TubeTalk: Your YouTube How-To Guide

How JerryRig Everything Turned Teardowns Into A Mission

• vidIQ

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 51:18

Send us Fan Mail

Get an exclusive price for vidIQ! https://vidiq.com/podcast

Want a 1 on 1 coach? https://vidiq.ink/theboost1on1

Join our Discord! https://www.vidiq.com/discord

Watch the video here https://youtu.be/0CGO__r3hDM

We sit down with Zach Nelson of JerryRig Everything to trace how a broke college repair job turns into a global tech channel that can survive controversy, internet backlash, and constant change. We dig into the decisions behind his durability tests, his approach to money and sponsors, and why he’s pouring YouTube revenue into making wheelchairs dramatically more affordable.

• starting on YouTube by filming real repairs and learning through volume 
• moving from Jeep content to phone repairs to expand audience size 
• switching to durability tests as repairability declines and phones get glued shut 
• going full-time through AdSense plus affiliate marketing and product-driven revenue 
• handling sponsors with reputation checks and clean integration into existing content 
• dealing with viral hate after the Nexus 6P test and keeping the work analytical 
• branching out beyond phones without splitting into multiple channels 
• meeting his wife and building an off-road wheelchair that sparks a new company 
• funding a wheelchair factory to cut costs and push toward an employee-owned model 
• balancing creator work with kids and protecting family time 
• worrying about AI fakes, online trust, and the future of real connection 
• choosing impact over income when certain videos cost major brand deals 

hit that subscribe button.


Choosing Impact Over Brand Deals

SPEAKER_01

I probably lost like a hundred thousand dollars, maybe two hundred thousand dollars worth of brand deals because of that video. Then I hear that like my video was played in Congress. It was worth it to me to lose those brand deals and lose those companies.

How JerryRig Everything Started

SPEAKER_03

Hey, welcome back to the only podcast that scratches at six, but gets deeper grooves at level seven. I'm Travis and I'm here with an amazing guest. Someone I'm super excited to talk to. Uh, Zach from Terry Riggs Everything. This is a crazy thing for me as a content creator in the tech space. So happy to have you here. Welcome. Yeah, I'm happy to be here. If you're new here, we help you grow your YouTube channel in so many different ways. Sometimes we do interview people like Zach and talk about their journey. If you're new and you want to get more of this, hit that subscribe button. We'll be here. And you have we have tons of content you're gonna love. But let's get right into it. Zach, tell us a little bit about yourself. For the people who don't know who you are and what you do, uh give us a little uh little elevator pitch.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So my name is Zach Nelson. I run the YouTube channel called JerryRig Everything. And basically I take apart technology, whether that's phones or electric cars, basically anything. I built a bunker in my backyard. I turned a military Humvee into an electric vehicle. Right now, I've been doing YouTube for shoot, probably 14 years or so. And I have I should hit 10 million subscribers at some point this year.

SPEAKER_03

So very nice. Very nice. Uh I know you from the tech space. Um, and generally, I think that's where a lot of people know you from. Although I do want to talk about your variety of content because that's kind of interesting. Um, but before we get into that, talk about how you started. Like what was the first before you did YouTube, what were you doing? And then what brought you to YouTube?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So back in the day, I was going to college and I was working at a cell phone uh repair store. So I was working for Sprint and T-Mobile. I kind of switched back and forth. Um, and I was like just trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And so, you know, going to college was a good, you know, it made my mom happy. And it was, it's good to network and it's good to learn how to interact with people. But I knew that like I didn't want to work a job that was like a desk job, you know, where I would clock in at nine, clock out at five, and then, you know, it's just not my personality. I like doing the entrepreneur side of things. Um, and so one day at college, my Jeep broke down. I was driving a Jeep Wrangler and the shop wanted a thousand dollars to fix it. And I was like, I could probably fix it cheaper myself, you know, as a college kid, you don't have a thousand bucks laying around. Um, and so I looked online, I found a YouTube channel that had my exact problem and the exact solution I needed for 70 bucks. And so I was like, holy smokes, like this YouTube thing is pretty legit. And so I I messaged the guy who made the video and I was like, why do you do what you do? Like, why'd you make this video for me? And for everyone, not me specifically. But he uh he said his goal on YouTube was to decrease world suck, like make the world a better place, and also that YouTube paid him, you know, for the views that he would get on his videos. And he was like, you know, I pay my rent with my with my views. And I was like, that's really cool. I like doing projects. Maybe I should film the projects I do and put them online. And that was kind of like the the starting point, the birth of Jerry Rick Everything. So, what were your first couple of videos? Like, what were you doing? So I filmed that uh transfer case rebuild on my Jeep Wrangler. So if you go back and watch my videos from you know 12, 13 years ago, I say the word um like 130 times in that first video. And it was only by like, you know, making a hundred videos that first year, a hundred videos the second year that I slowly improved little by little, and now I say the word um quite a bit less. Um I just said the word um as I said that if you don't look back at your old videos and cringe a little bit, then it means you're not progressing.

SPEAKER_03

So I agree with that. Um it is also um, I mean, it was a long time ago. It's different YouTube back then. What were your expectations going into it back then? I know that kids starting now would be different, like, oh, they see all these viral people, but I I mean 13 years ago, there weren't a lot of like viral people out there. Um and YouTube, while a significant uh platform, still wasn't nearly what it is today. What were your um thoughts going into? Did you think it would ever be like a full-time gig? Or what were you thinking?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I didn't like anticipate it being my full-time gig. I just knew that I wanted to film my projects and, you know, help people out with their own projects. Because once you see something done, it's super easy to just follow along and repair your own Jeep or motorcycle or f or even cell phone, you know. Um and I so that wasn't, it wasn't my goal to be, you know, internet famous. It was just, it was fun. And like for my very first video, I was like, you know, this is this is cool. I like this, this is fun. And I it was a conscious decision to move from like Jeep repairs to motorcycle repairs to smartphone repairs, because I knew like with each addition or each piece of growth to my channel, I would expand the potential audience size. And I was like, I can only get so many videos, oh, so many views doing Jeep repairs, but everyone has a cell phone, I can expand my potential audience by branching out into the technology space.

