If you’ve recently visited YouTube, you’re likely to recognize the smiling face of James Donaldson, widely known as MrBeast.
Donaldson has risen to become one of the most prominent YouTubers, amassing an astounding 308 million followers on his channel.
His popularity is largely built on his extravagant giveaway videos, where he offers prizes of incredible value.
These videos feature outrageous competitions, such as one where participants had to remain in a circle, with the last person standing being declared the winner.
Naturally, the circle would shrink at the end of each day.
In another example, he organized a competition inspired by Squid Game.
It’s important to mention that in his version, a harmless squib would go off when someone was ‘eliminated’, and no real harm was done.
Recently, the YouTuber shared insights into how he achieved his success.
Like many, MrBeast had humble beginnings.
He revealed that his initial brand deals were worth around $5,000, a respectable sum but far from the massive amounts his channel now generates through giveaways alone.
To attract more viewers, he would record himself giving away the money to random individuals.
MrBeast told FULL SEND PODCAST: “So the first time I got a brand deal is 10 grand, well it’s five grand, and I was like double it and I’ll go give it away.
“So I literally I just gave away all my brand deals every single time I got one so I did that and the next time.
“I just literally, I would just do a brand deal give it away and then the next brand deal was bigger and I just did that for like two years straight.”
This strategy clearly paid off for him, especially during a time when being a YouTuber wasn’t as mainstream as it is now.
He reflected: “It’s like that was like insane and people won’t understand it’s just a different time now, like it’s cool to be a YouTuber now, it’s like it’s known we make money, how we make money everything.
“Back then you would have to like have f**king five-hour arguments 100 days in a row just to convince your mom that YouTube is a thing, you know, which you just don’t have to do anymore.
“It was just a different time for us.”