Tomi Auto Opens Up About the REAL Story Behind His Cars and Life

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There was one day I was at home, sitting in my room, and I was like, oh, okay, I'm going to get this rope.

I'm going to go into the garage, and I'm just going to end it in the garage.

It's Tommy from Tommy Auto.

I am just a regular guy that likes cars. People are like, oh, Tommy's bought this or Tommy's bought that.

I bet Camille's a gold digger. First of all, my wife is a multi-millionaire.

I wanted to be a video game designer. The only reason I was really doing music was to buy cars.

Wow. I used to write about cars just in my free time.

My wife, she said to me one day, you love cars, just do car content.

So here's a quick cold start. Here's a cold start. So I'm getting a new car.

My sister, she saved my life.

I was having this awful thought train, and she called me, do you want to come meet me for lunch?

I went to meet her. I broke down.

At this point, I was broke, like flat broke.

I found out near the end of my music story that my manager had been stealing money from me.

I went back into music. I started producing for other people. I found a new manager.

It was going great. And then...

Speaking about that, Tommy, though, when I started following you, I would refer to you as Tommy Music,

but obviously as the years have gone on, which is still the name of your account on Instagram,

but as the years have gone on, I now refer to you when talking about you to my friends or followers as Tommy Auto.

So clearly all the content that you've done around cars over the years is now profoundly part of my vision

of who you are and what encompasses you. But today, we're going to talk about your story,

how you've amassed these cars, how you've got to where you are today.

But I think the first question that I need to ask is, in your own words, who are you and what do you do?

I am just a regular guy that likes cars. So that's how I like to view myself.

I've always grown up with a passion for cars.

I wasn't born in the UK. I was born in Nigeria, moved over here at a very young age.

And I guess as all first-generation immigrants do, we had to work our way up as a family.

My dad was really into computers, so I got into computers. I wanted to be a video games designer.

I went to university. My stories were really...

That's why you know me as Tommy Music, because I went to university.

I got into music. I became a DJ. Then I became a producer and I found success in that.

The only reason I was really doing music was to buy cars.

Because cars, to me, is an innate part of my personality.

I can't imagine myself without cars, but all in all, I'm just a guy that likes to talk about cars.

And I think, oh, I hope that comes across in what I do. I just love talking about cars.

So what age did you move from Nigeria to here?

I was about four or five years old.

I remember it very clearly because I got lost in the airport on the way to this country.

My mom came first. She was studying at Oxford.

Then my dad brought us over a few years later.

I remember being at the airport and I was looking at a Boeing 747 with the Lufthansa livery on it.

I just looked at it a bit too long. My dad walked off with my sister and I was just lost in the airport in Nigeria.

I was about four or five and it was a massive culture shock.

It's seeing snow for the first time, bad weather, like seriously bad weather or on and off weather.

But one thing that stayed with me is the cars that I saw when I came here.

Such a variety of cars.

My dad's first car in the UK was a Lada.

I'm not sure if many people know what a Lada is.

There's not actually many here.

There isn't because they're all broke down.

It's a Russian car brand.

My dad had a Lada but my dad had always been into cars.

Then he eventually worked himself up to Peugeot.

Then from there a BMW 7 series.

The question was when did I come over here?

Four or five.

I remember it very clearly, disturbingly clearly.

I only know what a Lada is because a part of my earliest years that formed everything I love about cars was watching Top Gear.

I remember they did something silly with Top Gear with the Lada.

When you were coming over and you got here at that early age, did you discover Top Gear once you were here?

Or was that already a big thing back home?

Yeah, I discovered Top Gear once I was here.

When I was in Nigeria, my only experience of cars was my dad.

My dad is an engineer, you would say.

He used to just get random scrap cars and then fix them up.

Cars that were due to be condemned or destroyed, he would ask the people, can I have the shell?

Then he'll slowly put the car together.

He did that with a 911 in Nigeria.

Then he did it with a 911, like a rally edition with the rally lights on as well.

A picture in full safari.

He did it with those as well.

One of them he actually put a Volkswagen Beetle engine in because he couldn't get a 911 engine in there.

It ran, everything was as it should be apart from a Volkswagen Beetle engine.

From a young age it was my dad who was my only access to cars and car knowledge.

I just remember it's such a vivid picture in Nigeria in our living room.

A picture of a Lamborghini Countache on the wall.

It had a red frame and it was a very 80 style picture, almost airbrushed.

I remember just looking at it for hours and hours and just being like, wow.

Then when we moved to England, I remember my first time seeing a Lamborghini Diablo and being like, what the hell is that?

So from a young age I've just always, always loved cars.

But the only car content we had back then would have either been magazines or long form in terms of TV.

Short form didn't exist, what you're doing now.

But if short form did exist from the age of maybe 12 backwards to when you first came here,

and you followed Tommy Auto and Tommy Music's account where you are now,

what would your question or comment be on those posts to that guy?

That's a really interesting question.

Because if you understood that that guy was in the same position as you were then

and he'd gone through and he now has all these amazing cars and this amazing family

and this amazing life that people see, what would you have commented and asked?

Wow, what would I have commented and asked?

That's a very profound question because I've been through a lot since then.

I don't think I would have necessarily asked something.

If I was going back to talk to myself.

Yeah, if you were still the person you were when you were say 12 commenting on that video.

I'll just say no matter what happens, no matter what happens, it'll work out.

That's all I'll say to myself.

I think that that is probably what I would say to myself.

If you were a kid, not Tommy, but you were following Tommy at that age,

what would you be thinking about that?

You'd be thinking like how the hell has he got all this stuff right?

I get the question.

I'll probably be like, how have you done it?

How has that happened? How did it work?

It's not normal.

And that transpires in what people search for online

because when I put together my episodes, I type every single guest's name into Google.

And let me guess, the first thing is...

What do you think your first thing is on Google?

What does Tommy Auto do?

Assuming something along those lines?

Yeah, I thought so.

So do you want to, in the simplest way possible, just summarise that for the now, the present tense?

For the present tense right now, I would say I am a car collector.

I'm a car enthusiast.

I'm also an investor and I'm also a content creator, I would say.

And I still dabble with music production and writing, I would say.

Which is a very free place to be.

I think when people, which is why people end up Googling things like that,

it's because everything that we're taught is that you do a thing.

That you do a thing and that thing is almost like a piece of string

and it's like a career ladder or a curb that you climb that piece of string.

I look at your journey from everything I've seen so far

and what you're going to explain, almost as blocks.

Yeah, yeah, literally.

And literally it's own housing block almost of each different story.

And I think nobody, when they're in their years of development

and figuring out what they're going to do with their life,

thinks that the option of kind of doing this for a bit and that for a bit

and doing life in blocks is kind of an option that works or is available.

But did you think that when that became a thing or were you on that?

I'm going to choose this and this is where I'm going to go.

So I can understand how to the outside viewer, it would appear as blocks.

But to me, I see things as a string, as you say.

But the only thing is my string didn't just go up, it's gone down

and to the left and to the right and it's done all these things.

Like a bird's nest.

Literally.

I guess the underlying things I've always, I've always loved cars.

So I always knew I wanted to do something with cars.

Whereas I've tried starting a car company in terms of like modifying

and improving cars that didn't work out.