SPEAKER_03

So you you legitimately kind of did you know this in advance or while it was happening, you're like, I think the next thing I want to do is phones.

SPEAKER_01

It was a conscious thing. I was just like, so I'm getting a decent amount of views with Jeeps, um, but I work at a cell phone place, I do cell phone repairs, yeah. And like every other video, every other like phone repair video on YouTube at the time was like someone just top camera mount looking down at their phone, their dog or cat walks through the screen, they film the whole thing, it's like 40 minutes long. And I was like, I can use my basic video editing skills to shorten this down to like three or five minutes, and like obviously people are gonna choose to watch a three-minute tutorial instead of a 45-minute tutorial. And I kind of, you know, rode that way for a while.

Quitting The Day Job

SPEAKER_03

After doing that for a while, um, when when did it feel like things were really taking off? Things that were kind of bringing in money, and it was like, oh, wait, I can actually might be able to do this full time. What was that transition point between hobby and then like, oh, wait a minute, maybe I should quit my job?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I was making probably like 30 grand a year at my day job, you know, during college. Um, and it was probably around the three-year mark of doing YouTube. So I'm probably like 300 videos in because I was doing about a hundred videos a year. Um, I think I had around 30 to 40,000 subscribers at that point. Um, and the ways I was making money were like um Amazon affiliates, um, and then also like selling smartphone parts through an affiliate program because like every single video I made was referencing a component or a toolkit that someone needed to complete their repair. And so it was like super convenient that I was able to make a commission off of the parts that I was selling. And then also, you know, you make money from YouTube and and AdSense and stuff. I wasn't doing very many brand deals back then. Um, but because of the affiliates and selling my own products and AdSense, I was able to quit my job at around, I think, 40,000 subscribers and three years into it.

SPEAKER_03

You know, nowadays you might be able to get away with that. Back like 10-ish or so years ago, that almost seems like extraordinary. Like I don't know how many people were going full-time at that kind of low of a subscriber size.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I mean, it helped that I, you know, wasn't I didn't have kids, I wasn't married. It was just, you know, me, myself, and I, and it's you can live off of less, you know, at that point. Um but yeah, quitting my day job was I don't know, it was helpful because like I thought the whole time that like, oh, as soon as I quit my job, I'm gonna have more time to make more content. But like I quit my job and then my content level stayed the same. Because like there's that quote that says like a project expands to fill the time available for its completion. And so it was like I quit my job, but I just found other things to fill that time, and I didn't dedicate as much time as I needed to to my YouTube channel. Because like making sure you stay focused is is the whole battle, especially on social media where like every platform is trying to suck you in and not let you leave.

SPEAKER_03

So was that something because that's a skill. I mean, you can learn that skill, but it is a skill, and some people get distracted, especially nowadays, get distracted so easily. What do you have safeguards in place to keep you from kind of wandering? Do you did you schedule things? Like, how did you kind of battle that? I as you said at first, you weren't quite successful, but I have to imagine at some point you were. What did you do?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, it's mostly like making sure you have a schedule. And so I found the schedule that worked for me back, you know, before I got married was you know, I would wake up, I would go to the gym in the mornings, I would have the mornings to like do odds and ends and random errands and stuff, but then from after lunch to midnight or whatever, I would just work. And like then I would go to bed at midnight, wake up the next morning and and start the whole process over again.

SPEAKER_03

But did that leave you any time for yourself personally?

SPEAKER_01

Like it didn't I didn't really need it because like I was in I had a I was in like a town, like a shared town home at the time, and so I had a room and my desk was in the same room, and so I would literally just like roll out of bed, get on my computer, and like then go back to bed that was five feet away, and like I lived that way for years. Wow. I had not very many expenses, obviously. Yeah, which probably helped.

From Repairs To Durability Tests

SPEAKER_03

Probably helped a lot. Um, okay, so let's move into where things start picking up for you in the mobile space and you start getting known. Do you remember one of the first videos that really started uh catching on? You're like, oh wow, this is this is more than what I maybe even anticipated. Like, oh, this thing hit however many views, or maybe um someone reached out to you. Because we'll talk about like your your reach now is crazy. And it because I've talked to channels that have like, quote, more subscribers than you, but their reach in the everyday space is not as large as yours. But back back in the day, you're still doing these mobile videos. When do you think the first video popped that was like, oh man, this is really something special?

SPEAKER_01

Two videos come to mind. There was like an iPhone 5, I think. It was like just showing the screen repair. Um, because previous iPhones to that were very, very difficult to swap out the screen. And so like I showed the screen repair in like three minutes. And like that concept was new at the time because not many people were taking apart phones. And so that video went semi-viral. And then I made the same conscious decision to go from cell phone repairs to cell phone durability tests, right about the same time they started gluing phones shut and less people were interested in repairing their phones to, you know, overcome that hurdle. And so the durability test just kind of like people think I'm crazy, right? Because I'm scratching up this like really expensive phone. But it's a conscious decision to use that weirdness to my advantage to get people to watch the content. Yeah. And because they're watching me be weird with the phone, they're being introduced to the introduced to the concept of their phone being repairable. Yeah. And so I'm using the craziness to the right to repair advantage.

SPEAKER_03

Love that. Generally speaking, at least in the, you know, the vast majority of videos, this is what would be called a faceless channel. However, your face is in a lot of videos as well. Did you make that decision early in your journey, or was it never? That's you just like, well, sometimes my face will be in the videos. Like, what was the the thought there?

