I wouldn’t worry too much about him bleeding subscribers. I’m guessing he just decided that YouTube wasn’t something that he was super passionate about.
I’ve talked to him a little bit in the past, not sure what he is up to now but I’m sure he found something that he loves. But without the initial growth of his channel, he probably wouldn’t be doing what he is doing.
His content was very Casey style, if he had continued, I’m sure that he would have developed his own style and voice over time. But he started! And that’s the most important part.
I think of it like a Steve Job’s quote that I love.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference.” — Steve Jobs
As for BEME, yes it failed, but again it was also a huge success; I mean CNN still bought it for $25 million. That’s a success by itself. It also showcased how important YouTube and social media can be to growing a business. Also without BEME, Casey may have never done the YouTube channel, which obviously is a huge success.
I think the main reason BEME failed was that they allowed themselves to be bought by CNN, probably for financial reasons at the time. So they probably did grow too quickly. Which is to your point about making sure you are ready and grow organically.
And 368 would never have been possible without Casey’s channel and BEME, so I really don’t see any of it as a failure. I just see it as the roller coaster of life where you are ahead or behind, but each step along the way was super important to get to the next step.
This video by Simon Sinek will help explain what I’m talking about here.
