Working on Cars

Do what you love, the adage goes and you’ll never work a day in your life.

Well, thought Doug DeMuro, I am definitely working.

Doug first made YouTube videos as a supplement to his work for Auto Trade and Jalopnik. Articles with videos got more views, so Doug made videos.

But back then, he had the causation backward. It wasn’t that people liked the articles because they had a video - people loved the videos and ended up on the article.

In 2013 Doug began making stand-alone videos, and the work paid off. People loved his shorts and t-shirt approach and the “quirks and features” review.

But it was a grind. The “fun” cars Doug wanted to talk about didn’t do the numbers.

He compensated. He saved the videos with the most interest, the controversial, the new, and the popular, for the end of the year. Around the holidays, YouTube ads pay more. That extra income at the end of the year allowed him to dabble in weirdness during other parts.

But that wore off too. What started out as fun was starting to grind again. That’s when Doug found a new business model.

Primarily a YouTube creator, Doug and a co-founder built CarsNBids.com. “Basically everything that’s exciting, fun, interesting, or quirky,” the site says, “is welcome here – as long as it comes from the modern era.”

Bingo.

It was those cars that didn’t do the numbers on YouTube - but they did send more traffic to the website.

Now, some of Doug’s videos “do numbers” and some send traffic to his other business. Together they offer the financial and spiritual fuel Doug needs.

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