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00:00In some of my videos, I've literally given away over a million dollars.
00:06A lot of people think that I just came up in a rich household and I'm a trust fund baby.
00:11I get called that a lot. In reality, my mom was in the military. She was a single mom and she worked
00:16a lot. What's up guys? What's up guys? What's up guys? I basically did YouTube videos for years
00:22without making any money. When I first started, the videos were horrible and they slowly got less
00:27and less horrible throughout the years. Even then, when I was making money the first few years,
00:32it was nothing. It was scraps. You grind and you grind and you grind year after year after year.
00:40It definitely does hit you, but I had more reasons than just wanting to be famous or just
00:46wanting money. Anything you can fit in this mysterious circle, we'll pay for it. Thank you so much.
00:50Yeah, that's awesome. We ain't never had nobody bless us like this.
00:55As selfish as it sounds, I like helping people because it just makes me happy. I like seeing
01:00their faces light up. I like seeing how excited they get. Nothing is more entertaining than just
01:06seeing someone just go from like having a rough day to just going like, what?
01:11Genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you.
01:13Aww. It's just what I love. It literally is what makes me happy.
01:18I was really shy, especially when I was younger. I really didn't like being around people.
01:27Just thinking about possibly being a YouTuber one day was enough to keep me happy.
01:33I wanted to use brands to allow me to help people. I was like, I think I just cracked the code.
01:40Yeah, at the end of the day, I'm just kind of selfish. Giving people money makes me happy, you know?
01:44I love you.
01:52If you had told me when I was 13 that I would give away a million dollars in a single video,
01:56I just wouldn't have even known how much money that was. I would have been like,
01:59is that more than 100 bucks? I mean, 50 dollars was a lot to me back then.
02:03I'm just from a small town, relatively small town in North Carolina. Just grew up with my brother.
02:14My mom raised us. Nothing too crazy.
02:20My mom was in the military, which is why I was born in a different state than my brother.
02:23We were always moving around. I was on active duty for 21 years.
02:29And for a couple of those years, Jimmy was moved around on a couple of army installations.
02:35It definitely made for an interesting child at that age.
02:41Jimmy as a child, some of my younger memories of him,
02:44little Legos, building Lego forts. Like, the entire room is a huge Lego fort.
02:50He was intense and he was passionate about what it was that he was working on at the time.
02:57As weird as it sounds, especially when I was younger, I really didn't like being around people.
03:04And I have a very obsessive personality. When I like something, it just consumes my life.
03:08My first instance of that was probably baseball. I didn't want to do anything else.
03:19Good luck getting me to study for a test at that age.
03:22When he first swung that bat at 10 years old, it was nonstop. He was driven in Little League,
03:29going on to playing in Babe Ruth. He absolutely loved baseball.
03:34But my first time going on the baseball field for a Little League practice
03:39was just the most awkward thing ever. Like, I didn't know how to socialize.
03:48A funny story is I would always wear my hat like this and then like the coaches would like pull it up.
03:53I was beyond shy. Even if there was a person in front of me, like,
03:56good luck getting me to talk to them. It's impossible.
04:04I didn't have that much social interaction. My mom wasn't home much. I watched a lot of ESPN.
04:10But outside of sports, it was just literally YouTube. That was all I watched.
04:16No one in my school liked videos. So I kind of just felt like an outcast,
04:19because I just was hyper obsessed over it. And no one else really related to me on it.
04:26Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
04:28Chris is one of my oldest friends, probably my oldest friend that I still know to this day.
04:32I dare you to slap Chris.
04:37I've known him basically my entire life and especially when I was doing videos earlier on.
04:42This should be in the outtakes. I don't know why I'm having so much fun.
04:45It's like...
04:46He was the funniest guy I've ever met. And I just noticed that when he was in the videos,
04:51they were so much funnier. And just so good on camera.
04:55Well, actually, I'm sorry. Interviews make me so nervous. I'm sorry.
04:59Me and Jimmy first met when we were in like, I think he was in middle school,
05:05I was in high school. We were kind of the only kids that really liked YouTube and
05:09really enjoyed talking about it. And then one day he said that he wanted to start a channel of his own.
05:14I have a memory of this one video I watched back then where one of my favorite creators,
05:21Woody's Gamertag, quit his job and went full time on YouTube. And this was like before,
05:26like a lot of people didn't even know you could make money on YouTube back then. I remember seeing
05:29that. I was like 12. And it kind of just clicked in my head. I was like, wait a minute.
05:35You can make money doing this. That's one of my first memories of when like,
05:40I really started consuming YouTube because then from that point, I was like, oh, like,
05:44I kind of want to do this. This may be a challenge. Back off.
05:47I was there with Jimmy the day he created his YouTube channel and I was actually his first subscriber.
05:52When you create an account on Xbox, they have this thing where it just gives you a random gamer tag.
05:58And I was just like, Mr. Beast, this sounds cool.
06:02Oh, oh, I've never. Go, go, you freaking orange square.
06:09During that time, he was kind of trying a bunch of different things.
06:13What is going on, guys? I have kind of a mini rant for you guys real quick.
06:18He started making commentary style YouTube videos, which is like you have somebody playing a video
06:22game and then you're just talking over giving your opinions about stuff.
06:25I don't want to give like YouTube tips or anything because I'm not a big channel by any means.
06:30He started doing that for a while, which kind of turned into a new series that he started
06:34where he was talking about YouTubers and how much money they make.
06:37What's up, guys? PewDiePie is getting around seven and a half million views per day,
06:43which is around $13,000, $14,000 a day and millions upon millions of dollars a year.
