00:10what's up you guys it's graham here so a
00:12little over four years ago
00:13right before i started making youtube
00:15videos i met james also known as the
00:17strad man through a close friend of mine
00:19gordon also known as f-spot and we
00:21started talking cars
00:22both of us had previously owned a lotus
00:24we were both car enthusiasts and for the
00:27both of us had wanted a lamborghini
00:28gallardo except there's a difference
00:31he actually got the lamborghini and i
00:34but we kept in touch and over time
00:36james's car collection continued to grow
00:38and grow and grow to the point where now
00:40he just recently purchased a million
00:42dollar bugatti veyron at 31 years old
00:44however what many people don't realize
00:46is that not too long ago
00:47james was homeless living in his car
00:50earning just a few dollars a day and he
00:51was able to go from that to now making
00:53over two million dollars a year
00:55buying exotic cars and that is something
00:57worth discussing further he's also going
00:59to be breaking down his income
01:00how much money he makes how much money
01:02he spends where he spends his money how
01:04he invests his money how he runs his
01:06and also why he chooses to do everything
01:08himself so if you wouldn't mind smashing
01:10the like button for the youtube
01:11algorithm it would greatly help me out a
01:12lot because these videos take me a very
01:14long time to create and produce
01:16not to mention i was able to borrow a
01:18tesla model sp100d which does 0-60 in
01:22to races bugatti veyron on a private
01:24airstrip so if that's not worth a like
01:27i don't know what is so thank you so
01:29much and with that said here's the
01:30inside look into the business of the
01:33you know my dad is a cpa my mom's a
01:36with very humble beginnings i have three
01:40born in newport oregon you know we lived
01:42in this tiny tiny little house in
01:44in newport my dad is you know the
01:47cheapest human being
01:48on earth and i love him for it and he's
01:50taught me how to you know spend wisely
01:53and you know take the right risks when
01:55you have the opportunity but be smart
01:57i like to think that i'm self-made but
01:59i'm not you know my parents didn't
02:01really help me they helped me
02:02financially like you know i had a i had
02:04a good childhood you know
02:05they taught me how to work they my work
02:09comes from them being cheap comes from
02:12being smart with my money comes from
02:13them so i really truly owe them all of
02:16i love this car yeah i've had it for two
02:17years it's got the full 1016 kit
02:19an fi straight pipe exhaust this is an
02:22on-demand flame thrower
02:24you rev it up boom boom boom
02:30so i graduated from oregon state
02:32university degree in accounting and
02:34always wanted to have my own business
02:36always love cars my motivation to make
02:38money is to buy cars like
02:40i don't care about anything else i don't
02:41care about fancy clothes i don't care
02:42about fancy watches none of that stuff
02:45it's just cars graduated from college
02:48obviously the economy was in the garbage
02:52couldn't get a job moved back home with
02:55nobody would hire me i could not get a
02:56job for the life of me so i started this
02:58business buying and selling cars
03:00but it just it just wasn't working out
03:02and so i packed up my 2002 audi tt
03:05and i moved here to utah didn't know
03:07anybody didn't have a job didn't have a
03:09slept in my car the first night next
03:13an apartment signed a six-month lease
03:14still didn't have a job
03:16and then a couple weeks later i got a
03:18job up at the montage deer valley in
03:20making 17 an hour worked there for a
03:24and during that time i actually started
03:26my youtube channel so i was a car
03:28spotter which meant i just go out
03:30and take photos of cars it sounds so
03:32dumb and it was dumb but i would just
03:34the cars that i would see and i was
03:36doing that on the side started the
03:39and then one day the guy who worked next
03:41to me i found out that he was making
03:44and i thought that was an injustice
03:47because i was constantly taking
03:49stuff off his workload and so i went to
03:52my boss's office and i put in my two
03:54and my thought was oh i'm too good i'm
03:58like they're to give me a race i'm going
03:59to make more than this guy and my boss
04:02oh i'm sorry to hear that man you know
04:03we love having you work for us
04:05but uh best of luck in your next
04:07endeavors and so two weeks later you
04:10rather than backing out of it i move
04:13and i and i lost my job and so i decided