SPEAKER_01

For the first, like, probably hundred or 150 videos, I decided to like not put my face in, not for like a conscious decision, but it was more of like, because you're putting yourself out there and it's like a little bit, I don't know, unnerving. Like I was I was nervous that people would find out that I had a channel and like yeah, because like it's always the people on the couch who like criticize you for doing something, you know. And like I was pumped like back then, I was making like 10 cents a day, and I was like, dude, this is legit. Like, I'll be able to afford lunch in like two or three months, and it'll be completely paid for by these videos. So I was nervous about it. But then like after I quit my job and like I was I was doing it full time, I was just like, you know, screw it. Like, I'm just gonna put my face out there. This is what I want to do. This is and I don't really care what people think. I remember sitting in Walmart one time and I had to film this shot of throwing toilet, not toilet paper, uh paper towel over my shoulder and getting it in a basket. And it took me like 20 takes, and I'm in like this public space trying to get this thing in a basket, but I just I just don't really care what people think anymore.

SPEAKER_03

So that's uh is there anything about it that you noticed was different? Like as soon as you started showing yourself, was it um did you notice comments any different? Were there people saying anything any different? Were people treating you any different, or was it just another piece of content?

SPEAKER_01

Part of what helped me make that decision was that, you know, people go online and they go to social media to make a connection. Um, and like that's they want to have, you know, their friends, they want to have someone they connect with online. And having my face online makes it seem like as if I'm talking to them or with them, like there's more of a connection than with the than with the faceless channel. Yeah. Um and so that was better. Like I think I don't have any like quantifiable data to show that like I had more interactions or whatever, but like I think I it's just more personable, I guess. And especially now with like AI and you know, all these fake channels popping up all over the place, like there's having that real connection is still like invaluable.

Sponsors, Managers, And Saying No

SPEAKER_03

So oh, we're definitely gonna talk about AI. We're definitely gonna spend some time talking about AI. I can't wait to hear your takes on that. Um, okay, so we're still at the point where you're just kind of taking off, things are going well. Um, do you remember uh any of the first brands reaching out to you and kind of what that experience was like? Because a lot of content creators don't know what to do when a brand reaches out to them. Were you educated in that space or did you make mistakes that most people do?

SPEAKER_01

So back when I was first starting, Casey Neistat was really big. And I remember like his philosophy on YouTube was like, you know, don't do any brand deals until like you're substantial and like, you know, brand deals were hurt your growth and all that stuff. And like I subscribed to that a little bit, but at the same time, um I wasn't like urgently trying to find brand deals because my bread and butter at the time was just AdSense and also the affiliates from you know selling parts and toolkits and things. Um and so I had this, I remember very I remember the my first brand deal. So this company reached out and they were like, we have this waterproof headphone. And I was like, I don't really want to do this. Um, and they're like, What do you want to charge? And I was like, So I'm just gonna say something astronomical. I'm gonna say a thousand bucks. Yeah, yeah. And um, and so I said, All right, I'll I'll do it for a thousand bucks, completely thinking that they would just like say no or leave or not even respond. And they were like, Okay. And I was like, I just got a thousand dollars for like showing off these headphones. And so that was my philosophy for a little bit. I would just kind of like go higher than what I wanted to just to make it like worth my time. And then right around, I think, 500,000 subscribers, I got a manager and he handles all the nitty-gritty um brand deals and stuff now, but he joined at around the the half a million subscriber mark.

SPEAKER_03

Did you I always it's funny, I tell a very similar story where I had that same thing happen and I threw out a number that I didn't think they would agree to, and they did immediately. And the thing that I learned from that was I just undervalued myself because they're not supposed to accept the first number so fast. They probably would have to made you two to three times that if they were like, yeah, sure, no problem. Like, just I just shortchanged myself. Um, so what do you what's the process for you for sponsors? Because it's not just about like making money. At this point, I would imagine that you're probably fine financially. It's more about making sure that the brand is something that makes sense to you and something you believe in. Is there a process you go through for that?

SPEAKER_01

It's not so much of a process, it's more of just like if I like if they're a reputable brand and they're not like I don't work with Kickstarters because like you just never know if it's actually going to happen or not. Um, or if they like don't have a lot of good reviews, um, you know, I don't work with them. Um, but if they're like one of my favorite brands to work with is D brand, um, just because like they make you know cases and skins for smartphones and like that's what's what I do. Yeah. And so it's just so easy to segue into a sponsorship um like that. And so yeah, if I if I have a good way to integrate them into my existing content and they're a reputable brand, then I'm fine working with them.

SPEAKER_03

So B brand's a very interesting brand. For those who don't know, they have a unique philosophy on marketing, which is at times to be uh, how do I say, very abrupt with their consumer base, but people like it. It's it's uh it's like those restaurants that you can go to where they the waitress will insult you and people go to the wait restaurant just for that purpose. It's kind of the same thing, but their products are good. I have a couple of their products. So that's that's cool that you have. But he seemed to be like a regular sponsor. How does that work? Do you like signing like a couple year deal with them? Or is it just like there's these videos I want to do, would you like to be a part of it?

SPEAKER_01

At this point, I mean, we started off like doing, you know, per video type of thing, but now we know that like, you know, what phones are gonna come out during the year. So they they like to lock down the content at the beginning of the year. But then obviously if we have like an interesting project idea or something in the middle of the year, like we just work out something else. And like with them, like I have my own product line. So this is like X-ray skin, and we have like a teardown skin and stuff for the smartphones. So we've we've branched out beyond, you know, me selling their products to now we're selling products, co-sponsored products together. Did they come to you with that or did you come to them with that? Uh they came to me, I believe. It was a long time ago. So I don't, yeah, but it's like it just fits so well with the brand.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. It's kind of perfect. Um, you again, but you talked about this uh in the intro. You now don't just do phone content. Of course, it's some of your biggest, most impactful stuff. And I say impactful in that um everyone knows that your video is coming out. I wonder also what it's like to be at a phone company like Samsung or Apple, knowing that your video is about to come out and sweating bullets, not wondering if they got the durability right. Because you have to know that's happening. There's got to be a meeting that happens every week when your video comes out, and all the marketing people sit down and they watch it. They're like, okay, where did we get it wrong? Um, because your videos go viral for anything that goes wrong. I mean, even just recently, you know, you you bend things and sometimes it snaps, and just just and it doesn't really matter what it is. It's always something. Do you ever hear back from those phone companies? Um, do they ever try to say, okay, well, we saw what you the thing you pointed out, we're gonna fix it, or do they just kind of leave you alone?

