Hey whats up guys! I’m the Mystery Guitar Man, thanks for watching my video, leave me a comment below and maybe you’ll be in my next video….just kidding :)
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Simply put, I am a big fan of Mystery Guitar Man’s work. I have watch his popularity and his subscriber base rocket over the last few months ( I started following him when he had 300,000 subscribers and 20,000 Twitter followers).
I predict he will eventually become the most subscribed Youtuber by the end of 2011 simply because he makes some of the best videos on the Internet. Also, he comes off as a really cool guy, and eveyone wants to be friends with the cool kids right?
Joe really inspires me, not simply from a creative standpoint, but also as a success story. When you see the success in others it is a good idea to study the qualities that lead to it.
Taking risks, overcoming personal roadblocks and achieving success is the name of the game. Everyone wants it, but so many fail. Why?
Quick answer: they give up. It is OK to give up on an idea… despite what guidance counselors and b-rate personal development sites say. Sometimes things do not work out and you need to call it quits. Perhaps you started something without enough information and skill to pull it off. Maybe you just need more time to learn. Giving up and quitting is actually a good trait sometimes. You should ask yourself: “hey am I getting ridiculous results from this?”. If yes, stop and start over. The alternative is to be a fool about it by keeping at something that is not working. However, it is never a good idea to give up on a goal.
So how much money does Mystery Guitar Man make?
Joe Penna (MGM), makes videos and stuff, oh, and a healthy five figure sum at it (that would $10,000+ a month usd). How? Well I am not Mystery Guitar Man’s accountant but I can safely guess it comes from one main source: YouTube. YouTube has a partner program in which the YouTube account holder shares in the advertising revenue generated by his or her videos.With video views in the millions, Joe gets a cut of that ad revenue. Also, by being so popular, I am sure other opportunities open themselves up for him. Like making commercials, joint ventures, consulting. Think about the kind of people that would love to work with him.
I know what you are thinking: Wow! ! 10,000 a month+. How did he get to where he is!
Joe started out like most people, not taking it seriously and being inconsistent with it. This was in part because no one was taking it seriously at the time, there was no YouTube partner program, no financial incentive to take it seriously and create great content on a consistent basis, and he was a college student who had work to do.
Over time however, he built up a small subscriber base, but then left Youtube for about a year. It was time to graduate and head off to grad school. Originally he was going to study bioinformatics, but then switched to med school. Right as med school was about to get under way, Joe instead took up internships and odd jobs around Boston which allowed him to hone his video editing skills.
He started to make a decent income when the great recession struck in the US and all the opportunities dried up around Boston. Still into YouTube as a hobby, he found his way to a YouTube meet up where he meet people that joined YouTube at the same time he did and were making six figures a year. His reaction was like anyone else:
WTF? I started before you and I had more subscribers. What happened?
With a lack of opportunities, Joe decided to make his own opportunity by using YouTube as his creative outlet. He had been gone for nearly a year, so Mystery Guitar Man decided he had to come back with a vengeance and devoted himself to putting all his creative efforts into a video in the hopes it would be featured on the front page of YouTube. The end result was this:
It was a calculated shoot in the dark, but it worked! At six million views and counting for the above video, Mystery Guitar Man was back in business. He was invited into the YouTube partner program (which is invite only) and made only a few hundred dollars at first, but he kept plugging away and that sum has grown to a consistent five figure income which pays for his car, apartment, and lifestyle.
He claims to work 80 hours a week. Talking from my own experience, when you’re self employed you never leave your job. Your job and your lifestyle are one in the same. Just as I am constantly thinking about content, marketing, and products, Mystery Guitar Man is always thinking about cool new videos to make.
The moral of the story:
Chase your dreams and the money will follow, chase the money, and your like everyone else
How do you follow your dreams? By overcoming your lizard brain as Seth Godin puts it. Your lizard brain is the part of the brain we share with lizards. It worries about three things: 1) where is something to eat 2) who can I have sex with 3) I’m scared, get me the hell out of here. It is this part of the brain that makes it difficult to take that leap and go after what you want. It is that part of the brain that makes you think “this could never work, they wont like me, I’m not good enough, they are just going to laugh, it would be safer to work for a big company”.
Now I can not tell you how to overcome your lizard brain myself. My way is my way. You need to form your own way. The reason I can not share my way is because then you will copy me, fail, and go “this doesn’t work” (that is your lizard brain chiming in by the way).
Lastly, watching the success of Mystery Guitar Man should make you curious. Curious about how other people are getting results in areas that you want when you are not. How do they do it should be your main question. This can apply to any aspect of your life, be it relationships, career, or self realization. If someone else is experiencing the life you desire, there is no reason why you can not do the same.