the trailer I used to live in right
there but I would not I could not give
up the written language has been around
since hieroglyphics thousands of years
there are still new stories being told
every single day not everything has been
done anything that you really want life
what’s that belief nation that’s Evan my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe you have an amazing gift
inside you that I want to see explode
out onto the world so let’s get your
motivation to attend and get you
believing in you grab a snack and chew
in today’s lessons from a man who went
from dropping out of school and living
in a trailer park as a teenager with his
newborn son to becoming an award-winning
filmmaker and one of the greatest
YouTube stars of all time is Casey nice
dad and here’s my take on his top 10
alright let’s kick things off with
when I was a kid I wanted to be a
filmmaker to me there was no higher
artistic achievement than that
I watched movies all the time I watched
all the movies I bought this book and
the Oscars the Oscars were my Superboy
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what I do Roberto Benigni Pulis Ali feel
the plates straight like Hanks thank you
but more than anything I just wanted to
make great film Warren the big camera
isn’t one of the big crew under I wanted
to work with the best actors I wanted to
read the best strip tray location I
wanted to all I want to be the version
of the filmmakers and I thought was the
only version of the filmmaker the ones
with the bowties that’s what I thought
it meant to tell stories see if you want
to be a writer all you need is a stack
of paper and a pencil you want to be a
painter you need a blush in a canvas you
can be the next Picasso but when I was a
teenager my filmmaking fantasies we’re
at their peak you wanted to be a
filmmaker need a resources education
O’Reilly if that’s the right one you
money in order to make movies needed all
those things all those things I didn’t
have filmmaking was this exclusive club
it was for the chosen few so I started
to think maybe this isn’t for me maybe
just not meant to be you know maybe I’m
not allowed to be a filmmaker
maybe something Austin maybe I have to
find something else to do with my life
but this this was my dream if there’s
one thing I know about dreams that to
achieve them you have to stop at nothing
I spent 10 years chasing it down I said
yes to every opportunity that involve
picking up a camera bar mitzva videos
wedding videos birthday being blind is
not glamorous and this is the trailer I
used to live in right there but I would
not I could not give up I went to camp
with I got into something with my own TV
show on HBO I got my name on movie
pictures I got the badges I doubled all
the T’s and cross all the eyes that
would’ve meant to be a traditional
filming all of these people are here to
see in theory achieve my dream it didn’t
feel like I realized the dream it felt
like I’d fit myself into somebody else’s
version other than dream and then I was
and I realize this isn’t it this isn’t
why I wanted to be
it wasn’t the red carpet it wasn’t the
Film Festival’s it wasn’t the Awards it
wasn’t the in work shows a fish the more
time I spent chasing down the Posadas
obsessed
less creating I was actually doing how
can I go back
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in fact it was after winning the biggest
award of my career that I just said I
just want to make Internet videos I’m
going to make a movie every day a proper
and daily vlog I’m just excited now we
live in the future chances are there’s a
camera in your pocket that’s good enough
the big screen but you don’t need the
big screen 200 people might show up in a
movie theater so put it online million
find it online a smaller slightly less
small audience I’m your audience tell
your story start a conversation get that
idea out of your head and into a video
of it make again make something terribly
get slightly better make it a lot better
make it great finally films they used to
be entirely out of reach finally
filmmaking is now ours filmmaking is a
everyone’s invited rule number two is be
relentless my counterintuitive advice is
just the power of brute force and I mean
that I think that it’s always about
intellectualizing and thoughtfulness and
listening to more podcast and reading
more books and all that I think at the
end of the day like it is it is brute
force it is hard work it is an absolute
unwillingness to to accept failure to
accept no and that’s true with
fundraising and that’s true with
ideation and that’s true with making a
youtube video and you know in the home
of my 36 and the 18 years of my career I
found that to be the one sort of
consistent the one constant through
everything that in any in any version of
success it’s been because of an absolute
reluctance and of that sort of brute
force and will not stop moving until I
achieve what I wanted to succeed at what
I want to achieve and every time we’re
that identified as a failure it was
because of a lack of that or questioning
of that and I think beam 1.0 is a very
good example like our product failed but
the company succeeded and I think a lot
of that comes back to sort of that
absolute relentless relentlessness rule
number three find your voice as a
youtuber how do you create an original
content when it seems like everything
has already been done did that Wow
yeah I’ll hit that one off you have to
tell your story if I’ve told all of my
stories and piers told all of his
stories which neither of us have it
doesn’t change the fact that nobody
