I interviewed James Hobson aka the Hacksmith about the struggles and cost of being YouTube's real life Iron Man. Thanks .Store for sponsoring. Get your branded .Store domain for your merch store for $0.99: https://www.created.store/jon (code: JON)

Join my newsletter for latest creator news & tips: https://created.news

Join my Discord of 5,500 creators helping each other grow: https://discord.com/invite/created

We also discussed the struggle of running a business on YouTube, how James has sold millions of dollars in mini sabers, built Captain America's shield and real life light sabers, and what actually went into creating videos like John Wick’s Bulletproof Suit, Thor’s Stormbreaker, Self Healing Wolverine Claws, and 4000° Plasma Proto-Lightsaber Build.

Special thank you to Danny Bui, Pouya Mirzaei, and the Origin Films team for filming this interview and our Hacksmith Studio Tour. Highly recommend working with them if you're ever in Toronto.

0:00 - 0:50 Who Is The Hacksmith?
0:50 - 3:20 How Hacksmith Makes (And Spends) Money
3:20 - 5:02 Building World’s First Lightsaber
5:02 - 6:50 Quitting Job For YouTube
6:50 - 10:27 Struggle of Running a YT Business
10:27 - 12:44 How Can You Inspire…If You Go Broke?
12:44 - 17:37 $100K To Make A Video
17:37 - 20:37 Creating Because You Have To, Not Want To
20:37 - 26:31 Quitting YouTube
26:31 - 33:00 Growing Too Fast, Too Quickly
33:00 - 40:12 Lessons From Grant Thompson (The King of Random)
40:12 - 48:49 Hero vs. Hub Content
48:49 - 56:22 Hacksmith Income Breakdown
56:22 - 1:07:32 Problems With Hollywood (John Wick’s Bulletproof Suit)
1:07:32 - 1:11:56 Selling $1M of Mini-Sabers In A Week
1:11:56 - 1:18:23 Building World’s First Cordless Lightsaber
1:18:23 - 1:23:06 What Makes A Good Video?
1:23:06 - 1:32:39 MrBeast’s Advice To Hacksmith
1:32:39 - 1:36:14 Creator Burnout & Fears
1:36:14 - 1:38:27 Future of Hacksmith Industries
1:38:27 - 1:41:44 Inspiring Fans to Become Engineers