MrBallen's first viral TikTok video gained over 5 million views in hours
John B. Allen (MrBallen) · From Navy SEAL To Viral Content Creator - MrBallen’s Insane Story · Sep 27, 2024 · at 27:13
Former Navy SEAL John B. Allen (MrBallen) describes the breakthrough viral video that launched his content creation career.
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“And on a whim, I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna shoot a quick video, the 62nd, talk about the Dyatlov Pass. And so I film it in my hotel room and I leave my phone in the room because we're going down to the water park and I didn't have a way to waterproof it. Leave my phone, me, my, me and my wife and kids, we go down to the water park. We're there for a couple hours, come back and I couldn't even open my phone. There were so many notifications pouring in for this one video on my TikTok account that had no following. It was like this brand new account, basically. And it had over five million views in a matter of a few hours.”
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More from John B. Allen (MrBallen)
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“Ultimately content creation is a big meritocracy. You know, ultimately you can create content with no platform, no, no, no, no, nothing. And if you create the right thing at the right time, it's like a lottery ticket and it goes viral.”
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“And so I went into this feverish, like constantly telling stories on TikTok three a day for 30 days, and then was up to like seven million subscribers on TikTok and then shifted to YouTube and.”
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“I have scripts that sit next to me, but, like, as my producer, who's right over here, will attest to, I'm not reading the script. It's a matter of producing a script that I can then, like, become a part of. I will begin espousing what people are thinking or wh…”
MrBallen: CEO Nick Allen handles all operations while John Allen tells stories
“Nick does everything with the exception of telling the stories on camera. I'm like completely out of the loop with virtually everything else. I just, I sit down and tell stories and Nick, Nick is the guy for literally every other question in terms of like grow…”
MrBallen spent 26 hours per video while posting 3-5 times weekly
“It took me about 26 hours, give or take, to make one video in the first six months I was on YouTube, and I was doing anywhere from three to five videos a week.”
MrBallen says remembering his mortality eliminates fear of failure in big opportunities
“Anytime there's an opportunity, no matter how big, no matter how scary, no matter the opportunity to fail, I do actively think about the fact that like, bro, you're going to die. And it's going to happen. And it's going to be matter of fact.”