Cory: I was getting like an average of like 5,000 views, which was huge at the time. 

Spencer: You know, if you want to make kids videos, and like you said, be charitable, I guess, then do it, go for it. 

Cory: This right here, this gold play button, that’s pretty much just a channel because of that video. 

Spencer: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Creators Uncut. Like always, we’ve got a super special guest for you today. Our guest today is Cory Williams, and his main project right now is called The Silly Crocodile, which is a kid’s channel, but he has multiple channels as well. So, Cory, thanks for being on the show. 

Cory: Thanks for having me. I’m really excited to be able to share everything and to help others. So, yeah, thanks. 

Spencer: Yeah, I love meeting new creators and kind of getting to another story. So for our viewers who may not know you or kind of your channels, why don’t you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of yeah, what your channels are. 

Cory: Yeah, sure. So again, my name is Cory Williams. I’m actually the first professional YouTuber, so I’m the first YouTuber to make videos full time and to be paid by YouTube. So I’ve been doing this for 21 years now and 21 years, something like that. 

Wow. And I’ve had multiple channels, lots of different IPs, intellectual properties. And and I’ve helped a lot of YouTubers throughout the years, just find themselves, find their niche and be able to tell the stories. 

But but I’ve never been like a, you know, tutorial guy. I’ve always just been a life junkie. So I love telling stories. 

I love helping others and I just do that. But yeah, several different channels. I like my current focus is on kids content because I have two young kids myself. And, you know, I’m aging when and when you create a YouTube channel, especially 21 years in your past, you’re a very much different person. So, you know, you learn to move and adapt as you grow. Yeah. 

Spencer: So you mentioned you’re the very first professional YouTuber. I’m curious about that. So, you know, I wasn’t on YouTube when it first came out. It was like 2007, 2008, right? When it first came out. 2005. 2005. 

Oh, OK. So did YouTube kind of come to you and are like, hey, we want to pay you? Or how did that work? Because I know there’s a whole partner program now, but they’re massive. So how did paying you come to be? Yeah. 

Cory: So basically before YouTube was around, I was big on MySpace. Before MySpace, I was around. I was I was big on a site called Newgrounds. Before Newgrounds was around, I was big on these other random like image websites because the internet wasn’t fast enough to really have video outside of Flash. OK. So I started out early on as a music artist. So I was making really funny, crazy comedy music. 

And I don’t want to get too old and age myself here. But I I way before your time here, I probably I. I got myself out there on the internet, blew up on MySpace, became the number one unsigned music artist in the world. And so I told my fans that my friends that they were called back then. I said, hey, if any of you see any video sites come up, tell me so I can instantly start uploading some videos there. 

I’ve learned how to convert my videos from, you know, the formats that we had back then to a flash file, which at that time, you know, most places were allowing anyway. So one of my fans, I remember his name was Carrie. He was like, hey, I found one. And I was like, oh, great, cool. And so I uploaded all my stuff there. And my first YouTube channel was called Simple Minded People. Of course, it was a really long name because you had to do YouTube.com. 

Slash simple. And so I had to change it up like after several months to SMP films. But anyway, fast forwarding several months after I first signed up for YouTube. I noticed all the traffic that was kind of happening. And it wasn’t much. It’s like, if you got a thousand views, you were big. But it was like the easiest website at the time that worked with MySpace. And that’s why I believe YouTube initially took off. Why it, why it, I grew with the audience that it is because people were big on MySpace back then. And then they moved to YouTube because it was the easiest player to have on your MySpace page. So I think that’s kind of something that goes unsaid, untold in history of YouTube. 

But that’s the truth of it. And me and several others came from that same spot. Anyway, moving on, I, in 2000, in 2005, I think it was 2005, I had my first sponsor. And that was, it was an online casino that I don’t know if they’re still around anymore, but they were buying weird stuff on eBay. And I, I saw this vision. I was working with these other guys at the time that were from this show, Viva LaBam. And I was trying to help them out, understand how to, well, anyway, long story. 

