Before the 27-year-old became the third-richest content creator, earning $38 million in 2023 and challenging boxing legend Mike Tyson to a Netflix fight, Paul was a nightmare Disney employee.
Paul, who had just gained internet fame by creating six-second comedy videos on Vine, was fired from the children’s show. Bizardwark, where he played stuntman Dirk Mann. In a twisted take on art imitating life, Disney kicked Paul out in 2017 for causing trouble with his stunts, lighting fires in empty swimming pools, waving a T-shirt gun at a reporter and organizing dirt bike races near his home. apartment building.
“We’re not even that loud” Paul said Hollywood Reporter after the incidents. “Yes, yes, one day we had a furniture fire in our backyard that got out of control. But it didn’t harm a single person.”
Despite amassing 47 million subscribers on YouTube and Instagram through his pranks and behind-the-scenes vlogs of his budding boxing career, problems continued to dog Paul.
On the top sexual assault allegations and using racial slurs in YouTube videos, Paul threw loud parties during the height of COVID and was charged with trespassing and unlawful assembly after he was filmed with a stolen bottle of vodka at a looted shopping centre. The charges were later dropped. But after the mall incident in August 2020, the FBI also raided his home with a SWAT team. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona later said he would not face federal charges.
It’s hard to imagine that this same guy will become the face venture fund who have invested in the success of brands such as Olipop and Fly By Jing. Or that he would be the founder of a newly created personal care brand of deodorants and body sprays called W—a play on Gen Z streaming slang for “winning”—which launched this week in 3,900 Walmart stores, and More products will be launched later this month. 400 more Walmart stores.
But as the name of his new brand suggests, Paul continues to find victories despite the wave of “1000 failures.” After unexpectedly (but not inexplicably) snatching victory from the clutches of defeat again and again, Paul learned to love controversy.
“Other businessmen understand, and businesswomen understand, that when you do something amazing, everyone is going to try to stop you,” Paul said. Luck.
The “problem child” is growing up
Following the story of so many content creators In the mid-2010s, Paul gave up video pranks and turned to other ways to make money. He called himself “Problem childand made a name for himself in boxing, where he earned a record of nine wins and one loss. In 2021 he co-founder venture capital fund Anti Fund with Jeffrey Wu, the entrepreneur who rejected Paul ten years earlier when he introduced his content house Team 10.
Wu said Luck It’s a common strategy for influencers to try their hand at consumer brands and venture capital after squeezing the juice out of YouTube.
“Content creators or celebrities in general think it’s just a free money raiser,” he said.
According to Amanda Russell, marketing consultant and author The Influencer Code: How to Unleash the Power of Influencer Marketing, it can actually be profitable. Content creators like Paul already have a built-in audience, allowing their brands to scale quickly.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for brands to break through,” Russell said. Luck. “Right now, everything is a product unless consumers have a connection to the product. People don’t really resonate with brands; they resonate with people.”
But Paul himself will tell you that simply adding his name to a business does not mean success. In 2016, his social networking site Luggage storage, which divided users into boys-only and girls-only groups, shut down after receiving just 500 downloads. In 2018, he was accused of defrauding his company’s clients. Edfluence online platform, which provided tutorial videos on how to become an influencer after users were unable to unlock the videos even after paying the initial $7 fee. And in March 2023, he paid the SEC $400,000 for promoting an alleged cryptocurrency scam.
“You have to go through those moments where you lose money, your idea isn’t as good as you thought,” Paul said. “That’s what makes you in the long run.”
Woody Hillyard, CEO of W, saw more of this Paul—a self-aware and humble entrepreneur with a genuine hunger for success—when he met him a year and a half ago. During one of their first meetings, a group of kids approached Paul and asked for autographs. Hillard remembers Paul being patient as he asked each child about their interest in school and what sports they liked.
“You just saw him connect with people on a human level and it made you realize he’s a great guy,” Hillard said. Luck. “People have the opportunity to grow.”
While Hillard sees a young business partner with softened features and a calm demeanor, Paul, at least to the audience, still leans into his troubled personality. In recent Ads As for W, Paul calls himself “dumb and smelly” while asking a production assistant to apply deodorant to his hairy, sweaty armpits.
“Personally, I don’t consider myself controversial. I tell the truth, and people in today’s world don’t like the truth because the truth hurts,” Paul said. “I’ve never been afraid to ruffle feathers or say what’s on my mind.”
‘Content is king‘
Don’t ignore Paul’s bravado. Paul was not successful, despite all his contradictions, argues Russell. Thanks to this, he found his professional support.
“Those who try to please everyone are really no one,” she said. “The more you stand for something, the more you develop a cult following.”
Paul is well aware of his past wrongdoings. He used his continued relevance, even infamy, to his advantage: “Content is king,” he said. “The most important thing is attention, marketing and fame.”
Paul’s family knows this strategy is not foolproof. Older brother Logan Paul has achieved meteoric success with his energy drink brand Prime, which he launched with boxer KSI. But after surpassing $1 billion in sales within two years of the company’s launch, the brand’s rapid growth became unsustainable.
Generation Alpha lost interest in the drink as they jumped on the next big thing. And after being sued alleging it contains more caffeine than labeled and “forever chemicals,” bottles of Prime are now sitting on the shelf. discount shelves in UK retail stores.
But Jake Paul believes in his winning mentality in the face of adversity. He has been through the fires of serious controversies, criminal charges and failed businesses, and still comes out on the other side.
“Everyone wants to see you fall and you just keep rising and win and win and keep fighting,” Paul said. “And that’s really what I did.”
“Some of my biggest losses have been my biggest victories,” he added.