Sam from Seen Through Glass opens up about how his car-spotting, point-of-view vlogging started as a hobby while his PR consultancy struggled, and how he built a real business by going full-time after early revenue and brand deals. The conversation then gets brutally honest about Drive the World: the initial concept, the nervous breakdown in Singapore, and how the trip “failed” financially but ultimately reshaped his channel through better storytelling and COVID-era rewatching. He also shares money stress, financing a McLaren with a wild guarantor deal, and why the Tony podcast paused.
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Coachbuilt Whiskey Terms:
The winner selected at random of the Coachbuilt whiskey will need to provide proof of age before the prize can be sent.
From filming supercars on the streets of London… to nearly quitting YouTube entirely.
In this episode, Sam from Seen Through Glass opens up like never before — breaking down the reality behind building one of the biggest automotive YouTube channels in the world.
This isn’t just about cars.
It’s about risk, failure, identity, and what really happens when your “dream project” doesn’t go to plan.
From starting with £200 expectations… to launching a global travel series that nearly broke him — Sam reveals the truth behind Drive The World, the pressure of content, and the hidden struggles creators never show.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more exciting content about your favourite shows and celebrities. Hit the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest episodes
👍 Like, Comment, and Share this episode. Join our discussion in the comments section
"My first ride was this unbelievably optioned manual 360 Modena. It is just so brilliant."
“Manual” means you shift gears yourself with a clutch and a stick. A lot of car fans like it because it feels more connected to the driving.
A “manual” transmission means the driver shifts gears using a clutch pedal and gear lever. Enthusiasts often seek manual cars because they offer more direct control and a more engaging driving experience.
"I was a YouTuber. I was a vlogger. I guess I'm probably an influencer now, which is like, oh God."
An influencer is a person online whose followers pay attention to what they say. In the car world, they might review cars or work with brands.
An influencer is a creator whose audience trusts their recommendations, which can lead to brand partnerships and sponsored content. Automotive influencers often review cars, promote accessories, or cover events.
"I was a YouTuber. I was a vlogger. I guess I'm probably an influencer now, which is like, oh"
YouTube is a website/app where people post videos. Car creators use it to review cars, show builds, and talk about what they’re doing.
YouTube is a video-sharing platform where creators publish content and build an audience over time. In automotive circles, it’s become a major hub for car reviews, build threads, and event coverage.
"I was a YouTuber. I was a vlogger. I guess I'm probably an influencer now, which is like, oh"
A vlogger is someone who makes video diaries or regular video updates. In cars, that could mean filming drives, repairs, or car events.
A vlogger is a video creator who documents their life or experiences in a conversational, episodic style. For car enthusiasts, vlogging often includes driving impressions, car ownership updates, and behind-the-scenes footage.
"Alex Penfold, TFJJ, Adam Shaw, all of these pages were kind of blowing up from just standing on street corners in Night's Bridge, taking photos of crazy cars. And my route to work was through Night's Bridge."
Car spotting just means looking for cool cars out in the real world and taking pictures of them. Here, the host says that habit became the inspiration for making videos.
Car spotting is the hobby of finding and photographing interesting cars in public places, often from a regular commute route. In this segment, it’s described as the origin of the creator’s video content idea—turning real-world sightings into engaging posts.
"You either had proper journalists. At that point, it was Chris Harris on cars, Evo Diaries or Evo themselves."
Chris Harris on Cars is a popular car video channel. The host is saying that at the time, many big car channels were more serious and informative than funny.
Chris Harris on Cars is a well-known automotive media brand/channel associated with Chris Harris, known for detailed car reviews and commentary. The host contrasts it with more comedic formats, implying that early car video culture skewed toward serious journalism.
"And then you had Shmi, who was obviously doing great stuff. But I mean, I loved him, but he's not the funniest guy in the world. Very, very educational."
Shmi is a well-known car YouTuber. The host says Shmi’s videos are great and educational, but they don’t usually focus on jokes.
Shmi is a prominent automotive YouTube creator known for educational, often technical content and car-related storytelling. The host says they liked Shmi’s work but felt it wasn’t as comedic, which influenced the direction of their own channel.
"Was that growing up watching Ferrari in Formula 1 on the sofa? Was it just passion for the red horse? ... But I've always said it, if a 911 drove past me, I'd be like, oh, there's a Porsche."
Formula 1 is the highest level of racing with open-wheel race cars. The speaker is saying they were more into F1 first, and only later got really into road cars.
Formula 1 (F1) is the top tier of open-wheel motorsport, run by teams and drivers on purpose-built race cars. The speaker frames F1 as the primary obsession before shifting attention toward road cars and car spotting.
"...they went back, googled, and then that caused this guy to go, it's a LaFerrari, not hiring that man. So it was just nervous."
A LaFerrari is a super expensive Ferrari supercar. In the story, it’s used as an example of a client noticing his car and deciding not to hire him.
The Ferrari LaFerrari is a limited-production hybrid supercar from Ferrari. It’s known for its high-performance V12 plus electric assist, and it’s the kind of car that signals serious motorsport-level money and brand cachet.
"...I've always been hyper analytical a bit as a business. I always talk about these five year chunks of time, these five year plans. I operate the channel in five year plans..."
They’re talking about planning ahead in bigger time blocks, like setting goals for the next five years. Instead of just posting day-to-day, they try to steer the channel toward a longer-term direction.
The speaker describes running their channel like a business with structured “five year chunks” and goals. This is a common content-creation strategy: setting longer-term targets to guide what you publish and how you grow.
"...there wasn't a lot of other car content. It was Top Gear or Q5 on YouTube, really..."
They’re referencing Top Gear, a very famous car show. It matters because it was one of the main places people went for car content before YouTube took over.
Top Gear is cited as a major source of car content at the time. It’s a landmark automotive TV brand that helped define mainstream car entertainment, which is relevant when comparing early YouTube car ecosystems to established media.
"...You would just put stuff out. I mean, we were making five, six videos a week at a time..."
They’re saying they were posting a lot—several videos every week. That can grow an audience fast, but it’s also a lot of pressure to keep quality consistent.
The speaker notes an intense publishing cadence—multiple videos per week—during the early period. For automotive creators, this kind of volume can accelerate audience growth but also increases workload and the risk of mistakes.
"We're all under embargo, meaning we could all put other days out at the same time."
An embargo is like a “don’t post yet” rule. Everyone can film, but you can only publish your video at the agreed time.
An embargo is a media agreement that restricts when content can be published. Creators may all film the same event or vehicle on the same day, but they’re allowed to post only after the embargo lifts, which affects how audiences and views are distributed.
"...then you need to make sure that you are following our fellow on Instagram. And why you may ask, well, the our fellow app is launching soon and they've got a range of perfectly created our fellow approved hotels and destinations across the UK."
They’re talking about an app that helps you plan where to stay and how to park. The idea is to make parking easier so you don’t have to guess or stress.
The “our fellow app” is presented as a planning tool that helps travelers choose hotels and destinations with predictable parking access. In an automotive context, it’s about reducing uncertainty around where and how you can park your car.
"Everyone was kind of like on the same cycle of events, buy car, wrap car, exhaust car, sell car, same filming style."
“Wrapping” a car usually means applying vinyl graphics over the paint for branding, style changes, or temporary looks. It’s popular with creators because it can be changed quickly and can help a car stand out at events.
"And we were at Monterey Car Week. We were driving down Pacific Coast Highway in the family 250T up, as you do. And I think we just said,"
Monterey Car Week is a big yearly car event in California with lots of shows and auctions. It’s the kind of place car people plan trips around.
Monterey Car Week is a major annual automotive event in California that bundles multiple concours, auctions, and track activities. It’s a key calendar moment for car culture, which is why it’s used as a starting point for a “drive the world” idea.
"And I thought, that's what I need to do next year is like a kind of round the world, like go to these different events, maybe I'll buy like a Ferrari FF and that's the car we spoke about during that drive, you know, and go to these things."
They mention a Ferrari FF as the kind of car they might buy for a big trip. It’s a Ferrari that’s built for comfortable long drives, not just short blasts.
The Ferrari FF is a grand touring Ferrari known for being an all-wheel-drive (4RM) V12 model. In the context of planning a “round the world” trip, it’s a natural pick because it’s designed for long-distance comfort while still delivering Ferrari performance.
"And by about October, we'd launched a Patreon to let the audience get involved, announced to the audience, let them get involved and raise the first chunk of money from the audience."
Patreon is a website where fans pay a creator regularly. Here, it helped pay for the first travel costs before any big companies stepped in.
Patreon is a membership platform where creators get recurring support from fans. In this context, it’s used to crowd-fund the early budget for a “Drive the World” trip before sponsors or partners arrive.
"...launched a Patreon to let the audience get involved... raise the first chunk of money from the audience. ...We raised just over 20 grand, which paid for the initial flights, some of the transport hotels like made it a real thing."
Crowd-funding means lots of people chip in money. In this story, viewers helped pay for the early travel expenses so the trip could actually happen.
Crowd-funding is raising money from a large group of people, often via online platforms. The speaker describes using audience contributions to cover initial flights and travel logistics, turning a plan into a real trip.
"...you've managed to travel the world, go to a different place. You're in a car driving across Australia, or you've managed to do this thing which has got you out the city and into Singapore with a Porsche 911. And like, did you ever look at anything with that lens on?"