06:50That's the type of stuff I was making when I was like 14, 15 on YouTube.
06:56And then when I was 15 years old, I got diagnosed with Crohn's.
07:00It was pretty rough. Basically, your intestines are inflamed. And because they're inflamed,
07:11you don't process food as well. So if I eat something, it would just go right through me,
07:16like literally within a day. And because it's so inflamed, it's like someone's just dragging
07:21like a knife across your stomach. So it was super painful.
07:23Jimmy's diagnosis of Crohn's was earth shattering. The weight loss, the loss of energy,
07:32all those facets of Crohn's attacked him really, really bad. And it was a pretty serious situation.
07:43I went from like 180 pounds down to 139. I remember 139 because that was my lowest,
07:48which at 6'2 was like a frail little twig. I mean, I barely could get out of bed. I had
07:54no energy to do anything. I didn't even want to go to school. And I just hated my life back then.
07:58It was really miserable. He didn't have an ability to hold down any food. It was
08:04months and months and months for us to figure out a treatment plan so that he could start eating again.
08:11Playing baseball was pure torture, especially the medicine I was on. I was always throwing up
08:15behind the dugout and I always had to go use the bathroom a bunch during the games. I probably
08:20would have tried to play baseball in college, but because of Crohn's, it definitely changed the
08:24trajectory. And I was like, all right, I'm done with that. And then I just went all in on YouTube
08:29and I was beyond obsessed. Hey, you subscribe. Me being shy and not liking talking and not having
08:37much confidence were like such a big obstacle. I'm just kidding. But despite that, I still just did it
08:43just because I just wanted it so bad. Have a good day. I don't know. This is my trailer. Kind of sucks.
08:50And I was like, you know, like, I don't like talking to people, but I just really like making
08:55videos. So as weird as that sounds, so I just got to get used to it because this is just kind of what
09:01I enjoy doing. So I'm going to try to commit myself to making a video every other day for the next three
09:08months and just see where my YouTube channel goes. At first it seemed like a hobby, but then he
09:14wouldn't want to go to the movies. He wanted to focus on filming a video. And like when I started
09:19hanging out with him, filming more videos with him, I understood that for him, like this was like,
09:23he's obsessed with it. Like, this is what he wanted. Look at it. Quadruple digits. Why does this
09:29guy have 2000 subscribers? And why am I speaking in third person? 3000 subscribers. I've always told
09:37myself when I hit 10,000 subscribers, I will tell my mom that I do YouTube. When I first started making
09:43content, I definitely did not tell my mom. And that comes back to me just being super shy. And I just
09:49didn't know how she would react. So for the first few hundred videos, she had no idea. And she always
09:55thought I was just talking to someone in my room. You know that chick from Twilight that can read
09:59minds? I'd be walking past his room and he'd just be talking to people on the computer. Well, I'm her
10:04cousin and I can read minds as well. I thought it was the people he was gaming with. I thought it was
10:09baseball friends. I thought it was people from high school. Never, ever did I connect that he was
10:15actually doing YouTube videos. Surprise! One time I was being really loud when filming, and she actually told
10:23me, you shouldn't hang out with that person anymore. I was like, yeah, mom, I'll make sure not to hang
10:27out with him anymore.
10:36When I first started, I had this really crappy hand-me-down laptop. I think my brother got it for
10:41Christmas and I ended up kind of just like stealing it and using it. I didn't know how to edit. I didn't
10:46know how to pace the video. I didn't know how to do anything. I basically had nothing, knew nothing,
10:51had no money, and just was just like grabbing things and like, we're just going to try to make
10:55this work. That's my keyboard. That's my mouse. That's my green screen. I'm kind of poor, so that's
11:01where I set my camera on. It was really rough back then to make content. I thought going through high
11:08school and while he was living in the house that this was just a hobby. This was just a filler of
11:13time. It was just an experiment. In the first few years, I didn't make anything on YouTube because I
11:17wasn't in the partner program. To get ads on your videos, you've got to be kind of big.
11:33The next few years, it was collecting scraps to buy decent equipment. Sorry, my hands shake. And
11:38the Windows phone I had, Windows phone sucked. It was like 480p. It didn't even make sense. It looked
11:43like you were rubbing sandpaper on the lens. I had to save up for months to buy microphones so it
11:48would stop making people's ears bleed. This is my Galaxy tablet. It's a piece of crap. And then I had
11:53to save up for practically a year to buy a computer that didn't crash when I was editing. And then after
11:59that, I managed to convince my mom or my dad someone to give me like a used iPhone. And that's when it
12:05changed. See this right here? This describes the old Mr. Beast. I saw the drive in him come to be
12:14when he first started doing the In Real Life IRL videos. So when him and Chris started interacting,
12:22that's where I saw the passion come out. Mom, you lucked out. You're going to have a lot of toilet
12:27paper and saran wrap. We should burn this. The main goal of the channel was to just make people laugh.
12:34I can't wait to ride in this bad car all the way to Raleigh, Jimmy.
12:37Yeah, we're taking a s*** wheel. Oh, man.
12:40The original days we were doing skits and like jokes and stuff like that.
12:46You know what you need to do. And he had a couple of videos that went like
12:52pretty big for his size, but they never went viral. It was always just like he had a smaller community,
12:58like a niche community that really enjoyed them. Whoa! Dude, a new monitor!
13:05A lot of my earlier videos, they suck because I just wasn't entertaining back then. I was stupid.
13:12Every night before bed, I'd just be like, it sucks. It's a lot of work. And I feel like I'm not getting
13:16anywhere. But if I just do it long enough, eventually it'll click. Eventually I'll figure it out.
