How Mr. Beast Became Successful on YouTube
Summary
TLDRIn this transcript from The Joe Rogan Experience, the guest shares their journey from a young YouTuber at age 11 to a successful content creator with millions of subscribers. They discuss the challenges of starting with no money or equipment, the evolution of YouTube's monetization, and the importance of reinvesting in their channel. The conversation highlights the power of obsession, learning from mistakes, and the impact of a supportive community. The guest also talks about their approach to wealth, living modestly, and their philanthropic efforts, emphasizing the value of focusing on passion and impact over material possessions.
Takeaways
- ๐ฎ A passion for YouTube began at a young age, with the creator starting at 11 and becoming obsessed with creating content.
- ๐ Early success with a video on the game 'Battle Pirates' led to 20,000 views, sparking a lifelong commitment to content creation.
- ๐ป Initial challenges included a lack of funds and equipment, but reinvesting earnings led to gradual improvements in video quality.
- ๐ The journey was not an overnight success; it involved a slow and steady climb to a large subscriber base.
- ๐ High school and community college were not the ideal environments for the creator, leading to a focus on YouTube instead.
- ๐ The turning point came after high school, with a decision to pursue YouTube full-time despite financial instability.
- ๐ค Forming a group with other dedicated YouTubers led to daily discussions and analyses, which significantly improved their content creation skills.
- ๐ Systematic study of successful videos, thumbnails, and viewer engagement helped refine their content strategy.
- ๐ Expanding into other languages and markets by dubbing videos in local languages, with the help of voice actors and translators.
- ๐ผ Building a team and a non-profit channel, demonstrating a commitment to philanthropy alongside the pursuit of personal success.
- ๐ก A modest lifestyle choice, with a focus on investing in content and philanthropy over material possessions and luxury.
Q & A
What was the first video uploaded by the guest on The Joe Rogan Experience?
-The guest's first video was a recording of a hacker destroying his base in a game called Battle Pirates, which unexpectedly got 20,000 views almost instantly.
How did the guest's early years on YouTube start?
-The guest started on YouTube at the age of 11, initially not making any money. He saved up for months to buy a microphone and then a computer, always reinvesting in his content creation.
What was the turning point for the guest in terms of monetization on YouTube?
-The turning point was after the guest graduated from high school, when he was only making a couple of hundred dollars a month. He then decided to go all-in on YouTube, working 15 hours a day on content creation.
How did the guest's mother react to his decision to focus on YouTube full-time?
-Initially, the guest's mother was not supportive and did not understand the potential of YouTube as a career. However, after the guest started making significant income, she became more accepting and proud of his success.
What was the guest's approach to learning and improving his YouTube content?
-The guest and a group of other small YouTubers would talk every day, studying what makes a good video, what goes viral, and analyzing various aspects of successful content. They called these daily sessions 'daily masterminds'.
How did the guest expand his YouTube presence to other languages?
-The guest created dubbed versions of his videos in different languages, hiring voice actors and translators to make his content accessible to a wider audience. He even secured famous local celebrities to dub his voice in different markets.
What is the guest's perspective on wealth and material possessions?
-The guest believes that chasing material possessions like cars and houses is not a fulfilling way to live. He prefers to live modestly and invest in his content and philanthropy.
How did the guest's experience with a break-in at his home affect his lifestyle?
-After his home was broken into and everything was stolen, the guest realized that material possessions do not bring happiness. This experience also led him to upgrade his living situation for security reasons.
What was the guest's strategy to grow his YouTube channel?
-The guest focused on creating content consistently, learning from his and others' mistakes, and constantly improving his skills in video editing and understanding what trends and content resonated with viewers.
How has the guest's life changed since the beginning of his YouTube journey?
-From making a dollar a day to now having millions of subscribers and over 100 employees, the guest has grown his channel exponentially. He attributes this success to his hyper-obsession with YouTube and continuous learning.
What is the name of the non-profit channel the guest runs?
-The non-profit channel is called Beast Philanthropy, where they do a lot of work to help people in need.
