After deciding not to prioritize his schooling, IShowSpeed suddenly became a millionaire at the age of 16. Receiving such a large sum of money was overwhelming, admits the YouTuber, who recalled how he spent his first million.
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Speaking to Shannon Sharpe on the Club Shay Shay podcast, he earlier revisited how his mom nearly kicked him out for a controversial WarStar video that had 30,000 views because of hate comments. But, she later turned out to be a strong support, recalled the youngster.
Raised by his mom until high school, he recalled purchasing a house with the help of his first paycheck for her.
“You know what’s crazy. I’m not even like a purchase-type guy. My first big purchase was probably buying my mom house. I was never a guy who wanted a chain or clothes… Plus, I was 16. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want a car because I didn’t like to drive. I didn’t want a chain because I didn’t want a chain. I didn’t want clothes. I didn’t want none of that. So, I just kind of had money.”
Notably, at that age, Speed had no interest in luxuries like cars or chains. Instead, he thought about his mom, which led to his decision to buy her a home at 16, while other kids of his age were in high school.
But how tough was his journey to becoming a millionaire? The early days were hard, but IShowSpeed’s persistence and commitment to streaming for just one viewer led to his rise. Yes, you heard it right. It started with just one viewer.
“I had that one viewer, and that one viewer made me keep going. And each day, more and more viewers came. By week two, I gained four viewers. Week three, eight viewers. Week four, twenty viewers. So on and so on. Then in my sophomore year, I kind of gave up on school. I kind of gave up on everything I had in my old life and put everything into my stream.”
He added, “I didn’t care about anything else but YouTube streaming,” thereby noting that the journey was challenging, but worth trying. Perhaps this hardworking approach played rich dividends in IShowSpeed’s rise to a $10 million net worth in 2024, at the age of 19.
