Luke Arnel-Cameron | Extraordinary Life Stories

0:07Luke. Hello. Thank you for joining me. Oh, you're more than welcome. Tell me, who is Luke Arnell Cameron? Oh, that is a question. I guess a campaigner for kindness, an entrepreneur, an accidental TikToker, a husband now, a brother. Just somebody who has, from a very young age, always wanted to help other people. That is just, it's in my DNA and it's in my fabric. And it became very obvious and apparent as I kind of went into my adult years, that all I wanted to do was help others. Do you know where that came from? I'd like to say a good upbringing from my parents. Must have been around really good people.

0:50Yeah. You've got an amazing vibe of you. I can feel it. Oh, thank you. Humility, humbleness, but also clearly an ambition and drive to the thing that you're doing now. So you channeled it well. Thank you. Yeah, I think so. I think it comes from a great upbringing and also a lot of trauma that I've been through in my life. and going through a process of always being told that I wouldn't be able to or couldn't. So when I was able to, wanting to help people because I know what it's like to be in a position where I've been told I can't. So that pushed me and has always pushed me and continues to push me forward.

1:28That's interesting because there's a resilience that comes from not having things your own way. Yeah. And you've clearly built that. Can you elaborate? A long medical history, and I don't even, oh, see, I think people do know this about me, but basically when I was growing up, I was always the one that struggled. I couldn't breathe properly, I couldn't run, I wasn't able to, it was a running joke in my family that I wanted to try every instrument under the sun. I'm not musical in any way, shape or form. But it got to the point where I was trying to play the trumpet and I couldn't physically blow the trumpet.

2:02So my mum just thought I was asthmatic or there was something wrong with me until my heart went, rushed into hospital. How old are you at this point? I was eight. And basically I had a hole in my heart that never closed. And the left side of my heart was normal and the right side was four times the size and my heart just went. So I had emergency surgery. I actually had it twice. So I've got a massive scar down my chest and I was in intensive care for months and months at the age of eight and nine So then obviously I missed a lot of school I was behind I came out and I had to catch up on years worth of work and I guess developmental work as well Because I was in hospital for so long.

2:42I had to relearn how to ride a bike I had to relearn how to run because my chest was completely opened I was metal down the front and obviously my heart was under such strain that it needed to we go back to normal. And from that point, I was always told, you will never go to college, you'll never be able to go to university, because I was so far behind academically. Was there something at that point you were told that you wouldn't be able to do, that you were like, I'm going to prove them wrong? Riding a bike was the first thing. Yeah, I was told it was two years before I was going to be able to ride a bike properly and I did it I think in 18 months walking after surgery and in intensive care I wasn't I don't think I would my memory is weird with it because obviously the trauma but I was told I wasn't gonna be able to walk for at least six weeks and I think I walked in four so I was always determined to be like I'm not gonna let this get me down that's a mindset thing right of course it's yeah sure and how you know how strong that became through not being able to do something and not being able to physically move, then your brain goes into overdrive, right?

3:52You're now visualising it, manifesting it. Yeah, absolutely manifesting it. So I had that mindset of, okay, I've been knocked back, but I'm not going to let it hold me back. So I've always been very determined to push forward and push through. And that kind of has always been in my head. So that's kind of where that drive and ambition, I guess, comes from. So that eight year old that was ultimately cut open and is facing a lot of you can't do this, you won't be able to do that. What were your aspirations at that point? So coming through education into a young adult, if you like, what did you think you could do and what did you set your goals on?

4:31University. I was told not to apply. I wouldn't get in. Like point blank. Why out of interest? because I was so far behind academically that I would have to catch up so much to be at a point where I would get the grades to get in. So I got into a grammar school, which was test-based, got through the grammar school, went to sixth form college, and then even then was still discouraged, do not apply for one of the top 10 universities, because obviously schools go on their rankings, right definitely don't apply for Oxford and Cambridge don't apply for the red bricks you might be settled somewhere down here so I applied for one of the red bricks it was my first choice and I got in so what did you do to make that happen so that's my point so you put the effort in so school can provide so much you grafted and you revised and you caught up every night every weekend didn't hardly well I worked alongside as well because I always wanted to have money so I worked from the age of 16 I wanted to be able to drive I wanted the freedom I wanted to be able to pay my way.

