1 Hour Mega Compilation of MrBeast YouTube Advice

Just fail.

A lot of people get analysis paralysis.

There's no such thing as a perfect

video. Like someone should always call

you and get on your video cuz 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 upload 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."

Yeah.

Wow, you you really you 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 for my 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 cuz 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 an

average of 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. And 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 end and just get to work and start

uploading. Like, all you need to do is

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 100

are going to suck.

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.

Literally everything. And I think

spending time with you here, what I

notice is that's actually not just

money, it's time.

Yeah.

You also reinvest all of your time.

live and breathe this.

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 think I just had the blessing of

finding what I loved at a young age. So

like, cuz 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 on to how to

get people to click and to 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.

Now, 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

a T. 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 upload 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, obsess,

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 time What time do you sleep?

Uh, right now usually around 3:00 a.m.

Virality is not accidental. Or sometimes

it can be, of course, but

It's It's just not.

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 do we have? Two? 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 can be

trained. I I

Is Is Is collaborative amplification.

Like you're so good at that, right? Just

Bro, on your walks, you you you do your

hour walk at night, you go, "I'll just

stro- scroll through my contacts and

call someone, see how they're doing,

pick their brain a little bit." Like

Exactly. So much to be learned.

Yep.

And you're so good at that.

thing is like that's what's sad is cuz

so many like small YouTubers, they see

it as like, "Oh, I don't Look, I [ __ ]

I see this all the time." Like a guy

with a million subscribers. Well, I'll

we'll 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 dumb ass [ __ ]

You've pulled less views in the last 3

years than like I know people have on a

single video." Like you teaching him

isn't going to do anything.

[laughter]

Uh, 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 them

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

didn't. They were terrible, you know

what I mean? But at the time I thought

they did, right? I'm 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 can

tell you exactly why. The videos were

just [ __ ] horrible, you know what I

mean?

Yeah. 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. No wasted

words, short, concise, and then tension.

Vi- So 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

views, not 10% more 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. Uh cuz 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 those

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

made in over like the last, you know,

whatever, eight years,

um just slowly grew into whatever I do

now.

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

Yeah. Every six 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? Yeah.

the time. Um now, I know you're about to

ask me, so let me let me think of some.

Like

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?

Right.

And then, you know, you can't do it. All

right. So, that's an example of one that

failed. So, like imagine world 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 100

fuck-ups, you could be like 300 fuck-ups

deep in learning. 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]

Yeah.

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 this when

you when you open the door to me for

like 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'm I'm I don't

want to ask for help.

is you've got to give more 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 cuz 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 So are you you're just constantly

asking questions or

All the time.

Really?

way you can ever stay on top is if

you're you're 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 know,

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." Kind of

thing. So, 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

most part, it was just like I was just

trying to scrounge money so I could buy

equipment, cuz 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 6 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. I'm like 15. And I just kept

going and going. For the last like 8 or

9 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 lame videos, they

just want to serve you one good one. So,

it makes sense logically. 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, their 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?

Like not meanly, but it's just like,

"Yeah, like

Just honestly.

Yeah, I'm like, "I can tell you're 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 didn't you do this, or the payoff,

or whatever?" These are 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 click-through rate is

just like the title and thumbnail and

and did they click it, but a lot of it

too is did they enjoy your last video?

You know what I mean? Like is 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

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 the 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 then at the very beginning he starts

talking about literally anything else,

then you are like, "Oh, this is bull-

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

matched the expectation." 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 is 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 want 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

C cam and just you can just talk for 10

seconds, but 3 seconds in cutting to a B

cam and then a C 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 them,

right? Last Leaf Circle wins 10 grand.

If there is a low moment halfway

through, you're going to watch to the

end cuz you want to see who wins the 10

grand. Um so, having a good payoff at

the end.

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 or

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 would 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

untalkative. 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 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 just like a thousand or ten thousand

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

filmmaking, just make a hundred videos,

improve something each time, and then

talk to me on your hundred first 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.

And well, 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

like that.

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

you [snorts] started taking those like

therapeutic late night walks.

Yeah. I call him all the time. I get

like one out of 10 times he answers.

Like you can elevate your content by

being more creative, spending more

money,

Yep.

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 in in 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.

Yes, let's talk about that [ __ ]

Well, let's say you lose money in a

video, you're like, well, Mr. Beast

Burgers is popping off this week.