I used to write about cars just in my free time, like write my own reviews.

I used to record YouTube videos before I was Tommy Auto.

But I just wouldn't, I like, I wouldn't post them.

Like I'll record and edit them.

So I guess the underlying thing is cars.

But the reason that everything is so, I guess blocky to everyone else

is that I've never been afraid to just be like, I don't want to do this anymore

and just switch to something else.

So to the outside person, it might be like, oh, he did music.

Now he's doing cars or he used to have a video games website

and now he's doing music or he used to want to be a film director.

This is probably what my parents liked.

This guy just wants to do everything.

But I've never limited myself.

I've always chased what I want to do in the time.

You talk about that decision.

So I don't want to do this anymore.

Yeah.

It's an instant, very direct, very cut off kind of comment

where there's a lot of people that go through life

and to think about ending the thing that they're doing

could take years to come to that conclusion or decision.

Is the thing that enables you to be able to make a decision like that,

essentially making some money from the thing that you did?

Money secondary for me.

For me, for example, the switch from music to cars,

it was either I end music or I end my life.

Just one of the two.

And I was just like to end music

because it was having such a negative toll on me and my psyche.

So that wasn't about cars.

That was about, okay, I need to start thinking about my health,

my mental health, my physical health

and I need to do something that's actually going to make me happy.

That's why I just dropped like,

I made a lot of money from music

and I lost a lot of money music.

Then I started making money again

and things kind of just all unravelled

in terms of how the industry operated for me.

And I got to such a depressed state

that there was one day I was at home

and it's such a vivid memory for me.

I was sitting in my room and I was alone in the house

and I was like, oh, okay, I'm going to get this rope.

I'm going to go into the garage

and I'm just going to end it in the garage.

And it was such a straightforward thought process for me.

It wasn't like, oh, no, I'm going to do this big thing.

I was like, oh, I'm just going to do this today.

And then right before I went to do that,

my sister called me and she was like,

do you want to go get lunch?

And I went to get lunch with her and I just broke down

and I told her everything and she broke down.

She was like, we have to try and figure out what's going on.

That's such obviously horrific and vivid memory.

And I also think what is kind of eye-opening

and ashamed about it is because to the layman,

we picture music as happiness.

Like if we think of music back in your home country,

we think of lots of colors, yellows and greens

and people dancing and you come here and you picture music

and there's all kinds of new styles of music

forming in those parts of life.

And we think of music and happiness as a thing together

because music typically is speaking about a story

or something positive, but in your case,

obviously that journey didn't end in that way.

How did it start though?

I mean the context of what ended up happening

in your early part there.

Tell us about the start of that journey

because it obviously wasn't bad at the start.

Yeah, it wasn't bad at the start.

So I was in university.

I went to my first nightclub because I was a very much

the kind of kid that preferred to stay indoors.

I used to work for my dad in his computer shop.

I used to make websites.

I had a website that was quite successful

called Slice Gaming.

It was like a gaming news website similar to IGN and stuff.

And I started with my friend Finn

and it just became super successful

and I was getting invited to like game shows

and I remember getting invited to Preview Test Drive

Unlimited by Atari when that came out.

So I was always locked away at home doing stuff

through Six Forms, through GCSEs.

And then when I went to university,

I went to my first club night and I walked in

and I just remember hearing house music

in a club for the first time being like,

Oh my God.

This is not.

It just like took over me

and it was like making,

even today when I talk about it,

it makes the hairs on me stand up.

It was just such a magical experience

to listen to the music on a proper sound system

and to have people all enjoying it with you

and it just be really positive energy.

And I remember leaving that club

and being like, I want to be a DJ.

Out of the blue, just saying it like that.

And I'd always loved music, right?

My parents loved music and I'd always

made CDs when I was at home, compilations.

But I was like, I'm just going to learn how to DJ.

I just bought some decks and taught myself how to DJ.

To the detriment of my university grades, I must say.

And then I just became good at it

and I became known as one of the uni DJs

and I started DJing at other unis as well.

And then I left university

and someone was like,

Oh, Tommy, you're always playing other people's music.

How about you make your own?

They said it like as a flipping joke.

Oh, you should make your own music.

And it was like, to me, I was like, is that like a challenge?

So I just made a song and the first song I made,

I remember sending it to a DJ called DJ Pioneer

and it got played on radio the next week.

And I was like, maybe I'm good at this.

The world is telling me like, do this, do this.

But to me, to me as a massive Formula One fan,

there's a really crazy like comparison I'm going to make.

If we think about being that age,

but suddenly realising you're really fast in a car,

you'll realise that it's too late

because you never started when you were four.

The doors closed, you've got to accept it

because you just don't see the option of like

getting anywhere when they're going.

But it's amazing how many different things there are

that you can still discover even when you think

you're going in on your path.

Exactly.

That you can actually get up to speed with

and find if it's within you as a passion quite quickly.

And that sounds like what happened there.

Yeah, it was, again, I'd always love music

and it's just like, I've never really been the kind of person

to be like, oh, I can't do that.

I probably won't be able to do that, do you know what I mean?

Like I make a joke for my wife all the time,

like if I want to go into politics,

if I say one day to myself, I want to be Prime Minister,

I would do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've just always had that kind of personality

where I'll just, whatever it takes to get to my end goal

or to achieve something or sometimes just to prove

someone wrong, like the guy that made the joke

about making music, just wanted to prove someone wrong,

then it's like, I'll just do whatever it takes.

And it's the same with cars now.

Whereas when I started, people will be like,

I'll get like 100 views on something

or on YouTube in 2015, I'll get like 100 views.

And people will be like, oh, do you really want to,

like, oh, you shouldn't really bother or like,

oh, there's no point.

And then I'll be like, okay, watch

and I'll just do whatever it takes.

What gives you the belief that you can do it?

It's like when you started doing those sets

and getting good at it, what gave you the belief

that like, oh, I have never done this before,

I'm going to be good at this and I'm going to do it.

Like where does that come from?

Is that from both your parents?

It's definitely, do you know what it is?

It's, it's, if I can see another human being

can achieve that thing.

If there's no physical limitation to something

or there's no limitation in the,

in the realm of like science,

like flying or something, like I'll be like,

I can do it.

If someone else can DJ

and if someone else can make music,

why shouldn't I be able to?

Obviously there's things like drawing where,

you can teach yourself to draw,

but then there's a difference between a great illustrator

and an artist.

Do you know what I mean?

Whereas music, I always thought, oh, well,

I like music, so it should be pretty straightforward.

But my parents have kind of just always been like that.

They just support me through anything.

Same with my sisters.

Like if my sister wants to be a radio presenter,

which she tried in university and my parents

supported and she was good at it.

And it's just that if someone else can do it,

I can do it.

That's how I just see things.

So you've tuned in to Road to Success.

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And what was doing it then?

When you then were making those next big moves

and it really opened up.

What did that look like?

Like visualizer?

Oh, well, I mean, when I tell the story,

it sounds super straightforward.

Like I just woke up and made music in it.

I left university and I started working

in a phone shop selling phones,

a place called O2.

I was making music.

So I'd work in the day and then produce music

until about one o'clock in the morning

in my bedroom at home.

And I just kept producing, kept producing, kept producing.

I would send the songs to my friends.