5:38That's always been something that's just, I just wanted to do that. That's a major work ethic as well, right? Which stands you in good stead for anything you are doing, let alone what you have been doing, right? Thanks. And got into uni and was incredible. It was just the best experience ever. Yeah. And what did you want to do post-uni? Because you'd obviously been told, as an eight-year-old, you're told certain things you can't do up until probably the end of education. You've achieved these things. Now you're looking into the adult well with a with a qualification and yet you're known as the unboxer i am now yeah there's no degree for that there is not so i want to know the journey from going into academic to then probably looking the world and going i don't want to do any of that and then and how you got into what you're doing now so i've had a i've had a um a weird kind of career path um i initially wanted to be in the fashion world um always had loved it from a young age and i was lucky enough to be offered straight out of university two jobs one of them being a graduate placement as a buyer in John Lewis and I was one of six chosen out of 8 ,000 applicants and I was also offered a job at Vogue magazine.

6:48I turned down Vogue and I went to John Lewis which was actually the best decision because I learnt how to be a commercial buyer which has stood me in good stead now for setting up and running my own business and I loved that. I then left and kind of jumped around to different department stores and brands and then before we get to the unboxing and the unboxer Luke, I went through trauma early in my 20s where I lost a friend to cancer and I lost a friend to suicide in a very short space of time and it hit me and knocked me for six and I it was just it was out of the blue especially the suicide because I was with him two hours before he did it and there was no indication that he was going to.

7:36Did you have that friend guilt feeling? It was I can't even explain to this day how I could have even known or stopped it because there was no indication that he was going to do what he did. So I went through this period of grief and mourning, and it was actually a turning point at that Christmas where I watched two films. One of them was Julia and Julia, which is obviously about Julia Childs and has got Meryl Streep in, about where she recreated 365 recipes. And interestingly, the story of the film was her being discouraged from doing it because she would never complete 365 recipes because she's never finished anything in her life, which for me was very fitting because a lot of people have always said to me, well, you're not going to be able to.

8:19Don't do it because you won't be able to. And then watched another film called Pay It Forward, which is where you give. So I decided that I would put the two ideas together and create the Good Deed Diary, which was me doing 365 acts of kindness or good deeds over 365 days and documenting it as a blog. And that was the year that changed my life beyond anything. So I basically just went and did general things. And it's really hard to do that over 365 days. Give me some examples. So it started off easy, right? Giving something to the homeless, donating something to charity. And you wouldn't repeat.

9:04So because it'd be easy to kind of do. So you try and invent it every day, right? you try and do a new thing for 365 days and then try and do a random act of kindness for a week or a month without actually spending money, you know? And there were things that were calling old friends that you haven't spoken to in ages and apologise, or make amends with somebody, or let a grudge go. There were so many things that were so cathartic through that year, not only for me, but also for others around me, that I learnt a lot about myself. off. So that was like my year of giving. What came with that was a lot of publicity after going viral for doing the blog, being across every news station and newspaper and radio station in the world.

9:49Why? Why? What you're doing there is what we should all be doing. Was it actually standing? Was it the way you were doing it? Because you are a personality. You've got a lovely way about you. We'll come to that. But just saying what you're saying, people could be inspired to do that? Are they going to go viral because not enough people are doing it, right? I just think it was, I think the way I documented it. Cool. So there's a skill there, right? It was maybe. It was, I don't know, I just shed light on something that maybe the world was in a place where it needed it. So it was a good news, good feel good story.

10:23Good on you. That then basically led into a few years after. So a company picked up on the fact that I was doing good and created a job for me called, so I went from the nicest man in Britain doing the nicest job in Britain. And they basically paid me to travel around the country for a year, visiting and helping 45 charities with their financial backing to go in, document, give publicity, advise, and just learn. Every week I spent at a different charity and every week I documented that on my blog. You must have learnt so much from that. And it probably is super fulfilling as well. It was a double edged sword because it was the most incredible year of my life, but the most emotional year of my life.

