How iJustine Built Her Digital Empire

Justine Ezarik aka iJustine is one of the OG YouTube stars-- one of the very few people who have been on the platform for over a decade. You may remember her from her first big hit, her "300 page iPhone bill" video way back in 2007 or from literally streaming her entire life for 6 months, and since then she's had several other hits that helped her build a huge following based off the kind of DIY hustle that I absolutely love-- for example her early videos were shot with a $400 point and shoot and a green rug from Ikea that served as her "green screen." She's one of the people who blazed the trail for the YouTubers and vloggers of today, and she's parlayed that into a ton of opportunities outside YouTube including appearances on shows like Law & Order and Criminal Minds as well as being named by Time as one of the top 100 most influential people to 18-34 year olds.

Today on the podcast,

* She talks about how she got her start in her hometown of Pittsburgh-- she didn't need to be in New York, LA or SF to make things happen, and neither do you. I love how she puts it: "be the best where you are, then move when you've outgrown it."

* We riff on one of my favorite topics which is the idea that stamina wins, that the most important thing is just to keep grinding and over time the ups and downs will just be noise.

* She's got a really great perspective on negative feedback. Any creator gets some, and the standard response is to ignore it. But here's the thing -- as she says -- sometimes they're right. Sometimes you should listen to it and adjust accordingly.

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.chasejarvis.com/podcast.

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