Then one day I was like,

why am I sending it to my friends

when I could put it on SoundCloud?

Just start putting it on SoundCloud.

Then people started listening.

People started downloading it.

I was like, wait a second.

This seems to be happening.

And I had a song that I made

and it got played on radio or whatever.

So I was a bit, I guess,

I was a bit like thrown in at the deep end

where I felt like the pressure of

I need to keep making to a certain standard

and keep improving.

So I just kept grinding it out,

kept grinding it out.

And I used to make songs on my laptop

with iPod headphones.

That was just how I used to do it.

When was your first moment on that journey?

When you were like,

oh, I actually understand how this makes money, Matt, now.

Like, I could actually earn quite a bit from this.

The first moment,

I was driving home from my work

and then I heard a song that I made

being played on radio.

This was a completely different song

and I don't even know how the DJ got it.

I heard it being played on radio.

It was being played by Mr. Chairman.

He gave it the craziest talk up.

He was like, oh, this song is from

this new artist called Taser,

which was my name.

I'm so embarrassed.

It was my name at the time.

And it was crazy.

I remember getting home and thinking,

this is surreal.

Then I went to work the next day

and I got a call from someone saying,

oh, I'm so and so and I work at Universal

and I thought, okay, I'm being pranked.

And then I got a call from someone saying,

oh, I'm so and so and I work at Warner Brothers.

Oh, I'm so and so and I work at Sony.

And I was like, okay.

They're like, we want to sign your song.

And I was like, this could be a thing.

Like it's not just something I do.

I don't just DJ on the side.

This could be a thing where I make money from it.

So I started going to the meetings

and I was getting offered insane amounts of money

to like just obviously sign my song to them.

And then that's when I was like, ah,

I guess I'm a DJ and artists now.

Like I'm just going to be that now.

And I quit my job, signed my song and I was DJing.

And then there was a time that I was making like,

there's DJs that make more, but at this time

it was more a lot to me.

I was making like a thousand pounds an hour to do a DJ set.

And this was coming off the back of making,

I don't know, eight pounds an hour or two.

It just happened so fast.

And again, that's probably why even at that early stage

a lot of people probably thought, oh, it's blocks.

Like Tommy was in uni, he was working at O2

and now he's this international DJ doing like,

how did this happen?

Like, it's just, I don't know.

You don't even know how suddenly that happened.

I get a lot of imposter syndrome

even when I think about it now

because the song that really made me popular

is Ten Year Anniversary was this year.

I didn't celebrate it for obvious reasons.

I just like, I look at it and I'm like,

how did this actually happen?

Like how did I get to this point?

And I guess it's just not limiting

what I thought I was capable of

and never being like, oh, I don't think,

like some of my friends would make music

and be like, oh, I don't think I'm going to put it out there.

I don't know what people are going to say

or I'm not going to email this person.

You just do it.

I just did it.

I just, it's not like I didn't care what anyone thought.

I just didn't see a limitation to what I could achieve.

Well, not seeing a limitation to what you can achieve

opens the door to do more and more and more.

So what age were you when you signed that first song?

Just to apply context.

I was 24 when I signed that song.

So the mindset you must have been in is,

oh my God, like if this is what I'm doing now,

like what could I be doing in four or five years

like once I've compounded?

Suddenly going from not a lot to earning money,

was it kind of like what happens to footballers?

Like off the rails a little bit.

It was disorientating.

It was seriously disorientating.

I remember just sitting there and looking at my bank account

and being like, oh my God, I'm rich.

I came from being a university student

to work in O2, to work in your paycheck to paycheck basically

to sitting at home, looking at my bank account

and seeing numbers that I had never seen before.

And I was just like, what the hell has happened?

I think one thing that kind of grounded me,

I don't drink, I don't smoke.

I don't really party.

So that kept me on like a very sensible part

whereas some people they'll get money

and then they'll just be like,

okay, I'm just going to buy drugs.

But you car-y.

Yeah.

But my issue was cars.

So I remember I got the paycheck

and I was just like, cool.

I said to her, I said to her, I was like,

can you take me somewhere tomorrow?

I'm just going to like have a stop-gap for a second

because when you then get to

and we're going to go along the rest of this line

but such a horrific way that that obviously ended for you.

I'm so sorry that that was the case.

But we typically look at

when something ends badly in our life,

it's so easy to put a negative brush over the whole thing.

Oh, absolutely.

There are so many moments of euphoria

and stories that sometimes don't turn out

the way you want them in there.

Yeah, exactly.

So there's moments where I'm like,

wow, that was amazing, man.

I had a really good time.

Oh, this was great.

But then when I get to the end of that,

the final chapters of my music career,

it becomes super dark for me.

Like super dark.

And was that because of musical money?

It was because of the music industry

which then caused the issues with money.

And I'll explain that.

I guess I explain that when I get to that point in the story.

But the industry is just built up of a lot of...

So get it twisted.

There's great people in the music industry.

And for example, my wife, Camille,

her team are stupendous.

And that is the team that I wish I had.

But the team I had at the time

were just kind of taking advantage of me.

I found out like near the end of my story,

that my manager had been stealing money from me.

And that changed to another manager.

And that manager did some things that I thought...

I thought the management company was going to be on my side

because of what happened.

It was very inappropriate and very advantageous.

But then when I realized they were just out to protect themselves

and it wasn't about,

oh, we need to get rid of this employer.

We need to know how to make things better for you.

It was more like, oh, we want to protect the brand.

When it got to that point,

I just remember thinking this industry is just not...

It's not a nice industry.

Everyone's just taking advantage of everyone.

And I'm the creator.

And I'm the creator, yeah.

And I'm the one that's sitting in front of the laptop

going to the studio doing the sessions.

Everyone's benefiting it, but I'm not benefiting.

I'm just slowly getting worse and worse.

So it's like you almost had that moment of euphoria.

And then drop.

Yeah, literally.

And it wasn't even a subtle drop.

It was just like a fine drop.

Christ, dude, you're literally like...

Yeah, it was like...

But I guess that's the story of my life.

I have these massive highs and these massive lows.

And a lot of my personality,

my wife always says that I'm very like...

I'm always kind of...

She hardly sees me get super excited

or super bad at sad about things.

I think I've taught myself to just not react to things.

Obviously, I'm my detriment.

Because I don't appreciate some things.

And then other things, I don't process them well.

Many of you might not know this,

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Do you think that kind of mindset

and the way that she describes you is actually contentment?

Because you've been through so many of those things now.

So like when you become content,

you kind of become quite calm.

You can't become calm and actionous everything you do.

I wish it was that.

It is more just me protecting myself.

And I don't let myself get happy about stuff

because I've had people throw deals at me like,

oh, Tommy, we'll give you 100K for this random one thing.

Then I'll sign the deal and then they're like,

ah, actually, nah, we've changed our minds.

So I've learned to process that

until something's complete,

I just don't let myself get super excited about something.

Even buying cars to this day,

I'll sign something to get the car

and I'll be on my way to pick it up and I'll be very like,

and then until the car is at my house,

I will not be happy.

Like I'll just be very like, oh, yeah, nah, yeah, oh,

this is great.

Oh, yeah, yeah, thank you.

And then when it gets into my house,

it's always in my garage and I look at it,

I'm like, holy shit.

