Vikkstar: What It Really Took to Build The Sidemen (we didn’t plan for anyone to leave)

28:11But the deal was do well at school, do a YouTube thing, keep your, and I think this was one thing my parents always taught me that I think was a good thing is the saying, you know, don't keep all your eggs in one basket. So I was kind of doing the YouTube thing and also keeping my university open, my university options open. So I got a place for natural sciences at UCL, which I think would have been really challenging to do. I couldn't decide which science I liked, so I said I'll do all of them as a degree which when I went to all the universities through open days, they were kind of saying, this is going to be tough.

28:45You're not on one course here. You go and do modules from three different university courses, which I think would have been really tough. And maybe in my head at that point, I was thinking, I can just maybe make this YouTube thing work at least for a few years. But UCL, so according to what I have seen is UCL, and I wasn't familiar with it, is that consistently ranked as one of the top schools in the world. Yeah. Yeah, I think so, yeah. Yeah. So you are offered a place at UCL. Your parents must, I'm a parent, I would say, you're going to school. They did want that. Yeah, they did. So how did you compel them, convince them otherwise?

29:31Well, I think it just fortunately for me, it landed at this great time where I could do this gap year. And in my head, I was thinking, OK, if I can make some OK money doing this, balancing it with my studies, let me give it one year to really go for it. And it actually worked quite well because I was like, I'm going to put my all in. And it's almost I had that insurance policy. You know, let's say I get nine months into this year and either one, I don't enjoy doing it anymore. Two, my audience has disappeared and abandoned me because I got boring. Or three, even at that time, it's funny to think I've sat there looking at it and even my parents are the same.

30:08And we were going, OK, so I'm earning money playing video games and posting it to the Internet. How long until this bubble bursts? It didn't make sense at that time. You're thinking, OK, you've been doing this for a year or two. it feels a bit too good to be true when is this all gonna and I guess theoretically potentially it could have ended one of the game publishers could have come in and said hey YouTube you're not allowed to monetize any content on our game and for me if it was one of the big games I was covering theoretically it could have all gone so that's why I had to keep the options open okay but luckily the gap here was this perfect way of saying I'm not saying I'm not going Give me a year to give me a year just to put my head down on YouTube.

30:50Right. So now roughly how much were you making there at that time? Oh, I would say probably between like 20 and 30 ,000 a year a year Well, but it's well okay Identifiable as a job at that point that I mean that's substantial. Yeah, yeah, that's full-time income. Yes people All right. So and you were how old at that time? I would have been 18. So just finished my A-levels. Yeah. OK. So now I can also appreciate you not you saying that I didn't have you didn't have a social life. Right. Because you were because at that time, it's a full time job. Yeah. When you reflect back, though, do you think you missed out on any of your childhood?

31:36it it's a good question i'm gonna say no because for who i was it was what i wanted to be doing and i think actually maybe i would have ended up chasing something else that wasn't for me had i not had this gaming and online career kind of building for me okay so i don't feel like one thing i guess if i had to pick one thing i maybe missed out on it would have been going to university itself. I never got that experience. I got a completely different experience, which was amazing. But I do, a lot of my friends, I do talk very fondly about their time at university. It's this twilight period between being a kid and being an adult where people have a lot of fun.

32:16And actually, again, we'll get to it later. But the only times I've been to universities in the UK now is to DJ a lot of two impressions. And I'm like, I see these people having so much fun. I'm like, I missed this, but it was all worth it. Have you ever noticed how many of your friends are sitting on great business ideas? It's usually nothing to do with thinking their idea isn't good enough and everything to do with the execution side feeling a bit too technical. But with our show sponsor, Shopify, so much of the technical side is taken care of for you. It enables you to set up your own online store without a developer.

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34:59Why wait? Ask your doctor, visit BotoxChronicMigraine.com, or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more. So then you just go all in, right? Can you talk about what all in is? Because I've had the privilege of talking to folks like Dan TDM, Tommy Innit, Tal Yamar, people who have done very well with YouTube. And the commonality, and I know this is your story too, is that they were relentless in posting. You live in it. You live it. So describe to us, what was that year like for you? So it was an interesting year. And at the start, so in terms of just hours, genuinely, we're talking 15, 16 hours every single day, working on something to do with the content, whether that's recording it, whether that's editing it, whether that's speaking with other people doing content about what is working, what isn't working, how it can be better.

35:57I think, you know, I think I was probably posting two or three videos a day at this point. And I kind of made a deal with myself when I started the gap year. I said, OK, I'm potentially giving away a great opportunity at university, having a good degree, going and getting a good job. So I said to myself, I'm going to upload a new YouTube video to my main YouTube channel every single day without fail for as long as I possibly can. And I think probably for seven or eight years, maybe, you know, a few hours, I missed it by, but the cadence of one video every single day, I stuck to that. And that's, and again, I didn't know at the time, but I realize now that's how you get good at anything.

36:36It's reps, putting stuff out, not worrying too much about it being perfect. They say like, build it first, make it perfect later. And that's kind of how it went but it was also great because the space was not so saturated back in 2014 this is so i could cover loads of different games genuinely was having fun playing the games and the challenge of making it entertaining to view doing it was some of my best friends who i'm you know still friends with loads of them today okay which is great so while i sit here and say it was every waking hour was working on this youtube channel this wasn't against my will this was I love it.

37:15I can't wait to find out what's next. That's not to say it wasn't tough at times. The biggest challenge was when we would go away on a trip. If I'd go away for four days, I would make double the amount of videos. Because I was thinking, I don't want to give these people four days without my content. They're going to go and watch someone else. So it was completely, yeah, nonstop. But the thing that was interesting is back in Sheffield, I had a few friends, but they then left to go to university. and I did realize that I was staying up all night pretty much to record with people in Canada, America, Australia.

37:49I'd go to bed as the sun was coming up at 5 or 6 a.m. some days because that was how I was recording with people from overseas. You just had to be available and around at those hours and it would be like I'd turn off my computer. I'd be in this call with everyone talking, having fun. I'd like stop, turn off my computer and I'd be like just sat in my bedroom and I haven't spoken to anyone in the real world in days that isn't my parents who I'm annoying by yelling into my microphone at three or four in the morning. I think they put up with a lot of that, honestly. Yes. So it's almost hilarious when you think back to it.

38:23But then the flip side of that was three or four months into my gap year, maybe actually more like four or five months in, I came to know the sidemen. Three of them wanted to move out from where they were moving in, from where they were living. So we all moved into a house together and that was probably the most pivotal change. Everything changed at that point. Everything changed. All right, so that we definitely have to talk about. But even in that, because you painted a great visual. I could see you yelling into a microphone. The sun is coming up. Your parents have been sleeping. Or they're waking up to go to work.

38:58Yeah, they're waking up. They would see me in the hallway and they would just be like, what are you doing? What are you doing, right? So now, help me understand though. So, I mean, your parents are professionals. Your brothers, your older brothers, did they go off to university? They both, yeah. One did computer science and one did medicine, so. Okay. And here's Vic. I was born to be an academic, but I missed that one. But this is what I'm saying. So here's Vic. Yeah. Who had an offer to UCL, who now is in his bedroom, probably in his pajamas. What were you wearing? Oh, yeah, yeah. Probably, yeah, tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt that I'd been wearing for two days.