SPEAKER_01

Um, a little bit of both. Um, I've had companies reach out um to talk to me. I've had one company reach out and try to like buy their way out of a video. And so figured it. Yeah, so that was that was weird. Um I told them no. Uh of course. And then, but for the most part, like Samsung doesn't really talk to me at all. Apple doesn't talk to me at all. Um they they just let me do my own thing. They they pretend that I don't exist, which is fine. Right.

When A Phone Snap Goes Nuclear

SPEAKER_03

Right, but they know, they know. There's definitely been uh PDFs shared around, I'm sure, at the uh at the different offices uh going over what went wrong. Um what are the things so when what was the first one of those that went viral? Like where you found something that were either cracked or bent or so. I can't remember. Like, what was you you remember what like the first one was?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the first one, and it was it was a weird experience for me, but it was the Nexus 6P. It was like a Google phone way back in the day. And so like I did my normal durability test and I snapped it in half. Um and I posted it, not really thinking like it was just a fun video for me, like, oh hey, this phone snaps in half. But like for some reason, people like associated their whole personality with this with the phone. And so like the amount of hate I got on that video was like I didn't sleep for three days. Like people were like telling me to go kill myself, like it was it was wild. And so I and they were saying that I faked the video, which bothered me a lot, and so I bought a brand new phone and then did the test again live, no cuts, unboxing it and snapping it in half. But you can tell in that like follow-up video, my hands are like shaking because I'm like so stressed out from not sleeping for three days, and it's just like that was my first experience with how like vicious the internet can be. Yeah, um, I was I was naive, but now I am experienced.

SPEAKER_03

Very much so. Did that change the way you did content moving forward?

SPEAKER_01

Um no, not really. I mean, in the in the first video, I kind of like I feel like I played it off like almost too humorously, and so now I try to make it a little more analytical. Like instead of like making fun of the phone for breaking, I kind of like explain why the phone and try to like just keep to the science and the physics and the materials aspect of it a little bit more, which is probably good.

SPEAKER_03

I know how the the fandom is very tribalistic when it comes to their phones for some reason. Uh I have theories as to why that might be, but um it it is very difficult to navigate those waters and and staying in the middle you would think would protect you from that, but it doesn't seem to work because they're always saying like if you do an iPhone video, they're gonna say you're a Samsung knight. If you do a Samsung video, of course you're an iPhone sheep. So it's like it's always something. Um and when you were saying that you lost sleep, I I totally understand what you're saying there, because we can take things very personally. At what point did you stop taking things so per? Well, maybe you still do it to a certain degree, but like at what point did you take most of it, just let it you know fall off your back and not worry about it? Was it a couple times it's happened, or was it that time you learn and then moved forward?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I don't think anyone ever gets like completely over you know the comments. Um I try when I when I post a video, I I monitor the comments for like the first hour or two, and like every now and then I'll just jump in and scroll through, you know, like the recent, you know, 30 comments or so. Um, but I try not to be in the comment section too much. Yeah. Um just for my own, you know, sanity. But but then also like you have to balance that by like, you know, the interactions is where you build that connection that we were talking about earlier. Yeah. Um, because like if you respond to someone, they're gonna remember that for a long time. And so I don't know. I try to balance both.

SPEAKER_03

What was the what was the first time that you remember being recognized in public? And tell me what that was like, walk me through that.

SPEAKER_01

It was probably just at my uh so I lived in Logan, Utah at the time, which is kind of like a smaller town, and I was at the gym and someone came up to me and they were like, Hey, are you do you make videos? And I was like, Yeah, it's me. And so that it was probably like three years in, give or take, three or four years in.

SPEAKER_03

Was it in was it like surreal to you, or did were you just it was just like another day? Oh yeah, someone's eventually gonna recognize you.

SPEAKER_01

Um it wasn't it was it was cool. Like it was my first experience. Um And it's always fun meeting people in real life. Like I have no problem with anyone coming up to me ever. And like luckily, like there is never I've never had like a negative interaction where I'm like, ooh, I wish that didn't happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like my audience and you know the the community that we've created around Jerry Rig everything is like pretty chill and pretty safe and pretty open and just happy people who kind of like understand, you know, life. And so anytime I've met someone in real life, they seemed cool.

The Case For Variety Content

SPEAKER_03

So I can imagine that. Um so after you got done doing a whole bunch of these phone videos where you're like testing the durability, um, when did you decide to start doing things outside of that niche? Because you're again back out. So for people that are listening, don't necessarily know your history. We we've talked about the early history, how you eventually got to phones, which is still where you're known, but you still do other things. When did you start saying, okay, I feel like this phone thing is working enough that I can now branch out? Because for a lot of YouTubers, this doesn't work. And I think I I really want to spend some time here because it's so critical to understand why it works for you and what you've done differently than maybe other creators.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, one of the reasons why I chose the name JerryRig Everything was because it the name itself encompasses everything. Like let's say you like if you have the name Tesla in your YouTube channel name, like that's going to pigeonhole you into one, you know, specific subject. Um, but the reason I chose JerryRig Everything is to make sure that I could make videos on whatever I wanted to make videos on. Um and so even from like the very beginning, when I did like Jeeps and motorcycles and stuff like that, there was like some construction projects I did at like my grandpa's cabin where we got rid of a bunch of mice that were living in the walls. If I'm gonna enjoy filming the video and I can make an interesting video out of it, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna use that to my advantage. Um, and I knew once again that like there's only a certain amount of people who like Jeep content, like motorcycle content, like cell phone content. And if I branch out into like solar or electric vehicles or construction, like all things that I'm interested in, I can expand, you know, the Venn diagram of potential audience sizes. So yeah, I use that. It was a conscious decision to branch out even farther than than just cell phones. So when you first started my life interesting, you know, because like phones, they're all the same nowadays. And like you have to branch out to keep things interesting.