Outlines
๐ฎ From Humble Beginnings to YouTube Stardom
The speaker reflects on their journey starting with YouTube at the age of 11, and how it evolved over the years. Initially not making any money, they reinvested their earnings into better equipment, such as a microphone and a computer. Despite the lack of views and monetization in the early years, the speaker remained dedicated and focused on improving their content. A turning point came after high school when they managed to make a significant amount from their videos, allowing them to pursue YouTube full-time. The speaker emphasizes the importance of passion and persistence in achieving success.
๐ Growth Through Collaboration and Learning
The speaker discusses how they and a group of fellow YouTubers, all starting from small subscriber counts, collaborated intensively to improve their content. They spent a thousand days studying what makes a good video, analyzing thumbnails, pacing, and virality. This systematic approach to learning and growth led to exponential improvement and eventual success, with all members of the group reaching millions of subscribers. The speaker also highlights the value of learning from mistakes and the power of a shared vision among collaborators.
๐ Expanding Global Reach with Dubbed Content
The speaker shares their strategy for expanding their YouTube channel's reach by dubbing content into different languages. They explain the process of hiring voice actors and translators to create dubbed versions of their videos, which have seen significant success, particularly in non-English speaking markets. The speaker emphasizes the importance of quality control and the excitement of local audiences when they hear familiar voices in the dubbed content. They also mention their commitment to living modestly and investing in their non-profit work, reflecting a philosophy of not chasing material wealth.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กYouTube
๐กMonetization
๐กContent Creation
๐กGrowth
๐กCommunity College
๐กDubbing
๐กSubscribers
๐กPhilanthropy
๐กPassion
๐กMastermind Group
๐กContent Localization
Highlights
The interviewee started The Joe Rogan Experience at 11 years old and has been doing it for over a decade.
Initially, the interviewee made no money from YouTube, earning only a dollar a day in the first few years.
The interviewee's first video got 20,000 views instantly due to a gaming incident, which hooked him on YouTube from day one.
The interviewee was obsessed with YouTube from a young age, spending every day for a decade focused on it.
The interviewee's mother was skeptical of his YouTube career, expecting him to work at McDonald's.
The interviewee and his friends, all small YouTubers, would study and discuss what makes a good video for hours every day, leading to rapid growth in their channels.
The interviewee's channels have nearly 200 million subscribers across everything.
The interviewee's videos are dubbed into other languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese, with famous local voice actors to appeal to a wider audience.
The interviewee has over 100 employees working across his various channels and enterprises.
Despite his success, the interviewee lives modestly, choosing not to indulge in luxuries like a Ferrari.
The interviewee runs a non-profit channel, Beast Philanthropy, which focuses on helping others.
The interviewee had a phase where he spent money on expensive items, but after a break-in where everything was stolen, he realized material possessions didn't make him happy.
The interviewee's first videos were deleted out of self-consciousness when a friend found his channel at age 13.
The interviewee's content was initially low-quality, with no microphone and using an old laptop, but he saved up to invest in better equipment.
The interviewee dropped out of community college to focus on YouTube full-time, which led to a strained relationship with his mother.
The interviewee's mother now fully supports his YouTube career and is proud of his achievements.
The interviewee's advice for those who are not interested in school is that they can still succeed by focusing on their passions, as he did with YouTube.
The interviewee's success was not expected, as he was awkward and had acne growing up in a small town in North Carolina.