39:35Right? Not even taking a shower, right? Honestly. What do you, truly, did you feel as if your family were on the same page as you? Did they see the vision that you had or were you the only one? I think they didn't see the vision and I would often try and explain to them. but I think that's just because it was so you couldn't have foresight on what the space was going to become so I had to try and persuade them this could become this I could be doing this I might get this parts of it they just didn't physically understand because it was numbers online and I think when we started running events like you know uh or when we started running events like meet and greets and um our charity football matches then it became much more tangible to them because it's kind of a visual thing that they could see.

40:29Whereas when it was numbers online, it didn't make so much sense. So they could see I was clearly excited about it and I was earning money from it. So it wasn't a complete waste of my time at that point. So from their point of view, they couldn't see the vision and I often would try and explain it to them. But I think also I was just fortunately, childishly optimistic about the whole thing. And I think they've lived their whole life of things. things were not always easy for them so they would look at it and think can this really go the way he says it's gonna go so they were always there giving that that resounding but it also was good because it gave it this grounding sense of and it made me also fortunate to be in that position i was like i have to keep working in this position i can't say oh i'm making some good money i've made it now kick my feet up and let it fall apart it was almost they'd instilled on me that whatever you do you have to work hard on it do it to the best of your ability that's how you succeed so okay okay um how does before you move in with the sidemen right so you're still in the home you're waking up all the time or actually i don't know how many how many hours are you sleeping at that point not enough probably some nights five hours and then some nights i would the the weirdest one that i remember so distinctly is some nights i would end up recording really late because it's going great these guys are making so many videos I can't miss out on going to bed while the Americans are recording these big videos so I'd stay up till sometimes 9 a.m I'd go to sleep and I'd be so frazzled I'd wake up and in the winter the sun had set again at like 5 p.m when I would wake up and be like it's dark I'm just gonna go back to sleep and then I wake up at 10 p.m it was not healthy it was no no it was a it was a degenerate cycle cycle yeah and and when you now think about that time period.

42:20How did that impact your mental health? Yeah, it probably wasn't great. And I realized that maybe eight years into this career that, okay, this is all your life is at the moment. It's chasing these uploads, it's chasing these views, it's chasing these subscribers, this revenue. And I did have to kind of make a big shift in my life to finally step away from that. But the sad reality is also that's how I got to the point where I could make it so successful. It's like the 10 ,000 hour rule. You have to get to 10 ,000 hours in something before you've mastered it. I got there very quickly by doing 16 hours of it every single day without fail.

43:03So it was a trade-off, but one that I did have to change. And it wasn't a healthy mindset, but that's not to say I wasn't having fun throughout the whole process and generally very excited and optimistic about it. It just couldn't last long term. Okay. And what was it that you were excited about, right? What was it that was lighting you up? Was it the follower count? Was it the money? Was it the access to other people online, you know, that you maybe looked up to? Was it all the above? I would, yeah, I'd be lying if I didn't say it was all of the above. All of these things are positive for me and it was almost it was almost we were proving ourselves in doing this and I think one thing that was that has always stuck with me is I remember when I was 17 I went to a gaming event and I'd been covering Call of Duty non-stop at this point and Call of Duty had this event and technically I was invited to it but because I wasn't 18 I wasn't able to go to the event to play and record the game.

44:07And I was like so devastated that I couldn't like get this really cool access to cover this game that I loved early that everyone else was doing. And there were other situations where we were just desperate to get access to games to make content and we were kind of told no. So it was almost exciting every step of the way saying, hang on, all of these people who said no to us early on, they're turning around, coming back to us, offering us more, wanting our help and kind of valuing what we built. So it was almost a nice part also just to kind of prove people wrong, which I think is kind of what you said is if you do grow up in a situation where you do feel like you're not appreciated or cool, you want to kind of prove people wrong to a degree.

44:46So, yes. Yes. So that was part of it. Because I can I can feel along your journeys that there's this hunger. Yeah. You know, that I can even still see to this day, you know, exists. And so now tell me about this. Here's another photo. Are you ready? All right. Okay. I want you to tell me about who's in this photo. Okay. All right. And these guys. Ah, the boys! Iconic picture. All right. So who's in that? This is the Sidemen way back when as genuinely as little kids, effectively. Exactly. And how old do you think you are in that? That's a good question. I was probably either 18 or 19. So this is very shortly after I've moved away from home for the first time and I'm living with these completely, you know, who were at the start unknown guys.

45:37OK, but we're having fun. It's amazing. And you decided. So how did you come about? How did the Sidemen form? Yeah. The Sidemen came together pretty much by accident, which is why I think it works so well. we all had our own youtube channels that we'd all had the kind of the we'd all jumped out of our comfort zone to make ourselves we'd all seen this we were all into video games wanted to put ourselves out there playing them and then social media started coming onto the scene 2010 2011 and the main one we were all about was twitter back then that was kind of where you could find the youtube community at that point it was again very unsaturated it was just us on there and we would all follow each other just to kind of it was you were watching to see hey what is everyone else doing in the youtube scene who's doing the same as me who could i collaborate with for videos and so we'd seen each other doing that and then the big moment without us realizing it was when grand theft auto 5 came out okay in 2013 um we all decided to start playing the game together just because we thought it'd be fun to make content together.

46:55I actually, funnily enough, happened to know a lot about the technical side of YouTube. So all that, how the algorithms worked and how the systems worked and when things broke, people would often be like, Vic, this is broken. How do I deal with it? How do I make this do better? And Josh from the Sidemen happened to be asking me about some YouTube issue where I joined their call. And then for me, the reason and I'm in the Sidemen was they said, hey, we're recording some GTA next. Do you want to join? And I said, yes. And we were just recording as independent creators together to all make videos for our own channels.

47:30And funnily enough, Ethan had made us a Grand Theft Auto crew so we could all just join the lobby together. It was kind of, it wasn't really much more than just a way of all joining the same game. And as a bit of a laugh, a bit of fun, he named the crew the Ultimate Sidemen, which is peak English, I'm sure as you know. It is. English humor, you fire a shot at yourself. We're the Sidemen, we're just the ultimate Sidemen. You're the ultimate Sidemen. You're not the main man. No. You're the Sidemen. Yeah, so he made this GTA crew, and that's how we joined the game. Thought nothing more of it. And we started making these videos together, and people online loved them.

48:10They thought that we got on well, they enjoyed what we were doing. And they started commenting under the videos, I love Sidemen GTA videos. When is there going to be more Sidemen GTA videos? And we, without realizing it, had created a group, a brand effectively. So we just kind of carried on that process. We then went on to meet up in real life at gaming events. Like, okay, we all seem to get on. We all had the same mission effectively, but we're all very different people, which is fun because we're learning from each other. And that's how it started. And then four of us moved into a house together.