11:12I went from a charity with adults with learning disabilities to Guide Dogs Association to Make-A-Wish to a cancer charity every week. And I was I had literally it was like a like a VIP pass. They were taking me into hospitals to meet patients. I even got to watch my exact surgery on a young boy because they knew what I had been through and the parents allowed me to go and see as an adult what my parents went through. I was overwhelmed with not only kindness but also emotion because it made me realise how good my life is compared to what others are going through. and it was just like on the floor humbling.

12:03You must have incredible self-awareness now and perspective. I would hope so. Well, by default you do the things you've seen, even relating it back to your own life and having the, I was actually, when I was listening to you earlier and I'm a dad, right? So I was instantly thinking about your mum, you know, eight years old. Oh yeah. You lived it as you, but you know, you've then seen into not just perspective and experience these charities, but probably a lot of outpouring. you probably took a lot of that on you know experiencing all the because a charity is set up to help people because there's a need and probably the charities cannot ever fulfil the need they're set up for so that's probably what affected you without a shadow of a doubt it was just the most incredibly humbling experience of my life so what happens next because this is an amazing platform to do anything you know you did you make a choice of what you did next or did you sort of flow into something i made a choice to take a break from it because it was so emotionally overwhelming i spent such a long wow i say so long it wasn't such a intense period of time in the charity sector more than anyone probably has ever experienced in that space of time crash course yeah it was about three years um emotionally i was like oh my i need to just step back a minute and i just need to assess and I need to reevaluate and I need to just take a moment for me because I hadn't processed anything that had gone on.

13:33It was just straight in it. It just was a roller coaster for three years. So what I did was I went, I was approached and headhunted for a head of marketing job to use my skills and my knowledge in a commercial setting and help grow a business. But for me, that was the break that I needed. I needed to just step away and go, do you know what? I've learned a lot. I can see how things work. I'm naturally good at marketing. I'm naturally good at PR. That's the right path for me. So I did that. And then that leads on to my TikTok life. I'm so intrigued by it. And I'll tell you why. I'll have a bit of banter of you about it.

14:17I've got two daughters, 13 and 15. and I've got years on here. I'm 47, right? So when I went to buy something... Not so many, only 10. Okay, but probably quite a crucial 10. You go and buy something. It might have been in a shop and you come home and you just open it up. And what you're really interested in is what's inside and you get rid of everything and then you just sort of work out how... And you do that privately. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then moving into my daughters, they'll go to Primark and they'll bring a bag back and they film a haul. yeah and i i questioned them on this because i was like that's that could be quite vain that could be uh you know have you thought about how other people and then you they'd show me what other people are doing on tiktok and so on and it's a thing it's a thing even going into a shop and coming out of a bag and so it's a thing you know the whole it's it's just evolved massively so i want to know how you got into it by accident it was it was an accident i'll explain the process but before i do i think the interesting thing about i guess social media now and entertainment platforms, they're through a keyhole.

15:17Everyone is naturally curious, of course you are, but everyone is nosy. People want to see what's going on. And as mundane as it is watching somebody unpack their Asda shop or unpack their Primark haul, people love to see it. It's the same as people watching other people play video games. Like it is a multi-billion dollar industry and people will just sit and watch someone play a game when they could just pick up a controller and play it themselves. They're more interested in watching someone else do it. And it's the same concept. So the unboxing was just, so whilst I was working, TikTok was, we were in that period where TikTok was new and it was all the dancing and it was all like - So when are we now?

15:58We're talking like lockdown time, right? Yeah, 2020. So 2020, 2021. And it was one of them, like, it was a new platform. And obviously as somebody who was head of marketing, I needed to know and understand whether this was a viable channel for us to use. Market research. Exactly. So instead of setting up a corporate account and going through all of that and then not knowing what to do with it and testing and learning on an official corporate account I was like, I'll just set up one myself. I've done social before. I kind of know what I'm doing but this is kind of new because it's video based. I'll give it a go.