04:15to live in my audi tt
04:17in beverly hills california and i would
04:19car spot and the reason for beverly
04:21there's so many cars there's supercars
04:23left and right i could go there and just
04:25and film cars and that's what i did and
04:26so that would involve me parking the car
04:28somewhere where there's free parking
04:29walking maybe you know a mile to beverly
04:31and i would just stand there on rodeo
04:33drive for eight twelve hours a day
04:35walking around just hoping to see cool
04:39and then every evening i would go to
04:40mcdonald's i would park outside
04:41mcdonald's i'd edit my videos use their
04:44post the video and then i would find a
04:47different residential street
04:48every single night to sleep in the car
04:50because i didn't you know i wanted to be
04:52in a different location because if i was
04:53outside the same house every single day
04:55somebody would would you know get upset
04:56did you get caught sleeping in the car
04:58because that's a tiny car
05:00it is it is windows were not tented
05:03it's weird when i was in beverly hills i
05:06wake me up in the middle of the night
05:08there was a couple times when i'd go to
05:10car shows you know up in north los
05:12angeles whatever and i
05:13i'd sleep in a mall parking lot and
05:14security to come knock on my door and
05:16tell me i had to go i lived in the car
05:19i showered one time at the beach in
05:22didn't you think to get a gym membership
05:26yeah i like i was so like i've always
05:27been so cost conscientious my entire
05:29life like i don't spend money
05:31so this is the one you just bought yes
05:33so i bought this like four days ago
05:35it's a 2017 nissan gtr 700 horsepower
05:39but it's gonna soon have a lot more so
05:41my goal with this car is to make it
05:42faster than the bugatti
05:44so i'm hoping for like 1300 horsepower
05:46so when your parents
05:47see you in another state sleeping in a
05:51car making seven dollars a day
05:53wouldn't they just say james here's 20
05:56like we're going to help you out here
05:58right the gym membership
05:59for sure for sure weren't they worried
06:01about your safety they were so my mom
06:03was obviously worried sick about me
06:06the car so my audi broke down while i
06:09was living and at one night
06:10outside of mcdonald's i came out the car
06:12wouldn't turn on and that's when i
06:15this is a bad situation car wouldn't
06:17turn on car was broken down
06:19audi santa monica quoted me like 1200
06:21bucks to replace the fuel pump
06:22and i didn't have that i'm not i only
06:24had like 800 bucks my mom
06:26offered to pay for the repair but
06:33i had so much i had such an ego i was
06:36like no i put myself in this situation
06:38i have to get myself out of it you know
06:40i was 24 at the time so i wasn't like a
06:43little kid like i was a grown man
06:45in the sense even though i was doing
06:46something that a nine-year-old would do
06:48but like i i still knew that this was
06:51my fault like if my mom would have fixed
06:55it would be like i can't do this youtube
06:56thing i had to get myself out of the
06:59so yes they offered to pay me or you
07:01know to to give me money but it was just
07:04no i had i had to achieve the dream on
07:07and looking back today when i think
07:09about it's like i'm so glad that i
07:10didn't let her pay for it because
07:13everything that i've created although i
07:14give my parents a lot of credit
07:16it wouldn't feel quite the same because
07:17they would have bailed me out of that
07:19so how did you fix the car so i ordered
07:23i got it for like 200 bucks where do
07:25they ship it exactly
07:27they they don't you can't ship it to the
07:302002 audi tt on santa monica boulevard
07:33and so i i discovered that with the usps
07:35you can actually ship something to the
07:38and you can go there and pick it up but
07:39i got this fuel pump got back to the
07:42and then the next morning i just i was
07:44like a surgeon and i'm not
07:46great at working on cars but i'm average
07:49you know eight day nine day window i'd
07:51been studying online how to change it
07:53i've been going getting the parts that i
07:54needed the tools that i needed and i
07:57i don't know maybe an hour and a half
07:58we're gonna pop it into sport mode and
08:03distraction and then i i ended up living
08:07for i think another six months or so
08:10i got a job as a night auditor
08:13at a hotel making 14 an hour and i
08:16didn't have any friends i worked alone
08:17at this hotel in the middle of nowhere
08:20silly outfit with a tie and a sweater
