A daredevil parkour performer has carved out a profession leaping off cliffs, cranes and rooftops — turning his ardour right into a full-time job.
Simon Brunner, 27, makes a dwelling by filming his excessive stunts and sharing them on-line.
Brunner has constructed a loyal fanbase who can’t get sufficient of his death-defying flips and gravity-defying jumps.
He now earns most of his earnings by way of model offers along with his largest single payday netting over 16,000 {dollars} for one viral video that racked up 60 million views.
Brunner, a content material creator from Traunstein, Germany mentioned: “I spotted early that I had an excellent feeling for what might go viral.
“I’ve taken that and pushed it as far as I could.”
Having labored building jobs prior to now, Brunner says he feels “privileged” to earn a dwelling doing one thing he loves.
Brunner mentioned: “I really feel privileged to make a dwelling by way of my ardour.
“Individuals say social media is tough work however it’s probably not.
“It’s simple cash.
“The toughest half is the strain to all the time carry out.
“But between that and sweating on a building site, I’ll take the pressure.”
Brunner normally uploads as much as three movies a day when not coaching.
Whereas he shares content material throughout all of the social media platforms, Instagram brings within the bulk of his earnings, adopted by advert income from YouTube.
Brunner mentioned: “I shoot a number of movies at one location so it’s not a trouble each single day.
“Instagram brings in essentially the most for me.
“I’d say it’s 75% brand deals and 25% ad revenue but I’m still focused more on growth right now than monetising everything.”
Brunner found parkour at 16 after turning into uninterested in gymnastics.
He mentioned: “I noticed parkour movies on YouTube and came upon there was a neighborhood membership.
“I turned up and I never stopped.”
He quickly started filming his stunts and one clip of him flipping off a bridge whereas an FPV drone looped round him mid-air went viral and altered his life.
Brunner mentioned: “That one second modified all the pieces.
“We had this man filming with a drone doing loops round me mid-air – the angle, the splash, the sound – it was cinematic.
“That’s when I knew I could scale this.”
Brunner added cliff diving to his repertoire three years in the past and has since raised the stakes, flipping off cranes, deserted buildings and distant mountain ledges.
One among his most dramatic jumps occurred in Oman, the place he unintentionally broke his personal file by diving 34 meters into water.
Brunner mentioned: “I didn’t understand how excessive it was.
“My pal later mentioned ‘The next cliff is 36 metres — so yours was about 34.’
“It felt amazing.”
Regardless of the acute nature of his stunts, Brunner insists he’s methodical and cautious behind the scene.
He mentioned: “We’re not reckless.
“We examine the depth of the water and I by no means leap alone.
“We often have professional divers or friends trained in first aid waiting in the water.”
Nonetheless, the life-style comes with dangers.
Brunner has suffered a number of accidents, together with a damaged foot from doing a backflip in excessive heels and a torn medial collateral ligament from a nasty touchdown.
He mentioned: “Each time I’ve been injured, I used to be afraid beforehand.
“Concern means you’re not effectively ready.
“When your knees are shaking, that’s when accidents occur.
“If I can do a move 100 times on mats or lower platforms, I know I’ve got it ingrained in my system.”
