MrBeast: If You Want To Be Liked, Don't Help People & I Lost Tens Of Millions On Beast Games!

Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) discusses his YouTube journey, business ventures (Feastables, Beast Games), and personal life. He emphasizes his obsessive work ethic, the challenges of scaling businesses, and the importance of surrounding himself with great people. He also reveals struggles with Crohn's disease and the immense pressure of maintaining his online presence, while highlighting his philanthropic efforts and desire to make a positive impact. Prerequisites: A foundational understanding of business principles (basic accounting, marketing, and sales) would be beneficial, though not strictly required. Some familiarity with YouTube and social media is helpful for context. A willingness to embrace unconventional approaches and a high tolerance for risk are essential. Learning Sequence: Phase 1: Understanding Jimmy's Journey: Begin by carefully reviewing the entire transcript, focusing on Jimmy's experiences. Identify key turning points, challenges overcome, and the strategies he employed. Pay close attention to his discussions on entrepreneurship, YouTube success, and building Feastables. Analyze his decision-making processes, particularly regarding risk-taking and commitment. Phase 2: Deconstructing Success Factors: Break down Jimmy's success into its component parts. Analyze his approach to: Content Creation: Study his strategies for creating viral content, including the "purple cow" effect and understanding audience engagement. Business Building: Examine his methods for scaling Feastables, from initial concept to a multi-million dollar enterprise. Focus on his approach to ethical sourcing, supply chain management, and product development. Team Management: Analyze his strategies for hiring, motivating, and retaining top talent. Pay attention to his experiences with scaling his team and the challenges he faced. Personal Resilience: Examine Jimmy's ability to overcome adversity, including health challenges and setbacks. Understand his mindset and strategies for maintaining focus and drive. Phase 3: Applying the Lessons: Develop a plan to apply Jimmy's lessons to your own goals. This could involve creating your own YouTube channel, starting a business, or improving your existing entrepreneurial endeavors. Focus on identifying areas where you can adapt his strategies and techniques to your specific circumstances. Practice Suggestions: Content Creation Exercises: Create several short videos, experimenting with different formats and styles. Analyze the results, focusing on viewer engagement and feedback. Business Plan Development: Develop a detailed business plan for a project you are passionate about. Incorporate Jimmy's lessons on ethical sourcing, scaling, and team management. Simulated Challenges: Create scenarios that simulate challenges Jimmy faced and devise strategies for overcoming them. Case Study Analysis: Analyze other successful entrepreneurs and identify similarities and differences in their approaches compared to Jimmy's. Networking: Connect with other entrepreneurs and learn from their experiences. Attend workshops and conferences to expand your network and knowledge. Self-Reflection: Regularly reflect on your progress and identify areas for improvement. Continuously adapt your strategies based on your experiences and feedback. hjkjkn island 7 days blah blah blah um it's it's like you know being consistently uncomfortable and like cons being able to consistently suffer over long periods is like arguably one of the deepest modes like there's a reason no one makes videos like me like not even close because no one wants to live the life I live I mean, there there are months where I'm you know, I think there was one year I was flying like 200 days like I was on a plane. I mean it was it was a [__] fest but you know, to get these videos done and and I do everything and it's like, you know when I when I wake up tomorrow and I'm going to be pretty [__] tired and feel like [__] I'm going to go you know, I something I always tell myself is how you feel right now is why no one else does what you want to do or does what you do And if you push through this, that's just even you know, more of a reason why no one will ever be who you are. And so it's like, I think being able to push through unhappiness and do things you don't want to do consistently year after year over the course of a decade is like the ultimate advantage. Like I mean, I I think we'll hit a billion subscribers and uh, I don't think anyone will be anywhere near close because like once you make a couple million dollars, why would you live the life I live like why? why would you not take weekends off? Why would you not just film locally even if it means less views. So you can be on the right time schedule. Why would you not, you know, prioritize your sanity and that kind of stuff? It makes no sense but that's why no one else does it. You spoke to Colin Inir, two guys that I met recently. Um, great, great, great guys. Um, you said to them I'm miserable. A lot of times I have mental breakdowns every other week. Yeah, I me those have gotten a little better mental break down sounds extreme it's more I'm like [__] why am I doing this? This is so [__] hard um cuz it's just a lot man. you're just going constantly it's like because what's funny is I think I said that years ago but that was back when all I was really was doing Youtube now I run this chocolate company and we have the show