Yes, weirdly enough, the best thing for

my mental health was giving in to my

innate 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 cuz there are just some

nights where I don't want to sleep and

whatever reason I feel compelled to go

all night and I just give in to it. And

I feel that's where I feel the happiest

and and then you know, it's typically

like 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 at 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

ambitions 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?

Yeah. 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. So

but she forced me to go to community

college and 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

this 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

zeros. [laughter]

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

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

cuz 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,

Yeah, the the first thing that comes to

my mind is something as simple as when I

counted 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

to be You have to work on multiple

videos at a time cuz most of 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's 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'd 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 uh 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 al- I would always reply. And

so, some people would just be like, "I

wonder how long it'll take for him 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 pee 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 no-go. Like, you can't do that.

It's just no. No.

Do you ever take days off?

So, I found giving in to 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, even 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

whatever, different people, you're going

to 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 of

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 I was like a [ __ ] freak

of 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 freak of nature, you

just haven't found people that have the

same interests.

task is not to feel sorry for yourself

or somehow change yourself. It's more to

find the

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 this 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 TikToker. 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. Like

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 when 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 we woke up to the time

we went to bed. That's literally all we

did. 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 mentor this one guy

just for fun. I started he was a friend

medium sized YouTuber. He was doing like

I think he was doing 20,000 like he 10th

a month in revenue like 10,000 on one

channel and like 8,000 a month on

another channel and this month he

actually just had his highest revenue

month ever. He did $400,000 of revenue

and just by like listening to what I I

taught him. I know we were able to like

20x his revenue and I was just like with

me just once a week just telling him he

was an idiot and what to do. And 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 that

TELL THEM JIMMY, TELL THEM.

I MEAN THEY DO and and you have to like

you have to

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 well 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 cuz 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 it 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 The 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's so many

different ways you can achieve what you

want. You really got to push through

those which not a lot of people do. You

have to have like a more of a dominant

personality and just a willingness to

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 is very imperative. Like we we

take a personality test and like just

having a 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.

ever feel burnt out? Like are there

times where you feel like

I think uh 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 3 days in a row I'll be like

okay like kind of want to like take half

of a day off and like chill or like I'll

feel it coming and stuff like that but

this is what I'm doing till the day I

die. I don't care. Like I love this more

than anything. Nothing's ever brought me

a a fraction of the joy.

I've seen people literally start a

channel 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 helped 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 stair stepped up every day and

so it's 1 million percent 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 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.

So they'll be able to 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 their their video ideas just aren't

that entertaining.

Do you think your your biggest strength

is probably your curiosity? That you're

you're down to do anything and you're

down

Well, so I think what you have to do is

you have to always be learning. All

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's 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. It'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 in the stand, like that's how I

would try to do something different. I

would just try to take [clears throat]

intake a bunch of different uh

information, see what spawns my head. So

I try to always be learning. End point,

I'm trying to always expand my uh

knowledge well in my head with new

things that 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.

you it was the one about the hype house.

Yeah, why everyone's leaving the hype

house. Yeah. And I showed them on my

phone. I was like, I I the title and

thumbnail made me tap and then the red

bar was like so tiny you could barely

see it cuz I clicked off of it 8

seconds. I was like, "This is me and my

house 4 days ago before you came down.

Clearly you just didn't grab me."

Yeah.

And 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

Yeah, well, what was it? It was exactly

40%.

Yeah.

And and I I told him the remedy for this

is they need better friends. 100%. No

[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.

[laughter]

Well, it's hard because being uh

it's like it's a weird balance cuz 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 3

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

it's like that relentless obsession of

YouTube and reinvesting got us to that

point. And so building the team to level

Like if I didn't know how to go viral,

it doesn't matter if I had a a thousand

employees. It wouldn't

like give you. So it was I think for me

it was it was good that I got 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 cuz 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

Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, they try

to build it before basically it's ready

to be

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 cuz I have faith and I I

know that if we film this video, it will

do well It's cuz I've spent a decade of

my life hyper obsessing over YouTube and

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 cuz you might

lose $2 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 and [ __ ] on your video cuz it could

be better. Like that's cuz 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 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're like, oh we

need our team to hold us accountable.

Yeah, cuz sometimes I'm like, no that

that doesn't actually matter. Like that

would be an extra two hours of work that

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.

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 three 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

Literally.