08:22and big clown shoes and
08:24you know i had no social life but what's
08:27great is this entire time i was still
08:28pursuing the youtube dream like i
08:29it never i never wavered one single time
08:32from the moment i had 200 subscribers
08:35it never wavered and i remember when i
08:38was working at that hotel
08:39you know i had a couple vacation days
08:40and when i got the job i had this trip
08:43florida for the gumball 3000 that i had
08:45planned and um you know i
08:47flew down to miami slept in my rental
08:49car couldn't afford hotels so i was
08:50still doing this like
08:51you know bootstrapping the business as
08:53best i could and then i finally got my
08:57it all happened in one week and it's the
09:00there's an event in sun valley idaho
09:03called the sun valley tour de force
09:05and it's a top speed event where they
09:06shut down the state highway and cars can
09:08test their top speeds
09:10and i filmed six bugatti veyrons like
09:12testing their top speed
09:14what's crazy is that one of those
09:18is this car right here really it's the
09:21and that weekend i filmed a video called
09:23bugatti veyron super sport hits 246
09:27and it was on the front cover of
09:30i had probably 2500 subscribers
09:33the video got just over a million views
09:36and i think i made like five or six
09:38thousand dollars wow
09:40like this is back when i was making 14
09:42an hour like that money
09:43like changed my life like that was what
09:45i would make in like two or three months
09:47and so i filmed that video and then i
09:49filmed a couple other videos that week
09:50and then also did just like huge views
09:52that was when i realized that i was
09:54right because at that point i was like
09:57if i can get a million views every
09:58single day what if every single video
10:00could get a million views like i'm onto
10:02something like this is it
10:04and so then that same weekend i wanted
10:06to move back here to utah
10:07and so i had a job interview for a job
10:09cost accountant job up in park city
10:11had the interview that following monday
10:13so i filmed a viral video on saturday
10:15and then i had the job interview monday
10:17and that's where i met a guy named nick
10:19nick hired me he should not have hired
10:21me like this guy should not have hired
10:23i was not qualified i didn't deserve the
10:25job i was late to my interview because i
10:27i missed an exit like i didn't i didn't
10:30deserve the job but he gave it to me
10:32um sorry i'm like getting emotional oh
10:36you're good that's right i haven't said
10:37this story in so long it's just like so
10:40how you can be down and out wow it's
10:49it's so weird how you can be like down
10:50and out yeah and then in one weekend
10:53things can change so quick did you ever
10:56like six years ago you'd buy an event
10:58today no no no i always felt like i
10:59could fake my way into like a gallardo
11:02like a hundred thousand dollar car like
11:03just save up every single penny
11:06you know get the car but not really be
11:08like in a position to actually afford a
11:10whereas like the flagship v12 never ever
11:14never imagined so i was entry level
11:18a year um job cost accounting so you
11:21know i'm sitting in front of a computer
11:23every day 40 50 hours a week you know
11:27but i'm making forty five thousand
11:28dollars a year so like you know that's
11:31for me it's like this is amazing and
11:34i've always been super cheap i don't
11:35spend money on anything
11:37and so i'm still doing youtube on the
11:38side every weekend you know i'll go to a
11:40car show i'll do whatever i can every
11:42day is spent trying to grow this youtube
11:44channel um but you know the priority is
11:46my job and so i worked for nick for
11:50what it would have been like maybe a
11:52year and a half or so
11:54and it was a year and a half i had
11:56decided that i was going to buy a
11:57lamborghini gallardo you know i was
11:58saving every single penny like i
12:00wouldn't go out and eat i wouldn't buy
12:01new clothes i was living in an apartment
12:04for 600 bucks a month like just
12:06not doing anything i knew
12:09that if i actually owned a supercar
12:11myself my channel would be so much more
12:14up until this point i'm filming behind
12:16the scenes i'm filming other people
12:18enjoying their super cars
12:19and i was like imagine a young kid with
12:22nothing else driving around a
12:24that would be interesting and so i saved
12:27i can't remember what my down payment
12:28was it was like 50 grand i think and i
12:30bought a 2006 lamborghini gallardo put a
