Peter McKinnon and his camera.
As the creator economy becomes more mainstream, here’s a surprising fact most people don’t realize: many of YouTube’s biggest stars didn’t quit their day jobs until they already had a massive audience.
Mark Rober told me he didn’t quit his day job at NASA until he had 10 million subscribers, Matthew Patrick of Game Theory didn’t leave his job for YouTube until he had 3 million subscribers, and Graham Stephan said he didn’t pursue YouTube full-time until he made nearly $1 million.
But Peter McKinnon is another story: he pursued YouTube full-time when he only had 800 subscribers and made 55 cents on the platform.
Today, McKinnon has over 5.8 million subscribers, films cinematic videos like The Bucket Shot, and created some of the highest quality (and best selling) merch with his Nomatic backpacks, PolarPro Signature Edition II camera lens, Camera Tool, and his new collection with Clocks and Colours.
Together with Spacestation and business partners Sean Holladay and Shaun “Shonduras” McBride, he’s built a beloved brand without ever feeling like he sold out. In fact, it seems like their attention-to-detail and sense of humility has only grown as the business has.
I sat down with McKinnon to ask how he did it and how the next generation of creators can prepare for a career in creativity. Especially now that TurboTax reported a 207% increase in taxpayers identifying themselves as “creators” on their returns — and 51% of them filing without a W-2. Meaning, they’re not relying on other forms of income. Like McKinnon, their creator income is their income. Here are five lessons from McKinnon’s story:
1) Find The Right Jobs Before Making The Jump
After dropping out of college a credit shy of graduation, McKinnon worked a series of odd jobs — golf course landscaper, State Farm associate, and cook at a steakhouse all while training as a magician. He had a realization while working at the steakhouse:
“I was like, I just can't do this,” McKinnon recalled telling his manager. “I don't want to work here anymore. And [my manager was] like, ‘well, do you want like less hours?’ And I was like, I want no hours.”
In the mic drop equivalent of the restaurant industry, McKinnon took off his apron and left. He quit to get closer to his passion for photography, which was sparked after McKinnon’s sister gifted him a point-and-shoot camera.
“I thought I gotta stop doing random jobs and at least start taking jobs, even if they're still retail or part-time, that are at least more tuned to my interests,” McKinnon said.
“I can’t just become a pro photographer because I decided it. But, if I get a job at a camera shop it gets me that much closer. I can learn about cameras more, and then maybe get an internship, and I can intern with people who do it professionally and learn more.”
For McKinnon, the camera shop job was his “bridge.” It helped him hone his photography skills – skills he’d never learn at the steakhouse. In interviewing other creators like Eric “Airrack” Decker, this seems to be a trend. Airrack also had a “bridge job” in doing wedding videography to learn skills he used to build a YouTube channel with nearly 10 million subscribers.
In his first few months on YouTube, McKinnon had 800 subscribers, 6,889 views, and 55 cents in AdSense revenue. Of course, that’s not enough to make a living, but McKinnon didn’t see it this way.
“It was proof of concept,” McKinnon recalled. “That 55 cents will turn into a dollar, maybe 10 bucks, maybe a hundred bucks, maybe enough to pay one bill, just one bill of mine. If I can pay one bill, I can pay all of them.”
That initial sign of income, coupled with everything McKinnon learned at the camera store, gave him the confidence to pursue YouTube full-time. “You've done all of the steps. You could just be doing them forever, or you make the big jump instead of this,” McKinnon recalled telling himself. The rest is history.
2) Work More Than You Network
We all have that friend who loves to “network” a little too much. They live for conferences, have business cards handy, and are eager to “connect” their way up the industry ladder.
McKinnon is the opposite. For example, when McKinnon first met YouTube superstar Casey Neistat, he didn’t fawn over him like most people would.
McKinnon and Casey Neistat in Amsterdam
“I didn’t want to be the guy being like, ‘Hey, can we be friends?’” McKinnon recalled. “I didn’t go into pitch mode because that guy probably gets pitched more than anybody. Honestly, it was just cool to like being in the presence of someone that I was inspired by.”
In a twist of fate, McKinnon not pitching Neistat led to McKinnon getting exactly what most dreamed of. “A few weeks later, [Casey] dm’d me on Twitter and just said, let’s make vids,” McKinnon recalled. Within 15 hours of that message, he flew to Amsterdam to film with Neistat.
A snippet from Wanner's YouTube video, "The Day I Met Peter".
As McKinnon has grown his following, he’s paid it forward. After stumbling across Cody Wanner’s page, for instance, McKinnon reached out and invited him to film a video together just as Neistat did for him.
