At the young age of 22, Evan Spiegel began his path to becoming a billionaire and became a co-founder of Snapchat. “Spiegel’s story is a testament to the power of innovation and the importance of understanding market needs. His ability to adapt Snapchat’s offerings to the ever-changing landscape of social media has kept the platform relevant and made it a staple in the daily lives of millions.” Speigel took an idea and a different approach to social media and created a platform that made him a billionaire. The co-founders hated how all social media felt permanent, so they launched “Picaboo,” an app where photos would disappear. They later forced one of the co-founders out and relaunched as Snapchat.
Archive for Social Media
Erin McGoff was in the midst of getting her degree to American University when she started realizing her talent in professional advising. People seemed drawn to her for help with applying to jobs through resumes, interviews, and beyond, and McGoff enjoyed every minute of it.
However, this prospect was left unexamined as she graduated and became an editor and director of films, including award-winning Amazon film “This Little Land of Mines.” McGoff was supported through winning various awards, including AU SoC Woman of the Year Award and the International Reporting Fellowship award from the Pulitzer Center, and has worked with many mainstream companies, including National Geographic and Google.
However, McGoff saw an opportunity in the surge of popularity with TikTok during the pandemic to fill the gap in a lack of career advice being readily available to those who needed it. She started posting tips on navigating the professional world, including a humorous element to appeal to a young target audience she thought might benefit from such advice as her friends did and which she delighted in as a young adult. Her main channel is deemed AdviceWithErin and exists over several channels, boasting 845,000 followers YouTube and 2 million on Instagram.
Scrolling through McGoff’s YouTube account, users are met with videos detailing anything from “How To: Negotiate Your Salary in a Job Offer” to “How to Deal with a Rude Person (in work and life)” to “Cabin Tour: building a TINY HOUSE (325 sqft) | Update #3,” showing a diverse pool of content that appeals to many different demographics within her target audience of those seeking advice in entering the professional world and those just generally interested in her channel. McGoff is an exemplary example of someone who kept a skillset in her back pocket and acted on it from a mindset of openness and passion whenever she saw an opportunity to do so.
When I think of innovative ideas that have shaped today’s culture, I think of social media. It is said that over 60% of the world is on some form of social media, which is extremely impressive given the newness of major social media platforms. One social media that is particularly innovative is Snapchat. Typically, social media platforms allow users to share pictures to friends with a caption, and comments or reactions can be added to posts. With Snapchat, pictures with captions are exchanged between one person to another for a few seconds, and are then deleted forever.
One of the masterminds behind this innovative platform is Evan Spiegel. Spiegel co-founded Snapchat with a college friend at Stanford in 2011, and quickly gained immense wealth. By the time Spiegel was 25, he was officially a billionaire. He is now worth upwards of $3 billion. Spiegel was able to use his knowledge of app development, as well as his real world knowledge of social media to develop one of the biggest social media platforms to date.
One thing that is very inspiring about this is how Spiegel entered into an already booming marketplace, and was able to come out as one of the social media masterminds. Although Snapchat has had its legal issues and its many problems, it has proven to be a social media that is here to stay, and that is thanks to Evan Spiegel and his genius in the social media realm.
At the young age of seventeen, Katie Carson started a business. It all started in a soap making class. Katie was inspired by that class to create her own business out of soap. That is where her passion and love for soap began. Obsessed with knew scents, smells, and soaps, Katie dove into her imagination and began to create creative soaps. On her website, Katie states that her mission is to love people through soap art. She demonstrates this through all of her social media platforms by creating content that is engaging and humorous. Katie markets her company mainly through her YouTube channel and Instagram. Her YouTube channel has over nine hundred videos full of content for her customers. She makes videos about tips, tricks, trends, and more. She creates playlists for her videos and has several organized topics. On the YouTube channel, there is a video line where she records herself creating new soaps and shares her knowledge to assist other soap creators. Many of the soaps she creates are inspired from her own imagination, she comes up with new scents on her own. Her brand, Royalty Soaps has partnered with several companies, such as, google, Squarespace, skill share, Tik Tok, Audible, Hello Fresh, Brooklinen, and Rakuten. Royalty soaps is unique because of its owner, Katie Carson and her view on the world of soap making. She sees soap as a way to positively impact others. One quality that has helped Katie Carson to excel in her career is her desire to always be genuine. Throughout her videos she strives to have a consistent positive attitude and takes every opportunity to show her comedic side. Even when she started a family, she continued to run her business. Katie Carson can be an inspiration to all of us because she is doing what she loves and making a positive effect on the community through her love of soap.
