just fail. A lot of people get analysis
paralysis.
You There's no such thing as a perfect
video. Like someone should always call
you andit on your video because it could
be better. When I was a young teenager,
I was getting no views, had no money,
had no equipment. Imagine spending 10
years of your life only thinking about
one thing every waking hour of the day.
You could upload one great video a year
and get more views than if you uploaded
100 mediocre videos.
I put together the best Mr. Beast advice
on YouTube. I know it's helped me, so it
has the potential to help others in
their lives or careers. I also design
merch and thumbnails. You can check out
my store or email me about work. Thank
you for your time. Actually, as an
answer to what is the best advice
someone ever gave you, you said you're
crazy until you're successful, then
you're a genius 100%. All along the way,
people gave me so much advice on why I
shouldn't be doing it, why I'm crazy.
every step of the way, people wanted to
tell me why I shouldn't be doing this
and should get a life, should stop being
too obsessed, everything, everything
under the book. And then once I'm
successful, those same people are like,
"Dang,
you're a genius. Wow, you really you
pulled that off." I just watch it
honestly and I just like if there's ever
a moment where I'm even slightly bored,
I'm like, "Cut it." And if there's
something where I'm not just like,
"Wow," you know, like the whole time,
then it's like, "Don't upload it. It's
It's not good." If I'm not creating,
then I don't feel fulfilled. I don't
feel like I'm progressing, then I feel
like I'm wasting my time. my well of
knowledge needs to constantly be
expanding so I have more things to draw
inspiration from from our ideas. If not,
you're going to get the same ideas over
and over again. So, it happens for a lot
of creators. That's why their videos are
repetitive and always the same thing
because if you're not constantly
learning new things, then your ideas are
just limited to what's in your head and
eventually you're going to drain it.
It's a lot of testing. So, we usually
edit a video like, you know, five or
seven times.
What do you what would you say to
creators that are getting started? I
mean, do you think that it's still
possible to start a channel on YouTube
in 2020 and be successful or is it
It's funny you saying that to me because
I know you know the answer to it. Um,
yes, it's obviously it is. And the thing
is though, you know, with the videos I
was making when I was a smaller creator,
I genuinely felt like, ah, you know, the
algorithm hates me or this is unfair.
But I just wasn't making content that
deserved to get views. I don't know a
nice way to put it. So, I'm glad I'm
talking about myself cuz anyone else I'd
feel bad. But the video sucked. Like, I
mean, you just look at the retention
graphs. People would click off at the
beginning. People didn't know sometimes
what they're clicking on. And like, if I
wasn't retaining a viewer, just why
would it make sense for you to promote
it? Like, why would you promote a
10-minute video that people watch on
average a minute and a half? It just
doesn't make sense. Well, if I don't
have what I have in my head, then I
would say just fail. Like, just a lot of
people get analysis paralysis and
they'll just sit there and they'll plan
their first video for 3 months. Yeah,
I'm any of you listening if if you
especially if you have zero videos on
your channel, your first video is not
going to get views.
Period. It's not. Your first 10 are not
going to get views. I can very
confidently say that. So, stop sitting
there and thinking for months and months
on in and just get to work and start
uploading. Like, all you need to do,
this applies to people who have not
uploaded videos but have dreams of being
a YouTuber, is make 100 videos and
improve something every time. Do that.
And then on your 101st video, we'll
start talking like maybe you can get
some views, but you know, your first
hundred are going to almost every
podcast I feel like you've been on or
every time you talk about YouTube, you
always talk about how you reinvest
everything back into the channel. And I
think spending time with you here, what
I noticed is that's actually not just
money, it's time.
You also reinvest all of your time.
Yeah. You invest all of your time into
it. And I think that's something that is
beneficial of of being where you are is
that you have that ability. And then
also the concept of hiring is just so
that you have more time to invest.
Exactly. I I think I just had the
blessing of finding what I loved at a
young age. So like because to get to
this level it takes, you know, a decade.
Most people don't find what they love
till they're young 20s. So they'd be
where I'm at in their 30s. I just lucked
out and found it when I was really
young. I mean, people can make excuses
all they want and say it's just luck or
say, you know, it is a teachable skill.
It's a learnable skill. You can study
your way to consistently make viral
videos no matter how small your channel
is. Even if you have zero subscribers,
man, you're about to make me just start
a college class here on this [laughter]
video. So, essentially, yes. At the end
of the day, if you boil it down, what
YouTube wants is they want people to
click on a video and they want to watch
it. Like, at its core, that's what it
is. Now, you can like draw little lines
and go as deep as you want and to how to
get people to click and how to get
people to watch. I mean, essentially, by
studying the algorithm, you'll learn
that you're more studying human
psychology, right? What do humans want
to watch? What do they find enjoying?
Not cuz like you anytime you say the
word algorithm just replace it with
audience and it works perfectly. Like
the algorithm didn't like that video.
No, the audience didn't like that video,
you know, cuz literally that's it. If
people are clicking and watching, then
it gets promoted more. And that's all
that's literally all the algorithm does
is reflect what the people want to. And
if you deny that, you just make terrible
videos and are trying to find a
scapegoat. Like uh I mean there's a
reason everyone loves YouTube and, you
know, spends hours every single day on
it. The biggest thing is it's much
easier, as weird as it sounds, it's much
easier to get 5 million views on one
video than 100,000 views on 50 videos.
Does that make sense a little bit? Um,
like a lot of people, like you could
upload one great video a year and get
more views than if you uploaded 100
mediocre videos. It's like it's very
exponential. Like
I just like to make the greatest YouTube
videos possible and that's that's
literally all I want. So yeah, I mean if
it's not the greatest video, I just
won't upload it. And so after you scrap
a few videos, we kind of everyone, you
know, just kind of starts to figure it
out. So like I was telling him, the way
I like to work is like I like to go
basically wake up obsess over something,
go to bed, wake up obsessed, go to bed.
Like every second of the day until I
just have a mental breakdown, I burn out
and then I like take a day off or maybe
a day and a half off and I like to go
right back to it. So I don't like work
certain days. I just go as hard as I can
every ounce of my entire body until I
just crash. And somehow that's
sustainable.
What What time do you sleep? Uh, right
now usually around a.m.
Virality is not accidental,
but sometimes it can be, of course, but
it's it's just not
it can be engineered.
It's Yeah. So many people say it's luck
and they're like you're just lucky or
this or that, but what what are we up
to? Probably like a thousand videos over
10 million views. Like we don't ever
have a dud. Like you can call it luck,
but I think it could be trained. I I
is is is collaborative amplification.
Like you're so good at that, right? Bro,
on your walks, you you you do your hour
walk at night, you go I'll just stroll
scroll through my contacts and call
someone, see how they're doing, pick
their brain a little bit. Like so much
to be learned.
Y
and you're so good at that.
And the thing is like that's what's sad
is cuz so many like small YouTubers,
they see it as like, oh, I don't like I
[ __ ] I see this all the time. Like a
guy with a million subscribers will I
will learn something new and they'll be
like, oh, I don't want to teach my
friends. Like they'll compete with me.
It's like, you dumbass [ __ ] you
pulled less views in the last 3 years
than like I know people have on a single
video. Like you teaching them isn't
going to do anything. [laughter]
And so like they're so like caught up in
like not sharing things and being
secretive. But also a lot of creators
also just don't,
you know, which I didn't either for the
longest time. Just didn't don't make
good enough content, you know, content
that's worthy of getting 10 million
views
in the idea or the execution of the
idea.
Both. I mean, like, think about how many
people just make videos, they film in
under 20 minutes, and they don't really
put any effort into it. And my first 500
videos didn't deserve to get a million
views. Like, there's a reason they did.
They're terrible, you know? But at the
time, I thought they did, right? And I'm
in the mindset of a lot of small
YouTubers where I thought those videos
deserved a million views and I thought
the algorithm hated me, but I watch them
back now and I could tell you exactly
why the videos were [ __ ] horrible.
You know what I mean?
And like the the thing people undervalue
the most is literally the first 10
seconds of the video. Like I can almost
I think I can quote it. Uh, I tied up an
FBI agent and I have $100,000 in this
bag. Here's a knife. Good luck. And I
just run away. Like, it gives you
everything you need. Yeah. No wasted
words, short and concise, and then
tension.
To to do well on YouTube, you just need
people to click your videos and watch
them. That's literally all YouTube
wants. And so, if you get people to
click your video 10% more and watch your
video 10% longer than mine, you don't
get 10% more views. You get like four
times the views, right? So, you have to
think like an exponential, right? like a
10% better video is four times the view.
