At 13, Jimmy Donaldson was already uploading videos to YouTube. The early years were not exactly glamorous. He posted hundreds of videos and often got very few views. He and other creators also spent time studying the platform, looking at audience retention, the algorithm and thumbnail design. That obsession with how YouTube worked became part of the foundation for what came next. Then came January 2017, when Donaldson decided to do something that sounds ridiculous on paper. He started counting to 100,000 on camera. The filming did not take a few hours. It went on for 40 straight hours. Donaldson later explained that he wanted to binge-watch Game of Thrones and Naruto, but felt guilty about spending that time without earning money. Counting let him do both.
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