- 2 minutes ago
Steve Mould started out doing stand-up comedy at Oxford for fun, because apparently getting a degree there isn't hard enough. When he combined his love of physics with performing, he unlocked a whole new level of success. Now he's an author, occasional TV presenter, founder of a comedy festival, and host of the long-running Steve Mould YouTube channel with 3.5 million subscribers and 985 million views. He joins Dan to talk about turning a passion into a business without destroying your soul in the process.
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00If you just try and chase the numbers, you're going to have a bad time, not just because you
00:05lose interest in it, but also because I think the audience can tell. And so really the quality of
00:13the videos go down because you're doing stuff that you're not genuinely interested in.
00:21Hey everyone, welcome to How Success Happens. I'm Dan Bova, writer and editor at entrepreneur.com.
00:26And, you know, people say there is no exact science to succeeding, but perhaps today's
00:33guest begs to differ on that. Steve Mould is the host of a wildly popular YouTube channel
00:40where he performs crazy science experiments and then explains what the hell we just saw
00:46to an audience of 3.5 million subscribers. He writes books, performs comedy, holds a physics
00:53degree from the University of Oxford. Sometimes he does all three of those things at the same
00:58time. Let's talk to him. Welcome, Steve.
01:01Hey, good to be here.
01:02Very good to meet you. Love your videos. Love that you're able to explain baffling things
01:11in words that my feeble brain can get its arms around. So good on you for that.
01:17Oh, I appreciate that. It's what I try and do. So it's good to hear that it's working for
01:21you. Even for an idiot like me. Thank you. So can you kind of talk us through your entire
01:31life, Steve? No, but can you talk us through the kind of moment where you realized like,
01:37hey, maybe doing these videos and being professionally funny is a way to pay the bills?
01:43I studied science at university. I studied physics because I just always wanted to know how everything
01:51worked. You know, that was my thing. And physics seems like the ultimate subject for that, you
01:57know, because it's like understanding things at the most fundamental level. But I was also really
02:02into comedy. And so when I was at university, I did some open mic nights and things like that.
02:07And then when I graduated, I was doing open mic nights in London, which is tough. I mean,
02:13you know, they're tough gigs and stuff. And I was kind of I was considering a career in
02:17stand up comedy, but it's it's grueling. You know, it's kind of, yeah, it's not for me. And I was
02:22missing the science, you know, because I had a day job doing IT support and database design and things
02:29like that. And then doing these gigs in the evening. And then I kind of fell in with the kind
02:37of psychom crowd. So the science communicators. Doing that, I met a couple of people, Matt Parker,
02:45that's a stand up mass channel, and Helen Arnie. And we're longtime collaborators. So we met and we
02:51decided, let's put on a comedy night about science for adults. So it's not gonna be families and kids,
02:58it's gonna be proper comedy, but you advertise it, you know, it's for nerds. So come along if that
03:05sounds like your sort of thing. You know, I know. And so that was amazing. So we we kind of
03:12grew this
03:12thing. It's called Festival of the Spoken Nerd started off upstairs room in a pub 40 seats. We do
03:18that monthly. And then the we moved to a bigger venue. And then we started doing that annual best of
03:27shows, big theatres. And then we did some tour shows and DVDs and things like that. I was doing
03:35these live shows and they had demos in them, science demos, experiments. And one day I thought, well,
03:44I could just make a video, little videos about each one and post them on YouTube. And at the time,
03:52there was no way to make money really, on YouTube, or at least not a direct way to do it.
03:58And then two
03:59things kind of happened at the same time. One video that I posted had a little bit of viral success,
04:05which is this kind of chain fountain thing that happens. So you put a load of bead chain in a
04:10pot.
04:11And when it falls out of the pot, it launches itself into the air before it falls back down again.
04:18Um, sometimes called the mold effect. Uh, yeah. Uh, yeah. You're, you're kind of, uh, stepping over
04:24that, but, uh, you, you've got this phenomenon recognized in, in physics that's named after you,
04:31but continue. I'll carry on. Uh, so, so yeah, a little bit of viral success with this one video.