A Porsche 911 is a famous high-performance sports car from Porsche. Here, it’s mentioned to show the creator was doing real driving/travel content, not just talking online.
The Porsche 911 is Porsche’s iconic rear-engine sports car, known for its distinctive silhouette and long-running engineering evolution. In this segment, it’s used as a concrete example of the kind of “super car expert” content that involves real-world driving and travel.
"Like, we did a few meeting greets, especially in Australia. You know, the couple of events"
These are events where fans meet the person they follow. In car events, it’s common to do these after or during car-related gatherings.
“Meeting greets” are fan/customer meet-and-greet events where creators or public figures interact with attendees. In automotive culture, these often happen alongside car shows, track days, or brand events and can be a major part of creator workload.
"But I mean, I guess as you know, like especially manufacturer launches, you know, will turn up something and sometimes it's like, you've got four hours with the car."
A manufacturer launch is when a car company shows a new car to the press. If you’re trying to film content, the time you get with the car can be short, so it’s stressful to get the footage you need.
Manufacturer launches are events where automakers introduce new vehicles to media and guests. They often come with limited access time to film and test, which can create pressure for content creators to capture everything quickly.
"Like, you've got four hours with the car. Now, people might think that was in ages. It is not. Like, that is no time at all to film, b-roll and intro and test review and like, like that for me, that's so stressful."
B-roll is supplemental footage used to support the main talking segments—like exterior shots, interior details, driving clips, and close-ups. In car reviews, b-roll is crucial because it visually explains what the host is describing, but it takes time to capture well.
"I don't understand the money in it. AdSense or ad revenue for me from YouTube has never been enough to quantify videographer editor on top of that."
AdSense is how YouTube can show ads on your videos and pay you money from them. The speaker’s point is that the money from ads usually isn’t enough to pay for all the work that goes into making a great video.
AdSense is Google’s advertising platform that pays creators based on ad views and clicks. The speaker is arguing that AdSense alone often can’t cover the real costs of producing a high-quality car video when you factor in editing and videography.
"I know what I've got to get covered each month and bring in sponsors and partners. ... But the McLaren, which was a 540C... it's about 1500 quid a month. And at that point, I don't think I was in a place where that was healthily guaranteed..."
Monthly payments are the recurring installment cost of financing a vehicle. The host emphasizes budgeting—knowing exactly what has to be covered each month—while also factoring in mortgage, household bills, and other expenses. This is a practical way to judge whether a car payment is sustainable.
"but the bank need a guarantor. He made Tony sign a contract saying that if I couldn't manage the payments, Tony would buy the car to clear the debt so that the bank would never knock on his door."
A guarantor is like a backup payer. If the main person can’t make the payments, the guarantor has to step in so the lender doesn’t lose money.
A guarantor is a person who agrees to take responsibility for loan payments if the borrower can’t pay. Here, Tony signs a contract so the bank is protected and won’t pursue the speaker’s dad if payments fail.
"my first Ferrari was this unbelievably optioned manual 360 Modena. It was sort of as lairy and racy as spec, as you could get from the factory in beautiful condition."
The Ferrari 360 Modena is a classic Ferrari supercar. The speaker specifically liked theirs because it was a manual transmission and had a lot of factory options, which can make the car feel more special.
The Ferrari 360 Modena is a mid-engine V8 supercar from Ferrari, known for its sharp steering feel and classic 2000s-era styling. In this segment, it’s described as an “unbelievably optioned manual” car, which matters because manual gearboxes are less common in modern supercars.
"And I was like, I'll take a Testerosa. Cool. I've driven one that'd be great."
The Ferrari Testarosa is a famous older Ferrari supercar. It’s known for its look and sound, and the speaker wanted to film one because it’s a car he really wanted to drive.
The Ferrari Testarosa is an iconic 1980s/early-1990s-era supercar known for its distinctive side strakes and V12 character. In the segment, the speaker asks to film one because it’s a classic they want to experience again.
"If I'm like, okay, I've just flown back from the Lamborghini press drive. I said, [3707.0s] I haven't, what are we talking about this week? So, mate, what are you being up to?"
A press drive is when the media gets invited to drive a car so they can share what it’s like. It’s usually tied to a new model or major update.
A press drive is an organized media event where journalists and content creators drive a vehicle under controlled conditions. The goal is to generate coverage, photos, and first-impression content ahead of or during a model’s release.
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To just crush the internet now. It's completely acted. It's totally fake.
Sam! I was a YouTuber. I was a vlogger. Oh, TT. My hobby was always making videos.
I loved making videos. I felt so all-perfect. He's had his car for a month. And that's
really where it kind of began. A Ferrari obsessive. Yes, that's like maintained.
Where did that come from? Schumacher. Schumacher. I still am a die-hard Schumacher man. My first
ride was this unbelievably optioned manual 360 Modena. It is just so brilliant. The McLaren
Tony pushed me at the edge of that car. I was like, Dad, look, I need to buy a McLaren.
Which she was like, absolutely not. He made Tony sign a contract saying that if I couldn't
manage the payment, Tony would buy the car to clear the debt.
What was your expectation of how well that would do versus maybe the reality of it?
Fundamentally drive the world as a disaster. In its moment, it was a massive failure.
The pressure I was under from the book, TV, sponsors, partners, Patreon, everything,
coming to the end of it, I was like, I got to leave YouTube. I've killed it.
This episode is brought to you by Arvelo. Sam, I cannot believe it has taken over
two and a half years to plonk your bottom in this van. But you are one of the most requested
guests to come on Road to Success. So we'll just kick it straight off
by saying in your own words, who are you and what do you do?
Well, I am Sam from Seen through Glass. I don't know what to call myself these days.
I was a YouTuber. I was a vlogger. I guess I'm probably an influencer now, which is like, oh
God. I would say I'm a creator. I'm a creator. And what does that actually mean? I make
bad version of Top Gear videos. I'm close to one YouTube essentially.
But that's funny because when I speak to other creators, they actually say that your content
is some of the best and highly produced that there is around on YouTube. And we all talk about the
fact that there was a real moment where you went full production mad on your channel a few years
ago. If I take it right back, I love these stories when I've actually watched the guest's channel
from my earliest years, far beyond me having a driver's license like that side of the early years.
I just remember Alpha Four City, Central London, Pivot Head Durangos,
well before the Meta Sunglasses. Why did you choose to pop a pair of sunglasses on your face
and click upload on a video on YouTube? There were multiple reasons. So at the time,
I was running a very unsuccessful PR consultancy. I had, I think that consultant was going for
two years and I had four clients in total. Great clients just didn't keep me busy.
And so I was looking for a way to fill my days. And my dad was actually the one who gave me the
advice to find a hobby, self-employed. You're not always going to be flat out. So it's nice to have
a little hobby that when you're not busy, you can do. And when you are busy, you put to one side.
And my hobby was always making videos. I loved making videos. So I used to make home videos
on holidays. I had a band. I made all the music videos for the band. I just always was making
videos. And it was at the time when YouTube and YouTubing was becoming a thing. So that PR
consultancy mainly focused on entertainment clients, film premieres, TV events, music events,
things like that, a lot of red carpets. And we used to have vloggers turn up to the red carpets.
They'd be like, oh, this is Tanya Byrne. I'm like, oh, and they're managers expecting me to try and
get them coverage. And so I was sort of cocking on to YouTubing and YouTubing being a thing.
So I thought, well, you know what, maybe I should make some videos and upload them. And I might earn
100 or 200 quid a month. That would be lovely. And so then it was about what do I want to film?
What content do I want to make? And right at that time, supercast spotting was becoming a thing.
Alex Penfold, TFJJ, Adam Shaw, all of these pages were kind of blowing up from just standing on
street corners in Night's Bridge, taking photos of crazy cars. And my route to work was through
Night's Bridge. So during the week, I'd sit on a bus, look at the window, blah, blah, blah.
I've entered all that Penfold posted. Oh, there's a vey one. I don't think anyone's seen that yet.
I thought, maybe that's my thing. Maybe it's on the way to work, like spotting cars. And so that's
kind of was the origins of the concept. And the point of view thing, some of your male audience,
my thing came from another inspirational source, but it didn't. It came from motorbike vloggers.
So at the time, I was consuming a lot of moto vloggers who would literally stick a camera to
their helmets, ride around and comments. There was Royal Jordanian, it's called a lead pin.
And no, a handful of moto vloggers that were very amusing, would seemingly just film on the way to
work on the way to wherever, comment on a few things and upload it. And I found it really engaging.
So you're not a secret biker though? No. Well, no, I did. I like a bike,
not a secret biker. Just enjoyed the comedic aspect. And I think that's what I felt was missing from
the huge, the automatic video corner that I was watching. It was all quite serious. You either
had proper journalists. At that point, it was Chris Harris on cars, Evo Diaries or Evo themselves.
And then you had Shmi, who was obviously doing great stuff. But I mean, I loved him,
but he's not the funniest guy in the world. Very, very educational.
Yeah, it's not often cracking jokes. Actually off camera is quite funny.