and we have a couple other stuff So I think the the hardest part really is gear shifting like and so I try to bucket these things correct like if if I'm on set, You know and I have a 15-hour film day like ideally the thing I'm doing in between filming or like related to main channel because I'm in the frame of mind of that And that's one thing that's really helped me not feel like my head's going to explode like if I'm in Chicago at the Febles office and we're going through Febles marketing like and then you come in and you go what do you think about this bit for this coming up main channel video then I have to like shift my frame of mind and like that constant gear shifting I it like it'll make my [__] head hurt if I'm like bouncing around too much I and it it also just very not quarter I am I love obsessing over certain things and I find you know obsessing over things within a business isn't like switching back and forth between marketing and product and a same business is pretty easy there's a long way of saying like one thing that's helped with that is like just really um organizing my schedule and away where it allows my natural state of mind to like obsess over a certain business, finish that then move on to the next one. whereas before it used to be like 30 gear swit. shs a day and that that's just miserable. It's just not even fun, to be honest. I had, um, Elon Mus C. I know someone you you spoke about quite often also someone that I speak about quite often. I heard him say when he was on Joe Rogan that you wouldn't want to be in my head. And I think Joean asked him if he was happy or something and he doesn't even like consider the question to be important. Yeah. so two questions there. Do you think the average person would like to be in your head and secondly, are you happy? Uh, Well, no, the average person does not want to live the life I live or be in my head they they would be miserable because you're just working all the time and they they would probably just ask themselves why am I working all the time why don't I why don't I do literally anything else I mean because there I mean obviously I'm not a robot there are times where I'm like [__] I really want to play this strategy board game I want to do this thing and I'm I look at the schedule I'm like oh maybe I could do that in four days and you you know and the the hard thing is it's you really have to like be delicate with the framing of your mind because it's very easy in moments like that to go [__] I'm like a zoo animal like I don't I don't have free will I'm like a little robot to my businesses and like, um, and so you have to like be very careful and sometimes those emotions take over and especially because I'm a very defiant kind of guy and I'm like but I really want to do this thing But I can't Because I got to go film this video and I got to do this and I got to speak at this conference and I got to do this networking thing and blah blah And so um, yeah, I think most people when that feeling comes up of like, am I just a [__] animal Like do I have any free will? they would probably get very depressed and But I've been able to like work through those and and just I always try to you know, your brain you just it's you just got to control your thoughts be like, well, this is the life I chose This is you want success You want to change the world. You want to do this and this this is the price you have to pay You should actually see this as a good thing Because this is why Which is why I'm very uh, diligent about how I frame things in my mind Like this is why no one else will do what you will do And this is a good thing. This is what you are feeling right now Is your mo. it's you're lucky it's hard push through it and you'll be happy You did you know? And so that's kind of how I try to view it Um, but no, I don't think most people would be happy living my life They would be like, oh, let's just grab a couple million dollars and be happy Are you happy Uh, it depends what day you ask me right now I'm having a good time um other you know when I was had the flu in Africa sitting in a cage of allance [__] no so what's your baseline how would you describe your baseline probably uh this year probably so far more unhappy than happy and it's just they're just things you got to do that just aren't fun you know but I I think I I really deeply enjoy working on feasts and I'm trying to spend more of my time building it the problem is it's just I uh it's just opportunity cost because I'm the only one who can be in front of the camera and film and that's what's like brutal especially with beast games is I'm just filming so much it added so much [__] to my yearly filming like doing this giant show on top of already having the largest Youtube channel the world. I was already filming some months 25 days a month So i'm just like that's just the rough part is because it's like it just all rests my shoulders and if I don't film there is no content like the channel just literally ceases like if I stop filming and so you know I I have found more and more that I'm finding more joy in entrepreneurial things and building businesses. And I I I do think I'd be happier if I could spend more time doing that But it's just like weird because I could literally hire anyone in the world to do that whereas I can't hire anyone to replace me on camera. I always wonder someone who um is doing so well on a platform like Youtube where the algorithm is always changing MH so many Youtubers, I speak to say that they get burnout. Eventually, they