Michelle Phan went from food stamps and an abusive home to building a beauty empire starting with a seven-minute YouTube makeup tutorial. She succeeded by doing what she loved, studying mentors like Bob Ross, and partnering with brands like Lancôme. Her first tool was just a webcam.
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From living off of food stamps to becoming an internet millionaire, this is the surprising story of Michelle Phan. Hey, it's Evan Carmichael, and I believe that whatever goal you have, the fastest way to accomplish it is to model success. Find people who've already done what you're trying to do and apply their strategies to help your business grow. So today I'm going to be looking at how Michelle Phan went from living off of food stamps to to becoming a multimillionaire YouTube entrepreneur, and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from her success. Okay, so you may know her for her hair, makeup, and beauty videos, but Michelle Phan is an internet entrepreneur on a mission to have a positive impact on the world. She has one of the most popular YouTube channels online with millions of subscribers, a book deal, a talent agency, and a makeup business that does over $100 million in sales. But it wasn't always so easy for Michelle Phan. Growing up, she moved around a lot, as frequently as 6 times in a year. She later found out that it was because her dad had a gambling problem. He would gamble away all of their rent money, and they'd get evicted and have to move. She didn't have very many friends growing up because she moved around so much and she was shy. She also was often one of the only Asian kids at her school, and so she got picked on a lot. Her response was to turn inwards and draw. She would draw princesses and fairy tales and superheroes and imagine that she was off saving the world. Things got worse for her at home. Her father left for some unknown reason, and her mother later met someone else and remarried, but he was an abusive man and they struggled to get by, often relying on food stamps for support. Her mom and her stepdad argued a lot, and every time they did, Michelle turned inwards again and drew. As she got older, she wanted to wear makeup, and bit by bit, her mother let her. For her, makeup was like drawing on your face, and she could become the superhero that she wanted to be. Growing up, her mother wanted her to be a doctor. Her family was Vietnamese, and in Vietnam, doctors were respected and revered and were important parts of the community. And so she enrolled in medical studies, but at 17, went to an ER one day and found horrible things like a pole being driven through a man, and she decided that it wasn't for her. She said, "I can't do this. I'm pretty sure someone else can do this, but it's not for me." That same day, she went home to tell her mom that she could not be a doctor anymore and that she was gonna try to find a way to make money being an artist. Her mother was devastated. So reassuringly, Michelle told her, "Don't worry, Mommy. I won't become a starving artist." I'll find a way to take care of us all doing something I love. That's a promise, and I don't break promises. So here's how she did it and made her mother proud. Lesson number 1 is do what you love. As a teenager, Michelle Phan started a personal blog talking about her fantasy life she wished she lived with lots of money and time to get dressed up. She took a waitress job as a way to make money because she got turned down to work at a local Lancôme beauty counter. They said she didn't have enough sales experience. She did her first makeup tutorial in response to two readers on her blog who asked her how she did her makeup. She felt it'd be easier to show it than write it, so she created a 7-minute video response and put it up on YouTube. She initially thought only those two girls would watch it, but soon found people asking her to do more and more videos. She kept making better videos because she loved helping people, and slowly the videos got better and better. Videos like "How to Make a Facial Mask Out of Unscented Organic Kitty Litter" and "How to Get Lady Gaga's Eyes" makeup tutorials took off and rocketed her to stardom. She loved what she did, and it came through in her videos. Do what you love! Number 2 is Model Success. Michelle Phan wanted the focus of her channel to be on teaching, so she looked to teachers who inspired her, especially Bob Ross. Ross was an American painter and TV host. He was the creator of The Joy of Painting, a TV program that taught people how to make oil paintings and broke it down into simple steps. Michelle loved his soothing voice and how even the casual viewer could learn to paint from watching the show. To this day, she still plays Bob Ross tutorials in the background of the room when she's working as a way to relax. To expand his business, Ross started selling his own art supplies and how-to books. Today, Michelle Phan has her own line of makeup supplies and a book. You don't have to figure everything out for yourself. If somebody has already done what you're trying to do, model their success, even if they're from a different generation. And number 3 is partner up. As Michelle Phan grew in popularity, she wanted to have a bigger impact on the world, and she recognized that partnerships would get her there faster. Her first break came when an executive at Lancôme, the company that wouldn't hire her for a counter job because she didn't have any sales experience, Googled around and found one of her tutorials where she was showing people how to apply makeup on a plane. They reached out and signed her as a spokesperson. She has continued to partner with companies to make her own cosmetics line with L'Oréal called M, create a talent network with Endemol Beyond, launch a record label with Cutting Edge Group, and release a book with Random House. She wanted to inspire more people and build her business faster. Forming partnerships helped her get there, and they can help get your business off the ground as well.
I started filming on YouTube on my webcam in college in my room, like, just doing makeup tutorials, and now, now, like, I work with L'Oréal, and I have, like, 3 companies that I'm CEO of. So it's incredible how that all happened because I had a passion, and it all started from a webcam. And it doesn't matter how small your beginnings are. It doesn't matter. It just— it just— all that matters is how big your passion is.
So remember: do what you love, model success, and partner up. And who knows? You might become the next Michelle Phan. And of course, believe. Thank you for watching, and if you have a suggestion for an entrepreneur you'd like to see me profile, leave it in the comment section below. And if you like this video and you want to see more, don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you soon. Self-improvement books are like fitness books. They never work on their own. What you need is a trainer. That's Evan Carmichael. Get the newsletter.
