is to make a living, than you're doing it wrong.

I don't really like the word inspiration.

I like the word motivation.

It's not how you tell it, it's what you tell.

Life shrinks and expands in direct proportion

to one's willingness to take on risk.

When you don't know the way,

it's that you have to find the way.

One of my most watched videos

it was shot terribly on a mobile phone.

There will always be someone who's better at

whatever you're doing than you are.

I always do my best to operate without fear.

And the irony here is that this video was like huge.

This is before YouTube.

This is when viral meant like chlamydia in a frat house.

You only get like a nugget of time

to really pursue the things you care about.

- He's an American film director, producer, designer

and popular YouTube creator.

- He's the co-founder of a

social media company called Beme.

- He and his brother are the founders

of the HBO series, The Neistat Brothers.

- He's Casey Neistat and here are

his top 10 rules for success.

- I always made a living so I could make movies.

I never made movies to try and make a living

and I think that's a big mistake

that a lot of newcomers do is that they focus

on how can my passion pay me.

And I think that's a terrible place to start.

If the reason why you're doing anything creative

is to make a living, then you're doing it wrong.

You get into it because it's a true passion.

It's something you really believe in.

Or don't get into at all.

What inspires me, you know I don't really like

the word inspiration.

I like the motivation cause I think the working part

always matters more than the inspiration part.

Work is always more important than the idea.

And as far as motivation...

You know I'm motivated by everything around me.

I'm motivated by my kid.

I'm motivated by other people's work.

I'm motivated by the people that I work with.

I'm like a sponge, I absorb the motivation to do my work

from everything around me.

Well I think the key to vlogging well,

and I think this is true to writing to filmmaking

to any sort of creative capacity.

Any sort of field in the creative capacity,

is that it's not how you tell it, it's what you tell.

So it never has anything to do with what camera

you shoot on-- - Yep, yep

totally. - It doesn't have to do

with camera tricks or high production or low production.

It's what you're saying.

That is the only thing that anyone

will ever respond to.

So the advice I give to newcomers

or to aspiring filmmakers or YouTubers

is that shift all of your focus

from how to do it to what you're doing.

What is it that you want to communicate?

- Yeah. - What drives you?

And if that's what your focus is,

I think you'll be a much more effective

sort of communicator

and creator. - Yeah.

- Then if you're someone who obsesses over

what lens they should be

shooting on. - Yeah, yeah.

- When I look back at my career, I see all of these tangents

and the tangents that have always yielded success

were the ones where there was no established path.

No defined route for me to take.

But I went down it anyways.

And through that kind of exploration,

I always discovered something new.

And those new things, those new entities,

whether they be movies or ideas

or things in my personal life,

have always proven to be the most rewarding for me.

Life shrinks and expands in direct proportion

to one's willingness to take on risks.

And I think when it comes to exploring

the act of exploration is the act of assuming risk.

The greater risk takers the greater explorer.

I never went to film school.

I never sort of apprenticed under a filmmaker.

I was never taught.

I never had a mentor.

I never had anybody that I followed.

And the interesting thing that happens

when you don't know the way

is that you have to find the way.

And I always get to the destination,

which are these finished movies.

But the path with which I employ

is radically different from what's the norm.

And again, that's not some...

I don't take credit for that as some genius stylistic move.

It's just I don't know, like...

I still don't know how to do proper titles, titling.

Like my assistant editor did those titles

which is why most of the movies on my YouTube channel

all the titles are just handwritten on paper

and then the piece of paper's filmed.

Cause I don't know how to do it right.

I don't know how to do After Effects.

So all my animation is like stop frame.

And now sort of in success, I have the opportunities

to use all of the tools that were always so elusive to me.

So now it's a much more conscious decision

to maintain this sort of handmade aesthetic.

I think now that so much media is consumed on mobile...

The cinematography, the cinematic aspects

are being marginalized.

And what's taking it's place is sort of

a more relatable story.

I think people, one of my most watched videos

was shot terribly on a mobile phone.

But the story is so poignant that 13 or 14 million people

still elected to see it.

