make a lot of money and put it in the bank. Buy a nice house and a nice car and allocate a budget for how many bottles of Ace of Spades you’re going to buy every month. There’s no need to blow everything you make. Be yourself and the right girls will like you for who you are. On the business side, take care of your customers. I learned the hard way that customer service really is everything, especially in an industry where you are dealing in consumer financial services. If consumers feel like it’s hard to reach you and your communication with them is poor, you bet you’re going to get complaints to the BBB, AG, FTC. And to be honest, it’s to be deserved. Take care of your customers!!!
What would you like to see change about the industry?
I think shaving of leads has become a serious problem and is slowly killing the industry. At some point affiliates are going to get smart and just launch their own businesses and offers…at least they won’t have any chance of their data being shaved and at the end of the day, they can own something they’re proud of, rather than just run someone else’s offer while being taken advantage of. The deceptive marketing practices also have to stop, it makes it hard for legitimate advertisers to compete, and brings unwanted attention and regulation from agencies to the entire industry.
Who are three people that you highly respect in the industry and why? What can the industry learn from them?
Chris Cain of Blackfin Media Group, one of my dear friends and business partners. Chris owns an affiliate network called CommissionGateway.com, a Coreg platform, and he’s also a mailer and he is honest to a fault. His business ventures are pretty well diversified outside of the world of Internet marketing…you wouldn’t see Donald Trump just running affiliate offers if he were in this industry.
Rick del Rio of LimeLight CRM, one of my best friends and we’re practically neighbors. He taught me a lot of what I know about marketing and building a business. Rick adds more value to his clients than anyone I have ever met in business. He sets a high barrier to entry at over $800/month, giving him the luxury to practically hand-pick the best marketers in the world to work with. Build a business that adds real value, whether its B2B or B2C.
What is your dream car?
Well, I’ve had leased BMWs since I was sixteen years old, but my current lease is set to expire in about two months…I’ll either get a Bentley GT or a Lamborghini Gallardo (I made a $4,000 bet with my best friend before he died, Tampa legend and icon Ernie Haire III that I could get a Lamborghini in six months. I lost the bet so I want to get one now and put his initials EBH III on the license plate.) I’ll also get a really crappy car, something really old and beat up to pick girls up on the first date, make sure they actually like me for ME, and then surprise them on future dates in the nice car.
Written by Pace Lattin
Pace Lattin is one of the top experts in interactive advertising, affiliate marketing. Pace Lattin is known for his dedication to ethics in marketing, and focus on compliance and fraud in the industry, and has written numerous articles for publications from MediaPost, ClickZ, ADOTAS and his own blogs.
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I had know idea the guy behind the Cash for Gold offers was so young… Good for him…
Yeah, very inspiring. I was saying the same thing when I got into marketing at 23, “just do it”. People would always ask me about starting their own business or becoming financially independent and I would tell them that they just have to start taking action, but pretty much nobody does. It really is a cliche thing to say, but only because its so true. You have to think outside the box and do what nobody or very few others are doing in order to really succeed.
Interesting post. Shit like this really motivates me to get outside my comfort zone and test, what’s 6 figures a year if you can make 7.
Great Strategy to pick them up in the POS car on first date
Yeah, it’s like the perfect screening tool!
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WoW very interesting interview.
One of the few guys making a lot of sense. Nice catch Pace.
Thanks for the articles. You point out some things I’d never even thought of.
So…what are some ways affiliates can protect themselves from data shaving?
Robert – Is this true? I just read your article and now I am skeptical of doing business with this company. Can anyone else confirm/deny these allegations?
I read the article, it was complaints of people who did not like the checks they received. That is in fact, the entire business model. You are selling the gold at below market prices because it needs to be processed, and the person doing it wants to make a profit. If the gold is worth $25 then you’ll get a check probably for $10-15.
@Dave McGurk – sell a package of gold through the mail that’s full of costume jewelry and you’ll be lucky to get $5. Fact of the matter is, there’s a huge disparity between what consumers believe their gold to be worth (retail) and what it’s worth when melted. We are dealing with consumers’ valuables being sent through the mail, sometimes the process takes some time and the consumers are not always educated on melt value. This is the nature of the business model and our demographic.
Good point, ever seen any of those pawn shows?
pacelattin recently posted..Teenager to Millionaire in Two Years: Trent Silver
Makes sense now guys, I didn’t see it that way. I appreciate Trent posting a response too.
Wow such an amazing story of him! His timeline sounds simple gorgeous! I just couldn’t picture myself how he could do it at his age!
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Why did you screen my comment? I say something you didn’t like? I only pointed out this guys companies don’t seem to be operating anymore as his websites are down and the internet is littered with complaints about the so called customer service he touts in the article.
I guess it didn’t post because I dropped links to his sites. Still Any one how can do what he did in 2 years is definitely to be congratulated. I know in his business there bound to be unhappy customers who think there gold is worth more. I just hope he really didn’t become a millionaire off scamming people.
