How Content Creators Make Millions
This one streamer who we're talking about, what's his name?
xQc, in this case.
How much money does he make?
He probably makes between, I want to say, $3 to $10 million a year.
No way, really?
Yeah, probably $5 to $10 is the easy estimate. $10, man, $10 is not even the upper bound. Like, they— these guys can make much more than that, maybe up to $20, $25 million if they are maxing out their stuff, but they don't always want to do that. Like, uh, I talk— because I used to negotiate with these guys. So, you know, um, even before Twitch, like when I was just trying to get them to promote our products, and it's like, all right, I'm going to talk to— I want to talk to this streamer. It's like, no, you don't get to talk to the streamer, you talk to their manager. Okay, fair, that's fine. They're stars, I get it. All right, who's the manager? Is it like, you know, CAA or like WME?
And like for 95% of them, it's like, oh, it's like his little brother Ray Ray.
This is like, uh, this shirt, it's like the It's like the Gen Y or Gen X, whatever the— what are the young people now called? What are the young— what are the— what is the young people called? It's like Gen Z. It's like the, uh, Tommy Bahama of Gen Z.
Yeah, I was literally— I was about to start with the shirt, so you're on to something. What kind of— what brand is that?
Scotch and Soda.
Uh, yeah, dude, Scotch and Soda crushes it. They— there's— there was, uh, two— I was— I went shopping this weekend and, um, at like whatever the— like Union Square in San Francisco. And two dudes walked into the elevator with their scotch and soda bags and they were so happy. It's like shopping makes people really happy. I think that's an underrated part of shopping is how happy it made them. And they were just like— it was two guys and they were talking to each other and they were still talking about their shopping, which I would say I've never experienced that, me and another dude just first of all going shopping together. Secondly, after shopping, not just being like, all right, it's done, whatever, like we don't even talk about it anymore. He was like, he's like, yeah, I'm really happy with the color. The guy's like, yeah, the color's sick. And I was like, and I'm just in the elevator with them, and I was like, I was like, yeah, is that moss green? That's all I—
dude, Sky Just Soda is awesome. You shop there?
No, I didn't shop there. I was shopping for my wife, but, um, It's in the same like area, whatever, like—
wait, you were shopping for her?
Like with her. She wanted to go buy— I told you she was trying to buy like a designer bag, which by the way, it— the whole experience is crazy. Have you ever done that? Have you ever gone to like—
yeah, you got to make an appointment.
Yeah, well now they— it's like a restaurant now. Basically they, uh, you, you go, you put your name down, they're like, we'll text you to get in. Like you can't just walk into the store. Yeah. And, um, We go in and it's like, I've got 2 babies and a dog with me, so I'm already like, you know, you brought your dog to a Louis Vuitton store? Yeah, it's a— my stroller has 2 children and a dog.
They're probably like, sir, you can't come in here, you have to leave the kids outside.
They straight up— I don't even think they saw the dog because the dog's so small and so quiet compared to the kids. Like, I think that just got lost in the shuffle. Otherwise they for sure would have kicked me out. Uh, but we were like, hey, you know, um, we're here, we're here! And they were just like, okay, why are you so loud? It's like, all right, let's do this. And I was so excited just because I was like, all right, whatever, make this an experience. And then like 5 minutes in, I became like— I went in with the best intentions. I was like, I'm gonna make this a great experience for my wife. She wants this. I'm gonna not just play along. I'm going to like be along. I'm going to fucking sing along with this. And then like literally 5 to 15 minutes in, I was just like, all right, like, just pick one. The small one or the big one? I don't know. Which one do you like? Just pick the one you like.
She was like, idiot, you're such a redneck. You're like, we're here. And then like 5 minutes in, we were like, hey, do you guys sell like lemonade or turkey leg or anything?
I was like, oh, they used to offer snacks. Snacks. You guys still do that? And they were like, we've never done that, sir. And I was like, all right, worth a shot. And then like, there's no Cheez-Its. There was like a section for the purses that's like 5 stairs up, but I got a stroller, 2 children, and a dog, as you remember. So I was like, y'all got an elevator? It's like 3 stairs. They were like, they were like, uh, yeah, there is like a wheelchair lift over here. I'm not sure if your wagon will fit, but like— and then I got stuck in the fucking wheelchair lift going between like— going up a 4-foot rise I get stuck and then I realize I'm not stuck. I just push the door and it opens. Nobody was on the other side to open the door. It wasn't automatic either.
Dude, you're the Indian Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. Oh, dude, somebody said this the other day. They go, they go, I was in LA, I was in LA or whatever, in New York somewhere. And Larry David was there at a driving range. Playing golf. And they were like, and they're like, it was like some, like, just like a hole-in-the-wall type of driving, not like a nice one. They're like, why does Larry David go there? He's like, it's like near where he lives or something. He just popped over. It's like 2:00 PM on a Tuesday. He just wanted to hit some balls. And they're like, I overheard him. And nobody even— nobody pays any attention. You know, this just looks like an old guy. Nobody knows who he is. And he's talking to the lady who sells— gives you the balls. The balls are The balls are $11. And he's like, why does it have to be $11? He's like, like he was negotiating the price or like he was complaining about— he's like a super rich guy. He's like, it's not the price. $11. Now I got to have a $10, but a $10 is not enough. If you made a $10, one bill, we're done. Now I got to give you a $20. Now what are you going to give me? $5 and then 4 ones? What am I going to do with these ones? It's like, like an actual Curb Your Enthusiasm skit.
I definitely like that in real life. For sure. Um, all right, since we're talking about entertainment and content, I have to tell you, uh, about two different things. So we're gonna call this segment I'm Happy Freaks Exist. Here's the craziest content that I've consumed this weekend. Have you heard of the show? No. Yeah, no, definitely not. Have you, uh, have you seen this show called Naked and Afraid?