04:38And at the same time, this program began at YouTube where you could earn ad revenue. So you get a
04:46share
04:46of the ad revenue. And I thought, okay, so maybe I could earn money from this.
04:52That's fantastic. Wow. So there's a lot, a lot of, a lot of things I want to ask you about.
04:56And just to sort of go back to the, those early days, the, the crucible of the open mic night,
05:02um, what did you learn about being comfortable in front of people? What did you learn about
05:10finding your own voice? Uh, was that a tough process or something that came naturally to you?
05:18Yeah. The open mic nights at university were organized by an amazing comedian called Josie Long.
05:25Uh, she just had, uh, still has a knack of making the audience really nice, really lovely audience.
05:35Uh, it's kind of, uh, when you're hosting a comedy night, that's part of the job. You're kind of
05:41engineering the audience to, to be what you want them to be. And she did an amazing job of that.
05:46So my first few gigs, I think I must've done three while I was at university, incredibly nerve
05:52wracking, especially before the first one, just really, really nervous about it, but they were so
05:57nice. And the audience was so nice that I just had an amazing time. And so I kept doing it
06:03and it was
06:04harder when I then moved to London and, and was doing the open mic circuit in London. But that
06:11introduction was, was amazing to have that great experience and, and to, to gain that kind of
06:16confidence, uh, on stage, you know? And did you come out at the gate sort of fully formed? This
06:23is who I am. Or did you have to experiment a little bit with like finding your voice or what
06:30I guess
06:30I'm getting at is being authentic without, uh, you know, trying too hard for the most part, it's
06:36authentic and, and always has been really. So the sorts of jokes I was telling were very nerdy jokes.
06:45And, um, can you treat us to one? Uh, no, no, no, it's funny somewhere sitting in a draw on
06:58a hard
06:58drive. I've got a very early gig. Um, and no one's allowed to see it. I don't know. Like,
07:06well, I don't know when you started putting stuff out there, but this is the juvenile.
07:11It's embarrassing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about whether someone wants to start
07:16a YouTube channel or start their own thing. Can you remember when that kind of entered your head?
07:23Like, Hey, this might be, this might be my full-time job. And did that scare you at all?
07:30It was probably when I decided to hire a studio space. Cause I was making videos in the house
07:39and my wife entrepreneurial as she is, had started a nursery business,
07:45bilingual Spanish, English nursery business. And it was in our house. So I was setting stuff up
07:53quickly and then taking it down again, uh, and kind of working around that. Yeah. Uh,
07:58and it just, it was, it was really slowing me down. In those early, early days of it,
08:04what did success mean? And you've been at it for quite a while and obviously have done well. What
08:10does success mean to you now? Good question. I think there's a few
08:16facets to that. There's a, a sense of always improving, always getting better at the craft.
08:25And YouTube is actually quite good for that because, or at least in the niche that I'm in,
08:32which is explaining things because you get feedback in the comments and you realize,
08:38okay, so maybe I left a few people behind here. I could have given more clarity in this section.
08:45And it means that, you know, the next time you make a video where there might be a similar
08:49misunderstanding, you're not going to leave that gap. Well, it's, it's interesting that you, uh,
08:54you mentioned the comments because you know, a lot of people that I've spoken to say like,
09:00never look at the comments, the comments, people are nuts in there. It'll drive you crazy.
09:05But it seems like you, you, uh, you don't prescribe to that exact, uh, uh, way of doing things.
09:12It is a mixed bag because it's frustrating when you realize that you've left some people behind,
09:20or you've, you've made a bit of a mistake or something like that. Uh, so the learning process
09:26can be painful because you wish you hadn't made the mistake in the first place.
09:30Right. Um, and it's the, it's the classic conundrum when you're looking at feedback,
09:36you know, you can have 99% positive feedback, but you only remember the negative feedback.