48:48The other three guys moved into an apartment building not too far away. And then we transitioned from the video games to the real life cameras, which again, for me, was so out of my comfort zone. And I would have never have done it without them. I would have never had the confidence to do it or felt the need to do it. And that's when we combined all of our audiences of a few hundred thousand subscribers each to this kind of group that had maybe a million followers. And then as time went on, it became bigger and bigger. Can you unpack some of that for me? Right. Because that is, I think, an incredible story.

49:26But you have seven different personalities, right, in that. And there's many people who would be, who I'm sure has, you know, you've built up an audience and you think, okay, well, I'm not going to join another group. Like, I'm not going to join a group. I'd rather be a solo act. Yeah. So what do you think it was about the personalities, even about yourself, because this is about you, that allowed you to join a group opposed to continue on solo? Because you were doing fine solo. So I think it was a handful of things. I think it was the scene in general at that point and always has been something that we've always tried to push forward is collaboration is more exciting than competition.

50:13Realistically, it opens a lot of doors for you. We'd realized that people tended to enjoy us coming together in some instances more than the stuff we were doing alone. And also we would just work harder. So we would do both. We would do videos on our own and then we do videos as a group and it kind of worked. So I think it was that mindset is that you can build something better together it's like yeah um i think we just realized that early at that point and also we were having fun and we got on and that was a real kicker and we were there to kind of help each other um there's a saying and i i really like it i think it fits the sidemen perfectly and it's if you want to go somewhere fast go alone if you want to go somewhere far go together because you're going to need to rely on each other at different points and you can get a lot further.

51:02It might be slower, it might take you longer, but you have something much more stable. Absolutely. Yeah. That's a profound African proverb right there. There we go. Yeah. And so also what I'm beginning to see now in your story is that was your first, that was your college. That was your university. Yes. But it was not like any other university because there was no partying. It was like we were sat in our bedrooms yelling into microphones and that was it. Like we didn't leave the house very much at all. We would all be in our bedrooms making videos around the clock. So it wasn't this, you know, this this partying, celebrating culture.

51:40It was like, OK, everyone, let's lock in. Right. But what what was what was then the goal? So once you all kind of assembled and figured out that you could go farther together, right? What became the goal of this group? This is my favorite thing about the Sidemen's whole career and my whole career. There is never once really been a hard set tangible goal it's always just been how can we take it a bit further really what's gonna be fun what can we do next what's gonna work and that's allowed us one to be very fluid in terms of the direction we take um because we haven't been i set on one target we've kind of always tried it's a lot of trial and error um but we've never we never even set out to make the group into a group it was okay we're a group we make videos together this is great then YouTube asked us to make an original series for them when they were trying to become a paid paid video streaming platform okay they made a service called YouTube Red in an attempt to compete with Netflix and paid streaming platforms yes and we made a series for them realized very quickly that we didn't like working under their production team and their creatives we prefer running our own and that woke us up to think okay let's just try and make i guess the goal that we set when we started making sidemen content formally together was let's make the best video we can once a week every week and we haven't really missed a week properly since we started doing that six or seven years ago but these goals aren't so much you know wider yeah long-term plans it's just let's build a system let's trial and error let's let's host a charity football match and see if we can sell 10 ,000 tickets.

53:25Let's see if we can sell it bigger next time, bigger the time after. But there's never been any long-term aims. It's how do we keep this fun? How do we keep this authentic to ourselves? And how do we make it more interesting and better content for more people? That's fascinating. Because I think there's so many people who probably think that, you know, you all come together and very methodically have laid out, okay, in three years, this is what we want to be doing. We're going to launch this in the fifth year. But you're literally saying it is how can we just the next few months. Yeah, it's always been that way, which is, yeah, completely different to kind of these corporate environments.

54:06And I think also it speaks back to how our career started in a sense that when we started our careers, we were just messing around, having fun. We weren't sat there thinking, OK, how can I start making a thousand a month, two thousand a month? how can I get to 20 ,000 subscribers, 50 ,000 subscribers? Because if we would really struggle to get there, it would dishaunt us. And we'd be like, I've been trying so far to get to this point. And you can almost let yourself down. Whereas it's just, okay, can I take this a bit further? Let's see where it can go. It feels, it's how our career started. And it's kind of how we've continued it.

54:41Not to set these really tough, hard aims for ourselves that we'll feel a failure if we don't reach them. It's just like celebrate every step of the way in every step in the right direction. That's mind blowing. That's mind blowing. Yeah. The house. Can you tell us about what was it like to live in that house? Because I remember talking to Talia Mar about visiting. And I was like, tell me, because I want to know, like, did the house smell? Like, were they cooking together? So what was the living dynamic in the house? It was interesting because it was a place to just, the primary vision was make the best YouTube content you can.

55:23And then everything else hopefully works. I wouldn't say that it was particularly messy. It also wasn't clean. The guys would sometimes cook together. I never cooked a thing. It was oven food or just pre-made sandwiches and cereal. That was what I lived off. So again, we go back to this unhealthy period. I was very unhealthy, but I was just making it work myself, which was interesting. But it was it was a fun environment, though. It was just so times will never be like that ever again, in the sense that the expectation of content compared to now, the quality standard expected was so much lower, which was so much fun.

56:07We could pick up our phones and walk around the house and film things in each other's rooms. And there wasn't anything like it on YouTube. It was that was the cutting edge at that point was doing that. Yes, it was very easy for us just to mess around have fun and be stupid and Form it into this content that people really enjoyed so So and I understand that the fun nature of it, right? But you're also a business at that point You're I would have presume you're starting to make significant income. Yeah at that time now So can you give us roughly? what was being made at that early stage. I mean, between all of us in the house, maybe a year or two into it, it's the house is generating kind of way in excess of a million a year in revenue between all of us.

56:52So we're making serious money at this point, but it's the opposite where you wouldn't think that because I'm sat there in my pajamas eating a sandwich from Tesco's and like sleeping on my mattress that's on the floor. right you wouldn't tell um so we were doing really well at that point and that's what made it exciting yes but i think again we just were so new to the space especially for me it was like this is all just sitting in the banks save it save it save it because we don't know how long this is going to last we're doing great now but and at that point even maybe four years into our four or five years into our careers we'd seen people have meteoric rises huge huge declines and we were sat there thinking okay our time our time will come uh fortunately it didn't really which was great and that's because we were constantly reinventing and we had each other to kind of support each other yes um and we did just reinvent so many times we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone so many times but um yeah everyone was doing great at that time and though and that did also make it kind of fun because some of the boys they were buying chrome wrapped range rovers ksi's purple Lamborghini parked up outside the house.

58:04So you had this complete polar opposite where it was hilarious. Yeah, it's incredible. I think to your point, that will never happen again. No. It'll never happen again. Yeah. What you lived through there. Was there any danger? Because I've read stories about people egging the house. Yeah. Was there any real danger? I don't think there was any real danger, but there was consistent disruption, disturbance from people around the house just because people wanted to come and see us and that wasn't something that we thought forward ahead to especially when we moved into the house we had millions less subscribers we had than we generated in the house so I would say it was more of an annoyance you've got people opening the letterbox on Halloween shouting can you guys come downstairs and make a picture and we turned off all the lights we're pretending we're not in and we would duck under the window to go to each other's rooms.

