(screams)
- [Derral] Let me introduce you to a creator
who went from riding a skateboard
to running several multi million dollar businesses,
while having the best day ever.
Now from the outside,
Shaun looks like just an easy going guy
who knows how to have fun,
but underneath the surface,
he's one of the most brilliant business minds on YouTube.
Shaun owns and manages multiple YouTube channel,
runs a brand Integration company,
made the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list.
- He's become a social media sensation,
even making Forbes Magazine.
- [Derral] Owns a world championship e-sports team,
but more importantly, he's my business partner
along with Mr. Beast in VidSummit,
the best YouTube conference in the world.
(coughs)
Shameless plug.
I have found the most powerful way to learn
is not by tutorial,
but by seeing success in action.
- [Woman] Tonight we take you inside the story
of the man known as Shonduras.
- Here we go.
How is it being married to Shonduras?
Like, seriously?
- It's wild, it's crazy.
So he started out with financial advising.
He had no facial hair and a suit and tie.
He also worked at a skateboard shop
and then we also had this jewelry boutique and then.
- He randomly started a business and
this is kind of how it all started.
I owned a skate shop, that demographic's really hard,
like young kids without money
who wanna go skate and snowboard.
How would this business be successful
and I was like distribution, I guess it's Facebook,
and mom's were taking over Facebook,
and what do mom's buy?
Oh I don't know, what do mom's buy?
Jewelry?
Yeah, I'm making a jewelry boutique
and so I saw what I did on Facebook
building a community around jewelry, that was cool,
but I don't need a community around jewelry,
and I wanted to build a community on Snapchat.
Mom, do you think I should be on like Ellen
and all these like magazines and articles and stuff,
she's like, "Yes, I do," I was like,
"Okay, I'm gonna make you an email and send some emails,"
she's like, "Okay, honey," I was like, "Okay."
For the next like couple weeks,
I would just send 10 emails a night,
it's a number's game, right?
Like two out of the 10 would hit back.
Really what helped all this launch
is this huge attention from everyone on Snapchat,
like I remember Snapchat didn't have a website
and people were googling Snapchat
and I was literally the first thing that popped up.
Forbes said, "We would love to do an article on you
"in Snapchat, if you're ever in New York City, let us know,"
and I was like, bought a hotel
and I hit up Jerome Jar at the same time,
"Hey man, I'm gonna be in New York City,
"filming with Forbes, was thinking we could get together
"and maybe you could film with Forbes with me?"
"Forbes, cool, yeah, I've kind of wanna figure out Snapchat
"that makes sense to me," and then the final call.
"Hey Gary, so I'm gonna be in New York City
"with Forbes and Jerome Jar,
"do you think I can swing by the office?"
He's like, "Oh, wow, yeah, please swing by."
Basically the way that I got noticed,
that I got my first collaborations
was just confidence.
You know I had my dream job,
working skateboard, snowboard stuff
and then my new dream job of being a content creator
on Snapchat and I'm like, "Ah, which dream job,"
but it was when I got that first deal with Disney,
even though it was only 500,
I was like, "This is gonna lead somewhere."
When I came home I was just like,
"Look man I'm gonna keep helping you out,
"and like finish out this season that we're in
"with snowboarding but after this,
"I'm gonna like full focus Snapchat."
- And then slowly, things started getting more and more,
I think he started working with Samsung,
so he started collaborating with all these big people
and I'm like, "Wow, this is actually working."
I could see where he wanted to go
so I had to be the sugar mama for the while.
- You know I want the team that Gary Vee has,
but I want to be the creator that Casey is,
but like I see all the strategy that you're implementing,
you need to have business mentors in people you learn from,
and there were a key three or four right out the gates,
between the strategy, the creator and the business,
like that's really who I built off of
and for having mentors in those spaces was very crucial
and it helped me be well balanced
and build a business that wasn't too
creator focused or business focused.
- I think he likes a challenge.
He likes to see like what he can accomplish
and how far he can go.
So right when Adley was born,
Casey actually and Shaun were talking
about him starting his YouTube channel.
- I'm thinking like, if I've put all these eggs
in the Snapchat basket like,
if Snapchat doesn't work, this is gonna suck,
and so that's kind of when we talked
and realized like be your own personality on YouTube
and then right around then was when
Casey was telling me to try vlogging
and man, people watching my life that sounds boring,
so like I need to do something,
but I'm gonna make it the best day ever,
like no matter what happens, everyday,
I'm just gonna make it the best day ever
and have tons of fun and like show people
that no matter what, you can have a good day.
Baby's born and best day ever one starts,
now we're at best day ever like 1080 something?
- When I think a lot of people look at his stuff
or his Instagram and YouTube and think,
"Oh, all he does is have fun and make videos,"
but there's like a lot more to that.
