In this episode, the Danish-language podcast Den Nye Standard is joined by Rasmus Brohave, a YouTuber and TV presenter. We talk about going against the grain, finding success at a young age and building a personal brand.
Rasmus describes himself as a quiet, calm guy from Funen who is introverted in private but extroverted at work. He hates being late, and he’s a passionate perfectionist. He uses all of these traits in his daily work, producing content with viewing figures so high they compete with the public broadcaster DR.
Making a living from YouTube
In the episode, Rasmus takes us on a journey where a hobby becomes a successful career, and where daring to go against the grain and trusting your gut is everything. Rasmus dropped out of sixth form to go full-time on YouTube. Many people around him thought it was a foolish idea at the time, but Rasmus’s judgement turned out to be his road to success.
Nobody had done it before back then, which is why Rasmus describes it as frightening. The decision took enormous amounts of self-discipline and hard work, and it also led to loneliness and a lack of social life. Rasmus doesn’t regret dropping out of sixth form, because he has learnt a lot in the school of life. But he does regret losing his social life as a teenager, and today he believes that’s why he’s introverted and finds small talk hard.
The move from YouTube to TV
When Rasmus started on YouTube, the word YouTuber didn’t exist, so the dream was to become a TV presenter. In 2018, he was offered his first presenting job, which opened the door to a string of TV presenting jobs. Rasmus says that at that point he was thinking about quitting YouTube, but presenting didn’t give him the same feeling inside as being a YouTuber. That made him decide never to let go of YouTube. Today, Rasmus produces content that often beats DR’s viewing figures. So he also wonders why the state doesn’t put more money into creators like himself.
“The only product I have is me”
Rasmus says he started thinking about personal branding early in his career. As he puts it, he’s the only product in the shop, and people subscribe to see him. Even though he thinks a lot about his wording and what he says, being perfect isn’t a goal for Rasmus. He believes perfect comes across as too robotic. So the most important thing for him is being true to himself. Rasmus says he finds it hard when people have a negative view of him. He describes himself as a people pleaser, but he has got better at accepting that not everyone has to like him. His best advice is to close your eyes and not let it get to you, because otherwise you lose yourself.