- MrBeast discussed his propensity for extreme risk and discomfort on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast.
- He said negativity has led him to cultivate a stronger sense of self.
- Donaldson also said attention to detail has been key to the growth of his chocolate startup Feastables.
What are MrBeast’s secrets to business success?
From his propensity for risk and discomfort to his obsession with detail, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson shared some of the traits behind his success in a wide-ranging interview on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast.
Donaldson discussed his tips for hiring and detailed how navigating negativity both inside and outside his companies has helped him develop a deeper sense of self.
A representative for MrBeast declined to comment.
Here are five of the biggest takeaways:
1. Long-term employee retention is the ‘eighth wonder of the world’
Donaldson said a core component of his success is the people that he surrounds himself with.
“I feed off the energy of the people around me,” he said. “I start to talk like them, I become interested in the things they’re interested in.”
In terms of hiring, he said he seeks coachable candidates who see the value in his mission. The worst trait in a potential hire? Mediocrity.
He said cultivating employees who stick around for the long haul is like the “eighth wonder of the world” in business.
“What I like is I train someone for a year, and then I get nine years of dividends on the back-end where they crush at their job — and I’m constantly paying them more because they’re becoming more valuable with time,” he said.
2. Negativity has helped him cultivate a stronger sense of self
Given the scale of his reach, Donaldson said that negativity — including from former employees and viewers — is inevitable.
But it’s taught him not to let the whims of the internet determine who he is.
He also said that, ultimately, his motivations are simpler than the rumor mill might suggest.
“It’s funny — the more good you do, the more people think you’re secretly evil,” Donaldson said. “In my opinion, a world where I help people is just more fun than a world where I don’t.”
3. An obsession with detail
While Donaldson rose to renown as a YouTuber, he said building his chocolate company, Feastables, now scratches a similar itch.
“I just really love solving consistent, complex, hard problems,” he said. “I think that’s what gets me out of bed — and the harder the problem, the more exciting it is.”
Donaldson said that Feastables does “nine figures” and emphasizes ethical sourcing.
As an example of his attention to detail, he said he noticed early on that boxes on store shelves were toppling due to their design and weight distribution. So, Donaldson said he paid people to put GoPro cameras in Walmart aisles to investigate the issue, and then he hired a package engineer to right the ship.
“All these little things add up,” he said.
4. ‘I don’t really feel risk’
Early on in his YouTube career, when he was reinvesting most of his earnings into future videos, Donaldson said his mother balked at his propensity for risk, secretly setting aside $5,000 in his bank account for savings.
When he found out, he ended up reinvesting it in his YouTube business.
“I don’t really feel risk — if anything, risk excites me, and I have a very high threshold for it,” he said.
As time went on and he became increasingly successful, Donald said his mother learned to trust him.
5. A willingness to be uncomfortable sets him apart
From burying himself alive to spending time on a deserted island — to traveling for a majority of the year in order to film all of his ambitious stunts — Donaldson said his willingness to endure hard things sets him apart from competitors.
“If my mental health was a priority, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am,” he said.
And remaining uncomfortable over the years has created a unique advantage.
“Something I always tell myself,” he continued, “is ‘How you feel right now is why no one else does what you do — and if you push through this, that’s just even more reason why no one will ever be who you are.'”
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