knows your story so the written language
has been around since hieroglyphics
thousands of years there are still new
stories being told every single day not
everything has been done it’s up to you
to find your own voice on YouTube rule
number four overcome hurdles today’s the
day YouTube is as we tweet removing
everyone from networks and removing
monetization options if you fall below
the 1000 subs and 4000 hours of watch
time in the past 365 days if you survive
today
congratulations hashtag YouTube Partner
culling ouch first of all I hate I hate
what this says to small creators
I hate this idea that it says to you if
you have a small channel a tiny channel
that your content doesn’t have value and
while it sucks and it may be challenging
for you it doesn’t mean your work isn’t
a value and I know and I like to think
that YouTube knows that the next big
generation of creators in this platform
are people who right now have less than
a thousand subs that’s where it starts
anything that you really want life is
always really hard to get and and
YouTube is no different
so the hurdles a little bit higher now
but the opportunity is still there and I
end this by by bringing up my friend
Peter McKinnon Peters a huge youtuber
now he has a million seven subscribers
his contents fantastic Peter’s channels
like 13 or 14 months old a year ago I
didn’t know him a year ago he had a
little over a year ago he had zero
subscribers he earned zero Adsense he
had zero brand deals he had no channel
at all but he started it he brought
something new to the channel he worked
really hard he did some interesting
things to bring press and attention to
what he was doing on the platform and
now he is by all definitions a
successful youtuber so yes it’s harder
and it’s only gonna get harder the
opportunity is still there the number-5
create meaningful content almost
impossible to commit
the taniwha bottle means it take those
well beyond your audience his scenes
share outside of your audience and I
cannot keep bar as a combination of
things that needs about the zeitgeist
it’s about the appeal of the video
certainly the subject matter timeliness
all of those things
many chasing that is really really very
interesting I always think that you know
if you ever have ten people see your
work and ever really affect them another
thousand people see your work and go so
to chase the latter I need to discount
the integrity of your work we have all
together rule number six root for others
do you see Peter as a competitor or as a
friend no as a friend but I said seeing
about all youtubers anyone who works in
the space is big as YouTube and thinks
that somebody else’s success is gonna
slow them down is sorely mistaken
YouTube is not at all a zero-sum game it
is the more people who can succeed on
this platform the more we will all
succeed on this platform like simply put
the Internet is big enough for everyone
rule number seven find your drive is
your work ethic so crazy because of what
you’ve been through in life or do you
think you were born with it the single
greatest driving factor I have in my
career and my focus in life is an
absolute fear of going back to the place
where I started my adult life being dirt
poor not being able to provide for my
family I was sort of ashamed that I
couldn’t take care of my family and
having that in my rear view mirror it
definitely pushes me to work harder
today because of that kind of irrational
fear of returning to that place where my
career and my adult life began well
number eight focus like deliver a
platitude
yes we can and yes we will I have I am
something gonna recently try to quit
like I gave up on threw in the towel and
didn’t finish let me explain
so so I made this video I think it was
okay like it wasn’t bad bad but as I was
watching it back this morning about to
upload it I realized it like it wasn’t
good either
it felt rushed and like so I’m bringing
up this failure this quit this quitting
I’m bringing this up to you now because
I don’t giving up on that video made me
realize that I need to focus more on my
youtube videos you know my head’s been
really focused on on beam and on family
and all these other things happening in
my life but I still got all these crazy
ideas and instead of investing a bunch
of time to realize those ideas like I
used to I try to rush them and it always
leaves me with something that that’s
unsatisfactory so I’m just bringing all
this up to you now to let you know I’m
gonna be giving my videos more focus and
more attention because this is kind of
the only thing that gives me a
tremendous sense of fulfillment in my
career kind of in my life beyond family
and stuff and I missed that I want to
get back to that rule number nine find
your creative process I’m a very
effective person when I’m by myself and
when I have to work in groups like I
fall to pieces like does not work well
with others is what it said in every
report card I got until I dropped out of
high school in the 10th grade and I
think that’s that’s very true so for me
that creative process is one where and
in finding that cadence that you talked
about of making a video every day was
one where I removed every obstruction
between me and finishing it and other
people are the biggest obstructions I
have an idea well let’s talk through
that idea and the metaphor that I use of
discussing ideas and groups is like when
an idea at its inception it’s an ice
cube and it’s rock-hard you can look at
it you can see it you can study and you
know what it is but
a discussion begins you have to pass
that ice cube around the room it starts