I'm getting really excited about it.

It's a 980!

Yeah, it's a 980!

Literally that's exactly how I am with things.

But then that's typically the first real

that you upload when that car comes

and that typically shows that person,

which is then why people perceive this incredible life.

And this is why I love to get into those struggles

behind the curtain, essentially,

because it's not as easy as it looks.

It's not as easy as everyone makes it out to look.

You've obviously got that, I'm exactly the same,

disease with buying cars.

It is a disease, isn't it?

What was the first one that kicked it off

during that journey in music?

The first one that kicked it off,

I bought, I signed a deal.

And that's what I was saying, I signed my deal

and I said to my mum,

Mum, tomorrow...

The last person you should tell!

I was like, tomorrow I need you to take me somewhere.

She was like, don't worry.

She took me to this place, car dealership.

It was a Mercedes E-Class, E250 cabriolet,

gun metal grave, a red roof, red interior,

AMG line.

Looking back, it was just a very normal car, I guess.

But to me, because I had an Lexus I-250,

so I just went and I was like, mum, take me to this place.

She took me there.

And I remember the salesman being like,

how do you want to pay for it?

And I looked at my way, bank cash.

And then I just put my car in the machine,

and I never realised this,

but if you want to buy something of such

significant value, the bank's like, hold on.

So I put my...

He said, oh, it's been, it's been declined.

And I was like, declined.

He was like, yeah, oh, normally if someone has to pay

for something of such significant value,

they'll do this and say, call the bank,

get an authorization on the code.

So I remember my bank calling me.

They were like, oh, this transaction of,

I can't remember how much it was.

It was like 30 grand or something.

I just tried to go through, is it you?

And I was like, yeah, yeah, it's me.

And they're like, okay, no worries.

We'll put that through.

I remember just doing it, getting the receipt.

I even took a picture of the receipt.

I drove home and my Mercedes E-Class feeling like, yeah.

And as soon as I got home, I was like, I felt nice.

I want another car.

Like, and it just, I had that Mercedes for like four months.

Then I bought a Porsche Panamera.

Same thing again.

I took this time.

It was my dad and my dad took me to Wales to pick up.

I remember going there.

How'd you want to pay for it?

I drove to my set straight afterwards.

And it was just like, again, I've always loved cars.

And I just realized like, I actually have the free will to

and the money to just buy like.

Dangerous.

Dangerous cars.

The cars that people would be like, oh, this is a serious

financial decision.

Are you sure you want to do this?

I was just like, yeah, like, I'm sure.

Show me the money.

Exactly.

So I was buying cars.

And like I say, like, I was only doing music because it got

to a point I just love cars and I was only doing music

because I just wanted to buy nice cars.

Do you think that if I bring it back to the person

that would have had an account, if you were that person

looking and following Tommy, do you think you'd have

maybe commented, this guy has an infinite money glitch

at that point?

I would have, I see it from where I came from and like,

I was raised in Oxford, right?

And I wasn't from like, I wasn't from like a wealthy area,

like in Oxford, but my family worked hard.

My mom, my dad, then we moved up.

But we were never like, I would say we're very much

like on the lower end of middle class.

That's how it was at the time.

And I would probably be like, because my neighbors

were probably like, why is a random Porsche showed up

on the street?

So from the outside in, especially like my friends

or like my school friends, they must have been like,

what the hell?

How did this happen?

Because it was literally overnight,

but it just feels like the story of my life

because I don't limit myself in what I can do.

I tend to just jump to something and then people

don't even have time to process that I start doing it

and I'll start to see success in it because I'm very,

I just don't doubt myself in that kind of thing

when I switch to something.

Because again, it's that if another human being

can do this, why can't I do this?

I've never limited myself.

So looking at myself as an outside,

I would have been like, how the hell did he do that?

Do you think that's the most valuable trait

to being successful?

Yeah.

I think for me anyway, just don't limit yourself.

And it's so funny.

I keep seeing people being like, oh, yeah,

realizing you have free wills become like

a trending thing to say.

And I've just always been like, I actually

have free will and I can just do whatever I want.

I remember the Prime Minister conversation with my wife

like, if I wanted to become Prime Minister,

I remember saying to her like, what would really

actually stop me from doing that?

Trying to do that at least.

I can imagine myself getting somewhere.

It sounds so stupid, but I can imagine

myself achieving something towards doing that.

I'm not saying I would be Prime Minister,

but I wouldn't limit myself if that's

what I actually wanted to do.

Yeah.

How long was that music career?

From 2014 to 2014.

24.

24 hours.

24 in 2014.

I'm revealing my age now.

And then I stopped in COVID.

I stopped in COVID.

Wow.

COVID was like the great level of so many things.

It was such an unfortunate time for so many people.

But for me.

You discovered crypto.

Yes.

For me.

So I just dampened a very emotional moment then?

Literally.

For me it was like, okay, I'm just going to stop doing music.

And I just stopped.

And it worked.

It worked because I could focus on other stuff

and kind of just be at home and be like a bum

and not be pressured and not have the pressure

of deadlines or people wanting this or wanting that.

And then I had motivation because I had my family.

I had met, she was my girlfriend at the time, my wife.

And I was just like, you know what?

I'm just going to try and figure out what I want to do.

And I don't care how long it takes.

And then she said to me one day, you love cars.

Just do car content.

She said it's so blasé.

I was like, what do you mean?

She was like, you're always talking about cars.

Just do car content.

And I was like, yeah.

I could do car content.

I just started doing car content.

And that's off the back though of also quite a bit.

Again, this up-down thing of your story,

because it sounds like your sister was a hugely profound person

in your life who without maybe you wouldn't be here today.

Yeah, absolutely. I would say that.

And that was during COVID or just before.

That was just before COVID.

So that was about 2017, 18.

My sister, she saved my life.

I always say it to her.

I sent it to her the wedding day the other day.

I gave her speech and I was like, yeah.

I saw those pictures.

Beautiful.

Thank you.

Well, I say thank you as her wedding.

Thanks.

Thanks on her behalf.

Yeah.

My sister saved my life.

She's my older sister.

So she's always been there from when I was young.

Best friend.

We used to dress the same.

People used to think we were twins.

We were quite close in age.

So she's, I think, 18 months ahead of me.

But yeah, it was almost like she had the psychic ability

to know something was wrong.

Because she would never be like, do you want to come meet me for lunch?

That's what I was going to get to.

Yeah.

So I was having this awful moment, this awful thought train.

And she called me, do you want to come meet me for lunch?

I went to meet her.

I broke down and then she bought me something called a happiness diary.

And she said, instead of focusing on negative,

write all the happy things that you come across.

Write those down.

And then she was checking in with me.

And at this point, I was, the brows broke.

Like flat broke.

And my sister was like, don't worry.

I'll help you get back on your feet.

So she was helping me with money situations.

I remember I lent my, I had a Mercedes Benz S-Class that I lent my friend.

And he racked up, I think, 10 grand worth of parking tickets.

And this all came to me at the same moment when I found out my manager was

stealing money from me.

So I stopped doing music.

I was in a court case.

I had left my management, obviously.

I had stopped talking with my label.

And then to get those 10,000 pounds of parking tickets,

literally every day, a new parking ticket would come through.

A new one, a new one, a new one.

