This is the part most people don't get. A great example is Jonny Giger. He's a skateboarder most people have never heard of. He's pro, has his own youtube channel which now has around 380K followers. He rides for a company most people have never heard of called Revive.
He basically hacked the entire industry. His first pro video part was just released a few months ago. He's been creating his videos for EIGHT YEARS to grow his audience, and do it his own way. Because of the revenue he makes on his channel, he literally has no need for big corporate sponsors, or to constantly put on insane video parts or do well in contests to stay relevant like most pro's have to do these days.
He puts up regular content about learning tricks and revisiting old tricks that haven't been done in a long time. He has a whole series where he's just trying to learn some of Rodney Mullen's hardest tricks. In my mind, he's a legit pro and is a really skilled skater. The cool thing is he's done it completely on his own, instead of taking the normal route. Yes, it can be done, but it didn't happen over night did it? No, it didn't. It was dogged persistence on his part and sticking with something I'm sure people told him was impossible, or wasn't going to happen.
As insular as the skateboard industry is, I'm glad there are guys out there like Jonny getting it done on their own terms.