In short, these collaborations happened because the creator put working on their craft ahead of networking. Of course, there’s value in hustling and connecting but your work can speak louder if you spend time perfecting it rather than just pitching it.
3) Surround Yourself with Brutally Honest Friends
Feedback is so important, especially when you’re starting as a creator. For McKinnon, it was his friend and fellow magician Chris Ramsey who routinely offered ideas to improve his videos. His biggest feedback of all? Stay consistent.
McKinnon and Chris Ramsey collaborating on a video
[Chris] still gives me the same feedback he did in the early days. It’s always just four words: ‘onto the next one.’ I’ll call him with my woes, like if a video didn’t perform, and he’ll just say, ‘cool, onto the next one.’”
This is yet another trend with top creators like Jimmy Donaldson — better known as MrBeast — who has also said he had a community of fellow creators roast his early videos so he could accelerate his learning process like Ramsey did for McKinnon.
In McKinnon’s experience, there’s no use in dwelling on what didn’t work out the way you had hoped it would. “You could sit here and feel sorry for yourself and lick your wounds because some people didn’t like your beautiful cinematography, or you could worry about what you’re going to make tomorrow instead,” McKinnon said.
Creators need friends like Ramsey to tell you what you need to hear even if it’s not what you want to hear. Simply put, good creators learn from their own mistakes. Great creators learn from mistakes they wouldn’t have even known without their friends.
4) Find A Real Problem To Solve
In 2015, filmmaking tutorials on YouTube were nowhere near as engaging as they are today. That’s where McKinnon saw an opportunity.
“It was like orientation videos where you got a retail job,” he recalled. “I thought, we just got to have more fun. How do we make it actually cool? Like this dude’s got a beard and tattoos and a backwards hat…this is not what the photography space is used to, but it’s what would relate to people who are up and coming and starting in photography.”
McKinnon stood out by identifying the gap between what people wanted (photography tutorials) and how it was being delivered (like orientation videos). Through his vlogs and tutorials, he brought a sense of humanity to the genre.
Along the same lines, McKinnon looked at other areas he felt were lacking beyond just videos. He bluntly put it, “I'm a big fan of finding issues, and then asking how can you make them better?”
As a photographer who’s tried nearly every camera bag, he couldn’t help but notice all the ways it could be improved. So he teamed up with Nomatic to create the Camera Pack, which received rave reviews for its thoughtful design, high quality build, and elegant finish.
“There was never a bag that did everything I needed it to do.” McKinnon said. “'I’m not the only one filming, shooting, and traveling. So how do I take those things and then apply them to a new product that fills that niche, that fills that gap.”
Most creators make merch to diversify their bottom line instead of actually solving problems. After learning how to educate his audience of filmmakers with videos, he turned to empowering them with better gear.
McKinnon’s Nomatic backpacks are just one example; he also partnered with PolarPro to create a Signature Edition II camera lens, and recently launched his Camera Tool after 18 months of development. To continue launching problem-solving products, McKinnon created this site so his community can sign up for his limited edition “Pete’s Pirate Life” drops.
5) Go Beyond The “Ad Read”
Did you know that 76% of viewers said they watch the Super Bowl because of the ads, not just the game? It’s because those advertisers don’t just recite “talking points” about why to buy their products. They try to make you laugh, smile, or feel something first.
McKinnon takes the same approach to sponsorships on his YouTube channel. Many creators just read scripts they’re given from sponsors, but like the rest of his content, McKinnon also takes this to another level.
“How can I get to a point where people want to see my ads?” He asked himself. “When they're asking for it, that would be awesome.”
One of the best examples of McKinnon’s creativity with sponsorships is Squarespace Pete. It’s a segment in his videos where he clones himself through editing and “Squarespace Pete” humorously reminds McKinnon to plug the brand.
McKinnon's Ad Read for Squarespace featuring Squarespace Pete
“Instead of speaking to you about Squarespace, I can speak to Squarespace Pete, and we can speak to each other and just kind of have this fun banter that someone just gets to enjoy instead of being pitched to,” McKinnon explained.
McKinnon’s advice to creators when making ad integrations is to get to a point where “you almost don’t even know you’re being pitched, you’re just being entertained.”
That seems to be a common thread throughout McKinnon’s career: no matter what, we are entertained. He opens our minds with his filmmaking tutorials, opens our wallets for filmmaking products, and opens our hearts with his humility and authenticity. If McKinnon could take his initial 55 cent paycheck from YouTube this far, imagine what the next generation of creators will do.