But I think that's where the Shmuseum's now coming, because I always used to say,
I wanted Shmi150 to become Tim on camera. And I think that has happened on the Shmuseum channel
now. So again, like you, you've all been around for so long, it's been insane to see how some of
those channels have changed over time. Exactly that. So you are starting to see more of the dad
jokes creeping in. And then Paul Supercars of London was just starting out on his daily vlogging
kind of journey, I suppose. And Paul's great. But I don't know, I just, I found it was all very
informative, but there wasn't much lightheartedness. And you had the moto vloggers who were maybe a
little bit too slapstick and jokey. And a lot of the sort of early YouTubers doing bedroom vlogs
and silliness. And I was like, I just want to come lighthearted with this. I don't know what
that meant. But I thought, okay, let's do some point of view filming on the way to work of cars I see,
and just be non serious about it. I'm, you know, I was a petrolhead, but I wasn't a nerd. Sorry if
that's rude to people. I just, yeah. And that's really where it kind of began. A Ferrari obsessive.
Yes, that's like maintained. Where did that come from? Was that growing up watching Ferrari in Formula
1 on the sofa? Was it just passion for the red horse?
Schumacher. Schumacher. I still am a diehard Schumacher man. I've got a Schumacher watch on
today. I usually wear some kind of Schumacher merch somewhere, usually my underpants. But I just
was obsessed, like lived and breathed. The Michael Schumacher from the, you know, the late 90s
through to the mid 2000s. And so that was my kind of obsession with Ferrari in Italy.
But the road car thing sort of was secondary to that, like it was there. But again, my obsession
really up until the age of 18, 19, 20 was Formula 1, not road cars. I liked road cars. And of course,
I preached to them and I watched topical and all things like that. But I've always said it,
if a 911 drove past me, I'd be like, oh, there's a Porsche. I wasn't like, there's a 996.2 Carrera.
I wasn't that guy. Which is funny because then you end up being the 911.
You love a GT3. You love them. You did a complete coin toss, didn't you? And I think that's what's
really interesting to me about this conversation is just the amount of times there's almost just
been a pause and then like a big change in the way that you think or you do things on the channel.
I think it's cool to cover that because that is a real story. I mean, you've literally driven the
entire way around the world from sitting on a bus thinking about what kind of content you were
going to make. But when you're on that bus, you mentioned about the lightheartedness,
the entertainment. Would you be that kind of personality at the window like Ferrari? Was
that you in that environment? Did you ever have to contain that personality or was it the camera
that brought it out? The camera that brought it out. I think there's obviously a part of me
that's always been a little bit exuberant, excitable. I didn't drink for a long time. I don't think I
started drinking in my life until I was 21 or 22 because I never felt the need. I'd go to a party
and I'd have a very good time not drinking and people were like, God, Sam smashed and my friends
would be like, no, he's on Coke zero. So I definitely had that. And I think I started
vlogging when I started filming when I was 25. So definitely a lot more energy than I have now.
And I think at that time, yeah, it just carried over. So all of that kind of early
hyperventilating and was part of my personality, I think. And then I was just aware that turning
the camera on, political turnout to 10, but it was quite natural. There was not much that I was
sitting there being like, oh, you know, I've got to give it a large turn the camera on. Wow!
You know, it was all it was all just sort of me allowing myself to be expressive.
So is your family Christmas dinner quite loud? Very. So it's something that runs in the family.
Yeah, yeah, it's very loud. We are loud. My sister makes me sound like a mouse.
Yeah, we're a loud bunch and expressive.
And not in a sort of European way. We're not sort of there, like, you know, Italians or,
I don't know who else, giving it large. But we, yeah, we just, I don't know, we enjoy talking,
we enjoy life. And you know, I did all I did acting at school and all that kind of stuff. So obviously,
used to a performative element, let's say, that wasn't foreign to me. Turning the camera on wasn't
as horrific as I know it can be for a lot of people. I didn't like that wasn't so foreign to
me the idea of filming myself or filming something or narrating something, especially with my PR
background. I did a lot of presenting on or off camera, not really on camera that much, but,
you know, in large groups in different settings. So I felt comfortable spilling a spiel, you know.
So I guess that side was maybe I had a little step up than some others who are starting from
complete square one. When did you realise you could make more than 200 quid from YouTube?
Oh, a lot longer than you might think or a lot further into the journey than you might think,
because I decided to give up everything else 18 months in. And at that point, I'd made a total
of 1500 quid from like the entire SKP. I think I was nearly 100,000 subscribers at that point,
been going a year and a half road trips with Chameleon, Cipcalaus, and my ad sense or my ad
revenue was 1500 quid. And I was like, cool, let's do this. But I had seen Tim and Paul,
so Chmeleon 150, because London running their channels of business that kind of showed me the
back end. I was like, okay, so there was money to be made here. And in that year, I'd got my first
ever brand deal. That wasn't really a thing back then, but we got paid to go to an SO gig
and interview Jensen Button. Oh my God. So I was like, this is must be doable. And so I actually
I put a business plan together, tried to get investment, went to various meetings,
like angel investors and they were like, how are we going to make money from this? I was like,
I don't know. But I've seen other people do it. So believe in me. And after quite a lot of failure,
again, my dad, wiser than he ever let on, was like, why are you trying to give away
a piece of something like to just just keep it all yourself? Like we went through it all.
I had about 15 grand in savings at that point. And we worked out if I did the year high once
to do it, go on this trip, go there, blah, blah. I could kind of just eat into the savings,
come out at the end of the year. And I would have lost my savings, but I would have done the year.
And worst case scenario, I just go back to the PR consultancy. So it felt like a punt. And I did
it and very quickly stuff started to fall in place. And I never looked back. But yeah, quite mad
to think back then, you could launch a whole social media business on a relatively small
budget. Why did you think that you needed investment more than what it was when you're
already nearly 100,000 subscribers and have the eyesight into what it can be and all the
rest of it? What made you think that is that because back then, people like Tim around you
and all the other guys were just like, by car, by car, by car, by car, by car, by car.
That was partly it. But it was also because I was stepping away from a career that I spent
the last five or six years building. Before the consultancy, I worked at a big PR agency on a
decent enough salary for me at 23, 24 years old. I'd then set up a new business with a business
partner. I'd say we weren't good, but we did have clients that it was a business. And so to kind of
be like, I'm going to give that all up for this YouTube malarkey, fell risky. And I think I wanted
some money up front to convince myself it was worthwhile doing because launching into it,
firstly, going into my savings didn't feel great, didn't feel great. And I was nervous, I think.
I was nervous. You were the type of character that needed someone else's approval that you
deemed to be successful to be like, just to tip you over the line to be like, you can do this.
And you're like, oh, well, if they believe in me, surely it's possible.
No, it wasn't that. It was purely finances. I think I was just scared that I was going to step
away from, as I said, career that I didn't love, but I was good at, and I knew I could
progress in to go and take a year out making videos online, which let's face it, I'm not
a big fan, especially back then. Being a YouTuber was not a thing back then. So the big reason
which I didn't mention that I did point of view at the start is I didn't want clients to find me.
I hid my name forever. I was just seen through glass or maybe sound from seen through glass.
You never saw my face because what if I went to a pitch meeting with a client who was in and
around this business, I had motorsport clients, I had TV film clients, they went back, googled,
and then that caused this guy to go, it's a LaFerrari, not hiring that man. So it was just
nervous. And so I think by having some financial support, that's what I felt I needed to be like,
okay, cool, like if this is a disaster, at least it's not my time. It's somebody else's. I think
it wasn't approval. I was just worried of being broke and a laughing stock. That was the main
concern. But that clearly didn't end up being the case after that first year. So talk us 365
days on from there. Well, I sort of, it becomes a blur. If I'm really honest, it becomes a blur.
I think that first year, I wanted to go to Top Marks with Seb, Paul, and Tim, which was a sort
of thing to do in April in Monaco. It's kind of like you would all head there and just make a
week worth of crazy content and people from all over Europe would descend. So that was kind of on
my aim. I wanted to go to LA for a couple of months. And there was something else that I
wanted to achieve in that year. And I'd done all three. And I don't know what subscribers I had.
I don't know what views I was getting. I can't remember, but it was sort of full send.
Things were just spiraling into views, collaborations, brand work. It was just
unbelievably exciting, like unbelievably exciting. Could you ever imagine it stopping or
calming down at that point? Or did you just think that you're on this train and it was going to be
like a never ending thing? I definitely didn't think it would be never ending. I think I probably
hadn't quite worked out still what it was. You know, this was a year and I was making videos
and having fun and, okay, making money. I wonder how much money I made that first year.
I'd love to go. I actually can't remember, but it must have been enough for me to
black this was worthwhile. I didn't know if I made more than the consultancy. That would be
a nice romantic story, wouldn't it? If it's like a year one and I made more than I would have at
my consultancy. But anyway, protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good.
You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or
matcha. Try it today at Starbucks.
Did what you achieved match the business plan in any way, shape or form?
Yes. I think yes, because I, whether it was monetary or not, definitely in terms of views,
subscribers, I outperformed my, my sub projections for sure. I can't remember
monetarily, but it was the, I think where it came about, you know, I didn't go to university.
I started working at 17. So this was nearly 10 years of, well, 25, I started 26. It was,
so I was nearly 10 years into working life and I liked all of my other jobs, but they were jobs
and I did go to work and sometimes big companies, sometimes small companies. This was not work.
I was having the time of my life. Like it was hilarious and the opportunities that were coming
around, the friendship group that I grew, it was like just the best thing ever. So I think I maybe
didn't necessarily sit there and go like, okay, what is the long-term plan? Can this just continue
for a bit? Yeah, but I was, you know, I've always been hyper analytical a bit as a business. I always
talk about these five year chunks of time, these five year plans. I operate the channel in five
year plans, but I don't know when I sort of instigated that. I don't know when I went, okay,
cool. This is my focus for the next five years, which ended in Drive the World. But I mean,
yeah, I think it's such a blur that period of the best times, the greatest times.