There’s not only getting into that. Anyway, what I did was I put my forehead on eBay for sale, which was a total YouTuber thing to do. But in 2005, that’s not a, you know, there was no YouTuber, right? Yeah. 

Yeah. I put my forehead for sale and I said, Hey, anybody who purchases my forehead and I’m just going to put it, a hen a tattoo on my forehead while I go on my comedy tour, I’ll have it on there for like a month or something like that. Anyway, that online casino bought it and they’re like, Hey, that’s amazing. You got national press because I was all over the news. 

It was great nationally. And they were like, Okay, but don’t, don’t put that on your head. That’s stupid. How about this? We’re just going to wear our shirts and say our name in your videos and we’ll just sponsor you. And that was the very first YouTube sponsor on YouTube was that because I put my forehead on eBay and then they said that. And then yeah, so they continued to pay me every month, which was like, Whoa, I can’t believe this. 

I’m getting paid. And I shared that, you know, with, with YouTube. I, at the time I even knew like the founders of YouTube, Chad and Steve. And so it was that small, you know, and anyway, so several months later, you know, things were starting to happen and views were picking up not much. Then still it was like, Ooh, I was getting like an average of like 5,000 views, which was huge at the time. 

Yeah. And I think I was like number six or number seven most subscribed back then for, and I held it for a long time, years. And, and yeah, then, then the YouTube partner program started coming up because Google had purchased YouTube. I think that was the timeline. 

And I think that was a 2006 ish timeframe. And they reached out and they’re like, Cory, we know you’re already making money on the site. What we want to do is we want to actually start paying you to continue to make videos. And I was like, yeah, let’s do that. So they’re like here every month, we’re just going to give you $3,000. 

I was like, Wow, this is cool. Like I didn’t, you know, and so it wasn’t called a partner program. Then I think it was just, I can’t remember what they called it. And maybe it was just a partnership. 

I, I can’t remember. But yeah, it was just like a altogether thing was like 10 of us. I got a couple of other YouTubers in at that time to that YouTube was like, if you know anybody else, it might be good. 

And so I recommended a few who are now much bigger than me. Yeah. And that was kind of the start of the partnership program. It wasn’t something that like you could apply for. It was something that YouTube would reach out to you and just pay you. And, and yeah, and that was just us doing it. And so like I was just the community builder. I helped make YouTube’s audience and creators aware of themselves and started creating these gatherings. So I also created the first like YouTube gathering, like we’ve heard of Playlist Live or those I created the first one that was called as one, which helped bring everybody together. 

Like you would have people like Smosh and, you know, Phil DeFranco and all these, all these people. And we just got closer and created more. And that’s how the community flourished and more sponsors came in and we blew up. But anyway, there’s the far back past of how that started. 

Spencer: Wow. Wow. That, that’s crazy. That’s such an interesting story. Thanks for sharing that. Um, so basically they reached out to you. I’m curious. Did they like, were you just happy to accept any number or did you like, like how did they know how much to pay you? 

Cory: I guess. Bro, I was poor. I was so poor. I like, I was glad to have that Golden Palace. Uh, okay. That’s the name of it. Yeah. Golden Palace. Uh, that was what the, the sponsor, when I got that sponsor, that was like, I had, I was nearly into bankruptcy. My vehicle had got repossessed. I went through all of my retirement savings and everything. I had no money left. 

I remember like, I couldn’t even buy cheeseburgers, dude. It was, I was a bad spot. And I was like, as soon as the sponsor came in, like, cause I mean, I was desperate. I put my forehead on eBay. You know, I was like, I gotta do something here. And, you know, and, um, but yeah, when YouTube started paying, it was like, okay, I have stability, you know, because I wasn’t sure how long a sponsor was even going to last cause that had never been done. 

Uh, you know, especially online. And so yeah, I mean, it was, it was really great. And I remember some of my friends saying, Hey, man, this is, there’s a big future in here as then one day you’re going to make crazy money. And I was like, we’ll see what happens, but you know, not with a few thousand views, but you know, of course time changed and look at the world now. Yeah. 

Spencer: Yeah. Now YouTube’s like one of the biggest industries. 