59:00Really? Because we would be in a tricky position because effectively you want, I mean, one, we understood that that's a complete violation of privacy. Someone shouldn't be doing that in the first place. But two, we realized if they know we're in the house, they're going to continue to do it. And then three, we also know, let's say we were feeling nice and we went down and said, okay, let's take a picture. Then people know that that's something that can happen and it's going to multiply the problem. Yes. So we were sat in this. I mean, again, you look back in hindsight, it's kind of hysterical because we were like trapped pretending we don't live in our own house because we were in this situation.

59:34We couldn't really there was no solution to that problem. No. And you created it for yourself. Yeah, exactly. So we can blame anyone else. Yeah. So if I can check in on how you perceive yourself, right, because you described how at 13, you know, you felt uncool. The identity was really one of being the younger brother. Yeah. By the time you're in the house, you are held early 20s. Yeah. OK. What is your identity in your early 20s and how do you view yourself? my entire identity is my identity was vikstar123 at that point it was no more vik no that was just it was all i did every day was something youtube related every single day of the week um and it but it was cool because it was working for me it was my job it was my identity everything was kind of growing i was having fun with friends so that's who i was i was just someone who was enjoying doing what they were doing and could do it every day.

1:00:40So that's, it was, yeah, I was just celebrating that fact. And I didn't see anything else being important at that point. Okay. What, what, for example, what was your biggest purchase at that time early on? So I did purchase myself a very nice car. I purchased a secondhand Aston Martin Vantage V8. And that was, that was maybe the first time I felt cool. So I got this thing that is just undeniably cool. So that was probably, yeah. And actually, yeah, to this day is one of the biggest purchases I've made. But yeah, that was, yeah, that was something. But then the majority of the money was just in savings.

1:01:20Okay. So. All right. So big, big pro there. Big pro. All right. So what about on the con side? What about if we can talk about criticism as much as you want to talk about criticism but this is something that everyone online has to face yeah however i think that you were the sidemen you were growing at a point where And in my opinion, you tell me, but trolling really became a thing. Like it almost if trolling feels like a profession now. People are good. Yeah. I've got years in the arts. Very good. Right. And also you had a massive profile. Yeah. And so I would imagine each of you have been targeted and that you must see the comments and it must make an impact.

1:02:13Yes. What has that impact? What was that impact on you then? Ooh, yeah, it was forever tough. And I've always read a lot of the comments on my own content, just because I feel like that's how it started. It was this relationship between us and the viewers in this real time. I post a video, they comment the same day. The next day I make another video, having seen the comments of the day before. I think it's why YouTube has gone so far and we've been able to do so much that traditional publishers haven't been able to do. Okay. It's that real time relationship. Some people call it parasocial. I don't think of it as that.

1:02:50Okay. I think it's, it's community. It's a real time community that you're building. Um, and I think that meant that I would see a lot of it. And honestly, the majority of it was just kind of hating for the sake of hating. And it, I wouldn't feel that it was particularly true, which would make it very easy to disregard and i think also important to have i guess build a strong self-esteem because if your self-esteem is low you're going to start reading people saying negative things and almost start to that maybe you know i mean maybe they are true but it's sometimes it's safer to say no that's not true that's not right i'm gonna ignore that yes um so that was the easiest stuff to ignore sometimes stuff would hit on the nose and be like i can see why you think that and why you don't like me because of that and i think it was yeah it it's not nice no one's gonna sit and say it's nice but I think little by little you microdose that negativity and you learn to just let it kind of wash over you and I think also the more I grew up the more I realized that actually everyone in life struggles at times even people who seemingly are doing fantastic and that can cause people to say things that they don't really think or feel and I almost a lot of the time my mindset when people write stuff that's completely horrible I just have to think I feel bad that you're in a position where you have to say these things and I'm just going to try and ignore it and just hope that it all works out for that person it's I guess that's one mechanism but I think it's also true to a point it's just and also you can't please everyone you have to be able to have that mindset this is true this is true when you think about the criticism then, was there any criticism that upon reflection you thought, wow, they were right?

1:04:37And then you actually adjusted as a result of it. I think there have been so many of these over time. It's so strange actually having hours and hours of your social interactions be analyzed by people sat at home all with their own kind of psyche and mindset towards it. Then they have the power to tell you what they think. Yes. But also I think it's been great. I I think it's rounded me as a person. I think, yeah, sometimes I talk too much in some environments. Sometimes I'm too quiet in other environments. People will comment that, like, really quiet this video. Why didn't you feel the need to say anything or get involved in this moment?

1:05:11You kind of killed that moment. And sometimes I'll watch it and be like, you know what? Maybe I did. Maybe the next time I'm in that situation, I give it a bit more. Or it can be the opposite. Sometimes you do a bit too much and you watch it back and you're like, or it's the way the edit lands. you're like okay yeah I yeah that was a bit I can see why and I don't mind it sometimes I can try and skew some of it is self-improvement and that's what it is at the end of the day is you know you think in your head what you think to do is right but every person is different and when you've got millions of people commenting on the things you do yes it would be almost arrogant to ignore all of it and view all of it as unnecessary criticism and sometimes often it's not written in the nicest way and that's where i think everyone can be better because i think everyone's entitled to their criticism but um yeah it's yeah it's not something that i one pretend that doesn't affect me at all or two i pretend that i completely ignore it because i don't think there's any person that truly can just completely ignore it no no can we talk about um all the incredible things that the Sidemen have built.

1:06:20Because I had to go through the list. And I was like, you guys have chicken shops, vodka brands, television production company. It's like, do you know, you must know the whole list. Do you have the whole list? I know the whole list, but honestly, I couldn't reel it all off because we're so scatterbrained in terms of like tapping into everything that's going on. Unfortunately, we have a big team around us and they're helping to keep all these things going. Okay. You have the list. So I have just some, right? Okay. So you launched a clothing brand. Yep. Sidemen Clothing. All right. Launched a vodka brand.

1:07:00Yes. A fried chicken chain. Yep. Right. Five outlets currently in the UK, one in Singapore. Yes. 15 more are opening this year. That's going to be fun. A documentary, obviously. Yes. The Sidemen Show. right a serial brand yes two seasons so far on netflix with a new season coming i think we're at two in the uk on one us season of inside so three three going on fourth yeah uh sideman productions yes which now is uh is another entity i mean it's just it it's so interesting because hearing you say this was not premeditated not at all no roadmap whatsoever

1:07:45so are you are you all building sidemen to outlast sidemen yes partially um and also just just to be always bigger and better it just just the things that we've done selling up wembley stadium for a charity match two years in a row that's testament to the hard work and raising all of that money for great the great charities that we support and bringing all those people out to have this fun experience being able to do stuff like that that's you know if we talk to say what's the the best thing the best fruits of your labor you've seen it's that event in itself um so yeah it's the vision is to just keep building towards stuff like that and there's never there's No roadmap anyone could have drawn, you know, 13 years ago when we started making sideman videos.

