Before the 27-year-old became the third-richest content creator with an annual income of $38 million in 2023 – and challenged boxing legend Mike Tyson to a fight that will air on Netflix – Paul was Disney’s nightmare worker.
Paul, who had just turn out to be famous on the web through six-second comedy videos on Vine, was fired from the kids’s show Bizaardvarkwhere he played stuntman Dirk Mann. In a twisted tackle art imitating life, Paul was fired from Disney in 2017 for causing trouble together with his own stunts, starting fires in empty swimming pools, pointing a t-shirt gun at a reporter, and organizing dirt bike drag races outside his apartment constructing.
“We’re not even that loud,” Paul told The Hollywood Reporter after the incidents. “Yes, once a furniture fire got out of control in our backyard. But no one was hurt.”
Despite gaining a following of 47 million people on YouTube and Instagram together with his prank videos and video blogs concerning the behind-the-scenes nature of his burgeoning boxing profession, Paul continued to get into trouble.
On Allegations of sexual assault and the usage of racist slurs in YouTube videos, Paul hosted wild parties at the peak of COVID and was Charged with trespassing and illegal assembly after he was filmed with a stolen vodka bottle in a looted mall. The charges were later dropped. But after the mall incident, the FBI also raided his home with a SWAT team in August 2020. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona later said he wouldn’t face charges in federal court.
It is due to this fact difficult to assume that this guy is the face of a Venture capital funds that has invested within the success of brands like Olipop and Fly By Jing. Or that he would turn out to be the founding father of a newborn personal care brand of deodorants and body sprays called W — a play on Gen Z streaming slang for “win” — which launched in 3,900 Walmart stores this week, with more products set to launch in one other 400 Walmart stores later this month.
But because the name of his recent brand suggests, Paul has continued to realize success despite a wave of “1,000 failures.” Having surprisingly—but not inexplicably—snatched victory from the jaws of defeat time and time again, Paul has learned to like controversy.
“Other businessmen and businesswomen understand that if you do something great, everyone will try to stop you,” said Paul Assets.
The “problem child” grows up
According to the story of so many content creators In the mid-2010s, Paul stopped producing prank videos and turned to other ways to generate profits. He called himself the “The problem child“ and made a reputation for himself in boxing, where he achieved a record of nine wins and one loss. In 2021 co-founded enterprise capital fund Anti Fund together with Geoffrey Woo, an entrepreneur who had turned Paul down a decade earlier when he pitched his content house Team10.
Woo told Assets It’s a typical strategy for influencers to try their hand at consumer brands and enterprise capital after making it big on YouTube.
“Content creators or celebrities in general think it’s just about making free money,” he said.
According to Amanda Russell, marketing consultant and writer of The Influencer Code: How to unleash the facility of influencer marketing, it will probably be really lucrative. Content creators like Paul have already got a built-in audience, allowing their brands to grow quickly.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for brands to break through,” said Russell Assets“Today everything is a commodity unless the consumer has a connection to the product. People don’t really respond to brands, they respond to people.”
But Paul will let you know himself that just having his name related to an organization doesn’t routinely mean success. In 2016, his social media site Changing roomwhich divided users into groups for boys only and girls only, was closed after only 500 downloads. In 2018, he was accused of harassing customers of his Online platform Edfluencewhich provided educational videos on learn how to be 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 Advertising for an alleged crypto scam.
“You have to go through those moments where you lose money because your idea isn’t as good as you thought it was,” Paul said. “Those are the things that define you in the long run.”
Woodie Hillyard, CEO of W, saw more of this Paul – the confident and humble entrepreneur with a real hunger for achievement – when he met him a yr and a half ago. At one in every of their first meetings, a gaggle of kids approached Paul and asked for autographs. Hillyard remembers Paul being patient, asking each child about their interests at school and their favorite sports.
“You saw him connect with people on a human level, and that made you realize he’s a great guy,” Hillyard said. Assets“People have the opportunity to grow up.”
While Hillyard sees a young business partner with smoothed edges and a peaceful demeanor, Paul, not less than in public, still tends to his role as a troublemaker. In a recent Promotional video For W, Paul calls himself “stupid and smelly” and asks a production assistant to place deodorant on his hairy, sweaty armpits.
“Personally, I don’t consider myself controversial. I tell the truth, and people don’t like the truth in today’s world because the truth hurts,” Paul said. “I’ve never been afraid to provoke anyone or say what’s on my mind.”
‘Content is king‘
Paul’s bravery shouldn’t be underestimated. Despite his controversies, Paul was not successful, Russell argued. He found his skilled footing through it.
“Trying to please everyone is actually doing no one any good,” she said. “The more you stand up for something, the more likely you are to create a cult-like following.”
Paul is aware of his past transgressions. He uses his continued relevance, even his infamy, to his advantage: “Content is king,” he said. “The most important thing is attention, marketing and awareness.”
This strategy will not be foolproof, because the Paul family knows. Older brother Logan Paul enjoyed meteoric success together with his energy drink brand Prime, which he launched with boxer KSI. But after the brand reached over a billion dollars in sales inside two years of its launch, the brand’s rapid growth became unsustainable.
Gen Alpha lost interest within the drink because it moved on to the following hyped product. And after being hit with a lawsuit claiming it incorporates more caffeine than advertised and “forever chemicals,” Prime bottles at the moment are on Discount shelves in UK retail stores.
But Jake Paul has remained confident in his winning mentality, even within the face of adversity. He has been through the fires of significant controversy, criminal charges and failed businesses, and yet he still comes out of it with momentum.
“Everyone wants to see you go down, but you just face the situation and overcome it and conquer it and keep fighting,” Paul said. “And that’s exactly what I did.”
“Some of my biggest losses have been my biggest wins,” he added.