Cory: It’s the biggest. It is literally the biggest viewership in the world. Like it’s suggestive. Yeah. 

Spencer: So typically my next question is like how you got into YouTube, but you kind of already answered that. So I might change the question a little bit and, uh, you may have already answered this question as well, but when did you, I guess, realize that YouTube was going to be like your career? Was it those very first sponsorships or was it kind of farther down the road? 

Cory: Uh, it was earlier than that. I, I, you know, when I say I quit my job, went through my retirement, lost my vehicle. It wasn’t because it was a guess. It was because that’s what I wanted and that’s what I was going to get. And I was going to work my butt off. Like I, I felt like I was supposed to be somebody who was on camera telling stories, doing something and actively, cause like this has always been me. 

I’m very like animated and talky and very just, you know, my, my, my creativity is a high level. And so Hollywood was not for me because I have, I have it like a terrible reading level. I can’t read, I can’t focus very well. 

Um, you know, which, uh, before all of you had started watching this, I told them, I was like, sorry for that thing you sent me. I don’t read very well. So I didn’t read anything. Tell me, so there’s no like, we didn’t prepare for this cause of this brain. 

Anyway, that’s why I don’t work in traditional Hollywood. And so I was like, I want something new and I’m going to help build it and I’m going to make it work. And that’s where this is. So like I envisioned all of the success the world is having right now, way early on, not to say that I was the one that was causing the success. I do not want to take credit for that. I’m saying that I saw this and that’s why I invested myself in my time so heavily into it. Gotcha. 

Spencer: That’s, that makes sense. That makes total sense. So you’ve got 21 years of experience. Uh, I would consider you an expert. Um, I’m curious what your opinion is. Do you think it’s easier to grow on YouTube now or back then? 

Cory: It’s way easier to grow on YouTube now. Way easier. Here’s the reason. Number one, the tracks have been laid. You have an example to follow. You can, there are so many different ways and methods and niches and people to, to watch you and learn from and all of this. You’ve got it made, you know, back then we were called taboo. When I told people that I was making videos on the internet back then, they said, what kind of videos are you making? 

Because the only internet videos that were on the internet back then were the ones that weren’t allowed on websites for kids. I’m not going to say that out loud, but you know what I’m talking about. And, and, uh, and, and also there was a lick, just a lot of weird stuff then because that wasn’t a thing. You did not come to the internet for entertainment. You came to the internet because you wanted to learn something really quick about like a recipe or a manual on something, you know, but, um, but yeah, now it’s, it’s, it’s that like you have people that can coach you. But the big thing here is people are used to watching and algorithms actually help you, especially now in the YouTube, uh, in the YouTube world, the way that the algorithm has changed. It’s really helping, uh, newer creators, uh, creators with smaller channels really get out there because, you know, it’s, it’s not going to grow unless it gives that dopamine rush to new people to continually bring new people in. So yeah, it’s a good time to really start. Yeah. 

Spencer: I, I’ve always been curious, um, you know, cause I wasn’t making videos back when it first started, you know, I’ve heard that like, well, I don’t know if I’ve heard this, but it seems like back then you didn’t have to have as much, uh, production quality, I guess you could say, like you could just like post a video of yourself doing whatever and it could potentially get views. Whereas now if you did that, it wouldn’t do as great. Um, but that makes total sense. Like what you said, the algorithms there to help you, um, you have people to follow. Uh, I, I agree with that. 

Cory: Yeah. Well, also one thing I think people forget is, uh, today we have a lot more physical tools, cameras and software and computers to be able to allow us to have higher levels of quality. The only reason the quality looks so bad then is because that’s all the tools. Well, it would allow us to have. So if you’re doing apples to apples, we were doing the same level of quality. 

We were just doing it with the, the tools that we have, you know what I mean? So it’s like, if you’re, if you’re going to like look at movies, right? Look at movies that are created today versus movies that are created 20 years ago, like man, that graphics on that first toy story versus the, the newest one, you know, or even the trailer for the new ones coming out. 