09:40So one of the other big struggles that, uh, content creators face is, is exhaustion. Can you talk a
09:49little bit about how you manage that? Uh, was there a moment where you're doing too much and
09:54you ratcheted it down or how do you plan out your days so that you're not feel like you're running
09:59around like a maniac? Yeah, there was definitely a time like that and kind of still is, but not as
10:05bad.
10:06You know, what I would love to be doing is just tinkering away with something I find interesting,
10:12whatever my hyper-focus is. And then eventually when there's a video ready, I'll post it. But
10:22one of the first successes you have with a YouTube channel is you get sponsorship. Um, and that goes
10:28on a schedule. So a sponsor tells you when they want the sponsorship message to go out. And so
10:35you commit to making videos on that schedule. So I typically try and put out two videos a month.
10:41And so those slots are booked up months in advance by various sponsors. And so I'm locked into,
10:47I have to make that many videos and they have to come out on that time. And so it's not
10:51that fun
10:51thing anymore where I'm just tinkering with something interesting and I can play with it for
10:55as long as I want. And then when it's ready and it's interesting enough, I post it. It has to
10:59happen at this certain pace. And so I have to leave really interesting things behind when they're done
11:05with and posted and I have to move on to the next thing that's maybe not quite ready yet and
11:08all that
11:09sort of stuff. Um, and the other thing is with YouTube, you are always trying to improve or at
11:15least, you know, it's an important thing to be aiming for. And so, you know,
11:20one week I'll decide I'm really going to make an effort with the color grade on this video.
11:27Um, and it's great and it looks better and everything, but then I can't go back.
11:32So the next video also has to have a great color grade. And, and then I do the same thing
11:36with
11:36sound. I do the same thing with whatever, whatever. And so it takes longer and longer to
11:41make a video. It takes more and more man hours to make a video. And so if you're not building
11:46your
11:46team at the same time, you're going to burn out because you're slowly creating more and more work,
11:52but it's only you. Can you talk about, um, I don't know, like the power of curiosity, like,
11:58you know, within your own investigations or, you know, stuff from history of
12:05going down a path. You didn't know where it was going to take you. And it took you to some
12:09place
12:09like amazing, or you learned something that you never would have expected.
12:13I mean, it happens with videos all the time because I go into a video with an idea of how
12:19something works and I'll roughly script it. And then it's annoying when it comes to actually doing
12:27the experiment. I find out that the answer is something different and I have to re-script the
12:30thing. Um, but it, but it's great because, you know, I'm, I'm learning and I'm figuring out new things.
12:37Um, yeah, I, I don't know what it is, but I, I feel like, I mean, this is an ad
12:45hoc hypothesis,
12:46which is terrible. Scientists shouldn't just, you know, spout ad hoc hypotheses, but here you go.
12:51Um, I, I think curiosity for its own sake is, uh, a natural human trait because if you think
13:04about a lot of the discoveries that we've made in the past, you know, by scientists who just wanted
13:10to know how something works, uh, didn't have any use, but then it turned out to be useful later.
13:17Um, and I suspect we have evolved this kind of innate curiosity for how things work,
13:27not because we hope it will be useful, but because we just want to understand how things work.
13:32And that was selected for evolutionarily because very often it led to things that helped us survive.
13:39Um, and so I just think, I just think innate curiosity, you know, that kind of blue sky
13:45research, they call it, you know, just research for the sake of it is just, it's a part of human
13:50nature.
13:50So we get questions sent into our, uh, email, uh, how success happens at entrepreneur.com.
13:59And we got a question for you. Not so much a question, uh, as it is a command.
14:05Um, this is from rich says, I'd be grateful if one of your videos could give us the unified
14:12theory of everything so we can all move on. Thanks.
14:16Oh, cool. Yeah. No, that's my next one. That's the one that's coming out next.
14:20Um, yeah, it's funny, isn't it? Uh, we know the universe so well and our models work so incredibly
14:28well and they describe everything so brilliantly well, except for this one little bit,
14:33um, these two pillars of physics, uh, and they just don't play nice together. Uh, so annoying.