He has like five businesses
he's trying to grow and make succeed,
and all of our house stuff on top of that,
so that's just a lot to be involved in and worry about.
- So when did it click?
Like, really, when did you say,
"Oh, I got this YouTube thing down, I get it?"
- When I finally found my audience.
Like, man, that sounds so silly
and I fought against it forever,
but I made 800 videos or so, filming my life everyday,
that were exciting and I had an audience,
I remember even you probably told me,
"you need to find an audience!"
You know what I mean.
- Definitely did.
- Everything that's important to me is my family,
so once I'm done with work,
that's what I want to do
and so that's what my content should be enough
for the audience I speak to
and then once I did that
and I focused on a certain demographic,
that's when my channels took off on YouTube.
It's been about a year now
that we've been way more focused
on the family channel on YouTube
and it just works so well
and it's cool to see that if you're true to who you are
and what you want to film
and what you want to speak to,
then it usually works.
- I think the big thing is
there's a lot of YouTubers out there
that would love to take it to this level,
you know, the level where you're at,
they might be doing everything on their own.
What was the process of you going to the next level?
- A lot of times as a creator,
the reason you're a creator
is because you have the special touch or process,
so finding out how you can still work your magic,
but be able to have someone that is supporting you as well,
build the team around you that can do the same process.
- Let's talk about Holiday for a second,
because I think there's key hires,
if you really want a skill.
You brought your friends like Pookie and Tall Chicken
into the mix, you can trust them, right?
And get the stuff going from there.
But here Holiday was living out of state.
- Yeah that was a hard one.
- He was primarily bringing me on just to help him.
His brand, that was our only focus.
- I had this professional fun haver,
the fun, all the connections, all the YouTubers,
I had everything going for me,
but I hadn't filled out my business report
in the past six months and my license was about to expire,
so that's where Holiday came in
and became the business side to this.
Holiday was the first employee that I paid more
than I had ever been paid at a job
and I was like, "Wow, this is weird.
"I've never even made that much money."
Uncomfortable feeling, but I have took that risk
and he was like, "I'm moving a family of four
"to another state to go work with this homie
"who has something cool going,
"but I don't know what that looks like."
Had we not worked hard together and scaled
and built all this, it would've been a different story.
- I had so much more ambition,
he had more ambition
and we just knew his time could only go so far
and only grow so much.
- Probably two years into that
and after tons of conversations
with the Gary Vees and the Derrals
and those people of the world that are like,
"Look man, you've got an amazing thing, an amazing team,
and brand and everything, just how are you gonna scale it?"
And so that's when we really had to make a decision
of like what could the Spacestation be
that's even bigger than Shonduras, right?
- Gaming and Integrations came in at the same time.
- The exact same meeting yeah.
- Shaun at the time was always looking for
ways to invest into different opportunities
and different business opportunities.
- That's when we said, "Hey, let's build other companies,
just in case some of this has longevity."
And then we were able to fund those companies
with YouTube brand deals and YouTube ads
and YouTube collaborations,
all this different stuff.
And I still remember that meeting, it was like super janky,
we had like a broken whiteboard
that we leaned against the wall.
Okay, how do we make this bigger
than just the Shonduras brand?
- The same meetings that we had started gaming.
- Came up with three ideas.
Editing for YouTubers, Spacestation Gaming
and then also Integrations
and then whichever one works the best
is what we'll focus on.
We edited for one, two or three YouTubers
and then like man, this is a mess, YouTubers suck,
get rid of that business.
- Right.
- So now we've got the Spacestation as Shonduras brand,
Integrations where we run brand deals,
that company's three years strong now, crushing it
and then Spacestation Gaming where we support gamers
and athletes in the video game world.
- Same day, June 15th of 2017,
Spacestation Gaming, Spacestation Integrations were founded.
- Initially, we didn't know what esports was,
like no idea what competitive teams were.
We knew the business side of how this could work,
we knew the content side of how this could work
and then myself as a creator,
I knew how to build the community.
We have, he goes by Tall Chicken
and over here we have Max Pookie.
- It was just like a really small operation
and we would just make all the content ourselves.
- And if you didn't know who the team was,
what the game was, whatever,
you still thought it was awesome
and you're like, "Yeah, go Spacestation team."
- (shouts excitedly) SST baby, let's go!
- I think there were people that had been in esports
and gaming for 10 plus years and they grew with it
and they were killing it
and then I think there were new people
that brought in tons of money and investment
and they just built something that looked like esports
and I think we were kind of this new breed
that like grew and built something
right as it was taking off.
- [Announcer] Spacestation Gaming are your World Champions!
(cheering)
(chanting)
- It's kind of scary because you know where we came from
and where we started
and we're just people that edited YouTube videos
and figured it out on the fly.
We're growing at a really steady pace
and so I'm just really excited
because it's just gonna be insane,
it's just gonna keep getting even crazier.
