i can't believe this happened.

What's up you guys? It's Graham here. So I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you watching, especially the notification squad who smashes the like button and comments down below for the YouTube algorithm before even watching the video. Thank you!

There are very few times in my life where I'm just left absolutely speechless, and this is one of them. In fact, this whole thing just seems like this surreal computer-generated matrix that I'm about to wake up from at any moment because this shouldn't be happening. We just hit 1 million subscribers! What the is going on right now? Like, to put that into perspective, within the personal finance niche, there are only a few channels that have ever surpassed 1 million subscribers.

You have Gary Vee at 2.3 million, Dan Locke at 1.8 million, Patrick Beth David at 1.5 million, Tai Lopez at 1.3 million, my arch rival and credit-card nemesis Dave Ramsey at 1.2 million, you have Grant Cardone at 1.1 million, and then you got this channel! That's just crazy to me because I started doing all of this less than three years ago, filming videos in my garage, editing them myself on iMovie after work, and I had no idea what I was doing.

So I'd go and look up iMovie tutorials on YouTube to figure out what to do on that, and I was spending way too much time answering all the comments because it was just so much fun. And now somehow, by a stroke of luck, we're joining some of these huge public figures that I have looked up to before even making my first YouTube videos. That's just absurd!

I owe this to every single one of you who has made this channel what it is today because this channel is not just me. It's with the help of you that we've been able to cultivate such a supportive, tight-knit community of people, not only interested in improving themselves financially but also becoming the best versions of themselves that they could be. And it's crazy to think about how all of this started because the catalyst for all of this, and the single reason why you are here today watching this video right now, is from a video posted seven years ago by Rob Dom about what he did for a living to afford a Lamborghini Diablo.

Yes, that one single video was the one that inspired me to want to make YouTube videos. I watched that video back in 2012 when I had just turned 22 years old, and I found that video insanely inspirational and relatable. This is before the whole Tai Lopez in my garage Lamborghini stuff. This is before all the sleazy YouTube salespeople who try to get you to join their webinar—their live webinar, by the way, if it just happens to start in two minutes, even though it's like 3:42 in the morning. It's like, come on, what do they expect?

No, Rob Dom was one of the first, if not the first, people on YouTube just to give constructive, honest, and truthful business advice just because he felt like it, with no ulterior motive whatsoever. It was just transparent. It was genuine, and that stuck with me because of how rare that advice was to see. It was at that point too that I really realized that there's such a huge demand and huge market for this type of advice on YouTube.

This is something that I really wanted to do, but I also thought to myself, why would anyone ever want to watch me or care about what I have to say? I am just going to make an idiot of myself. I'm going to embarrass myself. There's no point. I don't even have the personality for this. I'm just... I'm just not gonna do it. And I really believed that so much so that almost five years ago, I posted a thread on Reddit asking if I was able to invest in a YouTube channel and how to go about doing that.

I'm gonna read some of this word-for-word: "I don't have the personality, balls, or charisma to start my own channel. I am not the type that would do well in front of the camera." But thankfully, after years of doubting myself, I just finally got to the point where I just said, "Get! I'm going to film a YouTube video and I'm gonna get over my fear about putting myself out there."

So from that, I filmed my first video completely spur the moment. I had no professional equipment, I had no mic, I had no lighting. It was just me talking to my iPhone in front of a window for 20 minutes. I had no idea what I was doing or how to even edit a video, so I went on YouTube and I typed in iMovie tutorial, and I just kind of figured it out as I went along.

All I wanted to do was be able to provide honest, authentic, realistic, and practical investing in real estate advice for just anyone who would want to listen. So I went ahead and posted my first video the day after Christmas, December 26, 2016. And that single video changed absolutely everything. Like within the first few days, the video got like 10 or 20 views, and that to me at the time was just insane.

Like I was just blown away that some complete strangers around the world had taken the time out of their day to click on my video and watch it and hit the like button, of course. And that just gave me the confidence to think like, wait a second, maybe people actually do want to watch this and maybe I can actually go ahead and do this and it's not as scary as what I thought.

So from that, I just continued posting and continued posting and continued posting. I would be working full-time as a real estate agent, five to six days a week, working until about 7 p.m. each night, and then after that, I would be making YouTube videos until about 1 to 2 o'clock in the morning. And I would just repeat that over and over and over again.

I just really enjoyed making videos, and I had so much fun coming up with cool topics. I just really used this as a creative outlet for me to talk about and express my thoughts to anyone that would want to listen. I never in a million years expected it to be where it is today, and that's why I'm in such shock that this is actually happening.