1:08:39No human alive could have possibly brainstormed a way to selling out Wembley Stadium. And even if they did, perfectly would have looked at it and laughed and said, I think that's a bit ridiculous. And look at this. And the last game you scored, didn't you? I did. Yeah. Thank you. I did not expect to as well. I was just in the right place at the right time. I was like, oh, look at this. The one who was never selected for any team sports. Last pick for football every lunch at school, pretty much. Scoring at Wembley. Yeah. Look at this. That's testament to the journey. And I think that's what makes it so exciting and also so special.

1:09:17You can't write moments like that. You can't manufacture moments or journeys like that. They just have to take their natural course. No, no, not at all. At what point do you believe your parents were – at what point did they finally grasp the vision, right? Because they didn't when you were still in the home. Yeah. At what point did they grasp it? I think it started to kind of tick over when I would be out with them in public and people would come and ask to say hi. I think that gave it this very real tangible point But I would say that first kind of real big moment Was probably the first Sidemen charity match At Southampton Stadium And I mean for them it must have been very bizarre Because I'm like the kid they took to football training That clearly wasn't getting anywhere Clearly wasn't doing well but trying his best So I think maybe for them that was like a culmination of Wow there's all of these people These 12 ,000 people who've showed up to a stadium to watch him and all these guys play football.

1:10:24So that might have been the biggest visual representation of like, that is what 12 ,000 people looks like. Now it makes more sense. Yes. So. Yes, yes. One question that I'm dying to ask too is that when you have so many personalities, right? Big personalities. And you're growing in brand, in recognition, in income, right? How do you all, or actually I shouldn't say How do you deal with feeling as if maybe, for example, like if a joke is over the line? Right. Because there's always tension. There's always tension in groups. How do you manage that tension? I think we're all pretty open, which is nice.

1:11:11I think, yeah, we all like to, you know, poke fun at each other. it's the nature of the business, funnily enough. And it's very English in its nature. But I think, yeah, we've and especially as we've grown older, it's become a lot easier for us to come in and say, this was a bit far. This made me uncomfortable. This needs to be removed from the video or don't don't do stuff like this. And I think we've all learned to kind of respect that. And that's been really important. We have a lot of mutual respect for each other. and that's allowed any disputes to be solved fairly quickly. And most of us will just sit and talk with each other and that's how it works.

1:11:51And do you go directly to the person to have a conversation? Do you all sit down as a team and say, you know what, this was over the line, this needs to be removed? I think we have a group chat and kind of anything that we're discussing just kind of gets discussed. Or we used to have more meetings where we'd kind of all sit down together. but I wouldn't say there's been many things so big that they felt they needed kind of a full boardroom meeting over I think we know each other super well we've grown up together so we kind of we get a feeling for when things are not right maybe someone will step in in the middle and just be that middle point and and it's nice because there's so many of us you know depending on the issues someone can step in and be that correct person to just kind of help the situation mellow over and work through.

1:12:38So yeah, I think it's just a mutual respect and understanding and knowing each other well. Okay. Has there ever been content that you have regretted? Oh, that's a good question. I don't think so really. Maybe I, again, I watched something back and I think I didn't act in the quite correct way. But also that's part of why our content, I think is so interesting is because it's so real it's not scripted reactions are genuine to how I as a person will react to a situation true sometimes people don't like how a person reacts might be doing a cheap versus expensive holiday and I've been on the cheap side a bunch of times in a row so I'm gonna you know have a bit of a rage which is great because it's you know it's human and it's and also I'm usually kind of giving it a bit more and then some people will say oh the way he acted there was so ungrateful for the experience he's having but then also people say i find that so funny look at him crashing out this is hilarious so i think sometimes you i think about how i acted in certain situations and whether it would change that or not but there's never been something um that i've done in content where i've like i i wish that never went out or happened so yeah how much pressure do you feel today for content to perform because when I look at the budgets of some of the content that you're producing, I've seen that you're sometimes spending up to half a million pounds.

1:14:04That's our most expensive one. Is half a million pounds. Yeah. Do you feel pressure for this content to perform? I think being honest, yes, which is tough. We've been trying, especially in the last year or two, to reduce that expectation within all of us and make sure that primarily the content we think is fun and engaging because we always think that comes first. You can build content to be kind of mass attention grabbing and it can perform better, but is it better in the long run? It's like a sugary sweet. Some content's a sugary sweet and you can get lost chasing the sugary sweet. But I think, yeah, what we try to do as best we can is put the content first but you're right we have i mean including freelancers over 100 employees so big overheads big video budgets there has to be a balance between okay we need these videos to perform but i think at the moment we're at a fair enough sweet spot where we can go and have fun on our shoots and we've got a lot of people helping us kind of elevate them from a production quality standard okay um but like you say it's uh it's always a bit of both it it is and and so what i like what you're what you're describing here and what i feel like you're describing is you've emerged from a creator to an entrepreneur yeah right you are a shareholder of a large business we just painted how big the business is yeah so when you view yourself today your identity yes And I know there's music that we're going to talk about as well, but what would you say your identity is today?

1:15:49Yeah, it's several things, which is nice, which is fun. It's diverse. I am a content creator more than even a YouTuber now, I would say, which is kind of cool to say. I don't love the term influencer. I don't see you as an influencer, though. But I think also, I just think, yeah, I think, yeah, it's just I create content in any way I can. And I think influencers sometimes devalues. It's talking purely about the byproduct of the content. It's like, oh, this content gets lots of views, so it has lots of influence. You're an influencer, whereas for most of us, it's the creative process comes first.

1:16:29It's us. How can I create something good? And if I create something good, then it has influence. and I feel like yeah it's just an interesting one that I don't particularly love is people jump on the influence side as opposed to their creative side yes um in a means to kind of devalue I think anyway um but I see myself as that as one thing I see myself as a as a partner as a dog dad as someone who loves to travel and is lucky to have friends all over the world that I've met through this career that I want to go and spend time with. As a business owner, responsible for employees, as an investor, we also have one thing you missed on your list is we have our own venture capital fund that we started just over two years ago.

1:17:16Nice. Where we're investing into startups, seed and pre-seed companies that we believe in and also using our fund, our influence to support those um companies as well as our cash investment okay so that's also another job that i kind of lead on um which is funny that i ended up in finance from from playing video games in my bedroom um so that's wild yeah that's one part of it and then also there's this new facet which is the music and djing side which was another hobby that has turned into a side job for now and we'll see where it goes yeah but i'd like to think now a lot of different things which i think is healthy and good and i'm happy with that yes yes i could see that uh you're living a life that you probably never dreamt not even i couldn't have imagined 10 of it let alone the rest so yeah yeah very fortunate yeah it's incredible um i have to ask you obviously about KSI leaving.

1:18:14Yes. But here's what I want to know. I would have, well, you have to tell me if operationally anything changes. The six of us have said that we want to carry on making the content and we have the same team that we've built to help us deliver the content. So we are continuing making content and having a great time as the six of us, which is amazing because we did always say at one point we said, if one of us leaves, do then others leave. Does that end the sidemen? That was a complete unknown that arrived on our doorstep and there is no roadmap. There is no off-ramp. We never built an off-ramp. There was no on-ramp to the sidemen, so to speak.

