Hey friend,

Today I wanna talk about Mr Beast’s formula for success and extract ideas for you.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Mr Beast…

• He’s only 25 years old.
• He accumulated 44,920,649,815 views.
• He has 245 million YouTube subs, making him the 2nd most subscribed channel.

ABSOLUTE BEAST. No pun intended (don’t tell me you believed that.)

So how did he win YouTube and what can we learn from him?

There are 3 pieces to the puzzle:

Attract attention, keep attention, deliver.

The start

For someone to watch his videos, he must first capture attention with his title and thumbnails.

Mr Beast nailed the art and science of attracting attention.

He uses a simple formula:

1. BIG number
2. I did [some ridiculous stuff]
3. Bright, fun, attention-catching thumbnails

When you look at his titles and thumbnails, you can’t help but want to click.

What can we learn?

Whatever endeavor you’re in, there’s one thing you need to nail as that’ll give you 80% of the results.

• In articles, you’ve headlines.
• In emails, you’ve subject lines.
• In videos, well titles and thumbnails.

If you can’t stop people from scrolling, the hours of effort that have gone into your work will go unnoticed.

Replicate Mr Beast’s titles: short, clear promise, and have a number when appropriate.

When you nail your title, the right people will be interested in what you’ve to say but…

You’re not done yet, that’s why the next step is crucial…

Retention

Mr Beast obsesses over retention.

On YouTube Analytics, it shows the percentage of people who are still watching at various points. So if there’s a big drop-off after x timestamp, you know something has gone wrong there.

Mr Beast knows that most viewers decide whether to stay or click off his video in 5 seconds.

So he optimizes his videos with:

1. Speed
2. Curiosity

i.e. get to the point fast and pique their interest.

Watch any of his videos and you’ll notice how fast he gets to the point.

Here’s an example from his video: I Spent 7 Days In Solitary Confinement.

“I’m going to attempt to spend the next 7 days in solitary confinement.”

“Seal me up” Bye Jimmy.

“Hopefully I don’t go insane”

Doors closed and the show began.

There’s nothing like “Hey there, welcome back to my channel. If you’re new here, we talk about how fast you’re losing your viewers’ attention with your looooongg boring intro.”

If you can’t keep their attention, then you’ve wasted all that effort attracting them in the first place.

What can we learn?

• You need a kick-in-the-door opening such as a strong hook to pique their curiosity.
• Avoid generic introductions that people have read a million times.
• Get to the point FAST. Don’t bounce around with lengthy descriptions.
• Constantly reveal new information to keep the reader engaged.

Now we’ve learned how to attract and retain readers.

But there’s one final element that makes Mr Beast the cream of the crop:

His obsession

He’s obsessed with creating the best YouTube videos possible.

That’s what allows him to deliver off-the-charts value to the attention captured.

His goal isn’t to hit 500M subscribers or make a ton of money because he can’t control that. Instead, he funnels all his energy into the only thing he can control: making the best videos possible.

On his podcast with Colin and Samir, he said:

And he’s not just saying it.

His main channel operates at a loss because he consistently reinvests his revenue back into making larger-scale videos.

If he wanted to, he could retire in the next minute. Instead, he’s working like a maniac.

What can we learn?

Don’t focus on the metrics or money earned because we’ve no control over that.

Obsess over what we can control — writing the best articles that we can, and keep improving our craft.

Growth is the byproduct of putting out high-quality work.

To sum it up

I thought Mr Beast would have a vault of high-level strategies to achieve his level of success.

But as you can tell, he uses a simple formula that anyone can adopt. The only difference is he operates at a high level because he’s been going for 10 years.

Success doesn’t have to be complicated.

Once again, the 3 keys are:

Capture attention with a strong title.

Then you keep the attention by getting to the point fast.

Finally, you deliver value to the best you can.

Be obsessed with getting better and the results will follow.

Highest revenue Medium articles last week:

1. ​Is It Possible To Write 100 Articles And Not Improve As A Writer?​
2. ​How To Apply The 80/20 Rule To Medium
3. ​How To 2.5x Your Productivity With This Simple System

​My fav content this week:​

I’ve always been a fan of Cal Newport as his work has had a profound impact on my life.

We’re living in a time when we’re constantly trying to squeeze more work into our days, thinking that if we work more, we’ll achieve more.

“Slow Productivity” suggests otherwise. If you’ve been overworking or feeling guilty for not working more, this book is for you.

It’s an easy read — I finished 80% of the book in 2 days.

1 Question for you:

What’s one thing you know you should do more of, but isn’t doing enough?