A Brummie who was “booted out” of sixth form aged 17 has shared how he began raking in the cash by ditching school for social media.

As a teenager, Max Brown, now 21, was constantly getting into trouble and despite being academically talented, was very “blasé” about his future and would behave badly in class.

Eventually, after being suspended “a few times” , Max was asked to leave, with one teacher labelling him “a disappointment to his family”.

In the months following, the Walsall native took on an apprenticeship that inspired him to start his own business.

Now, he’s turned his life around, runs three companies and has a huge online presence – sharing his story to show people that school isn’t the only route to success.

“When I was at school, I was pretty intelligent, but my behaviour was always an issue,” Max, who has 92,900 followers on Instagram (@maxbrownyo ), told NeedToKnow.co.uk.

I would constantly be distracted in class and would always play up around school.

“I didn't really care about my school work or any future career and I just lived in the moment.

“When I was asked to leave my school, I knew things needed to change and I had to find another path to take.”

At first, after getting the boot, the teen says he was “pretty happy to leave”.

However, after his mum, Joy Brown, 52, gave him a reality-check, he soon realised that he had to face reality and “find something to do”.

He said: “I always knew I wanted to do more with my life but at the time my lifestyle didn’t reflect that.

“My mum was distraught that I had been asked to leave sixth form.

“She really wanted me to go to university and study to get a stable career.”

“However she was always supportive and helped me with my next steps.”

Max started by taking on a low paid design engineering Apprenticeship.

Eager to make extra cash on the side and having seen other influencers pull in big money from sharing their passions online, he decided to do the same – posting about his love of fitness, rugby and comedy.

The teen also did funny videos with his nan Chris Thacker, 79, getting her in on the action and dubbing her ‘GymNan’.

And social media users lapped it up.

He said: “I was constantly working on my social media platforms and putting over 80+ hours in every single week into learning, growing and developing my skills to grow an audience.

“As I saw my following increase this really motivated me to keep going.”

“It was what was keeping me posting every day, just trying to grow my audience as much as possible.”

“My nan came into my videos when she once randomly Facetimed me whilst I was filming a video in the gym.”

“I kept the cameras rolling, we had a funny conversation and the video went viral!”

“From there, ‘GymNan’ was born.”

Max’s journey to success hasn’t always been plain sailing, with a fair few hiccups along the way.

He experienced heartache a couple of years ago after losing his ‘number 1 fan’, his grandad, Eric Thacker.

Max said:” He loved everything I was doing and was always the first person to watch my videos”.

“My grandad was an exceptional man, he was so talented and could literally do anything.”

“He was always into photography and video effects, even having his own YouTube channel from over 10 years ago.

“He just loved to see what crazy ideas I was coming up with next.”

After a year of building his online presence, Max had amassed 20,000 followers and a “solid audience”, but it didn’t pay the bills straight away.

“In the early days I didn’t really make money at all from social media.”

“I was still working part time at David Lloyd’s Gyms and a local pub.”

Now, Max is “his own business”. His online presence and brand allows him to make money through posting content on social media and generating ad revenue, as well as engaging in brand partnerships.

“I launched my first online coaching business in 2021.”

The new start didn’t cost Max though as “This didn’t require any capital as he was just using his own knowledge and free software to coach other people.”

His other two businesses include a fitness rugby app called Robur Academy, which helps improve performance and he’s now launched his own social media management agency, putting into play the skills he’s learned along the way.

He said: “Having followers online is a great feeling, especially when people are enjoying the content that I am making.

“Every single day I get messages from people saying how I have inspired them to start their own fitness journey or how I’ve helped them start playing rugby and that is such a satisfying feeling.”

All together, his three businesses allow him to rake in the cash each month, with impressive numbers appearing in his bank account.

“Every month varies depending on the businesses and times of year, but it is an average of five figures per month from all of my businesses.”

After turning his life around and making a name for himself, Max uses his channels to encourage young people to follow their dreams.

He said: “My advice to any young people who want to start a business is... just start!

“So many people like the idea of running a business or spend so much of their time talking about it, but not many people execute it.”

“Build yourself a good reputation with every person that you encounter, because it is worth so much in the future!”

Max believes his success story has only just begun.

He added: “I still feel that I am only getting started on this journey. I love the process of growth and it still feels like the start for me.

“I’m going to be doing this for a long time so I’m just excited to keep pushing and see where it takes me.”

ENDS

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