Nearly every single week, Sarah Greenwood finds herself behind the wheel of a brand new car.
The cars are essentially rentals from dealerships — given to her temporarily so she can review them for her automotive-themed YouTube channel named Sarah -n- Tuned.
Greenwood, who has lived in the Tucson area for several years and was stationed at Davis-Monthan as a mechanic in the Air Force, has garnered more than 230,000 subscribers since she started her YouTube channel in 2016.
Since then, her videos have raked in a combined 26.5 million views.
She posts a new video every 72 hours — something she’s done for the last three years without missing a single upload. She thinks consistency is one reason why her audience has grown.
“I try to mix things up to make sure I always stay fresh,” Greenwood says.
Generally, one video per week is a review of a new car, which Greenwood says is her favorite type of video to film.
“There’s so much more creativity in the car reviews because the car reviews are solely about the car,” she says. “The vehicle you’re driving is what’s driving the views — the video isn’t about me, it’s about the car. So it gives me ways to showcase the vehicle in different ways.”
Her other videos vary from trips to the junkyard or car projects such as adding a ceramic coating to her Subaru. Although she gets new cars to test out frequently, Greenwood owns four cars — three of which she dubs “project cars.”
Greenwood started her YouTube channel after working logistics in a local distribution center and realizing that’s not quite what she wanted to be doing.
“I had a little bit of savings to carry me over so I tried YouTube,” she says.
Greenwood says she’s always loved to edit and film, so she made her first video and put it on YouTube. It made about $20.
“I thought, ‘What if I do this and put as much effort into this as when I was active duty Air Force? Why don’t I put that kind of effort into something for myself?’” she says.
She put in her two-week notice and told her boss she was off to pursue a new adventure online.
“He was like, ‘Are you serious?’” she says.
But the transition into full-time YouTube wasn’t easy.
“I started pushing hard with making video content,” she says. “I didn’t know in the first few months if it was going to pay off, but eventually, I started making enough money to live off of.”
With editing and filming, among other things that go along with the job, Greenwood estimates that she spends 80 hours a week working on her channel. People have suggested that she hire a video editor to help take some of the work off her plate — but she loves it too much to give it up.
“Everyone’s like, ‘Why do you do that? That’s insane,’” she says. “But my work is my life.”
As for what sparked her interest in cars, Greenwood says she’s loved cars her entire life — along with just about everyone else in her family.
“I don’t think I have a relative that’s not into cars or motorcycles,” she says.
Check out Greenwood’s YouTube channel at tucne.ws/sarahntuned.
