Disabled teen turns hobby into job as he quits school and rakes in £10k a month
A disabled teeenager has given up school after raking in £10,000 a month from his bedroom by managing some of the world's most famous online gamers.
Ross McLaren, who was born with a unique form of muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair-bound, turned his passion for gaming into a lucrative career. Dreaming originally of pro-Fortnite stardom, the enterprising teenager created a six-figure business while living with his parents Lesley and Craig in Midlothian.
Now 22, Ross helms a team of ten, managing the day-to-day affairs of some of the biggest names in the gaming industry, including the well-known Fortnite players Clix and Sentinel.
Ross shared with the Record: "I really wanted to be a pro-Fortnite player but I realised I wasn't good enough. I got into video editing for professional Fornite players and started working with small gaming streamers for free when I was in school", reports the Daily Record.
"By summer 2021 I was making £10,000 per month and I told my parents I didn't want to sit my Advanced Highers. They had their doubts and asked me to go back to school - but I quit after one day."
He credits his disability as giving him a unique entrée into gaming, allowing him time to perfect his skills. He revealed: "Having muscular dystrophy was somewhat of an advantage for me as it meant I spent a lot more time on a computer when I was younger as I couldn't go out and play sports like other kids."
Starting out by offering video editing services to smaller streamers, Ross eventually hit the jackpot just as he considered calling it quits. He said: "I was working with a streamer called Bugha who only had about 20,000 subscribers. Bugha played in the Fortnite World Cup in 2018 and won $3million. Overnight, his subscriber count hit one million."
Since then, Bugha – now boasting a whopping 4.7 million YouTube subscribers – has remained loyal to Ross, leading to a business boom. Ross's talents didn't go unnoticed; he soon caught the attention of another Fortnite sensation, Clix, who commands an impressive 3.5 million YouTube followers.
Despite initial reservations and a brief return to George Heriot's School under parental pressure, Ross quickly pivoted back to his passion, landing a game-changing opportunity. He was tapped to manage a gaming channel for none other than UK YouTube heavyweight KSI, who enjoys a staggering audience of over 22 million subscribers.
Now a sought-after freelancer, Ross juggles content management for elite players like Clix and the renowned E-Sports organisation Sentinels from Los Angeles. With top Fortnite streamers like Clix raking in around £100,000 monthly, Ross earns a handsome commission for his content creation expertise.
The ambitious young Scot is now eyeing a move to the US, aiming to set up shop closer to the action and his high-profile clientele. He said: "It's crazy how things have turned out. My job didn't exist a few years ago - now business is thriving."
He's got his heart set on Dallas, explaining: "I hope to move to Dallas. With Fortnite, the servers are based there and many of the players are." Determined to take his career to the next level, he concluded: "I'm planning on taking the leap to move to be closer to my clients."
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