13:21Uh, as of right now, I'm enjoying YouTube. I don't know why I had that kind of mindset at such a young
13:27age, but it's just like, I just love it. And I just couldn't stop. It took me 75,000 views to make
13:36my first hundred dollars off of YouTube. I'm making around $30 a month. I've just always felt pulled to
13:43it. I don't understand. I don't get it. Just thinking about possibly being a YouTuber one day
13:48was enough to keep me happy. Do it one more time.
13:53Well, I don't have to keep on doing this.
13:57At that point, I didn't really take it too serious. I found it as a way to just hang out, have fun.
14:06Even when the videos were getting like three, four or 5,000 views, which at the time to me,
14:11that was incredible. I didn't ever think they would get that many. I still was like, this is fun.
14:17I enjoy doing this, but I don't think this is ever going to become like a thing.
14:21I made a mistake.
14:29When we're in his senior year in high school, the passion about this YouTube is coming to be.
14:34The obsession with YouTube is coming to be. The drive is really starting to show a lot more.
14:41I'm a first generation college student. So I was raised that college was really important. It was
14:46important to my parents that I go. So it just seemed reasonable to me that Jimmy should go to college.
14:57I never wanted to go to college. My whole goal in all of high school was to never go to college.
15:02I was just like, if I can just make enough money before high school is over, I can just do this.
15:06That's where I like double, triple, quadruple down on YouTube. I'm like,
15:09oh, I'm still only making a few bucks a day. Like we got to figure this out.
15:16I gave the ultimatum going into that fall.
15:21Jimmy, you can stay in the house if you go to school. If you don't go to school, you're going to have to leave.
15:28So I went, but I just stopped going to classes and I just didn't tell my mom. And I would film videos
15:38while I was at college is what I would tell her. But somehow when I got there, maybe I just got a big
15:42spark of motivation and went harder. But that's when things actually clicked. And like my viewership
15:47did start going up quite a bit. This is a table. I'm going to take these plastic knives. I'm going
15:59to cut all the way through it. So like in that first month of college, I did start making enough
16:05money to move out. Probably like a thousand bucks a month or something. That's when I didn't hesitate.
16:10I was like, I'm done. I'm not going. I'm like calling Chris. I'm like, Chris, we're moving in together.
16:15He's like, I don't know if I can afford it. I'm like, I got you. I just need to move out.
16:19Places here aren't super expensive. Like $720 a month gets you a really nice place.
16:23And I told my mom, I was like, yeah, I haven't actually been going to college all this time.
16:27And I was like, you know, I'll move out next week.
16:32He left. I never paid for his rent. I never paid his utilities. I never paid his car bill.
16:39So there had to be enough financial means going on behind here that he was already
16:44capable of taking care of himself. And this is months after he graduated from high school.
16:53So this thing's full of explosives. This is a thousand dollar keyboard.
17:00From the moment I dropped out of college, that is where I just went all in. I would wake up,
17:06work on videos, and then I'd go to bed. That's where I just went hyperdrive.
17:10It's definitely where I got really weird with it.
17:14And then one day, Chris showed me this anime. And I just couldn't take a break from working to watch
17:20it. I was like, how can I make content while also watching anime? As weird as that is.
17:29I'm about to count to a hundred thousand.
17:32To be honest, no one on YouTube has ever done something that stupid. Just counting for 40 hours.
17:38Let's just, let's, one, two, three, four. It garnered a ton of attention.
17:441,001, 1,002, 1,003, 1,004, 1,005, 1,006. It's one of my first like real viral videos.
17:5176,000 for 11, 76,000 for 12, 76,000 for 14, 76,000 for 15, 76,000 for 16.
17:57And that's where it kind of clicked like, oh, like if I do interesting things, people will watch.
18:05100,000.
18:10What am I doing with my life?
18:12He started doing all these kind of crazy, ridiculous, like lengthy challenges that nobody had ever done.
18:18What's up guys? Today, I'm going to be reading the entire B movie script with a little plot twist.
18:23Every time the word B comes up, I'm going to say all the previous ones.
18:26And everybody was reacting to it. And so I think that gave him like a
18:30really big initial boost in the beginning.
18:32Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
18:36And that's when I kind of just realized that like, if I really go all in, I really be creative and
18:40unique and I do things that just no one else would do because they're so hard and take so much effort,
18:46right? People have no choice but to watch it because it's just interesting. You know what I mean?
18:51What's up guys? I'm going to be watching It's Everyday Bro for 10 hours straight.
18:55After that, I watched two different music videos for 10 hours straight and those did well.
19:00And then I read the dictionary.
19:02Masterpiece, mastery, master, mastermatic, mastermatic, mastermatic, mastermatic.
19:06I spun a fidget spinner for 24 hours and I actually broke the world record on that one.
19:10I was kind of amazed that people cared. You know what I mean? Because like,
19:17who's watching somebody read the entire dictionary, like all that kind of stuff. But
19:21if you think about it, it's so original that you kind of just have to click on it. And I was like,
19:26wow, that's genius.
19:28Woo, it broke.
19:33We're going to be microwaving a microwave.
19:35The moment where I knew he was going to make it, he had an initial boost in subscribers that went from
19:41like 400 to like 750,000. And then we would see them get millions of views. And I was like, oh,
19:48this is where it's at. He's actually starting to make it. Like it was the beginning of all of this.
19:55This is a new weekly series where I'm getting companies to sponsor my videos.
20:00One, two, three.
20:03All right. So this is where things get fun. My first ever actual brand deal.
20:09Basically, this agent manager kind of guy that represents Quidd called me and was like, hey,
20:14we'll give you $5,000 for a video, which was insane at the time. Just I make a video and I get five grand.