So I would be lying if I said two years, I was sitting there, you know, with a real
track record. Is it right in saying that back then, when you and the guys went to Monaco and
really, there wasn't a lot of other car content. It was Top Gear or Q5 on YouTube, really. That was
what it was. And what people would do was go from, you know, your upload, whoever uploaded first,
I want to get into that, like how that dynamic worked. But I feel like we just watch all of them.
They'd all add up to like an hour and a half's time and you just skip from one to the next,
to the next, to the next, just to keep the enjoyment of watching the videos going.
Did it feel like that with you and the guys at the time? Or was there ever like
heads or tails for who got to put the video live first? Was that a big thing?
That came later. Have you spoken to any of the other guys about this?
I have spoke to Paul before and Tim. I believe Tim usually had right of way from what I understand.
And rightfully so. And at that time, he was three times bigger than any of our channels and probably
still is. But I think at that very early stage, it was just anything goes. It was such a sort of
exciting time. And you couldn't really do anything wrong. That sounds like a weird thing to say,
but I mean, you could. Because I don't remember my channel nearly getting cancelled of one video.
But it was, as you say, there was so much excitement with us and the audience. You would just
put stuff out. I mean, we were making five, six videos a week at a time, you know,
and I went back to our day, I would upload 90 second videos, I would upload four minute videos,
I would upload 10 minute videos. You know, there was no rule rhyme or rhythm. We would just kind
of go, go, go. And the creativity was insane. I made a video in Monaco once about what do we do
when it rains. It's like 90 seconds. And it's like staring out the window, the rain coming down
and Paul in bed. It's like it's the weirdest video ever. But you could kind of do that back then.
And I think that came about as we woke up, we'd been there for a week or 10 days.
So we're going to film today. It's raining. I don't know. So what are you going to film?
I don't know. And then I was like, I might make a video about like, what are we doing when it
rains? I was like, yeah, cool, cool, cool. And so it was like a TikTok house or the
urge. We were all sitting there and we all fed each other's creativity. And we all had our own
lanes and our own channels in terms of what each person would kind of make the style of their
content. But we all helped each other massively. But with time, what would happen is, yes,
we were all become acutely aware, okay, what is my angle here? Okay, so we're all, we've got one
day to film this Bentley. There's four of us here. We're going to film out on the same road.
We're all under embargo, meaning we could all put other days out at the same time.
Why is there no one going to watch my video over Tim? Tim's got like 600,000 subscribers,
like about 100, like no one's watching my video. So that's when it started to change a bit. And
we would start to negotiate and work out each other's angles and initially very friendly and
very helpful. And then just slowly, but surely a tiny bit more competitive and a tiny bit more
like, okay, and it became harder. It couldn't be helped. It's just because the platform changes,
it changes the rules and then everybody wants it to be one way, but it just can't be. And then
suddenly you're very much in a business. 100%. And we, all of our channels grew to that point
where it was a business for all of us. You know, as I mentioned a moment ago, at the start, it was
just fun. Like it was just hilarious fun. And it was like, Oh my God, this is a job. But then it
suddenly was, it was a business, you know, for all of us and quite a serious business. And,
you know, Tim and Paul were making serious money and Seb and I were like,
scrapping behind below. Hey guys, we're coming. But it was proper. It was proper. And we had to
take that seriously. And I think the only great thing which maybe people saw when we did the
reunion tour last year is that we all somehow managed to remain really good friends. Like,
I think it was tough and it became harder. And it was a little tricky at times working out who
was going to film what and who was going to upload. But we all had ultimate respect for each other.
We all still got on and could laugh and joke about it. But it was just, yeah, just, I can't,
we were in denial that it was no longer possible. Do you know what I mean? I think some of us,
you know, Tim was very quick to move on. But some of us were like, come on, guys, there's one more
trip when actually in the back of our minds, we all kind of knew that actually we should probably
just do our own things for a bit. We've all been there. We booked somewhere to stay and it doesn't
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You said you did things in five year chunks. What was a big like five year change then from
the beginning of your channel to then something really big changing? Would it be that or would
it be like a trip or it was the trip. So I one theme of the channel early on with these,
these travel series. So I did one called vlog Angeles, which was was a few months in LA,
always a dream of mine. Someone called vlog Ari, which was one in Italy. And then maybe the third
part was drive the world. But I think there was a series in there somewhere in between.
And yeah, the sort of end of the five year plan was that was the world trip. It was the
sort of culmination of this kind of, yeah, a desire to get out and explore. But the truth is,
and maybe something I haven't really touched on too much around drive the world, it was also a
desire to kind of get away from the others. That sounds really aggressive. But I would just mention
the fact that we were all aware that we were running businesses, that there was a competitive
nature to it. And we were all doing our own thing or needed to do our own thing. And I think I was
looking at the automotive landscape, which at that point had been joined by TGE, Emma Walsh,
Archie Hamilton, Joe Achilles, you know, a lot of people that, you know, I'm sorry, your audience
will be familiar with, we're all starting out there. And suddenly, it wasn't just the four of
us going to events, it was 10 or 12 of us going to events. And maybe this is maybe it's rich for
me to say, but it felt like we were all doing the same thing. Everyone was kind of like on the
same cycle of events, buy car, wrap car, exhaust car, sell car, same filming style. It just felt,
I was just like, oh, God, here we go again, like, after top marks, after Goodwood, and I was desperate
to do something different for myself, not as a because, you know, no, those dicks, just because
I needed a creative challenge. And that's why I was like, I think I'm going to go and do an
extrapolation of these vlog series. That's never ending. I think that is like a really big thing
to touch on and talk about because when someone starts a business or they start a career, they
start anything or want to do a side hustle. There's this moment where you get that big idea,
you know, what's the big idea that you throw at the whiteboard, the make or break idea?
Like, was this something that came about like, gradually, or did you suddenly just go, do you
know what, I am going to go on a never ending road trip around the entire world. And what was
your expectation of how well that would do versus maybe the reality of it? Yeah, I mean,
I'll skip to the end. Fundamentally, drive the world was a disaster. Like, actually,
in its moment, it was a massive failure and we can touch on that at the moment. But
the initial idea, and I'll shout him out because he always wants a shout out,
came from my friend, Philip, who's appeared on the channel multiple times. He's got a great
profile online, but he's a very close friend. And we were at Monterey Car Week. We were driving
down Pacific Coast Highway in the family 250T up, as you do. And I think we just said,
you know, wouldn't it be great to just do this all the time? Like, go round the world to all
like the greatest car events and just to hop and skip. And it literally went and I was like,
oh my God, that was a fantastic idea. And that was August. And I started to kind of work on this.
And I thought, that's what I need to do next year is like a kind of round the world, like go to
these different events, maybe I'll buy like a Ferrari FF and that's the car we spoke about
during that drive, you know, and go to these things. And this was the beginning of it. And I
remember going to my, which was my girlfriend at the time later became my wife and saying like,
I think we want to travel the world next year. And this was like November. And she was like,
and I was like, yeah, I've got this great concept. And she's like, I have a full time job
at the time we were renting a house. And I was just like, yeah, I probably need to
do it for the year after, right? She was like, yeah. So we kind of put a pin on it as like,
that would be great to do one day. I think secretly in my head, I was like, oh no,
we are going to do it. I just need to like actually put this in place. So that next year,
I was squirreling away in the background kind of figuring out, okay, what could it be looking at
different ways? Will we go for a month and then come back for a month? Like, or maybe I just do
six months or where do I actually want to go? And it just kind of kept building into this,
it needs to be a year away. It needs to essentially be driving around the world. Is that possible?
It needs to be right from my channel, but something new and fresh. And it needs to happen
like now. And so June, July, I managed to convince her that it was a good idea. I can't remember
how we sort of got to that point, but it would involve her taking a sabbatical from work. But
you know, so once I had her buy in, I was like, okay, this can be doable. And then I was like,
how do I financially make this happen? And it started, the pieces just started all coming
together. And by about October, we'd launched a Patreon to let the audience get involved,
announced to the audience, let them get involved and raise the first chunk of money from the audience.
I was one of those patrons, I will say here, hand on heart, I was in them.
Well, you made the trip happen. So the first money that I raised for that trip was purely
from my audience. We raised just over 20 grand, which paid for the initial flights, some of the
transport hotels like made it a real thing. And there's something unbelievable about that. And
you know, as an influencer, it's very easy to be like, I gotta thank my audience. But I mean,
Drive the World would not have happened without people like you, because we had no money at that
point. I had no sponsors, no partners, nothing. And then I was like, okay, cool, the audience
want to see this, we've got some money, let's go. And then luckily, a lot of partners came on board
afterwards. But to sort of go back to my big revelation earlier, I genuinely thought that was
my like road to Matt Armstrong levels of YouTube success. I was like, here we go, because I was
going to do, I think nearly daily vlogs, and a membership area on the, from the Patreon,
we're going to do a book, we're going to do a TV series, I had global partners. Like there was a
like, it was like, let's go and see how that would make you feel that way as well. Yes.