Like there’s, there’s big noticeable differences. You know, and, um, yeah. So it really on YouTube, the true success comes from a few things. Number one, it’s connecting with your audience. This is social media because why it’s social because we want to connect because that’s, that’s why people come here. 

They come to relate, they come to feel good, to get away to a story. You got to have a good story. You got to have a backstory. They got to understand who you are. They got to understand your struggles. 

They got to understand all those little things for them to catch and, and whatever. And also there’s consistency. You stay consistent. 

Yeah. And people are going to watch you, but you become a part of their daily routines, their weekly routines, whatever it is, it’s their getaway. So if you can be those things for them and be there, like extended cousins in a way, then you win, you know, that’s, that’s, that’s really the key. And I’m sure you can have, you know, poppy thumbnails and you can have these really flashy, well-edited videos, but at the end of the day, it’s about. connection. 

Spencer: Yeah, that is very well said. I guess kind of moving on, you’re actually the first YouTuber that I’ve talked to that has a kid specific channel. And so I kind of wanted to dive a little bit into that. I know that there are some differences between like a standard YouTube channel and a kid’s channel, like there may be more restrictions. But from your experience, what is the main difference between like running a kid’s channel versus like a regular channel? 

Cory: So the main difference between running a kid’s channel and a channel not made for kids, I think is the the money. I mean, oh, really? Yes. I’ll tell you this, like I get a lot of views on my channel. I think, well, my average is about 20 million views a month on just for kids where silly crocodile is. 

But in the algorithms being weird right now, but that’s it’s the algorithm. But the thing is, is like 20 million views on just for kids versus 20 million views on any of my other channels is like 10% of the pay that I would normally get. So, you know, like on one of my regular channels, I might get, you know, $25, $30,000 a month. And on just for kids, I might get 2000, maybe $3,000. You know, it just depends. It’s really the kids’ base is extremely tough. 

And especially like right now, it’s really, really low. But see, I’m not, I’m not doing this because I’m trying to get rich. The kids’ base stuff. 

I’m not. The whole point of creating kids’ content right now is more just, I want to make a positive impact on the world. I don’t like all the weird stuff that I see in the kids’ base for children. And, and I just, yeah, I just want to do something different and make an impact because I mean, that’s what I’ve been doing on YouTube all these years anyway. It’s just now I’m just starting with the kids instead of like, you know, changing the minds of the dolls and also going back to those numbers. Those aren’t exact numbers that I threw. I just, I’m just saying like, yeah, the difference in money is, is, is wild. 

Spencer: That’s interesting. To me, that seems backwards. Like, you know, if I was an advertiser, I would, or I guess because the audience is kids and kids don’t have money. Is that probably why? 

Cory: No, the biggest reason is there was a, so COPPA. COPPA is a child protection act. It’s like a child online protection, something, something. Anyway, what they did was they, they don’t allow YouTube to track children. So basically they’re viewing habits and all that stuff so that YouTube understands that those are children. And the problem with that is if you can’t track to see if they are children, then you can’t feed personalized ads to them. So what happens is they get the most generic ads in the world. 

Hey, buy our toilet paper, roll holder, that somebody paid no money for. So there’s two things that are happening. It’s one, you’re, you’re not selling, you’re not giving toy ads to the kids, which of course they’re not going to know about the toys. They’re not going to buy the toys. 

They don’t know anything about them. Yeah. And, but it also sort of, there’s this other protection side that other websites have to abide by. It’s, it’s hard. It’s explain really it’s both good and horrible. I do not like Kappa for, I like their intentions. I like what they’re trying to do to protect the children, but I think they’re doing more damage than good because now children are seeing ads for things that have nothing to do with them. And maybe sometimes don’t do good for them. Like if you’ve ever seen like the ads for the, the, the Sasquatch soap and they, they say a lot of bad words. Those show up in front of the kids’ videos sometimes. That’s not good because they’re generic. They’re general ads for like, you know, a type of soap. And yeah, there’s a lot going on with that. 

Spencer: Anyway, that makes sense. I didn’t know about Kappa because like intuitively I would think like, you know, it’d be safe to advertise for kids, but that makes total sense. If there’s no data, then yeah, as an advertiser, you wouldn’t want to pay for that. 