So I think there will always be a place

and an appreciation for really high quality

cinematic production appeal.

But there's a new place that's being presented

that mobile has presenting that we'll forgive

short comings in production provided that the story's there.

Provided the content is something people care about.

There are two rules that I always adhere to

and that is to work hard and be brave.

And I think the essence of hard work

is one that's pretty straight forward is that

you'll never be the best looking,

you'll never be the tallest, most talented, most capable.

You'll never have the most money.

There will always be someone who's better

at whatever you're doing than you are.

But you can always be the hardest working

person in the room.

And I think the hardest working person will always win.

Right after the HBO show aired

I produced two feature films that were big hits.

They premiered at like Cannes Film Festival and Sundance and

I like got an award that Natalie Portman gave me

on TV that my dad watched.

And it was like a big, big deal.

And I just like, I remember having this moment

where I realized that like I was so deep into this thing

that wasn't really, it didn't feel right to me.

And it's different trying to find opportunities

when you are in a place of success,

when you're in a place of comfort.

Like I was no longer starving.

I wasn't hungry anymore.

I had some recognition.

But something didn't feel right

and that was when I took this big pivot

and that pivot was to like, you know what

it's not the politics.

It's not the Natalie Portman giving me the award.

It's not the schmoozing that I love.

I love telling stories, telling stories is my passion.

And that was when I decided to sort of walk away from TV

and walk away from movies.

And I just wanted to make YouTube videos.

And I remember like my big Hollywood agent

when I sort of told that to him he was like,

"Oh God, Casey no."

You know, this was four years ago.

YouTube, five years ago now.

YouTube was nothing, it was something that was silly.

It was like a really great place to go

and watch cats play the piano.

And I wanted to like parlay my career

as a very successful filmmaker into that.

And I can't tell you the opportunities

that were birthed from that.

It's given me what I have today.

That's opportunity.

Those are opportunities.

Those are opportunities that in the moment

I couldn't have told you were opportunities.

I didn't know what they were.

There was something that just felt right.

There was something that looked right.

I did my best calculations.

I took my best guess.

It wasn't reckless.

I never operate recklessly and this is an important

differentiation between recklessness and fearlessness.

I always do my best to operate without fear.

Don't not do something.

Don't skip something cause I'm afraid to do it.

But make sure it's a smart decision.

And then part two of that is obligation.

I feel obliged to embrace opportunities like that.

I felt obliged to quit my job.

I felt obliged to walk away from HBO.

And the obligation was because there was something in me.

There was a truth that I wanted.

And the obligation was to embrace that.

The first movie we made that anybody saw was in 2003.

And this is a good story for Eddie Lampour.

The talk yesterday about biting the hand that feeds you.

So in 2002 I think, Apple came out with the iPod.

And in 2003, my iPod battery died.

And I called up, I was like dead broke at the time.

It was a present and I called up Apple to fix it

and they were like, "Just buy a new one."

And it really pissed me off.

So I called them back but I recorded the phone call.

And...

And this is at the time, I know.

This was at the time when Apple had those like,

awesome like, those silhouette with the colors posters

all over New York City.

I mean the whole city was covered in them.

So I recorded the phone call and then my brother Van and I

went around with this stencil

and we spray painted, "iPods unreplaceable battery

"lasts only 18 months."

On every one of these in New York City.

(audience laughs)

And we didn't think, I mean sure we were wise asses

but we just thought we'd educate the masses.

Like if Apple wasn't going to do it, we thought we would.

And the irony here is that this video was like huge.

This is before YouTube.

This is when viral meant like

chlamydia in a frat house, like.

This thing was huge.

Like this was emailed all over the place.

Millions of views.

Steve Jobs sending me hate mail.

And then like a week later, Apple changed the policy

and they were like, "Yeah we were going to do it anyways."

(audience laughs)

Which is great but again, this video

brought a lot of eyeballs to my brother and me.

And people got to see all these other little stupid videos

that we'd been making for years.

And I tried to like find some press for you guys.

This is seven years ago, so I couldn't really find.

But this is some of that.

And anyhow, it brought a lot of attention to us.