And then because I was so depressed, I would leave some and then it would

go up more and more and more.

So I didn't have any money.

My sister was like, don't worry.

I'll help you out.

She was paying off the parking tickets for me.

I think all together my sister, oldest,

has probably spent about 40 grand on me just to make sure that I could be

in a position where I could, I could live and I could function.

And because she did that, I was able to start going back into,

I had realized I don't want to do music, right?

But I had also realized this is the only thing I can do right now

that it's going to be able to make money.

Outside of just getting a regular job.

So I went back into music.

I started producing for other people.

I found a new manager.

It was going great.

And then I found out, I'm not sure,

I'm not sure if this is going to be in the podcast

because I've never spoken about this before, ever.

I found out that manager had been,

I found out that manager had a crush on me

and had been inviting me to stay at his house

and had put a camera in his bathroom

and had pretended to be girls online

to try and get me to send pictures.

Essentially, I found out that manager

who was working for the manager coming out of that

was just, I guess, sexually abused, you would say.

That's what it was.

It was, yeah.

And that's like after everything you've just described.

After everything I've been through.

Because even court, that one word,

we gloss it over in a sentence.

It was like the court.

Court is one of the most stressful situations

you can ever come to in your life.

And then when you compound something regular,

like parking tickets on there.

Parking tickets, yep.

Then that's not even what you've just discussed,

then isn't just like another parking ticket added to the pile.

That's just like the baseball bat swinging through

and just being like, oh, my mind's broke.

And I would ask that, do you talk about

your love for music ending before that second producer?

Yeah.

And I thought that was where all the music did end,

but do you think that first part just before

that was the point that you talk about it as the end

even though it wasn't quite the end

because you did start doing it a bit more?

Because was that where you fell out of love with it?

That's where I fell out of love,

but like a relationship is when you fall out of love,

you kind of just like coast along

because it still works.

And for like the benefit of the kids

or my lifestyle or whatever, I was like,

I'm good at it, so let me just keep going.

And then when that happened,

it was then like finding out,

okay, I fallen out of love,

I'm coasting along this relationship,

and now I've found out my partner's cheated on me,

for example, so you just,

at that point I was like, I'm done.

It was for me

the personification of every single thing

that was wrong with the music industry

because there was no support for me

when I had found out and I approached it.

I remember going to the management company

which are a big management company

to have a meeting like a crisis meeting

and I thought the meeting was to support me,

but when I got to the meeting,

they had brought in a lawyer

and they had brought in someone

for brand image,

and they were trying to get me to sign something

and I was just like, you know what,

I am done.

I was like, I'm just done with this industry.

I'm done with the people. I'm done with the drama.

I'm done with the issues.

I'm done with the lies.

They finished me and that was right before COVID.

And then COVID happened

and I just remember being like,

I don't want to do music.

And my wife who was a very successful songwriter,

producer, artist,

during COVID, she was still encouraging me

to produce music because I was producing music.

We were writing music together

and then like I said one day I just said,

I do not want to do this anymore

because even listening to music on a radio

was painful for me because it just brought back

my memories because I would hear songs

and be like, God,

this is a really good song. I can make songs like this.

But then all this has happened

and all this will probably happen.

I just don't want to do it.

Even to this day, and my wife will tell you,

I just don't listen to the popular radio stations.

I'll listen to Radio 4

or I'll listen to Smooth Chill.

Things that aren't anything to do with

the music industry in a sense,

more like older stuff just because

I just get serious.

Like if...

It sounds so stupid but my wife

needed a song mixed down and mastered yesterday

so I said, I'll do the mix down for you

so you can send it for master.

I get anxiety as soon as

I start doing it because it just brings back

so many bad memories for me.

So yeah, I just...

I was like, I can't do it anymore.

I just can't do that to myself anymore.

And this was after that I've had such a bad experience

that I've wanted to commit suicide

and then I had another bad experience.

I was like, yeah, you know what?

I was like, I was like, fuck this.

I'm not doing it anymore.

Can I... I want to ask you a second

about the person

you were in a specific way

just before that happened.

Yeah. Or in like a couple of years prior to that happening.

Maybe like in the peak in the enjoyment moments

that we spoke about versus now.

Because the Tommy that I followed

and know now

always as a big beaming grin

is extremely approachable.

Like you just have an aura of like

if you're at a car show or online

like talk to me.

I'm here. I'm not going to bite.

Like you have this just lovely aura

about you as a human.

Was that the same two years

prior when you were like in the peak

going into those dealerships buying the car?

So have you always been that guy as my point?

Or did you ever become a person

that you'd look back on now and think

cool, that guy was a bit like

you what, bro?

Have you ever been that guy?

I've always been the same.

Always completely been the same.

I would talk to it. If anyone

wants to talk to me because of what I do

I always have time for them because I'm always like

this person can consume my content

or this person can listen to my music

or this person listens to my DJ sets

they want to talk to me.

