441 - Ben Chon

Ben Chon is a Content Creator focused on the career space. He is the co-founder and CEO of rareliquid, a YouTube channel that hopes to help people build their dream careers with videos covering topics like working at Apple, growth equity, and becoming a product manager at a top tech firm.

His YouTube channel has 180,000+ subscribers and 10,000,000+ views.

After graduating from U.C. Berkeley, he worked as an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan, where he closed 15 transactions valued at over $14 billion.

He recently received his MBA from Wharton.

YouTube → youtube.com/@rareliquid
Instagram → instagram.com/rareliquid
TikTok → tiktok.com/@rareliquid
Twitter (X) → x.com/rareliquid
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/benchon
Business Inquiries → ben@rareliquid.com

Ben's Workspace Tour

Workspace Items

• Hourglass Sand Timer
• Fully Jarvis Standing Desk
• Dell UltraSharp U3223QE 33" Monitor
• Dell UltraSharp U2723QE 27" Monitor
• Ergotron Dual Monitor Arms
• Steelcase Gesture Office Chair with Headrest
• Logitech Brio 4K Webcam
• Cloud Nine C989M Ergonomic Mechanical Keyboard
• WAVLINK Docking Station
• Logitech G PRO X SUPERLIGHT Wireless Gaming Mouse
• Mouse Wrist Rest
• Cable Management Rack
• Under Desk Laptop Mount

Apps or Tools

• Clearspace (limits my social media use)
• Notion (for video scripts, keeping my team organized)
• Vimcal (smart calendar app with shortcuts)
• Spark (email which allows me to see multiple inboxes at once)
• ChatGPT (desktop app, basically has replaced Google now)
• 1Password (password manager)
• Quickbooks (accounting)
• Slack (team communication)
• Zoom (video calls)

I actually have an editor so I don’t use a lot of editing tools

What is the most recent item that you've added to your workspace?

I recently added a 30-minute hourglass to my desk, which I use to help me focus. Whenever I get distracted for too long, I turn it upside down and promise that I will do nothing but my work until the 30 minutes are up. A lot of times, I forget about it and focus for a lot longer. It’s also helped me realize that building focus is like building muscle and requires active repetition.

How do you spark creativity?

Creativity to me often means connecting two different things together. I like to draw inspiration from all sources like nature, movies, and whatever the TikTok algorithm feeds me to see how I can adjust my content and make it even better.

What does your typical day look like?

I always have 3-5 projects going on and manage many people, so while there is no typical day, my ideal day would look like this. Wake up at 9am and make two eggs with cheese and greek yogurt with granola and chia seeds. 930am to 12pm work on my hardest, most energy-consuming tasks. 12pm eat a high-protein, low-carb lunch (otherwise I get sleepy) like salmon with spinach. 1230pm to 6pm work on writing new scripts for videos, filming, or build out the products I’m working on. 6pm to 7:30pm either work out or play tennis. 730pm to 830pm eat dinner. Afterwards to midnight do “lighter” tasks like answering emails. With all this said, I honestly normally wake up around 10-11am and sleep around 1-3am hah.

What has been the biggest challenge in growing your YouTube channel? The most rewarding?

Interestingly (at least to me), my most viewed video was published in the first 6 months of when I started my channel in January 2021. Since then, I’ve seen pretty steady growth and over the years, I no longer chase super viral videos but instead try to gain consistent views for each video. And so, I’d say the biggest challenge is not getting burnt out. A lot of times, creators (and business owners) will say, “I left my 9 to 5 just to work 24/7.” There’s always more you can be doing for your business, always more videos you can make, and etc. Maintaining as much joy as you can throughout the whole process especially during the parts you don’t enjoy (which for me is filming) is a constant, daily challenge. At the same time, I’ve wanted to be an entrepreneur ever since I was 10, and so seeing rareliquid grow has been the most rewarding job I could have ever imagined. I love working on my own business and view it as my dream job and so I’m extremely grateful for everything rareliquid has given me.