get like creative burnout. And they and they just like delete their channel. You've seen a lot of it recently over the last couple years where Youtubers hit 10 million and they just stop. Yep. Has that ever crossed your mind to stop? Oh, of course, I mean, all the time. seriously. Yeah. But I I mean, like, I this I feel like that's what half this podcast has been about about how I don't want to do things, but I push through and do it. I think they're just reasonable humans. like they, you know, a lot of them were chasing a goal of like, oh, I just want this money so I can take care of this things. You know, it could be noble things like retire my mom or just not have to worry about money. And then they go, why would I suffer now? I'm good. When was the closest you came to quitting? Oh, man, probably countless times. I mean, all when I was in solitary confinement for seven days, I mean, that was [__] miserable. I mean, I did quit a video. Well, I've quit a lot of videos. like, no, I mean, as a as a creator. Um, I mean, I guess I never truly would have quit. I mean, my biggest thing would be I just would have quit for like a week and been like, [__] let me sleep nine hours a night and like, um, but like I spent the FIR, we, we did a video where we spent seven days on a desert island first time we filmed it on day two. I woke up on the beach and I had literally, I didn't know sand fleas were a thing. I had like 700 bug bites up and down my legs all over my body. I was sunburned. I was like a little bit of meal. I was like, damn, am I going to die? Like this is crazy. How much like bug bites are everywhere and my skin was so red and I was I couldn't see straight. And so I ended up quitting on day two, um, which is brutal cuz. You spend all this time and money and you have the crew out there and you flew out there and, you know, it's it's opportunity cost. It's like that's a 7-day window. We could have got a video and uploaded it and now we don't like it's you know, canceling video Like that is literally the worst thing that could happen from an opportunity cost perspective And that was like, you know, and you have moments like those and it's like [__] like this isn't even fun [__] this [__] you know but but what about Youtube as a whole because I feel like Youtube is like throwing coal into a train then you just have to keep throwing it in there once you started you just can never stop throwing it no you're running on a treadmill cr up to the max especially if you want to be a top tier creater like me and it's just like who who can stay on the treadmill the longest cuz it never slows down if anything you're making it faster um but no I mean I don't think there's ever unironically a time where I actually would have quit it just breaks probably would have been nice and when you think forward that treadmill can you see yourself doing it for the next two three four decades or oh yeah, of course. I don't have any intention of ever stopping. Okay. Um, love something that came into my life a couple of years ago y you announced I think over Christmas time that you had proposed. I think it was like boxing day or New year's Eve. Yeah, it was on Christmas Day oh Christmas Day because her family was in town so I proposed. Okay. How does that fit into this craziness? She's literally I you could probably count on your hands the amount of uh, people on the planet that actually would make a good partner for me And she's just she's just one of them. She really understands that work is what you know is what I live for What keeps me going and she supports me and she understands how important it is. And it's the big thing is hanging out with Tia, my fiance, is is so frictionless We play the same video games we watch the same shows we're very interested in the same things She loves learning like I do so um, you know it's exciting to see what you know um lecture she listened to online that day or like whatever weird book she's reading and she just like everything about being around her is very frictionless Which is great because like obvious I don't have much time at the house and so like the last thing that I need is to come home from work and there be friction and so we don't we don't fight it's I You know I sometimes I'm like wow this is like my best friend this and she's hot. This is great You know um and so it's like it it feels weird sometimes people I mean anyone in a listening now that's in a relationship i guess the question they'd be thinking is like when do you spend time together mostly at nights um and the that but the beauty is she gears her schedule around mine so like she she'll work when um i'm working and then she'll just travel with me and so honestly a lot of it is on planes a lot of it's in car rides or you know an hour before bed or in the morning that kind of stuff but it's like because there are pockets of breaks on set and things like that so it's just you know having it's it's really hard to find someone who is intelligent actually has their own hobbies things going for them independent that's also willing to mold their life around mine and not see it as a demeaning thing because like yeah if she was just like well i have this thing going on and I have to prioritize my life I would never see her but Because she's willing to you know mold her life around mine Uh and my work schedule that that you know is that's everything Um, and it's rare that someone's willing to do that while you know being as in my opinion, at least from what I've seen as intelligent and