Mark Zuckerberg’s journey from a normal college student to a largely successful entrepreneur shows the importance of innovation and taking risks. In 2004, while studying at Harvard, Zuckerberg created Facebook as a social media site for students to connect with each other. It quickly became really popular and expanded beyond just Harvard. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard after all of his success and secured a large investment from Accel Partners. This money allowed Facebook to keep growing at a quick rate, and within a few years, it became a global social media.
Zuckerberg has said in regard to this platform that he wanted a space where people could share content, discover interests, and interact with businesses. Today, Facebook remains one of the world’s largest social networks. This shows that young entrepreneurs who have a simple idea and execute it well can have massive success!
Motor16.com. (2023). Wes Watson with his Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://motor16.com
The end seemed imminent for Wes Watson. Busted, arrested, and incarcerated, this California man’s life could have been defined by one word: doomed. The story of Wes Watson is one of incredible transformation, the epitome of reinventing oneself. He took his life of crime and ten years of incarceration, reshaped his direction, and nearly instantaneously forged a multi-million-dollar business empire. A few years ago, he was an inmate; now, he lives atop the world in a Miami penthouse. This is the story of Wes Watson, a man who overcame all odds, turned imminent defeat into victory, and is now thriving at a level comparable to Fortune 500 CEOs.
A millionaire within 18 months, but his story doesn’t start there. Wes Watson was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he embodied the coastal California lifestyle of surfing and skateboarding. At 12 years old, Watson began his journey down what would eventually become disaster, experimenting with marijuana. By the time he turned 14, Wes transitioned from merely using marijuana to dealing drugs, which eventually inclined him towards other illegal activities. Throughout the years, Watson’s involvement in crime escalated, with him frequently partaking in violence. In the end, his lifestyle caught up with him. After a dispute with a customer, Watson was arrested and imprisoned for assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious injury, among other charges, resulting in a 10-year sentence in California prison.
It could have all ended there. Instead, immediately upon entering jail, Watson resolved to reinvent himself. Confinement was the crucible for his self-transformation. Instead of sleeping in, Watson began waking up at 3 AM, a practice he continues to this day. He focused on generating a meticulous daily routine involving physical fitness, discipline, and mindset development. Programming was also huge for Wes Watson. A topic he talks about frequently in his content, programming the mind is one of his keys to producing meaningful results in life. Watson’s strict adherence to programming while in prison earned him the admiration of fellow inmates.
Ten years later, in 2018, Watson was released and was miles away from financial freedom; he had hardly $200 to his name. However, he had something much more valuable: a deeply ingrained sense of discipline and an entrepreneurial plan for domination. In an age when people are pursuing fitness more than ever before, the former Californian prisoner launched Watson Fit, an online coaching business geared beyond just fitness but also to the entirety of life. The market differentiation of Watson Fit was this: it revolved around mindset, rather than a by-the-book workout plan. His philosophy is simple yet powerful: “Do the things you hate like you love them.” This saying of his is basically a proverb when applied to entrepreneurship. Much of his advice resembles the teachings of David Goggins, the American ultramarathoner whose bestseller Can’t Hurt Me is a commonly recommended book for modern entrepreneurs. Watson Fit takes individuals to the next level when implemented. His mission is to make clients the best version of themselves by making self-development a lifestyle. When one reaches the highest levels of self-development, Watson believes that money will automatically flow to them. The company quickly became a hit, attracting clients who not only sought gains in the gym but a complete overhaul of their lives.
