How a 20-Year-Old Modder Turned Truck Skins Into a Full-Time Business

At just 20 years old, Kyler Gregory has turned a niche gaming passion into a full-time online business. As the creator behind Southern Skinning, he designs high-quality trailers and truck skins for American Truck Simulator, a popular simulation game where players build their own trucking experience.

For him, it started with simple Photoshop designs shared for free, and it quickly evolved into a full-time business generating tens of thousands in revenue each year.

By combining craftsmanship, community-driven marketing, and a Sellfy store, Kyler has built a loyal following of players who want to customize their in-game rigs with his premium, realistic designs.

Kyler’s story shows that you don’t have to have a huge following, nor do you have to show your face or personal life to make serious money online doing what you love.

What do you do, and what is your business about?

I run Southern Skinning, where I create mods for American Truck Simulator. My main focus is building trailers for the game, but I also design custom paint jobs for trucks.

In the game, players want their trucks and trailers to look unique and realistic, so what I do is give them that customization. I create products that they can install and use in their own gameplay to make their setup feel more personal and detailed.

For someone new to this — what is American Truck Simulator?

It’s a simulation game on Steam where you drive trucks across the U.S., delivering loads and building your own trucking setup.

Some people just play with a keyboard or controller, but many players go all in with a full simulator setup: wheel, pedals, and shifter, so that it feels as real as possible.

Mods are a huge part of the game because they let you customize everything. That’s where my work comes in — I create things that make the game experience better and more realistic.

How did you get started with this?

I started in 2024 by making paint jobs using Photoshop. I’ve always been good with Photoshop, so that was the easiest way in.

At first, I was just releasing stuff for free. Then people started asking for custom designs, so I began charging for those. I did that for about a year to a year and a half.

Then one day, I just decided I wanted to try modding and building actual trailers for the game. That’s when everything really started to grow.

Is this your full-time job?

Yeah, this is my full-time job. I’ve got my business license and everything set up.

I handle most of the work myself. I do have a couple of people who help with modeling and support, but when it comes to putting the final product into the game, that’s all me.

What helped you build the skills to do this?

A lot of it came from using Photoshop for years in school. That gave me a strong base to start with.

But honestly, most of what I’ve learned came from just doing it. Trial and error. Figuring things out as I went. I didn’t have a traditional job before this, so everything I know about business, marketing, and customer interaction came from building Southern Skinning from scratch.

How do you market your products and reach customers?

Most of it comes from Discord servers and Facebook groups that are centered around American Truck Simulator.

What works best is just posting pictures of the product and showing it off. I’ll post previews, in-game screenshots, things like that. People see it, they like it, and that usually turns into sales.

What marketing strategies have worked best for you?

Teasing products before release has worked really well for me. I’ll post previews for about a month before launching something. People keep seeing it over and over, and it builds hype. By the time it drops, they already want it.

That usually leads to strong sales right away when it launches.

Also, community is huge for me. A lot of my customers come from recommendations.

People will go into Facebook groups and ask for mod suggestions, and my name gets brought up. That kind of word-of-mouth has helped a lot.

I also have my own Discord with a couple of thousand members. When someone buys a product, they’re invited to join, so it keeps growing naturally.

What makes your products stand out?

I’d say quality. I really try to bring the best possible detail and realism into the game. That’s what sets me apart.

I focus on making something that feels authentic when people use it, especially for players who care about that realistic trucking style.

What motivates you to keep going?

The community, honestly. Seeing how people react to what I make, seeing how many people are using it - that’s my biggest motivator.

The work itself is also pretty therapeutic. I enjoy doing it, so it doesn’t really feel like a job.

How do you handle competition or negative feedback?

There’s definitely competition in the space, but I try to stay in my own lane and focus on what I want to create.

If I see something negative, I don’t really take it personally. It just pushes me to do better.

Why did you choose Sellfy?

Sellfy just seemed like the easiest platform to understand and set up.

I looked at other options like Shopify, but Sellfy felt more straightforward, especially for what I needed.

What Sellfy features have helped you the most?

The storefront customization is really helpful because it lets me present my products in a clean way.

But one of the biggest things is how I’ve connected it to my Discord with Sellfy’s API. When someone buys a product, their order info gets sent into a Discord channel through a bot. That makes it easy for my support team to verify purchases and help customers quickly.

How much have you earned through your Sellfy store?

In 2024, I made around $12,000 to $13,000. In 2025, that grew to about $88,000.

And so far this year, I’ve already made around $40,000.

Honestly, I never expected to be able to make this kind of income from something like this, and I’m so grateful for it. It feels like living a retired lifestyle without actually being retired. I can work at my own pace and still make good money doing something I enjoy.

Where are your customers coming from?

Mostly from the U.S., but I get orders from all over - Canada, Europe, Australia, even Russia.

It’s very niche, but there are a lot of people in it worldwide.

What were the biggest challenges you faced?

Support was a big one in the beginning. When you’re getting a lot of orders and you’re doing everything yourself, it’s hard to keep up. Finding the right people to help with support took time, but now I have 2 people covering the support.

Another challenge was just learning the business side, like marketing, pricing, and product presentation. I didn’t know any of that at the start.

I learnt mostly by trial and error. I also looked at what other people were doing and learned from that. I paid attention to how they marketed, how they handled support, and how they presented their products.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Starting small is always really good, especially within gaming. Pick something simple at first, and don’t try to copy others or compete too hard right away.

Also, keep things simple, but complex enough to where it interests people. And give people options, like different paint colours, and detailing. People love the customization and being able to make it theirs.

Remember that less is always more, especially in making mods for a game. Once you start overloading something, people get overwhelmed. And if it takes too much time to build it inside the game or use it inside the game, they won’t use it.

And most importantly, have fun with it. If you’re not enjoying it, there’s no point. You know, it goes back to that whole thing of you don’t work a day in your life if you love your job. I do it mostly just because I love to do it. I sell because I love to see the reaction of how people use and see my product.