Wednesday May 7th 2025
YouTube plaques are awarded to content creators who hit certain milestones, Ross already has 1 one million plaque and 4 100k plaques.
Written by Midlothian View Editor, Phil Bowen
If you play Fortnite then it is highly likely that you know who Clix is.
If you don’t play Fortnite but know someone who does, then they will most probably know who Clix is.
And if you don’t know what Fortnite is, well it is a popular online video game developed by Epic Games, first released in 2017. It has become not just a game, but a major part of gaming and internet culture.
Clix, whose real name is Cody Conrod, is an American professional esports player, streamer, and content creator best known for playing Fortnite. Clix became widely known in the Fortnite community after competing in events like the Fortnite World Cup in 2019, where he was one of the youngest and most skilled players. On YouTube Clix now has 3.5 million+ followers.
What you may not know, whether you play Fortnite or not, is that his videos are edited and managed by Ross McLaren, aged 22, here in Midlothian. He is Clix’s YouTube manager.
When Ross was still at school he was experimenting with making Minecraft videos then he progressed to gameplay videos for Fortnite. At the time he met Bugha, who then was a relatively unknown but very talented and upcoming Fortnite player. Ross started making Fortnite videos for Bugha and then their popularity just exploded. Bugha went from just over 10,000 YouTube followers to multi-million.
Ross then said to his parents that he didn’t want to stay at school to do his Advanced Highers in S6 followed by university but instead he wanted to create video content full time. Like a young Bill Gates had done 30 years previously, Ross spotted that he had to act now and start his business rather than following an academic route and then starting. His parents, Craig and Lesley, backed Ross and put their faith in him to succeed and that is exactly what he has done.
Multi-talented Ross now manages a creative team of 20 who produce content for multiple esports players. He has also worked with the Sidemen, a British YouTube collective whos founding member is KSI, and who have 22 million followers.
YouTube plaques are awarded to content creators who hit certain milestones and to receive one for a million subscribers is quite rare. Ross already has 1 one million plaque and 4 100k plaques, he is waiting to receive another 1 million plaque and 2 more 100k plaques.
Humble but very capable Ross said
“It is just crazy how things have turned out. I have worked with some of the top esports players in the world. It is great to work with them and the team around them.”
Fortnite players and content creators overtime have now converged to live, work and play in Dallas, Texas and so Ross time shifts his day to match their time zone. He wakes at 3 in the afternoon and works till the early hours UK time.
As an indication of how competitive esports has become and the fine margins involved, Fortnite players choose Dallas to be closer to the Fortnite servers which gives them a microseconds advantage over the competition.
Ross is now looking to make a move to Dallas himself. Ever forward thinking he can see the opportunities that such a move would make to his career and his business.
And Ross has done all of this whilst being wheelchair bound from birth. He has never let his disability stop him, whether that is playing the bagpipes at Murrayfield or creating world beating content he has always been determined to succeed.
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