Cory: Right. Right. And also because of Kappa, there have been other things that were taken away from kids’ channels. For example, people don’t get Bell notifications. They can’t get notifications when they subscribe to our channel. We do not get comments. And as you know, comments are a big part of interactivity, which also helps the algorithm and all that sort of stuff. We cannot post any like other things outside of videos. 

We can’t post a community need post to be able to connect with our audiences in any way, which is really tough. And then there’s some other things too. But yeah, it’s so limited. 

Spencer: Wow. Wow. Thanks for sharing that. I’ve never knew that. So for our listeners or viewers who are watching this, if you’re thinking about starting a kids’ channel, that’s something to consider. 

Cory: Yes. Yes. You’re most likely going to go, you’re almost doing it for charity until you’re getting a ton of views. Like right now, I think I’m kind of break even. Even then, I’m a little bit low income wise, just because the algorithm is being weird. 

But that just got changed because YouTube found out I’ve been, my channel’s been in a glitch for the last seven years, which has been great. So yeah, I’m actually exploding right now. But we’ll see what happens monetarily. But again, this is not about getting rich. This is about making a good and a positive difference in the world. 

Spencer: Yeah. And that’s a good thing to do too. We’ve talked a lot with a lot of creators. And a lot of them say like you need to be passionate about the videos you’re making. 

So you know, if you want to make kids’ videos and like you said, have be charitable, I guess, then do it, go for it. So yeah. So I guess moving on, kind of going along with the monetary side of things. I’m curious, and this isn’t just for your kids’ channel, but for any of your channels, have you ever had a brand deal that didn’t go expectedly, like either good or bad? We’ve had a few creators on the show that have talked about different sponsorship deals that are unique, I guess. And I’m just curious if you’ve had any interesting stories. 

Cory: I think with brand deals, there was, it wasn’t anything that the brand did. But I think the brand should have done their research on me. So I had this brand, I had this $30,000 deal with, I’m not going to say the name of the company, because it’s just better. 

Yeah, that’s fine. I was just doing a lot of crazy content at the time. It was 2009, and it had just turned New Year’s. 

And Google had this thing where like if you went to the Google homepage, it would go, Happy New Year, Happy New Year, Happy New Year. And then I was like, oh, interesting, I’m going to make a really quick video based on this silly thing that happens. And so I made this video where it would do that. Now it’s like, now we own you, we own your channel, we own your life, we own your clothes, mine, mine, mine. And then I made all of my stuff in my house disappear, including my clothes. I was like, ah, and I just stood there covering myself, and I wasn’t showing anything. But it was enough to where the sponsor was like, I’m sorry, but we don’t like what you did in that, we’re going to back out of this. 

And I was like, oh man, 30K. But you, like, I mean, it wasn’t my first time I’ve done crazy stuff like that. But still it was like, that was the only time I think I’ve ever had a real sponsor thing. So I just remember one time that I lost $30,000 because I, you know, because Google, I pretend that Google stole my clothes. That’s a new problem. 

Spencer: That’s not a Google problem. That’s not a YouTube problem. I learned something. That’s a good story. I guess kind of going along with stories, you have probably the most experience of anyone I’ve talked to on YouTube. Is there one moment, like throughout your career, that’s been like the most memorable regarding YouTube? Or has it kind of all blended together? 

Cory: Man, you know, in 21 years, every moment that I release a video, every moment that I have that dopamine rush is a memorable thing. There’s not one. There are so many that I don’t have any single ones. I can, I guess I can tell you my first, the first time I had a viral video go big on YouTube because I’ve had viral videos outside of YouTube before then. But my first viral video on YouTube, I think was a, it was a pretty big changer for me. I had this song called the Mean Kitty song. And it was like, as soon as I dropped the song, I didn’t think it was going to do anything. It was, I had no intentions of that song going viral. 

It was just a song about my cat that I had that I just, I just got and I wanted to show my friends and family back home, my new apartment I just got when I moved to LA. Anyway, I posted that video and I remember first thing I woke up and my girlfriend then at the time she goes, Oh my God, Cory. I’m like, yeah, what? 

