We were lucky to catch up with Kyle Lindsey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kyle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

My channel started as a hobby at my dad’s used car dealer lot in high school. It was the early days of Youtube and i saw others making car videos, and thought, “Hey i can do that too!” Over the years my dealer network increased as i went to college and pharmacy school, and the popularity of the channel grew with it. When i graduated from pharmacy school, i was invited to my first press events. At that point, i decided to dive in full time for 6 months and see where it took me, and here I am 12 years later still rocking on. Over the years, i have gotten more involved with the manufacturers side of journalism and get press vehicles sent to me on weekly rotations as well as getting hands on and have had many project vehicles on the channel.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Kyle Lindsey and run the Youtube channel, Saabkyle04. People ask me all the time “what does the name mean?” My first car was a Saab that i got in 2004 and my name is Kyle, hence Saabkyle04-literally just an old username that i never imagined would garner the attention it has. In the early days of Youtube you couldn’t change the channel name, but at the point that you could it had stuck and I am forever, Saabkyle. My niche on the channel is filming in-depth reviews of any and all types of automotive content from supercars to minivans and 3-wheeled Chinese vehicles. I have had a plethora of project vehicles on the channel over the years as well and love to showcase my enthusiasm for the vintage autos from bygone eras. The heart of my channel is the attention to detail i put into my review videos as well as my project content. You will be hard pressed to find a review as thorough and objective out there today. I am very proud of my content as it is family friendly and non-biased. I have many families that reach out and watch the content together, and have had the pleasure of working with various agencies like “Make A Wish” and “Dreams Come True” to help grant wishes and spend time with awesome kids that love cars.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Being sincere and relatable make a huge difference. Of course there are those people who enjoy seeing celebrities and the flash and drama, but that’s not me. I love cars and i’ve been around cars all my life, but i didn’t get formal training as a mechanic or a videographer or a graphic designer. Everything i have done has been self taught or through help and learning with friends i have met along the way. I want people to know i am just a regular guy that loves learning about cars and showing automotive history through my lens. Being honest and organic in the videos as well as on social media help grow a following the most because they are invested in you as a person not as a figure. I am the same in person as i am in my videos and that is something that will not change.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Youtube is all algorithm based so the amount of money that i make as a business falls solely on Google placing ads on my videos. This can change at certain times of year based on marketing dollars as well as the response of my content. There was a huge shift in that algorithm about 10 years ago, and since then there have been times where income has been volatile. As a business it is hard to place your bets on something you can’t fully control. At that time, i decided to branch out from strictly car reviews and add project content to the channel, and with that addition to the lineup, i was able to leverage my content and platform with sponsors to help bring in additional revenue and opportunities to offset any highs and lows in the Google Adsense revenue. This variety has allowed me to continue doing this full time for over 10 years now!

Contact Info:

• Website: www. saabkyle04.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saabkyle04llc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saabkyle04llc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/saabkyle04