And it was at a time when YouTube was rewarding more content. You know, it was literally everyone
was saying at that point, the algorithm was like, do more, whether it's daily vlogs or just regular
content, get content out was the word from YouTube themselves. So this is perfect. Because
yeah, going to Google, going to talk about kind of doing the same thing on repeat, there I would
be around the world exploring creating new content. About three weeks in, I had a nervous
breakdown. I had like a full on legitimate nervous breakdown. It was in Singapore. I remember it so
well. I'd had a lot of sort of weird night terrors and the lead up to that is like literally
woken up in the middle of the night screaming, unusual for me. And I was in a 9-11 and I went
to close the door and I for some reason I closed the door from the window and I'd held onto it
and the window went up into its slot as I was holding on. Now this was a very superficial injury.
There was no blood. I think maybe there was like a little squishing of the fingers.
I made out like I'd lost a hand and I lost it and I couldn't breathe. I was just so overwhelmed.
And it came from firstly the stress of planning it. I'd put this whole thing together myself.
The pressure I was under from book, TV, sponsors, partners, Patreon, everything
was, as I say, then she was my girlfriend, later wife was with me. I was very bad at
letting her in and helping me. I was keeping it all to myself. This was my thing.
And the content wasn't performing. We'd done Australia, we'd done parts of Asia and the
views were below my average at the time. Which is insane because you literally sent a 9-11
to Australia and drove it through which no one had ever done before.
The first video of collecting my 9-11 in Australia got like a third of my usual views
and I was like, oh, this is worrying. And it kind of continued on that trend.
The only video that had performed well was us crossing the desert in Australia,
which was an amazing adventure and a different style of video.
And actually I'll come onto it a second. That changed the whole plan for the year.
But yeah, I was really freaking out. I was really freaking out and I just didn't have
the time because we were either driving all day or filming all day. I was editing all night
and we were up again the next day. I just had no time to think or do anything.
And at the breakdown in Singapore, it was like, oh, this needs to change. This is just not
manageable and it's not performing. So let's stop, reassess. I did a deep dive on all the content.
I pushed back on TV and book and kind of updated the patrons a bit. And we changed the whole sort
of, yeah, the theme of the trip and that really changed the whole channel, which was slow down,
focus on quality and storytelling, find the good stories, not just any story.
And most of all, document the adventure, like showcase what's going on. This is not
what I was doing in the UK, which was pop-to-car dealership, test drive a car.
It's a 12 minute video off we go. I travel around the world, like I've got to meet cool people and
go to different places and show what's happening. This is where the coffee culture started to creep
its way into the channel and hotels and all these things because that's what people want to see.
And I, reflecting on it, I stood in a bad job of that. If I was to go again, I'd super vlog it and
I'd be real lifestyle content. But I was too nervous at that time to go that hard into the
lifestyle. Is that because people were wanting the original Sam? And even though you were trying
to make the ideas bigger and better and greater in your eyes, people just wanted what the original
thing was that they saw and watch. I think I was naive to the fact that people wanted more than
just car reviews. I think in my head, it was like, oh, this is a car channel. I make like car.
Car reviews is punchy, by the way, because I'm not a journalist, but I make, you know, car related
content. And all I did was make the same content in a different place. When I think people signed
up to this idea of this adventure, and you crap, this guy's going to go and drive around the world
in 9-11. This is so cool. Like, where's he going to go? What road is he going to take? Like,
they had this view of this kind of epic, yeah, otherworldly adventure where actually I was just
kind of doing the same thing, at least at the beginning, I was doing the same thing just in
different places. And it was hard for people to really understand and keep up with. I was bashing
out so much content. They're like, hold on a sec. I thought he was in Brisbane, like now he's in
Kuala Lumpur, like what? And it just, yeah, I didn't have a grasp. I didn't have a good enough grasp
on what the audience actually wanted or thought they wanted. And look, throughout the year that
changed massively. And we read it, how I did the content, and it performed better and better. But
the real-saving grace with Drive the World was locked out. It was like COVID saved Drive the
World and my channel. Because people, I think, missed Drive the World, didn't really watch it,
but then were stuck at home and were like, hey, what did this guy do? And I did some like,
summary videos that were like, you know, 40-minute recaps. And people were like, this seems kind
of cool. I went back and watched a lot of the content I made. And now you look at Drive the
World and it looks like it performed really well. Most videos have got great views and you think,
wow, that must have flown for you. But at the time, coming to the end of it, I was like,
I'm going to leave YouTube. I've killed it. It was a disaster. Not killed it in the good
way. I like killed my channel. So it was weird. What's crazy is you're obviously super analytical
and hyper-assessive. And you talk about everything in a positively voiced, but quite derogatory
way of yourself. Like, it didn't perform. I failed. This didn't work. This didn't work. What are you
pitching that against? Because to anyone else at the time, you know, if a super car expert 16
uploaded a video to YouTube at the same time, no driver's license, 2600 views, 1000 views, like...
So why did you keep looking at it in that sense? Because you actually managed to travel the world,
go to a different place. You're in a car driving across Australia, or you've managed to do this
thing which has got you out the city and into Singapore with a Porsche 911. And like, did you
ever look at anything with that lens on? Did anyone ever help you to look at it with that lens on?
Because really, it's quite successful. Oh, yes. Look, now I'm like the best thing I've ever done
in my life. Like unbelievable. And throughout the year, 100%, the framing of it started to
alter and change. And COVID helped me look back at it and think, what a success. And also, as I
say, redefined what Seen Through Glass was. So it was a failure in the moment in the sense where
it was a financial loss. It slowed down the growth of the channel. The videos performed worse than
maybe they could have or would have if I'd say, who knows? That's the silly thing to talk about.
But overall, it's what made the channel. So here and now, I don't think Seen Through Glass would
have sustained as long as it did without Drive the World. But at the end of the year, I was like,
I'm actually not sure. You know, as I say, financially, not great.
Growth slowed down. You know, I was year on year, 100,000 subscribers. I think that year I gained
40 or 50. And views, if I said I looked at my views, I was down X number of millions of views
across the year. And I think I just was a bit like...
But being honest, would you like write down the views of the other guys' content? I like compare.
No. And I also had no idea what they were doing that year. I mean, I didn't have time to look.
So it was really only competing against myself, which is, you know, my therapist tells me never
a good thing to do. But yeah, not wise and special on social media is a tough thing to do. But the
platforms tell you to do it. I mean, you know this. You upload and they tell you how your video is
performing to the last 10. Okay, that wasn't the thing back then. But I had ways to understand
how my videos were performing. But it was against myself. Because I don't think you can or should
judge yourself on social media against other creators or uploaders. Because the beauty of
social media is there's room for all of us. You know, there's room for all of us. And all you're
going to do then is kind of criticize yourself based on somebody else's performance, which I think
is a bad idea. So yeah, I just focus on my channel. YouTube is very good at telling me when my
channel is performing well or not. So at what point in that story, because you mentioned like
individuals like your wife, and different people like the patrons even as a group,
and all these people mentioned a therapist that spoke to someone very vocal.
What impacted Tony was the exact opposite of all those supportive things. Tony from
Graveville Car Sales, you hosted your podcast by in the glass and it's been on all your channel and
has shouted at me once in a car in the Alps when he gave me a lift. Like what impacted a
character like Tony having in your life? I hope he won't mind me saying this.
That year, none. He was not a part of my year that year. I think our relationship was very
different than to it is now. 2019, yeah, I mean, you know, we were close, but nowhere near as
close as we are at the moment. And we would check in. But yeah, we're not like we are now.
So, you know, I think throughout that year, I was in contact with Paul from Supercars of London,
and I bumped into Tim a couple of times. Maybe I saw Seb in Monaco, but I didn't really speak
to anyone else from the gang. You know, we were quite isolated in that sense. We're so busy.
And meeting endless new people. So, you know, it sounds like I was like, you know,
see you losers, like I'm off with my new friends. It wasn't that, but I was out with
guys in America, guys in Europe, just meeting different creators and new people and building
new relationships. So, I wasn't really calling home that much. Did it test your social battery?
Because I imagine with your energy, you've got quite a high social battery. We were at the top
gear event the other night, and you're absolutely, hey, here we go. Like, you know, one of the
dominant figures in the room. But does when it's at that level, does that start to eat away
like your social battery a bit? And do you ever start questioning when it gets like that? I'm
that busy. Like, this isn't like feeling like it was when I was back in Monaco.
Maybe too introspective a question for me in the sense where I don't notice I do it. It's very,
whether it's my upbringing, my career, whatever. That's very natural for me. Like, that doesn't
feel like I'm on or off. Do I feel sometimes weirdly drained after going into it? And I'm
like, oh, it's so tired. Like, it's all because you were talking the whole time. I'm like,
it probably comes from my dad quite a bit. But yes, it's more told to me than I'm aware of.
Like, we did a few meeting greets, especially in Australia. You know, the couple of events
with like over 1000 people in attendance. And in my head, I'm like, cool, let's talk to everyone.
And I'm quite bound to be like, hey, hey, nice to meet you. Hey, thanks for coming by. I'm like,
hey, man, like, how are you? What did you drive in? Like, no way. Like, how long you bought?
And that's like five minutes. And I turned around and was like, still managing 99 people to go.
So yes, at the end, I'd be ruined. But especially during Drive the World, I'd be ruined and then
have to edit the video. So I did have to get a little bit better at that. And I also learned
a phrase, well, I told myself a phrase, which is now been stolen by
Dex Shepherd at Armchair Expert, you know, always be recording. I started to be acutely aware that
I would rock up at a filming opportunity, spend an hour chatting with the owner, the collector,
the developer, the manufacturer, whatever it might be, getting all the best bits off camera.
