What MrBeast Taught Me About Business

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself lying in bed, scrolling aimlessly through various social media and YouTube feeds.  Despite knowing that this will ultimately worsen my sleep, I absent-mindedly continue to slide my finger upwards across my phone.  As the hours dawdled on, I noticed that I continued to get recommended videos by a YouTuber named MrBeast.  Unbeknownst to me, he is wildly famous and rich beyond belief.  As I continued to indulge his videos, I noticed a pattern.  The majority of his content, though entertaining and flashy, are largely built around philanthropy.  Well, to be more, blunt…he just gives money away…lots of money.  I have spent time researching more into who this young man is and how he created his empire.  What I found fascinated me.  It also taught me a lot about money, side hustles, and business.  Here is what MrBeast taught me about business!

Who is MrBeast?

For those of you who have never heard of MrBeast, let me briefly explain his rise to fame.  MrBeast (whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson) is a twenty something year-old gentleman who has amassed a fortune creating specific YouTube content.  He started content creation in 2012 at the age of 13.  Since then, he has turned a smattering of mixed media topics on gaming and influencer net worth into a multi-million-dollar business.  Recent accounts estimate he grosses between $3-5 million dollars monthly.  Forbes magazine ranked MrBeast as YouTube’s highest earning content creator, with an estimated net worth of $54 million dollars in 2021 alone. 

What’s more incredible, behind this rags-to-riches story, is a business model built on philanthropy and passion.  He gives his money away…literally.  Just check out how he gave a subscriber an island!  What MrBeast has been able to harness in one decade is something we should all appreciate as we look to understand our money, further our wealth, and find joy in our success.

As I will try to show you, what follows are lessons that I have acquired from watching this fascinating story of failure, perseverance, and triumph.  

Lesson #1: Be an early adopter

One of the lessons learned from MrBeast’s story, is the role that early adoption plays in successful business.  In 2012, YouTube was already wedging a position into our virtual lives, but it was not the juggernaut we know it to be today.  There were already individuals making substantial incomes on the platform (think PewDiePie) but they were few and far between comparatively. 

What Jimmy Donaldson was able to realize (at the age of 13 I remind you) was that valuable content could drive traffic, and clearly traffic was affording certain individuals a sustainable income.  This is demonstrated by some of Beast’s early content commenting on estimated income of YouTube personalities. 

New technologies arrive on an almost daily basis.  Those who adopt certain platforms early are able to establish a foothold.  As participation grows, subscribership tends to transition from linear to exponential.  As such, so too does your competition.  Lesson #1 from MrBeast:  You don’t have to be the first person in the door, but once you recognize an early opportunity, start immediately. 

Lesson #2: Fail often

The second lesson we can take from MrBeast: fail often.  Stop what you are doing right now and go check out one of his first videos, circa 2013.  I will link one here!  What you will find is exactly what you would expect from his earlier work.  A 13-year-old with lofty goals, dreaming of ‘making it.’  You can almost hear it in his adolescent voice.  That video is titled ‘Hi, Me In 5 Years.’ It was originally recorded in 2015, but not posted until 2020, and a video is worth a thousand words.

Here is a kid, procrastinating from his studies (as so many of us did at that age), fantasizing about a career that combines his interests and passion. That video represents Donaldson’s roots.  His early videos were not succinct, flashy, or even that entertaining…and that’s OK!  We all have to start somewhere.  Though his initial videos have no cohesive theme, what he is successfully doing is experimenting.  Over and over, he is testing the waters.  Inviting experimentation and failure is not a bad thing, especially when you have nothing else to lose!

When I think about this lesson as it applies to my life, I think about this very blog.  The physician personal finance niche is already quite saturated.  Hell, the personal finance niche is too!  How can one individual, already pulled in so many directions, succeed in building a successful side hustle?  I experiment.  Though established personal finance blogs stick with the fundamentals, only through experimentation can I discover which topics have untapped potential.  I seek to fail.