Transcripts
the joe rogan experience
yeah it's it's it's been crazy because
i've been doing it since i was 11. and
really yeah so now i'm 23 and so it's
just like basically every year just
gotten crazier and crazier and yeah i
used to make a dollar a day back well
the first few years i wasn't even making
money off youtube but once i started
making money i was making a dollar a day
and i saved up for a couple months i
bought a microphone saved up for half a
year i got a computer and i've just
always reinvested it and so it's like
literally just all
i mean i was like as awkward as they
came uh no money no nothing and i just
basically just obsessed over youtube
every day for a decade are your first
episodes available the 11 when you're 11
years old uh no because i i had a friend
when i was 13 that found my channel and
so i deleted like all the videos i got
really self-conscious uh oh no no but so
everything from 13 and up is there and
yeah they're terrible so that's still
cool yeah so what did you do when you
first started like what was the first
idea uh the very first video um
weirdly enough i i played this stupid
game and some hacker like killed my base
when i was 11. and so i uploaded it and
my first video got 20 000 views like
instantly because it was like all the
people that played the game was like oh
[ย __ย ] you can hack in this game it's a
game called battle parts i guarantee you
no one what's it called battle parts no
one here has ever heard of battle card
battle pirates battle pirates yeah it's
a really small game but i uploaded that
and i got 20 000 views and that was
probably the best thing that could have
ever happened to me because then i was i
was hooked from day one literally like
most people it takes hundreds of videos
before you get like one view and somehow
the very first video i uploaded at 11
got like 20 000 views and then i was
just like oh i fell in love and i've
been hooked ever since wow so it was
kind of almost by accident uh
essentially yeah it was that and then
because this was way before youtube was
even a thing like you know no one was
really a youtuber hardly anyone made
money when did youtube first get when
did you launch
like 2006 or whatever youtube was a
thing but like the partner program
wasn't really a thing no one was making
money right it was definitely back
before it was cool like when i was doing
youtube when i was 14 and 15 like it now
you know it's cool if you want to be a
youtuber in high school or middle school
back then like no one gave a [ย __ย ] you
know i mean it's like you're just
worried they would try to play your
videos in class or make funny or stuff
like that for it so but it how did it
evolve to what it is now was it a a
vision was it a slow sort of a gradual
increase in numbers and yeah i mean it's
about as slow as it gets uh i mean i can
so like when i was a young teenager i
was getting no views had no money had no
equipment so for the most part it was
just like i was just trying to scrounge
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 didn't 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
at high quality i have a microphone i'm
like 15 and i just kept going and going
um
trying to figure out like what are some
of like the the hot spots like i
essentially 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 only making a couple
hundred bucks a month so i graduated
high school and my mom was like either
move out or go to a 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 zeros and so now the clock
had started because like once my mom
found out i was screwed um were you
aware of that like yeah you're running a
risk yeah exactly 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 [ย __ย ] 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
you know i came home and i was like yeah
i haven't been going to college and i
moved out the next day my mom almost had
a heart attack because she she didn't
understand youtube or anything back then
and she just like she was like man this
guy's gonna work at mcdonald's i wasted
all this time like i invested 18 years
and this is what i get where were you
living what part of the country uh north
carolina that's where i've lived almost
my whole life and so how does she feel
now oh she's great she's she like she's
happy yeah she loves it you know put her
in front of her friends she loves
talking about it she obviously oh i
always knew little jimmy was gonna be a
success no she doesn't try to hide it we
would fight all the time even in high
school like you know i i never once
studied i never i literally wouldn't
even take my books home like i i legit
don't think i studied once all of high
school at my house um and so we would
fight a lot i didn't have the best
grades and so i would i would just make
videos and she didn't understand it
especially because back then it was just
a whole different world like yeah there
wasn't really a thing as a full-time
youtuber and stuff and so there's a lot
of a lot of arguments a lot of drama but
ended up working out she's happy the
thing is it's like nobody saw this
coming right so you can't
you can't blame her especially me in
like the middle of north carolina in a
small town i had like horrible acne i'm
you know especially back then really
awkward it's like no one like people
would have bet a million dollars that i
wouldn't be a youtuber you know it makes
no sense
