I think Lloyd had a few things going for him. For one he was the face of jwsurvey. I remember when it started I thought it was a fantastic idea. Social media and digital was moving more towards an analytical way of influencing people. I was doing digital marketing at the time and had a lot of ideas of how you could flip that data and wanted to help with it. There wasn't really a centralized place that used data as a strength.
The other issue I remember at the time was that many in the ex-jw youtube community felt a bit extreme. That extreme view is sometimes hard to take when just exiting. Lloyd felt like a more nuanced approach and once he tapped into a real editor you had a good combo for those just leaving. He was able to ride the first big wave of YouTube content producers. So like anything, with a little luck and a good idea anyone can make it.
The perfect storm for a narcissist. Do a little bit of work, get a huge reward and then scheme a way to keep doing as little work as possible off the backs of others...for free!