16:34So I had it, I think I had about 40 followers. My friends and family followed me. That was basically it. It was just, there was nothing on there. And I did a couple of videos, the dancey videos, that type of thing, just to kind of see what the algorithm was like, just to understand it. And then the more I got into the whole black hole of scrolling through TikTok, I was there. And then I managed to get onto dog talk because I've got dogs. And there was this somebody showing this product of a carpet scraper. So essentially it's this little bamboo handle with like a little thing. You do that on the carpet, it gets a dog out of the carpet.

17:05And I said, well, I need one of those because my dog's molt. so I ordered one and I said well I might as well make a video so I did so bearing in mind I had 40 followers so at the start I was like look I've got it oh my god got it out unboxed it did that on the carpet on the top of the stairs but I had the camera like there and I was just me and I was like oh my god picked up this clump of hair I was like I've just hoovered I was like please don't think I'm dirty I've just hoovered this is and I showed it working and that was it it was like I don't know, one minute, one minute, 20 seconds. Posted it.

17:40Look at this dog hair mover. No hashtags, nothing. Nine o 'clock at night, because I remember, because I was shattered that day, so I wanted to go to bed. Posted it, put my phone down. My phone always goes on to sleep mode because I hate people getting messages past 10 o 'clock. It just wakes me up. Put my phone down, that was it. Woke up the next morning to 2.3 million views and 10 ,000 followers. and I was like what on earth has happened like this is not real and it was just like thousands of comments on this carpet scraper people finding out where they could buy it and where I got it from I was like what was the feeling right then was it a was it a mixture of I'm onto something and absolute terror like you know just like it wasn't that I was onto something it was like what on earth has happened yeah recheck what I just said I was like how is this real yeah um and then Then obviously a couple of, I calmed the excitement and the over what like it was just, it calmed and I was like right okay.

18:37So I just went back through and there was lots of people going Luke you're hilarious, Luke I love this, Luke have you thought about trying this or that and I was like right okay well we're stuck at home I might as well just buy stuff. So I did and I just started the stuff I was buying and getting delivered to the house I was like well I might as well film it. So I just gave it a go and it just went very quickly. And when you say that, so the overall direction, but were there a few blips? So I guess what I'm saying is one out of one without even trying, accidental. Your next video, did that perform?

19:09Or did you have a whole... Was there a journey where you're like... It was a... Why did... Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't... Not every video was viral. I'm not... No, my question was one intrigued and interested. Also, you know, there's so many people now that will look at what you've done, what you do and want to do that deliberately. And it's so funny because you said I was just mean. You actually said it, well, I don't know if you're conscious of yourself, it's just me. That craving authenticity and then people that are coming through now wanting to do that and perhaps wondering why they're not managing it.

19:38Can people see through the authenticity of that? Oh, without a shadow of a doubt. And I think what's really interesting is even right from the early start of when I was doing it, when I was buying stuff and it was awful, I was going on camera and I was saying, do not buy this, this is awful, or this doesn't work, or this wasn't what I expected. and I think that was just my way of just being who I just say as it is like if I don't like something or it's rubbish I will tell you and if it is great I will also tell you and then I kind of started going on to like doing the challenges and I had moments which boosted my following and also my I guess my presence on TikTok and there were a few videos that had reached 30 40 million views which were insane but those were the moments I feel like where I was just me to my core just and these were 10 minute long videos one of them being the world's smallest phone another one of me trying to attempt to make chocolate from a cacao pod which just turned out horribly wrong but I went on a journey I take people on a journey and you don't cut anything out some of it is I've watched you if things have clearly not gone how you thought and so on and and you can go, oh, I didn't mean to do that.