um but i just like i have you know hyper
obsession and i love this and you know
you give it enough time anyone can solve
it well there's a lesson in that for
people really like to just if you do
have a hyper obsession or something
there's a lot of people that think that
because they're bad at school or because
they're not interested in school they're
destined to be a loser yeah and that's
not true you you can the problem is
school is too rigid like regular public
school systems sit down underemploy
underpaid teacher
disinterested not really connected with
the work you're not connected with there
you just can't wait to go home and do
what you like to do exactly and you get
this thought in your head like oh my god
i'm going to be a loser i mean that's
how i was when i was in high school i
thought i was going to be a loser well
and you take it a step further because i
thought especially if you're like
extremely passionate about something at
a young age where most kids aren't then
you're even it's more exacerbated that
it's like you know i i didn't talk to
anyone i heard they had any friends
because i was so obsessed with youtube
as back then just no one cared so it's
like i thought i was just like uh just
didn't even know how to speak like
literally i i just couldn't hold a
conversation with a single person
because people just tell me all you talk
about is youtube and i would try to talk
about something else but back then i was
so hyper obsessed i literally just
didn't know how to but what were you
obsessed about were you obsessed about
other channels your channel everything
from like learning how to editing the
pacing of the videos like ideas what's
going viral what's trending what's hot
especially back then i had no idea what
worked i mean i had to like self-teach
myself everything even you know frame
rate on cameras coloring of the video
just stuff like that and how did you
learn did you learn from youtube yeah
well so like youtube videos and
tutorials or something most of my growth
came actually after uh i graduated high
school basically what i did was i
somehow found these other like four
lunatics we were three of us were
college dropouts one was a high school
dropout and one i don't know he just
like quit his job we were all super
small youtubers and we basically talked
every day for a thousand days in a row
and did nothing but just like hyper
study like what makes a good video what
makes a good thumbnail what what's good
pacing like how to go viral and we would
just call it like daily masterminds we
would just get on skype every morning
and like some days like i'd get on skype
at 7am and i'd be in the call until like
10 pm and then i go to bed i wake up and
i do it again and you know we do things
like just take a thousand thumbnails and
see if like there's a correlation to the
brightness of the thumbnail to how many
views it got or like you know like
videos that get over 10 million views
it's like how often do they cut the
camera angles they're like things like
that really so you you micro analyze
everything yeah just i mean for like we
were very religious about it and so
that's that's where most of my knowledge
came from is i just surround myself with
these lunatics and just every day like
we didn't do anything we had no life um
but everybody had sort of a similar
vision yeah exactly so we all had like
10 20 000 subscribers when we met and by
the time we stopped talking we all had
millions of subscribers and we we all
hit a million subscribers like within a
month it's crazy because it's like if
you envision a world where you're trying
to be great at something and it's just
like you learning and [ย __ย ] up and
learning from your mistakes also my mom
told me not to curse sorry mom if
someone could just like edit out the
swear words and give it to me mom yeah
so i could give it to my mom to listen
to that would be great um but like you
know you mess up you learn from your
mistake you must have learned from
mistake you in two years you know might
have learned from 20 mistakes or if you
have like four other people who are also
messing up and when they uh learn from
the mistake they teach you what they
learn stuff like hypothetically you two
years down the road have learned like
five times more of the amount of stuff
so it just like helps you grow
exponentially way quicker if that makes
any sense it does it does so but it's
interesting that you thought about it
that way in sort of a systematic
approach like exactly this is not dumb
luck
uh no i mean it was like like they say
ten thousand hours of math or something
probably put like 40 50 000 hours
we're talking like every day all day
like literally nothing we had no friends
outside of the group that was your life
i'm actually rereading that book right
now that malcolm gladwell book outliers
that talks about that ten thousand hours
principle it totally applies to what you
did a hundred percent i mean like it's
it sounds like you were just all day
every day
and which makes sense and what do you
have now 90 million subscribers uh well
we across everything we're closing in on
200 million subscribers
yeah because uh have you seen our dub
channels no uh can you pull that up just
search mr beast and estimate so we
actually which i'm kind of curious why
you don't do this we do our videos in
other languages as well really yeah and
so and what's i i can't wait to
