The NeildaVerse #20: 3 Qualities That Made The “Nas” of Nas Daily A Successful Creator and Startup Founder
How Nuseir Yassin Found Meaning By Creating 1000 Videos a Day for 1000 Days
Apr. 6 Written By Neilda Gagne
In December 2020, almost a year into the pandemic, I found myself at a crossroads. My startup was on pause, I was in the middle of getting my Master’s, and still in shock that I couldn’t go back to San Francisco because the US-Canada border shut down. I couldn’t work in Canada without violating my visa because doing so would threaten my application for Permanent Residency.
I felt like I didn’t have a purpose. Every other day, I found myself in tears wondering what I was doing with my life.
This was when I decided to give myself a personal challenge to write 100 words each day for 100 days. I stopped on day 16. I realized how difficult it was to create consistently.
I wanted to figure out how others overcame this challenge. Amongst all the creators I looked into, Nuseir Yassin stood out the most. Nuseir made 1000 videos every day for 1000 days without skipping a single day. He called his video series, Nas Daily.
The more I learned about him, the more I admired the qualities that made him a great creator and startup founder.
1. He’s a risk-taker
Nuseir grew up in a small village in the Middle East where he struggled to achieve his dreams.
He defied the odds when he received a scholarship to attend Harvard at the age of 19. As a student, he already had the itch for entrepreneurship. He co-founded a couple of startups, a pay-it-forward registration service, and a social media search engine. Both didn’t succeed.
When he graduated in 2014, he got a job as a software developer for Venmo. After two years, he reached a point where his work no longer had meaning for him. He wanted to travel the world. He wanted to share stories of things that mattered to him. He wanted to make an impact.
So he quit his stable job, created the Nas Daily Facebook page, and began his journey to create 1000 one-minute videos in 1000 days.
Along the way, he traveled the world, met his significant other, shared stories about the people and places he cared about to millions of followers, and refined his creative process. Nuseir shares how he did it in My Habits of Success!
After his 1000 one-minute videos in 1000 days, he started another big risk–building his EdTech startup, Nas Academy.
2. He’s mission-focused with the goal of making the world a better place
Nuseir’s founded Nas Daily as his first step toward finding meaning in the world. He wanted to highlight extraordinary people, places, topics, and social issues. He wanted to inspire people and saw video creation as a means of doing that.
One idea. One video. One thousand days. This was his goal.
He brought awareness to Seychelles and how it’s a visa-free place. He shared the story of Ritesh Agarwal and how he became a billionaire before the age of 30 without coming from an affluent background. He shared the story about the world’s biggest Wikipedia editor, Steven, who edited 3 million and wrote 3,000 articles under the belief that it makes for a freer and stronger society.
As a result, he inspires over 10 million followers who wanted to watch his stories.
Now that Nuseir mastered the art of video creation, he passes down his knowledge to empower other creators to do the same through Nas Academy.
3. He’s a great teacher
Nuseir’s global reach and ability to help bring awareness and societal change has demonstrated his ability to educate the public about important topics like the impacts of climate change on the Aral Sea and the conflicts between Jews and Arabs. He makes these interesting and viral.
I took his Art of Storytelling class in 2020 at Nas Academy to better understand his approach and ability to inspire people to action. I learned so much about his process and felt less intimidated by video creation. I ended up creating a few videos myself.
He understands the power of using simple words to reach a broad audience. He shares the example of how Donald Trump uses simple words to speak to his audience.
Nuseir eventually turned his experience and passion for education into an online school teaching content creators about business, video creation, digital marketing, and cryptocurrency.
Inspiration for the relentless entrepreneur
Learning about Nuseir’s video creation and startup journey inspired me when I hit a low point during the pandemic. He possesses the qualities of a relentless entrepreneur who pushed himself toward his goals while making the world a better place.
As a startup founder, I understand the challenges of going through the founder's journey. The risks of leaving a stable lifestyle. The pitfalls of questioning whether you made the right decision. The constant feeling of uncertainty when sharing your mission and wondering if you can inspire others to join you as investors, customers, and supporters. It’s far from easy.
Nuseir shows it can be done.
After all, the road to 1000 videos starts with the decision to make just one.