@Dustin,
I appreciate your interest in the interview. I had over 100,000 requests for gold kits with over a 37% conversion rate into returned gold packages. Conservatively we can value the average package at $200. With the mail-in cash for gold model you’re going to have a percentage of unhappy customers for a few reasons 1) Consumer education on “melt value” 2) The time elapsed for the process takes almost 2 weeks, even though we advertise a “24 hour turn around time mailing out checks” – which we do. (5 days for it to come to our facility – 24 hours to process it (if weekend an extra 2 days) and then 5 days for the consumer to receive it). At that point many are already impatient. When I explain things like this, it benefits the entire mail-in secondhand goods industry – operators need to understand the logistics of this and the type of consumer they’re dealing with, so I have no problem explaining the process and complaint ratios. As for the businesses themselves, they require a massive amount of human labor and the vision I had was to shift more towards Lead Gen for scalability. Besides, I’m 21 years old, it was never my plan to buy gold through the mail for the rest of my life. Keep posting and I’ll check back every so often – these are good questions.
thank Goodness for karma
It took him more then two years to get where he is at now. I am sure that he went through many failures before becoming a millionaire
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Trent, you are truly amazing and an inspiration to those who think outside the box to get it done. Thanks Pace for giving us a real life image of a successful marketer who isn’t a scammer!
Nice post. Today people just spend time on quick bucks instead of building a real business.
I like this kid. He reminds me of me at 21. He’s more knowledgeable than a lot of seasoned veterans. The way he looks at things will make him successful at everything he does.
I wish you much more success Trent. Keep doing your thing!
This kind of success stories are so motivation! This brings hope that someday I will read this kind of article about myself.
Wish you all the best in the business and don’t stop here and build something even more respectful and impressive!
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We all can become millionaires if we will be sure in what we are doing and if we will do it with care!
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Such an interesting and very inspiring post! Glad to know about Trent Silver, when there is great motivation and perseverance in achieving your dreams no doubt, you are reaching your dreams. Thanks a lot for sharing!
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Very good read, very sensible young man, very inspiring!
This story just proves that when you set your mind and heart to something you only succeed. Always try to think out of the box and think strategy like Trent did. Good luck in your business!
Nice Interview..He is a cool guy
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its always interesting to see how those that are on the ourside looking in have the wrong things to say, in other words, if you are not educated on the subject, the business, the processes or the people, then save us the time please. Questions are good, assumptions we can live without. Trent and i crossed paths recently, nothing wrong with this young man, he is a businessman that has reached success at an early age, and anyone in this business of direct marketing knows how difficult it can be as well as the learning curve involved. Give him a little credit, good job kid! Lets go get some more now …
Great interview. Buying gold jewellery is an interesting business model….I prefer to invest straight into gold bullion – it’s a popular investment for a reason. Gold holds its value well over time, and it’s often a secure investment choice in uncertain times.
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There is a ruling against Trent Silver by the Attorney General’s office in FL due to the high number of people that Trent Silver scammed.
A ruling is one way to look at it. It’s an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, which was mutually entered into by me and the state AG as a way to help myself move forward with my new ventures, while organizing a way for my old customers that were due refunds to get what they deserved. I’m sorry if you feel scammed, but my business grew too fast on the marketing side and I am dealing with the consequences of not being equipped to handle the fulfillment side.
-Trent
If you are due a refund from Trent Silver from his “cash for gold king” dealings, see the below information.
http://www.myfloridalegal.com/lit_ec.nsf/investigations/022D31FC15C0D5D58525790900526B2A
http://www.bbb.org/west-florida/business-reviews/gold-silver-and-platinum-dealers/prestige-gold-buyers-90097043
If you are due a refund, you can also reach me at Trent@goldster.com directly. Thanks.
-Trent
Yeah, tried that and got nowhere.
Please try again. Thanks.
We’ve exchanged countless emails and you still refuse to refund me. You try again. Thanks.
This “kid” to millionaire borrowed money from his dad (what I was told) and scammed people out of millions (which I have seen). He isn’t even CLOSE to a millionaire. I was told by a friend of his that he lives with his Father in his fathers house, drives his fathers car. He has done nothing whatsoever except rip a lot of people off. How can he even say the things he does with a straight face? He is the definition of sociopath.
He was proud of ripping people off and just NOW is starting to be seen trying to give it back because if he doesn’t he is going to jail! Those are facts.
What about this kid is inspirational? He ripped people off to make money when he was broke and now is getting heat for it and being charged by AG’s. He has made zero money in any other LEGIT areas.
He is simply a scam artist and a scumbag that is trying to portray himself as some kind of business guru. So pathetic. and he WILL get what he has coming, I can assure you.
1. I didn’t have to borrow from my dad. I used a $250,000 investment from people who believed in my vision to start my business
2. Nobody has been “ripped off” and I have gone more than out of my way to make up for the fact that my business grew too fast
3. 0 money in any other “legit” areas? I run a 6-figure consulting and media agency and I feel like I’m doing OK at 21 years old
4. I don’t claim to be a guru. People can choose to listen to me or not, doesn’t affect me either way
5. As for jail, learn the definition between a “civil” and a “criminal” case. My case, which is now “closed” thank you very much – was for civil infractions that grew out of a business that scaled too fast – to be specific, advertising and record-keeping issues. These cases = fines and penalties, not jail.
6. Yes, I live at home in my father’s house. It’s 8,000 SQ FT, has a tennis court, a pool and a rather large lake…I’m 21 years old, why wouldn’t I want to live here?
7. Get a life