One successful entrepreneurial endeavor was insufficient for the high ambitions of Wes Watson. His next income stream was personal branding, in the launch of his YouTube channel, GP Penitentiary Life, where he diffuses raw, unfiltered stories from his time in the prison system, in addition to motivational and gym content. His channel, which caters to the fitness and self-development communities, is a massive hit, with over a half-million subscribers. This led to a surge on Instagram as well, with him boasting nearly one million followers at the time of this article. Having such a large presence on social media allows Watson to monetize not only his posts but also serves as free marketing for his coaching program. What sets Watson apart from influencers in the way he markets his personal brand is his street-level intensity and raw advice on how to better oneself. Sugarcoating life is not something Watson specializes in, and this rawness appeals to his target demographic.
Ultimately, his core philosophy is extreme discipline in the face of competition. He is a strong defender of the belief that in order to achieve a high level of success, one must do what they hate, stepping outside their comfort zone. Suffering is not an option; it is mandatory for people to arrive at the destinations they desire since it yields mental resilience and opens the mind to higher levels of wisdom. In an age when the majority of people take the path of least resistance, his message stands out as bold. His daily routine is a testament to his beliefs; waking up at 3 AM consistently is something most Americans do not want to do. He understands getting up early as gaining a foothold on the competition. But waking earlier than others alone will not get high-aspiration individuals across the finish line. Suffering ought to be encountered in every area of life, according to his philosophy. Rigorous physical fitness, such as performing hundreds of burpees before other prisoners woke up, earned him respect in the penitentiary then and as an entrepreneur now. Lastly, Watson believes that self-love is essential, and that self-investment—in all forms, physical, mental, and spiritual—will forge a foundation of self-respect necessary to accomplishing a flourishing life.
Today, the entrepreneur Wes Watson expands his empire further. He owns mansions in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and Miami, Florida, living an extravagant bi-coastal lifestyle fueled by his profits. The other day he moved into a penthouse in Miami, his third luxury residence. He wears a half-million-dollar watch to the gym, and his supercar collection is highlighted by a bright-orange Bugatti Chiron. His net worth is estimated to be around $30 million. Fortune 500 CEOs get paid as much as the value he has personally created through his mindset. Despite his outward success, he remains committed to his core principles. He still wakes up at 3 AM, constantly seeks self-improvement, and posts loads of daily social media content. To maximize self-development, Watson now brings together groups of like-minded individuals and entrepreneurs who are dedicated to making money and achieving freedom. His success story is not merely one of entrepreneurial triumph but one characterized by breaking free from limitations and creating a lifestyle that incorporates growth in all spheres.
Wes Watson got out of jail just six years ago. Instead of letting his ten-year incarceration define him, Watson is the epitome of an entrepreneur. He creates value and impact through an innovative mindset. His net worth was $200 upon release from California prison, but now he lives a wealthy lifestyle in the beautiful towns of Rancho Santa Fe and Miami, pulling up to the gym in a Bugatti Chiron. He went from prison to helping millions break out of their own prisons by teaching people to do the things they hate. The story of Wes Watson shows that no matter where you start, you can achieve greatness in entrepreneurship if you’re willing to embrace discipline and work relentlessly.
Written by Carson Batzel, 9/23/2024
When thinking of modern-day entrepreneurs, I think of social media influencers. Social media has become such a life-changing career for a lot of people, and it has truly become a major influence on the younger generation. One entrepreneur that has proven himself to be influential and successful is Jimmy Donaldson.
Under the username MrBeast, Donaldson has built a social media empire, and is worth an alleged $700 million at the young age of 26. Along with his YouTube channel that has over 315 million subscribers, he is also the founder of the snack and candy company, Feastables. Donaldson got his start in 2012 on YouTube, and gained fame years later with innovative but silly ideas like counting to 100,000 while on camera.
Donaldson has proven he is the one of the most influential people in the world today, but he has proven that there is more to his life than just earning money. One thing that is very respectable about Donaldson is his redemptive aspect to entrepreneurship. Even though he has never really publicly talked about religion, he comes from a Christian school background. He is a very philanthropic person, and has given millions of dollars to people and businesses in need.
Overall, even though I am not a fan of MrBeast, I think he needs to be included in the greatest entrepreneurs of the Gen Z era. He has created a very entertaining and family-friendly environment, and is not afraid to share his wealth with the world.