Lesson #3: Collaboration is key

Collaboration was a cornerstone to MrBeast’s success early on, and he has not shied away from this in his success either.  Early in MrBeast’s career, he would often create videos about profitable YouTubers.  These videos were likely serving multiple purposes.  I suspect he was using examples to help define his own expectations, while leaning on the success of others to drive traffic.

This is no different in business.  Whether you are getting started, or looking to provide a new angle to your business, collaboration offers something for everyone.  Not all collaborations are successful, but they do open the door for originality.

Today, MrBeast has continued to collaborate with other influencers from around the globe to further drive traffic to his site.  Here are a few examples:

I Surprised MrBeast With A Custom Home

Sidemen VS MrBeast $1,000,000 Challenge

20 Questions with MrBeast!

Lesson #4: The importance of perseverance

One of the most important aspects of MrBeast’s success spawns from his grit.  It is rare to see this character trait so established in a high schooler.  But from the spry young age of 13 he continued to pump out content until he stumbled onto success.  For MrBeast, his first break was likely his video where he counts to 100,000 over the course of 40 recorded hours.  

Now, I recognize how ridiculous that sounds.  I’m sure it seemed absurd to him too…but here is the kicker, no one had ever done it on camera.  Though this may seem pointless, he was able to pique the interest of millions of others who too thought it was outrageous.  The shock factor of this video alone drives his channel to reach levels of viewership unlike anything he had experienced prior.  And this was when MrBeast realized he was on to something. 

If he could create something with that ‘wow’ factor, no matter how pointless or ridiculous, then he could drive traffic to his channel.  If he could drive traffic to his channel, then likely those same individuals would return for similar content. 

This lesson was something it took MrBeast years to understand and cultivate, but once he discovered this, an algorithm for success started to take shape.  This was the turning point in his career. 

Perseverance (along with a little luck) remains to this day one of the single most influential reasons for individual success.  This same mentality can be applied to investing, education, side hustles, you name it.  We may not always reach MrBeast’s level of net worth, but time after time we continue to witness underdog stories.  There is a reason for this.  Perseverance is something we all can capitalize on with enough self-control and patience. 

Lesson #5: Make your money work for you

You have all likely heard this one: ‘you have to spend money to make money.’  Classic.  MrBeast is a perfect example of this in practice.  You can literally go video by video and watch him put this lesson to the test.  Following the success of his later content, he started to see the rewards of his labor.  The money started to trickle in.  From a few hundred dollars from YouTube and Google Ads to sponsorships, money was not life changing, but enough to further embolden his mentality that he really could ‘make it!’

The next mile marker in his career came when he took his initial earnings, approximately $10,000 in cash and gave it to a homeless stranger.  The description cannot get more straightforward than that.  Check it out here. 

Another very important business lesson to be learned here: you have to be willing to re-invest in yourself.  MrBeast is taking his earnings and reinvesting it into his business.  He would create videos on finally upgrading his productivity equipment periodically, but the overwhelming majority of his content started to take shape.  He would use his hard-earned income to generate videos built around ‘extreme philanthropy.’

As his audience grew, so too did his aspirations.  He was giving away more and more money.  Here are a few links to solidify my point:

I Opened A Free Car Dealership

Tipping Pizza Delivery Guys $10,000

I Gave A Homeless Man A Home

On the surface it may seem that he figured out how to flaunt his earnings through ‘click bait’ giveaways.  I think there is more than meets the eye.  What he has discovered is how to make his money work for his business and himself.  He has found a passion for giving that manifested through likable media. 

Lesson #6: Your motivation has to be more than money

Passion.  I have used this word a lot so far.  Passion is something that is easily understood by my audience.  For anyone pursuing financial independence, careers in the healthcare field, or a successful side hustle, passion is critical.  What motivates you to ‘press on?’ 

For MrBeast, he found success through philanthropy.  Whether intentional or unintentional, what started as ‘click-bait’ turned into a meaningful way to fulfill two pillars of his business; giving and growing.  As Beast’s ‘extreme gifting’ increased, so too did his subscriber base.  The correlation was uncanny!  He often recounts how incredible giving away money makes him feel.  Despite his philanthropy helping others, he also derives a profound sense of purpose from it.  This is what it is all about. 