20:53But some people would be, oh, cut that out. I can be guilty of that. If I'm making a reel for something, I'm like, oh, just chop out the ums. You just put it out. If I drop my phone, I keep it in. Yes. Because I like people to cut. For me, I learned very quickly after unboxing and going on this journey that people like coming on the journey with you. They like experiencing that, which is why I don't pre-open a product and will show you. People actually like seeing the Styrofoam and how it's packaged and the leaflets that are in there. And it's really weird. And but people love to see what they are going to actually get and they feel like they're living that experience through me.

21:33Yeah. And I learned that very quickly after doing them. Yeah. Actually, I'm not going to do short form TikToks. I'm going to make long TikToks. Yeah. Because people like to see the whole thing, the whole experience, the whole experience. And then by default, they have longer to get to know you as well. And on that, you've built a tribe, if you like, online, of people that will enjoy your content, probably look forward to the next post. But you'll also have, and it's just by default, how social media works. People that are giving you negative comments, people that are coming in and saying things that are not complimentary.

22:08How have you dealt with that? Because you've built this in full, you did it as an accident. Now it's to business, right? But how do you deal with the negative comments? You block them out, do you ignore them? I think you learn to get thick skin. And I think I learned my thick skin was when I did the Good D diary and I was all over the news and in the papers. Because believe it or not, I had more hate then than I do now. I think people felt like I didn't need to share the fact that I was being nice and I was being kind. And people questioned whether I had an ulterior motive behind it. Ironically, then I didn't make any money from doing the Good D diary.

22:45I spent a lot. Back then I wasn't monetised, whereas now I am monetised, but I'm very open about the fact that I unboxed products and I earned money from that. Back then I didn't, and I got more hate, but I think I learnt to grow a thick skin. And I also realised that if I'm going to do this and I'm going to put my... because I could have stopped it there. I could have said, I'm not doing any more review videos. I've had one go viral. Okay, I understand how it works. I could have just stopped. I did it for research purposes for work, but I decided to continue. And that was a conscious decision, knowing that if I'm going to put myself out on the internet for the public to view, then the public will have an opinion, whether that be good or bad.

23:29It's a conscious decision. It is a conscious decision. Which means you can stand by it and you can take what comes. And whatever happens, I have to take the rough with the smooth. but a lot of it comes down to the fact that people don't know me. They're making comments based on what they're seeing and the judgment they're making on 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds of what they've watched of me. They're not commenting on me as a person or me as my character because they don't know that. So I don't take it personally. That's really good advice. And you're ring-fencing it to what you're talking about in the time.

24:00You're being yourself. Yes. But you're not having a conversation like this about other things and you personally. me. Just flipping it slightly, we talked about your mum earlier and then ultimately, you know, me being a dad of two girls, Gen Z coming through now, I think the stat is over 60 % of Gen Zers would love to be a social media influencer in one way or another. So that means there's countless people that potentially look at you as a role model and would love to do what you do. Now, I can see you're almost uncomfortable with that in a very humble way. Imagine the conversations going on now where the parents of a generation were like, what's an unboxer.

24:34I want to be an unboxer. I want, you know, easier if it's a social media influencer. But the point is, it wasn't a career. It hasn't been a career until very recently. What's your advice, and it's a sort of two-pronged question, to someone coming through looking at you as a role model, and almost that conversation to have with your parents, if you like, that can make the parents understand you can make a living out of this. This is something you can actually do, and use social media as a force for good. Of course. I think there's two sides to it. I think the first side I'm going to touch on is all that glitters is not gold.

25:03So yes, you can make an incredible living on social media, but money isn't the be all and end all. And I know a lot of young people see social as the ticket to become rich, but rich does not make you happy. Having money does not make you happy. Having good people around you, having a solid friendship group, having love and support is what gives you a good life. Money makes life easier. And I actually believe that money buys freedom and time for you to then choose to do what you want with. It doesn't take away your problems. That being said, you can make an incredible living doing social media, but it is also, like I said before, a double-edged sword.