- So a huge part of this scale was way important to reinvest
and we had had enough to take a risk and say,
"Okay let's straight start to scale."
- John's like "Dude I could totally tell
"you're way personable and such a good people person
"and you should just come in
"and see if you can just help him grow
"what holiday and I have already started."
- And so our first creators that we were working with,
Tanner Fox, a young Peter McKinnon
who was just getting started, h3h3.
We were like, "Ya guys, you build your brand, you do you,
"if we go hunt and bring you a deal, an opportunity,
we'll take a percentage of that that will always be the same
and it's transparent across the board,
but like we just really cared about people.
- We touch base and keep tabs on everyone,
whether it is a brand deal, their wife's birthday,
a sub hit or just anything in life,
like Peter McKinnon, I love that guy,
he's family to me.
- I think that was really nice to people
to not feel this aggressive like
we're trying to sign you to our agency and business,
we're just trying to help people.
- Travis has really been able to scale this thing up
and take it to a place that I don't think even Shaun
and I knew it could get to.
He just was so ingraining and hungry for it,
we five exed that next year,
last year we did 10 million in revenue.
- Ta-da! One third of the Spacestation.
So far everything we've done at the Spacestation,
whether it's content creation or new business or anything,
it's run by the people here
and the people here benefit from it.
This is one big team.
If we think of a new project and I'm gonna fund it,
I need to know you guys are gonna go 120%
and they know that too,
so new projects work because we're on the same page.
Everyone goes way hard on pico ball or pizza Friday
and we all have pizza and play games
and it's the most fun 30, 45 minutes
and then afterwards everyone's hyperfocused again
and just extreme amounts of fun and work
and there's never any half and half,
you know you're never at your desk just kind of scrolling
and bored and wishing the day was over,
everyone's like, "I've got stuff to do
"and I've got to do it."
And then, "Oh yeah pizza's coming
and I want to goof around for an hour,
so I've really got to get this done."
- And have your pico ball tournament.
Woah, woah, guys.
VidSummit updates coming in hot!
- So we are really excited,
we've actually sold quite a bit of tickets.
- [Shaun] It's one of those things that every time
it just keeps getting better, better and better,
which that's natural progression, the way we like it.
- February 2017 we got a call from Derral, from you
and it was, "Hey, let's make the VidSummit even bigger."
and that was me and Shaun like (gasp),
"We could do so dude, let's go!
"We can be bigger than us."
That was part of scaling up,
because then Trav played a huge role his first year
was heavily around VidSummit.
- I would guess that most people here should be going
to VidSummit for one reason or another at this point,
either through Integrations or Gaming
or the Shonduras brand and learning strategies.
- And then now we've brought in Mr Beast
and it's been interesting to see how Mr Beast runs his team
and how he contributes to our team.
- He's gonna stand us up.
(laughing)
- [Mr Beast] Hey, how's it going?
- Good man.
- Hello from the Spacestation, I've abducted Derral.
- Yes.
- That sounded weird.
- Well you can have Derral for a few more days,
but then if I don't get him back I'm calling the FBI
(laughing)
- Okay, so VidSummit 2020, I'm super excited.
- I really like the idea of getting some heavy hitting
female creators and empowerment in there like Lily Singhs
and iJustines and stuff like that.
- Even maybe a key note would be field Franco,
I think he'd do a great job,
he's OG, super connected.
- [Mr Beast] Casey might come back.
Casey calls me on a weekly basis.
Look at his new thumbnail.
The first thumbnail he sent me was terrible
and I told him to reshoot it
and he delayed uploading that video.
- [Derral] Oh, that's a really good thumbnail.
- Oh wow! I think if we try commit him,
it gets hard and weird,
but if we just bro down like,
"You don't want to miss out," he'll come.
- [Mr Beast] I'll tell him if he doesn't come
I'll stop doing his thumbails.
(laughing)
- Next up, we need to get a video up,
every day, best day ever,
it's either the Best Day Ever vlog video
or one of Adley's videos,
today is an Adley video.
So go in, Nick has the whole thing pretty much edited
and everything, we double check, make sure it feels good,
all the jokes hit and it's fun
and then after that we get to work on the title
and thumbnail, which again,
yeah that's the strategic part
and that's where I can be in here for 30 minutes
or an hour or even two hours
because that's just got to be perfect.
It's the most important part of my day,
like people know they can jump in my office
and grab me or questions or what not,
but when I'm in the editing bay
everyone knows that I'm just hands off,
this is like zoned out quiet time.
So, welcome to the zone.
Nick does Adley's videos,
Brandon does the vlog.
On days when we're putting up an Adley video,
Brandon's deep in the edit
and then on days where Adley's doing it, vice versa.
