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MrBeast shares the one problem with influencers that's 'painful to see'

Not everyone can be MrBeast.

via Steven Khan/WikimediaCommons and Ivan Samkov/Pexels

An influencer and MrBeast.

After YouTube phenomenon MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, 25, graduated high school in 2016, his mother made a deal with him. He could live in her house and go to college, or if he didn’t want to pursue higher education, he would have to move out and live on his own. So, he decided to go to college, although his heart wasn't in it.

The content creator, philanthropist, and founder of Feastables chocolate snack brand had just started making videos on YouTube as a teenager and had yet to hit the big time. So, he went to school while continuing his passion for creating YouTube videos.

However, college was not for MrBeast and he quickly dropped out. “I got to college and I couldn’t stand it, man. I used to sit in front of other classrooms and think, yo, I don’t know what the fu*k is going on,” he said, according to Essentially Sports. Instead, he put all his efforts into pursuing his dream of being a YouTube star. By the following year, he had earned over 1 million subscribers on the platform and was well on the way to being a success.

Last year, MrBeast reportedly made $82 million from his hundreds of millions of subscribers.

In an interesting twist to his story, MrBeast recently warned aspiring influencers and content creators to be careful about following his footsteps and giving up everything to pursue their dreams.

"It’s painful to see people quit their job/drop out of school to make content full time before they’re ready," Donaldson wrote on X on March14. "For every person like me that makes it, thousands don’t. Keep that in mind and be smart plz."

MrBeast’s tweet contradicts the inspiring advice successful people often give about following their dreams. Especially for someone so young who gave up a college education to pursue his. MrBeast is not advocating for people to follow the words of the great T.S. Eliot, who once said, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” Or Nelson Mandela, who famously said, "There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."

But MrBeast definitely knows the business he’s in, and it’s a lot different than it was when he first started out in 2016. The number of YouTubers has expanded exponentially over the past 8 years, and there are only so many eyeballs and sponsorships to go around.

Further, influencers now have to compete with artificial intelligence and TikTok is in danger of being shut down by the government.

"The chances of you quitting your job without a safety net and becoming a successful content creator are slim to none and anyone who does that is the exception, not the rule," Katya Varbanova, a brand marketing strategist and the CEO of Viral Marketing Stars, told Business Insider. She also added that a big part of MrBeast’s success was "being in the right place at the right time."

MrBeast made it big by working tirelessly to figure out the type of videos the YouTube algorithm and viewers wanted produced. Then, he scaled up his budgets and production quality to become a leader in the content creator industry. But one of the keys to his success was that he got in the game at the right time.

For those who may be discouraged by MrBeast’s thoughts on becoming an influencer in 2024, it doesn’t mean to stop following your dreams. It means to be like MrBeast and find the next big thing before everyone else, work hard to perfect it and shoot for the stars.

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Meet the 47 incredible YouTubers joining forces to change the world.

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YouTube Creators for Change

When YouTuber Riyadh K shared his coming out story with the world, it came as a shock to viewers.

But it wasn't shocking because Riyadh is gay — it was that his father had a confession of his own: The night he found out about his son's sexuality, he had thought about taking his own life.

“It was stupid,” his father says through tears.

Camera rolling, Riyadh embraces him, and goes on to tell his audience of over 300,000 subscribers about the incredible journey his family had been on since that night years ago.  

Because despite the initial shock and despite their conservative backgrounds, his parents have gone on to lead pride parades, meet their son's boyfriends, and celebrate his community. They love their son unconditionally.

“I’ve never seen a turnaround in two parents as I’ve seen in these two,” Riyadh tells his audience. “If we can go from where we were, to where we are now ... you can too.”

While most people wouldn’t dream of posting a video like this, it was natural for Riyadh, who knew just how impactful these videos could be.

After all, he had relied on the community of LGBTQ+ YouTubers to find self-acceptance for himself. “YouTube was a safe haven for me at a time when I felt alone, lost and unsure of who I was,” he said in a press statement.

And today, his video has been viewed over 5 million times. Not only that, but there are over 13,000 comments on Riyadh’s video, many from parents and queer youth alike, deeply grateful for his family’s honesty.

All photos via YouTube.

For content creators like Riyadh, YouTube is more than just a platform — it’s an important opportunity to make an impact.

“It was on YouTube that I became an 'accidental activist,'” he said. “I found my people and I found a purpose on this incredible platform.”

He continued, “Using YouTube to engage a global audience on issues that matter to me and my community has become my primary focus and passion in life."

That’s why this year, Riyadh has joined forces with 47 other creators around the world as part of YouTube’s Creators for Change program.

It’s a global initiative for YouTubers looking to promote awareness and empathy for diverse communities as well as the social issues that impact them most.

Creators from countries as far away as Indonesia, Israel, and Turkey have joined him in the Creators for Change program. Among them are Omar Farooq from Bahrain, whose weekly series “Omar Tries” features Omar exploring different professions and experiences to better understand people and cultures around the world.

“Seeing life through the eyes of others is the way to tolerance and acceptance,” said Farooq. “This [can] defeat any form of hate.”

There’s also Victoria Volkova, a creator in Mexico City who documented her gender transition in an effort to promote acceptance and awareness for the transgender community, particularly women.

“The Creators for Change program means an opportunity for all those communities that feel like an outcast or that they don’t belong to have a voice,” she said. “I can try to give power to these communities and [let] them know that they matter.”