I've heard of it, but I have not watched it. It's like, it's the craziest thing, right?
Or you're naked. No, it's worse than that. So what they do is they take two strangers and they drop them off in like the jungle in South Africa or Asia. I don't even know where the exact locations are. It's all over the world, but like remote, remote locations. Oftentimes places that's like 110 degrees during the day and like 50 degrees at night. So you're freezing. They take two strangers, they put them, uh, in this area. Okay. They give them nothing. Sometimes if the water's really bad, they'll give them just a, a pot, just an empty pot and, and a machete. That's basically it. And they make the two strangers meet and work together to survive for 21 days. And they're completely butt naked. They're, they're not wearing anything. They're entirely naked. And they've got to like spoon at night to stay warm. Otherwise they're going to like shiver and like, and like, is it, it's not Like two dudes, two women, mixed? What are we— it could be usually, so usually, uh, like a man and a woman, but then they like throw like curveballs in there. So like they had this like guy, I think he was from Australia, and they played him out like he's like this like redneck hick guy from Australia. And then the woman is a transsexual and she comes on and the— they set it up so like they like, you know, how is this conservative guy gonna feel about this? And he was totally— and like the whole show it was like Oh, you know, it's okay. Like everyone's like unique and, and he's like totally kind and like, it's like, oh man, he's breaking the stereotypes and they like hug it out and they're like, we'll protect one another. We're team. And so that's like, you know, like one of many ways the show is amazing is like, they're like doing this together. It's ridiculous. And the hardest thing I've ever seen. And I don't think they get paid a cent. You have to watch this show. It's ridiculous.
And so they have to survive for how long?
21 days.
21 days. And so what are they doing? They're going and hunting or they're just like eating, uh, they're like, usually they're like, we have to make shelter.
They're like, we have to go figure out how to make a fire. Sometimes it's in a rainforest and it's raining and they're like, I don't know how we're going to stay warm. We're not going to eat. And so sometimes they won't eat for days or 10 days. Uh, on one episode, a guy made a bow and arrow and shot a bird and it was awesome. Um, another episode, a guy tried to go and wrestle a crocodile to bring back and to eat. Oftentimes I've noticed another, like, trait I've noticed is usually the women are way tougher and way calmer, like significantly. Like the men are like, come out all aggressive, like, this is gonna be awesome. And they're like trying to cheer the woman on, like, let's do this. And then they like get worn out after 7 days and they bail and the woman just stays by herself and does it. So usually the, it seems the women are mentally stronger. Uh, it's amazing. This is a, it's a, it's a wild show. I cannot believe that like people do this.
Okay. That's amazing. Uh, what does that have to do with, uh, the, you put a tweet in here also next to it. That's completely unrelated, but I guess it's under the theme of I'm, I'm glad that freaks exist.
The second thing, there's this guy. What's his name? Is his name Felix?
Felix.
What's the URL of his website? Do you know? Is it like Felix.today?
Howisfelix.today.
So this freaking guy, for 8 years, he tracked hundreds of different parts of his life. So, and I have a list up. So he tracked the easy ones like weight, steps, and diet, but then, uh, and then alcohol, but then he tracked his mood, his stress. He used Rescue.me, RescueTime, I think it's called, an app that tracks which programs he was using on his computer, how much time he spent on his cell phone. His mood, his energy, his sleep, how often he— how many texts he sent that day, how often he talked to friends, if he was more productive in the evening or the day, if he took any drugs, what city he was in, what the weather was, how hungry he felt. Did he feel lethargic? Did he feel stressed? What else did he— it was like just so much stuff. He had 30 or 40 or 50,000 data points, and it's all done in an engineer-like way. Where it, you know, he could say like, well, I was 46% more likely to say I felt sad if I didn't see a friend in the trailing 3 days. Like there's like, what, what are, can, can you read out some of the findings?
Yeah. So like, for example, how, how does longer sleep duration, like how does sleep affect my day? He's like, if I have, um, let's see. So if he had more than 8.5 hours, Okay, I think, I think he means less here, but he's 65% more likely to have cold symptoms, 60% more likely to have a headache. He uses social media 40% more when he's sleep deprived. Um, 30% more likely to be a rainy day. That's interesting. Um, yeah, crazy stuff. 20% less likely to hit the gym. Actually, no longer sleep duration. This is, so I didn't read it wrong. He's saying if I sleep more than 8.5 hours, all those things are true. Um, which is great.
Read another one. Read some of the other ones. It, it, like, it's pretty— this is— it's pretty amazing what he found.
But then air quality in various rooms. Okay, I'm not even gonna read what goes beyond that, but just like measuring the air quality is crazy. Uh, wow, this is wild. I'm, I'm scrolling. I've been scrolling for like the entire time you were talking and I'm halfway through this guy's findings. This guy's a nut. Is he okay?
He's a nut.
This guy's a freak. The funny thing is he tracked everything and I'm like, is this guy okay? I don't think he's okay. I need an answer. It's just start at the top. Is he okay? And actually it says Felix feels all right and updated 1 hour ago.
And it says what city he's in. It's amazing.
This first little table is nice. Weight, height, sleep. And then it goes last meditated 41 days ago. Inbox, 20 emails. Personal to-do list, 179 tasks. Wow.
It's pretty wild.
Is, is a sleeping heart rate, 459 beats per minute.
So if you scroll all the way to the bottom, he's got one sentence that kind of like summarizes this. And he says, do like a control— my computer's not working, but if you do like a Ctrl+F build or something like that, you might find it where he says basically building this and having all this information I'm happy I did it because it's just like a fun way for me to nerd out, but it was not beneficial and it doesn't make sense for anyone else to do this.