Yeah, some

some other zero-dollar

extreme challenges, get some attention,

take that money. I don't know, maybe

make a line of paperclips. I think those

are cheap and stretch it across a state

or something and then I know

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, do the thumbnail of me just

swimming in the middle of the ocean.

Like I I don't want to do it now cuz

there's easier stuff, but I would do it.

Like Strait of Gibraltar, it's like four

4 miles or something. You could swim

that.

Yeah, but then you can 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

just suffer for 4 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 hand you a camera and I had a

camera and I was like, "Okay, if he tags

me, he gets a hundred 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 I don't like to waste energy

worrying about that type of stuff. The

end of the day, it's like it doesn't

hurt me, so

Right.

And 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.

Yeah, that's it.

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. And so it's like a weird

system, a weird situation, but I love

it, but sometimes I don't.

It's a 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 cuz they're giving it 100% of

their time. And that's like the OP part

about hiring people.

Where is the source of that learning

even for you now?

It's uh

Just look at the metrics.

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, "Yeah,

teach me something." Uh you just have to

have a never-ending 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 wanted to

produce, if that makes any sense.

Anything we make off of reacts get 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'd say, "Oh, this is

working well." And then we started

reacts and now we just take a few

hundred grand a month from that and 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 fast-paced and

so sometimes you do have to give up a

little bit of the story in order to keep

the videos moving. If anything, it would

be that. Like, a lot of people think the

only reason we get views is cuz 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 that 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

and 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 special." You know what

I mean?

What I found is like yeah, like

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 then I ingest them cuz 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. I 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 would I had a

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

in 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 or 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 god damn food on the

planet. Like that's the type of opinion

you need. Like you need something like,

how to get 100 million views on YouTube.

But 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?

[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 be like, how to

go viral. That's not going to cause

someone to go damn. If I don't click

that, I'm not going to 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.

Wow, okay.

Yeah, that was like I mean, I would act

like I was studying, but you know, I was

filming 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, 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 it where it's not

arrogant. I just believe in what we're

doing, you know what I mean?

Back then, like how much do you think

you believed when you when you recorded

that video that that was actually going

to

Oh, no. I mean, those were just

different times. I was in the middle of

[ __ ] nowhere, Arcadia. So, it's like

everyone, you know, constantly wanted to

remind me you're not going to be a

YouTuber. Go out, 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 word's flowers,

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." You 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 watch 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 think 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

that 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 You know, PR

manager 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 a

That's it.

I know when we have a really good video.

Exactly.

Like I know it's really good and that

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 9%

of the time, then it's not a good enough

video. 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

last the thing I want to leave people

with is people think it's like, "Oh

well, 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 I 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?

Yeah. To my like business obsessed brain

cell. 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 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.

And wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

do that thing. And that's that's all I

do. I wake up and I do that thing. And

that's that's all I do. I wake up and I

I do that thing.

And it's funny also talking about like

obsession and stuff like this cuz it's

funny how it changes. So I when you're

like 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."

Right. It's seen as 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.

Which I want. I don't want yes men. And

they're they're like

they're

James, you know, the CEO who helped me

build all this

is very adamant. Like we're not yes men

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 Jimmy could be missing that

I could provide that could help him make

a more updated decision. Like I'm not

God, you know what I mean? Like I'm

human and make errors. And so don't take

what I say as the Bible.

You 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 you know viewers

happy and stuff like that. I mean, I

sure comments, likes, stuff like that.

But at the end of the day, they want you

to click, watch the video, click, watch

the video and just do that as long as

possible. So to me, what's important is

click-through 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 do

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 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,

Right.

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 end game, 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 that 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 freak. Blah blah

blah." to like, "Oh, like whoa,

congrats. Look at you. You you hire

people and provide jobs. Like you're

cool. Good job." You know what I mean?

Yeah, that's 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 know-it-all.

[laughter]

I swear, I'm still learning stuff every

day. When filming though, I like to try

to just put it I I feel like a lot of

creators have a mindset of 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. Try to make sure we're doing

everything we can, no matter how

expensive it 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 Leaf Circle wins 10

grand, obviously people are going to

watch to the end because they want to

see who won the money. So, have it 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 invariable is like

90% of creators, like if they had that

number one spot in that long, they would

would have been such egotistical pricks

to 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 and 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 from him. Like it's

really respectable that like he he

really didn't change much, you know?

Mhm.

Where 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, "Nah, I

just kind of wasted my time. I should

have, you know, gone to bed earlier or

did something else." Yeah.

