You will NEVER Be MrBeast

Explorers!

Welcome a new season of Out West. A slight redesign, a reset and renewed fire to create content once again. This is an exciting log as we feel that the meta of content creation is changing because of Ryan Trahan's Penny Series (more on this at the end).

A new era is on the horizon, Captain Tejas... take it away!

Meeting Dylan Lemay, my now roommate, was one of the best and worst decisions I’ve made for my career.

For those that don’t know who he is, Dylan creates ice cream online and has amassed a following of over 14 million across platforms. Exactly one year ago, I met him.

I barely knew any other creators at this time and the only type of content I knew how to make was my own. I would post once a day, spend 2-3 hours, and get an average of like 20,000 views.

On that day a year ago, I watched Dylan post seven videos in one day, spending 20 minutes on each of them, and averaged 2,000,000 views… per video.

My jaw dropped.

I never felt so out of my own skin. I’d been creating for a couple of months and that one moment made me doubt everything. Was I doing TikTok wrong?

So instantly, l changed my content. I went from posting in-depth analyses and short video essays on finance and the creator economy to… creating vlogs that would take me 20 minutes, and I would try posting 2-3 times a day.

And in a way, it was successful! Views and followers went up and my page looked like any other TikToker’s, which must mean it was the right way… right? This went on for about six months, which in TikTok’s timeline, is like aging 20 years.

One day, I woke up and stared at an empty email inbox. That had never happened before, even when I was a much smaller creator. Someone, even if it were an NFT scammer, would’ve emailed me.

Then I asked Dylan for his honest thoughts about my content and in an ironic full circle, he said he didn’t like it as much as my older content. This new content is not what he followed me for.

Every opportunity I’ve gotten in the past, every friend I’ve made in this space has happened because of the content that was 100% my voice, not because it looked like every other creator on the platform. The content I make is NOT optimized for TikTok growth. Instead, it’s optimized for high impact on the following that I have.

Currently, I’ve never felt more inside my skin. I LOVE what I create but none of it would’ve happened if I didn’t go through those six months of identity crisis.

Thank you Dylan, also fuck you, but also thank you.

*PS* All Dylan hate is a joke. I had to do it for the clickbait.

When we’re kids, the magnetic force pulling us forward is often an aspiring profession.

“I want to be an astronaut.”

“A brain surgeon.”

“An egyptologist.”

It makes sense. We look up at the adults and all we see is them doing their jobs, all day. Every one of them. It’s understandable we put so much emphasis on our career even at such a young age. But those extravagant motivations often cease when we get a bit older, understand what work really means, and instead find what actually inspires us.

The creator economy is stimulated by millions of us who know we’re in the right career. It might have taken most of us some trips and falls, but after finding our feet, there’s no other way we’d spend our time.

The only change is - we went from:

“When I grow up I want to have this JOB TITLE.”

To now claiming:

“When I grow up I want to be this PERSON.”

By this I mean new and aspiring creators that think their career priority is to become MrBeast, become Casey Neistat, become Charli D’Amelio.

Think about it this way. You’re back in the classroom and the teacher has asked the first question of the day. Bright and bold Billy shoots his hand up and gives the right answer. How preposterous is it to even suggest that Billy’s answer will be the right answer for the rest of the day?

The teacher asks her second question, you say the same words Billy did, you feel stupid. A failure. Sure, Billy was the first to bask in the day’s triumph. We all saw it. But, and this can’t be understated - we’re only a couple minutes into the day. Class has only just started.

Listen to the question. Approach the answer in your own way. There’s plenty of time.

Do you want to be a part of history? Who doesn’t, right? Well guess what - you can be. We all can. Let’s be a part of history together right now. Ready?

Boom.

There it is. A moment in history that we were all a part of, together. Pretty cool right?

Conversations about the existential passing of inconsequential moments aside, we’re living through somewhat of a golden age. Access to platforms that can take you from zero to hero overnight is pretty much unbridled. Everyone has the same opportunity to be the next MrBeast. Even you.

With these thoughts in mind, I decided to take short-form content seriously. I took the “post-everyday on a brand-new account pledge” at the beginning of 2021, but now in hindsight, I’m questioning my initial motivation behind starting my page.

The strongest pieces of content aren’t necessarily the ones that garner the highest numbers - we all know this. Even the version of me from one year ago. But despite that, my approach to TikTok was to do anything and everything I could to game the system - to trick the algorithm, in a sense, into pushing my content. This resulted in content that “worked” but never left me feeling satisfied.

I was reluctant to admit it to myself, but creating content for the sake of my ego was the cause of my disdain towards my own work, despite obsessing over it for hours every single day.

Six months of posting every day, and hundreds of thousands of followers later, something changed.

I turned off my camera, broke down my lights, and simply began documenting who I was as a person with my phone. Trimming the fat off my edits and adding a well-thought-out voiceover created a completely new style for me. One that didn’t make me immediately hate my work directly after posting it.

It reignited my motivation for making videos, and helped me find my “why”. Best of all, it helped me make videos that truly felt good to share with the world.

We’re in the middle of a golden age, but coming dreadfully close to one that’s over-saturated. Some may argue it already is. It’s unlikely you’ll become the next MrBeast, but capitalize on the opportunity of not having to.

Record your life. The things you’re actually interested in. Be honest about your feelings, and create things you’ll look back on in ten years and be proud of.

Everyone’s a part of history, but not everyone leaves their mark on it. Will you?

The hardest part of being a creator today is finding your own voice. When looking at MrBeast blaze through YouTube or Anna Sitar create this dynamic relationship on TikTok, yeah... why wouldn't I copy them?

Be inspired by them! Steal 'like an artist'! But don't lose your voice.

That's why Ryan Trahan has done so well. He is reinventing the daily vlog through his Penny series and creating a new trail in the YouTube meta. It's 100% his voice.

Tejas is no Dylan, Daniel is revolutionizing TikTok, and Sean's voice through vlogs has never been stronger.

See you next week :)