So if there's any takeaway that I've learned from all of this, it's just this. Now, the first one is to always be honest, put longevity, integrity, and transparency above everything else. I hate to say it, but this whole make-money-online niche is full of so many dishonest, sleazy people willing to do absolutely anything to get you to part from your money, and I find that very disappointing.

So I just chose to focus on making the types of videos that I myself would want to watch with no hidden agenda. I just really wanted to be able to post a video and feel proud of it, knowing that that was the type of information I wish I had access to when I was younger. Then at the very least, if someone found it helpful, then it gave me purpose knowing that I was able to make a positive impact on someone else's life.

Now secondly, I chose to share absolutely everything on this channel. Yes, I'm completely open about what this channel makes and what I'm investing in and why. But I also believe that personal finance is so much more than just looking at numbers on a computer screen. I really believe personal finance encompasses so many other aspects of our life—from relationships to our confidence to our failures, to our mistakes, and everything else that goes into making who you are today.

So I pretty much win at the channel with the mindset that I am an open book. I'm going to be completely honest about my personal life, my hardships, my failures, and everything I've been through along the way. Whatever you want to know, I will talk about it. The third, I really believe that we're all in this together, and whatever I learn or figure out along the way, I share. This isn't just my journey here; it's all of ours, and we're all a part of it.

We, as people, can do so much more with the help and collaboration of everyone around us than we can by ourselves, and that has been my mindset from the very beginning. The fourth, be appreciative. Even though I have worked my ass off to post three videos a week for almost three years, all on my own while working full-time as a real estate agent, I am not naive to think that I did this all by myself.

This is all very much a group effort because you're watching this channel right now. Yes, you! I'm specifically talking to you right now. You have made this channel what it is today, and if it wasn't for you and your support, none of this would be here. And fifth, I really believe it's just so important to absolutely love what you do.

I found that people can really tell when you're passionate and excited about something, and it really shows through in the type of work that you do. Something as small as that makes the biggest difference. And you know what they say, choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. Like I never saw these videos as a job. I just found it as a way that I can nerd out about topics I was really interested in: credit cards and buying duplexes and 20-cent iced coffee and try to get people to smash the like button.

That's all I've been trying to do, and it's so much fun! And today, all of that has led us to this exact point in time where we've now just crossed the 1 million subscriber milestone. And I just want to say a huge thank you, a sincere, honest thank you for everything that you've done because obviously, you're just as much a part of this as I am.

I am just so grateful that we can continue doing our best to make personal finance and investing fun and interesting, and I can continue sharing my experiences and what I learn along the way. I'm never going to go against my own morals and my intuition. I'm always going to stay true to myself and the integrity of the channel, and I will always do my best to try to get people interested in improving their credit score, to house hack by buying a duplex, to drink 20-cent iced coffee, and as always have to say it—smash the like button!

And if there's anything I want to end this video with, it's just this: don't ever believe that you can't do something, ever. I am a perfect example of someone who didn't believe I could ever be here today, and in less than three years after trying, here we are. Going back that day and making that decision to go outside of my comfort zone has easily been the best decision I have ever made in my entire life and has opened up so many doors because of it.

It's how I met some of my best friends. It's how I met some of my idols that I have always looked up to and aspired to be, and it's forever changed my life. So if there's anything that you've wanted to do but you felt like you just can't do it or you're not good enough, just please, please trust me when I say this: you have what it takes and you can do it, and you just need to try.

I really believe that if you put your mind to something, and you want it bad enough, and you really stick with it and you don't give up, you could do absolutely anything, and this whole situation is just a perfect example of that. Like this is something I never could have imagined would ever be a reality. Here we are today! I'm gonna celebrate by going out right now and getting a Starbucks.

I know I always preach the $0.20 iced coffee, but we're celebrating right now. I'm gonna pay for a Starbucks. Let's go get Starbucks!

So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for everything. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you! I can't say thank you enough, for real. And if you ever see me, by the way, on the street, you could just literally say, "You're welcome, Graham," and I’d give you your thumbs up because—thank you! Seriously, thank you!

I don't even know how to end this video with like these cheesy plugs, but if you want to subscribe, make sure to subscribe, hit the notification bell. Don't add me on Instagram if you want to add me there; I post pretty much daily. So if you want to be a part of it, feel free, be a part of it! Add me on my second channel, The Graham Stephan Show. I post there every single day, don’t post here, so that means if you want to see me every single day, you could just add me there.

Ah jeez, thanks again for watching, and until next time!