Yeah.

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, you know?

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 which is basically like free promo.

And it's like so like having a virtual

restaurant 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 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 cuz

uh

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

overexplain things. If the camera just

sits on me and I'm just talking for 20

seconds, it doesn't hold their attention

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?

I think YouTube's going to grow even

bigger. Like

Of course.

Yeah, I mean like it look at it like 85%

of the the phones in the world run on

Android, which has YouTube preinstalled

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 best YouTuber in the

world in 10 years. I think YouTube's

going to get bigger 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 2 years has

doubled. Like you can throw up the

tweet, the reports, like that's factual.

In the last 2 years. And 2 years ago,

gaming was freaking huge and it's

doubled. I think YouTube in 10 years is

going to be bigger than we all imagine.

I have no no freaking doubt in 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. Cuz

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 cuz 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.

was it? Like a dozen?

It was at over 12, yeah.

Unbelievable, yeah.

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

The telephone pole and the entire time

there's tension of him chasing me. 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

house. Like everyone has different

goals. But if you really want to be the

best in goddamn world, it's like Michael

Jordan says, you're not trying to get 1%

better, you're trying to get 1 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 played.

to dominate, in a way. As an

non-arrogant way.

Yeah. [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 last to 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 going to

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 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

Yeah.

introduce things here and there, and

then if it if it works, we'll take it

and run with it for a little bit, then

introduce something else new. Because if

I

as few as 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

from making the best videos possible,

and thumbnails.

But it's easier to, you know, make

thumbnails. The video part's 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 mean? 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 being 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 and I as

Dwindle 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 then 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. At 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 for 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, long-term

make me stay motivated. So, 2 years ago

is when I got brought Chris on and

finally got a little bit of help, but

for like the first 6-7 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. 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 I'll move out

tomorrow." He's like, "Okay." And I just

I pictured that cuz it's like 11:00

p.m., and I'm just pacing, and I'm like,

"Yeah, Mom, I

I'm I have zeros in everything. I

haven't been going." I was like, "Yeah,

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.

And if we are getting a little deeper,

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 schoolwork. 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 in 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 happy, or I'm sad.

That was those were 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 I like in a way,

obviously, you

Attention attention is powerful. That's

the thesis. 100% 100%.

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 are, you know,

time, effort, creativity. There are

other ways to make a better video. 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 in 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

that many more lucrative companies

really out there than being a YouTuber.

Just just to be frank.

Yeah. If you're a YouTuber and you need

someone who can like actually like do a

lot of the high-level things, just pay

someone to follow you around for 2 years

and study everything you do. And they'll

after that, they'll be pretty good at

like doing stuff for you.

He learned and adapted to the ways that

is that technical nuanced digital

thinking.

And he's able to make decisions for you

and you know they're going to be right.

Exactly.

He's he's able to be you behind the

camera.

Like you get Like every decision we make

is like based on the thumbnail, title,

and content, and like even things like

knowing in the factor that like greater

lighting at the beginning has higher

retention. If a video's a little bit

darker, it's lower. And like, you know,

like re-engagements and stuff. Like

there there's like a 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 some

things over the course of a year. So,

then like, their like percentage of

right decisions are so much more in line

with yours cuz they like it's literally

just like it's not like I have to like

motivate myself or 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?

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 god

damn YouTuber and like it just makes

everything that I want better. I like

I've literally been hiring and and

building systems for like last four to

five years now to like perfect how to

like make a viral video. Like we have it

down to a science.

Yeah.

Now I know what to do and you it's easy

to replicate it. But figuring it out

took forever.

Absolutely. What What do you uh what are

you most excited about?

Most excited about?

Yeah, right now.

I don't I just YouTube. It's never I

mean it's like weird cuz everyone always

tells me eventually you'll get burnt

out, but that's just YouTube. That's

what gets me up in the morning and

that's what I live for.

it always has.

Always has. Hasn't changed.

Even when you were just saying the same

thing over and over.

Yeah, exactly. And since I was 13, I

just I I've been obsessed and I just

won't go away.

Bro, this is what Okay, so I've I've

said this like when you were doing those

videos, definitely I was like, "Yo, this

guy's [ __ ] like this guy is

This guy's a [ __ ] idiot.

No, I was like I was like this guy this

guy's interesting like

I 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 and

and figure it out.

Yeah.