1:18:55So yeah, fortunately, yeah, operationally, the sidemen is much the same, which is what we wanted. Hey there, I just want to say thank you for choosing We Need to Talk. Doing this podcast is one of the greatest joys of my life, and I want to continue to share it with you. So hit follow and the bell icon. It takes just a second, and it helps us to continue to grow this podcast.

1:19:24So now, with music, here's my biggest question. Is that, do you feel as if there's extra pressure placed on you? because you're coming into music as a creator first. Definitely, yeah. And what is that pressure that you feel? Oh, I think it's, I had to, well, I'm still learning the art in front of a large audience of people, which is a challenge. I, you know, again, as I said earlier, everything comes with a trade-off and that is part of my trade-off is that I wasn't able to kind of start DJing smaller rooms and build up and kind of, you know, really build up my skills as I kind of went on. I was thrown straight in the deep end.

1:20:18My first show was sold out Ministry of Sound London when I'd only ever DJ to myself in my bedroom. So I was horrified at the worst imposter syndrome ever. Thinking, what am I doing? This is going to be a mess. Turned out fine, was great, great vibes. Yes. But yeah, I think I will always have that slight, yeah, people will always have somewhat of an opinion that I've got to go a bit further to kind of to make it work. And that's what I'm trying to do because I genuinely enjoy it. OK, so when did you first fall in love with DJ? So I first fell in love with EDM Music. so a record label called Spinning Records and it must have been 2015 invited me to Miami Ultra Music Festival have you ever been to Ultra?

1:21:10I've never been to Ultra but my brother went to University of Miami so I've been to Miami a million times but yeah have you ever been to like an EDM festival EDC, Ultra? you know what in full transparency is EDM is a genre of music that I only have heard after I've gone to the after, after, after, after party. Like, I've never just listened to it. Interesting. Yeah, yeah. So tell me about it. So I went to this festival, and my job was to film it for my YouTube channel, which I did. And I had this artist kind of backstage access that the record label had set up for me. And I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

1:21:54this big Miami park, these huge stages, fireworks, DJs playing music that I was like, I really enjoy this music. I just completely fell in love with the scene and that music then. Yes. And again, I thought, well, okay, I'm going to try and go to as many of these as I can. So I went to Miami Ultra again the next year. I went to EDC in Las Vegas, went to Tomorrowland in Europe. And a Norwegian legendary producer and DJ by the name of Alan Walker became good friends with him also djs couldn't tour during lockdown very strange time for them we could still just about make videos but their entire livelihood was closed yes international travel was gone that was what they did they were in a different country every day yes and so they turned to video games and i was gaming with alan uh during lockdown we got to know each other through that then lockdown finished 2022 was going to tomorrowland he was playing a sunset slot on the main stage in front of 80 000 people that's incredible which is just amazing i think it was like my third or fourth time at tomorrowland and he sent me a message and he said hey i get one special guest on the main stage with me would you like to come and join me i'm thinking what of course but why sure um and we met with him at the festival got to know him a bit better he took me on stage with him there's all these people with the lights up and i'm looking out at a stage that i've stood in the crowd of four or five times thinking how on earth am i here behind the decks really special cool moment and then we came off the stage and alan basically said to me he said you clearly love the music i see you've been coming to these festivals you've met up at them over the years, you've already got an audience of people that will support you in what you're doing.

1:23:45So if you can learn to DJ and you can start learning to produce and work with some good people to make your own music, then you can see where it goes. Wow, look at that. And I couldn't say no. It was one of those moments. Yeah, but how in the world, Vic, do you balance now DJing and that career? I can see that's growing and I can see the passion. You lit up when you talked about being on stage. So I can see you're in that zone. You're basically running a VC firm. You have all of your other obligations with the Sidemen, content creation. How do you balance it all? So I think a big part of it is huge props to everyone that works on our team.

1:24:24So I've got Ryan who manages my music project. And the Sidemen, we have a big team that manage different areas of all of those projects. So that's really important. Something that I didn't understand early on. and the sidemen were very much build your team bigger, go further, vibes from early on. And I was very much in the mindset, I need to save all the money I'm making here. I can't be paying out all of this. But obviously it lets you build something much more impactful and cool. Great advice. Great advice. And that's a big part of how it's possible. And then also I'm a bit obsessive with details.

1:25:00So I've been trying to line things up. So, for example, I had a friend's wedding in Australia. And then the week before we had Sidemen filming in Southeast Asia in Thailand. So I booked a show in Thailand while I was there with the Sidemen. Then I carried on to Australia and played four shows during the F1 while I was over there. So with a bit of kind of strategic rooting, I can make it work. And also I'm only taking DJ shows that I'm kind of excited to do rather than taking shows, multiple shows a week and kind of running myself to the ground doing it. I'm trying to just keep it majority as kind of a passion project.

1:25:42And yeah, that's kind of how I'm doing it. But so it's a lot of balancing and when it's stuff you love, it never feels like work. I'm sure it's the same for you with the podcast. Yeah, it's the same. You know, with all the projects I do, I'm with you. But at the same time, the balance is so hard. Because, for example, last year I was running around doing a million different things. And I went to the dentist. The dentist was like, Paul, your molar is completely cracked. And it's because you're stressed. Oh, wow. And I realized that I was not managing my stress well. And this is where I wanted to get into, if we can talk about Crohn's disease.

1:26:21Yes. because one thing that I've noticed about in my research with Crohn's is how fatiguing it can be. Yes. So I'd love to hear from you. How do you manage Crohn's with everything that you're doing? And also for anyone who's unaware of what Crohn's disease is, what is it? Yeah. So Crohn's is an autoimmune condition where for whatever reason, the immune system attacks cells in the gut that it thinks are foreign so it kills them and it can cause a lot of damage it can cause a lot of knock-on symptoms that are not pleasant at all and it's kind of like the food you eat is the fuel for your body so if you're not digesting it properly if you've got issues with your gut it can have all these knock-on effects the kind of fatigue nausea gastrointestinal discomfort, bleeding, all of the unfortunate symptoms.

1:27:19And yeah, it's tough, I'll be honest. And I think especially because it's an invisible condition, that's one of the most challenging things. And also it's a lifelong condition. There's no cure for it. So those are all difficult things that were difficult for me to process. I was kind of denial for quite a while. It's something that's difficult to get fully diagnosed because it's not properly understood yet. Can I ask, how old were you when you were diagnosed? It would have been around four, well, my symptoms started four or five years ago, and I was probably formally diagnosed around three years ago.

1:28:01Oh, wow. So this is recent. Yeah, yeah. And that's how it works. It can come on at any point. It can just, and maybe i'm also thinking back maybe i always had some slight issues but it became a real problem i was hospitalized i was i had a few months where i or like about a month or two where i really couldn't eat very much um and so you were hospitalized hospitalized for yeah for a few days just just from just intense pain and i couldn't really eat without feeling pain and that was not great that was kind of a and it flares so it can kind of come and go um so that was really difficult I think there was a sideman video shortly afterwards where we were doing a traveling video and we'd been running around filming all day I'd been like living off snacks and we arrived in Istanbul and I just said I cannot I'm just like I'm in pieces and so we kind of stopped our video there and flew home uh the next morning one I do have to kind of try and look after myself more so So in the early years, I was super unhealthy, but I do try and make sure I'm getting enough sleep.