She’s like, look, look at this. Look at this. I’m like, what, what? Oh my God. Whoa. 

What? And there were millions of views on that video, like literally overnight. I posted the night before and I woke up there were millions of views. 

Like YouTube didn’t feature it. It was, it was going all around. And then all of a sudden my inbox is flooded and I’m getting phone calls from everywhere and I’m doing talk shows, morning shows, news and all this. And it was like this media circus that just happened so quickly. 

And then it got so big. I had all the like this flood of new subscribers that it, it actually messed up my channel and my mentality really big. Yeah, I made a lot of money really fast and I was not expecting that. But it really put a, as grateful as I am for it, it messed my career up. Actually, like this, this right here, this gold play button, that’s pretty much just a channel because of that video, an entire channel that a million, and this is back in 2008 or 2009, that this, this channel blew up because of that one video. 

And it was crazy. So I look at that. I’m like, okay, cool. 

I got a gold play button, but it does. I’m also not like super proud of it. Yeah. That’s weird. But yeah, I think that would be like probably the biggest, most memorable, but there’s every single, there’s so many other ones that I’m just like more fond, but that’s like a most impactful one. Yeah. 

Spencer: So, so I’m curious, why did it kind of mess up your career? Is it because the subscribers weren’t interested in your other content? They were just interested in that video? Correct. 

Cory: Yeah. So because what I put out was it was, it wasn’t that it was different. I mean, it was still me. It was still my humor. It’s just that it involved a cat. And like, there were some cat videos online, but it was the cat video. Like it was, that was the number one pets and animals video for years, the number one most discussed video of all time for years and all this stuff. 

And so because of all of that, it, yeah, that’s all people wanted from me. Oh, it’s the mean kitty guy. Like I was no longer Cory Williams. I was no longer SMP films who I was then. I was the mean kitty guy. And I like, I mean, everywhere I would go, I’d be recognized, noticed the airport, all that. Hey, I love your cat. 

Spencer: That’s not what I want. Okay. You know, so I remember I would put out other videos that were things that I loved that I was very passionate about. And I was doing comedy and stunts and, you know, all this stuff. But every time I’d put them out, I would just get loads of hate. And I was not used to that, you know, and, and I used to joke about people hating me, but that was before the mean kitty song. And nobody really hated me then. 

They just thought I was a crazy fun guy. But no, I, um, yeah, gosh, that was tough. Yeah. 

When you, when you have something like that go viral on your channel, and it’s just a little bit outside of your normal, it can really, uh, make it difficult for you. Is that video still on YouTube? 

Cory: It is. Uh, that video is on YouTube. I think it’s at around a hundred millions of views on that one. And then another one is like 176 million views, which is crazy. But yeah, I mean, it’s the mean kitty song is the name of that one. And then I did a rehash of it, the, the, the big mean kitty song. And then now I’ve kind of brought it back for the kids and it’s done really well. And I sell books and stuff. So it’s like that video, that one thing is still to this day feeding me, which is crazy. 

Spencer: Yeah. Interesting. Thanks for sharing that. Um, I’ve got one more question for you, Cory. And we kind of ask all our guests this and this is really supposed to help our, our audience who is new to YouTube or want to starting a YouTube channel. But has there been a mistake in your career that you’ve learned from that you wish you knew when you started? 

Cory: Oh man, I’ve made so many mistakes. I kind of, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna get into my mistakes a couple of maybe, but I want to say one thing, to become old and wise, you must first be young and stupid. You need to learn. You need to go through all the mistakes. You need to have the mistakes. 

They’re learning opportunities. They’re not necessarily mistakes. Every failure is a lesson. And every time you fail, so long as you take something from that failure and you apply it to something to, to help yourself in the future, man, you get better, you get better, you get better. And it’s, it’s only when you start to compare yourself that you truly fail. 

Because the thing is there’s never going to be another you. Just like if I, if I try to be like Smosh, right? The guys that I was around with them, if I tried to be Smosh, I will always fail. 