SPEAKER_03

Totally agree with this. When you first so again, you you had a lot of momentum going. When you first start doing like a new thing, like electric cars or or or solar power, does that video initially like really tank? And does it take time for it to catch on, or do you have to do a couple before it starts taking catching on? Like, how does that work for you?

SPEAKER_01

Um, it depends. I not necessarily I mean, the the algorithm is weird, and like there's times where like I'm really excited about a video and then it just doesn't take off. Like I did an underwater coral uh retransplanting video, and I thought it was fascinating. Like planting coral underwater, like scuba diving was fascinating, but then the video did super poorly, like a quarter of the views it normally does. Um, but I mean it was fine. Like I enjoyed making the video, so the videos up and I'm jerry rig everything and not jerry rig some things. So something.

SPEAKER_03

So you you don't really have the desire to have multiple channels?

SPEAKER_01

Not really. I mean, if I branched out um into like a kid's channel or something else, I would obviously separate that content. Um, but I'm a like so there's there's on my team, there's me, there's my one editor, and then there's my manager. So there's just three of us on my on my whole team. Um, and so creating a second channel or a third channel, you know, I just don't have the the bandwidth for that. Makes sense. Um so leaving everything on one channel is ideal.

Building Wheelchairs With YouTube Money

SPEAKER_03

So let's talk a little bit about uh how you met your wife. And uh I don't normally bring this up uh because it's not usually relevant, but it's relevant to here because you've actually had on your channel. So let's start where you met, how that happened, did she know you're a YouTuber at first, and how all that kind of came to be.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so she uh we met on a dating app. And so I think I don't remember if I said I was a YouTuber on the dating app, but obviously as you're you're talking over the app, like you you tell them what your job is. And I don't think she realized. So when I met her, I think I had like five million subscribers, and I don't think she realized that it could be a job. And so she was like, she probably thought that I didn't have a real job for the first like month or so of us dating.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but the one thing that makes it interesting is that um she's in a wheelchair, and so she she got hurt when she was 18, which was 20 years ago, and we met six years ago. Um, she was in a horseback riding accident, um, broke her back. And on our first date, we were just like talking about wheelchairs and stuff, and like I realized really, really quickly that wheelchairs are freaking expensive.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and off-road wheelchairs are like astronomically expensive and also really difficult to get. Um, and so over the course of our first few months of dating, um, I call her my friend in the video, but we were we were dating at the time. Um, I welded two electric bikes together with a seat in the center, and I was able to make an off-road wheelchair for$3,000 instead of$10,000. Um, and that video did really well, and enough people say it said that they wanted something similar to that that we built a whole business around it. And so now I have like a 26,000 square foot factory where we build these off-road wheelchairs and manual wheelchairs at like a fraction of the cost of regular, you know, medical wheelchairs.

SPEAKER_03

So that's crazy. And that all came from a video. That's insane. A whole other business based on a video, which really shows how powerful YouTube can be.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's it's been so I mean, we we could talk about this for hours, but like it's I'm probably like seven million dollars deep into the wheelchair factory, um, just because of like all the equipment and lasers and benders and everything that we need. We have 20 employees, like payroll itself is like 1.3 million dollars every year. So like, and it's all currently being funded from the YouTube channel um as it like grows by itself to hopefully be self-sufficient or self-sustaining in the future. Um but yeah, so like it just kind of goes to show that like the power that YouTube has, and honestly, like if I wasn't doing the factory funding the factory, I would probably cut back quite a bit on the on the content. Uh, because after you know, 14 years, it's it's hard to keep up, you know, the daily, you know, 24-7 grind of YouTube.

SPEAKER_03

I was about to say, and then eventually you got married. So now um I When was she first in a video? Uh was she in a video before you were married or after you were married? I'm trying to remember.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So the when we did the off-road wheelchair video, she we were not married at the time. Um I don't know if there's like a video reference to when we got married. Um, but yeah, usually she's in a couple videos a year.

SPEAKER_03

What does she think? Well, so let's talk about the first time she was in a video. First of all, how did you convince her to be in it? And second of all, did she have any worries or concerns about being in it?

SPEAKER_01

Um, not really. She had been she had been on like YouTube before, so she did something with uh with the church, and uh it's called Hope Works, and she kind of like shared her story, and so that was like semi-viral before like we even met. I think it had like a million views on it or something. And so she was familiar with the space and like um we're both LDS, we're both Mormon, and she was like because of that video, she was relatively well known in in the LDS community, um and you know, in the wheelchair community as well. So she was semi used to being famous. Yeah, yeah. But then like when we were on dates and people would come up and and recognize me while we were dating, I think that's when it also kind of started to click for her that YouTube might be a real job.

SPEAKER_03

Might be a real thing. That's crazy. So she likes being a part of the content. That's really awesome. I mean, I think uh one of the things I I know about content creators is that usually their loved ones, family, friends, they're they're being encouraging, but they don't get it. Like they're not in the videos, they don't understand anything, they don't understand like what the content creation process is, how hard it can be. But with her being a part of and kind of knowing it, uh, do you find that her support uh helps at all? Or does she just kind of stay doing her own thing, or is she like really an active part of what you do?

SPEAKER_01

Well, we realize very quickly that like we enjoy being in videos together, but we also don't want to work together long term. Like she's a fantastic partner, fantastic wife, but like we're not good like work workmates. I don't know what the right word is.