1:29:06I exercise well. I'm trying to be really careful with my diet. Medication is super helpful. And I think for a lot of time I was kind of in denial and I was like, do I really have this autoimmune condition? Maybe if I just eat a bit cleaner, maybe if I just sleep a bit more, rest a bit more, it's going to go away. You kind of it's you hang on to like that hope. Yes. And it's bizarre as well, because it's not like when you get. that stomach bug or like I broke this collarbone. It's like, okay, it's going to suck for a while, but then it will get better and you're fine. It took a while for me to get around the head sense of there is no known cure for this.

1:29:44So I need to kind of address it, tackle it, deal with it. And fortunately, it took a few medications. I found one that did work and it controlled the majority of my symptoms of the illness, but also horrible side effects which is and it led me to kind of think okay maybe i'm gonna stop taking this because of the side effects is quite recently and then all of the illness symptoms came back and it's it can be super frustrating because you're kind of thinking there's no there's nothing perfect for this yes um i'm gonna go on to a new autoimmune medication hopefully soon, which hopefully works better.

1:30:26That's the nice thing is the science is developing. They're starting to understand it more. They're developing more immune therapies. And I've kind of accepted I need some sort of medication because I've tried everything I can, which is also so frustrating because you think I'm going to live and eat so clean, so healthy, and it's not enough. And I think a lot of people suffer with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis or other autoimmune illnesses, and they all tend to be pretty invisible. It's stuff inside you that's not working. So one, it's very easy for people that aren't you to look at you and go, why are you being so lazy?

1:31:03Why are you sat down? Why are you not giving it 100 %? And sometimes in your head, you think, what actually, yeah, I am just, maybe I didn't sleep enough last night. You kind of almost want to give yourself excuses that aren't the illness and you can't see the illness. You can't measure the illness. Yes. So I think and I would imagine, too, for one thing that I've definitely picked up in this conversation is you have prided yourself on productivity. Yeah. So for you to be taken out because of this illness. Yeah. That must be even more excruciatingly hard for you to deal with. It is. But a kind of a few years ago, I realized that I had to take some of the focus off my work and build stuff that wasn't my work.

1:31:50And if I was solely focused on my work and going through when I was going through the worst of my Crohn's, it would have. I don't know. I would have really struggled to deal with that at the point where I was working 24-7 around the clock. Had I had my worst symptoms then, you get dealt the hand you're dealt. But I guess what I also want to show and why I talk about it is because I think you can still continue to achieve. Sometimes you feel defeated by the illness, but I've learned I have to do the testing. I have to try different medications. I have to deal with side effects of medications. and it has got better and it can get better.

1:32:24Not entirely. Maybe one day. I'm hopeful for science and, you know, maybe that's the one thing I'm rooting for AI to crack the code on sooner or later. But I think what's important about you talking about your crones is that you're admittedly saying, hey, I'm still trying to figure it out. Yeah. Just like your music. You're like, I'm going to learn in front of you. Yeah. And I think there's a level of courage that you have to have in order to do that. So I applaud you for that. Thank you. But also, again, I think it's important for people to also a lot of people don't even understand what an autoimmune illness is.

1:33:02That's what I might say. They have Crohn's. They go, oh, you've got a bit of a bad stomach. Is that it? And it's like hospital trips and can often lead to bowel cancer as well. and we're seeing a huge rise in young people with bowel cancers. Actually, a good friend of my wife, 28, was recently diagnosed with an early stage bowel cancer. Fortunately, they caught it early. She's had surgery to remove the tumor and is in remission of the cancer now. But I guess it's another reason to talk about it is, you know, it's something that a lot of people, they don't talk about gut issues, but I guess it's also this is my chance to tell people if something is not right have it looked at and make sure that you're you're kind of fine because it's it's also it's it's sometimes inappropriate to talk about toilet habits and your gut and what's going on with food and people don't want to go and talk to a doctor about it but if you do have a condition an autoimmune condition or you do have a cancer or you know early stages of a cancer yes it's something that is so preventable if caught early so yeah I feel like given my experience I need to talk about that this is so important because also before you were you know in preparation for you coming here I thought to myself you know how prevalent is Crohn's you know and from the research I see one in every 350 people yeah yeah that's a that's prevalent and I would suspect most don't know yeah you You know, because to your point, it is there could be bleeding or a pain that they're dealing with that they don't verbalize.

1:34:44Yeah. And so I think your story is very compelling in that. No, talk to someone about it. 100 percent. And also, I think I think it's a weird thing to say, but don't be afraid of going on to medication. Because for so much time, I wanted the mildest of medication. And I thought I'm going to I'm going to beat this myself. and it kind of I mean took a long process for me to kind of realize no I need the medication and it is it did treat my Crohn's symptoms so yes and you know it can be wrong for some people it can be right for other people it's not a perfect science so to speak and often medicine is given in cases where it isn't needed and that was always my concern because I was like I don't want to be given you know a hugely biologically altering medicine that I don't need but clearly I did need it but i just didn't want to hear what the doctors were saying and i was like maybe it's something else maybe it's um so that's just my experience and yeah i don't i'm i'm not a medical advisor obviously speak to your medical people first yeah i think the message here is is is is talk to someone yeah that's the key yeah yeah don't keep it to yourself yeah yeah can i ask you i have to ask you about the social media ban yes right and and the reason why i i ask you about this is because they're obviously the UK's instituted a social media ban for ages 16 and under.

1:36:08Yes. And what I realize looking at your career is that if that ban was in place, quite potentially, you would not be where you are today. Correct. Yes. So what's your opinion on the ban it's actually funnily a mixed opinion and that is because yes on the on the positive there's so many great young people doing fantastic stuff with social media but at the same time it's changed so much in the life that i've lived on social media since its inception to where it is now to where i can understand why they think the solution is to ban it i don't think the solution is to ban it. But the way the algorithm feeds short form content based on scrolling patterns, its own idea of your interest, you know, I think it's not a healthy form of content to consume.

1:37:02And I say that myself as someone who's an adult, but as a young child consuming that content, I can't imagine for a lot of people, it's very good. So I understand that maybe an extreme system needs to be put in place to protect those people who are going to fall victim to it being bad for them. But where do you draw the line? I don't know the answer. I don't think it's good or bad. And I'm saying that as someone with this huge UK audience under the age of 16. So potentially a massive, massive, you know, dent in career and earnings. But at the same time, I can understand why the government want to put it in place.

1:37:47Right. Right. No, no. It's interesting. I didn't even think about that piece as well. The fact that you have a massive audience under the age of 16. Correct. So that is going to definitely impact. Yes. Your business. Correct. Yeah. um but i mean yeah it's it's a tricky one because i do think it's and it's changed so much even from when we started making content we all you had was long-form content that's where we told our stories that's where we became who we were and now there has been this pivot to our long-form content should really have short-form clippable moments because that is what is so much in demand but at the same time, I think how long this podcast is.

