- Alright, so let's talk about it.
So one of the biggest YouTubers on this platform,
somebody who has millions upon millions of subscribers,
millions upon millions of fans.
Has inspired, probably over the last two years,
more people to probably start on YouTube than anyone else,
has decided to call it quits on his vlog.
And I have some interesting thoughts and feelings on that.
Unless you took the weekend off,
you probably heard, since you're watching this video,
that Casey Neistat decided to quit vlogging
and is going to be moving on to other things.
He's not quitting Youtube, he's not leaving the platform.
Despite what anybody might be telling you,
YouTube is not dying and this is not a reaction to that.
The timing of all this is really interesting
because just yesterday,
less than probably 24 hours since I put out this video,
I put out a video about not quitting YouTube
and about the reasons why people quit
and a lot of it had to do with burnout
or not being challenged enough
or moving onto a different phase in life
or things that might be going on mentally
and emotionally with people.
And it's just interesting because, you know,
Casey I think is quitting vlogging
for all the right reasons.
I think it takes more guts than people realize
and this is not a suck up kind of thing.
This is like, legit, because I think
what a lot of you neglect,
that I think Casey brought this up in his video,
is the fact that Casey was a YouTuber
before he was a vlogger.
And he was a filmmaker before he was a YouTuber.
I think that really resonated with me
because unlike a lot of other people on this platform,
one, I'm a little older, not unlike Casey,
I didn't get started in YouTube a decade ago
like a lot of the other people that are on this platform
that are my age.
I'm in my early thirties.
And, the thing is, I had a career before YouTube.
But I was also making videos
and posting them on the internet
a whole six years plus before YouTube was ever invented.
Yeah, I was posting videos back in the days
of LimeWire and BearShare for those of you
who even know what that is, kudos to you.
Kudos to all of the old heads out there.
Like when things were really sucky.
Dial-up, AOL 6.0, that gang, yeah, that.
Remember when a 20 meg video file was a lot?
Casey's been doing daily vlogging
for almost 18 months straight.
That is more consistency and more content
than the far majority of people on this platform.
That is more consistency than the far majority
of people doing really anything.
But for those who really haven't done something,
major or creative before YouTube,
they don't really understand, I think,
what Casey and what a lot of other creators
that are either pivoting or changing their content,
or taking a break from YouTube
or leaving the platform altogether,
I don't think people understand where they're coming from.
As somebody with a background in design and photography
and video that predates anything I ever did on YouTube,
or even anything I ever did on the internet,
I get it because the thing is,
creatives always need another mountain to climb.
Comfort kills creativity faster than anything.
And if you've ever been a fan of mine,
you've watched me,
then I've talked about this repeatedly,
about why people give up, why people quit,
how to avoid it, and that you have to do other things,
and you have to recharge your creative, you know, batteries,
you have to stretch your creative muscles,
and if you're doing the same thing
and you've built a system and a formula
for day in and day out, day in and day out,
if you're a creative,
that's kind of torture for you a little bit.
And then, two, you get bored.
And then, three, you don't grow that way.
You only grow by doing things that you're gonna fail at
as a creative and failing fast and getting over it
and then you get to the good stuff.
And that's why I said it's a gutsy move for Casey.
Is because not everyone's gonna love this.
Not everyone's gonna be a fan of it.
Despite the fact that what many of you think,
there are a lot of people who are just gonna be like
okay I'm done with Casey now.
There are a lot of people who thought this was clickbait
as per usual, and, so, yeah, there were a lot of skeptics.
And there are gonna be a lot of people
who are gonna just kind of play the wait and see game.
And that's fine.
But creatively, you can't be afraid to just do new things.
That is actually part of what
is quote unquote killing YouTube.
It's the people doing copycat content.
It's people not stretching themselves creatively.
It's people who are afraid to take a punch.
Who are afraid to put out a video that flops.
They are so terrified at the idea of that
no one will watch, no one will pay attention,
no one will acknowledge it,
that they either do things that pander
to the lowest common denominator,
they're doing things that are clickbait,
or they're doing things that are a rip off
or a one off or a me too type of video
instead of just doing something cool on their own.
The reason that Casey was successful in this platform
and in vlogging something that everybody under the sun
was already doing is because he did something
that was different and gamechanging
because he brought his perspective and creativity
as a filmmaker and somebody who wanted to do something
interesting and wanted to also show an interesting
life that they were living.
He brought that to the table and he did
it in an interesting and unique way.
And so you can't really mimic that success
by just copying Casey.
I keep telling people that they need to take what
he's put on the table and be inspired by it.
And even in him quitting vlogging,
we should take some inspiration from that
and realize that it's okay to change.
It's okay to do something different
regardless of whether people accept it,
regardless of whether people want something else from you.
You only have your own life to live
and you have to live it on your own terms.
And that means you don't cater to everybody.
You do you, and if people love you for it, then great.
That's what YouTube at it's core is really all about.
I mean, it's about, and that's what I think the value
of vlogging is, it's like we actually have a platform
where you can be yourself and be wildly successful
just doing the crazy fun stupid stuff that you enjoy
and that you love.
Or just talking about things, I mean, really.