20:23Jimmy calls me and he's like over the moon, static. Mom, mom, mom, mom. You're never going
20:28to believe what just happened. Somebody just offered me $5,000 to put an ad on my channel.
20:36And I was like, $5,000? That's really, really great. Yeah, I turned it down.
20:40And I remember this vividly because I'm just standing in my driveway. And I'm like, no,
20:45I want $10,000. And he's like, $5,000. I'm like, no, I want $10,000. I just want to walk out my
20:50front door and go give it to a homeless person. And he's like, really?
20:549, 10.
20:57And I'm shocked. Like, that's your great idea for your first time you're getting a brand deal?
21:02You know, he's probably going to think you stole this money.
21:05I'm an undercover cop. Just kidding. You don't look like a cop at all. Look at those flip flops.
21:11Jimmy called me up and he was like, hey, I need a cameraman for something I'm going to do. And he
21:17told me to meet him at Walmart. And he showed me the envelope that had $10,000 in it. And he was like,
21:23I'm going to give that homeless guy 10 grand. And you're going to stand here and film it.
21:30Hey. That's literally all the preparation I had for it.
21:34I'm a YouTuber. I mean, you can see the camera. And so I'm just, it's a series where I just, you know,
21:40be nice and just give people some help. So if you want to take it, it's about $10,000. I'm not joking.
21:49You're right.
21:50No, I'm not.
21:56Yeah, I swear. Um, no, I don't like.
21:59No, man.
22:02After it happened, we actually went and got dinner with the guy and talked a little bit about his
22:07situation. So it was really cool to hear like him talk about how it would help him and stuff like
22:12that.
22:13How did it feel handing someone $10,000? Obviously great, seeing his face light up.
22:20These guys are the best, man. These guys are unbelievable. Unbelievable.
22:24I had never heard so much enthusiasm. I had never heard so much heart. I had never heard so much
22:32feedback about any video that him and Chris had done from the time. I mean, his heart was changed.
22:38And he talked about it over and over and over again about how fulfilling and how awesome it was
22:48that he was able to help somebody out and give him the money.
22:51The video did great. Obviously, the guy was happy. Quid was happy. I was happy. And, um,
22:58since it did so well, I literally took that money and I did another one.
23:02One of the next videos I did with Quid was we actually tipped pizza delivery drivers with a ton of cash.
23:14Uh, do you have change for $100?
23:15I do not have change for $100.
23:17Okay. Do you have change for $300?
23:18I also don't have change for $300.
23:20I guess you're just going to have to keep it.
23:21Oh, cool.
23:23Uh, have a good day, man.
23:26Thanks, man.
23:26That was a really special video to me because there was a lot of them. We didn't just do one. We did like
23:31a dozen plus drivers.
23:32Are you from real?
23:33Yeah.
23:34No, you're not.
23:35Yeah.
23:36Oh, my fucking God.
23:38And, like, a lot of them, like, I mean, just broke down in tears in front of me.
23:43What?
23:44What?
23:45Come here, man.
23:49It's all right.
23:50Yeah, it's all right.
23:58It's like, it even makes me terrible a little bit just thinking about it.
24:01Like, they just were so emotional.
24:03And one of the people that I tipped, he actually came back the next day to my house.
24:08And I opened the door and he was just bawling.
24:10Like, you gave me money, but what money meant, like, to me is I actually got to ask someone
24:15to take the rest of my shift.
24:16And he's like, you just got to spend the day with my kid because you gave me money
24:20and it allowed me to take a day off.
24:21And he was just, like, just really incredibly thankful.
24:24And so, like, that made me feel good.
24:25That made me happy.
24:26And I was like, that's cool.
24:27I kind of want to do this more.
24:33So I had this idea.
24:34If I take this branded money and I give it away in the video, that video will do well.
24:38And then I take the money from that video and I give it away in the next video.
24:41And that video will do well.
24:43And kind of, like, create this cycle.
24:45That's when I was like, I want to use brands to allow me to help people.
24:50I was like, I think this would be, like, a really cool thing.
24:52And I was just, like, freaking out.
24:54I was like, I think I just cracked the code.
24:58You probably don't take tips, but take, here's $200.
25:01Seriously?
25:02Seriously?
25:02You got your butt?
25:03Are you serious?
25:04Yeah.
25:05Yes, sir.
25:05And Jimmy's giving the money away and they're making videos.
25:08It seems to be working.
25:10And then next thing you know, he's at my door.
25:12Hello, brother.
25:13What's up?
25:14Hey, guys.
25:15Hi, brother.
25:15Hi, friends.
25:16Oh, hey, everybody.
25:20Try not to be too mad at me.
25:23So you saw me carrying this.
25:24And so I wanted to give you money to put towards your house or something.
25:28Don't you owe a lot of money on your house?
25:30Yes, so I wanted to give you a check to help you pay for it.
25:34No.
25:35Yeah.
25:36Hey, mom.
25:36I'm here to give you $100,000 to help you pay off your house.
25:40What?
25:41What are you talking about?
25:43Like, you know, you're here to help me?
25:45No, Jimmy.
25:46Yeah.
25:47Y'all are going to make me cry.
25:50I remember the day he did that.
25:52Just the pure happiness, like, on his face as he was telling her that.
25:56Well, should we get all emotional for the day?
26:00That was his way of saying, thanks, mom.
26:03Thanks, mom, for all that you did for me.
26:06Thanks for all that you did growing up.
26:08And here, I want you to be part of my success.
26:13Obviously, it felt great.
