James Dumoulin, co-founder of The School of Hard Knocks, joins “The Big Money Show” to discuss building his multi-million dollar media brand through street interviews with successful entrepreneurs.
At a time when headlines frequently focus on young Americans adopting a “quiet shutdown” and demanding lighter workloads, 24-year-old James Dumoulin is flipping the script.
As co-founder of the viral media brand School of Hard Knocks, Dumoulin built a $37 million media empire with over 26 million followers by hitting the pavement, overcoming fear, and speaking 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 alone. If you want to go further and think big, you have to 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 he has diversified his portfolio and now operates four separate businesses.
YOUNG MILLIONAIRE REVEALS WEALTH CREATION LESSONS HE LEARNED FROM BILLIONAIRES
“Logan Paul told me, ‘You need to know how to focus that attention on real businesses.’ So we were really intentional about asking ourselves, “Why are people following us?” “And we decided to build companies off of that and built really smart companies, hired great people,” Dumoulin explained.
School Of Hard Knocks co-founder and influencer James Dumoulin visits the Fox Business Network studios on July 15, 2025. (Getty Images)
According to Forbes, Dumoulin ranks 37th on its 2026 list of top content creators, with estimated earnings of $9.9 million.
“We’ve built a huge audience. … But then you have to think a little bigger. … We spend a lot of time with wealthy entrepreneurs. … So we started a marketing agency to help them build their personal brands. We started a content consulting company, and then we started a subscription community where we do live calls every week,” he explained.
“So people think we just do interviews, and we meet people like Marcus (Lemonis) on the street. I have four businesses making seven or eight figures at 24.”
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 gets these high-profile interviews through a simple approach of prioritizing long-term relationships and mutual benefits over sensationalist soundbites.
“Take the risk or lose the opportunity. If I hadn’t contacted Mark Cuban, if I had hesitated and been afraid to approach him, I wouldn’t have been able to capitalize on this now,” he mused. “But my message is very simple: The odds of all of us sitting here being born and everyone watching this are 1 in 400 trillion. You were obviously created for a reason. I firmly believe that the people watching this were born to do more than go to school and get a job and pay their bills and die.
“So you might as well go for it. You might as well be really intentional and in tune with why you were created, what that purpose is and become the absolute best in the world at that.
“I make it very clear to people that every time I get ready to do an interview with them, it’s OK. … I don’t appreciate the two minutes of fame. Our platform is big enough now. I don’t want to make anyone look bad.”
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 advice Dumoulin said he received was from former Goodyear executive Billy Ray Taylor, who shared a lesson from his mother.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
“He said, ‘If a bird lands on a branch, does the bird trust the branch or its wings?’ » Dumoulin shared. “I have seen many birds land on branches, but what I have never seen is the branch break and the bird fall and die. Trust your wings.
“So I think I really lean on that a lot because, especially once you start to get a little bit of traction, a little bit of movement, you have all these people telling you, ‘You have to run your business this way, this way, this way, this way.’ And, at the end of the day, you have to keep the main thing as the main thing. »
READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Gn world