It's not 10% more the views. And so like
once you understand that and you like
funnel your energy better, it like it
makes a big difference. So it's usually
like just like don't make your video
[ __ ] Put in effort, you know, like put
in way more effort. Like really hyper
obsess over these videos. Like triple
the amount of time you're putting in
that into that video. U because you're
not going to get triple the views,
you're going to get 10x the views. And
like
how much time do you spend on th those
openings?
I'm a perfectionist. I I really It's so
important. like that's your uh first
impression for everyone clicking on the
video. So like I like the whole time
leading up to that. I'm just constantly
obsessed with mostly the first minute
just like making sure like if I were to
click on this video I would like the
first minute and that it would hook me.
You know what I mean?
And when I first started I got 100,000
subscribers with an iPhone. And this is
an iPhone 5 that recorded in 30 fps.
Terrible quality. So, uh, as you guys
know, like equipment's never an excuse
because like people were constantly
roasting me for the quality. When I
first blew up, I was like, I don't have
money. I don't know what to do. But
then, um, you know, I just reinvested
every dollar I made and over like the
last, you know, whatever 8 years um,
just slowly grew into whatever I do now.
Well, so what was the breakthrough for
you to start realizing to start having a
self-awareness, you know, about these
videos aren't good enough? You're
probably still going through that.
you're probably still growing to see
like
every 6 months you should look back and
hate your videos or or at least see
things you could improve and be like,
"Oh, I could have done this better, that
better." If not, then you're not
learning quick enough in my opinion at
least.
But um so when you're doing these videos
and you're do you ever have one that you
do it and it just doesn't live up to
what your expectations were?
All the time. U now I know you're about
to ask me, so let me let me think of
some. Um like uh yeah, probably like
back in the day like one out of every
four videos we filmed just never got
uploaded cuz they were just not good.
Yeah, cuz especially when I was like 19
and 20 like I had no idea, right? You
know, like I'd come up with idea, let's
climb a building with plungers, right?
And then you know, you can't do it. All
right. So that's an example of one that
failed. So like imagine one where you
have like three friends and like when
friend number one learns something, he
teaches the other two and friend number
three [ __ ] up on a video and he teaches
you guys and you're all coming up
together. Whereas if you're separate,
you have to [ __ ] up every single time.
You know, so like if you each make a
hundred fuckups, you could be like 300
fuckups deep in learning. Yeah. And but
if you're separate, you're only 100
deep. It's just like if you wake up and
every day you obsess over something and
you live and breathe it, and that's what
you think about, that's what you do,
that's what you study on and off, that's
what you stay up every night grinding,
and no one else even gives a flying
about it. It's like you just feel like a
weirdo, you know, like an outcast. And
and I was also like just dumb back then.
I didn't realize, oh well, I just need
to find different people. I thought
like, oh, my whole life I'll just never
enjoy talking to people. [laughter]
And then I met other YouTubers and then
I started talking to them like 10 hours
a day. And I was like, then that's when
the channel really started taking off.
How often are you asking for help?
[snorts] Because I realized when you
when you opened the door to me for like
uh like, hey, let's just like bounce
things off. I I definitely like took
advantage of that, which I want like I
don't I don't I don't I don't
Number one is you got to give more or
give at least what you take. And if you
do that, people always teach you stuff.
Say that one more time.
You got to give at least what you take
from someone, which in the YouTube space
is pretty easy for me because I just
teach people anything and then I just
hope to learn one thing from them. So
after just grinding year after year,
there's probably some blur between when
I was 17, 18, 19 somewhere in there. It
just started to get a little bit of
views. You know what I mean?
So So are you you're just constantly
asking questions or
all the time? That's the only way you
can ever stay on top is if you're
constantly learning. If you're always
learning, reinvesting every dollar and
basically working 10 12 hours a day.
Like I just don't see a world where
someone can compete with you.
I just remember like making videos and I
remember being like dang like everyone's
telling me like you're stupid, you know,
you're very awkward, like you don't how
why would you make it? There's a
millions of people trying and I just
remember being like I don't know, I just
like it. I'm I'm going to do this or I'm
going to die trying things. Also, I was
a really a big [ __ ] back then.
When I was a young teenager, I was
getting no views, had no money, had no
equipment. And so for the most part it
was just like I was just trying to scrge
money so I could buy equipment because I
was using my brother's old laptop. And
so like my first couple hundred videos I
didn't have a microphone. Like imagine
just like crackly terrible voice. Um and
so once I got monetized I saved up for a
few months. Like I told you I bought a
microphone. I can just give you a mile
high history. And I saved up for like
six months. I mean I was just doing
video game videos. Uh and they were
terrible but I saved up. I got a real
computer. So now I can actually record
the video game in high quality. I have a
microphone. when I'm like 15 and I just
kept going and going for the last like
eight or nine years. Like every dollar
I've made, I just spent it the next
month on content. And I just did that
every single month and it just kept
getting bigger and bigger and here we
are. YouTube's trying to serve people
the best content possible, right? They
don't want to serve you 100 lane videos.
They just want to serve you one good
one. So, it makes sense logically. Like,
he's always had great thumbnails, but he
he wasn't the best at making good
videos, which is those are the easiest
people to mentor. They can get people to
click, but they can't get people to
stick around. So then I, you know, I've
obsessed over how to make good videos.
So now I just teach them how to make a
video good and then boom, the channel
just goes skyrocket.
But how do you have time to mentor
people with all the things on your
plate?
I just I find it fun for me. It's kind
of like therapeutic to go on a walk,
call someone, and then just roast their
channel. [laughter]
Is that what you do? You roast their
channel?
Well, like not meanly, but it's just
like Yeah. Like just honestly.
Yeah. I'm like I can tell you a little
lazy here. Like you could have put a
little bit more effort. The hook was a
little weak. Like you know, like why why
didn't you do this or the payoff or
whatever. the the biggest thing is is
you know obviously a clickable thumbnail
and title interesting stuff yada yada
but is it something that people will
genuinely want to watch? Um and this
might be a little tangent but one thing
is a lot of creators think clickthrough
rate is just like the title and
thumbnail and did they click it but a
lot of it too is did they enjoy your
last video. You know what I mean? Like
cuz if someone watches a video of yours
and they loved it, you can bet the next
time you're recommended their chance of
clicking is a lot higher, you know? So
it's like, is it something that can be
entertaining for a long time? Is it
something that if they watch this next
time, you know, they see a video of
mine, will they be excited? Like, I
loved that last one, so I want to watch
next one. Like those two type of things.
And then obviously, you know, is it just
interesting and clickable? Essentially,
your title and thumbnail set
expectations. And at the very beginning
of the video to minimize drop off, you
want to assure them that those
expectations are being met. you click on
a video where you know uh of his where
it's like Tether is a scam and at the
very beginning he starts talking about
literally anything else then you are
like oh this is [ __ ] this isn't what
I clicked on but if at the very start of
the video you go tether is a scam and
I'm going to teach you why then it's
like okay you match the expectations so
at the very beginning match the
expectations and then you want to exceed
them so you want to assure people that
what they clicked on is what they're
getting and then blow their mind and be
like but you're also getting even more
that's how you you lower drop off, which
a lot of people sometimes it takes them
like 20 seconds to really meet the
expectations and so you lose like that's
where you're going to lose everyone.
Everyone's videos start like this and
then it levels off. So you want to
reduce the amount of people that click
off on the audience retention graph. I
hope you're popping up graphs while I'm
saying this so so it's easier for people
to visualize. But so then once you get
it to level off, it's just how do you
keep it level until the end of the
video? And that's where you you want to
have you basically want to remove every
dull moment. You probably want to find
the 10 most critical people you know,
make them watch the video and just roast
it. You want to you basically pay people
to watch the videos on frame and then
just have them record it. And I love
just seeing like when they pick up their
phones and when they get bored and like
you know certain things like if I just
talk to a camera for 10 seconds without
a cut like a lot of people will just
like get bored or they'll lose interest.
So like having a B cam and a CC cam and
just you can just talk for 10 seconds
but 3 seconds in cutting to a B cam and
then a CC cam like now it's more
interesting even though it's essentially
the same thing and not that crazy but
you want to have good pacing. Typically
having a payoff at the end keeps some
right last leave circle wins 10 grand.
If there is a low moment halfway through
you're going to watch to the end because
you want to see who wins the 10 grand.
Um so having a good payoff at the end.
