How 21-year-old became online hit with 600,000 followers

A 21-year-old with a talent behind the camera has amassed a following of more than 600,000 on social media

Lacclan Gottfried with Riley Reid.

A 21-YEAR-OLD with a talent behind the camera has amassed a following of more than 600,000 people on social media and become a star in his own right in front of it.

Lacclan Gottfried from Gatton is an online hit and even spent months in America working with some of the world's most popular social media influencers.  

After finishing school, he worked on a local farm for a year to save enough money for new camera equipment while finding success with his videography business shooting weddings and ads.

Lacclan Gottfried has more than 600,000 followers across his social media channels.

Then the chance to start filming influencers arrived and he grabbed it with both hands.

Mr Gottfried now lives on the Gold Coast with Jackson O'Doherty, who boasts more than 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 800,000 Instagram followers.

"We've been working together like every day for the last two years," he said.

"I pretty much manage him. I'm in the content and I'm making the content and editing the content.

"I've gone from filming to making my own videos."

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Mr Gottfried's own following has taken off with 223,000 on TikTok, 79,000 on Facebook and 324,000 on Instagram.

He said he doesn't let the numbers get to his head and believed his success online making comedy and pranks videos had come down to sticking to his own style.

Mr Gottfried said it was incredibly rewarding when a piece of content goes viral across the internet with millions seeing it.

His most recent viral video involved him painting Mr O'Doherty's entire house pink while he was away.

Lacclan Gottfried with Jackson O'Doherty.

"It feels good," he said.

"I invested so much money in that video. It cost me over $3500 to paint it pink and paint it back.

"Sometimes you'll lose money. It's really rewarding when you get a video that does well after you put so much effort into it.

"The main way we make money is through Facebook ads."

The pair spent four months living in Los Angeles last year and got to spend time and work with massive American names such as Logan Paul and Riley Reid.

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"It's really cool to see their work ethic and how much harder Americans work than Australians," Mr Gottfried said.

"They're just working around the clock."

He hopes one day to move to LA full time but in the meantime is determined to build his profile and following and take things to new levels.

For anyone with aspirations of making a living through creating online content, Mr Gottfried said it was important to stay true to yourself.

Lacclan Gottfried now lives on the Gold Coast after spending most of his life in Gatton.

"You just have to be really consistent and not care what anyone thinks," he said.

"You've got to push past (doubters) and find a way to monetise it.

"Be original and pick your niche of what you like doing and really focus on that.

"Things always change. When I'm 50 I don't want to be doing this stuff. I like to try and start little businesses. I just sell a few drinking products and funny stuff on my page.

"Don't do it to please anyone. Take positive feedback but don't be changing what you love to do for other people."

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

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