So you were saying the main— it says the main conclusion, it is that it is not worth building your own solution and investing this much time. Um, so that's on the building your own solution. Uh, I'm very happy that I built this project in the first place. It gave me much better awareness of everything going on in my life. I'm excited. I'm excited to have this, uh, have built this website to wrap up this project and showcase some outcomes. So he's done this for 8 years, you said? Yeah. Wow. Amazing, right? Yeah. Truly amazing. How'd you find this guy?
Howisfelix.today. If you wanna go check it out, it's nice.
It's amazing.
It's actually pretty nice. I'm not gonna lie.
Um, it's awesome. It's totally unnecessary and absolutely amazing.
Like, I would like to have this if I just could do no work or like, you know, touch a button once every 5 hours. Like, you know, I'm down to do that, but I don't want to remember to log all this stuff.
His story. And so this guy's incredibly interesting. His story, I read, I like researched a lot of them because I thought he was amazing. He said he moved, uh, where does it say where he's from? Is he from Vienna or somewhere like that?
Yeah.
And he moved to San Francisco in 2015 to work at Twitter. And then after a year he was like, you know, I don't really like having an apartment. I'm only going to live on an Airbnb. In San Francisco, and then he was like, I'm just gonna leave San Francisco. And so for the past like 7 years, he's only like— he doesn't own anything other than a suitcase, I think. And that's how he's been living.
Good for him. I like it. I like the, uh, I like the segment too. Glad the freaks exist. Can I tell you about, uh, another freak? Yeah. All right, Elon Musk. So the, the— but this is not actually about Elon. This is about his wife. Have you ever stumbled down the rabbit hole that is Justine Musk on Quora?
She talks a lot of crap. She airs out a lot of their— she's— she like is— it sounds like Elon didn't treat her wonderfully and she lets the world know. Like, she airs out their laundry.
Well, I don't know. I don't know about all that. What did she do that aired out his laundry? I'm not sure that that's true.
She said that he was driven and everything, but she also said like, uh, I don't want to exactly paraphrase, I don't remember entirely, but I remember like she gave like a TED Talk and on Quora she's like, yeah, it's just like living with him was horrible because he wasn't there. He clearly— we were all like second and third place to his work.
Yeah, yeah.
But she says things that you would—
uh, that's not airing out his dirty laundry. That's— I don't know, just come— that's common sense almost. Uh, he's had like 3 wives. I'm pretty sure, you know, something's not great about the experience. Otherwise, you know, maybe it may have lasted for longer. Uh, but dude, I find her, her Quora to be fascinating. She has awesome. And it's not all just, oh, let me tell you about Elon Musk. It's like, you know, she answers questions about a bunch of stuff and she's done it for, I think she's an author, 7 years. Yeah. So she's an author.
She's very smart novelist.
Um, and so she answers some questions. I'll give you a couple of the answers that she gave. So somebody said, how can I be as great as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or, uh, or Richard Branson? And so, uh, where's her answer? Let me find it.
Have you been watching the Johnny Depp trial?
A little bit, dude.
It's wild. So good. It's so good. It's so exciting.
Why are people— why is this so fascinating to people? There's— okay, you want to know another freaks exist, uh, moment? Go to, um, go to this Instagram account before I even go back to this Justine Musk thing. This is crazy. And this is also like kind of interesting. I wouldn't have guessed that this is a thing, but go to the Instagram account that's called, what is it called? How is Habit or something like that.
It's called, what's it called?
House in Habit. So this person, Jessica Reed Krauss. Wow. What are the odds? Both of them, Felix Krauss and Jessica Krauss. Maybe they're married, these two freaks. So, so she lives in Southern California. Uh, and she calls herself the queen of the carpool, the Hollywood philosopher, uh, stereotypical Scorpio tendencies. And then she puts her Venmo on here to give you a quick sense of what we're dealing with.
Okay, so what's a Scorpio? I don't understand what that reference—
I don't know, all like LA things. It's like, you know, here's my favorite crystal, here's my horoscope, here's my Venmo, and here's my like casting tape. So Um, all right, so she basically covers trial, like Hollywood gossip, but in the craziest amount of detail you'll ever see. So look at her follower account. She's got 850,000 followers. That's just like an independent person. And she's been posting every day about the trial. Like if you go click her story, there's like 50, like maybe more.
Oh my gosh.
There's like 80 story frames, right? To like tap through. And she edits it like crazy. It's like insane. So like, um, today's not a good one because it's like the there wasn't like a trial thing, but like if you click like 10 in, it'll be like she'll cut like a little clip of Johnny walking in and then there's music she overlays and then there's like a little thing that she cuts in this news clip from Fox and then she adds on top of that. Then she transcribes a whole bunch of stuff and like puts the transcript there. Then she does the background research. And so I know several people who are following the whole trial. They don't watch a single minute of the trial. They don't read the news. They just follow it through her story because it, because it is so crazy in-depth. And somewhat addictive and entertaining. And like, first, when the first one told me, I was like, okay, that's weird, whatever, you, you got into something weird. Then I heard it again and I was like, you also follow that random person? And they're like, yeah, it's great. And then I looked at— then I looked them up and she has 850,000 followers. And I was like, holy shit, this is crazy that this is like one of those niches that you wouldn't even really know exists. But of course it exists. And of course it's a big deal. It basically takes the tabloid but it repackages it from a tabloid into like any individual person's Instagram can become the juiciest tabloid in the world if you just put in the effort. And she puts in mad effort.
What she just covered, I was looking at her stories, that there was a guy a couple of days ago, he looked like he was dressed like he was about to go to be a waiter at a restaurant and he couldn't be at the trial. So he was on Zoom and he was in his car and he was sitting there with the, with this camera from him and he starts vaping. On the call and you see him, like, take a hit of vape and, like, exhale all this smoke while he's sitting in his car waiting for the judge to ask a question. And then it's clear that, like, he's got to go. So he starts driving out of the parking lot, like, while— and vaping while he's answering the calls. And he's like, "All right, you guys good? Yeah, that's everything. All right, I got to go." He's just— he's, like, vaping while driving away during this trial. But, uh, all right. What about Justine?
