How 20 Year Old Serial Entrepreneur Jade Darmawangsa Has Launched 6 Online Businesses Starting at 9 Years Old: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 305
“If you want to make money, you have to stop thinking about money.”
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Ready to be inspired? Jade Darmawangsa is a social entrepreneur and current CEO at X8 media, an influencer marketing agency that works with tech platforms and civic movements. She also founded an incubator program CRE8, an organization that helps creators build long term businesses through blockchain and cryptocurrency. With over 750k+ fans and followers, her personal brand focuses on social media growth and motivation. Her content exceeds 20 Million views via YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. She started the millennial entrepreneurship podcast The Raisn Brand in December 2017 and then received the “Creator on The Rise” feature on YouTube Trending Worldwide. Her initiatives and beliefs include human-centered influence and wealth distribution in the creator economy.
Jade started her first business back in 2010 when she was only 9 years old, selling squishy keychains she purchases from China, a business model now known as dropshipping. She sold these keychains through Amazon, eBay, or Etsy and she made about $5,000! She started her second business around the age of 15 and it was more aligned with the company she has now. She offered to run social media for local coffee shops and businesses and would often pitch her instagram ideas to local bubble tea shops. But back then, she didn’t have any clients, and she didn’t make any money, and it was hard to navigate entrepreneurship at such a young age. At 17 she tried her hand at software and created a text messaging marketing software app, and it did well and she got a lot of creators to get on the app. Next came a food subscription box (talk about diversifying!) where you could eat like your favorite content creator. Think Hello Fresh, but make it influencer related. Finally, she launched X8 Media, a successful company that the now 20 year old Jade runs. You could call her previous brands “failures,” but she wouldn’t be where she is today without those experiences.
“Sometimes you start something and it doesn’t work, but it doesn’t mean in the next few years it’s not going to evolve into something else and something better.”
Her YouTube journey is interesting. Like her entrepreneurial journey, she started on YouTube when she was 9, and her content was making doll videos and skits and other things just for fun. Even from such a young age, Jade loved creating content. It wasn’t until she was a teenager that she realized that she could monetize her channel and utilize it to funnel potential clients into her business. Most people would jump at the opportunity to monetize their passion, right? But Jade’s take on this is interesting. She found that by monetizing her content creating passion, it didn’t feel the same. She doesn’t want YouTube to feel like a job to her and associate it with the pressure of making money. When she realized she could make money through YouTube, she went through a phase where that entrepreneurial brain of hers could only focus on that. And what happened? Her content suffered. She lacked authenticity. She stopped making what people liked and focused more on what she thought would be more SEO-driven to make money. She steered away from what she liked and never asked herself, “what do I want to make?” and many of her subscribers saw right through it and jumped ship. That was when Jade realized that 9-year-old Jade started YouTube to have fun, and 19 year old Jade should honor that. She stopped focusing on how much she could make off YouTube and is not actively pursuing a growth model for her channel. Jade’s purpose is to create great content and build a community, and any money she makes from it is a byproduct.
Jade has allowed her content to ebb and flow and admits that as a creator, sometimes you are bursting to the seams with creativity, while other times you have dry spells. Sometimes YouTube creators will oscillate between having a lot of views, and how they feel about their channel as a whole, and that’s ok! Jade believes there is a fine line between enjoying what you’re doing without it feeling like a job, and she prefers now to keep her YouTube channel separate from her business because she believes it allows her to create more freely. Jade has a team of people working for her and through her work with X8 Media, she is tackling the inequalities in creators. Only 16% of creators come from lower income households, and as a creator, you may be more able and willing to take a risk coming from a family with a higher socioeconomic status. A lot of low-income people are unable to become creators because of socioeconomic barriers, and Jade is working to change this.
“Focus on delivering that message, and the results will come over time”
3 Key Interview Takeaways:
- Don’t give up. Just because something isn’t working right away doesn’t mean that it can’t work, or that somewhere along the line it will evolve into something better. Jade has tried multiple different business ventures, most of which never led anywhere, but she wouldn’t be where she is today without going through those failures. So… are they really failures after all? Remember: you have to start somewhere.
- Have self-awareness. This is important on YouTube, because how are you supposed to be authentic without self-awareness of who you are? Know enough about yourself to know what your audience wants, but also what YOU want and what YOU want to create.
- Cold email tips: Jade was not afraid to cold email, and sometimes that meant emailing 300 people to get one response. Be sneaky! Go crazy on LinkedIn and see what the person you’re reaching out to is liking and commenting on. Think, “how can you become a homie?” Jade really hates formal emails, so she tries to find something in common with the person she’s emailing and acts like a friend. But be genuine! If it’s fake, they can smell it.
Connect with Jade:
Resources
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my replay of my FREE Zero to 100k Subscribers Masterclass
FREE GUIDES:
Creating Content During Crisis: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
YOUTUBE OPTIMIZATION PLUG-IN I RECOMMEND
TubeBuddy [Use the code ErikasBuddy to get 20% off]
MY FAVORITE BUSINESS TOOLS
Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
Live Calls and Interviews: I use Ecamm for my podcast interviews, both audio and for YouTube that you see here on YouTube. It makes it super easy to share my screen and create the split-screen with my guest. I’m not super techie and this software is really easy to use!
Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
THE BEST YOUTUBE/PODCASTING EQUIPMENT
After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
- Lens: This lens is recommended highly by many of my podcast guests, it gives the blurry “YouTuber” background look.
- Audio: If you want to upgrade your set-up, audio should be one of the first investments (after a good camera). This microphone is unanimously the favorite amongst my podcast guests.
- Podcast/Voiceover Microphone: If you are looking for a great microphone for a podcast or video voiceover, this is it! This is the one that you see in all of my videos and the one I’ve recorded my podcast on for years.
- Webcam: For my interviews, that you see in my videos, this is the webcam that I use. Super inexpensive and easy to set up!
- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
- Ring light: Looking for that beauty look? Invest in a ring light! This is an inexpensive light that does that trick!
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