26:15I mean, I don't know how to really describe it in words.
26:20I'm not the best at that.
26:21But, you know, she needed the money and she was working a lot still.
26:25And it meant a lot back then.
26:30I first became aware of Jimmy through a friend of mine.
26:34When I looked back at all his content throughout the years,
26:36I could see that he had been making videos since he was 14 years old.
26:40So I knew that he wasn't going to give up.
26:43That was actually something that stood out right when I went to the channel.
26:47He was going to do whatever he could to be a successful digital creator.
26:51It's to remind me to upload, boys.
26:54I ain't playing around no more.
26:55We're about to grind our way to the top.
26:57I thought he's at a point where he's poised to actually catch a break.
27:02This is actually my first time buying a storage unit.
27:04When I met him, he did not have a lot of money to his name.
27:06This unit I paid $350 for.
27:09But that's just kind of how we ran the business early on.
27:11It was like, make $100,000, spend $100,000.
27:15We got 32 pairs of shoes.
27:17He had around 1.6 million subscribers when we had first initially met.
27:21And he makes money off what Google calls AdSense.
27:25It's the ads that you see before the YouTube video,
27:28during the YouTube video that are burnt into the video from YouTube.
27:31And creators also make money from direct sponsorships.
27:33And so he was taking both of those revenue streams,
27:42and he was giving that amount of money away in the video.
27:44We have 3 million pennies, and we're going to deliver it to my 3 million subscriber.
27:50I'm just in shock right now, because to be honest,
27:52I didn't know what 3 million pennies look like until now.
27:55And there's a shitload.
27:58Between the videos where we gave money to people,
28:01whether it be like people that were in need or Twitch streamers or anything like that,
28:05we kind of filmed like random videos.
28:10That's really the only way to describe it.
28:13Do you know what color this is?
28:16Yeah, orange.
28:19Wow, he doesn't even know he's colorblind.
28:22We tried to climb a wall with plunders one time for a video.
28:26One video, we're buying everything in a store and then donating it to a food bank.
28:29And the next video, I mean, I'm walking up to people,
28:33giving them my credit card and telling them they could buy whatever they want.
28:35We also have videos where we spend 24 hours in the middle of a desert
28:40and completing a marathon in the world's largest pairs of shoes.
28:44I don't like this.
28:44I don't either.
28:45We're 10 pounds.
28:46We have blisters on our feet.
28:47We technically haven't even passed the start line yet.
28:49We're actually negative into the race.
28:51And then after that, things really started to change.
28:53Yeah, it was crazy.
28:59One thing about YouTube is growth is definitely exponential.
29:02It's not like you go from like a million views to like 2 million.
29:06It's like a million to 10 to 100 million.
29:09Once I got on that exponential curve, I was just like, oh my goodness, like, wow.
29:14See mom, I told you dropping out of college was a good idea.
29:17And lo and behold, you know, I met him at a million and a half subscribers somewhere in that area.
29:21And we finished out 2018 around 13.6 million.
29:26My income didn't go up like this over the years.
29:28It was like, you know what I mean?
29:36Around that time is where I bought my first designer clothes, like shirts that cost a thousand dollars,
29:40which is stupid.
29:41And I even bought like a nice car back then as well.
29:44Because I thought expensive materialistic objects made you cool back then.
29:47But then once you have a nice sports car, you realize like it's cool.
29:53But like if you have Crohn's or if you have other issues, they don't just go away because you have a nicer car.
29:58And to me, a lot of that stuff was overrated.
30:00So I got rid of it all and realized like that's just not what makes me happy.
30:07I didn't just want to make money to make money.
30:09I think if you have a goal in life, right, if you have something you're aiming for,
30:13I think it helps you work those longer hours.
30:15It helps you pull those all-nighters because you have something that you want to accomplish, right?
30:20He really looks up to, you know, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates.
30:26None of them were flashy.
30:27That's not part of who they are.
30:29What they really care about is changing the world.
30:32And I think that's really rubbed off on him.
30:34He doesn't care about nice stuff.
30:37He never will.
30:38Like, he cares about the people's lives that he impacts.
30:40All you have to do is say like and subscribe to MrBeast.
30:44Just say it real quick.
30:46Like and subscribe to MrBeast.
30:48Yeah, you have to say it.
30:49Like and subscribe to MrBeast.
30:51Thank you. That was pretty easy.
30:53Dude.
30:53Are you serious?
30:54Yeah.
30:55Heck yeah.
30:56That's my rant.
30:56What are you doing this for?
30:58Nah, just for fun.
30:59I really think positivity can be just as interesting as negativity.
31:04I just think it's harder.
31:06That's the distinction.
31:07I think it's easy just to trash talk or tear down something.
31:12I think it's a lot harder to make like an upbeat, fulfilling video that's also entertaining.
31:17We get messages all the time from like moms who are like,
31:20yeah, my little kid watched your videos and now they want to go volunteer.
31:24Now they want to, you know, go donate their own money.
31:26And they're wanting to give away their own allowance.
31:29Even other creators that, you know, after we do something, they do something similar.
31:34And that is one thing that's fulfilling for me to know that like a lot of the influence
31:37we are leaving is positive and encouraging.
31:40We have a circle under this tarp.
31:42But anything you can fit in this mysterious circle, we'll pay for it.
31:44We're the only soup kitchen in town and we served about 35,000 meals last year.
31:49Thank you so much.
31:50Dude, that's awesome.
31:52There you go.
31:53We ain't never had nobody bless us like this.
31:56I like to do just unique, crazy, insane things.
32:01And just keep the focus with positive helping.