Okay. So Justine Musk. Okay. So somebody asks, will I become a billionaire if I'm determined to be one and I put in the necessary work? Uh, her first answer, no. One of the qualities of a self-made billionaire is their ability to ask the right question. That is not the right question. It's not to say it's a bad question. It just won't get you to the part of your mind, uh, that's working to help you and mulling things over while you're doing up other things and sending up flares of insight. You're determined. So what? You haven't been, you haven't been racing naked through shark-infested waters yet. Will you be determined when you wash up on some deserted island, disoriented, bloody, ragged, beaten, staring off into the horizon with no sign of rescue? And she's like, so she goes through and she's like, you know, uh, the world doesn't— like the final thing— the world doesn't throw a billion dollars at the person because they want it or because they work so hard they feel they deserve it. The world does not know, does not care what you want or deserve. The world gives you in exchange for something it perceives to be of equal or greater value. And, um, anyway, so she goes through and, and basically like, you know, the long story short was no, a billionaire doesn't come on Quora and ask these types of questions. Uh, but it'll be like, if you just go through and deep dive, dive through the search her on, on, on Quora and it's a fun like 20-minute read. Cause I think you get little snapshots into somebody who knows Elon Musk really well and has been around somebody of that, like, you know, kind of like the greatest entrepreneur and inventor of our lifetime, um, somebody who knows him from a different angle, but then also somebody who's just like smart and objective. So they're not a fanboy, nor are they a hater. It's like someone who I actually kind of respect and, you know, believe their opinion on these things. Obviously everybody's got their bias, but I feel like with Elon Musk, normally it's 100% fanboy or 100% hater, um, or just completely uninformed. And like, this is none of the above. This is something else.
This is informed. Are there any other good ones?—
that she's written up. Yeah, there's a bunch that are just on. So I started with the Elon ones and then it'll be like, you know, it'll be like, you know, should I, how should I break up with my girlfriend? It's like, oh, let's see what she has to say about that. And like, you just read like, you know, her kind of take on philosophy. I don't know. She's a fascinating character. The other one is Grimes just did a podcast with Lex Fridman. I don't know if you saw that. I heard about it. So Elon's current— I don't know what— I don't know if they're married, girlfriend, something, baby mama. I think they've had 2 babies together, but they're not married or something like that. They're not together anymore. Uh, she did a podcast, and you could definitely see like how these people would get along. Like, she even talks like Elon in this kind of like slow, measured, weird like finality type of way of speaking. Uh, but she was talking about like, you know, um, like how to raise kids or like, you know, looks like they're like, you know, what do you think about like, you know, uh, free speech on Twitter or something like that? Lex tried to ask her and she's like, I, I do not think I should have an opinion on this. And he's like, oh my God. And then, which is like such an Elon thing to say. She's like, I feel, you know, I'm too close to the situation. I actually I should not have an opinion on this. I should— I shouldn't have an opinion on this. Oh my God, it would not be— it would not, not be productive to this future of humanity.
Did she come off that weird?
Kind of, yeah. It's like, not like I thought— I, I don't know, I knew nothing about her, so like, you know, by just, uh, from afar is like, oh, I think he married like a musician or something like that. Okay, she's probably like you know, like some, you know, just like beautiful, happy, bubbly pop star. And it's like, no, it's not that at all. Okay. She's kind of like alternative. All right. I get it. But still, you know, like, I don't know, charismatic, charismatic and into like, just like kind of like an extrovert people person. And instead it was like, you know, she was like, oh, they were like, how's it been? You know, like, tell me about like you just had a baby. You know, what's What's motherhood been like for you or whatever? And she's like, it reminds me of my favorite graphic novel, sci-fi graphic novel. And then she named some Japanese like graphic novel, you know, like no one's— she's like, have you read it? He's like, no. And then she's like, it's called I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream.
And that's what—
and that's what having this baby feels like because they're helpless, right? They can't even control their muscles. They can't say what they want. They can't express what they need, but they need something and they're trying to scream, but it's as if they have no mouth. I was like, whoa, like pretty dark take on like motherhood. But like, I don't know, also interesting and insightful at the same time. But yeah, that's been kind of my like, that's, that's my contribution to the I'm happy that that freaks exist because like, yeah, I'm happy that there's people that are so different and so interesting and will live life in a way that's like interesting but like uncomfortable. And I get to be comfortable and just watch them do interesting things.
Like, you know that, dude, I love it.
That Teddy Roosevelt quote that everybody, every entrepreneur loves to put on fucking Instagram.
The man in the arena. Exactly.
It is not the critic who counts. It's the man in the arena who's bloody and beaten and whatever. You know what? It's also tight to not be bloody and beaten. It's tight to be just a casual fan in the arena eating popcorn, watching other people get beaten up and then going back to your daily life. Like, that's actually a pretty tight position that, like, most people should go into and not try to be, like, you know, the gladiator dying in the arena or the critic hater. You don't need to be either one. Our software is the worst. Have you heard of HubSpot?
See, most CRMs are a cobbled-together mess, but HubSpot is easy to adopt and actually looks gorgeous.
I think I love our new CRM.
Our software is the The best.
Grow better. Dude, do you realize that to some people, I think you and I are that entertainment where like, I'll have some people like reach out to me and I think it happens to you. It's like, oh, you should do blank. It's like, you really just want me to dance for you. Yeah. That's really what—
yeah.
Just tell me to dance. That'd be a lot easier. That'll only take a few minutes. You want me to dedicate 3 years of my life to starting blank?
