There is indeed something interesting about these YouTube videos because we have the chance to see the complete journey of someone who is trying to trade pennies in order to make more and more money as time passes.
They usually start with trading something small, like a bottle of water, and soon after, they realize they can start a small business with the money they make. So, these challenges are a mix of entertainment, curiosity, and entrepreneurship, making viewers eager to follow the journey along the way until the end.
Some of you may think that these challenges are done for the money, but this is not the case for YouTubers, because they benefit from greater success, attracting viewers, subscribers, and even collaborations with different brands to support them. Usually, these $0 to $1,000 challenges represent for brands and companies an opportunity for advertising
- Ryan Trahan’s Challenge: Surviving on a Penny
You surely have heard before about Ryan Trahan and his unique challenges. He is now a cultural icon among YouTubers, as he has successfully completed various amazing challenges and journeys that have attracted hundreds of new subscribers and millions of views.
His journey of trying to survive with just a penny is very popular on YouTube because he relied on small tasks and trades to achieve his goal. He first started to trade a single penny for a bottle of water in order to sell it for a couple of dollars, and he casually built his way up as more people helped him in his YouTube challenge journey.
His video now has 20M views, which is insane, considering that he has 21.4M subscribers.
But his video has a greater plan: to raise money for those who need it most. When he started the “Surviving on a penny” challenge, he also started a fundraising campaign in collaboration with Feeding America to end hunger. So, for the next 30 days, he was trying, with the help of other brands, to raise money for more than 38 million Americans.
Ryan Trahan’s challenge raised a total $1,418,596.00 from subscribers and brand donations.
- Airrack: Pizza Empire Challenge
Airrack has really become an entrepreneur after his success with turning almost anything into a pizza. First, he liked the idea of starting a journey without anything, so he found the idea of building a fully functioning pizza business with $0.
His challenge is not like the others that we saw on YouTube, because he had a much longer journey building his pizza empire called Pizzafy, which is a brand known for the fact that has attempted to turn different meals into a pizza.
Starting with almost nothing, he tried, of course, with the help of other brands, and through networking, to build his own pizza empire.
It’s true that there are many other YouTubers out there who have attempted to do such a challenge, because YouTuber users love them. Watching someone start with nothing and build their way towards $1000 or even more money must be impressive. It is a real reminder that with the right amount of effort, time, and ambition, you can achieve great things.
The differentiator is that, compared with TV Shows, where participants might start with nothing in a new country, for example, all the activities are already determined in a controlled environment. For YouTubers, instead, things are completely different because they are deciding along the way what they need to do in order to be a step closer to their final goal.