32:05So whenever we come up with a crazy, insane idea, usually it does go that direction because
32:10that's kind of just the goal.
32:16So I had this idea that I wanted to plant a million trees for one of my videos.
32:21And so, you know, like we do, we start just seeing if it's actually feasible.
32:25We did a bunch of research.
32:28We called a bunch of companies.
32:29And we came to the conclusion that I was stupid and it's not possible.
32:32A million trees is way too many trees to plant.
32:34So then I did something that's typical for me.
32:37When something's not possible, I somehow make it more impossible.
32:40And I'm like, oh, I'm about to hit 20 million subscribers.
32:42I want to plant 20 million trees.
32:44And everyone's like, does your brain not work?
32:48And I'm like, nope, I want to plant 20 million trees.
32:50So then I just threw out a tweet and I was like, to celebrate 20 million subscribers,
32:54I want to plant 20 million trees.
32:55If anyone wants to help, reach out.
32:57And that's kind of where this ball started rolling.
32:59I ended up connecting with Mark Rober.
33:05I am a former NASA and Apple mechanical engineer turned YouTuber.
33:10Obviously, unlike me, he's a NASA scientist, an engineer.
33:14He's done lots of cool stuff and he's a lot older and wiser.
33:17And so he was able to help me iron out the details.
33:22I was still working at Apple.
33:23He called me up and I know exactly where I was.
33:26I walked outside of the building and we were pacing back and forth being like,
33:30is this something we could do?
33:32Is this possible?
33:33You know, more and more people started liking it and retweeting it.
33:36So it was clear there was like an appetite for this.
33:39How do we actually plant 20 million trees?
33:41At first we wanted our subscribers to buy seeds.
33:44And then like they go plant seeds in like their backyard or saplings.
33:47But the problem is like you could plant a tree and it could be an invasive species.
33:51So it could harm the trees around them depending on where you plant them.
33:56We realized whatever we did, we wanted to be like ironclad, bulletproof.
33:59If we were going to be asking kids to like give their money like to this cause,
34:04we wanted to make sure it was going towards actually planting trees.
34:07And it would be done in a way that would actually help the planet.
34:15So we kept working on it relentlessly and eventually we got connected with the Arbor Day Foundation.
34:19They've planted hundreds of millions of trees.
34:21If these guys can plant hundreds of millions of trees,
34:23I think they could actually plant 20 million trees.
34:26They gave us hope.
34:28So then me and Mark asked them like, could they actually plant a tree for a dollar?
34:32Because we thought of the slogan, right? One dollar equals one tree.
34:36Here's a dollar and I donated it.
34:38Literally that dollar will go towards planting one tree somewhere across the globe.
34:45Ultimately our goal was to plant trees on all the continents except for Antarctica.
34:52Arbor Day will work with local partners all across the globe.
34:55Their message is plant the right tree at the right place at the right time.
34:59It's like doing this responsibly so it actually matters and makes a difference.
35:05So then we started tinkering with the name.
35:06We eventually ended up on Team Trees.
35:09One dollar equals one tree.
35:13Team Trees was also different than what I normally do because the point wasn't really a video.
35:18The point was literally to plant 20 million trees.
35:23We actually didn't create a ton of content around Team Trees.
35:26He was like, this is something that I truly care about.
35:29I think we can do it.
35:31It's going to take a lot of work.
35:33But if we're able to raise 20 million dollars to plant 20 million trees,
35:36like that is life changing on so many ways.
35:41I think the biggest thing we wanted to prove is that the internet isn't just all talk.
35:45Like if we really put our minds together and try to make a positive change, like we can actually do it.
35:50And then once I decided that, the next problem was how do we raise 20 million dollars to plant the 20 million trees?
36:01So the goal was to plant 20 million trees by 2020.
36:05In other words, to raise 20 million dollars.
36:07But that meant we had like two months to do it, which is bonkers.
36:13But by making such an audacious goal and just saying like the only way this happens, you guys,
36:21is if we all band together and just really selling that vision.
36:25I started reaching out to these YouTubers and I was expecting them not to care.
36:28I was expecting them to be like, yeah, yeah, I don't care about your stupid tree thing.
36:32Like I got my own stuff, I'm busy.
36:34But that wasn't the response.
36:35Almost every single YouTuber I messaged was like actually excited.
36:38And I was shocked.
36:39They were like, yes, like I want to be involved.
36:42This is a good cause.
36:42And like a lot of them seemed like genuinely interested in helping.
36:46And so as we started reaching out to creators, we kept seeing this same enthusiasm.
36:51We slowly just built a large group of influencers.
36:54Oh, hi, Mark.
36:55Hey, Zach.
36:55We've got a dollar for you.
36:56Oh, okay.
36:58So you're gonna take the dollar, put it in some dirt and then pull.
37:02You get a treat.
37:03I'm so excited.
37:03I genuinely was just shocked by just how much these creators cared.
37:07Literally hundreds of creators made videos on their channels to raise money to plant trees.
37:13Okay, 20 million trees.
37:15I am so in.
37:16Proud members of Team Trees are filming a music video.
37:21I will plant at least a couple of trees.
37:24The reason I'm most excited about this is it feels like the end of Power Rangers
37:27when they would all assemble into the big thing and fight stuff together and do good.
37:31We will be planting 20 million trees.
37:33Team Trees was launched on October 25th, 2019.
37:39And we put them in the hole.
37:40We either thought it would just absolutely crash and burn and it would just be an absolute disaster
37:46or we would hit our goal and it would be like a big success.
37:49Only 19,999,980 more trees.
37:54Let's go.
37:55Once we put it out there, the world kind of just like took it and just blew it up.