I'll review the video or Jenny
or someone will review with Nick,
we just have a policy like
nothing posts until multiple eyes have seen it,
almost never have feedback,
but we just watch through just to make sure
an address isn't showing or just whatever, you know?
So, usually he has some options,
so these are all thumbs, yeah?
We have the thumbnail and title wizard here,
let's just use him,
I'll just take the next 10 minutes off
and Derral will do this work for me.
- This one right here, yeah check that one.
- Yeah, I like that a lot,
okay send that over and then I put on the final touches,
you know like brightened colors
and brighten the whites of your eyes
and just little things like that
just to make it stand out and catch
and then will you send me over title suggestions and words?
This is Snapseed, I don't know, I really like it,
basically brighten the whites of the eyes and your teeth
and just kind of pop the colors,
look in one move right here, we add some ambience.
See how much brighter that is?
It's way more clickable.
The title's such a big part,
like it's nice to have a team on it right?
So grab that, we save it,
then we go back into Slack,
we have a thumb slack,
every thumbnail and title we've done
for the past little while,
there's usually a couple variations
that we could maybe chose from.
You know, which one do we want?
So yeah, thumbnail options,
Valentine's Day challenges,
catches your eye with the cute hearts
and then for SCO basically what do we want on the end here?
(high-pitched bark)
- Hi puppy.
- You scared me!
(dog barking)
I want the best for my family
and I'm just setting us up for this lifestyle
that we're doing right now and it could be good or bad
and everyone has their own thoughts and opinions
and I hear it way too much from everyone.
A lot of people just see things through the toxic goggles
or through the you have the dream goggles, right?
And I try and make sure to look through both goggles,
because I have the most important thing to do
with my kids and my family,
but ultimately I know what my thoughts and opinions are
and they're that anyone can have an amazing life
or a bad life whether you're famous
or not famous or what not.
So like when I read the DMs,
there are so many people that are like,
"My kids don't have a dad and you're like their dad,"
and it's super cool and like,
"My kids don't have a sister, so Adley's like their sister
"and she calls them their sister."
So there's like all this good in it,
but yes there's also the bad
and like famous people go crazy and Hollywood's wild
and I try and look at all perspectives
and then just do the best.
The ultimate number one thing is
making sure me and Jenny stay on the same page,
like there's been times she's like,
"Woah babe, pump the brakes, we're going too hard."
And then there's times when I'm like,
"Babe we have a huge opportunity ahead of us,
"we need to focus on this and I need to work harder
"and it's all going to be worth it."
And she's like, "Yep, let's do it,"
and she gets re-motivated.
- Once it switched to YouTube,
it was a little easier because in the Snapchat days,
it was kind of just him.
He was off with these other young Snapchatters
and creating all these videos
and I was pregnant, home and sick.
Once he did YouTube, we kind of came together as a family
and started doing videos.
- [Derral] With Adley's channel,
you're pretty much taking the lead on that, right?
- Yeah, me and Adley started that when she just turned two.
And I feel like I was just home
and everyone's going at 1.5
and I wanted a hobby and do something fun
and Adley loves filming,
so we just started doing these little videos
about colors and shapes and playing with Play-Doh.
- This one's magical,
it has hearts and unicorns and mermaids,
what's this potion called?
- It's Mommy and Daughter.
- And then we just slowly started doing more and more
and then we're like, "Okay, we need someone else."
Because then I was pregnant with Niko
and I can't film these on my own.
So then Nick would come and he'd start filming
and it just became a bigger production
from there I think.
I never would've imagined this when we first started,
it was just gonna be a good fun mommy, daughter channel.
- Having Adley be passionate about filming
and making videos and loving YouTube,
like that's awesome because that's a bond that we have
and it's like that's our job
and it provides us cool opportunities and she gets it,
she knows we went to Hawaii to make videos
and we're lucky that we get to do that.
Also, you know and everyone knows,
it's hard to blend work and life
or friends and work or all these different things,
like I work with all my friends,
I work with all my family.
That's the best thing ever,
but it's also the hardest thing ever,
but we find a really cool balance
where Adley comes up with the intro and all the ideas
that she always has full of creative
and then we never reshoot anything unless we really have to,
so we've set all these guidelines that keep it fun
and we're able to work together with family and friends.
So ultimately you have to prioritize figuring it out
and I think I have figured it out
and it's balancing,
I'm always changing and refiguring
but it's a priority and it's my number one priority.
- [Derral] Passion, creativity, perseverance and teamwork
lead to success!
Make sure you subscribe to this new series
because it's gonna give you an inside look
at success in action.
Big shoutout and thanks to Storyblocks
for sharing my vision
and sponsoring this series
to really celebrate YouTube success stories like Shaun's.
Check out Storyblocks,
there's a link in the description below
or better yet, thank them in person at VidSummit.
(cheering)
- Best day ever!
- There we go.