How many hours do you work in a day? I
would say since I was 11 years old,
almost every waking hour of the day, I'm
thinking of YouTube in some form of
capacity. I feel like it was almost like
baked in my DNA. Like it just flows in
my blood. The the innate urge to create
videos and to build a YouTube channel
and build businesses, it's just that's
just what I do. And if I like try to
take time off, I just get depressed and
I I feel like I lose my sanity.
That was the biggest problem is I
thought it was a freak of nature cuz
like people would tell me, "All you do
is talk about YouTube. you're too
obsessed with YouTube. Like, get a life.
Like, from 13 to like 19, I never met
anyone who cared about YouTube. I was I
was so unalkative. People thought like
there was problems with me cuz I just
wouldn't talk to anyone cuz all I would
do is talk about YouTube. And after a
while, like you realize like no one
cares. And then when I was 19 and I had
like 10,000 subscribers, maybe it was
like 18. And I that's when I started
meeting a few other YouTubers online and
I realized like I'm not a freak. I'm
just like obsessed with YouTube. And
that's okay. You know, you just got to
find other people that are like that. If
we if I spend me and my team spend like
10 times more time than everyone else
brainstorming ideas, which we probably
at this point spend 100 times more time
than everyone else, uh we spend half a
million to a million dollars a video,
whereas normal people are spend like
a,000 or 10,000 is an expensive video
now. And we just, you know, sometimes
we're filming for three or four days,
like 10 hours a day, you know, 30, 40
hours of filming plus months of setup.
Whereas most creators probably film for
a couple hours and set up for a day. I
think for us, you know, by always doing
all those things, it just distinctively
sets it so far apart that it's basically
in my head, it's like, why would you not
watch it? You know what I mean? But for
the average person like us, you know,
who don't have these exceptional
personalities and, you know, backgrounds
in film making, just make a 100 videos,
improve something each time, and then
talk to me on your 101st video. How do
you improve something each time? The
second one, just, I don't know, put more
effort into the script. The third one,
try to learn a new editing trick. The
fourth one, try to figure out a way that
you can have better inflections in your
voice. The fifth one, try to, you know,
study a new thumbnail tip and implement
it. The sixth one, try to figure out a
new title. There's infinite ways. That's
the beauty of content creation online.
There's literally infinite ways from the
coloring to the frame rate to the
editing to the filming to the production
to the jokes to the pacing to every
little thing can be improved and they
can never not be improved. There's no
there's literally no such thing as a
perfect video. Well, and the thing is
like as long as you're reinvesting
everything and you're constantly
innovating and adapting, it's it's
pretty hard to fall off if you're like
putting in the effort and stuff.
Easy for you to say, dude. All you do is
put in the effort. You're a workhorse.
And even when you're not working, like
[snorts] you you started taking those
like therapeutic late night walks.
Yeah, I call him all the time. I get
like one out of 10 times the answers.
Like you can elevate your content by
being more creative, spending more
money, putting in more effort, and
there's like all these different things.
And so like one of those just has to be
going up, not all of them each video.
And if you do it that way and strategic,
it's easy to constantly innovate.
You're extremely diversified.
Uh and and the type of content. Yeah,
exactly. Cuz that's the thing like
Well, well, it's not even not even just
in content, bro. Like you have so many
different businesses. Talk about that
[ __ ]
Well, let's say you lose money in a
video. You're like, well, Mr.
Beastburgers is popping off this week.
Yes. Weirdly enough, the best thing for
my mental health was giving into my
nature to work. And the most depressed I
get is when I try to restrict it and
like I don't work weekends or I don't
work this day. What's best for me is
just to work when I feel like working
and then just not work when I don't like
and just have no constraints because
there are just some nights where I don't
want to sleep and for whatever reason I
feel compelled to go all night and I
just give into it and I feel that's
where I feel the happiest and and then
um you know it's typically like but and
when I'm really in the grind mode it'll
be like seven or eight days just
non-stop going going and then it's like
I'll I'll realize like oh I need some
recharge time and then go [ __ ] binge
a season of anime. Again, the thing is
everyone has different priorities. You
know, if you want to make a few hundred
grand a year and just, you know, coast
or whatever, like, you know, not
everyone has ambition and stuff like
that, but if you really do want to be
the best you can possibly be, be the
biggest YouTuber, you should look at
hiring as a way to free up your time so
you can do more important things. And
even then, and hyper optimize every
little minute, and anything that isn't
work, you should outsource to someone
else so you can recharge so you can work
again. You know what I mean?
Up until 18, I had been doing YouTube
pretty religiously, but I was making no
money. Like this is kind of the turning
point was when I graduated from high
school and my whole life I was like I
want to be making enough money by the
time I graduated to do this full-time
and I wasn't I was still only making a
couple hundred bucks a month. So I
graduated high school and my mom was
like either move out or go to community
college and I didn't have enough money
to move out but I really just I hated
school with a passion but she forced me
to go to community college and that was
that was the worst thing ever. Like that
that made me hate life like borderline
suicidal. I just can't stand like having
to just sit there and listen to this
dumb stuff and listen to some teacher
read out a book. So, what I did was I
would act like I was going to community
college, but I would just work on videos
in my car and edit and stuff like that.
I had straight [laughter] zeros. And so,
now the clock had started cuz like once
my mom found out, I was screwed. And so,
I would act like I was going to college
that whole time, but I I wasn't. And I
didn't have enough money to move out.
And that was kind of when I was just
like 15 hours a day all in. I was like,
I'm [ __ ] if this doesn't work. And I
actually I had some videos pop off. I
couldn't tell you which ones, but I had
a month where I made 20 grand because I
just had some videos just do really
really well. And then I yeah, I came
home and I was like, "Yeah, I haven't
been going to college and I moved out
the next day."
If you knew everything, you know, now
but no money.
Step one would I just brainstorm like,
"Okay, I don't have money. What are some
viral things?" Like I mean, the first
thing that comes to my mind is something
as simple as when I count to 100,000,
which is what I did do when I I was
poor. Um, and like that worked, but like
what's something like that I could do
that would be even more attention
grabbing?
Yeah. You were as part of the
brainstorm, you would throw out a lot of
ideas and people throw out a bunch of
ideas and one of the questions is, is
this even doable? Right.
Yeah. First off, come up with ideas you
think would do well and then ask
yourself later if they're doable. Cuz
there's there's different ways you can
accomplish something.
Don't be cynical about the doability of
stuff.
Yeah. because there really are so many
different ways you can
you have to be you have to work on
multiple videos at a time because most
our videos takes months to produce and I
don't just upload two or three videos a
year. So if you're working on like five
videos at a time and one of the videos
takes up an entire warehouse and another
video takes up an entire warehouse, well
then you can't work on the other three
cuz two warehouses are full. So then
that's what led us to getting this big
place because it's so huge. We can work
on multiple videos here at the same
time. That just for you YouTubers that
are wondering like how do you get to
this point? like it's usually a slow
snowball.
Actually studied hard enough and like
basically if you knew what I knew and
some of these so I don't sound so
arrogant also like some of these other
friends I have that I would say are the
smartest people in the world when it
comes to content creation online. If you
had the knowledge that was in our heads
you could do it very easily. I I see
people do it all the time. And what's
even more interesting is I go on
podcasts and I say everything I know
it's all out there. And a lot of people
instead of just studying that and trying
to absorb and apply it in their own way,
they're just like no it's just luck. you
know,
be like two or three people that would
comment on each and back then, which I
think small YouTubers should do is I
would reply to every single comment. And
so, I think a few people caught on that
they would I would always reply. And so,
some people would just be like, I wonder
how long it'll take for them to reply.
And like, so that was a lot of my
comments when I was smaller, but at
least it kept them coming back.
Apparently, if you make a P joke, it
will drop your attention by around 5%.
No pee jokes, that's just a no-go, no
matter how funny it is. I mean, I think
it's funny, but doesn't matter. It's
just a nogo. like you can't do that.
It's just no. No.
Do you ever take days off?
So, I found giving into my natural
instinct works best. So, I just work
every day, every hour of the day, um
until I just burn out. Anytime I try to
stick to a schedule, it just doesn't
work cuz there are certain Saturdays I'm
just fired up and like God himself
couldn't stop me from going and working
on a video. And then there are other
Saturdays where I'm burnt out. And so,
yeah, I just I just kind of give in to
my emotions and just work when I want
to. If you hang around people like just
what different people, you're gonna feel
crazy and it's going to wear on you.
Whereas if you're around similar people,
it just it's so much easier. The people
they around 100% dictates the outcome. I
would I would not be on 120 million
subscribers if I didn't find uh when I
was around a million, I had a couple
friends that were just also psychopaths.
