Tom Judkins built an Instagram following that grew from a few hundred people to more than six hundred thousand, roughly the population of a small city checking in on what he makes. He is quick to say he does not think of himself as someone who has made it, because trends move and he could be irrelevant by this time next year, so he stays gritty and keeps his feet moving.
The shift that changed things was not luck. When a handful of his videos took off, Tom went back and studied them closely to work out what he had actually done right, then treated that as a template he could repeat on purpose. We talk about the moment it stopped being a hobby and became the thing paying a mortgage, and what it asks of you to swim hard when the only other option is sinking.