12:33got the car and almost instantaneously i
12:37the channels just took off early
12:39november i filmed the video titled
12:41lamborghini at age 26 this is what i do
12:44and i filmed that video and i think it
12:46was like a thursday i posted on like a
12:48friday whatever it was
12:49and then that weekend i went
12:50canyoneering down in southern southern
12:52and we were out of cell service and i
12:54remember on the drive home we got
12:56self-service back and my
12:57phone just started going off like crazy
13:01and the video had started going like
13:03viral i think i made like
13:0520 000 or something like that so it's a
13:08half year down payment
13:10exactly and that's when it it kind of
13:11sealed the deal i knew youtube was
13:14was my future i knew that i had to do it
13:21the smart way the right way because of
13:22what happened in the past i was like i
13:24can't mess this up again
13:25like if i do this a lot more is riding
13:27on it because i have a car payment on a
13:29lamborghini like i gotta make this work
13:31so i knew that i had to continue working
13:33for nick for a while
13:35and around february of that next year
13:38you know i work in the accounting
13:39department i can tell that maybe the
13:41company's not doing as well as we were
13:44and people started quitting and they
13:46weren't being replaced and i was taking
13:48on more responsibilities
13:49april 1st 2016 i think it would have
13:53uh nick walked into my office closed the
13:55door and i think my first words were
13:57wait is today the day because i knew i
14:00knew it was gonna happen it was a friday
14:01the first day of the month
14:02like i just i remember the day before i
14:05it's like well right it's april 1st
14:07that's a great day to pull up it's a
14:08great day it is a great day to pull a
14:11but you know how like you just you just
14:13know you know the writing's on the wall
14:15and sure enough the company
14:17was going under and i was in the first
14:19round of layoffs but april first i was
14:21like well here we go this is the moment
14:24and i just started filming like crazy
14:27it's every day i'm constantly working at
14:29it i'm a one-man operation
14:31to this day i edit all my own videos
14:33film all my own videos
14:34do all the sponsorship contracts
14:36everything i do everything on my own
14:38i basically spent the entire day in
14:40ubers and in tesla's
14:42but it was well well worth it as you
14:44might say ladies and gentlemen views on
14:46the idea of having like employees that i
14:49and that are you know relying on me for
14:51their livelihood kind of gives me stress
14:54and that might show through on my videos
14:55because my videos are all about
14:57having fun you know being stress-free
15:00and so i need my life to be stress-free
15:03this here you have how many cars at this
15:05point so i have eight cars
15:08what's the total payment for all eight
15:12so eight cars seven are paid off and the
15:16so i paid 880 for it i put down 580
15:20finance the remaining 300
15:22and my payment is 4 765
15:25every single month how much money do you
15:27have in cars i'm trying to do the math
15:29um let's just i'm gonna round the
15:33numbers to make it easier
15:34let's say 250 250 500 let's just say
15:4285 1.485 the guyard is probably 100
15:45the 430 challenge maybe another 100
15:47let's say 1.685 the gladiator another
15:52the raptor let's say another hundred i'm
15:55i'd say 1.9 million dollars in cars but
15:58i see every single car
16:00as being a different investment a
16:01different business and so
16:03in my head i have a very good idea what
16:06the roi is on every single car
16:08the bugatti probably doesn't make
16:10business sense from just a straight
16:12roi like if that's the only metric
16:14you're using it doesn't make sense
16:15eight hundred and eighty thousand
16:16dollars the service was thirty four
16:18thousand dollars on it
16:20but it just adds that memorable
16:23element to my channel he's like oh he's
16:25the kid who has a bugatti
16:27you know people remember that it's a
16:29purple bugatti when that thing's driving
16:31down the freeway people remember it
16:32they'll find my channel they'll talk
16:34about my channel they'll come watch all
16:36videos and so it just kind of adds that
16:39uniqueness as well all of these are like
16:42owning a little bit of real estate
16:43except in a car form
16:45that you're able to get content from the
16:46best car i've ever owned per view was
16:49i paid 60 000 for that car i was
16:52averaging a million views plus with that
16:54like views to dollar yeah couldn't be