SPEAKER_03

Makes sense, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Because like she she does a lot with horses and and and her like horse club stuff. Um and so horse club stuff. Yeah, she she really enjoys you know running her like events and like something that I could never, you know, do like so she has her hobbies and I have mine, and like there's a there's a Venn diagram overlap of both of them, but we still very much like our own our own spheres. So that seems healthy though.

SPEAKER_03

I think like I always wonder if content creation couples are a good or a bad thing. Like if she was a full-time content creator, do you think that would be good or bad?

SPEAKER_01

Um I don't know, because like it just depends on what you want to do. Like you either like it or you don't, and like if you don't like it, like don't do it. Like it there's you it only is successful if it doesn't feel like work, um, because you're literally working all of the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So has has there been a video that you've done that you kind of wish you didn't do looking back? Or do you feel are you proud of everything you've done?

SPEAKER_01

Um I don't I mean, not necessarily. Like there's there's a video I did a while back about guns. I did a video about bump stocks, um, kind of explaining like what the concept is of a bump stock. Basically, the stock of the gun moves as you're holding your finger and like it can fire faster than than a normal gun would. And so I probably lost like a hundred thousand dollars, maybe two hundred thousand dollars worth of brand deals because of that video. Like companies said they would not work with me because I had gun content. But like then I hear that like my video was played in Congress to like help ban the sale of those bump stocks, and so it's like the video had such a educational impact on society that it was worth it to me to lose those brand deals and lose those companies that I you know I was gonna work with, but now I'm obviously can't because they backed out. Yeah. Um, but it's I don't know. I make videos about what I want to make videos about, you know. So it's yeah, that's how it is. What is your video you're most proud of? The wheelchair factory, for sure. Um, for reference, so we we started building the manual rigid wheelchairs, um, just like the ones that have the big wheels in the back, small casters in the front, and you can push them yourselves for people with like permanent disabilities. Because like obviously you can go to Walmart and buy a hundred dollar wheelchair for you know, grandma, you know, that's like a person mover, like a hospital style chair. But the lightweight, uh rigid, active manual wheelchairs is what we build. And ours start at$1,000, where in the industry, those chairs are usually starting around like five to$10,000. And so we're selling them for like 70% cheaper. And so in the two years that we've been selling these chairs, we've helped save the wheelchair community about$2 million. And so, like, yeah, I'm putting a lot of money into the factory, but the potential that it has in the future is like astronomical. And so it's incredible. That's really incredible. It's where most of my time is being spent.

Kids, Time Blocks, And Burnout

SPEAKER_03

And you should be proud of that. So, what does your day look like then? So it's not, you're not obviously your business owner, but when I usually say that to most content creators, it means the business of their YouTube channel. But of course, you have this other very serious and very significant business. What is your daily grind like? And I'm surprised that you even have time to be on this podcast. Thankful for that, by the way. What does your day look like normally?

SPEAKER_01

Um I I wish, I mean, with kids, it's like it changes everything. Because like kids are like the most important thing of your day. And so like I try to wake up and be with my kids um, you know, for the first hour before they go to school and stuff. Um, but then you know, like I sacrifice because previously when I was single, I like to go to the gym in the mornings. And so like I'm I I kind of have to figure out a spot to put the gym in more consistently. Um, because that's just like a way to like reset your brain. Absolutely. Um, but yeah, spend time with the kids in the morning, work all day, and then I always block out the time between 5 30 and 8 just to be with the family. And then probably half of the week I would have to go back out and work again, you know, until midnight. Um, but I also, you know, like to spend time with my wife too. So try to be, you know, reasonable with my hours that I'm working, but I should probably be better at it.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know. What do your kids think of uh your YouTubing stuff? Are they are they excited about that? Do they want to be YouTubers growing up?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I don't know. I mean, I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old, so they're not like super sure of what they want to be when they grow up. Um and they haven't been in a whole lot of videos again, just because sometimes the internet's a little crazy. Right. They like watching my videos, which is kind of fun. Like I did a video on Legos, like the smart Lego brick uh last week, and like my little boy Cyrus hasn't stopped talking about it ever since. Would you be supportive of that? It depends. Yeah, it depends on how the internet is at the time. Yeah.

AI Fakes And Online Trust

SPEAKER_03

That let's talk about that. So we're in a weird place. I I call it the worst timeline possible, but uh for a variety of reasons. But right now, it's kind of a scary time for content creators and for people because AI is really expanding. On one hand, it can be very helpful for like the content creation uh process. It could could potentially help humanity. Like there's a lot of good things about AI, but there's a whole bunch of other things that we're starting to see already that are very worrisome uh for me personally. And I'm curious what your thoughts are on AI for content creation and just in general. I just want to hear everything you have to say about it.

SPEAKER_01

Man, we could talk about this for a long, long time. I know. Um if I had to break it down in like a short, concise little thing, like it it it does, it bothers me quite a bit. Because like I scroll through Instagram now, and I would say, you know, half half of the people while I'm scrolling are fake. Like they're either adjusting their face or they're a guy pretending to be a girl with like those AI composition things, and it's like that's wild. And like platforms gotta get a grip on that. Because like people go to social media to make a connection, and if you're making a connection with like an AI, like that's that's scary stuff, and like Elon Musk with his groke, like he's he's in I'm trying to keep it family friendly, but he's trying to incentivize males to create relationships with these AI females and make videos with these AI females, and he's like, he's like, you can make R-rated content, and it's like if you're and his other thing is like the birth rate, right? Like he wants the birth rate to be higher, but if you're incentivizing relationships with computers, there's uh you're not gonna have you know human babies. So the whole the whole thing bothers me. And like even more so when you like bring in like politics to it, and like people are making fake videos with politicians, yeah, and like that's gonna go that's very scary. Yeah, there's you you gotta put limits on it, but they're like actively not putting limits on it, and which is interesting because you you're also known.

