Crave.com Interviews Seibertron.com's Ryan Yzquierdo

What's with the thumbnail you chose for the article? O_o

Blurrz wrote:

Treetop Maximus wrote:What's with the thumbnail you chose for the article? O_o

Apologies, was just too high-res

Shhhh, *whispers* it was designed to get them to click the story */whispers*

Treetop Maximus wrote:Wow! I read the interview and I'm amazed he took so many pictures for the galleries! Ryan/Mr. Ryan/Mr. Yzquierdo/Seibertron/I-have-know-idea-what-I'm-expected-to-call-him is an awesome dude, especially since he communicates with the site users. What a swell guy.

Thanks! I try my best. Being part of the community and communicating with all of you is one of the greatest enjoyments I get out of owning Seibertron.com.

I prefer just to be called Ryan, but you can call me Ryan or Seibertron, whichever you prefer and are comfortable with. I'm sure I've been called worse so as long as it's one of those two, I'm a happy man.

Awesome Ryan . Two interviews in less than a month(Or so I recall)...Thanks to your Seibertron gallery I've able to see how G1 toys look like,comparison between movie toys and the full set of HFTD,RTS,ROTF and possibly DOTM toys in the future .

kirbenvost wrote:Cool interview! Lots of publicity lately huh? It really must be a dream job. I know it's more a labor of love than a job per se, but it must be really awesome to be able to devote so much time to your favorite hobby. And I definitely appreciate everything you've done in creating and running this site so far. It's the reason I got back into Transformers!

It's a dream job, but it has some drawbacks. It can be stressful and working from home isn't always as great as every one thinks it is (though you can't beat the commute).

I miss the 9 to 5 routine (Seibertron.com is a 24/7 business), going to lunch with co-workers, water cooler talks, my commute on the Metra trains (used to get a ton of work done during that time), things that you don't know to appreciate until they're not part of your routine.

I am very thankful that I'm the only idiot boss that I have to deal with every day though. I love rarely waking up to an alarm clock (I naturally sleep about 6 to 8 hours), I like getting to eat at home every day, I like getting to spend this much time with my family and this time with my two year old daughter is priceless (unlike many fathers, I get to be a very active part of her daily life and get to go to doctor's appointments, the park, whatever that you miss out on doing a 9 to 5).

As much as I love Transformers, I could use a little break. A tiny one! I deal with Transformers almost from the moment I wake up when I check my email until I hit the sack. I bet the folks at Hasbro don't have to do that every day. I haven't quite figured out how to make myself step away from my "business" yet. I often put in 12 to 16 hour days on this site, 60+ hour work weeks are the norm.

I still have bills to pay, mortgage and car payments to make ... Seibertron.com isn't always fun and games for me like it is for most of you, there's a whole business side of it that I have to deal with daily. Just like with any job, there are things I have to do that I don't want to do or enjoy doing with this site (fixing Heavy Metal War yesterday, working on Sonicron's gallery and video, solving problems amongst the community or with staff members, or with sponsors, figuring out how to make a YouTube video, or any other unexpected situation that arises). If I was doing what I wanted to do every day ... G1 Reflector would have a gallery by now as would G1 Overlord, and I'd probably be drawing.

Complaints aside ... it's pretty awesome to get to work on something that I'm so passionate about and to work on something day-in and day-out that I created. And getting to visit with all of you and the Seibertron.com staff every day is pretty damn awesome too.

hi seibs/ryan in your interview you stated "'working on completing my collection of original Marvel UK comics" and i might be able to help you out, i need to get into my mothers loft and check their condition but i did collect every single comic and special summer/winter/christmas edition from about issue 50 through to the end. give me a week to sort them out and will send a PM on your Facebook with what iv got.

great article BTW

Yzquierdo? is that jewish? chinese? japanese? ive just never heard a surname like that before

Great interview Ryan!

If I'm right, Yzquierdo is a Hispanic surname, and is pronounced "Ease-kee-air-dough"

Blast Cannon wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Complaints aside ... it's pretty awesome to get to work on something that I'm so passionate about and to work on something day-in and day-out that I created. And getting to visit with all of you and the Seibertron.com staff every day is pretty damn awesome too.

So Seibertron.com is an actual profitable business for you these days? Awesome!

Just read the interview, you certainly seem to be doing the publicity rounds these days!

It pays the bills ... there'd be no way I could keep up with this site now having a full time job on top of Seibertron.com. I wasn't planning on doing this full time a few years ago (though I wanted too), but it wasn't until I hit the wall twice job-wise (thanks to the economy) that my wife and I decided I should put all of my time and effort into Seibertron.com.

I mentioned in my previous post that this is a phase toward my primary goal(s). If I'm going to continue to do this, I think it is in my family's best interest for me to expand into other popular brands (hence the network of sites listed in the site's footer) as well as possibly opening up a physical brick-and-mortar store at some point. I can't believe Chicago doesn't have a collectible toy/action figure store like so many other cities have (aside from Quake Collectibles) similar to Time Traveler's in Berkley near Detroit. I have to look into what opportunities the state of Illinois offers small businesses though to figure out the feasibility of it all. I'm a big believer in diversifying and having your hands in as many pots as possible so that if one opportunity falls apart, I'm not left hanging in the dust. But we'll see ... one thing at a time.