1:38:29You tell a real story in time. You can't tell it in seven seconds. And I do worry, you know, where short form content is going to take us in general. Yes, yes. What do you believe you still have to prove and to whom? I'd like to think and say nothing. I don't know if that's, is that ever the case? You always want to prove something, but I can't tangibly think about I want to I really you know I want to tick that off I would absolutely love to do that it's kind of almost at this point I try and look at everything everything's a blessing every next step I make I feel like I'm happy that I've achieved enough with what I was given and been able to have so much freedom and do so much fun and cool stuff but now every next step is just just a blessing so I don't have anything where I'm like I want to go and make that happen.

1:39:20It's never been kind of my mindset, really. So I want to show you this one last thing. Okay. All right, ready for it? Another photo. Okay, you're right. Yeah, it is good. I like the real photo as well. So much of stuff is on screens nowadays. The real photo, what I've noticed is a photo in your hand allows you to reflect in a way and slow down in a way that we just don't do enough. So that's exactly what I want you to do. Okay. this photo ah i want you to describe what's happening in this photo yeah and then i want you to tell me the message that you now as a 30 year old man yeah have for this little boy okay here's a fun one so yeah this is this is me i think at a school assembly playing the violin and this is probably yeah the the younger vic that we talked about who's just he's just trying his best you know he's not playing the coolest instrument in the world i did learn the piano and drums so they were the drums was the one that was called violin violin not very cool but i was trying my best it was a challenge but i was learning it and what would i tell this vic see this is tricky because i think my genuine i think it would be nice to say all of the lessons that i've learned which is get out of your comfort zone, be confident, take risks, learn as you go, trial and error.

1:40:52But at the same time, I feel like giving myself that might have changed everything. I think everything worked out well. So my genuine advice to myself would be keep doing what you're doing. It's maybe just it's going to work out and then I would end up hopefully here. But isn't that crazy? The butterfly effect, right? I could tell him something and he could send it all west. He can go off. Yeah. Is there something, though, that that little Vic you think needed that could be just a little whisper? Again, I'm going to say no because he made it work. He did. That's the thing. So he didn't need anything else, and anything else may have potentially led him astray a different path that wouldn't have worked out so well.

1:41:38So, yeah, I'm very fortunate to be sat in a position where I can say I wouldn't give myself too many words. And I think the things that I said or the lessons that I've tried to say that I've learned, I would apply them to anyone else, but not myself because it seemed to work. That's interesting. And maybe you have to learn the lesson yourself. Maybe being told the lesson isn't enough. Maybe that's what life is. You have to experience the lesson to really learn from it. And that's where you grow. That's it. All right. That I'll take. That I'll take. There we go. Thank you. I appreciate it. can I have this?

1:42:12You can have this back. He's like, I don't want that. I'm doing festivals right now. Right. All right. So the last, last question, this is everyone gets this question. Okay. It's my favorite question is if you think through all of the conversations you've had in life. Okay. I know you've had some incredible conversations. Tell me which one stands out to you the most. Who was the conversation with? Okay. And what did you learn? Okay. You're going to have to sit and think for a minute or two. I've had a few conversations. Just a few in my life. Just a few. I can imagine. Just a few in my life. I can imagine.

1:42:49Oh, one. If I could pin it to one conversation. Wow. I'm going to have to, I've got too many boxes to fill with kind of different ideas. My life has so many different areas. But I think given that we've talked a lot about my career, if I had to think about one conversation that I had about my career that was really important was, interestingly, it was a conversation with my mum. And when I wanted to start my gap year, she made me almost write a little contract to myself, just saying that I would kind of continue to make videos every day, I would continue to enjoy, I would try and make it work.

1:43:33And I think that conversation was really important to kind of have that as I started this chapter where I was taking this risk to be given that accountability to continue to show up and force it to work at some point so in terms of my career I'd say that was maybe one of the most important conversations but in reality it was a string of conversations across months but I do remember that moment where I kind of said I'm doing this I'm going to continue to enjoy and make videos every day Yes, yes. I love it. I love it. I find this question so interesting because typically people go to, they've had lots of great conversations, right?

1:44:09They'll go to a conversation with a loved one, like a mom or a grandparent, and just recollect something so simple, but yet profound. You know, I really enjoyed this. There's lots of nuggets that I'm taking personally that have inspired me. Definitely just looking at the next level opposed to 10 levels down the road. I love that. But to me, your story stands as this 14-year-old boy who was really searching for identity. Yeah. And I can see that your identity has been forged through your success, through all of your challenges. Yeah. Right? But most importantly is you have had to live through them.

1:45:00Yeah. And that is exactly the advice that you, in essence, gave your younger self. Yeah. And that, to me, that's what stands the most. And it's interesting because you're 30. You're a young guy. Like, you are. And so I can't imagine what – I know you don't want to think about the next 30. You just want to think about 31. But I can't imagine what the next 30 is going to be. It's going to be incredible for you. There's lots of learning to do. Yeah, yeah, a lot. So, Vic, I appreciate it. No, thank you. And I've also learned about myself through your questioning, because these are so many thoughts that you never have to put into words.

1:45:37So thank you for, yeah, exploring the story with me. Yeah, you are welcome. You're welcome. Thank you. Appreciate it. Vic Star 123. I respected that Vic came here during this time where a lot of people have questions, especially around KSI, leaving the Sidemen. But he did a great job of holding to his boundaries, but at the same time explaining to us that this was an unplanned event. However, they have now created a plan to continue. And so for anyone who ever had a question around, will the side men continue, Vic answered that today. He seems to me to be highly disciplined. And I think that's the secret to his success is how disciplined he is.

1:46:28You know, when you think about how many, how consistently he said, you know, when he was, when he passed on, on university, how he committed to doing a video every day. And he went eight years doing the video, sometimes multiple times per day. That requires a level of discipline of showing up that many of us can't do. I was 16, made like a million quid. Tommy Innit, you are one of the most followed people in the world. It was the most amazing thing, and then it really backfired. We had the police around and my mum was crying. That was very scary.

1:47:05Start making these videos, I got a taste. And I was like, oh, I want more of that. That was genuinely the last moment in my life that things felt like real. And I was like, just watching myself make the most money I've made. Keep it a big secret and no one at school knows. So the day of reckoning came. All of my self-esteem was leaning on this thing, I'm the most popular person ever. That was the worst feeling in the world because I'm still on this treadmill, but I'm not really running for nothing anymore. And at this point as well, I'm finding it really hard to navigate. So every week I'm having a call with a different YouTuber, KSI, MrBeast, Logan Paul.

1:47:39It appeared as if there was this brotherhood. Well, because we're all misfits. We don't fit in and then we're all helping each other. That night, I had a call that like Techno had died. I loved him. He was a hero of mine and he was a friend. At that point on, the world lost some of its colour. Thank you for being a voice that says it's okay not to be okay. On that note, I have a little surprise for you.

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