You know, I outgrew them. But at the
time, it was great. And I wouldn't be
where I am today if it wasn't for them.
Just all along the way, the friends that
I hung out with had such a dramatic
impact on on where I am when I was a
teenager. I just, you know, I couldn't
relate to many people and I just thought
it was like a [ __ ] freaking nature
because no one was obsessed with
building businesses or any of this kind
of stuff. And so like back then, you
know, that advice would have been
helpful. Maybe not that particularly,
but just knowing that there are you it's
not that you're a freaking nature. You
just haven't found people that have the
same interest.
So the task is not to feel sorry for
yourself or somehow change yourself.
It's more to find the people
find people you fit in with. Yeah. Did
you mind at all that feeling of like
everyone being like, "What are you
doing?"
Well, of course. I mean, you just It's
weird. I think the problem is like if
you I told the story years ago, it
probably would have helped. It's so much
more acceptable now. Like, everyone
wants to be a YouTuber. Everyone wants
to be a Tik Tocker. Like, it growing up
now, like you can just tell by the
people and and the numbers and explosion
of social media that like it's a lot
more widely accepted. And also, it might
also be where I grew up in North
Carolina. It's different than LA, but
back then like it really just was a
strange thing, you know what I mean? To
like want to dedicate your life to being
a YouTuber and being that obsessed only
whatever less than 10% of the world
speaks English, so 90% of the world
can't even enjoy your content. And and
when I realized that, I was like, "Wait
a minute. 90% of my the world can't even
watch this stuff." I purposely have a
really like dumbed down lifestyle. So
when cuz it gives you freedom. Like, you
know, most people can't reinvest in a
business cuz when they get to this
level, they're worried about their $10
million mansion, their like four or five
cars and insurance and keeping up with
that and then like their second home and
all these other things. I just cut it
all out. I have no like personal debt or
like things, you know, that I have to
pay for. So, I can just go all in on the
business cuz it's like it doesn't even
matter. You know what I mean?
Imagine a world where it's just you
working solo and you work 12 hours a day
every day for like a year and you're
just grinding. You make a mistake, you
learn from it, you grind, you make make
you learn from it. And you do that for
like a year. And then imagine a
different world where you have four
friends who are also equally grinding in
something similar. Friend number one
makes a mistake on Friday. He teaches
the other four people. Friend number two
makes a mistake the next week, teaches
everyone. And then like you're all
learning from each other's mistakes.
You're all constantly studying 24/7 and
downloading each other. Like after a
year, you're like two years ahead of the
guy who was just solo. It really does
make a difference. Especially like my
friend group when I was like I met a
bunch of people and I had 10,000
subscribers and we all like we agreed
not to drink, we didn't do drugs, like
we didn't date, we didn't do anything.
We just literally obsessed from the time
we woke up to the time we went to bed.
That's literally all we did is it's
wild. Like
what piece of advice do you find
yourself repeating over and over to
creators and they're just not getting
it?
Oh boy, a lot you know. So here's a fun
story. I actually I mentored this one
guy just for fun. and I started uh he
was a friend medium-sized YouTuber. He
was doing like I think he was doing
20,000 like he 10 a month in revenue
like 10,000 on one channel and like
8,000 a month on another channel and um
this month he actually just had his
highest revenue month ever. Uh he did
$400,000 in revenue. Um and just by like
listening to what I I taught him. I know
we were able to like 20x his revenue. Uh
and that was just like with me just once
a week just telling him he was an idiot
and what to do. Uh and I I do that for a
lot of people. I just counsel people for
fun and help them blow up their
channels. A lot of times people Oh boy,
it's like they think their videos are
better than they are honestly and they
tell them, JIMMY, TELL THEM.
I MEAN, THEY DO and and you have to like
you have to that and they have horrible
friend groups cuz you really are like
the type of YouTubers you hang around.
And so like a lot of times I'm just like
what you're saying is wrong. Who told
you this? They're like oh this guy and
this guy. And it's like well they're
wrong. It's not true. And so it's
getting people with the right YouTuber
friend group that aren't [ __ ] and
will actually tell them when their
content's bad and like actually roast it
and and help them get better in a nice
positive way. And then usually it's
hiring an editor. Honestly, uploading
less videos and just making them better.
It's much easier to get 5 million views
on one video than 50,000 views on 100
videos. Takes way less effort to get 5
million views on one video. So it's like
applying a lot of these principles like
that and also getting it where it's
content that they enjoy. A lot of people
aren't willing to put in 10 hours days
because they don't like what they're
doing. So, it's finding what they enjoy
because it is like a long grind. Like
you're doing this for years, not months.
So, if you don't enjoy it, then you're
going to burn out and that. So, like
that's usually the first thing is like
figuring out like what are the things
you're currently doing that you don't
want to do and like let's figure out a
way to get someone else to do it in the
next 5 months so you actually get out of
bed excited. Accomplish a goal. There
are so many different ways you can
achieve what you want. You really got to
push through nose which not a lot of
people do. you have to have like a more
of a dominant personality and just a
willingness to um when people tell you
it's not possible just actually go
through all the variables and eliminate
them all yourself for what we do and
creators online it's very imperative
like we we take uh personality tests and
like just having a dominant personality
is a better indicator that when someone
tells you oh there's no way you're going
to build a brick wall for under 100
grand you know you'll be like okay and
then still go check the next 10 vendors
and you know figure it out
do you ever feel burnt out like are
there times where you feel like
I think tired My definition might be
different than others, you know, like
some people are like, "I'm burnt out.
Screw this. I'm done. I'm done. I'm
done." You know, like never never at
that point. But yeah, like if if I'm
going like, you know, I go from the time
I get up to the time I go to bed like
three days in a row, I'll be like,
"Okay, like kind of want to like take
half a day off and like chill or like
I'll feel it coming and stuff like that.
But this is what I'm doing to the day I
die. I don't care. Like I love this more
than anything. Nothing's ever brought me
a fraction of the joy." I've seen people
literally start a channel and within a
month hit 100,000 subscribers. I've seen
it. I personally know someone who had a
channel with 100 subscribers and me and
my mom boys, you know, other YouTubers
that I feel like have a good
understanding of how YouTube works. We
just help them optimize the video. And I
don't like to say the name of the
channels cuz then I feel like I'm taking
credit for their success. But literally
100 subscribers, he got 3 million views
on a video. And that was with no
artificial push. It did like 50 views,
you know, 5,000, 10,000, 50,000. it just
stairstepped up every day. And so it's 1
million% possible, but it's very hard
right off the bat to know what makes a
good video, how to hold a viewer, how to
get them to click and stuff like that.
Some people are naturally entertaining
and retaining a viewer is just much
easier for them. And some people like
me, you just need a long time to
develop. A lot of it is just like you
can just tell when a video shouldn't go
viral. At the beginning of the video,
just tell like literally the simplest
thing, just tell them why they should
watch it. You know, if you're putting a
million Orbeez in a pool, don't start
the video with you shopping for, you
know, your mom's birthday present. At
the beginning of the video, just say,
"We're going to put a million Orbeez in
this pool." And then that right there is
should, you know, be at least slightly
sufficient
to help people know what to expect.
Maybe do a little preview at the front.
Exactly. So, for most people, it's just
that they're just not hooking viewers
and the video ideas just aren't that
entertaining.
Do you think your your biggest strength
is probably your curiosity? You're down
to do anything. So, I think what you
have to do is you have to always be
learning, right? That's how you can like
So, like with our ideas, right, cuz we
like to do original ideas that no one's
ever done before. Um, and I I might have
told you this when we were talking on
the phone. Thing is like if there was a
hypothetical fruit in Japan that if you
eat it makes it where you can jump 30 ft
taller, right? If that exists in this
world right now, you didn't know it
existed. So, you couldn't come up with
something around that. That's very hyper
specific. But there's like a million
things like that in the world that like
if you don't know about it or you're not
intaking the inspiration, you can't
really come up with something. Like if I
were to try to get into stamp, like
that's how I would try to do something
different. I just try to [clears throat]
take intake a bunch of different uh
information, see what spawns in my head.
So I try to always be learning in point.
I'm trying to always expand my uh
knowledge well in my head with new
things I can draw inspiration from.
Yeah. You had a video of ours that you
said you were interested in the
thumbnail. You clicked on it and you
were bored after 5 seconds. tell you it
was the one about the hype house. Why
everyone's leaving the hype house. Yeah.
And I showed them on my phone. I was
like I the title and thumbnail made me
tap and the red bar was like so tiny you
could barely see it cuz I clicked off in
8 seconds. I was like this is me at my
house 4 days ago before you came down.