Yeah. You guys should talk about this. Oh, you want me to go get a PhD in something I don't know about for your benefit? Okay, cool. Uh, that's not how the podcast works. Here's how the podcast works. I'm weird and don't realize it. Then I come talk to Sam. He's weird and doesn't realize it. Then we kind of point out, oh, that's weird about each other. Then we go away and like, you guys think we're both weird.
Yeah. I mean, we are that to some people where they're just like, want us to dance. Um, but dude, that's why I love the YouTubers. Like there's this guy I've been following. I think it's called like Whistlin Diesel. There's all these YouTubers where, uh, they got— they get— what does that mean? Whistling— I think it's Whistling Diesel. So he like has all this acreage out in Indiana, I think, and he just, uh, like builds cool trucks and cars and just like wrecks them basically. Uh, like, you know, he'll build like, um, remember as a kid, I think it was called a Power Wheel. It's like the, like the little toy trucks for kids where you like sit in it. He'll build one of— I'll take one of those. It's not really one of those, but he like builds a version of that that has a massive gas engine in it and goes like 120 miles an hour. Uh, but it looks like a Power Wheel. So just like doing things that like you think you would want to do in the country, but what's in— or, you know, when you're out in the, in the land and like just breaking shit and like blowing stuff up, doing all that. But what's crazy is these guys do it and then they start making money from it and they're like, all right, now we have more money to spend on stuff, bigger stuff, to blow stuff up and to build stuff like Or there's all these guys on YouTube who will like get like a .50 caliber rifle. So like this gun that's like huge and scary. And they're like, you think it can shoot through that car? Like, let's just try it. Let's see if it'll go straight through the car. Or what would happen if we just shot this at like a huge block of metal? How deep will it go? Like just all these like stupid stuff that you would just only do like either when you're high or you would just dream of, but you're afraid of losing all this money. They do it and I get to live through them. And I love that.
Wow, that's cool. They're actually kind of related. No, uh, so MrBeast basically does this, but he's like— exactly. And you know, he's almost like 100 million subscribers on YouTube. So did you see this thing that was going on last night? I doubt you did because it's like, you know, you said you're Gen Y, this is like Gen Z, you know, shit. But basically there was a celebrity poker game last night with— basically it was this poker game last night that had like, I don't know how many, like 50,000 or more people watching it live, um, streamed on, on Twitch and YouTube. And it had MrBeast, who's the number one YouTuber, uh, like, or whatever, one of the biggest YouTubers. Ninja, who was the biggest streamer for like a long period of time. xQc, who's the biggest, uh, like one of the biggest Twitch streamers also. So there's basically like 4 or 5 huge content creators. Then it was Phil Hellmuth, who's this like famous, like pro poker player that's on TV all the time. Tom Dwan, who's like one of the greatest poker players ever. So it's like a couple of pros and a couple of, uh, content creators, and they came in. It was a $50,000 buy-in game, but they could rebuy, and so it was called the Million Dollar Game. And basically this was being livestreamed last night, and none of them were like playing seriously because they were like, A, they're all rich, and B, they were trying to make for good content. Um, and so they were like, they played this game. It was a very entertaining game. It was probably like the one of the most entertaining, like, uh I don't know, like online or like, uh, TV poker games that I've seen like in a long time. And, uh, I just thought it was a great idea.
That's a, that's a pretty short list, I would imagine though.
No, I've been watching for a long time, so I, I actually care about, about online, about poker and have watched a bunch of like World Series of Pokers or—
So what happened?
So basically, uh, shout out to, to our girl Alexandra Botez. Do you know her? She's the chess girl. Okay, I did a—
oh yeah, we've talked about her.
I did a podcast. Yeah, so she's, uh, a streamer content creator who's like— her and her sister, I don't think they're twins, but I think they're, they're sisters. They, um, they're like chess— like, I don't know if they're grandmaster or they're master players or whatever, but they're like, they're like great at chess but also great at content. So they have like a big following or whatever. And so she just cleaned up in this game, and she's not like a great poker player. It's just like they would— they were all kind of playing very loose, and she won like a half a million dollar pot, like, you know, just kind of like with ace-nine. That's like kind of like a lucky hand or whatever. And, uh, the pros were sitting there like just kind of waiting for good card— like waiting for good to play good cards or just playing smart, whereas MrBeast was like just playing kind of like any hand he could get into. And then he'd be like, he's just— he's like, I just want one clip to go viral. Like, that's what I'm here for, is for one clip to go viral, because they're like Like in poker, you could do this thing where once both people go all in, you could say, all right, normally you would just— there's only one card left and they're like, one of us will win, one of us will lose. But you could do something called running it twice, which kind of like smoothens out the, like, um, the variability. Like it's like running multiple times in a simulation. So you'll get like more possible outcomes. So you can run it once, run it twice, run it 3 times, run it 4 times. And he's like, no, we're gonna run it once. He's like, we need this clip to go viral. It needs to be the highest stakes. With the biggest heartbreak and like the easiest to understand. And you could see the poker pros were like, oh, okay. Like, I guess so. I guess that makes sense. It's like, to me, it was so funny just to see these guys playing with totally different like agendas and styles. And also they were mic'd up the whole time and there was no edits because it was live. And so you could just hear them like bullshitting about whatever to each other and like, you know, people from different worlds kind of just like, so you do. So the guy was like, so like, you know, Uh, how much, how often do you play? He's like, oh, I've been, I don't play. Like, this is the first day off I've taken in 4 years. He's like, what do you mean? Like, uh, how often do you stream? He goes, I stream every day for 10 hours a day. He's like, what? He's like, yeah. And he's like, uh, this is one of the few, like one of the rare, this guy xQc. And they're like, how long you've been doing that for? He's like, 7 years.
I don't understand.
The poker player looked at the streamer like, you degenerate. Which is hilarious because the poker player is normally like the biggest degenerate who sits at a table playing, you know, this like stupid card game for 5 hours straight, losing money.
