Published October 06, 2025 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD
A video went viral this past weekend: MrBeast posted a time-capsule video from ten years ago, when he was sitting at around 8,000 YouTube subscribers.
The contrast is staggering now—today MrBeast is one of the biggest, most visible creators in the world with 550M+ YouTube subscribers across his many channels—known not just for his reach, but for the way he gives back. It’s inspiring to see what he’s built—and it’s a powerful reminder of how far someone can come.
But inspiration can cut two ways. For many of us, seeing that kind of scale feels less like encouragement and more like staring up at a vertical mountain—impossible to climb. We may feel the pull to create, to contribute, to serve a cause beyond ourselves, but it’s easy to believe we missed the boat—that building a foundation of support in today’s hyper-competitive digital landscape is next to impossible. And that’s where we need to pause and reframe.
Ten years apart: from a kid with 8,000 subscribers to the world’s biggest creator. It’s easy to see the mountain—but the real lesson isn’t the climb, it’s the impact along the way.
Success isn’t defined solely by clout, metrics, or money. Those things can be meaningful and rewarding—they amplify a message, open doors, and help ideas spread. But they are not the only measure of worth. Impact is. If what you create, say, or do reaches even a handful of people—and those people feel seen, understood, or encouraged—you have succeeded.
Clout can be intoxicating because it offers a visible scoreboard. But the scoreboard doesn’t tell the full story. Numbers can’t measure what it means when someone messages you to say, “This helped me”, or when a small post sparks a shift in how someone approaches their day. That is impact—and impact has no algorithm.
So when you look at the giants, don’t let their scale convince you the climb isn’t worth starting. Their journey wasn’t instant—it was years of small steps, experiments, and unseen effort. Your journey matters too, even if it looks quieter, even if the audience is smaller.
Clout matters, but it’s not everything. What matters most is whether you’re showing up with honesty, creating with intention, and leaving someone better than you found them. That is real success—whether you have 8 followers, 8-thousand, or 8-million.
And that’s exactly what we’re seeing with Collectors MD. A little over six months in, we’re still small, still modest, still growing—and we know there are thousands more collectors out there struggling who need support, and who we’re committed to reach. But the fact that we’ve already impacted dozens, if not hundreds, of people is incredible. It proves that even without massive clout or huge numbers, meaningful change is possible. Every reflection read, every meeting joined, every message exchanged in our community is proof that success isn’t about scale—it’s about the lives touched along the way.
#CollectorsMD
True success isn’t in the numbers—it’s in the lives you impact, no matter how many.
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