You can just talk about things and it's okay.
It's nuts, I mean, that's what, that's why, you know,
Andre from Black Nerd Comedy is successful.
That's why sWooZie is successful.
That's why Philip DeFranco is successful.
Is they're being themselves.
And, I think that, in a lot of ways,
we should take inspiration from the fact that, like,
Casey is just living his life and the next phase of his life
is not vlogging, it's finding a way to challenge
himself as a filmmaker and as a video creator
and I think that whatever comes next is gonna be great
because there will be so many people,
if Casey was able to get so many people into vlogging,
and we have so many unique and interesting creators
that are out there that rose up
that we might have never seen if Casey hadn't inspired them.
There are a lot of photographers here on YouTube
that are raising the bar and people are going after it.
Gary Vaynerchuk is raising the bar for the online marketing
community and for entrepreneurs and hustlers.
There's just so much.
I mean, there's so many people out there just doing
inspiring things on this platform
and I think we can't get hung up on them doing what we want
because the reality is, I think more than anything,
they're doing what we need
and we also need to allow them to explore
and to do other things and to grow
so that we can grow right along with them.
And, so, my reaction to this whole
Casey quitting vlogging thing is, well,
good for you Casey.
Thank you for sharing 18 months
of your amazing life with us.
Thank you for inspiring most of us to step it up.
And then for the people who are just entertained,
they've still got plenty to be entertained by you from
and there's a lot of content that you put out
and I know there's other great things that are coming
and they'll be a little different,
they'll probably be a little weird, and it's okay.
That's what makes life interesting
is when we've got new stuff,
every day is a different day.
Like I said, comfort kills.
And I think there's just too many people
who are just getting comfortable with the way things are
and settling in and strapping in.
I want a roller coaster ride.
I want new stuff every day.
I want to be surprised every day.
And, as a creator, I'm trying every single day
to fail and to get punched.
'Cause that's only way that you grow.
Everybody wants the championship belt.
Nobody want to go three rounds with Clubber Lang.
Shout out to all my eighties kids that actually
know that reference.
Everybody's got something unique to bring to the table.
And you need to bring your unique stuff to the table.
You don't need to copy Casey
or me or anybody else out there.
You gotta run your own race.
You know, when I was in track, you know what we used to say?
It's like, you know what, beating other people is cool.
Beating yourself is better.
'Cause you're just running against your best time.
So, try to do something better than what you did yesterday.
And again, that's what I think Casey is out to do.
I think it's like, okay, I figured out a formula,
this thing is cookie cutter now.
It's time to push myself,
it's time to climb another mountain.
It's time to get back in the ring and take a punch.
And you know what, kudos.
Ironically, I've been inspired by Casey
and a bunch of other people,
I met some amazing people at VloggerFair,
I've met some amazing people on my other trips.
People like my friend Sara Dietschy.
And, you know what, a lot of them have inspired me
to actually do just a little bit more vlogging
so that when things happen in the world
or when things happen to me,
I can just talk to you guys like this
and have a conversation about it,
and I can see what you guys think in the comments,
and then we can have a back and forth.
'Cause there is a value to that.
I mean, the only real way to kinda get to know a person
is talking to them every week.
And so, I think that in that regard,
there's a huge value to vlogging
because we get to know another human being
in a way that we would never get to know them.
Because we're cut off by geography or something like that.
So a window into the life of another person
that might inspire you in some way to live your best life
is a very valuable thing and I think that's why
so many people are upset by Casey leaving.
I'm not gonna say that I wouldn't be looking forward to
another year of vlogs from Casey because I absolutely would.
But as a creative I get it.
And I, you know, I'm trying to push myself too.
That's actually why, interestingly enough,
I've gotten into doing a little bit more vlogging.
Got a, you know, your cheap vlogging camera
for that that's gonna be pretty cool.
And even why I challenged myself to see
well what can I do with a smartphone
that might inspire other people
to just pick up their smartphone and go for it
but at the same time do something
I'm super comfortable with.
And that's why I did the Dear Entrepreneurs series.
And why I'm still gonna be doing
the Dear Entrepreneurs series.
So, again, there's all kinds of things
that we can learn from this wild ride
that Casey's taken us on for 18 months.
And I think it's not time to jump ship,
I think it's time to sit back,
wait and see what the man does,
and I know that's gonna inspire a lot more creatives
to do really cool stuff
and it's gonna probably push the envelope
in a way we haven't seen yet on this platform.
So, if anything, I think that 2017,
the ante has been up.
I think things are gonna get a lot more interesting.
Anyway, I'd love to know what you guys are thinking
about Casey Neistat quitting vlogging.
Also, PewDiePie was doing a new vlog
and he decided to quit too.
Also, are you guys afraid of my weird psychic powers
because I did a video about quitting YouTube
a day before two major YouTubers decided to announce
that they're quitting vlogging?
Let me know that stuff in the comment section.
Anyway, like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome stuff on the channel.
Vlogging is something I'm probably gonna do
a little bit more of on Sunday
but with the holidays coming around,
things could get interesting, so we'll see.
As always you guys, thanks so much for watching
and don't forget, create something awesome today.
You too Casey.