38:01Look at all these people.
38:02We're easily going to hit 20 million.
38:05One of the fun things about Team Trees is we actually had a leaderboard.
38:08So you could see the top donators.
38:10And so it started off at like 10,000 and then it got up to 100 grand, which is insane.
38:16$100,000 donated.
38:17It's 100,000 trees planted.
38:19Elon Musk donated a million dollars.
38:20I think we ended with the top donation being like a million and one dollars just to be at the top.
38:26It's definitely not true that this campaign happened because all these corporations stepped in.
38:31The median donation was something like four dollars.
38:34This was tooth fairy money.
38:36This was sixth grade bake sale money.
38:38And the real power here is that kid who's now part of Team Trees who donated two dollars,
38:43they also are much more likely to turn off the light when they leave the room.
38:47Or if they see their friend putting trash on the ground or not recycling, it's like,
38:51yo, like I'm on Team Trees, all right?
38:56It only took a month to hit the goal of 20 million.
38:59It was just so crazy to see us smash that goal in such little a time.
39:04And like, yeah, I honestly did not think we were going to hit the goal by the end of the year,
39:08but we crushed it.
39:09I cannot express in words just how amazing the YouTube community was and how much love
39:16they showed Team Trees and just how hard they pushed it and just how great everyone was.
39:21Like, it really was beautiful to see all these hundreds, if not a thousand plus creators come
39:25together and just support this one cause that was for good.
39:29Jimmy is an inspiration, not just to fellow creators on the platform,
39:33but people who watch his videos that show that, you know, you can be a force for good in the world,
39:40and you don't have to have all these superpowers. You could just be like a dude with his buddies,
39:45having fun and doing cool stuff that makes people happy.
39:49It was pretty brutal for a lot of people.
40:17Have financially and everything, things been good or has the pandemic affected you negatively?
40:21The pandemic has definitely affected us negatively. I got laid off from my job.
40:26We tried to do more content than normal where we help people. We did one video where over Zoom,
40:31we gave random people $10,000. Pick a number between one and 10.
40:35Nine.
40:35Do you think $9,000 will help make your life better?
40:37Yeah, I think $9,000 would be amazing.
40:39In that video, we ended up giving away like a quarter of a million dollars
40:42to just people who lost their jobs because of COVID.
40:45We'd like to give you $10,000 to make everything going on a little bit easier for you.
40:50That's just insane.
40:51Oh, you're about to make me cry. Okay.
40:53We're glad we could help you.
40:54I'm glad you could help me. I'm glad.
40:59When the COVID pandemic first started in Eastern North Carolina,
41:02there was a huge shortage in meats like poultry, ham, all that kind of stuff.
41:08So we decided to do a video where we partnered with Smithfield to donate 2 million meals to our area.
41:14As you can see, we dropped off 170,000 servings of protein to the next shelter.
41:18Let's go.
41:20This is where he grew up.
41:21Just like he wanted to take care of his mom for helping him out,
41:24he wants to do the same to his community.
41:28I'm really grateful for the way our community and just people in general
41:31have been helping us with our videos because these are massive projects.
41:34I can't do them on my own. Today, we're going to buy every item in this store.
41:40So I had this idea for a video. I want to buy everything in the store.
41:44I don't think you can do this all by yourself.
41:47I don't think you should speak anymore.
41:48We just didn't have enough people and we were running out of time before the store closed.
41:52So I brought some friends.
42:04You might be wondering, why are we buying all this stuff?
42:08Well, we're buying it because we want to give it to charity, like a food bank,
42:11a homeless shelter, or if a random guy on the street wants beans, we'll just give it to him.
42:15So we're at a food bank and we're going to give them food.
42:33We've talked to soup kitchens that have told us that like they got cleared out and they didn't
42:37know where their next donation was coming from. And like to hear that and to see how it changes
42:42their lives is just an incredible experience.
42:45Well, we serve anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 people a week. Couldn't have come in a better time.
42:50It's your lucky day. This is all three.
42:52Yes, thank you.
42:53We have people come up to us, you know, just randomly every day, all the time,
42:57telling us they're so thankful for it.
42:59Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Beast.
43:02Thank you, Mr. Beast.
43:03I appreciate them right here, man. We're going to shout out Mr. Beast for looking out for the community.
43:10Being over here in this Eastern North Carolina community has been fantastic.
43:14We can call so-and-so and say, hey, we need this location. And it's like, sure, no problem.
43:19They just love being part of what it is that he stands for and what it is that the channel's doing.
43:25It's a win-win all around, like the people we help. It's because the videos we make and we take the
43:30money from the videos to help people. And it creates a cycle. And viewers get content they
43:34enjoy. And really just about everyone involved just comes out with a win.
43:40Put it on up.
43:42Yeah!
43:43I've never ran a restaurant before.
43:46All right, come on in, everybody.
43:48And then I opened the world's first free restaurant. It was a restaurant, but everything was free.
43:54Basically, we went to a restaurant owner and we were like, hey, I want to use your restaurant.
44:00They didn't think we were being serious. And we tried to explain to the owner of this restaurant
44:04that we have 40-plus million subscribers and that, like, I want to open a restaurant for a day.
44:09And they didn't really think that many people would come to our restaurant.
44:15The second we put up the signs, right, free food, the lines started piling up quick.
44:21We thought if we rented the field, this giant field beside the restaurant, that'd be fine.
44:27The drive-thru line goes through the parking lot. Then it goes to the field and it zigzags. That
44:31should be good, right? What's up, boys? Welcome. What can I get you?
44:35So we serve a few dozen people and the line is just growing and growing and growing.
