Meet the Wolverhampton driving instructor who has racked up a million TikTok followers
It started as a handy way to provide extra help for his learner drivers students and has ended up making him a global internet sensation.
Now, a driving instructor-turned-entrepreneur has cause for celebration after reaching one million followers on TikTok.
Pin Binning who lives in Wolverhampton, began working as a driving instructor when he was 27, and started his own business in 2014 – DGN Driving School. It quickly became a success, with Pin being able to hire instructors who had their teaching qualification already, and even train aspiring instructors to get theirs which, he added, is 'not an easy process'.
The 40-year-old's social media success started in 2018 when he created a YouTube channel, teaching people how to drive with tips and mock driving tests – the latter was a gap in the market, and his channel took off. It now has over 429,000 subscribers and close to 101,000,000 views.
He said: "My YouTube channel is the most subscribed driving instructor channel in the UK, and even the world I believe.
"This was all new to me and so, whilst starting the YouTube channel, I had to learn how to edit videos too, and so I was learning at the same time.
"The more videos I did, the better they got and it really took off for me, it was going extremely well. It just blew up!"
Describing his initial method – or lack of – Pin admitted he was winging it: "I'd be lying if i said it was planned and strategised. It was just a way for me to help my students. My aim was to showcase my skills as a driving instructor, show my teaching skills and methods and to help drivers. I provide them with tips that they may not be getting from their own instructors."
His YouTube channel was going 'incredibly well', but lockdown meant he had to put the brakes on his driving lessons – that's when he decided to start a TikTok channel.
"I thought well, let’s try making TikTok videos too, it’s a platform for me to educate people in short clips.
"Again, it completely blew up and took off for me. I didn’t expect this kind of reaction, but in exactly two years I got to one million followers!"
His TikToks have got over 45 million likes combined.
"The business grew so much because of social media and I had to take a step back from teaching."
Pin did not stop there. He started up an online programme called 'Ultimate Driving Course' and revealed it is now the UK’s number one driving course for learners.
"So a lot of instructors will take out a book and talk through it with their students during the lessons and spend time talking through it. I knew this happens because I would train these instructors.
"I thought what would be easier for students is to have a set of videos covering every single one of these topics, and so I created a course and it’s very popular and is now the number one selling course.
"I think one of the reasons why my videos are so popular is because people want to get straight into it. They want to learn as soon as they can, and the ways people learn nowadays is very different, and so people obviously enjoy learning through TikTok and YouTube.
"The students now don’t have to use up their lesson time going through the books and learning, because they can do it in their own spare time and become even more prepared for their driving lessons because they have already learned the topics all down to my course."
The journey was not an easy one – Pin had to work all day, every day as a driving instructor, and editing videos in his spare time, all whilst being a father and husband: "Constantly creating content for YouTube wasn’t easy at first. It was incredibly tough and it was hard making the transition from a driving instructor to part-content creator and now full-time content creator.
“So I was teaching all day, seven days a week and then editing in my spare time every day too. Working all day and every day 7 days a week, and because YouTube wasn’t paying me enough at the time, I had to do both.
“But I continued to work hard and creating content constantly and put so much hard work in to get the YouTube channel to grow and it eventually did, which allowed me to take a step-back from the teaching and get more serious about YouTube.
“Once the YouTube starting making me enough money, that’s when I became a full-time content creator.
“I’m now making money from both TikTok and YouTube. Financially it’s OK. TikTok does pay creators through the creator fund, but my main income comes from YouTube.
“This has allowed me to focus on putting more content out. It was a hard transition at first and a sacrifice, but the hard work and determination paid off.
He is certain that the secret to his success is hard work and 'a little bit of luck', along with his supportive family: "I have received incredible support from my wife too. She has been so supportive of everything that I do. My wife, Kav, is practically my business partner. Juggling everything hasn’t been easy, but with fantastic support from her and our children, we as a family have achieved the success together.
"One of my children, my eldest plays girls football for Wolverhampton Wanderers.
"I’m a dad, husband, entrepreneur, influencer and everything else people call me, but supporting my daughter is what I love.
"I support her in everything, and she is doing so well now playing for Wolves.
"She is supposed to be playing for the Under 12’s team but because she is so talented, she was finding it too easy so she is now playing with an older age group, and under 14’s."
Roben Pentak, a 20-year-old from Wolverhampton watched Pin's videos when he was learning to drive, and dedicates his success to them.
He said: “In my sixth-form year at school, there was around 20 of us learning how to drive and no lie, we all watched Pin’s YouTube videos.
“I was learning how to drive with a different driving instructor but then I would watch Pin’s YouTube videos in my spare time to fill the gaps between my driving lessons because I would learn so much from them.
“One thing that really helped me is that his videos show the roads in Wolverhampton, which is where I live, and it was the roads that I was learning on too, so it helped me so much with him giving pointers and tips how to drive on certain roads in the city."