(LEFT SIDE – Arnold Schwarzenegger, RIGHT SIDE – Chris Bumstead)
Born in 1995, Chris Bumstead, better known as “CBum,” is a Canadian bodybuilder and social media influencer who has quickly become one of the most recognized figures in the fitness world. Best known for winning the Mr. Olympia Classic Physique title four consecutive times (2019–2023), Bumstead has solidified his position at the top of the bodybuilding elite. Starting his competitive journey at just 19, his natural talent and relentless dedication quickly set him apart, earning him comparisons to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Like Arnold, however, CBum’s influence extends far beyond the bodybuilding stage.
Fitness is a notoriously difficult industry to breakthrough. The competition is high with established and professional athletes with pre-existing followings. Specialized diets, supplements, training programs, and competition fees can create financial barriers for aspiring bodybuilders. Slow physical progress, hormonal fluctuations, and mental barriers can all hinder one’s success. Bumstead has overcome all this and more. Not only has he attained a physique to be desired by sedentary and active people alike, but he’s also successfully translated his fame into multiple entrepreneurial ventures. He launched Bum Energy, a sports and energy drink company, and co-founded Raw Nutrition, a supplement brand focused on high-quality performance and recovery products. His partnerships with popular brands like Gymshark, Vaughn’s Treats, and Revive MD reflect his hands-on approach, ensuring that the products he endorses align with his values of transparency and quality in fitness.
In addition to his business endeavors, CBum is also a massive force on social media. With nearly 5 million followers on TikTok and over 24 million on Instagram, he’s one of the most influential fitness personalities online. He connects with his audience by sharing workout routines, nutrition advice, and personal insights into his life. Bumstead has been open about his struggles with mental health and his battle with IgA nephropathy, an autoimmune disease, further endearing him to fans for his vulnerability and authenticity. Bumstead’s combination of physical achievements, business ventures, and online transparency has made him a fitness icon. By redefining what it means to be a bodybuilder in today’s world, Chris Bumstead has inspired millions to pursue fitness.
A Youtuber and Entrepreneur, Ryan Trahan started at 14 to become an entrepreneur. He started a simple water bottle business that would later help make him into a millionaire. Starting his YouTube channel in 2015, Ryan posted about his daily life at college as a student athlete. However, he quickly gained followers due to his creativity and humor within his videos. Having adopted just 30,000 YouTube followers and juggling his business, Ryan was pressured with his college or his business. His school had set a tight rule with him, as a student athlete, making it so he couldn’t brand himself properly while in college. Because of this, Ryan had to choose between a high-risk endeavor or the college route, and he chose the entrepreneurial side. Ryan had the same mindset Peter Thiel speaks of, saying, “I view creating as entrepreneurial. Creating something from nothing has always been ingrained in me.” Thus, his career rocketed. His small water business became a great part of his revenue. The business, known as Neptune, was built to create sustainable water bottles which would reduce plastic waste. With his social enterprise, Ryan also used his business to support several organizations centered around cancer.
While Ryan had Neptune blooming, he also opened up a clothing line called Hydra Collection, which became his personal merch on his social media accounts, as well as another clothing line, Howdy Howdy, and a candy company, Joyride. Creating innovative videos on YouTube and establishing his businesses across the world has made Ryan Trahan into a wealthy, young entrepreneur. From going on live television to creating television series of his own, Ryan meets every corner around the world to grow and engage with his audience.
Ryan is known for his penny-to-a-house series and simply racing people in airports. Through his creative and entertaining work, he has amassed 17 million followers on YouTube with over 3 billion views worldwide!
Angelina Ly is a young woman blessed with a raw talent for entrepreneurship. When she was just 14 years old, she recognized that the slime industry was starting to gain traction in America, so she wasted no time in getting her foot in the door. She began to make her own slime and marketing herself on Social Medias like Instagram and TikTok. She quickly began to receive orders and FireflySlime was born. While her business is her official job (developing new slimes, packaging them, and continuing to grow her social medias), Ly is still a full-time college student. I loved Ly’s ability to see the future of her business and take full advantage of it. Today, Ly has nearly 380 thousand followers on Instagram. Her online store is similar to her Instagram page: it is filled with bright colors, fun names, and awesome graphics. Another great feature is that she is constantly refreshing her store’s variety; proving that she is still always creating and providing new products for her customers.