They'd be like, right, let's start filming. Oh, I don't know what to say. Because I've literally
been talking for an hour. And you know, you just, so we started to sort of rock up cameras on,
you know, why I would say something like, hey, like, not going to chat too much,
I just want to get rolling. So we've got all the best stuff on camera. Because
yeah, I just like talking to people, you know, I really like talking to people,
I like connecting, I like that side of it. So it doesn't, yeah, it doesn't feel on and off,
but I think, I think maybe it is. So after you got back off that trip, you obviously had your
girlfriend at the time to help you record and film and do everything, etc., which must be
extremely difficult. Also, sometimes as creators, you mentioned you do that whole day, then you
come back. I'm sure that we're part of them. So can we just go for, did he like five more minutes?
But I understand it's in my family, it's the bit that people don't necessarily see. But did that
make you come back and think, I need to start building a team here, I need a cameraman and editor
and like, how's that ever gone for you? Very badly. I have thought that or had that conversation
with myself so many times. And there's been pockets and periods of time where I've sort of
bought in help or advertised that I need help. I think I'm a control freak. I think I'm really
bad at letting go of especially the creative control, especially because I've been doing it
so long. I know how to make a scene through glass video. And look, I would love actually to have
someone come in and help me creatively feel re-inspired and present a different angle or a
different way of doing things to freshen up the content. But I mean, I guess as you know, like
especially manufacturer launches, you know, will turn up something and sometimes it's like,
you've got four hours with the car. Now, people might think that was in ages. It is not. Like,
that is no time at all to film, b-roll and intro and test review and like, like that for me,
that's so stressful. And the minute I was saying to somebody like, Hey, can you get this angle?
Why don't you do this? We've lost time. So that I've been bad at and people are now screaming
their screens because I own stupid cars and doesn't look like it's the case. I don't understand the
money in it. AdSense or ad revenue for me from YouTube has never been enough to quantify
videographer editor on top of that. You know, the rates that I've been quoted for people who I think
are really talented take away basically all of my AdSense for a video because I, you know,
I budget things per video. And of course you can bring in sponsors and partners and I have other
commercial activity I do it through at the year. But my whole thing is right to make a video.
It's my time and that's my output, right? Oh, that's what I get back from it. So let's just talk
theoretical numbers. If that's a thousand pounds on average that I'm making per video,
but I'm being charged 800 pounds to video and edit, I'm like, well, no, I might as well do it
myself. Like, I'm just going to make 200 quid. And I, I've spoken to so many people who monetize
things differently here. But again, if I've got a sponsor, I can get that sponsor anyway. Like,
I could do it all myself anyway. So I've just struggled to do so many internal fights.
So many internal fights. I think that leads on to a really nice question,
which I think you'll beautifully answer, which is, what's the poorest you've ever felt with a
supercar? Because everybody looks at someone owning a supercar and automatically thinks,
he's been loaded, he has ball in, you know what I mean? The GT3 goes pie on the fry.
But sometimes obviously that for you is a business tool. And you'll talk about your
AdSense there when you make per video. Are you like sometimes in the car like,
how do I own this McLaren on this Ferrari? Like, especially back in the early days,
the McLaren was a stretch at the time that I mean, like full transparency,
I finance all these cars as 90% of people in the UK do. It's not, I think it used to be a point
of shame or contention when I was starting, like, oh, he's only financing everyone finances. So
I'm not embarrassed by that. And I generally couldn't afford it. I couldn't afford that.
I haven't bought the three cars I got with cash. Like, that's not a thing for me.
But as you said, there's a business logic to it. And there's a business way. And also for me,
budget-free wise, it makes way more sense. I know what I've got to get covered each month
and bring in sponsors and partners. So anyway, I won't get into the boring antiquity of it. But
the McLaren, which was a 540C, I think, I think it was 1500 quid a month. I think with a decent
enough deposit, but it's about 1500 quid a month. And at that point, I don't think I was in a place
where that was healthily guaranteed on top of mortgage, household bills, other life expenses.
Like, plusing 1500 quid a month on, I think felt a bit scary. But Tony, going back to Tony
Graham with car sales, bastard, pushed me to the edge with that car. We walked down the dealership
and I was like, I can't buy that car. Come on, you're going to live once.
And what was hilarious was because I genuinely financially couldn't really justify it, the
lenders wanted a guarantor. So I said, Tony said, be my guarantor, mate. He's like, no.
So he said, what about your dad? And I said, oh, God, now my dad was an unbelievably successful guy
and had an amazing upbringing and history in his family, really had no money of his own ever. And
his dad was a hardworking guy too. So it wasn't like there was this bucketload of cash floating
around. And when my mum and dad got married, my dad was fairly not broke, but really like living on
his bar, you know, not with a lot and then grew an amazing sort of business himself over the next
30, 40 years. So he was super anti-borrowing money, like aggressively anti-borrowing money.
So I went to a meeting with him and I was like, dad, look, I need to buy a McLaren,
which he was like, absolutely not. Didn't like the idea anyway. And then I said to him,
but the bank need a guarantor. He made Tony sign a contract saying that if I
couldn't manage the payments, Tony would buy the car to clear the debt so that the bank would
never knock on his door. How did Tony end up in this? Well, this is what's amazing. This is the
way because I think Tony knew how hard he'd pushed me. And he was at a point in his life where he
was like, you know, spend it all. And I think he was sort of aware of it. But we had this catch
on the day because suddenly my dad died a couple of years ago and we were sort of reminiscing.
And Tony had to go to see my dad in his office in Mayfair, go upstairs and explain car financing,
something my dad had no idea about, a McLaren resale value of a McLaren. So this is ultimate
bullshit, Tony. This was car. So, oh yeah, they're rocks on it. He's not going to even send.
It'll be fine. And so my dad said, well, the only way I'll do it is if I have a separate contract,
we're turning it a proper legit contract saying that if Sam can't manage the payments,
you will buy the car because if the bank ever come knocking on my door, no, it's your problem,
not mine. But I will sign as the guarantor. So it somehow happened. And I think just, I mean,
that's already red flags, right? Like the bank won't lend me the money really. I'm sort of stressed
in the sense my dad doesn't want the content refuses to it. There's a contract in place.
I should have been like, okay, guys, let's chill. I'll just buy another F type like will be good.
But I went into it and then the car was a classic McLaren and had the end key not found and engine
issue this. And I only kept it about seven months. And I was like, I gotta get out of this thing.
It's horrible. And we came out a little bit negative to which I was able to clear. And
yeah, we move on. But that car was I had to park it far away from the house because the insurers
only would ensure if it was an underground secure parking, which I didn't have at my house. So if
I wanted to drive, I had to drive like 10 minutes down the road and then park on the street and walk
down. Ridiculous. But on the internet, I end up McLaren. So you know, as far as I know, I was
concerned I was a millionaire living my best life. If you are enjoying this chat between myself and
Ben, why don't you subscribe? Because there'll be other chats. Not with me. That's disappointing.
But other people subscribe, like, do all the cliches. I should be better at this. I am a YouTuber.
But anyway, do all the things that you're supposed to do on YouTube.
But did you think this will now lead to the next one, the next one, the next one? Did you feel
like you'd been the car guy that you are caught the bug? And did you always know
there was some point you had to buy a Ferrari? Well, yes. And a great story about Tony and I
prior to that McLaren purchase was the first series we ever did online. It was test driving
to find the replacement for my F type, which Tony was going to sell for me. That was our very
first commercial arrangement. Tony said, how we met. Tony said, I'll buy the F type off you,
sell it, clear the finance. If you then buy the replacement through me, that was the whole plan.
Then we became great friends and no one ever paid anyone. And so we set up this four-part
test drive, see if there was a Lotus, a McLaren 12C, something else, and a 430 Ferrari. And Tony,
at this time, never appeared on camera. So I didn't know how to play the game. But I had
basically already, I think, bought the 540c. So again, apologies, I'm revealing too much about
YouTube here. But I was like, right, let's take people on a journey and then reveal the car.
But I need to know what the car is because I don't want people to get really excited by the Lotus
and then disappointed when I unveil the X. So I need to have bought the car first so I can take
them on the right path. So we went to drive the Ferrari and we got welked and down there.
Where did we go? And I went somewhere, a Ferrari eggam, a Ferrari eggam. So I went down there,
we were supposed to buy Ferrari Northern Europe Press. We went for a drive and Tony is also a
Ferrari guy. And about 10 minutes down the road, we are both giddy, like in this 430,
and then filming. But obviously, I know I have to slip in some, but I can't,
because I don't want the audience thinking, yeah, this guy's got to get a Ferrari,
because I bought a bloody McLaren. But Tony, who's on the side of it, going,
this is bloody brilliant. Okay, Tony, no. I decided to keep going cut. So we would do a pull up,
but listen to that sound. But the thing is, it is quite slow. It's not slow,
what are you talking about? It's a Ferrari. I was like, Tony, cut. You have to say something
bad about it, because we bought a McLaren. So I always knew I had to eventually get a Ferrari.
And actually, it was the 360 that followed the 540, because also financially, it was quite a step
back at the time, which was good, mad to say. There's a massive difference between now and then,
the fact the audience would now see through that. Yes, and I wouldn't try and pull the
wall over the eyes. I think, yes, the audience are far smarter in terms of creator content.
