How Mr. Beast Became Successful on YouTube

Summary

In 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

• 🎮 A passion for YouTube began at a young age, with the creator starting at 11 and becoming obsessed with creating content.
• 🚀 Early success with a video on the game 'Battle Pirates' led to 20,000 views, sparking a lifelong commitment to content creation.
• 💻 Initial challenges included a lack of funds and equipment, but reinvesting earnings led to gradual improvements in video quality.
• 📈 The journey was not an overnight success; it involved a slow and steady climb to a large subscriber base.
• 🎓 High school and community college were not the ideal environments for the creator, leading to a focus on YouTube instead.
• 🌟 The turning point came after high school, with a decision to pursue YouTube full-time despite financial instability.
• 🤝 Forming a group with other dedicated YouTubers led to daily discussions and analyses, which significantly improved their content creation skills.
• 📊 Systematic study of successful videos, thumbnails, and viewer engagement helped refine their content strategy.
• 🌐 Expanding into other languages and markets by dubbing videos in local languages, with the help of voice actors and translators.
• 💼 Building a team and a non-profit channel, demonstrating a commitment to philanthropy alongside the pursuit of personal success.
• 🏡 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

00:00

🎮 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.

05:01

🚀 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.

10:02

🌐 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.

Keywords

💡YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users can upload, share, and view videos. In the context of the video, it is the main medium through which the speaker has built his career since the age of 11, starting with earning a dollar a day and eventually growing to a significant online presence and income source.

💡Monetization

Monetization refers to the process of generating income from a digital platform, such as YouTube, through means like advertising, sponsorships, and partnerships. In the video, the speaker discusses how he began to monetize his YouTube channel, which allowed him to invest in better equipment and ultimately grow his channel.

💡Content Creation

Content creation involves the production of various forms of content, such as videos, articles, or podcasts, to engage an audience. The speaker's journey on YouTube is a testament to his dedication to content creation, starting from making low-quality videos with no microphone to eventually producing high-quality content that attracts millions of subscribers.

💡Growth

Growth in this context refers to the increase in the speaker's YouTube channel's subscribers, views, and overall success. The speaker describes a gradual and slow growth, from no views and earnings to a point where he could quit school and focus on his channel full-time, eventually leading to a significant online presence.

💡Community College

Community college is a type of two-year college offering associate's degrees and other short-term certificates. In the video, the speaker mentions attending community college as a condition set by his mother after high school, but he was more focused on his YouTube channel and eventually disclosed his true activities to her.

💡Dubbing

Dubbing is the process of replacing the original voice track of a video with a different language version, usually by professional voice actors. The speaker talks about his strategy to expand his audience by dubbing his videos into different languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese, to reach non-English speaking viewers.

💡Subscribers

Subscribers are users who have signed up to receive updates and notifications about new content from a YouTube channel. The speaker's goal was to grow his subscriber base, which he achieved significantly, with mentions of having 90 million subscribers across all his channels and nearing 200 million subscribers.

💡Philanthropy

Philanthropy is the act of promoting the welfare of others, typically by donating money to good causes. The speaker mentions running a non-profit and his Beast Philanthropy channel, which focuses on helping others, showing his commitment to using his success for the betterment of society.

💡Passion

Passion refers to a strong enthusiasm or interest in a particular subject or activity. The speaker emphasizes his hyper-obsession and passion for YouTube from a young age, which drove him to learn, improve, and dedicate his life to creating content and growing his channel.

💡Mastermind Group

A mastermind group is a group of individuals who come together to share their knowledge and experiences to help each other succeed. The speaker describes how he and a group of other small YouTubers formed a daily mastermind group to study and improve their content creation skills, leading to exponential growth in their subscriber counts.

💡Content Localization

Content localization involves adapting content to suit a specific region or language. The speaker talks about the strategy of localizing his content by dubbing his videos into different languages and hiring local celebrities to voice his character, which helps him reach a broader, international audience.

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

[ __ ] 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 [ __ ] 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 [ __ ] 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 [ __ ] 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 [ __ ] 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 [ __ ] i was like

perfect