The least I can do is give them 10 minutes of my time

and just sit down and talk to them

and get to know them as a person because

I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing

but aside from that I've just

in school I was just friends with everyone

I wasn't like

in my mind obviously

I feel like I was friends with everyone

but there was no one that I wouldn't speak to

I've always just been the kind of person

that I'm just open to talk to anyone

I don't really see people as like

I wouldn't talk to that person

or this person doesn't play basketball

or they're not into cars

I'll just talk to anyone and I'll talk to anyone about anything

Was that the same virtually as well

because you mentioned like you were involved

in a gaming company

so I can imagine you as a bit of a gamer

talking to people over the internet

and I kind of see that playing out

because I see you responding to every comment

I see you responding

making a video about a comment

you're so involved in the community aspect

of what you've created and knowing

who your guys are

you've always been the guy that will talk to everybody

and that's probably why that's now come through in Tommy Orton

I've always been like that

when I was doing my gaming website

I had a forum on this

I was probably like 12 when I first started my gaming

I was like 13, 14

talking to like adults

about games and writing reviews about games

as a 14 year old

and people just didn't know that

so I'm very confident to speak to people

if it comes to like

giving a speech or standing on stage

or talking to a thousand people does not bother me

at all I'll probably get more nervous

talking to someone one on one

and I would like a thousand people at a time

it's just the way my brain is set up

I do not know why

and I guess it's probably helped because I used to DJ

and I'll do sets of like 4,000 people in the crowd

and I'll stand there and I just really became

motivated

I like a challenge and I love being under pressure

so

I perform better in those scenarios

but again I'll talk to anyone

and I'll talk to anyone about anything

because I always find interesting what people do

it's just

that I'm just intrigued

to learn things especially if someone

talks to me about something new

the other day I was at a film set and I was asking people about cameras

and I learned so much about cameras and I was like wow

it's like that's an art form

in itself and like we have the

automotive industry and then I guess I'm

Tommy Auto in the automotive industry

but there's like a Tommy camera in the camera industry

and there's a Tommy Bakery

in the bakery industry and there's a Tommy

like there is

like it's almost like you know Stranger Things

upside down and then you have the normal

world and then everything's normal and then you have the upside down

which is everything's the same but slightly different

so I like to just talk and learn

about things I know I'm going off tension but it's just

that's a part of my character that I'm really like

I'm really proud of because

it's allowed me to like amass a lot of

knowledge on random things

and my wife sometimes calls me a know-it-all but I just love it

like I just retain it like I love

learning new things but that's helped me

to be willing to talk to people

so to have such tough moments

like that I watched your video you did

with Yanny who we'll talk about

met Yanny and got involved with him but of course

I watched that video so so much information

and anyone's wondering the one I'll put it

on screen just here now

but in that video you mentioned

crypto and you had this

moment of crypto was that one of these

moments that you talk about

from like going from low to suddenly having

a bit of a win that might have helped you as well

to an extent

yeah I think

I like

I had started making money

you know what I don't know why I'm saying yes

yeah it was

I'm sitting there trying to think

oh really because you become

desensitized from things right and

I think I've

become desensitized from like the lifestyle

that I have where I see it as

to me obviously it's just an everyday normal

stuff right and to other people it must be like

oh my god like this guy has an

SUJ oh my god this guy has a

812 he has this he has that he has this

um yeah that was one of those moments

the short answer is yeah one of those moments

that was like

holy holy holy crap like

did you basically put everything in that you'd managed

to amass back up so yeah so I

managed to make money I didn't put everything in I put in

what would be a relatively small amount

based off of what my friend recommended

and it just

it popped off and I just

I thought was fake at first

but apparently he's not

sharing in you yeah so no but this was like

awful off this because you know

when you just use like digital money like

I don't know about I didn't know about crypto

even to this day I'm still I get a lot of my

information from my like car club like my guys and

then I get

and I was just like oh

okay

time to go buy a car

it was that kind

of level in the end

yeah yeah yeah it was like oh time to

time to go buy a car

I've been very lucky in terms of

I

would say that

maths and numbers and I found

this out in a later age

and I never realized I was dyslexic

and I never realized I had

and people use it as a buzzword

I never realized I had like ADHD

and autism I never realized that growing

up until like around

COVID time I started to like learn more about

myself so when it comes to numbers

and I try to explain this to Yanny

in the Yanny video but I don't think

I explained it well but

I can see a hundred grand

cash or a hundred grand the figure

and I can see a hundred

and fifty grand and my brain sees them as the same amount

of money it's such a weird

thing I can see two hundred grand in my brain sees

the same amount of money I can't

really I can process it

to an extent but not to the extent

that a lot of people can like

looks on like yourself where you can sell multiple businesses

and you can do this and you could do that I would

struggle on the financial side

because I'd just be like

why can't I just spend a hundred

K on this business and someone would be like because you only have a hundred K

like it doesn't

work for me but I think what blessed me

is having meeting

my wife Camille

because when it comes to finances and everything

she knows that I can't

be the one to run and control everything

because I would have a baghati

sharon and

yes go and nothing else

you're just like in bed an auto

trailer

over and goes

because

I can't and it is

my weakness I cannot

when it comes to finances I don't

see money as a finite thing

is the way my brain is

if I have a million pounds

and I I'll be like okay

I'm you spend five hundred K on a car

have five hundred K I'll buy this and I'll buy this

and I'll still think I have a million pounds in my head

but I don't I spend everything

and that's what

tricked me up when I was doing music

and it's tricked me up several times in my life

but luckily I have a wife

that is the exact opposite when it comes

to finances so

everything came to a head at like the

perfect time where it's like

you've come into success you've come

into money you've come into like you're doing your

social media you're

working with friends on business ideas and stuff

and you've met someone that has stopped you

from being an idiot

so oh that sounds nice what is that

what is that

do you

am I allowed to say E type

like I thought it was an old

it sounded like an old car

but no one ever drives up my street like that

if you need to know we have had to open the side door

it is very hot

sorry I thought it was in Nigeria

it is

I was sweating

I just drove past it I think that

I can't even remember what I was saying that sounded sick

it was like a smooth sound

wanna be in Hunters

but yeah like I was saying everything came to a head

at a perfect time

my wife has seen success she's great with money

so she's been able to

mould me in a way where

I don't make stupid decisions

and I don't do stupid things

because best believe I would do stupid things

I reckon the most common

word you've used in this podcast

so far is my wife

her phrase that you've used

and she clearly from everything that you do

you so clearly show how much she means

but how did you meet

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I got a plaque

I got a plaque for selling

when you sell a certain amount of records you get plaque so I got a plaque

and I was like oh sick took a picture of the plaque

then she jumped in my DMs and she went

congratulations

well done I loved

this song

we just started speaking and

there hasn't been a day since that we haven't spoken

it's just from like she

DM me we started speaking I took her on a date

and I think

since I took her on a date I've probably seen her

every single day

apart from like when she's gone

to a work thing or

but yeah that's how we met

she slid in the DMs

and were you inspired by her as well because inspiration

makes inspiration

was she already on like part of her

anime with what she's done?

I remember hearing in the anime

she's done some mad things

when I met my wife she was already

so

she was already hyper successful

she was super successful

one of the

if not the most

profound

or prolific songwriter in the UK

at the time

but my world and her world

were so separate

I had heard her name before but I didn't really know who she was

and then

we started talking and I was like wow this is she's a really nice person

I was talking to like a friend

because I thought oh she's DM me to say congratulations

I don't want to overstep any boundaries so I was talking to

a friend that she was like are you not going to ask for my number

and I was like oh like

oh it's party time

but yeah she

has had such an impact on my life

seeing what she did

especially during lockdown seeing her still

working and stuff it made me think okay I need to

I need to pull my pants up

and I need to show her

that I'm worth something do you know what I mean

like she never put that pressure on me

but I was like I need to do

I need to do something to make her proud and that's when I started doing like

I wonder if this will work I wonder if that will work

and then ultimately she was the one that told me to do car stuff

and then

I started doing car

things and I remember

when it comes to telling stories I get so passionate that I just jump around

just the way my brain works

I remember getting into cars

and then we flipped a car

and made so much money from it

I was like oh I can do this as well

what's the car?

Hurricane Perfomante I bought it for

160 grand and I sold it

financed it for 160 grand

and I sold it for 240 grand

peak lockdown

I think I put like

what color was it?

okay I sold an orange hurricane perfomante

when I'd like lost everything

down for 160k

it could have been

I was thinking have we just discovered something

that would have been insane

Sam you bastard

I flipped the hurricane

but I wouldn't have been able to flip the hurricane if she didn't encourage me to do those kind of things

and then

again because she's

good of money I've never felt

I run everything by

people are like oh Tommy's bought this or Tommy's bought that

and sometimes people are like I bet Camille's a gold digger

first of all my wife is a multi-millionaire

so she's never been

my wife is a gold digger it's been me trying to catch up

so anytime I'm like oh yeah

I've bought this car I've done this

I've done that best believe that would not have happened

if I didn't say to my wife what do you think about this

do you think it's a good decision we'll sit down

we'll talk about something we'll go over it we'll analyze it we'll look at the numbers

then she would be like

yeah I think you should do it

if it was down to me I may have a share on

but that's about it

I wouldn't have anything and no fuel

wouldn't be able to drive it

no service history

the reason I always bring her up is because

she has

she had such a huge impact on

my trajectory and changing that

trajectory and encouraging me

and giving me

the space

and the encouragement to chase

what I love

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thank you so much

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and I really hope to bring you some more inspirational guests soon