I think you can still play a game. Don't get me wrong. And I would hate the audience to think
that that is being lied to or taken the mickey out of or taken advantage of. But I would be bad
at my job if I didn't tape the audience on a journey with me. I wouldn't be doing a good thing
if I didn't pull them on to make them excited about certain things or know where the crescendo
of the video was or get hyped about something. That's a disaster. In the same way that I'm sure
you edit these podcasts to have clickbait moments at the beginning or the really intriguing bits
that then suddenly cuts as the answer comes in. So the people go, I want to watch that bit.
That's how this works. And so, okay, back then, that was like a three month string along. I think
you could still do it, to be honest. But I think the bit which is horrible, you don't want to lie,
like brandy online. That's crap. Well, you know how I bought this. No one wants that. But
taking people, taking the audience on a journey is I think a part of what needs to happen, I guess.
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Yes, I did an interview on this other day, actually. I mean,
the whole Ferrari thing is as great as I ever wanted it to be. And, you know, my first
Ferrari was this unbelievably optioned manual 360 Modena. It was sort of as lairy and racy as
spec, as you could get from the factory in beautiful condition. And that was my true love
for that car in many ways. But the biggest problem with Ferrari is the levels. So it's like saying,
like, oh, how is it staying at the Four Seasons? Well, I sort of had a cup of coffee in the lobby,
you know, like, it's, you're not in the presidential suite. And this is the thing with
Ferraris that I love them and I adored that experience and I love owning Ferraris and
driving Ferraris. But like, there's people going around and laughing at Ferraris and
250 short wheelbases and like, they've got 50 Ferraris and like, so I don't feel like I've
scratched the itch, do you know what I mean? Like I could go on forever. If I won the Euro
Millions, I got 15 of the things like, so it's been great and it is great. And I still love the
brand. I'm not as obsessed with them at the moment in terms of I don't love the modern cars like I
did. But I still love the brand. If I get an email or a phone call from Ferrari, I'm picking it up.
Look, if that, if that rings and it says Maranello, I'm straight on the phone.
Am I right in saying your most viral Ferrari clip, which will probably sit in like a one of those
media play photo frames somewhere one day is the one with the coffee and the 812 GTS is that right
in saying it's two clips from the same YouTube video. And it's, it's madness because this was a,
I've done like a week long travel series that went out and made like six videos and six days
like that. I'd gone to a dealer in the Netherlands and we weren't really sure what I was going to
film, but it was a great dealer, really cool cars. And I was like, I'll take a Testerosa.
Cool. I've driven one that'd be great. And they were like, Oh, we've got this. It's I'm about to do
a really bad Dutch accent. We've got this 812 GTS with Novotech. And I think recently I'd driven an
F12 with Novotech. So I was like, I was like, guys, I've kind of done it. I think I've driven it in
Largo. Anyway, so I was super unenthusiastic, but they were like, no, no, why do I keep trying to do
the accent? They're like, no, come on, we'll bring it up. Why didn't you know we'll meet you at a
coffee shop? We'll bring the car. So they kind of forced it upon me, but there was going to be a
segment. And to just crush the internet now, it's completely acted. It's totally fake. Look at your
face. No, we got to the coffee shop. And as I tell you what, I'll know. And then why don't you
rock up? Now, the only thing which I'll tell you is I hadn't heard the car that much. What's real?
What is real? I had to spring along the audience. I hadn't, I hadn't heard the car genuinely.
They'd piped on the thing. So I was like, I'll just sit here. And it's a, you know, timing is a
difficult thing. So I'd sing with the coffee. And I had no idea when he's like, I'll be five minutes
ago driving the plug. And so I just had to start talking. So I'm just nattering away. And then I
do hear that. I was like, so it's not scripted. It's not rehearsed. It is a one take. And those
are my authentic reactions. But I knew the car was coming. And I knew it was a moment where I
had to be like, oh my God, there's a crazy V12 coming here. But I had no idea. The clip which I
far prefer, which is the second viral clip from that video, is me in the car, driving through
a tunnels where I go like, oh, you know, pulling all these kind of, you know, overly sexualized
faces and going through the paddles and all that stuff like that. And that was genuinely me behind
the wheel for the first time, driving through underpasses. And those are all my real reactions of
it's that the best part about running the channel is when you forget the cameras on.
Oh, yeah, dude, I mean, I'm so lucky to do what I do, like so lucky to do what I do. And
I don't really ever forget that because it's way better than the jobs I did prior to this.
But sometimes it's sometimes it's like, okay, I got to make a video. Okay, I got to go film
something. Are you motivated to hit a million subscribers? I couldn't care less. I literally
eye rolled there. I couldn't care less because it doesn't mean what it used to. Firstly, I could
buy them if I wanted to. So that means nothing. And it doesn't mean anything. I would, so I've
got really passionate about this suddenly, I would far rather have 100,000 people watching every
single video that I knew and understood. And we had a communication and a relationship. I went,
okay, this is kind of who my people are. And they knew what was coming from me. And I knew
what they wanted. And we kind of live in this symbiosis of like, these are my guys. And I'm
saying guys, because let's face it, my channel is 90% male. You know, I would, that would be...
That's generous.
It is, I shall bring my analytics. I bought 9% of female. But no, I mean, that for me would be
success. If I was like, everybody I upload is 100,000 views. The demographics never really
change. I recognize the names in the comments. I meet the people at the events that I want to be
out. Like the cars that are being offered to me are the cars that I want to drive. Like,
that's my community. So much more than a million subs.
So why did you stop doing the podcast with Tony? Because what you're describing,
isn't that exactly what you had? It's exactly what we had.
The podcast is a bit of a sore topic at the moment because
multiple things have happened. Firstly, just life and a lifestyle, getting us together in a room
has become incredibly hard. Both of us, work and personal life meant that aligning our schedules
suddenly over the last year and a half, really difficult. We used to bang in every single to
say, you know, Tuesday mornings was our thing. But moving of work and houses and responsibilities
and family and all this stuff like that, it's like, oh, so that was becoming tricky.
Second to that, we hadn't usually done guests. You know, for five years it was Tony and I.
And it sounds weird, but we sort of felt like we ran out of things to say of value because
we talk all day every day. Like Tony was on the phone to me, he was here for three hours this
morning and then he was on the phone to me four times from when he left to you turning up. So
we talk all the time. There's nothing we don't know about each other's lives,
at least from an interesting podcast point of view. And we would sit down and hit record and be like,
so. I kind of get that. I have a friend on YouTube, Chris Slicks, who rebuilds a lot of
cars on YouTube as well. We filmed a podcast yesterday, two days ago. And it's the same thing.
And I turned up to Chris's house and I walked in and he went, don't talk to me, don't look at me,
go away. Which is how he is. And he's like, we're not talking until we set in that van.
But then it makes it unnatural. Because that's what Tony and I would start doing. We're like,
let's talk less. And we try a lot, you know, over the last years, we've tried lots of different
things to kind of find a new flow and bring out a new. But it's purely the fact that also,
and I think Tony, we're totally fine with this, Tony is the greatest person I could do the podcast
with. I wouldn't want to do the podcast in that form with anyone else. And we work perfectly
together in it. But he, the reason it works is I hit record and I start talking and it's him
reacting. So because he's unbelievably busy, people think it's just Tony from Groverwood,
he's flat out with not just Groverwood, but a thousand other things in his life.
If I'm like, okay, I've just flown back from the Lamborghini press drive. I said,
I haven't, what are we talking about this week? So, mate, what are you being up to?
Yeah, not much. So would Tony get paid to come on or would it be the promotion of
Groverwood was kind of the value for the time? Oh, no, we're 50-50 owners of the podcast.
Okay. So it's split, 50-50 owners. We put stuff back in for production because we used to have an
editor or, you know, things like that, all rented a studio or whatever it might be. But we're 50-50
owners. So we do just split. And that's been, since we started full-time 2020, we just went in 50-50.
So obviously, sadly, that's hit pause at the minute, but you talk about things in five-year
chunks. Are you excited about your next five-year chunk?
Yes. And you're right by the way, the podcast has hit pause. We actually do have a big plan
for bringing that back and a very exciting plan. And that will probably happen towards the summer,
I reckon. But we want to make sure if we bring it back, we bring it back properly.
I think, here's where I'm at. And we spoke about a bit of this funny old top gear dinner that we
went to the other night. I've, for the last two years, been trying to do something, which I've
been too nervous to do. And I think I've just got to absolutely just bite the bullet and do it.
And it goes back to the Drive the World concentration we had, which is,
I should have just steamrolled myself and everyone around me into doing Drive the World. I was like,
it's got to happen. And once I kind of set out on that mission, I stopped thinking about it. So
went for it. Because I have responsibilities, I've got a daughter now and mortgages and households,
and I'm old. I think I'm inherently a little bit more nervous of making big financial risks.