Another creator is Jouelzy, who created the #SmartBrownGirl movement to empower women of color and create a safe space for them to push back against the norms that harm them. "Cultural education is needed," she said, "both in that you learn about others, but also that you learn about your own ancestors and the stories that connect us all."

With the help of YouTube’s Creators for Change program — which includes boot camps, video production help, and mentorship — creators like Riyadh, Farooq, Jouelzy, and Volkova will be empowered to do even more for their communities.

With a combined 26 million subscribers between them, this year’s Creators for Change could have a huge, global impact.

That's also why they hope to inspire others to raise their voices and make a difference too.

“The more we talk with and understand one another, the better we can come to an understanding of how to make this world better for the next generation,” YouTuber and Creator for Change ambassador Jazza John said. That's why he uses his platform to educate audiences about gay rights, technology, racism, and more.

While starting a conversation might seem simple, creators like Riyadh know that it's at the core of changing hearts and minds.

“The moment we start sharing stories is when we begin to empathize with one another, and destroy the barrier between ‘us’ and ‘them’ that we never knew was there,” he said.

“The more we normalize the ‘other’” he added, “the faster we can learn to accept and love what we are not.”

Most Shared

This celeb's video gave 5 solutions to end gun violence. None of them included gun reform.

It’s going to take a lot more than one YouTube video to end school shootings. But it appears that Logan Paul’s brother Jake was willing to take the first step.

While Logan Paul made headlines for uploading an insensitive video featuring a dead man hanging in Japan's notorious suicide forest, Jake Paul is generating media buzz for a whole different reason: guns.

On March 12, YouTuber Jake Paul uploaded a documentary on the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Titled “It’s Time To End School Shootings,” Paul spoke with a number of students, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, and with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) about gun violence.

At the end of the video, Paul announced his pledge to donate $25,000 to March for Our Lives and introduced five ways to end school shootings. Most of his suggestions seem level-headed enough: Asking for more counselors at schools and pressuring social media companies to monitor and flag extremist behavior. He also called for bulletproof windows on doors.

His other suggestions were more controversial: He proposed the idea of students carrying their own bulletproof shields into the classroom and setting up checkpoints at school entrances.

It should be noted that over the entirety of the video, Paul doesn't once encourage or advocate for gun control reform legislation. (To be fair, despite not mentioning it in the video, his YouTube description does mention “gun control reform.”)

Photo via Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images.

While Paul seems genuine in his attempt to tackle gun violence, several social media users criticized the YouTube star’s documentary.

Hasan Piker, a host at The Young Turks — a progressive online media network — made one of the most compelling cases against Paul’s video. On Twitter, Piker pointed out Paul basically propped up conservative talking points around gun control. He argued that Paul’s five solutions did not venture anywhere near actually restricting access to guns. Instead, they're solutions often touted by gun rights activists — like the NRA — on Fox News. The only difference is that these talking points and gun rights representatives, who are mostly popular to an older age group, are now being exposed to a younger demographic.

Piker believed this was a perfect opportunity for Paul to use his influential platform to make a change, as well as make up for some of his latest controversies. But the YouTuber missed the mark.

“In its essence, it’s basically a 21-min expanded version of a social media post your gun-loving uncle makes,” Piker tweeted. “Jake Paul obviously did zero [homework] and doesn’t understand the importance of his reach. He had an opportunity and blew it.”

Other people took to Twitter to critique Paul’s video. Some believe it outed him as a gun rights advocate.

It’s not that outlandish to assume Paul is a gun rights advocate.

Paul certainly hasn't made it a secret that he’s into gun culture. In April 2017, Paul uploaded a vlog (that over 19 million people watched) about getting a tattoo of an AR-15 on his thigh. He also pressured his friends to get the same tattoo.

Paul has also posted several photos posing with assault weapons and other guns.

This controversy shouldn’t come off as a surprise. Like his YouTube celebrity brother, Jake Paul is no stranger to scandal. While it’s not a suicide forest scandal or obnoxious behavior in Japan, Paul has made headlines for terrorizing neighborhoods and using the n-word for his videos.

But despite his controversial past — and the fact that his gun control documentary missed the mark — it should be noted that Paul is willing to use his platform to start conversations about sensitive topics.

That’s a good thing. And, perhaps more importantly, Paul seems to be willing to accept and learn from his critics. After receiving backlash for failing to advocate for substantial gun control solutions in his video, he tweeted new suggestions to combat gun violence.

Paul's new idea is another five-point plan that explicitly calls for restrictions on gun access. These include raising the age to purchase firearms from 18 to 21, requiring a six-month training course similar to ones taken for a driver’s license, a mandatory mental health evaluation, banning gun shows, and a 30-day waiting period for buying a firearm.

In a tweet, he explained that he refrained from mentioning gun control reform “to simplify some of the steps” he discussed with Parkland students around school shootings. He then explicitly expressed his support for gun control reform.

“Make no mistake, gun reform is an absolutely must ... but is part of the solution,” Paul wrote.

While Paul has quite a problematic history and a whole lot to learn, it's imperative that influencers use their platforms for good. Why? Because influencers can and do influence voters and lawmakers. It's certainly not easy. Celebrities often receive a lot of backlash for making comments about subject matter like this. But what shows real courage is being able to come forward and attempt to start a conversation.

Let’s hope Paul learned from this experience and will continue to dedicate his platform to making a positive impact on gun control.

You can watch his documentary below:

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