25:48If you put yourself in the public eye, you have to accept that you are going to get the rough with the smooth. And that can change day to day. You can open up one day and have the nicest comments and you can open up the next day and it just be awful. And it's the same with the media and it's the same being outside in the press. But if you genuinely want to do it, there is a way of making great money on social. You just have to persevere. You have to be consistent and you have to give it time. And I've been doing this four years and it's taken me four years to get to this point where I've now launched my brand and my business but it takes graft like people think it's easy it's not it's 24 hours a day you have to post videos every single day you have to make fresh and new content it is a hard thing to do do you have a team around you or is it you do now okay but yeah for years you've probably been on my own the one that's coming up with the ideas filming editing and all that goes of editing now and then knowing how to work the hashtags in the whole thing, right?

26:56You have to learn that. You learn it, yeah. As well as doing a full-time job at that point. It was two jobs. And I wasn't getting paid for social for a long time until it started getting properly monetized. That's interesting. So almost back to that sort of aspirational social media influencer or the parent going, only a very few people make money out of it. So you could almost argue that argument's the same with a footballer. Why do you want to be a footballer when only very few make money out of it. It doesn't stop them trying and having a go. Is that the case with social media influencers? Are just a few making really good money and there's a few people that, a lot of people that are not?

27:32I don't think so. I think the barrier to entry now is really low. So I think anyone can. And I have seen and helped and supported people from nothing to earning a colossal amount of money. So you're giving back. So that Luke that loves to help people, you are not just, you actually helping people people come to you and you help them all the time fair play to you or every day but i think what's really interesting and something that i've learned is that i am just i am a naturally giving person and i always have been and i think as i've got older and more successful and also more visible i have to be careful with my time and careful not to be taken advantage of and that has actually been the hardest lesson I've had to learn recently when you get to a point where you reach over a million followers and you are publicised for being incredibly successful and there are news articles written about you about how much money potentially you've made or your business is made that gets people out of the woodwork and you I have to now almost rein myself in with being so giving because actually I don't know what the intentions of some people can be and that's really hard for me to actually say that.

28:43Yeah because you're naturally wanting to help people. You've got to protect yourself though, right? And that goes back to your own mental health. What do you do? Because also you've got to stimulate your creativity. So if you get burnt out and you're helping everyone else, it actually will affect your primary income. You know, your next unboxing, you're lacking your energy and your stimulation and creativity because you've been up all night helping other people or doing too much. So you've got to have that balance. It's really interesting. For me, it is less about that. It's more about, I would much rather, I get more happiness from seeing other people succeed than I do myself and it's such a weird thing because like I know I've been successful but I almost struggle to admit that but I'm the first to champion someone else when they've hit a milestone I love that and yeah it's an interesting one and success is a question you know I always ask everybody what is your definition of success And I feel with you, you're on a journey, there's no destination.

29:41Am I right? Because you've come through so many barriers, so many obstacles, you've blitzed them. And you've still got such a long way to go, if you like. But if you were to be asked that question right now, what is your definition of success? Being in a position where I'm able to help others. Love that. Which is exactly how you start. Whether that be monetary or non-monetary or knowledge or advice, advice, it doesn't have to always come down to being able to give somebody£100 actually, knowledge to show somebody how to earn£100 is much more valuable. So not everyone, you can't respond to it, not everyone's going to get a chance to talk with you.

30:18I'm in a super privileged position, I've got to do it now. Is there almost like one overriding question you get asked? Is it how to start? Is it, you know, what is the one thing I could do, should do that could make me some money out of going on social media and trying to make an earning out of it is there is there a is there a key question that you get asked and what would that be i think obviously i'm in the tick tock shop space right so it's a very unique space i was one of the first 10 people to do it so i've been around since the beginning and i've seen all the challenges that have gone along with that but also the incredible growth a lot of people say how do i get started or how do i make money let's specifically say tick tock I always say to somebody come back to me when you've made 100 videos or 50 videos or even 10 videos don't ask me how to do it without having tried come to me with a problem and we'll work out a solution but don't ask me how to get started because the only way to get started is to start you need trial and error you gotta fail yeah and to learn who you are what your style is how you talk to the camera, how you explain things, how you build a community, that's only on you.