Julian Smith is another entrepreneur that started out on youtube.com. He began by making skits and music videos with his friends back in 2008 while uploading them to YouTube in his high school years. To his surprise, many of his videos were caught in the YouTube spotlight and were featured on YouTube’s front page. Julian continued to create videos for YouTube on a regular basis for the next four years. Mostly, his videos featured parodies of the ongoing dramas between his friends. Often, Julian would star as himself or as his deranged counterpart, Jeffry Dallas proving that he was more than a capable actor. During this period, Smith continued to gain popularity and subscribers. He also created his own website that featured high-quality streaming of his videos, access to his blog, and his ventures in photography.
Additionally, Julian created his own line of T-Shirts referencing jokes, sayings, and artwork from his videos that was sold on his website as well as in Hot Topic clothing stores all over the country. Julian also created his own music group called B-Story. B-Story’s single, “Back Then”, was released on his YouTube channel and on iTunes. Unfortunately, it never gained popularity. Although B-Story’s failure was disappointing, Julian jumped onto yet another venture, this time creating a hired for commission video company named, PaperTown. PaperTown was somewhat successful as the videos produced were both witty, well directed, and original. Julian’s work was eventually recognized by large companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Hot Pockets, and Purina. Julian went on to direct and star in commercials for all three companies that were successful and aired on live television.
During 2015, Julian hosted a weekly talk show on his YouTube channel. Here, Julian would interview various internet celebrities and content creators.
To this day, Julian is creating and directing ads behind the scenes. He also will occasionally still release a YouTube video on his old YouTube channel. Julian has said that the only reason he still uses his YouTube channel is to create content for his fans who helped start his entrepreneurial career in filmography.
I loved watching Julian Smith when I was younger! His content was always original and funny. I have always wondered what he was up to after his YouTube channel and it’s great to know he doing very successful in video production. Julian’s creativity is probably his most successful trait as an entrepreneur.
Wow, I never knew Julian Smith was more than just a YouTuber. Even though he might not have been successful in some areas, it’s good to see that he got right back up and kept moving to advance his career. Great post Joey!
I spent a lot of my high school days watching Julian Smith with my friends. It warms my heart to know that he has found a right line of work as a director. YouTube definitely helps aspiring artists get their feet wet in the business and gain a following. Julian’s move to new things shows he’s testing out his range of directing. (I thought it was cool that he’s directed some commercials.) I think I’m still subscribed to him on YouTube, but I haven’t seen his content in a while! It makes me happy though that he still makes connections with his long time supporters.