But I know for me, less is more, which sounds weird. The channel operates best when I am
doing what I want to do in a really enriching way. So trying to think over the last few years,
last year, my biggest video was going to Ferrari, collecting a dot at chichil injury,
spending the morning or most of the day in the hills above Maranello, driving it across to
Milan, visiting Alcantara and picking up the materials for my challenge to Dali,
and then driving back to the factory. A day that I would pay to do and film, we had all the time
to film with the weather was perfect. Everything came together. And it performed fantastically
that video. And that is what every scene to glass video at this point should be. Whereas I still
as every YouTuber does, I'm uploading on Sunday, which was supposed to be Saturday. By the way,
this year I did the whole thing. I'm uploading on Saturday. I've uploaded on Sunday, 90% of the
year. I still get that stress and that panic. And what that leads to is, oh, hey, X dealership,
I've seen you've got to come and drive it, and I'll just watch together a four hour test drive
video and like film these angles. And it's fine. And it's probably going to get all right views
and people are going to like it. But it's not what I want to be doing it 11, 12 years of doing this
job. And I've had this plan, which I won't reveal always too much reveal, but I've had this plan
for a number of years of what I want the channel to look like and what I want it to be and where
behind the glass sits in that. And we've got a driving tour business now, how it all comes together.
And every January, I'm like, here we go. And then I go, oh, wait, I haven't uploaded for three weeks.
I'm really poor. I got to upload something. And I just end up in that same pattern again. And then
suddenly it's May or June, and I've been making weekly videos and I'm on the, you know, the hamster
wheel. So I need to find a way about basically what that is, what breaks that financial security,
which is partnerships. So I want a need to put in place some, you know, some meaningful and worthwhile
partnerships. And the driving tour business, a big part of that, by the way, it's not a
partnership. That's a business to own and run. And that's income and revenue that is outside of
what I do from social media. Okay, it's related, but that is it's, you know, self-standing business.
And that helps, that takes away some of the pressure. But it's a couple of those things that
maybe go, right, if I don't make any videos this year, I'm still good. But I do want to, like,
I do, I love making videos.
Do you still haven't lost that 11 years? There was a small part of me that did think that you may
say stuff to 11 years. I've sort of had enough. Oh, no, no, I adore making videos. I love driving
cars. And I love that this is a job in a lifestyle. I would, I would happily do this forever, but I
think it's embarrassing to do like north of 40. But anyway, where held is Tim? He's not 40 yet,
is he? Jay Leno. Oh, fine. Jay Leno. That's a slightly different. Oh, I know. Yeah. So this is
me and Joe. Magnus. Yeah, fine. And there were plenty of people on Casey Neistat. There were
plenty of people doing it. But I think even them, if you look at them, they're not slaving away with
actually Harry Metcalf. But Harry's like stuff. God, I just like really like, I've done a team
with Ishala, haven't I? I've been like, oh, anyone over 40 making YouTube content is such a loser.
That will be me. I just think, yeah, I, yeah, I want to really just focus on that content that I
want to make so that it's, you know, it's fully enjoyable and fully engaging. And the audience
know that everything's going to be a banger. Do you know what I mean? Like, oh, yeah. And a bit
like Drive the World, it had a theme, it had a narrative. So I'm nearly there. But I'm waiting
for a few people to reply to some emails and contracts to be signed and then I can commit.
But to get there, you only will arrive there because you've still managed to keep your channel where
it is all over these years, which is very consistent and not exactly easy thing to do.
There's one of the hardest moments been in your journey, like a time where you've nearly lost
the channel. Like you said earlier, like you had this video that did it get taken down or something
like that. Have you ever very nearly lost the channel?
I think I've nearly lost the audience. I don't know if I've lost the channel.
And it's interesting. It's a weird one where, you know, I came out of Drive the World in this kind
of weird place. And then coming out of lockdown, the channel was in an amazing place. I did these
Drive the World movies that sort of bought people back, made them go watch the back catalogue. And
I'd shifted the channel vibe. It was about, as I say, really good storytelling, great cinematics,
interest in content, coffee, lifestyle, hotels, travel. It had grown the identity of the channel.
And that rocked from like 20 to like 2022, start 23, like everything was I was like,
I'm having a great time. And then as ever is the way with social media. This sounds really
egotistical. People caught up or other channels caught up. And what I mean by that is not literally
like other channels catching up. YouTube evolves, new creators come into the space,
the algorithm shifts. And what is working at one period of time starts to not work just because
YouTube wants to keep things fresh. When you log on to a homepage, you want new creators to entice
people to come back to the platform and things like that. Maybe I'm getting too nerdy. But yeah,
that started to tail off. But I think that I was so rooted in this is what seemed to glassy. It's
okay, like getting a coffee in or driving 1000 miles here. And I think I maybe slightly
blinkered myself into not looking for the next challenge, just being like, I had a kid at that
point. So it was quite hard to massively reinvent the wheel. But yeah, I think the last two years,
I've been a little bit cocky in the, this is the format that works and not seeking the next
challenge. And that's why, you know, I'm actually, I'm a year of a Jew for my five year plan,
which is not good for me. So I, yeah, I think I just took my off the ball with life responsibilities
and didn't seek that chance. I was like, it's good, like I'm in a good place. The channel's good.
We're actually, I should have pushed on, I think.
So glad the Saja boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.
It is an honor to share. No, it's our honor. It is our larger honor. No, really, stop.
You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side.
This is going to test your love of Ferrari here. Oh, please.
You speak about the finances so open, just like up, down, up, down, which is great,
because this is what this podcast is all about. It's like, I like to try and get across the people
that people watch, actually, the reality of it. But would you ever sell your 360 CS to do something
on the channel? Oh yeah, 100%. Would you? Well, only because of what's happening to them value-wise
now, I am definitely not wealthy enough that if someone came knocking off on me like 250 grand
profit that I'm going to buy, I was going to buy a 458. Like the CS, if people don't know,
my all-time dream car, like all-time dream car, but it is a car. Like, do you know what I mean?
Like it's not my child, like so. And I had six years with the, was it six years? Something like that.
Six years, let's say, with the Moderna. Did endless adventures in that. I'm two and a bit
years into my journey with the CS and have done some great adventures and I've repainted as much.
And I love it. And I have no plans to sell it. Don't read this as like, okay, like I have no plans.
In my dream world, that stays with me forever, that car. But since I bought them,
values through auctions and whatever have like quadrupled. And so, yeah, I'm not in a position
where if someone offered me lots of money, you know, I want to buy a new house at some point
in my life and things like that, you know, I'm not going to do that.
That's one just sold in America for $1.2 million. It's in our friends at the Driven Collection.
It is in their building under a cover next to where they sit. And that's sold for $1.2
million at the auction. You know, I love these cars and this is not worth it. But
I mean, yeah, I'm not going to over inflate values of the car. It's a 300 grand car at max.
Even you, Mr Ferrari, as I know your future, I think if you weren't seen through glass,
you'd be Mr Ferrari. Possibly. You even believe that what's going on at the minute with Ferrari
is pretty crazy. Yeah, for sure. But like, you know, my dad worked in the sort of art world,
you know, these things, they're beyond what they are. They're collectibles now. They're
financial assets. They're no longer cars. People are trading them, as I say, as investments,
just a way to move money around. Sometimes dodging money around. Like, it's not because,
oh, the challenge to Dali is worth a million pounds because it's unbelievable. It's not.
Like, I'm sorry, a 458, a standard 458 Italia is inherently better than a challenge to Dali.
So it depends on what you like. And of course, value can follow those trends. And we saw that with,
you know, cars from yesteryear. But no, and all it is is depressing, because it does mean
that lots of the cars that I dreamed of owning are just gone. Like, I'm realistic in my life
that if I work my ass off, I'm still not going to be buying a £20 million toothed short wheelbase,
am I? Like, unless I sell the business, which I haven't created yet. One of my favourite videos,
though, was the recreation. Oh, yeah, thank you. That was, that was a pros. The only time I cried
on camera from my knowledge, at least I remember crying on camera, it really made me sort of
actually well up. Because, you know, I've driven, I've done some amazing things on the channel,
driving a Formula One car, being the most. These are, dude, chartered dreams. Like,
why, this is a joke that we get to do this stuff. I've met people that claim to watch the channel
that I've idolised or I've driven cars, I'll say like a Formula One car. That was my,
from 0 to 15, my entire life ambition was to be a Formula One driver. I drove a Formula One car,
like I literally, I'd done it, I had achieved it. It was really hard at that point to be like,
what do I do now? Yeah, where's the next motorway? And the CS is kind of like that,
like I, that's why I waited so long. Like, I've done it, I bought the chance to dial in,
I own it and I drive it and I do things with it. And, but for sure, there's lots of other
fries I love. And I would far rather have the money to put into my child's education or a house or,
you know, yes, business development or whatever it might be. I don't need it in a car,
like I can let the car go. I don't want to right now, but you know, a million, 1.2 mil,
I'll take it. If someone's going to offer it. Well, if someone comes in with that offer,
I would definitely be sitting down with you to find out what you'll be doing with it,
because it'll be fairly insane. I'll be doing golden clothing.
Thank you so much for giving us an hour of your time. I think it was lie overdue sitting in this
van, especially with all the others that like, when I messaged Paul this morning and Tim and I
said, I finally got Sam. I was like, have you got anything you'd like to ask him? They're like,
no, I think we've spent enough time with Sam that we just know everything at this point.
So thank you so much for sitting where the other guys have as well. I think it completes
five amazing people's ICMI's with you and Tim, Paul, Seb, like that group. And when you did the
reunion tour, don't just speak for me. I speak for so many of the audience that had just found
that so nostalgic. Is it so cool as a creator that was going around before I even had a driver's
license watching you guys film to sit down and speak with you all and realise the challenges
that you actually have gone through to get what you've done, the experiences, the cash, the cars,
everything. So Sam, thank you for coming on today. From me and the audience, we really appreciate it.
Thank you, dude.
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