A former Keswick School pupil and musician has transformed his life thanks to online video sharing platform YouTube.
Ben Rowlands, 21, has gone from being a full-time musician, whose workload disappeared overnight due to coronavirus, to a full-time YouTuber with 10,000 followers and more than a million video views.
Ben supported the likes of KT Tunstall, Frank Turner and The Nimmo Brothers pre-coronavirus.
But the pandemic put paid to his career.
“I was left with zero revenue streams and was not eligible for any of the various government support schemes available at that time,” said Ben, who lives in Whitehaven.
“With the worldwide music industry on pause, I took the opportunity to radically transform my business,” he added.
Ben, who has performed since he was 14, said he decided to teach what he had learned over the years online, via video streaming platform YouTube.
He said: “I did multiple series of daily YouTube videos across the first few months of lockdown.
“I had never created a video before. Each video took me ages. I had to teach myself how to use video cameras, set up video lights and use editing software.
“After 100 video uploads, I finally became a part of the YouTube Partner Programme.
“This allowed me to earn income from the videos I had previously been creating for nothing.
“In my first month, I made £64.80, which may seem like a waste of time but it changed my mindset about creating revenue streams online and building a business.”
He added that he noticed a demand for more detailed videos and began creating courses for people to take part in online.#
He said: “A year later, I have now had over 1,000 people enrol on my courses and have had over 1,100,000 views across my YouTube videos.
“This has allowed me to take my business to the next level and become a full-time YouTuber and online content creator, no longer relying on live music as an income source.
“By the end of 2020, I had gone from filming videos in my garden shed, to having my own office space, with purpose-built studios.”
Ben added he hopes to expand his business over the next 12 months and take on staff.