SPEAKER_03

Um, we'll just we'll touch on this a little bit because I do want to bring it up. Uh, I think people know if they're watching X, you're very vocal about your beliefs. Um, I have a lot of respect because you you have a lot to potentially lose. I mean, I think when you have a business that relies on um, let's just put it this way, a lot of business owners won't pick a side because it could hurt their bottom line. You have drawn a line in the sand for what you believe is moral morale, uh right in the morale uh instant morale sense. Was there ever a moment where you sat there and thought, okay, if I'm gonna say these things, I might lose maybe not everything, but maybe enough that it's significant. Or did you just kind of like, this is who I am, it is what it is?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it never really bothered me. I've made like political videos on my channel as well, like talking about um mostly because like my politics hinges around like healthcare. I would say that's like my main thing. Like I want people to have healthcare. It's a huge everyone's gonna be disabled at some point in their life. And if you don't have healthcare, you're gonna uh be disabled in the street, you know, like it's it's gonna happen to everybody. Yeah, yeah. Um so I talk very publicly about that because I feel very strongly, and like obviously that branches out into other subjects. Um, but I feel like as long as I'm you know stating verifiable facts that exist in reality, then even if someone doesn't believe what's real, like they're that's not my problem. Um and so I've always been okay with speaking facts. So I love that.

Big Projects, Profitability, And Purpose

SPEAKER_03

Um so let's talk a little bit about more your content creation now. Are there any big projects that you've wanted to make but you haven't been able to for any reason?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I put a bunker in my backyard and that was like really fun. Um, and just monetarily speaking, so that video probably cost me, um, and just like manpower um and you know construction and stuff, the video, the video series of like 15 videos probably cost me around 150,000 bucks. Um, but then in the in the ad spots and in the in the revenue that I got back from that, it was probably around three to four hundred thousand dollars. And so like I was it was a conscious decision, I'm gonna do this crazy project, but like there's also a potential of a heck of a lot of money coming in if I'm able to complete it. Yeah. Um, and I was, and I did, and it worked out really, really well. And I have a bunker in my backyard, so that's great. But I also that was like my last like big series project, and I feel like people really enjoy, you know, those those multi-episode projects going forward. And I don't really have any at the moment that I'm working on, mostly because the the wheelchair factory is taking up the majority of my time and the majority of my money. Um, but yeah, I would say the bunker and then also the the electric cumby were my favorite of those multi-series projects.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I I love those because they're just they're they're the things that are interesting to watch that you no one else is really doing for number one, and probably a lot of people couldn't do it. Like even if they wanted to do it, they don't have that's you know, either the resources or the ability to do those things. So I always think that's kind of fun. What are some of the things that you do still want to do, maybe even this year and into next year, that you're like, I there's these big kind of pie in the sky things. Like, what would be the really cool pie in the sky project you could you could get started on?

SPEAKER_01

I want to do some water desalination projects. Um, and I also like once the wheelchair factory is self-sustaining, my world kind of opens back up again. Yeah. Um, and I would I think about it all the time, but I would really love to own a cardboard recycling facility. Wow, that's that would be so much fun to me. Like, I see all these like everyone gets Amazon boxes all the time, and then people just throw them away. And it's like it is so easy to recycle cardboard back into paper, and it's just like that'd be so much fun. You get you get trash, right? Yeah, and then you you you make something useful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that's so much fun to me.

SPEAKER_03

So that's so cool. Um, you keep talking about the the um the business with the wheelchairs. How is it look like it's going to does it look like it's actually going to hit some type of profitability or or sustainability in the next year or two, or is it still like you're gonna just have to baby it for a while longer?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think we're about a year away from it, um, at least offsetting the the employees that work there. Obviously, one of the ways that makes it profitable is that the YouTube channel pays for like all of the big equipment, like the lasers, laser welders, um, the CNC uh bending machines. And I have a video coming out in about two weeks that kind of showed the the whole process. I don't need compensation, I don't need to be recompensated for the machines that we bought for the factory. Um, I just need the factory to pay for its own employees going forward. Because obviously, if we tried to recoup the money from the machines, then our wheelchairs would have to be more expensive. And that's that's we don't want to do that. So but I imagine we're relaunching our off-road wheelchair um in June. And I think with the relaunch of that, we will be very near profitable.

SPEAKER_03

So that's amazing. I I really wish the best for that. It's such a cool thing because low prices on things that are quality are very hard to come by, especially now everything's becoming more expensive. I have a ton of respect for that business because it's just not something that people are doing with their money. Like I talk to YouTubers all the time that are successful and they're they're spinning off other YouTube channels and stuff, and they're not, and they're doing like products, but they're not doing anything for like the the better well-being of humanity in some way. And I I deeply respect that a lot. And I think like it's something that uh should be talked about a little bit more. I would love to see more creators do stuff like that. Now, to be clear, some people do. For as much hate as it gets, Mr. Beast does do a lot of good things for a lot of people. It's just that some people like to glom onto the mistakes that let's be honest, a kid uh who was thrust upon in the in the face of everybody, um, you know, sometimes makes. And that's and I think that's just part of what life is. Um, what's your take on someone like Mr. Beast? What do you what do you think about him?

SPEAKER_01

I think he's doing great. Like when I remember when he first started and he was like giving away money in the streets, and like I I thought that was such a cool video concept, and I was like, that actually would be really fun. Like I would like to do something similar, but I had already kind of like established my little niche on the internet, and so like I didn't branch out at the time, which is fine. Like he he rolled with that and he's he's super successful. Um, but it also like one of the one of the reasons I am the way I am politically is because like I've I am able to create this wheelchair factory for about seven million dollars, right? And we are able to save so much money to people who need as many pennies as possible, and so it's like politicians and like building. Billionaires could do so much good with their money, but they don't. Right. And that bothers me a little bit.

SPEAKER_03

I I have a soft spot for this whole conversation, but let me ask you a question. Why did you feel the need to like own the factory and stuff when you could outsource a lot of that stuff for probably even cheaper? What was what was the real reason behind that?