to melt and melt and melt and after
enough discussions the ice cubes gone
and everybody’s hands are wet and nobody
quite remembers what that idea was
that’s a major obstruction so for me
when it comes to creation like remove
that obstruction don’t talk don’t
involve other people don’t need anything
from anyone to realize this new video
every 24 hours and that’s that’s wildly
effective I’d rule number 10 the last
one we for some very special bonus clips
never take no for an answer
Josh and Benny those two guys they’re
two of my oldest friends there are two
people that have motivated and inspired
me as a filmmaker my whole life I’m
talking about them now because they have
a huge feature-length like big-time
movie that’s coming out in all the movie
theaters this weekend that’s where they
started guys ready guys all right and
they’ve made it they did it their movie
that comes out this weekend stars Robert
Pattinson that that huge really handsome
we used to make movies together when
this is what a video camera look like
hey Casey say hi hey hey
as if that isn’t enough to celebrate who
produce their new smash hit
feature-length movie my dear friend
osteo is one of the first people to ever
work for my brother and me and we hired
him the day after he moved to New York
City when he was like 21 or something
Oscar how did you go from being my my
assistant to a famous big-time movie
producer just by never taking no for an
answer I’m kind of following believing I
could do anything which I learned in the
nice dad’s studio all right seriously
this guy would just over and over again
I’d never seen anything like it you just
say you’re smart figure it out you’re
smart figure it out you’re smart figure
it out I don’t care how long it takes
just make it beautiful and that sounded
a little weird at the time because
you’re used to working at a restaurant
or being a landscaper but it’s actually
really empowering and it took me a while
to figure that out
and the more movies I made the more I
realized it didn’t matter it kind of
now I’ve got two very special kc9 set
bonus clips around practicing and
knowing what you want but before that I
want to get to the commitment of the day
don’t just watch another video Casey
just dropped some huge knowledge bombs
on you what are you going to commit
yourself to changing today in your life
or in your business leave it down in the
comments below I’m really curious to
find out thank you guys so much for
watching I believe in you I hope you
continue to believe in yourself and
whatever you’re one where it is much
love I’ll see you soon and enjoy the
Sep can bar was my MIT professor and or
one of the earliest investors the first
investor and winded up being beam he
said to me is like practice your pitch
on people that you don’t want money from
don’t practice on don’t practice on
friends practice on real world but real
investors and when he said this me I
rolled my eyes not to be dismissive of
him but that idea just seemed like why
would I waste that opportunity as just
an exercise but he could not have been
more right he could not have been more
right if like you know you have to your
nerves your anxiety all the things you
think you’re gonna say the things that
make sense in your head when you get
derailed by a single question like all
those things are real world and they
matter you know I always think back to
presidential election or presidential
debates and like all the practicing they
do like it can prepare them in some
capacity but what the real world is like
with those cameras and all these
variables so fundraising for us exactly
the same like we learned so much more
from when we completely screwed up than
we did from the ones where people like
I’m really excited about this let let’s
you know we could feel like it was a win
those we just walked away from
high-fived and had doughnuts with less
conversation but it’s when we really DUP
and there were a couple like we should
have been home runs and I think that we
just screwed up Madeline wants to know
should I go to college in San Diego and
finish debt-free or go to NYU my dream
school and acquire a lot of debt okay I
think that there are two paths that
people take when pursuing higher
education path number one I don’t know
what I want to do in life and maybe I
can figure out what I want to do by
going to school if that’s the boat
you’re in definitely go to the school
you don’t have to pay for
then there’s scenario number two in the
startup world there’s this term and the
term is swinging for the fences that
means you get up to bat and you’re not
looking for a base hit you’re looking
for a grand slam out of the park home
run and anything less than an out of the
park home run is not what you’re
interested in the thing about swing of
the fences is if you connect home run if
you miss you’re out if you know that
you’re gonna be some million
superstar that you are the next Steven
Spielberg and the only way to get there
is by going to NYU then a cruise much
debt as you need to accrue because
you’re gonna be a millionaire someday
swing for the fences but if you’re not
sure I would go the conservative route
don’t go in debt get an education do the
right thing the most important work ever
if you had to think of one word that’s
most important to you that sums you
Apple that would be collect a little
beacon pay believe nation if you want to
know what the most important one word is
for Tony Robbins Gary Vaynerchuk Oprah
Winfrey will.i.am and Howard Schultz I
have a very special secret video for you
check the description for details [Music]