Clearly you just didn't grab me.
Yeah, that was really eye opening for
us. And we now you recognize like I
think a lot of times you you talk about
obsessing over the content and and
really getting into it. And I think
sometimes it's hard to understand what
that exactly means. And then when you
said that, I was like, "Oh, that's what
it means. It literally means that
there's a there was a big problem." And
you predicted that about 40% of the
people left in 10 seconds. It was
exactly 40%.
I could tell. Yeah. And and I I told him
the remedy for this is they need better
friends. 100%. [laughter] No offense to
people that are their friends. I know
that they like you, but the fact that no
one's like calling you up after you
uploading that and just roasting the
hell out of it and going like, "Dude,
this isn't the best you could do." Like,
and it's not uh a knock on you guys.
It's actually them like someone should
say like, "Hey, you guys are too smart
for this." Like, you're better than
this. You can make a video better than
this, which is what you should do.
You can make anything work, but at the
end of the day, it's got to be like
interesting to the audience, original,
and just good. You know what I mean? And
if you hit those, like, you can figure
out a good intro and outro. You know
what I mean? [laughter]
Yeah. Well, it's hard because being uh
it's like it's a weird balance because I
would never I you know I used to save up
a dollar a day. Like the my first
microphone I had to save up for three
months to buy and you know we didn't
have any money. It was I had a single
mom raising me and my my brother and
sister. So um it's like that relentless
obsession of YouTube and and reinvesting
got us to that point. And so building
the team to le like if I didn't know how
to go viral it doesn't matter if I had a
thousand employees it wouldn't we'd not
give you. So, it was I think for me it
was it was good that I got a a really
strong foundation on how YouTube works
and how the style of videos I wanted and
everything before I scaled up a team. If
that makes any sense. I just want to
make sure that's clear because I've seen
people try to build the team without
foundation and and knowing how to do
well and then it, you know, it just
interesting. Yeah. They try to build it
before basically it's ready to be
scaled.
Exactly. Like and so that's what gave me
the confidence to hire people and that's
why I'm able to run my company at really
thin margins because I have faith and I
I know that if we filmed this video it
will do well just cuz I've spent a
decade of my life hyper obsessing over
YouTube and I I have a good pulse on it.
But if you didn't have that then you
wouldn't know like you wouldn't be able
to spend $4 million on a Squid Game
because you might lose two million bucks
and then you can't pay your people. So
it's like you there's no such thing as a
perfect video. Like someone should
always call you andit on your video cuz
it could be better. Like that's because
imagine if someone does that every video
and you upload hundreds if not a
thousand videos over the next 10 years
and every single time someone's
critiquing you and you're applying what
they're critiquing. Like imagine the
compound effect over that time span.
It's it's invaluable. But if you upload
a 100 videos and very few people are on
them, then like you just lost so much
compound effect. One thing that we
realized was everyone on your team also
is holding you accountable for some of
those checklist items. And that's when
we were like, "Oh, we need our team to
hold us accountable."
Because sometimes I'm like, "No, that
that doesn't actually matter." Like that
would be an extra two hours of work.
Doesn't matter. And they're like, "Yeah,
that would help retention." They're
like, "Who the are you? Wait, you don't
want the perfect video?" I'm like,
"You're right. You're right. Let's do
it." You know,
here's my question. If we took you took
your brain right now and put it into a
guy with no money and no subscribers. So
you can't give away money. You can't
make a million dollar giveaway video.
How long would it take you to get to 1
million subscribers?
Probably 3 months, maybe four from zero.
Easily three or four months. Like if
that's all that guy was doing. I mean
like let me think. I would probably just
walk across America. that would get me
on the map and then just do some other
yeah some some other zero dollar uh
extreme challenges get some attention
take that money I don't know maybe make
a line of paper clips I think those are
cheap and stretch it across the state or
something and then I I you know um
something you know then I'd try to swim
from like Europe to Africa that'd be a
cool stunt or something I've thought
about this before that would pop off
dude a thumbnail of me just swimming in
the middle of the ocean like I I don't
want to do it now cuz they're easier
stuff but I would do Yeah, like straight
into Chipotle. It's like four four vials
or something. You could swim that deal.
Yeah, but then you could, you know,
imagine a title. I swam from Europe to
Africa. Like that would pop off. Uh or I
swam across the ocean or something. I
mean, yeah, easily. Like I could figure
out a blueprint and then I would just
suffer for four months and then I'd have
a million subscribers. [laughter]
So, typically if you're doing a longer
video, you should introduce like a side
story and like re you should have some
plan halfway through like to re-engage
them so they don't just get bored. You
know what I mean? Like if I just said
like if I handed you a camera and I had
a camera and it's like okay if he tags
me he gets 100 grand and then I just run
and that's it. It's just me running
through the woods and him just running
through the woods after me. You can't
make a 15-minute video out of it. You
know what I mean? I mean you could
probably paint a bowling ball and people
would find it entertaining. Like there's
an audience for everything. If you got a
good personality, you're passionate and
like you know you present it in a way
where it's entertaining. Like
do you have a lot of guys that are
trying to copy the format that you've
put together?
Um yeah. I just I the thing is it
doesn't matter. It doesn't really affect
me. I don't like to waste energy
worrying about that type of stuff. At
the end of the day, it's like it doesn't
hurt me. So, go for it.
It actually probably helps you. Yeah,
exactly.
Because everyone gets compared to Mr.
Beast.
Yeah. Like a lot of YouTubers get like
triggered when other people quote
unquote take their ideas or or whatever.
But
do they though?
They they really do. I mean, that's like
a all the time like someone will do
something like and it's funny. It's
usually like people who copy tons of
other YouTubers and they do one thing
original and then some other people take
it and they just throw a hissy fit.
I like pushing myself and I see it as a
sport and like going hard in business
and and building them. Um even though
it's stressful and it's very difficult
and like sometimes I'm like, you know,
you have a mental breakdown. You're
like, why am I doing this? Why did I
push myself so hard? But then when
you're not doing it, you're just
depressed. So, it's like a weird
system, a weird situation, but I love
it. But sometimes I don't. It's you have
like as YouTubers, especially people who
build side businesses and have side
channels, there's like 50 things that
need to be done. And if you split your
time amongst it, they're all only
getting a few percentage of your time.
So like someone should be able to do
that job better than you because they're
giving it a 100% of their time. And
that's like the OP part about hiring
people.
Where's the source of that learning even
for you now?
Uh just look at
I just got back from a No, I mean I just
got back from a mastermind where I just
got like, you know, 10 of the smartest
people I knew and we just locked
ourselves in a cabin and taught each
other stuff. Um constantly every day,
not every day now, probably every other
day, I go on a walk and I just call
random people. I'll just say teach me
something. Uh you just have to have a
neverending thirst for learning. Like
that's very imperative especially if you
want like if you want to get on top and
then stay on top. The only way to do it
is just to constantly be learning or
someone who is learning is just going to
you know have a leg up on you in the
knowledge game. Like my teenage years
were spent studying virality and
studying content creation. Now I'm
studying how to build a content company
so I can actually produce the crazy
ideas I want to produce. If that makes
any sense. Anything we make off Reacts,
I put in the main channel, which is how
we kind of got here because I got to the
point where the main channel would make
hypothetically a few million dollars and
I'd spend a few million dollars a month.
And I was like, well, how can I get more
money to burn? And so then we started
gaming and then gaming started making
money and I'd just take that money and
the next month throw it on the main
channel. And I was like, oh, this is
working well. And then we started React.
So now we just take a few hundred grand
a month from that. We just throw it on
the main channel and just like these
things exist just to pump money into the
main channel.
What's your biggest insecurity? Like our
videos are very fastpaced and so
sometimes you do have to give up a
little bit of the story in order to keep
the videos moving. of anything it would
be that like a lot of people think the
only reason we get views is because I
just throw money at it and they don't
realize that you know we spent a decade
just studying what does well um you know
studying figuring out our own style
figuring out our own way to do things
and the amount of hours I put into like
just expanding the inspiration in my
brain just so I can come up with
original ideas and the like the months
on months we spend building the sets and
working on it and the weeks we spend
editing and all this and then you know
they're just like oh that he just spent
money that's it that's there's nothing
professional. You know what I mean?