16:57beat but no other investments
16:59stock market no so i was a sophomore in
17:03and i decided that i was going to get
17:04into the stock market because i had this
17:06dream of buying supercars one day and
17:08that's what you do to make money and so
17:10in september of 2008
17:12early september 2008 i took my entire
17:15summer savings from an internship that i
17:17had at the department of transportation
17:19and i invested all of that in the stock
17:21market didn't know what i was doing
17:23i became a day trader overnight and i
17:26i think the first day i made like 900
17:30amazing but then the stock market
17:32crashed in september 2008
17:35and i lost i think 900 bucks like the
17:37next day like it it all happened very
17:40and before i knew it my entire summer
17:43savings was gone i think i invested in
17:46and they had filed for bankruptcy i
17:48can't remember exactly but
17:50i lost everything and it was at that
17:53moment that i decided that
17:55i wanted to invest in stuff that i had
18:01you know where it's it's me making the
18:03decisions i go buy a car
18:05that i've decided is a good deal and i
18:07flip it and i make profit
18:09and so i haven't invested in the stock
18:12are you going to can i convince you to
18:15maybe i i need to do it you're
18:17absolutely right i just haven't
18:18okay you'll need to at some point
18:20absolutely absolutely this i agree with
18:22you i think this makes more sense right
18:24roi standpoint but i think long term can
18:28right do you eventually want to scale
18:30back and that's where i think other
18:32absolutely i 100 agree how many income
18:34sources would you say you have now i
18:37it's all focused around youtube yeah so
18:39you could say one now if you break it
18:40down you have adsense
18:42you have sponsored content you have
18:43merchandise but it's it's all
18:45youtube focused for sure everything for
18:48yeah can you talk about income do you
18:50feel comfortable talking about that
18:52just as a very rough number in 2020 i'll
18:55make about 2 million
18:56on youtube wow that's from everything
18:57that's from merge sales sponsored
19:00um ad revenue congratulations thank you
19:03thank you it has a w16
19:058 liter quad turbocharged 1001
19:08yeah fastest car in the world when it
19:10came out 254 miles an hour
19:131.7 million dollars brand new why is
19:17was that why is there a dent right there
19:22i was maneuvering this car last night
19:24and it was super close to the gtr i was
19:25like i better not dump this car
19:28how can you do me like that i thought we
19:30were friends what's your total
19:32overhead so i have the payment on this
19:33car which i mean 4765 bucks
19:36right that's my big expense i actually
19:38when i signed the one year lease here i
19:39actually just paid the whole thing
19:41just i just write wrote him a check for
19:43the whole amount because it's just
19:44easier it makes my life simpler
19:46one less thing to worry about and so i
19:48and then i it's just like
19:49it's a sunk cost like it's gone yep and
19:52my payment is like two grand or so
19:56but then you know insurance on all the
19:59is significant fifteen hundred bucks a
20:02month for all the cars yeah
20:04no it's not as bad no it's not it's
20:07a lot of the mods that i do for the cars
20:09those will cost money like the liberty
20:11on the roadster you know that's 50 60
20:13grand you know so i'm i'm i'm taking a
20:15lot of the money i'm making i'm buying
20:16more cars i'm buying nicer cars
20:18but as far as outside of the business
20:21nothing i mean food i eat cheap
20:24i live in a bedroom for 800 bucks a
20:28i don't spend on anything all the
20:30clothes you're seeing that i'm wearing i
20:31like get for free too
20:32you can rev it if you want really oh
20:34yeah yeah all right this is this is the
20:35only time in my life i'll probably get
20:37the chance to do this
20:38i'm nervous like it's nothing's gonna
20:40happen nothing's here good
20:43wait i'm really nervous
20:50so now of course we gotta ask how many
20:51credit cards do you have
20:54i hate disappointing you graham i have
20:57why because i don't like the concept of
21:01it bugs me oh no i know i know i'm just
21:04i i'm cut from that cloth you know like
21:08i was like 18 years old when they got
21:10their first credit card like i don't
21:11like financing stuff and i realized
21:14that yes that's the right thing to do
21:16credit score is so important and
21:17it's weird like i understand all that
21:19stuff but i'm such a like
21:21mental person that mentally i have to
21:25and so getting a car financed you know i