independent as she is. Parents always message me and say Steve wait till you have kids. Oh yeah, that's and that's the thing like my lifestyle right now is would not work for kids, So I want to wait want kids, but I want to wait as long as possible because If I'm going to have kids I got to be a great dad. Like I really I really really enjoy mentoring people I love mentoring you know younger entrepreneurs and like help. Like, I've told this, I think I told the story on Joe Rogan. I helped one of my friends go from like 40k a month and revenue to 400k on Youtube. And I do kind of stuff like that all the time. I just like one of my other friends has a, um, snack, CPG brand and I helped them grow to eight figures in revenue Just for fun. I would just call them a couple times a month and it's like, there's something so satisfying about helping other people succeed. And so I would love to have a couple kids and just like really mentor them into like, you know, being badasses But yeah, not anytime soon, like I would be so absent if we had kids. So just got to like find that right time in the Vin diagram where I could actually be present in their life and your business empire I think is much bigger than most people realize. I imagine the majority of people probably don't really understand the context of business so they don't really get it. They might see you as a Youtuber or a creator but from the research that I've done, you run a very, very large business. Yeah, I mean, we'll we do nine figures and feals. I mean, we can say that. yeah, nine figures and feable. So the business must be worth several billions of dollars. Uh, overall, I mean, you could do do something like that. Yeah, I'm not going to get you to, to try and hazard a guess. I'm sure, you know, but I'm not going to get ask you to predict that. But but the business would be worth a lot of money. Are you a billionaire? Uh, On paper. Yeah, but i mean, in my actual bank account, I've BL a million dollars. So do you pay yourself at all a little bit? but I also like, I have some assistance and things like that. So it's like, I try to just pay myself what I spend, you know, personally a month just to like stay even how how do you how do you think about money and all of this? Because most, most people in their lives are pursuing money so that they can chill out and retire. But you seem to be pursuing it purely for the sake of reinvesting it back into the system. Money is fuel to grow a business and then you make money from the business and then keep growing. Yeah. And then you, you find a business that you enjoy that, you know, is better for mother, nature, Earth or people and there you go. you have a fulfilled life. that's my theory I just don't when I'm 70 I don't want to look back and Have regrets you know when is enough enough? Such a cliche question that I'm asked enough enough like building the business never I mean, I just want to keep like building a business is like a video game it's it's just fun, you know like with FBL right now Um, you know we're the largest ethically soured chocolate company in America and like it's just fun to like look at something that's been done the same way for 100 years and go how do we just flip this on a TED and [__] up this industry and you know how can we pay our farmers a living income You know not use child labor etc etc And so it's like you know I think if I was just doing mundane things like everyone else probably I probably would be bored as [__] if I would just sold chocolate like everyone else made the same repetitive Youtube videos like everyone else I probably would be like, all right get me out of this. I want to retire but it's not what we're doing. Like we're changing industries. We're impacting the world like this. This is the point of life in my opinion. you could do so much with the gazillion people that list Listen and watch your videos. You could like start almost any business and it be successful you could have almost any social impact and it be profound and save a gazillion people's lives. Do you do you struggle with focus? Uh no I mean I do wonder you know sometimes should we be doing more? but I i've really found a good groove with febles. I'm very i keep looking over there because there feasable sitting over there um i do feel like uh i've hit a good groove with that um and the ethical sourcing on it and the no i mean yeah obviously i get a bajillion opportunities but just you know right now this like i i think i said earlier this is one of the few things in life that i' i've it's scratched the same itch as youtube where building febles is equally as fun as making videos for me it is so delicious thank you they're so delicious i'd really love to just spend a moment talking about the ethical sourcing piece because i don't think that's something i didn't understand until i did some research on you yeah um why why does that matter so much and what when you say ethical sourcing what's the difference between what you do and what normal chocolate big chocolate in America? Uh, well the big thing is when I got into chocolate I didn't I didn't know any of these things um we we used to source our coco from Peru cacao um which you know ethical sourcing is not really an issue there, but the problem is majority of the wolves coco comes from West Africa And so as we got bigger You know everyone's like, hey, you need to switch your supply chain to West Africa I'm like cool. um and so then I started studying and reading up about it And I um, and I noticed that 46% of