What I found is like yeah, like I you
heard the dictionary story. I I work
well off inspiration and so I found it'd
be better just to kind of have people
come up with ideas roughly and then and
then I ingest them because dude half
those ideas aren't good and I wouldn't
film. But then when I read them it
inspires me and I'm like no, first to
finish race wins 100 grand. Like that's
too simple. But first person to climb a
mountain wins 100 grand. It's good. And
so I like when people just give me
inspiration and then I just
What makes one good and the other bad? I
think running a race is like people have
done that. It's like generic. It's
whatever. But like first to climb
mountain and like a thumbnail of someone
climbing the side of a mountain and the
thought of someone climbing a mountain
is extreme. Like the that's adrenaline.
It's interesting. Like to me climbing a
mountain is more interesting than
running a marathon. Only watch things
that like inspired me. So I would like
try to watch a different show or
different things or different genres for
inspiration. And I like I I had what I
would call like an info diet and I would
always like try to add new things. So I
was so obsessed with how to cuz really
like like if I tell you to come up with
an idea, you're just going to whatever
you're going to be like Gatorade or
water, whatever.
With all this data, your your brain is
sort of a tuned algorithm itself of like
like evaluating. I think it's so
interesting watching you evaluate like
titles. Like what you're saying is like
I like bananas and what you need is
bananas are the best goddamn food on the
planet. Like that's the type of opinion
you need. Like you need something like
how to get a 100 million views on
YouTube or not even that. That's not
strong enough. You need something that
makes people go what the you know and
like click. You know what I mean?
Yeah, [laughter]
dude. I want to click whatever video
you're selling me right now, dude. Yes,
that video. That's what I want to watch.
Yeah, but that's hyper specific to you.
But you see what I'm saying? It needs to
be extreme. It needs to like how to go
viral. That's not going to cause someone
to go, damn. If I don't click that, I'm
not gonna be able to sleep at night. You
need something that legit will have
people be like, "What the did he say in
that video? What the I need to know."
You good at school?
No. Horrible. Really?
God awful. Okay.
Yeah. That was like I mean I would act
like I was studying, but you know, I was
film videos. I actually my entire high
school career never brought my book bag
home or anything. I would just like
throw it under like the bleachers and
then in the morning I'd just grab it.
Your first video is what? You were like
12, right?
Yeah. Oh, actually I started making when
I was 11. I don't know. We probably
spend like 20 30 times longer thinking
of ideas than other people. We probably
film like 10 times more than other
people. We probably spend 100 times for
a video more than other people. So, it's
like we put in the effort, but I don't I
don't know how to say where it's not
arrogant. I just believe in what we're
doing. You know what I mean? Um,
back then, like how much do you think
you believed when you when you recorded
that video that that was actually going
to happen?
Oh, no. I mean, those were just
different times. I was in the middle of
bum [ __ ] nowhere, North Carolina. So,
it's like everyone, you know, constantly
wanted to remind me, you're not going to
be a YouTuber. Grow up. Be realistic. If
I open a dictionary here and we just,
you know, flip to a random page and we
pick a word and the words, right? Then
we'll be like, okay, uh, I bought a
flower. I I gave my girlfriend a flower.
I gave my girlfriend 100,000 flowers. I
gave my girlfriend 100,000 flowers on
Valentine's Day. Right? You just go like
that. I gave Tariq 100,000 flowers. I
put 100,000 flowers in the moon. do that
for a few minutes and then you just flip
to a new page and you're like what's
this word and you just like so you
that's the like the slowest form of
doing it and the worst way to do it. But
that's intaking inspiration getting
inspired and seeing what comes out and
it's really just doing that and the more
effectively you can take in inspiration
and see what happens in your brain the
better ideas. See that's the effect you
want. Most people when they watch for
the YouTubers watching this when people
watch your video they go okay that was
good but like that's enough of of you
for the day. like it was it was all
right, right? Whereas what you want is
them to go, "Holy crap, that was crazy.
Oh my god, what's that? Holy crap, that
was crazy. Oh my god." And they just and
they watched 10 videos, not one, and
then need like a week break because it
was so eh that they have to recharge.
You know what I mean? That's that's what
you're going for. That data can't
describe. And like I don't I've never
heard anyone talk about that, but that
that is it. That's how you get these
high view counts because people watch 10
videos, not one, you know. But for me,
because we just had this ability to go
viral, it's just kind of like there's a
world where I make videos and I don't
help people, and there's a world where I
make videos and I do help people. The
one where I do help people is just a
little bit more fun. So, that's why I do
it. I don't I, you know, PR-wise, I
should have a better answer, but that's
kind of the truth.
What was the first movie that you saw
where you're like, "Oh my god, I was
blown away." For me, it was Jurassic
Park.
Um,
as a kid,
I I only watched YouTube growing up. I
haven't seen
it. I know when we have a really good
video. Exactly. Like I know it's really
good and that the title and the
thumbnail.
If you upload a video and you're not
like you're you're not like this is a
banger, this is going to bang. No doubt
in my mind. Even though you're going to
be wrong 90% of the time, then it's not
a good enough.
Yeah. You still have to have that
feeling. Even if
you should have spent more time,
let the audience tell you you're wrong.
Don't put it out when you already know
you're wrong.
Exactly. And it's not because they know
who I am. It's just because the videos
are good. They they just are. They're
interesting. They have good retention.
They have good pacing. You can't find
them anywhere else. And you know the la
the thing I want to leave people with is
people think it's like oh well um it's
all like CTR and stuff like that. But a
big thing that everyone underestimates
is it's what what was your experience
with your last video? If people loved
your the last video of yours that they
watched, they're more likely to watch
your next one. One thing is like I also
I'm obsessed with learning and so it was
very important I found someone that also
likes learning. So she loves reading
books. She loves like experiencing
things. So, like I don't see like taking
like an art class as a waste of time cuz
that might creatively inspire me or like
a pottery class or even going and
shooting guns or whatever, some some new
thing. So, uh usually it's like us doing
something like that where in my head I'm
learning something and I can kind of
justify the time, you know what I mean?
To my like business obsessed brain self.
So, it's that and then and it's also
good to unwind. Um and you know, [music]
so you can actually go to bed at a
reasonable time and not just lay there
working in your head. Hey, you should
subscribe right now. that you know a lot
of people who wouldn't have done it cuz
they just didn't think of it are now
thinking about it and it will convert to
like 10 or 20,000. So literally just say
it and you're good
and that's all I do. What was the first
and I do that thing.
What was that first YouTube video that
you saw that like kind of filled you
with that wonder where you were like
wow.
Oh well this guy actually uh got hacked
like a very long time ago. This like
Call of Duty YouTuber and they like
leaked his earnings and he had made like
$100,000 a year the last few years and I
remember being like 10 and being like
what the [ __ ] they make that kind they
make money doing this and I was just so
mind-b blown that they actually made
money
more than my mom like
yeah it was right there when I was like
okay I'm doing this like I just don't
care I'm being a YouTuber or I'm going
to [ __ ] die trying I just don't care
and that like the second I saw that was
actually possible that's when I was like
that's it and it's funny also talking
about like obsession and stuff like this
cuz it's funny how it changes why when
you're like and maybe it's different now
cuz social media is a little bit cooler
but when I was younger like no one
wanted to be a YouTuber like most people
when I was 13 14 didn't even have phones
yet Like it was kind of like a little
bit of an older thing. And maybe it's
just cuz where I grew up, but it's funny
cuz back then people are like, "Get a
life. Stop being a [ __ ] nerd. Like
you're too obsessive. You're weirdo."
And then now it's like, "Oh, bro, he was
so obsessive. He's It's so great." Like
a positive quality. And it's so funny
like looking back on my life going from
a [ __ ] loser nerd who's too obsessive
and won't go anywhere to like, damn,
that's really inspiring. And it's like,
damn.
My team pushes back on me pretty
hardcore. U which I want. I don't want
Yes, man. and they're they're like uh
they're James, you know, the CEO who
helped me build all this um he's very
adamant like we're not yesmen and and he
trains people to really think for
themselves and even when I give them
orders to like really think like is this
optimal? Is there context or information
you could be missing that I can provide
that could help them make a more updated
decision. Like I'm not um God, you know
what I mean? Like I'm human and I make
errors and so don't take what I say as
the Bible.
Just really boil it down to the people
who are watching. Just think about it
like what what do you think YouTube
wants? Like to me, I think YouTube just
wants people to click on a video and
watch it, right? I mean, that's how they
get their ad revenue. That's how they
keep v, you know, viewers happy and
stuff like that. I mean, and sure,
comments, likes, stuff like that. But at
the end of the day, they want you to
click, watch a video, click, watch a
video, and just do that as long as
possible. So to me, what's important is
clickthrough rate, getting people to
click on your video, and then average
view duration, average view percentage,
or just relative retention, and you
know, having them watch it. If people
are clicking your video more than they
click other videos, and they're watching
it longer than they watch other videos,
you know, I just as simplistic as that
is, that's like what YouTube wants. And
I think that's how you just, you know,
be successful.
