Being a YouTube “star” (if I may say) is somewhat overrated. Indeed it’s truly awesome to have an audience, interact with a community, and generate income from something you enjoy… There’s something else more rewarding and enduring… helping or watching friends or fellow Tubers achieve greater success.

Check out this piece about Shaycarl from Forbes’ Michael Humphrey. It’s part of an interesting series call “Boom Tubers.” Humphrey doles out the questions, and the Tuber (or its ghost writer) responds. Certainly Shaycarl would be “epic” without you and me. But for those of us watching him before his epicness was known, it’s cool to see it acknowledged in “mainstream” media, don’t you think? His photo on an album cover… loads of media. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Here’s version 2 of my free eBook that Shaycarl said helped him. Reading it will not make you epic. But it can’t hurt.

Here’s an e-mail I got from ShayCarl (who read, or alleged to read, the piece back in January of 2008). I reserve the right to surface this e-mail bi-annually.

And now the “mentor” has gone to mentee, sir.

I rejoice in telling Shaycarl’s rare but encouraging story, and almost never mention any role I might have served. I usually center around the video where he discovers the new home he purchased (via his YouTube earnings) turned out to be one in which he had installed a granite counter top when he was a humble blue collar worker (and probably enjoying it just as much).