when did you start to realize

that that was also a reality

that what you loved and wanted to do

was actually something that was going to work

not just from the car flip

because I

want to kind of almost in a way separate that from social

but then it's quite interesting that that's the bit behind

the TikTok accounts that people don't

necessarily think that

he could just be doing like a few deals here and there

people don't materialize as a thing

but it is a thing

and that all comes from following and base

when did that all start to build

I guess I realized it

I realized it when

I remember predicting the markets

would go crazy on cars

and I was talking to my wife about it and I was like

this is these cars

are going up because I am just

I'm sure you're the same thing

everyday auto trader

looking at cars I have no business looking at

and I'll just look every day and I'll be like hold on

like this is

this is kind of crazy and I remember saying to her

there's this like obviously this pandemic

started and you can't

I know that you can even say that on podcasts

I was like this global

is happening but people

are looking for places to put their money and I remember

being like to her

cars are going to go up in value

watches are going to go up in value and I was getting things right

and I was like you know what instead of just being like

I'm going to put money in

I'm going to go for it

and I thought the worst comes to worst have a hurricane

perfomante

if it turns out bad I'll just sell it

hopefully it's longer

and then I thought well if the world ends

it doesn't really matter anyway

it kind of makes sense so I did it

and it just worked out and then

it worked out again because I bought a Vented or S

and the same thing happened again where I ended up making like

50 grand I was like okay

like this is working then

my wife

she had bought

a Bentley Continental W12

Super Sport the old generation

and I remember saying to her return that

because that is not the one you want to buy

and we got the new one instead

but again we got it

at a right time

and then we sold it for more and I was like

no one has ever made money on a Bentley

I failed

I drove it down to south end

with my friend Finn and we sold it for more

than we purchased it for

and it just bought it brand new

but again it was at a time where

you must have twisted someone's arm

the world was in a very weird

place at that time

and I was lucky that

I had the capital

and I had someone who believed in me enough

to start doing these mad things

and then it just kept working and working

so with so much

depth

so much personal success

and so many times that you've gone from zero

to zero throughout that story

does it pain you when you see comments

like Camille has bought all of his cars

not really

it doesn't

it doesn't stress me out because

without Camille

I wouldn't have the cars

so I'm like

people are always like oh Tommy's got this

Tommy's got that and she deserves her flowers as well

because

without her wouldn't be possible

and then also a lot of the cars

some of the cars out on the drive now

she's bought the G-Wagon

she's bought that car there

or she's bought this or she's bought that

it's a joint effort between both of us

it doesn't bother me

doing something you both love together

but I think one thing that does bother me is that

I didn't

sing her praises sooner in my content

that it could get to a point where people would be like

oh she's a gold digger

that's something that I'm like

I should have been singing her praises

and I should have been bringing her to the forefront sooner

because for her to achieve

everything she's achieved to be called

a gold digger by some random people on the internet

it's kind of a bit of a piss take

so I wish that

I would have involved her sooner

but I do so now

and I do make it very clear that she buys her own

cars and then she

like for example the 918

I wouldn't have bought that car by myself

we bought that together because

very expensive

it's very expensive and also that is a

family decision

I thought you were about to say a family car

that's a family car

that's a family decision

I plan to not be on earth and that 918

my son's garage or his son's garage

and that's something that

at the end of the day if my son wants to sell it

he can sell it but that is for them

so that's a family decision

same as buying a house

so I would not have done that without her

do you know what I mean

but it's that kind of two people coming together

and sharing a passion

I have money, Camille has money

but the reason I get people looking at me

and think oh Tommy has loads of money

it's because my wife is very rich as well

so it's not the situation where

power couple

I hate using that term

but essentially it is because

it's not a situation where

one of us is super rich and one of us

hasn't got anything going for them

it's like two people that

have done well and are making money

and they can kind of

the world's the oyster kind of

well I don't have a share on yet

when you said I should have sung

a praises sooner

do you have a question now that allows you to do

just that

if she was sat out with her friends

going for a drink in town and she's talking about

oh Tommy's video band it got this many views

like he flipped this car

I was like how the hell did he manage to do that

and if you're sat here with me

what's something that has blown your mind

she's accomplished over the past couple of years

you're just like dude I cannot believe this

what has blown my mind

two Grammys

she's got two Grammys

and Grammys is something that you just get

she's got two Grammys

and people may not know this

but an Ivan Avello award

which is a very prestigious music award

like it's so prestigious that

people don't know about it because it's a very like

the music industry goes to a party

and the party they'll be like Jamira choir performing

or like they'll be someone

like I don't know like

YouTube performing or something but

it's not broadcast on TV no one knows about it

she has that for best songwriter

two Grammys for her songwriting

and she doesn't talk about it

she doesn't talk about it

and not only that

she will wake up one day and be like oh I want a G-Wagon

she won't buy a G-Wagon

oh you know what Tommy I really

this happened

she was like I really want a supercar

I don't know what supercar I want

I want something usable just bought Hurricane Storato

like that is how

impressive she is

like she is just

what she's achieved

especially as a black woman in the UK

or in the world

more people should know about it

like people think oh she writes

she wrote songs for Little Mix but

she's done some crazy things

when you say more people should know about it

you're talking about the future tense as well though

because it's something that can happen

100% 100%

more people can be educated

she's appearing in more of your content

that leads me to the question of

where does this go

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say where it's going

next but

I guess

more of us being seen

more people seeing us

around the world

not on a social media platform

not necessarily on a social media platform

but I guess that's where

it's going

or it's started to go to

does that make you super excited

once again it's the embryo

it's the start of the new thing

and the last part of that chapter didn't end on a bad note

yeah yeah so it's like

okay we're doing this together and we're starting a new

it's not easy obviously

it's like we're starting these

massive like some of the things that

we have planned and we've got in the works already

it's just incredible

and it's like to do it with someone that you love

and someone that

is such a good person

that makes it ten times better

the reason I asked you

who Tommy was maybe when he was like 18, 19

and if he was this guy that maybe was a little bit more

chipped up etc

was because you've been such an avocat

of like speaking out of like I was feeling really bad

I needed some help

I went and got some help

because if you were that person

so many of those people wouldn't do it

because they just think they're too hard

or they're too successful

but like what is your chance to talk

to those guys that would comment on your videos

and be like Tommy this doesn't seem real

that might be going through that horrendous stuff

God

what would I say? Do you think you just got to open the door?

