Disabled teen turns hobby into job as he quits school and rakes in £10k a month

Daily Mirror

3 days ago

Ross McLaren, 22, from Midlothian, Scotland, was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy which left him wheelchair-bound - but he built a six-figure business while still in his teens
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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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."