21:27hate that putting stuff on a credit card
21:29not just paying for it in cash bugs me
21:31imagine putting 1500
21:32a month yeah of your insurance on a
21:34credit card that you immediately pay off
21:36from a checking account right you're
21:37going to be racking up a whole bunch of
21:39anywhere you want to for free within one
21:43anywhere you want to go first class can
21:47just i don't have a good answer for that
21:49yeah if you guys want to
21:50try well i mess it up you say it you
21:54the like button for the youtube
21:55algorithm yes sir yes sir let's do it
21:57just right down there boys right down
21:59smash that like button how many hours a
22:01day would you say you work when i'm
22:03i usually wake up at 8 30 and the goal
22:05is to start filming by
22:079 a.m if i'm lucky the video will be
22:11seven eight pm the non-film days are a
22:13little bit more relaxed like yesterday
22:15um i was in uber's all day getting these
22:19ubering up to salt lake i picked up the
22:21event store yesterday kind of getting
22:23this set up for today i i just like
22:25doing everything myself
22:27you know like i i have relationships you
22:29know i picked up the event or i have a
22:30relationship with mix and models it's
22:32good for me to see the guys
22:33uh you know drive the event door back
22:35maybe i'll do some instagram stuff as
22:36well on those off days
22:38you know do film it i filmed tick tock
22:39yesterday so youtube videos
22:42the other days i'm doing other social
22:43media stuff maybe i'm uploading on
22:45do you buy starbucks no good i can't
22:49no i do not drink coffee i do not drink
22:54and i've never done any drugs in my
22:55entire life and the main reason i don't
22:59obvious obviously the main reason i
23:02don't drink though is
23:03financial reasons when i was in college
23:05my friends would go out to the clubs and
23:08they'd spend a fortune on alcohol i love
23:13and if youtube were to crash and burn
23:16i have enough money that i could retire
23:19and i could go live in a van and go
23:21hiking around the world
23:23and i'd be okay with that i'd be so
23:24happy with it is that what you would do
23:25i would do that yeah
23:26my goal is to have 100 acres
23:30with a racetrack on it with my house on
23:33airstrip that can also double as a drag
23:35strip that also has a helipad
23:37that's my goal so i want to have a place
23:40where i can go race cars i want to get
23:42fly airplanes add aviation to the
23:46do adventures with with transportation
23:49here's my only piece of advice if i'm
23:51just gonna say any unsolicited thing in
23:53the video it's just this
23:55if i were in your position i would take
24:00000 a month put it into a s p 500 index
24:04and that's it just pretend you're making
24:08a year less than you actually do put
24:11that in the stock market and forget
24:13about it walk away just pretend it
24:15it doesn't it's not there have it set up
24:17on the first of the month every month 30
24:2030 grand goes in just treat it like
24:22another bill no matter what happens to
24:24youtube you're always gonna have that to
24:25fall back on i think that you are a
24:28hundred percent right
24:29absolutely are you gonna do it yes
24:33i'm gonna do it i'm looking at every
24:34single camera directly yes sir so with
24:36that said you guys thank you so much for
24:37watching and for anyone who wants to see
24:39the entire 40-minute interview
24:40completely uncut i'm going to be linking
24:42to the full video down below in the
24:43description on my second channel the
24:45gram stefan show so thanks so much for
24:46watching and also thank you to the strad
24:48man for making all of this possible
24:50make sure by the way if you haven't done
24:51this already to destroy the subscribe
24:53like button and notification bell also
24:55feel free to add me on instagram my
24:57posts are pretty much daily so if you
24:58want to be a part of it there feel free
24:59to add me there as in the second channel
25:00the graham stefan show so you could
25:02watch this entire interview completely
25:03uncut and also if you guys want to get
25:05four free stocks use the link down below
25:06in the description and weeble is going
25:08to be giving you four free stocks when
25:10on the platform and those stocks could
25:12potentially be worth all the way up to 1
25:14600 so basically at this point it's free
25:16money if you want free money
25:18use the link down below let me know
25:19which free stocks you get thank you so
25:20much for watching and until next time
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