Oh, so wait a minute. We spend the first
18 years of our life trying to fit in.
That's how I felt in school. I was
trying to fit in all the time. What what
do people do that's cool? How do I do
that thing?
Right?
And then once I was like in the adult
world, it's like, oh [ __ ] now we spend
our whole life trying to stand out.
Like what was all that other [ __ ] Why
was I why was I so focused on fitting in
if the rest of your life you're trying
to stand out? And I just realized like,
oh [ __ ] standing out has been the game
the whole time. And the way you stand
out is not by trying to figure it out.
Just like whatever you're obsessed with,
just let that ride cuz you'll go on a
path that nobody else is going to copy.
And then you'll, you know, you'll land
in a good spot. So, if my kid, like my
daughter's two right now,
if she was into gaming or she was trying
to be a creator, all that stuff, I would
be all in on it cuz I know even if
that's not your endgame, following your
obsession is like the thing to do in
life. You know, that will always work
out with, you know, if you like actually
go down that path, what most people do
is they hedge. They like this thing, but
then they see this path that's more
proven or shiny or they don't know if
it's going to work, so they only half
try, right? And then it's like that
hedge is actually what gets you. It's
not that this career path was that hard.
It's at hedging.
Imagine spending 10 years of your life
only thinking about one thing every
waking hour of the day.
You mentioned earlier that people were
like, "You don't have a life,
right?" But we've been here. We spent
all day with you yesterday. Behind the
scenes, I feel like you do have a life.
Like your life is YouTube.
The thing is like you're an idiot until
you're successful, then you're smart,
whatever. You know what I mean? So, it's
just at some point you cross that
tipping point and people go from judging
you and being like, "You're too
obsessed. What? You're a freak, blah
blah blah." to like, oh, like, wa,
congrats. Look at you. You you hire
people and provide jobs. Like, you're
cool. Good job. You know what I mean?
And it's like kind of blurry where that
line changes
for me. Um, and it might not always
show. Trust me, I and I know I might
sound like I come across as a [laughter]
no and all. I swear I'm still learning
stuff every day. When filming though, I
like to try to just put like I feel like
a lot of creators have a mindset. It's
like, how can I get the most views with
least amount of time? And I'm not saying
that's wrong, you know, um cuz obviously
I have that mindset sometimes, too. But
I try to when filming put in as much
work, even if it's like a 15-second part
of a video, even if that one little part
will take like 10 hours, you know, but
like hypothetically, right? But that
that 15 seconds is like, wow. Like
that's great. Like I I feel like viewers
genuinely notice when you go the extra
mile, trying to make sure we're doing
everything we can, no matter how
expensive is, no matter how much time it
takes to make the best video possible.
so they have the best experience and so
they want to, you know, obviously watch
more videos cuz that's what you want the
viewers to do. And then with editing,
just no dull moments, you know, have a
good hook at the beginning. Um, some
minor tips I could give is like, you
know, if I do a video like last leave
circle wins 10 grand, obviously people
are going to watch to the end because
they want to see who won the money. So
have you could apply that to your
videos. If somehow you could have a
payoff at the end, [snorts]
then you know more people are going to
watch to the end just to see what
happened.
With him, what's admirable is like 90%
of creators like if they had that number
one spot in that long, it would have
been such egotistical pricks. They like
would have changed and you know he never
wears designer clothes or flexes on
people or looks down on people. A lot of
his friends or the people he has in his
videos aren't like super clouded out.
You know what I mean? Like that is
that's the thing that I would take away
with him. like it's really respectable
that like he he really didn't change
much. You know,
we're our goals with the algorithm are
to try to find videos each viewer is
going to, you know, engage with. This is
kind of recognizing the fact that yes,
we optimize and try to, you know, have
watch time as one of the key metrics we
look at, but we also know that not all
watch time is equally valuable to the
person watching. You know, you can
spend, you know, 15 minutes watching
something and then feel like,
me, I just kind of wasted my time. I
should have, you know, gone to bed
earlier or did something else
or maybe it was like really inspiring
and and and changes your life somehow.
And we want to be able to capture that
difference. I'd encourage creators to
think about what's going to be
satisfying, not just take the most time.
Obviously, everything starts with an
idea. And for me, um, I like to make my
videos a little longer. So, that's a big
part of what ideas we do. Um, so
I just don't see why it won't work.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and so like
what's interesting too is like before I
even promoted it, we were doing pretty
good sales because a lot of people when
they open up Uber Eats or GrubHub, they
just they're like, "Oh, it's that guy
from YouTube." They try it out. So it's
a lot of like sales from that where it's
just basically like free promo. It's
like so like having a virtual
restaurant, it's like having a billboard
in these delivery apps. And so my main
channel is 60% American and like
whatever the UK is like 10 15%. But on
my Espanol channel, it's 1% American.
It's literally a whole new audience.
No way.
Yeah. And so these are people like I'm
literally number one trending uh in
Mexico with videos that I uploaded two
years ago. Oh boy, that's definitely
changed over the years. I mean I watch a
ton of anime. I love anime. It's like
it's so creative and different and I
feel like that inspires me. So number
one's anime and then number two is like
I just try to watch a bunch of different
stuff. So, I'm just always learning
because um you know, you you can never
learn enough. And like there could be
just one simple thing you learn through
watching like an educational video that
just like changes how you think and like
allows you to just make better decisions
for the rest of your life. Cut out all
dull moments. Try not to overexlain
things. But camera just sits on me and
I'm just talking for 20 seconds. It
doesn't hold retention as well as, you
know, maybe me talking and other footage
popping up. There's things like that. If
you just, you know, there's literally in
your analytics, and most of you probably
know this, audience retention. you can
see where people click off. Just
literally go through your last 50
videos, write down where everyone
clicked off, and then just don't do
those things again.
Do you see yourself getting out of the
space anytime soon?
Never. I think YouTube's going to grow
even bigger. Like, of course.
Yeah. I mean, like, look at like 85% of
the the phones in the world run on
Android, which has YouTube
pre-installed, and Google obviously
funnels people into YouTube. So, I think
in 10 years, YouTube's going to be
ginormous, and I just want to be the
biggest YouTuber in the world in 10
years. I think YouTube's going to get
bigger and bigger and bigger. It comes
installed on every Android device, which
is like 85% of all operating systems.
And 90% of searches in the west are on
Google, which YouTube pops up on. I
think, you know, like I've told you guys
multiple times, gaming viewership in the
last two years has doubled. Like you can
throw up the tweet, the reports like
that's factual. In the last two years,
and two years ago, gaming was freaking
huge and it's doubled. I think YouTube
in 10 years is going to be bigger than
we all imagined. No, no freaking
doubting my mind. when you say study
YouTube is taking a YouTube video
whether it's yours or another really
popular video right we were talking
about Vox yesterday because that's the
closest thing to what we're trying to do
right is Vox and so I think one strategy
is to take that video and actually take
a notepad out and just write what's
happening in the video exactly
literally write down like the first 30
seconds what is happening and that's
what I did with your FBI video because I
was like okay let me just understand
what was Jimmy talking about what's
happening in this video and then when
you write it down you're like wait a
second 40 seconds has gone by this many
scene changes have happened.
How many was it? Like a dozen.
It was at over 12. Yeah, it was over 12
scene changes. There was introduction of
new information at each maybe
Yep.
you know 6 seconds
and you had added in a twist by 40
seconds where the telephone and the
entire time there's tension of him
chasing it.
Yep.
Exactly. A lot of people don't have that
desire that to to to learn and then
apply the information that has been
learned
which is fine. I mean like some people
do YouTube for fun, some people do it
just to pay off their mortgage of the
It's like everyone has different goals,
but if you really want to be the best in
the goddamn world, it's like Michael
Jordan says, you're not trying to get 1%
better. You're trying to get one 10,000%
better. And if you do that every day,
like it adds up.
We don't want to play the game. We want
to change the way the game is play.
We want to dominate in a way as in a
non-arrogant way. [laughter]
I like to end a series or a challenge on
a high note. Like you can just kind of
tell when people are getting a little
tired of it or, you know, I just gave
away a million dollars so I take hand
off of it. So now if I do last to do
blank wins 10 grand, it's just not
really the same effect. But some I'm
still gonna maybe occasionally do it.