SPEAKER_01

It was a little bit because like making stuff overseas is doable, and sometimes you have to. Um, and I have lots of stories about that. Like when I tried to make my knife, my jerry rig knife here in the States, um, it's like this little razor knife. Um, and I got quotes from like three different American companies for like molds and assembly and stuff like that. And like there was just, first of all, people in the US wouldn't even pick up the phone to, you know, make this here. Um, and then in China, we obviously we found someone and and we can do it overseas for really cheap. But like one of the reasons for the wheelchair is we did the math on it, and because every wheelchair we build is individual, there is 16 quintillion different variations on our wheelchairs. Like we will literally never build two wheelchairs that are the same. And if you're outsourcing every single chair and frame, like you basically have to build it here in the United States. When you see people get a lot of money, usually it changes them. Um, because like you get, and like I I I had this like decision I had to make as well. Like, so like I made my first million dollars, right? And like I was like, I was I was happy, but I was also like, I need more money. Like I if I have one million now, I could probably have two million. Right, right, right. Um, but then I like looked around and realized that no one around me had a million dollars, and like it wasn't there was I was no I was getting no additional happiness from the extra money, and I was like, well, what would make me happy? Like, why, why am I getting all this money if I'm not happy? Yeah. So I realized that I could like do something that like literally benefited people's lives with my money, and like I kind of like changed my focus from like getting money to like making people happy and like saving them money, and like that's that's my motivation, my driver, which was kind of fun for the wheelchair project. And like I've said from the beginning that I'm not gonna take any money from the wheelchair project. And so once we cross that threshold of profitability, it's gonna be an employee-owned company. Because like the only way that it's gonna sustain itself long term is if there's not some greedy CEO at the top, you know, taking money from all these shares. And I feel like an employee-run company with safeguards in place, right? That's gonna be the only way it survives long term with incredible, with the mission that it has.

SPEAKER_03

That's truly incredible. Are you so when that gets done and you can kind of spend more time doing other things? Are you are you gonna try to do the cardboard thing? Because that sounds really fun too.

SPEAKER_01

So I mean, I've I've thought about it like probably at least once a week for the last like three years straight, mostly when I'm taking away all my wife's Amazon boxes. Um but like I it it would not be hard to start. It would be easier than building wheelchairs, I'll tell you that. I bet.

Advice For New Creators

SPEAKER_03

All right, as we became able to land this plane, which I hate. I I'm enjoying this to uh a degree that I probably I couldn't even explain. Um just because I I nerd out because we're in the same niche and I've known it. I've known about I can't say you I've known you, I haven't known you at all. I've known about you and stuff and and have uh admired you from afar. Um let's say, and this is a question I ask every creator, you don't have access to the resources you have now, uh, but you do have the knowledge you have now, and you had to start a new YouTube channel, but not in the niche you're currently in. But it'd be, and tell me what those first couple videos would be about.

SPEAKER_01

It would probably so it so my niche now is probably technology, if I had to like be specific. Um I would still, if I had to start a new channel, it would still be around creation. Um, probably because like before, like back in high school and stuff, I was I was into construction, like residential construction. And like if I wasn't doing YouTube, I would probably be doing something in construction, whether that be you know, landscaping or or building houses or something like that. Um and so if I had to start a channel now, it would probably be around either metalworking or woodworking or a combination of creating something new is always fun.

SPEAKER_03

When um when the the uh wheelchair uh factory is is self-sustaining, do you see yourself pulling back on the amount of content you pull you put out and kind of spend more time with your family? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I would probably go from like because I probably post like one or two videos a week right now. I would probably go to one or two videos a month. I think I think that's a more sustainable, you know, where my balance would be healthier if I was just doing one or two videos a month.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Would they be bigger projects per video or would it be about the same stuff? Probably bigger projects.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you can spend more time doing cool stuff. Yeah, I can sit down and just like focus in on a project instead of like have to gloss over things on a on a high level.

SPEAKER_03

And finally, for creators that are just starting out and stuff, um, look at all the things that you've you've learned over your content creation career and give me a couple of tips, but then also things to watch out for, mistakes maybe you made that now you can tell other people, hey, you know, I made these mistakes, don't do this thing. And also like some encouragement of like what type of things have worked for you that might work for someone who's just starting out now.

SPEAKER_01

I think the biggest thing is consistency, consistency. Um, my first year of YouTube, I think I earned like 2,000 subscribers and I had 100 videos posted. But I also wasn't in it to like get rich quick and I wasn't in it to like be internet famous. I just wanted to make cool videos and I treated my YouTube channel as kind of like a vlog, not a vlog, but like a diary of my life, something that I could go back and watch later, you know, 50 years from now and just kind of see the stuff that I used to do. Um and so my advice would be to only do something you enjoy doing because life is short, and you if it feels like work or if it sucks, like obviously doing something hard is what helps you grow, right? And so, like if you're growing and like improving and like bettering yourself, stick at it. But you'll know the difference between like my life sucks versus my life sucks, but I'm getting I'm becoming better. So definitely focus on that, you know, improving yourself as long as you're enjoying it. Um, and then I would also because like I learned pretty quickly that like money wasn't everything either, and like the majority of my happiness comes from my family and my kids. And so I would also highly recommend having kids. So go out there and have some kids if you don't have any. Yeah, well, let me preface that like kids are the best, but also kids are the worst.

Closing And Where To Find Zach

SPEAKER_03

So yeah, of course. Mostly the best, but also the worst. Well, Zach, I can't thank you enough for joining us. Everyone, if you want some more information about Jerry Rig Everything, first of all, very easy to find. Uh, but there'll be links in the show notes if you listen to the audio podcast. And if you're watching on YouTube, there'll be links in the description. And uh we'll uh I'm I'm gonna go check out all of this stuff about the wheelchair thing. I'm fascinated by this. I think it's absolutely incredible. And I will save all of my Amazon boxes. I have a bunch right now that I will be sending to your factory as soon as it's there. For everyone else, we'll see y'all in the next one.