show you this because i actually have a
really cool stuff
they're just going to be cool to the
channel so you can watch who does this
uh we do all your positions
his videos yeah we have voice actors and
everything wow so these are the exact
same videos on my main channel but we we
pay voice actors to dub over them we
translate the text and the video
everything mr beast and espanol yeah
that was actually one of the fastest
growing channels last year and it just
started so smart okay now click on a
video so we can kind of hear it
boy miss amigos
it's all in spanish like that's dope
yeah so that's uh now just
i won't pull them all up but now the
other countries yeah search mr beast
brazil if we do it oh
so you got a portuguese translator as
well yeah wow that's dope yeah same
thing i love it oh a man
what a great idea man yeah and so
because you know uh if you google it
it's like only whatever less than ten
percent of the world speaks english so
ninety percent of the world can't even
enjoy your content and when i realized
that i was like wait a minute okay
ninety percent of my the world can't
even watch this stuff um and so go back
to the spanish one real quick because
that's our biggest one and sorry for
anyone watching who doesn't have the
visuals so set it to the most popular
you'll like we just started doing this
like six months ago and it's crazy like
how viral some of these videos are about
51 million yeah
and the problem with me is like i don't
know if someone's going to translate if
they're going to say exactly what i said
well you have quality control so we have
like before video gets uploaded we have
three different people who basically
write the transcript and then if the
words don't line up on all three then
or sorry
let me think about the process we have
something like that because i was
worried about that as well i think we we
take the original transcript and then we
have it dubbed and then uh after stuff
we have like two different people right
out and if it doesn't line up with the
original then there's like uh it's a red
flag and we look at it interesting yeah
we built some system where i don't have
to worry about that oh and the final
point is in spanish the guy who does my
dubs is the same guy who dubbed
spider-man we managed to convince him so
a lot of those comments are like why
does he sound like spider-man or is mr v
spider-man that's hilarious yeah and so
what we do is when we go into these
markets we get celebrities to do my my
voice so then like the local people in
the language freak out so like all right
japan's coming up and i can't say who
but we secured like a giant voice actor
from an anime to do my dubs and whenever
we launch in japan i know they're going
to lose their freaking minds that's a
brilliant idea that's so smart so you
have how many employees then uh i mean
across everything over 100 i don't know
wow and what are you 23 yeah that's
crazy
yeah it's wild 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 to
their young 20s so they'd be wearing
that in their 30s i just lucked out and
found it when i was really young it's
that but it's also your vision the the
fact one of the things that i was really
impressed by when i started looking into
you after my daughter introduced me is
that you
invest so much money
into the show
i don't i don't why do i need money
so you don't like go crazy you don't
have a ferrari or anything nuts no i i
think living your life chasing like a
nicer nicer car and a bigger and bigger
box of and it's kind of like a dumb way
to go about life yeah yeah so i i
actually funny enough i lived in like a
super below average home and i kind of
learned why famous people don't live in
uh below average homes because someone
broke in and stole everything i owned
sandy i had to get a little nicer house
for security reasons but before i was
robbed i mean like my place was like a
little duplex 700 a month you get a
roommate's 360 split
right yes and uh just drive a normal car
well now i drive a tesla just because of
the you know getting off of gas and
stuff like right but yeah
so you don't go crazy at all with cash
you don't i really try not to i think
that's like just a bad way to go about
life also it is a little hypocritical
because i run a non-profit and you know
we uh have you seen our beast
philanthropy channel no
can you pull that up as well we do a lot
of stuff for helping people and so also
if i lived in a 10 million dollar
mansion while i'm feeding people and
trying to help people else in my eyes
it's also a little hypocritical as well
so in every area i just i feel like it's
just better if i just live below that's
you're just very wise for a young man
because a lot of 23 year olds will be
falling out of their [ย __ย ] mind right
zoom out well yeah i also have some
stories about that too but you do um
yeah because i did have a phase where i
did ball out a little bit and then i
just i realized like yeah this doesn't
make me happy what did you do during the
ball and out phase uh i bought i ate and
i also bought some designer clothes like
some thousand dollar shirts and stuff
like that uh ironically all of which was
stolen when my house was broken into so
it's kind of perfect so i was like i
don't know if i really care about this
stuff anymore and then someone just
stole all my expensive [ย __ย ] i was like
perfect
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