14:41Yeah. Um, uh, any, any closer to it? You got the inside scoop. Any, uh, any breaking news? Um,
14:51my theory. No, I just think we need to smash particles together even harder and we'll work
14:57something out. So we'd love to ask what is a habit that you are happy to have and one that
15:04you wish you
15:05could ditch. Okay. I'll start with ditch because that's easy. Uh, I procrastinate very badly.
15:14Um, actually I was at a conference called thinker con for science communicators. No,
15:22we're YouTubers like educational YouTubers. And I was sat in a room with a whole lot of, uh,
15:28YouTubers that I admired and they all just seem so productive all the time.
15:31Something that I do, which seems probably counterproductive is I,
15:39I can spend a long time replying to emails from viewers that wouldn't lead to any income,
15:48but it'll be someone's emailed me a question, something they don't understand. And I can see
15:57that I might be able to explain the thing to them, which is something I just really enjoy anyway,
16:04but also I'm honing an ability that I use in my work. So, um,
16:15on the one hand you could argue, well, you know, it's a, it's a waste of my time when I'm
16:21supposed to
16:22be making videos, but on the other hand, you have to take joy in the work. And I, and I
16:27enjoy
16:28explaining things even one-on-one over email. Um, it's also why I do live shows, you know,
16:34the live shows don't earn as much as the YouTube videos, but it's just great to meet people and
16:40stand in front of people and, uh, and, and do it sort of face to face like that.
16:45That's awesome. Um, and I love the idea of just, just getting in reps, like just getting,
16:52practicing, explaining things. That's great. So finally dark matter or a dark chocolate, which,
16:59which do you prefer? Dark matter. I'm just, I just don't like dark chocolate really. Um,
17:06it's just an acquired taste, I think. Whereas dark matter, you know, everybody loves it. Yeah. Um,
17:18I think, I think too much about dark matter. Um, it is a, it's a real mystery. There's a lot
17:24of
17:24things that I wish I could make videos about, but I don't think that they would perform well.
17:28Well, I I'm really interested in biology. There's some like amazing, like at the genetic level,
17:34amazing, like adaptations in the natural world, crazy, brilliant stuff. But when I make videos
17:40about them, they don't perform particularly well. So I don't do them very often. Um, similarly with
17:44like really hard physics, you know, so cosmology and, you know, relativity and, and all that sort
17:52of stuff, quantum mechanics, I don't really get into it. Cause I, I dunno, it's not quite the angle
17:58that my channel has, even though I spent a long time thinking about that stuff. Do you ever, is that
18:03part of your, your calculus all the time? Or do you ever say, you know what, I don't think this
18:07is
18:08going to do well, but I'm just doing this for me. Cause I want to do it. Yeah. It's a
18:13difficult
18:15balance. Um, it, if you just try and chase the numbers, you're going to have a bad time,
18:22not just because you lose, uh, interest in it, but also because I think the audience can tell.
18:31And so really the quality of the videos go down because you're doing stuff that you're not genuinely
18:35interested in. Um, but at the same time, you don't want to kill the channel by just doing
18:42a massive pivot on everyone or your regular viewers. Um, I think there's a, there's a kind
18:50of middle ground where you can explore new formats and stuff. Um, but again, you, you need the capacity
18:57to do it because probably I wouldn't be comfortable putting a sponsor on it in case it didn't do very
19:03well. And so I have to have the room to, to say, well, you know, we don't need sponsorship money,
19:08um, this month or whatever. Um, so you have to, you have to bake in, um, space for that kind
19:16of thing,
19:16which at the moment I'm not great at. Right. Got it. Got it. Got it. All right. Well, uh, Steve,
19:23thank you so much for, for all this time, uh, you've given me. And, uh, and so can you tell
19:30people best way to keep up with all the fun stuff you're up to? Yeah. I mean, it's just the
19:36YouTube
19:36channel really. Um, so you can subscribe there. Uh, and say the name of the YouTube channel.
19:43It's just my name, Steve mold. So youtube.com forward slash Steve mold. M O U L D.
Comments