Is that real? Will someone, will someone really stream for 7 years every single day for 10 hours?
Yeah, yeah, that happens. Uh, like not 10, usually it's not those exact numbers, but people have streamed every day for 10 years and they'll stream like 5-hour streams or something like that as like their, their normal stream. And some guys do 10-hour streams and then they'll usually take 1 day off a week, maybe. I don't know XQC specifics, but like Yeah, he, he, he's a— like, he's a nut.
And when he's streaming, what's he doing?
He's playing video games, any game. So he— yeah, he was like big in Overwatch, but then Overwatch stopped getting like popular. He got more popular because his personality is pretty big. Like, he just kind of gets wild on the stream. And so now he'll go, he'll do whatever. He'll play, you know, Virtual Farm Simulator. He'll play like, you know, a shooting game. He'll play like whatever the game is. He calls himself a variety streamer. Which is basically like at that point they've stopped coming for the game and they're coming for you.
And so is he funny? Like, yeah, he's funny. What's great about him?
Uh, he's funny and he like, he like rage, he like gets enraged pretty quickly, which is like a big thing on Twitch is like you gotta like show emotion. So like you see in basketball or like golf is the ultimate example of this. Uh, and this is where I think traditional sports can learn a lot from online content because traditional sports, they teach you like, if you ever watch a basketball press conference, they're the most boring in the world. It's like, 'Yeah, we're just going to take it one game at a time. You know, they're a great team, mad respect to them. You know, we just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other.' It's like, 'Oh great.' You know, like super boring. Whereas you and I love UFC because that one guy would be like, 'He ain't shit. I'm going to kick his team— his ass and his whole team's ass.' You know, like they just like— they like talk shit to each other. So that adds a level of like drama and excitement. Streaming is like that, but like 24/7 where they're just constantly you know, talking shit to them, to their teammates about themselves, about, you know, the game, about like the characters, about the strategy, about whatever. So they show a ton of emotion. So if he loses, he'll throw the mouse, he'll break the keyboard, he'll like, you know, like spit and scream and, you know, like he'll get angry.
How does he have enough energy to do that every single day?
Just what he does, man. It's like that.
And you just sit and he's sitting in a chair for— he's sitting at a chair for 10 hours a day, different.
Yeah, yeah, you're sitting in a chair.
You may not like this, but it is peak physical performance.
Yeah, exactly. Somebody said this, they go, there was this hilarious line during the thing. So she won the— Alexandra won the $500,000 pot, and then she like won another pot. She was like up $600 grand. She came in with $50K and she had like a $650,000 chip stack. And like, she had so many chips she couldn't even stack them in time. Like, the next hand needed to be dealt. But her giant, her giant chip stack was just blocking half the table. And she's like, I need help stacking the chips. And they were like, fuck you, we're not going to help you stack your chips you just took from us. And like, the pit boss comes over, they're helping. And then MrBeast goes, she's single-handedly going to close the wage gap. I thought it was just trolls. Yeah, they're just trolls. And it's just amazing. It was amazing. And I just thought that was a great idea, by the way. I like a like a high-stakes poker game amongst personalities in any niche, I actually think that's a good marketing idea.
This one streamer who we're talking about, what's his name?
Uh, xQc in this case.
How much money does he make?
He probably makes between, I wanna say, $3 to $10 million a year.
No way. Really?
Yeah. Probably $5 to $10 is, is, is an easy estimate. Um, 10, man, 10 is not even the upper bound. Like, they— these guys can make much more than that, maybe up to $20, $25 million if they are maxing out their stuff. But they don't always want to do that. Like, uh, I talk— because I used to negotiate with these guys. So, you know, um, even before Twitch, like, when I was just trying to get them to promote our products, and it's like, all right, I'm going to talk to— I want to talk to the streamer. It's like, no, you don't get to talk to the streamer, you talk to the manager. Okay, fair, that's fine, they're stars, I get it. All right, who's the manager? Is it like, you know, CAA or like WME?
And like for 95% of them, it's like, oh, it's like his little brother Ray Ray.
Yeah, it was his girlfriend or like, you know, exactly, it's Ray Ray. Or like, uh, hey Jenny, um, you know, so how long you guys been working together? It's like, well, we moved in together at like when we were 16 and then like he didn't do anything for 5 years, just played video games all the time. And like now he's rich. And so I quit my job to like check his email because they'll be, they'll be like, yeah, we do like brand deals. I'm like, cool. So like, do you have like a deck you guys can share about like, you know, his stats? They're like, no, you could just like go on and see how many people watch him. It's like a lot. And then it's like, it's like, so what would, like, you have this deal with like Red Bull and like Logitech, like surely you have like a brand deck and like, uh, like, you know, when you pitch them, they're like, we don't pitch anybody. Like, like basically, and then, you know, as I got to know people, it's like, they just get inbound into their email and then they just decide they ignore 95% of it, even though it's people literally throwing them like, like people can get paid, uh, like the small, even like, like less high profile, like Ninja is a different tier, right? Ninja does have a proper manager and like actually his girlfriend I think is his manager now, his wife. Uh, but like he had a proper agency behind him and they pitched Red Bull and all this stuff. But like most streamers, if somebody will approach and be like, hey, I'll pay you $2,000 an hour to play my game today. And they're like, nah, that game looks boring. I'm not going to do it. Right. Because like, they don't want to lose their audience or like piss off their audience too much or be seen as selling out. And so they turned down so many opportunities that they could have because they don't want to be seen as a sellout, nor do they want to like bother with anything. It's like, dude, by the time I'm done streaming for 10 hours, like imagine doing this podcast 10 hours a day or 8 hours a day. You have zero energy left to like do anything else. And so you just like, You don't want to even think about it.
