How a 24-year-old built a $37 million media empire by asking billionaires for advice
James Dumoulin ranks No. 37 on the Forbes 2026 list of top content creators, earning an estimated $9.9M annually
James Dumoulin, co-founder of The School of Hard Knocks, joins 'The Big Money Show' to discuss building his multimillion-dollar media brand through street interviews with successful entrepreneurs.
At a time when headlines frequently focus on younger Americans embracing "quiet quitting" and demanding lighter workloads, 24-year-old James Dumoulin is flipping the script.
As the co-founder of the viral media brand School of Hard Knocks, Dumoulin built a $37 million media empire with more than 26 million followers by hitting the pavement, overcoming fear and talking directly to the world's most successful business leaders.
"One of my favorite sayings is that, where attention goes, revenue flows," Dumoulin said during an appearance on "The Big Money Show" Thursday. "If you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you wanna go further and go big, you gotta go with people together."
The young entrepreneur and social media personality explained how he started the brand with his brother and childhood friend. Rather than relying solely on the unpredictability of digital advertising revenue, Dumoulin said they diversified their portfolio and now operate four distinct business ventures.
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"Logan Paul told me, ‘You have to know how to yield that attention into actual businesses.’ So we got really intentional about ‘Why do people follow us?’ And we decided to build businesses off of that and built really smart businesses, hired great people," Dumoulin reflected.
School Of Hard Knocks co-founder and influencer James Dumoulin visits Fox Business Network Studios July 15, 2025. (Getty Images)
According to Forbes, Dumoulin ranks No. 37 on its 2026 list of top content creators, with estimated earnings of $9.9 million.
"We built a huge audience. … But then you've got to think a little bit bigger. … We're spending so much time around wealthy entrepreneurs. … So, we built a marketing agency to help them build their personal brands. We launched a content consulting company, and then we launched a subscription community where every week we host live calls," he explained.
"So, people think that we just do interviews, and we run up to people like Marcus [Lemonis] on the street. I have four businesses that are doing seven or eight figures at 24 years old."
The brand's trajectory changed after Dumoulin approached Mark Cuban for a spontaneous interview. Since then, he has interviewed 70 billionaires, including Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, whom he recently traveled to Nigeria to interview.
Dumoulin says he secures these high-profile interviews through a straightforward approach of prioritizing long-term relationships and mutual benefit over sensationalized sound bites.
"Take the risk or lose the chance. Had I not gone up to Mark Cuban, had I gotten hesitant and was afraid to approach him, I wouldn't have been able to leverage that now," he reflected. "But my message is very simple: The odds of us all sitting here, being born, everybody watching this is 1 in 400 trillion. You were obviously created for a reason. I'm a firm believer that people watching this were born to do more than go to school and get a job, pay bills and die.
"So, like, you might as well go for it. You might as well get really intentional and in tune about what was that reason why you were created, what that purpose is and become the absolute best in the world at it.
"I make it very clear to people whenever I'm about to do an interview with them, there's no curveballs. … I don't value the two minutes of fame. Our platform's big enough now. I don't want to put anybody in a bad light."
James Dumoulin, co-founder of School of Hard Knocks, shares his journey to financial success, explaining how his media company, with millions of followers, monetizes access to top entrepreneurs.
The best piece of advice Dumoulin said he has received came from former Goodyear executive Billy Ray Taylor, who shared a lesson from his mother.
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"He said, ‘If a bird lands on a branch, does the bird trust the branch or does it trust its wings?" Dumoulin shared. "I've seen many birds land on branches, but what I've never seen is the branch break and the bird fall and die. Trust your wings.
"So, I think that I really lean heavily on that because, especially once you start to get a little bit of traction, a little of motion, you have all these people telling you, ‘You need to run your business that way, this way, this way, this way.’ And, ultimately, you gotta keep the main thing the main thing."