We all have internal (and often external) motivation to build our wealth.  Either through our primary profession, the initiation of a side hustle, or investing, the need to want ‘more’ is ever-present in our society.  This is not meant to be a political tirade, just a fact.  The ‘passion’ to accrue significant wealth is not original, and damn near ubiquitous in our culture.  However, passion outside of monetary gain is more difficult to harness. 

Couple passion with drive

What MrBeast has done is coupled his passion and internal motivation with that of his business.  The more money he spent, the better he felt, and the larger his audience grew.  A win-win. 

For all of us in pursuit of better; passion will allow you to overcome obstacles you thought impossible.  Even now, as I sit and rant onward about the success of a YouTube sensation, I too hope in some way that my blog will ‘take off!’  My passion for writing and helping others who share a similar financial situation burns bright.  If I have even helped one individual with this blog, then that’s enough motivation to continue.  I do not know what the future holds, but grit and determination alone have gotten a lot of people pretty far.

Lesson #7: Build towards exponential returns

A theme I read all too often regards the point where businesses transition from slow linear gains to exponential returns.  This ‘breaking point’ is where most businesses start to see their years of hard-work manifest into tangible gains. 

For MrBeast, this time period occurred roughly between the 2017-2019 period.  What started as years and years of uploads to a scarce audience, started to grow exponentially.  For many individuals and businesses, this transition usually marks changes in profitability and institutes life-changing money. 

For anyone continuing to see their labors grow slowly and steadily, stay the course!  From investing to blogging, real estate, you name it!  There will come a time where your return-on-investment spikes.  This may not happen for years, decades even.  But, if you remain passionate, if you remain determined, you too will reap what you sow. 

Lesson #8: Ordinary people can do the extraordinary

Jimmy Donaldson’s (MrBeast) story is fascinating because it fits the underdog tale perfectly.  The business lessons derived above are taken from a teenager who harnessed his passion early and often.  His early work is messy, lackluster, and themeless.  It is simultaneously awe-inspiring in hindsight.  We all can learn a thing or two from the success of MrBeast. 

Whether through your own YouTube interests, or potentially your children’s, MrBeast’s success is a tale of relentless dedication.  Did he often question himself? Of course.  Did he want to give up or catch criticism from those who would doubt his goals? Absolutely.  What he achieved, however, is proof that you too can change your life.  I am not here to promise you the level of success obtained by MrBeast.  Most will not actually.  But there are countless stories of bloggers, inventors, hustlers, and dreamers alike creating businesses that allow them to simultaneously pursue their passion and take control of their life.  Don’t we all want that? 

Take home points

The path to wealth and success is paved with failures, blood, sweat, and tears.  As cliché as that reads, it remains as true today as it ever has.  Personally, I think I found something in MrBeast’s rise to fame that spoke to me.  As a physician, a father, a husband, and a blogger, it can seem like the pursuit of side hustle income is a fool’s errand.  How realistic is it truly to think all of those ‘hats’ can be juggled appropriately.

Oftentimes I falter and fail.  But this 13-year-old from North Carolina taught me something that I didn’t realize until my 30s…that it doesn’t matter if you fail.  It doesn’t matter if your writings reach just a handful of viewers.  With enough perseverance, passion and grit, eventually you will stumble on success.  It may not come today.  It may not come this decade, but it will be rewarded. 

‘You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to press on’

To those of you reading for entertainment, I hope you have enjoyed this piece.  Those of you reading for motivation, hold fast to the notion that you don’t have to be perfect.  Far from it actually…you just have to ‘press on.’  Luck and timing will play a hand in many aspects of your life, but passion and dedication is something you can control completely.  Don’t let up, and use these lessons from MrBeast to fuel the fire of your success too!  As always…

Stay motivated!

The Motivated M.D.

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