44:40It goes out the parking lot, goes through the field, through another parking lot,
44:44and it started backing up traffic. Hi, hi, hi, here.
44:48So we were stuffing bags full of cash. We were going out throwing cash to people everywhere we could.
44:54We were giving out video game consoles to kids.
44:57Here's a brand new iPad. We're just, like, throwing bags out the window. At one point,
45:03we're just grabbing money and just throwing it in their cars to keep them moving,
45:06because they couldn't cook the food fast enough.
45:10Thank you. No problem. Are you crying? Oh, she's going to make me cry.
45:14The head of the police kept telling me, like, the line's getting too long in the road. He's like,
45:21it's a mile long. And then he's like, it's two miles long. And then, like, literally,
45:24it felt like an hour later, he's like, dude, the line's, like, 20 miles long.
45:29It went really well. We had a lot of people come. It was a really good video. We were able to
45:34feed a lot of people.
45:34And that just started him thinking about, what's the next step that I can take?
45:45This is my food pantry. We have over 50,000 pounds of food here in this warehouse,
45:50and we're doing weekly deliveries to communities in need.
45:54I made a completely separate YouTube channel called Peace Philanthropy. And 100% of all the ad
45:58revenue, all the brand deals, all the merch I sell on that channel will go towards running the food bank.
46:03And I'm going to make videos around the food bank.
46:06How many hundreds of thousands of people can this food bank feed if it's fully funded
46:12by a YouTube channel? You know what I mean? And the content on the channel is the food bank.
46:17Every view on this channel is literally putting food in people's mouths, like this.
46:24Is that Sharpie?
46:24Yeah.
46:25Helping people's fun.
46:27On my philanthropy channel, I literally just want to help people.
46:29I want to use the money to grow a food bank that supports tens of thousands of families if possible.
46:35So what we're doing is we're actually launching food banks across America. The first food banks
46:39will be in North Carolina, and then we'll scale them out across the United States and hopefully
46:44internationally at some point in time.
46:49Right now, I really just want to learn all these nuances and actually learn how to help people as
46:54effectively as possible. And then, yeah, just as I make more money in my life, just do it at scale.
47:02One thing that's been, you know, truly special for me to watch was what, you know, really started
47:07early on with Jimmy is just giving away money so people could click and watch and have some kind
47:12of shock and awe at that content has really changed into a greater effort to have an impact on the world.
47:17My channel has billions of views, and those are real people. You know, it's not just numbers on a
47:23screen. And a large chunk of that are on videos where we help people and we did good. And I mean,
47:28now that you got me thinking about it, yeah, the videos that got 50 plus million views of me giving
47:32away money probably did inspire those 50 million people to go give money to other people. I don't
47:36really think about it much, but yeah.
47:40I get a story from a family where an 11, 12-year-old kid said no presents. I'm not taking any presents.
47:49I want anything that you want to give me to be a donation to the future, you know, Mr. B's charity.
47:55I believe in what he's doing, and I want to be part of it. Getting feedback stories from parents like
48:02that, that they're saying thank you for the positive role model that your son is becoming for us,
48:09that behind the scenes stuff. It's just truly amazing.
48:13I put out a tweet and I have tons of people coming here tomorrow to plant trees.
48:17The idea of this kind of philanthropy through an online campaign, through influencers,
48:24feels like it is the future. There's like a communal aspect to it. It's not just about
48:30giving your money, it's about joining a team.
48:35You gave your money, you're officially part of something bigger than yourself.
48:39That type of philanthropy does more to like move people's hearts and change behaviors.
48:48Just because you can't do something massive like me doesn't mean what you're doing isn't
48:52important. Tipping a pizza delivery guy a few extra dollars is cool. Or even better,
48:58just doing something unique and even more unexpected, like compliment someone or randomly mow your
49:04neighbor's lawn. It might seem minuscule, but obviously if millions of you do it, it like has
49:09like a very macro impact and it does start with you. Go give away money!
49:14Yes!
49:17Jimmy's future is without boundaries. I see the philanthropy growing as big as his social media
49:25presence. The whole world is a playground and it'll be amazing what he will get accomplished in the next
49:31couple of years. Congratulations on your brand new car. No one's ever done this before and I don't
49:40even know how this is going to work out. In a perfect world over the next few decades, I make tens of
49:44millions, hundreds of millions, billions, whatever it is. And then when I'm like 50, I'm just like,
49:48all right, I have all this money. And then we just go open up, you know, a few thousand homeless
49:54shelters or food banks. I don't know what it is. But what I do know is I want to help people.
49:59So this idea of using his influence to make the world a better place, while at the same time,
50:04like making that kind of cool and normalizing it for other people to do the same.
50:10I honestly think that's his guiding principle and he's killing it.
50:15Jimmy's heart is to make a change in this, this culture. He does it really honestly because
50:28that's just what he loves to do. I like helping people because it just makes me happy and it makes
50:34me feel good. I like seeing their faces light up. I like seeing how excited they get. A lot of people
50:41like, I don't know, watching movies or these other things are their form of entertainment. But for me,
50:47nothing is more entertaining than just seeing someone just go from like having a rough day to
50:51just going like, what? Just makes me feel good.
50:58Okay. Come here. Come here. So what was your name again? Cody. Cody. Okay. Cody,
51:02here's a few thousand dollars for filming. I've had this in my pocket and you're with Josh, right? All right,
51:07Josh, here's a few grand as well. Uh, thank you guys for filming this. Um, yeah, it's been a fun
51:13episode. Thank you for watching. What just happened?
51:37Oh, yeah, it's been a fun episode.
51:47Oh, yeah.
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