So, and do a lot of them have any expenses? So are they just paying taxes and rent and they're just stacking cash?
Yeah, that's exactly it.
Yeah, like, uh, Ninja got paid, you know, I can't say the number, but stupid money to go stream on Mixer, like a competitor to Twitch.
I think it got leaked. I think the number got leaked because, uh, something happened.
Maybe, uh, not sure.
I think Twitch got hacked and like all the spreadsheet got out. Remember, you know what I'm talking about?
Well, that's the— that's pretty visible anyways. That's, that's just what they earn directly. So basically like the fans subscribe $5 a month or $6 a month or whatever to the channel in order to like kind of just like show their support and get like special emojis that they get to use. And, uh, sometimes the streamer could turn it on where subscriber-only chat, but. But, um, but for the most part, like they get donations that, that most people can't see how much donations they get. Uh, then they get subscribers directly. That's a monthly recurring subscription. Then there's brand deals and sponsors that didn't show up in the Twitch thing. Cause that goes direct and it's like, they just pay the streamer directly. It's not part of Twitch. And so there's like other, uh, and then, you know, games come to them and pay them, hey, we're doing a brand launch. We want all 10 of the big streamers all playing Valorant today. And they'll drop, you know, $5 million on that campaign because they know that if they do that, they become the it game and millions of people will get to see their favorite streamer playing the game and saying how awesome it is or whatever, showing it off. And so it's worth it to them because they're going to make way more than that.
Have you seen intro.com? Have you been to intro.com?
Yeah, I looked at investing in it, but I decided not to.
So I talked to the guy who started it. Like, I went to, uh, I went to like a car racing class and he, like a friend of a friend brought him and I got to hang out with him. He's a cool guy. And he was like, hey, just sign up for intro.com. And basically what you do is you just like put that you're available a certain hours, amount of, uh, certain hours a week. And someone will pay you like $2,000 an hour in 15-minute increments to talk to you. And I was like, I don't know, man. I feel kind of sleazy doing that. And he was like, well, just try it. And I was like, okay, well, you know, you seem nice, whatever. I'll kind of do it just to like geek out and try this new product. And I signed up for it and I've been getting bookings like crazy. And between, I'm, I'm, I'm at the phase now a little bit where, you know, it's coming up on, uh, this July will be a year and a half since the acquisition. Uh, it's like, all right. Yeah.
They said, that's fucked up. How many years you been married? I had no idea. How many years you been at HubSpot? Year and a half, 16 months. 16.5 months.
It's like, well, which, uh, which time zone are we, are we thinking here? Cause I can tell you, uh, so it's coming up to that time and I'm like, all right, do I like start a new company? What am I gonna do? Uh, what should I be doing? And I signed up to intro and we're doing this. And I got that little copy that thing and I got like this Airbnb and I'm like, well, besides like the fact that like I, you, I could live off interest, like off my nut. I'm like, that's kind of cool. Like there's all this income coming in. There's so much, and I'm not trying to like, I'm trying to do this like brag shit, but I'm saying like for a creator that has a mildly big audience, there are so many ways to make money. It's pretty astounding. And we're not even that— I mean, we're just like semi-popular in a relatively small niche. So like, let alone if you're like these Twitch guys and you, you're, you're actually really popular, but it's, it's pretty astounding how many like revenue streams are available to us just because of all these, this like weird, all these creator type tool things.
Totally. Like I saw, uh, some guy tweeted today, he goes, bro, Elon Musk, give me my blue check back. And it had like 80,000 likes. I was like, who is this guy? He's like a, he's a soccer player at like Man City or something like that. And I was like, and he's got like millions of followers. I was like, wow. You know, like it's like, there's so many levels of fame. Like that guy's not famous at all compared to like, you know, Justin Bieber or whatever. And Justin Bieber is not famous compared to whoever, but like, you know, down, if you go 20 rungs down the ladder, it's like, we're like moderately known in a tiny niche. And then I sent you that link of that, those guys who discuss like, I don't know, they're like bodybuilders or something like that? Are they discussing like working out or something like that? They had like a podcasting setup.
Oh, uh, yeah, I was on their podcast. They're awesome. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was on their podcast a couple years ago. The, uh, Mind Body. Wow. Is it Mind Body Pump or just Mind Body?
Dude, that's the ultimate resume for your, uh, for your fitness influencer career.
I did it.
Look at their YouTube. Yeah, they're like— I think that video had like, I don't know, I want to say 80,000 views or 150,000 views, something like that. Which is not like you hear bigger numbers, but that's big. That's like, we get less than that on our YouTube, and I feel like we're big. Now they're big, and they're in just like another niche, but their niche lets them do a lot more because more broad appeal. Like, there's a bunch of dudes out there who want to be like more muscular, like people want to lose weight. And so, you know, they can flip on one, you know, white-labeled supplement or course or whatever the heck they want. And you know, that, that type of following can print I don't know, again, $5 to $10 million a year for sure, profitably, you know, without like the stress of being an entrepreneur trying to invent a new product and go into a new niche. And then it also has a bunch of downsides, right? Like the guy's streaming 10 hours a day for 7 years straight. Like the biggest problem with content is you're usually on a treadmill and like you feel like you can't get off. Like Twitch streamers have this all the time where they feel burnt out because they're just like, they feel like if they stop, they'll lose everything. And it's true. If they they stop, they actually do lose quite a bit of like, uh, you know, like sway with not only, you know, their subscribers, but the algorithm and things like that. So, you know, I think that's the downside of these models.
You have to build a business that's beyond that. So those guys, the, what's it called? The, uh, I listen to it all the time. I'm totally blanking. Mind Body Pump. Is that what it's with? Sal and Adam. Uh, it's like the, uh, they're based out of Sacramento. So they, um, they just bought a bunch of Airbnb or they bought a bunch of properties and they're turning them into fitness Airbnbs. And so that's like a good example that will— it will, it'll extend beyond them. But, uh, yeah, I mean, like, what do you do? Like, have there been any examples? I think, you know who Jenna Marbles is?