I have to that's why I just talk about it

so openly like a lot of people are like

oh yeah no I've been depressed but I'll just

I'll give people the graphic details

I'll just tell people how it was

what I was going through

I think I will just keep telling them

my story so people can

hopefully see a bit of themselves

I remember a few months ago I put up something on my Instagram

I have these moments where I'll just be like

you know what I just want to talk about something

I just wrote like five paragraphs

on my Instagram story about

my depression

and how I got depressed

and how I got out of depression

so many people were like I needed to read this right now

I'm going through the same thing

so I wouldn't necessarily be like

to a certain group of people this this or this

I'll just keep saying my

my truth

just keep advising people look like get help

and when I say get help I don't

it doesn't have to be professional if you're afraid to do that

speak to someone anyone

speak to me just message me

I might I'll do my best to respond

because I get a lot of messages but just speak to anyone

because it is so difficult

especially in this day and age where

we feel like we need to achieve so much

we need to do so much

we need to have a name for ourselves

so many people are getting caught up in that

in that like um mentality

it's putting that as such

a negative space so yeah

because it applies pressure so much pressure

when you talk about not being too

bothered by the comments you're actually

very like mentally resilient to the comments

do you think that comes from the notebook that you spoke about

uh I think part of it

part of is that part of is that and also

I grew up in a house

with two sisters that are very intelligent

and

I

can give it as good as you like

if you're willing to give it to you I'll give it back to you

so to me like when people start to try I'm like

okay cool

I'll just give it back to them so because it or sometimes

I won't respond but I'll respond in my head and I'll be like oh yeah I feel better

when you started blowing up

on those platforms and on Tiktok

you then were introduced

to people like Yanny and Matt Watson

you spoke about like

loving the cars but were you watching

their content before you even got into it

yeah I used to watch Yanny's content

way back when it was just um

2014-2013

when he was doing uh just the

rapping stuff Matt Watson when he was on

what was that platform that he was on before

car well I can't remember

the name he was on another platform and I used to watch him then

I remember having a conversation with my serif friend Finn

again saying wow this

he's probably the best motor and journalist out there

and we I remember us having this discussion

and a greenery trying to be like he's just

out of this world and I remember thinking oh I wish I could do that

I wish I could just test cars and talk

about them on video so to finally

meet them and get to know them it's just

it sometimes I'm so

blasé about it but then I sometimes I see it but I think

it's so mad like I used to

watch this person I used to be such a big fan of this person

and now like I can just pick up my phone

and just message them do you get those realisation moments though

like maybe you're on like the runway

about to do a drag race

and isn't it crazy that there is a world

in which this is the bit that I want to take back

right to the start to the Tommy if

social media was around and he had a phone

and was commenting on Tommy that was real

but

that kind of makes sense

and it's weird that you could be sat on a runway

in your own supercar about to do a video

and there's a way in this day and age

now of kind of justifying that as like

well I'm doing this to build a community

the passion which leads to this and this and this

and it's also great at the same time

like we'd have never known that growing

up would we and like many people now probably don't

think that like the stuff that they see is actually

fun that people do and it can lead to a thing

that is going to become their thing

exactly like

I guess sometimes some

I remember one time I was sitting on the runway and I was like

don't mess this up

I was like just don't mess this up

and it was for numerous reasons it was the first car

video I did was Mario Vuelto

don't mess this up because Lamborghini to me has always been

the brand or like always was

the brand and I was like

you mess this up I'm going to fall out of Lamborghini

like that's how much

pressure I felt when I did that race

and then I also thought okay don't mess this up

because you're meeting Matt Watson

so on who you looked up to

and you're doing

something that you've always watched

it was fun though

it was so fun and then I think

I occasionally get those moments

like when Yanny came here

and we were doing the video I was like oh you know what

so crazy like I used to watch you and I was like

I'm such a big fan and blah blah blah blah

and it's just appreciate

taking a second to appreciate those things

but often it does take me like a week

normally before it kicks in

and I'm like oh yeah that is actually quite mad that I did that

but yeah it's um

it's my I don't even know

what to say like if I just

couldn't I just didn't I didn't think

it would happen I guess

what do you think it has been

is like a big thing that runs

through the veins of all the content that you've

done that has differentiated

it and allowed you to grow in your

space because the car world very much

allows people to grow as long as

they're in their own space and like

there's only so many now car rebuilders

before the next ones can push through

and Yanny grew in the world of film

and raps and Matt Watson grew in the

world of proper motel and journalism

around cars but making it funny

and then it seems to me that Tommy has grown

is taking so much information and lifestyle

and putting it into a very live

very real very

like personable clip

and like would you say that that's kind of your

your style is just being like talking to the

camera talking to your audience like I know

every single one of them yes

I mean

not everyone likes my personality

not everyone likes my content and

I'm like okay with that but

it sometimes hurts a bit more because

my content is just my personality

what do your parents think

about you putting the prices of

cars so blasé

on thumbnails

and titles

they've never mentioned it

I hate doing it though

I do not like doing it the only reason I do it

is because youtube algorithm

for some reason

only seems to work for me

if I put testing

the bigger the number so for example

I use a website called

thumbnail test you can test titles you can test

thumbnails I'll put like 20 in

the ones that get

an outstanding amount of clicks

taking my 1.25 million

pound hypercar to Monaco

over

I drove a thousand miles to Europe

or through Europe in my

918 it seems to be like

I hate doing it and it's so funny because

on my tiktok I won't do it because

tiktok doesn't care about that

but on youtube people will only

click on your thing if you give them

a reason to either love it or hate it

by the thumbnail if you only pick

one platform to keep what would you

that is a mad question to ask

you have to sit here now and delete

one of those platforms

what would I delete

oh my god

oh my god it would

it would have to be youtube

it would have to be youtube because youtube

I don't even know if people realise this

I make no money from youtube it cost

me more to make one video than I make

from two or three videos like

I spend money on my youtube videos

I spend money on my editor Joe

guy Nathan I want the videos to be high quality

and I do it because I flip in love talking

about cars but I do not

make any money from youtube

whereas tiktok I actually make money from

tiktok and it takes me like

a minute to make a video

and my videos are like I was saying

my personality I guys

I don't I never say hi guys I don't know

I just said that I'd be like so today

I'm with my Porsche GT3 RS

and I've got my GT3 touring outside and I just want to see

a quick comparison of the two I just talk people through it

and again I can just be myself

and just talk and just my personality's out

there and it's so it's easier

I mean I love youtube because I love long form

I study media production in university

I love creating it but

if I put my thinking hat on it would have

to be I would just focus on tiktok

well I once said this

podcast to stand the test of time

in being something that covered the real

story behind you because in a

minute clip that gets uploaded to tiktok

or even a 15 minute video so focused

about cars it's so hard

to find a moment to understand the real

you to get under your skin to really see

everything that's been along that journey

and I hope that this stands for

everybody that's listened there's not

only educational and can take lessons for

it but also a path to you

a path to understanding every time

that reel pops up everything

behind that guys eyes and what he's been through

and I just wanted to say thank you from everybody listening

and myself for how you kind of opened

up to then and spoke about everything

because I think there is so much

value in that these days to

an audience that is

listed with YouTube titles and thumbnails

and feels the pressure to get somewhere

that the guys they're watching

many of them have actually had some of the toughest moments

you could ever get through as a human

and I just wanted to say thank you for coming on road to success

Oh there's no problem with that I loved it

I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation

I enjoyed it too it was so funny because I was like oh I'm just going to talk about

cars for like an hour in a bit and we've

literally not talked about cars at all

because I've shared some stuff that

you give me a space to share some stuff that I've never shared

and never spoken about outside

of court or

my house and

it's been therapeutic so

hopefully I haven't bored everyone and

maybe we can do another one where we actually talk about cars

if that's what you were looking for

thank you man

no worries thank you very much

Tomi Auto Opens Up About the REAL Story Behind His Cars and Life

About this episode

Bmw 7

Volkswagen Beetle

Lamborghini Countache

Lamborghini Diablo

Mercedes-Benz Eclass

Porsche Panamera

G-Class Gwagon

Porsche 918 Spyder

911 Porsche Gt3

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