How Jake Paul defied FBI raids and YouTube controversies to create a business empire

Before the 27-year-old becomes the third-richest content creator, raking in $38 million by 2023—and challenges boxing legend Mike Tyson for the championship The fight will air on Netflix—Paul is a nightmare Disney employee.

New to internet fame making six-second comedy videos on Vine, Paul was fired from the children’s show Strange, where he played Dirk Mann’s stunt double. In a life of distorted imitation of art, Paul suffered Disney in 2017 for causing a nuisance with his own stunts, lighting a fire in an empty swimming pool, brandishing a T-shirt gun at a reporter and holding dirt bike drag races outside his rented home. he.

“We weren’t even that loud,” Paul speak Hollywood Reporter after incidents. “Like, yeah, we had an out-of-control furniture fire in our backyard one time. But that doesn’t harm anyone.”

Even as he has amassed 47 million followers across the board YouTube And Instagram With prank videos and behind-the-scenes video blogs about his budding boxing career, trouble continues to follow Paul.

On top allegations of sexual assault and the use of racial slurs in YouTube videos, Paul threw loud parties at the height of the COVID epidemic and was charged with trespassing and unlawful assembly after being filmed with a stolen bottle of vodka in a looted shopping centre. The charges were later dismissed. But after the mall incident, the FBI and SWAT team also raided his home in August 2020. The US attorney’s office in Arizona later said he would not face charges related to state.

It’s hard to imagine that this same guy will become the face of one Venture capital funds has invested in the success of brands such as ointment and Fly By Jing. Or he could become the founder of a new personal care brand of deodorant and body spray called W—a play on Gen Z streaming slang for “winning”—launches this week in 3,900 Walmarts, with more products launching later this month in 400 other stores Walmart location.

But like his new brand name, Paul has continued to find victory despite the wave of “1,000 failures.” After many unexpected—but inexplicable—wrestling victories from the jaws of defeat, Paul learned to love arguing.

“Other entrepreneurs understand and women entrepreneurs understand that when you do something great, people will try to stop you,” Paul said. Luck.

The ‘trouble child’ grew up

According to the words of lots of content creators In the mid-2010s, Paul phased out prank videos and turned to other means of making money. He calls himself “The child has problems” and made a name for himself in boxing, where he achieved a record of nine wins and one loss. In 2021, he Co-Founder venture capital fund Anti Fund with Geoffrey Woo, an entrepreneur who rejected Paul a decade ago, when he launched his content company Team 10.

Woo told Luck it’s a popular 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 a way to make free money,” he said.

According to Amanda Russell, marketing consultant and author of the book The Influencer Code: How to Harness the Power of Influencer Marketing, it can actually be lucrative. Content creators like Paul already have built-in audiences, allowing their brands to scale quickly.

“It’s getting harder and harder for brands to break through,” Russell said Luck. “Everything is a commodity now unless the consumer has a connection to the product. People don’t really resonate with the brand; they resonate with people.”

But Paul himself will tell you that just having a name attached to a business venture does not mean success. In 2016, his social media page Dressing room, which divided users into male-only and female-only groups, was shut down after receiving just 500 downloads. In 2018, he was accused of defrauding his customers Edfluence online platform, which offers instructional videos on how to become an influencer, after users were unable to unlock the videos even after paying an initial $7 fee to do so. And in March 2023, he turned over $400,000 to the SEC for promoting an alleged cryptocurrency scam.

“You have to go through moments where you lose money, when your idea isn’t as good as you thought it would be,” Paul said. “Those are the things that make you in the long run.”

Woodie Hillyard, W’s CEO, got to know Paul—a humble and self-aware businessman with a serious hunger for success—better when he met him a year and a half ago. During one of their first meetings, a group of children approached Paul for an autograph. Hillyard recalls that Paul was very patient, asking each child about their interests in school and what sports they liked.

“You just saw him connect with people on a human level and it made you realize what a great guy he was,” Hillyard said. Luck. “Everyone has the opportunity to grow.”

While Hillyard saw a young business partner with a calm appearance and calm demeanor, Paul, at least to the public, was still prone to his trouble-making personality. In recent times advertising film to W, Paul calls himself “stupid and stinky,” asking the production assistant to apply deodorant to his hairy, sweaty pits.

“Personally, I don’t think I’m being controversial. I tell the truth and people don’t like the truth in today’s world because the truth hurts,” Paul said. “I’m never afraid to ruffle feathers or say what’s on my mind.”

‘Content is king‘

Don’t ignore Paul’s courage. Russell argued that Paul was not successful despite his arguments. He found his professional footing thanks to that.

“People who try to please everyone are really for no one,” she said. “The more you stand for something, the more you create a cult following.”

Paul is very aware of his past illegal behavior. He used his continued relevance, even infamy, to his advantage: “Content is king,” he said. “The most important things are eyeballs, marketing and exposure.”

This strategy is not easy, as Paul’s family knows. Older brother Logan Paul has achieved great success with his energy drink brand Prime, which was launched with boxer KSI. But after achieving more than $1 billion in revenue within two years of founding the company, the brand’s rapid growth became unsustainable.

Gen Alpha lost interest in the drink as they latched onto the next big hype product. And after being hit with a lawsuit alleging it contained more caffeine than labeled and “permanent chemicals,” Prime bottles are now being used Discount shelves at UK retailers.

But Jake Paul has faith in his winning mentality in the face of adversity. He’s weathered a series of serious controversies, criminal charges, and failed businesses, but still came out the other side rocking.

“Everybody wants to see you fail, and you just have to keep pushing, overcoming, conquering, and keep fighting,” Paul said. “And that’s actually what I did.”

“Some of my biggest losses have been my biggest wins,” he added.