Why? Because they are Smosh. I am not Smosh. 

I can only be me. So when you compare yourself to yourself, to your past self, to your past mistakes, and all that, you’re always winning. And when you’re winning, you just keep winning. 

That’s the way things go. And another, another quote I like to say is, um, losers focus on winners and winners focus on winning, right? So you keep that mentality in your head as well. And you really focus on your own wins. 

That’s all you’re going to do. It’s when you stop and you start looking around that you’re not paying attention. You’re going to run into a pole. You’re going to trip on your own feet. You’re going to hold yourself back. 

So that’s, that’s really the key to winning. So my biggest mistakes that I had in my past was looking around, was comparing myself to other people. When I started falling down the charts, I wasn’t looking at the things I was doing wrong. 

I was looking at the things everyone else was doing right. And that wasn’t helping me. I was just learning how they did it, how they succeeded, but I wasn’t understanding why I failed, right? I wasn’t learning those lessons. So the only reason that I have these sayings and that I memorize them and I feel them and I live them, I breathe them and I have the success now is because I failed. 

YouTube, YouTube is a very interesting place. And after doing this for 21 years, I’ve seen people be number one to nobodies. I’ve seen nobodies become number ones. I’ve seen people just ride this crazy wave and I’ve seen people who have just worked their hardest, their whole lives and never really made it. But you know who the happiest ones are? It’s the ones who did it because they loved it. They didn’t do it because they were trying to be trying to be the biggest. They weren’t doing it because they needed to be rich. 

They did it because they just loved it. That’s those are the people that succeed the most. When you hit the top, that’s actually when it’s the hardest. It’s not when you’re at the bottom. Everybody’s got that wrong. 

Oh, it’s so hard. No, because you’re looking at everybody else. So you got to learn to look within yourself. 

You get to the top and there’s no one else you can really look at to gauge success and everyone is looking at you. But as long as you can focus on who you are and you can maintain that, then you’re good. But even then, for those of you who are big YouTubers right now, because I’m going to talk to you in case you’re watching, and I’m sure some of you are, hold on to yourself. Don’t lose who you are because it is very easy to. 

And listen, you’re going to change. See this? See this hair? It wasn’t always gray. 

These wrinkles, they weren’t always here. You are going to change. You’re the inside of who you are because of your life experiences. You are going to change as a person over time. And so another thing you need to do is learn to adapt. But it’s not learn to adapt to be somebody else. It’s to learn to adapt to who you’ve become. And you’ve got to focus on that. 

If you want to maintain long term success, reinventing yourself, doing all these things. Why do you think now like I’m silly? I’m a cartoon crocodile because that’s the soul of who I am as a creator, because that’s the life that I’m living right now, because that’s what experience and skill stacking and everything has led me to in my life. And so here I am just doing what my soul calls me to do. So find that, hold on to that, stay true, focus and do it because you love it. Wow. Wow. 

Spencer: That is fantastic advice. Are you a motivational speaker by chance? 

Cory: I just talk. 

Spencer: That sounds like a motivational speech if I’ve ever heard one. 

Cory: No, just go. It’s experience. It’s experience. That’s all it is. Yeah. 

Spencer: Thanks for sharing. I appreciate that. And thanks for being on the show. I think you’ve had some valuable insights and some great stories. So again, thanks Cory for being on the show. Thanks for having me. If our viewers and listeners want to reach out to you, what would be the best way to do that? 

Cory: You know, honestly, the easiest way to reach out to me these days is on LinkedIn. Actually, creator Cory Williams is the place to go. It’s just a great place where we can share technology, we can share stories, and there’s just a really good strong community there. So that’s a good place. Or just on my website, daydreamstudios.com, you can reach out and email me from there. Cool. 

Spencer: Awesome. Well, thanks again. And thanks to our viewers and watchers for checking this episode out. Make sure to like and subscribe for more content like this where we talk to real YouTubers, even original YouTubers, the first professional YouTuber, and a little plug for ourselves. If you need help making videos, make sure to check us out at creatorluxe.com and we will see you in the next one.