Yeah.
So she's like, she was— got popular in my mind when she was on Barstool, and then she bailed and went to YouTube and became like one of the biggest YouTubers of all time. I'm pretty sure that she like got her cash and got her money, and I don't even think she posts anymore, even though she has Many, many tens of millions of subscribers. How many? I— my internet's slow, so I can't even pull it up. How many subscribers does she have?
I think it's like 50 or 60 million.
She was one of the first people to get popular. I feel like she got popular, like, I want to even say before YouTube. She's got 19 million subscribers. She's been on for 10 years.
Uh, when was the last video?
I have no idea.
Uh, is she still posting regularly?
No, I don't think she posts per— but she has a brand of dog toys called Kermie and Worm and Mr. Marbles.
So she was one of— she's had 20— if she said she has 20 million or 18 million, she's had that forever. And I'm pretty sure she's just like made her money and bailed and just left.
Yeah, like her last video was one year ago.
It was Casey Neistat did that too, right? He was vlogging every day and then he got paid and he just says, I'm out. Yeah, it's the way to go.
So I think if you're on, on that intense of a treadmill, it's, it's pretty tough if you can't like, you know, get your way out of it. By the way, there's a guy who tweeted at us. He's like, uh, I think he listens to the podcast. Um, I'm gonna find his like exact details later, uh, cause it's hard to, cause Twitter DM search is like impossible. But basically there's a guy who's just buying up, uh, YouTube channels that are non -faced, non-faced YouTube channels. So just they're branded as something else. Um, so there's no Jenna Marbles, there's no personality to it. And, uh, he buys these up for, you know, he basically, you know, he's just looking at their YouTube, like, uh, he's looking at their YouTube, like, you know, revenues or whatever. And he's like, cool, I'll make you this offer so I can, uh, I can buy this thing out for this much or whatever. And, uh, and it's like interesting. I hadn't really heard of somebody rolling up YouTube channels like that, but I think that's a pretty cool niche.
I think that would be a good idea. I think if you did it with a face, it'd be a horrible idea. Cause I would imagine that if you could make a list of people who you'd like to have work for you, a YouTuber would be incredibly low on that list.
Well, yeah. I mean, it's hard to buy them out, right? Because they, you know, they no longer have the motivation to, uh, to create content and then you're stuck. 'Cause you can't just be like, hey, it's me now. I'm here.
Yeah. It's me, Louis Vuitton.
I'm here.
All right. What else do we want to do?
Uh, let's do, uh, one other random one, dude. So have you ever filed for a trademark, uh, yourself?
It's kind of a pain in the butt, isn't it? I think I had a lawyer do it. Yeah. But I like went through, I tried originally like bootstrapping it and just like doing it on my own. I didn't know how to do it.
So I get this, I get this letter. So this letter comes in the mail, uh, 6 months after we file. It's from this company called, I don't know if you can see this, WTP. I'm like, oh, maybe it's about our, it's about our, yeah, sounds legit. Uh, and it says at the top, Trademark Publications, and it's got our company name, our address, and it says, Reference number, blah, blah, blah. Application date, blah, blah, blah. Classes, blah, blah, blah. And then it has a giant thing of our trademark and it says, here's your fee for $1,420. Please pay the amount on acceptance within 10 days by check. Don't forget to quote your reference number. Make it payable to—
It's a scam.
WTP. I'm like, oh cool, but I thought I, pretty sure I already paid for the trademark. So who is this and what's this for? And then here's what it says in the— like, look at this fine print here in the bottom. Yeah, the bottom box here. So like, you see this like size 3 print? Uh, so here's what this says. Dear Madam or Sir. Oh, now you're sounding like my uncle in India writing an email to me.
Dude, anytime I get a dear sir, I know it's— I know it's not good.
Yeah.
A dear sir, and, uh, I ain't buying.
Dear sucker. Um, all right, so it says the publication of your public registration is— the publication of your public registration of your trademark is the basis of our offer. What does that mean? All they're going to do is just publicize that we have made a trademark. That's what they're charging me $1,400 for. Do they work for the Trademark Office? No, it says— so here's what it says. Um, Uh, this is an offer for free entry into our database, www.wpt— wtp-register.com. This is not an invoice. You are not required to pay the above amount unless you accept this offer. All of the details in our general terms and conditions, right? It's like, what a scam. And you know, all they do is they just monitor every trademark filing, which is like, gotta be, you know, I don't know, whatever, tens of thousands a year. And then they just send this letter out and they're just fishing for a sucker.
The fishing dude, it's just like, uh, sir, out there, the, the car, the one, sir. Yeah, sir, short for sucker. Uh, they're, they're just looking for, uh, have you seen the car warranty or home warranty shit?
No. Is it the same?
It's the same thing. Have you ever met anyone who runs one of these scams?
No. If I did, I'd give them a strong talking to.
It would be really fun to like, just like Uh, have you seen on, uh, on The Office, they go, uh, Michael Scott has to ask a question, but he can't sound mean. And instead of saying, how do you sleep at night? He just says, how do you sleep at night? That's just like, and that's like what I like. It's like what, like the bosses are around, but Toby's leaving and then he's got to change his question to like, where do you get off? Who do you think you are? That's like the type of questions I want to ask these people. What do you like? What do you— how do you go to bed at night knowing that you're just, uh, that's the question to you, WTP.
How do you sleep at night? Yeah, that's what we want to know here at My First Space.
How do you sleep at night?
That's amazing. All right, we can wrap it up there. I had a bunch of ideas, we didn't talk about any of them, but that's okay. We do it next pod.