But it's just like to keep things fresh
just again it's hard because so many of
them are different. Like if they're a
Fortnite creator, you know, I'm not
trying to trying to tell them to switch
games every month cuz then that might
kill their career. But for me me I just
like to, you know, don't milk a series
too hard. You know what I mean? Keep it
fresh and always try to introduce things
here and there and then if it if it
works well, take it and run with it for
a little bit and introduce something
else new. Because if I
best videos possible, that's the only
question you should ask me. Subscribers
don't matter. Views don't matter. I
mean, they do, but all that comes,
everything you want as a creator comes
for making the best videos possible. And
thumbnails, uh, but it's easier to, you
know, make thumbnails. The video part is
the hard part. And that's the thing that
you're known for. No one's known for
having, no one's like the biggest
YouTuber in the world because they have
the best thumbnails, right? It's also
because they have great phenomenal
content. You know what I Like that
that's the hard part that very few
people do well and that's what people
remember. You know what I mean? Like
you're not going to have some random
dude when you're walking down the street
of Paris go like, "Yo, that's the guy
with the great thumbnails." You know?
They're going to be like, "No, that's
the guy with the phenomenal videos that
whatever, you know, held his breath for
40 minutes underwater or things like
that." So that's a tip for you guys, but
also you guys watching. Ask, "How can I
make my videos better?" Do that every
single day for years, and then you'll
probably get views
at the end of the day. like the idea is
a big part of the video. You know, not
even just from clicking it, but whether
or not people watch it. You know, if
you're spending 24 hours in a corner,
that's just not as entertaining as
spending 24 hours in a jail cell. And at
the end of the day, like the only
difference there is the idea. It's not
the content. It's like it's what you
formulated beforehand. So, yeah, like I
like to spend an hour a day, you know,
it's it's Dwayne build recently. we have
a lot of ideas, but if you spend an hour
a day thinking of ideas, it's pretty
hard to not expect your channel to do
better, you know, um, unless you're just
not executing them properly. But the
only downside is a lot of people copy my
every move. And like I've spent 5 years
building how we do everything. And like
I've spent tens of millions of dollars
[ __ ] up so I can learn from it and
like hiring and how we do things. Any
YouTuber I ever collab with, they always
leave and they're like, "Oh, everything
makes a million times more sense now.
Like I know what I should do."
How do you keep from burning out? Like
if there's something that like I
genuinely just don't want to get out of
bed and do, that's a problem. In the end
of the day, it's just keeping it
enjoyable. So I have Chris and Chandler,
if you've seen my videos, they're really
fun to be around. So like, you know,
spending 24 hours in a desert by myself
would be miserable, but spending 24
hours with my boys and just hanging out
and stuff like that makes it so much
more fun. So for me I dude this might
not apply to like 90% of you but for me
creating an environment that's fun that
I get excited for and then you know
outsourcing things that just make me not
want to get out of bed. I don't know a
different way to phrase it. That's what
has [snorts] helped you know longterm
make me stay motivated. So two years ago
is when I got brought Chris on and
finally got a little bit of help. But
for like the first six seven years it
was all me. I would act like I was going
to college and then I would like just
sit in my car in the college campus and
just work on videos or edit or um just
work on a script or something and then
I'd come home and I'd be like, "Hey,
mom, college is great." And then I'd
keep working and um
that can't last for that long.
Yeah.
No. And thankfully, I don't I don't
remember what happened. I remember
sitting in like on the stairs in front
of one of the college classrooms. I was
like talking to James, one of the people
you met, and I was like, "Yo, I don't
know what the [ __ ] going on, but like
I've just been grinding grinding every
hour of the day, and I just made like 20
grand a month." I was like, I'm ready to
like tell mom I that I'm failing every
class and I and move out tomorrow. He's
like, okay. And I just I picture that
cuz it's like p.m. and I'm just
pacing. And then I'm like, yeah, mom, I
I'm I have zeros and everything. I
haven't been going. And I was like, I'll
move out tomorrow. And then I moved out
the next day. And she was so mad, but I
was starting to finally make money. And
so I could afford to move out.
If we are getting a little deep, it was
it was pretty hard. Like cuz like all
throughout high school, people would
tell me I was too obsessed and told me
like, "You shouldn't spend so much time
on this." My mom and I fought constantly
cuz like I just wanted to make videos
instead of doing school work. And when I
dropped out of college, she kicked me
out. You know, my mom's like really
sweet and she cares about me, but she's
like, "Go to college or leave." And I
was like, "I guess I have to leave." So
it was just it was a lot of ups and
downs and every part of the way to me
cuz I just knew that this is what I
wanted to do. I just I couldn't see a
life where I wasn't a YouTuber. It was
either I'm a YouTuber and half me or I'm
sad. That those are like the only two
outcomes. So, I just kept making videos
and persevering. And a big thing is I I
um tried to connect with other YouTubers
cuz a lot of what I know and what I've
gone over I wouldn't know without other
YouTubers. So, I I would constantly spam
like a dozen YouTubers a day. And like
the first few people that I finally got
in contact with, I learned so much off
of and they helped me understand how to
make an entertaining video and stuff
like that. Even at the end of the day,
like attention is so just powerful, you
know what I mean? And like in a way,
obviously
attention is powerful. That's the
thesis. 100%.
If you can like really like, you know,
just get big and just maintain it for a
decade. Like it's I honestly I just want
to keep making better and better and
better videos. And that doesn't always
mean money. And that's something I'm
coming to terms with, especially after
doing a million dollar giveaway. There,
you know, time, effort, creativity,
there are other ways to make a better
video. Mh.
So, I just want to keep making better
videos, do yearly fundraiser things, and
I I love YouTube. I want to be doing
this for the next 10 years. This is all
I want to do. I don't want to do
anything else with my life. I think it's
like 90% of the searches in the West or
whatever go through Google, and Google
obviously owns YouTube. So, obviously, a
lot of that will go to YouTube. And so,
I think, you know, YouTube's only going
to get bigger and bigger. It's a great
place to be. To be honest, I don't think
there's uh that many more lucrative uh
companies really out there than being a
YouTuber. just just to be free.
Yeah. If you're a YouTuber and you need
someone who can like actually like do a
lot of the highle things, just pay
someone to follow you around for 2 years
and study everything you do. After that,
they'll be pretty good at like doing
stuff for you.
He learned and adapted to the ways that
is that technical uh nuance digital uh
thinking and he's able to make decisions
for you and you know they're going to be
right.
Exactly.
He's able to be you behind the camera.
input like you kids like every decision
we make is like based on the thumbnail
and title and content and like even
things like knowing the factor that like
greater lighting at the beginning has
higher retention. If a video is a little
bit darker it's lower and like you know
like re-engagements and stuff like there
there's like thousands of inputs and
like someone you who you just train up
isn't going to get them all but if
someone follows you around they like
learn these thousand little things over
the course of a year. So then like their
like percentage of right decisions are
so much more in line with yours because
they like it's literally just like it's
not like I have to like motivate myself
or it's like this it's just what I do. I
just wake up and it just consumes me and
I just can't stop and I've never been
able to stop and if I stop I get
depressed.
What's the most satisfying part of the
process for you? Is it a successful
video? Is it the feedback from the
audience? Is it being the best?
It's really everything. Like it's like I
I can't pin it to one thing. It's like
being able to provide for my family,
being able to employ my friends, being
able to do crazy cool stuff, having
freedom, you know, the fame, the money,
everything. Like everything that like I
like all points towards just being a
better goddamn YouTuber. And like it
just makes everything that I want
better. I like I've literally been
hiring and and building systems for like
the last four to five years now to like
perfect how to like make a viral video.
Like we have it down to a science now. I
know what to do and it's easy to
replicate it, but figuring it out took
forever.
Absolutely. What what are you uh what
are you most excited about?
Most excited about?
Yeah. Right now?
I don't just YouTube. It's never I mean
it's like weird because everyone always
tells me eventually you'll get burnt
out, but it's just YouTube. That's what
gets me up in the morning and that's
what I live
and and it always has.
Always has. Hasn't changed.
Even when you were just saying the same
thing over and over.
Yeah, exactly. Since I was 13, I just I
I've been obsessed and it just won't go
away.
Bro, this is what Okay, so I' I've said
this like when you were doing those
videos definitely. I was like, "Yo, this
guy's [ __ ] like this guy's
this guy's a [ __ ] idiot."
No, I was like I was like, "This guy
this guy's interesting." Like, but I I
I'm mad at myself for not knowing that
any person that was willing to put
themselves through that type of mental
uh distress could literally do whatever
they wanted and is probably going to
like make it and figure it out. Yeah.