🛠️ Steven Gong

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Nov 09, 2026 · 6 min read · 7,794 views · 82 in the last 30 days

Mr. Beast

Fundamental document to read I remember something pretty vividly that he said he does, which I want to do more.

Everytime you go on a walk, just go through phone’s contacts and randomly Facetime someone. This is smart Social Networking.

He was also talking on Joe Rogan’ podcast, and he spoke about a few things he did to achieve his success:

  • Form a Mastermind Group with 3 other wannabe YouTubers and hop on a Skype call everyday to discuss anything they learn
    • Imagine the stuff you learn from your mistakes, multiply that by 4, you learn so much faster.

He had a financial greed wealth phase, but then he became grounded again. Because money isn’t what gives him happy. He wants to give that money away, get his YouTube platform even bigger.

On YouTube

The difference between a video that has 3 million views and 30 million views is not 10x times the effort. Maybe only 2x.

So it’s exponential reward. You have to think exponentially with YouTube.

The goal of YouTube is to maximize retention. That means we have to cut between shots.

If it’s a scene where you are just sitting in a car talking to the camera, you get a lot of depth into the character, but it’s a very boring scene. So it wouldn’t make the cut. However, in the other way around, things can move way too quickly and it’s hard for the audience to follow.

So you want to have depth at the same time as action, which is what Mr. Beast is striving to achieve.

Depth vs. Action,

Insights from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5J1Cycn3s8&ab_channel=MrBeast

  • Be Original. That’s how you are going to stand out at the top
  • If you can search it on YouTube, and no one has done it before, then DO it.

Some notes with Mr. Beast, Nadeshot Podcast: Mr. Beast critique of Nadeshot, it doesn’t come off the tongue as easy (the title) → when talking about Nadehsot,

Insights from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdU3U5ZcUsA&list=LL&index=2&t=206s&ab_channel=YouTubeTipsI%27veLearned

Act 1: The Algorithm

  1. Always remember what youtube wants
  2. Don’t overcomplicate the algorithm
  3. Optimize for what YouTube wants
  4. Moral
  5. Clickable
  6. 15-min video people watch over 60%
  7. Don’t expect YouTube to promote your video until your video gives YouTube what it wants
  8. It takes years of fine tuning what works

Act 2: Make your videos clickable

  1. Ask for more opinions on your titles and thumbnails, get 2nd, 3rd, 4th opinions
  2. Evoke Curiosity
  • Show a myriad of something
  • Use questions
  1. Check how your thumbnails look when they are small
  2. Make your thumbnails bright
  3. Never put text in the bottom right
  4. Don’t use vague and confusing titles and thumbnails (IMPORTANT, I’ve realized this myself)
  • Like this one, you don’t know what the creator is going for, I am not enticed to click on it, just more confused (very common mistake)
  • EX BAD title: I’ve been waiting. for this day for years”
  1. Build your reputation
  2. Deliver on your promises

Act 3: Make your videos watchable

  1. Tell people why they should watch it (“Hook”)
  2. Shorten your intros (cut the fluff)
  3. Cut Out Dull Moments
  4. Don’t overexplain things
  5. Make it dynamic (add constant motion)
  6. Add things, not just a camera pointing at your face for 20 second
  7. Have a “payoff” at the end
  8. Go the extra mile (really put in effort)
  9. If you put in 20 hours for a 10 second clip, viewers can tell. Viewers aren’t stupid, they can tell when you are putting in a lot of effort and they will click in the future, because you are building that reputation. They know it’s high effort. Build a good track record
  10. Test Quality vs Quantity on your channel
  11. OMG this is really important. You can do 100 videos, 1 a day. Or sit down and make one good video, and get 1M views.
  12. Invest in your content strategically, if done right
  13. So Like me, wanting to make great engineering videos, like Stuff Made Here, I should invest in the equipment

Act 4: Think of ideas

  1. Treat Video Ideas Seriously
  2. If it’s a bad idea, you will never get those views
  3. Study how to come up with good ideas
  4. Use a dictionary
  5. Brainstorm
  6. Collect data
  7. Look at it
  8. See what pops in your head & how it inspires you
  9. Think of ideas one hour a day
  10. Use positive ideas on YouTube (tell great stories!!)
  11. Make more of evergreen content, don’t do seasonal. make videos that can go viral forever
  • Clickable
  • watchable
  • no matter how long
  1. When you find what works, do more of that
  2. Don’t milk a series too hard
  3. Switch things up, try to keep things fresh

Act 5: Learn and improve 2. Learn from other YouTubers 3. Study with other YouTubers → Mastermind Group

  1. Become obsessed
  2. Get a mentor if you can (that is more effective)
  3. Constantly improve,
  4. Learn how to use YouTube Analytics, see where viewership drops. make notes of why (IMPORTANT)
  5. Start with average view duration
  6. Click Through Rate (CTR)
  7. Average Percentage Viewed (APV)
  8. Relative Audience Retention (RAR)
  9. Think logically of your process. How can you accelerate your process
  10. Study YT videos 3 times as much
  11. Train, be relentless and patient

Act 6: Help yourself to keep going

  1. Find what you like
  2. Make your creative process enjoyable
  3. Do more of what you enjoy, get helped with what you don’t
  4. Find and talk to other people passionate about YouTube
  5. Avoid people making you feel uncomfortable for your passion
  6. Get rid of distractions and temptations. Get in the zone
  7. Get motivated by everything you can
  8. Have an end goal (deeper purpose)

Act 7: Grow and scale

  1. Reinvest what you earn back into your channel
  2. Avoid controversy and politics
  3. Hire people to grow further
  4. Hire people you know and can trust
  5. Hire an editor when you can
  6. It’s stupid o think not want one. They get the rythm of your style
  7. Launch separate channels for different content
  8. It would fragment the viewership
  9. Create a shorts channel to grow your audience
  10. Get involved with other platforms in some way
  11. Twitch and YouTube
  12. Consider where you grow and scale (taxes, rent, etc.)

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