From garage hobbyist to YouTube star

One look at the intro video on his YouTube page gives you a glimpse into Jim Wright’s personality. He’s funny. He’s personable. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. And he has no problem opening up to his 30,000+ subscribers, a number that climbs every day.

Southern California native Jim Wright didn’t grow up wanting fame, fortune, or to be on the big screen. Instead, he wanted to build things. He is, by most standards, your typical guy’s guy. He’s stoic, hardworking, quick to lend a helping hand, and finds solace in his garage. His go-to uniform of choice is a ball cap, T-shirt, shorts, white ankle socks, and sandals. Oh, and he’s got a killer handlebar mustache and an infectious laugh.

His home, a modest ranch nestled on a quiet street in residential Placentia, Calif., has his fingerprints all over it. From the wrought iron fencing to the backyard pool to the work shed he built for his father-in-law, everything has been carefully and skillfully crafted by his hand for a specific purpose.

The most well-known and popular of his handcrafted masterpieces has to be his garage, which over the years has transformed into more than just a storage room for tools and other guy things. It is the meeting place for family and friends, the place where shenanigans occur, and it just so happens to serve as the backdrop to his YouTube video series, “Jimbo’s Garage.”

One look at the intro video on his YouTube page gives you a glimpse into Jim Wright’s personality. It’s a video highlighting shop mishaps, outtakes, and bloopers from his popular how-to welding and construction video series. He’s funny. He’s personable. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. Did we mention that laugh? And he has no problem opening up to his 30,000+ subscribers, a number that climbs every day.

The Making of Jimbo

Wright has always had a natural curiosity for building things and then taking them apart. By age 8 he was taking apart lawnmowers and building whatever he could get his hands on.

In high school he learned to weld in shop classes, became a teacher’s assistant his senior year, and was hired as a welder out of high school. He did that for about a year and a half until he took another opportunity working in a grocery store, where he made a little more money. In 1984 he started Wright Construction Co., a concrete and masonry company, that he still heads up today.

But he always loved welding. About 10 years ago he bought a power source and has since taken on any and every project he can, just because. Even after so many years, welding just felt like home.

“I have learned that it’s like riding a bike. I seem to have the feel for it and the touch. It brought back memories of how to hold the electrode and the torch angle from high school. Some people don’t get it. It’s difficult. But some are natural. And when it happens, you just know what to do,” Wright explained.

Things have changed quite a bit in terms of technology. In many respects, high-tech inverter machines and semiautomatic processes have taken over, which meant Wright had some catching up to do.

“Today there are so many different processes. I want to learn them all and do them all. When I’m not making a video, I’m out here at night practicing and honing my skills.”

Wright has loved building things and taking them apart since he was a kid. Now he’s able to help others do the same through his informative yet entertaining video series, “Jimbo’s Garage,” found on YouTube.

Whether it’s building a gate for his home or a metal table for a neighbor, or even creating projects made from wood, Wright can do it all. If it means spending time building things in his garage, he’ll do it.

Before Jim Wright’s garage became the backdrop for “Jimbo’s Garage,” it was best known as a place where friends and family congregated to watch football, throw darts, or just sit around and chat. Woodworking and metalworking tools line the perimeter walls. A welding table that sits in front of the window overlooking the backyard houses every size and type of grinder imaginable. Paint cans are perfectly organized by color; wrenches—including the full set he received from his parents—are displayed in the most picturesque way in his tall Craftsman tool chest. Light-up beer signs, racing posters, and other decor make the space fun and personable.

Dane Wagner, producer of “Jimbo’s Garage” and Wright’s future son-in-law, was impressed with the detail and scope of Wright’s garage, but that wasn’t his main takeaway.

“What stood out to me was how people seemed to gravitate toward Jim. It doesn’t matter, young or old, everybody is hanging out here with Jimbo,” Wagner said.

“I remember walking in here for the first time thinking that it was the most incredible spot. Everything is superorganized and clean, and it’s just as comfortable in here as it is in the house. It’s so lived-in and natural.”

As they got more acquainted, Wright and Wagner discovered common ground through a shared love of YouTube videos. Wright loved watching welding videos by Jody Collier of “Welding Tips and Tricks,” Lance Edwards of “ChuckE2009,” and Jimmy DiResta. And then Wright showed Wagner some of the videos he had captured with his phone detailing the various projects he was working on. The videos were simple, of course, but Wagner couldn’t help but notice the effortlessness of Wright’s on-camera demeanor and how compelling he made each step of the project sound.

“I saw so much personality on camera, which was such a contrast to how he was off camera. He’s just a man’s man,” Wagner said.

Building a YouTube Channel

When Wagner, a self-taught filmmaker, and Wright’s daughter Jenna approached Wright about turning his fascination into his own YouTube channel, they really weren’t thinking long term. It all genuinely started as something fun to do while they hung out in the garage. But it was an idea that made a lot of sense. Wright is crafty, knowledgeable, humble, very likable, and comfortable in his own skin. And he has the perfect space to set up production.

Being the laid-back guy that he is, Wright agreed to give it a try.

Wright is a one-man crew during video shoots. He positions the camera for each shot, turns it on and adjusts the various camera settings, and does his thing. Dane Wagner receives the footage and edits it down to the finished product.

Turns out he was a natural.

“I brought over a new camera, turned it on, and away he went. He said, ‘Hey, welcome to Jimbo’s Garage. Today we’re going to do this and that.’ He stopped and asked, ‘Was that good?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that was good!’”

Together, they made a video and a brief intro, created the channel, and released the first video. Wright does all of his own camera work. He sets up the shot, adjusts the lighting, hits record, and starts talking. If he needs a different camera angle, he stops, switches camera positions, and starts again. When he is finished shooting content, Wagner collects the footage and edits it. It’s a process, but it’s one that works for both of their schedules.

It was fun and exciting for Wright, Wagner, and family to see the small following “Jimbo’s Garage” had achieved. At first, expectations were low. They set a goal of securing one subscriber per day, which they achieved.

“As we got started, Dane wanted to get 30 subscribers a month, and we hit that goal fairly quickly. A couple months in we exceeded that. It was fun watching it grow. So, every day I’m like, ‘I’ve got another subscriber!’” Wright said.

Soon they were securing 200 to 300 subscribers a month. They created a dashboard to track subscribers, but Wright also tracks subscribers and views on paper. The page grew little by little for the first year and a half. He populated his channel with videos that gave viewers tips on how to build a shop dolly, how to replace a handle on a shovel, how to use a pipe notcher, and how he built his aluminum can cruncher. The videos were fun, covered real topics, and they were entertaining and engaging. His subscriber base grew slowly but steadily.

Out of nowhere video plays and subscribers took a huge leap forward, like from 200 per month to 40 or 50 per day, leaving Wright and Wagner both pleased and puzzled. Through online research, Wagner found out that a mainstream media outlet shared the video he made about building a table for his table saw. From there the stream of video views and subscribers continued to climb.

And then came the phone calls from equipment manufacturers wanting their brands represented onscreen at “Jimbo’s Garage.” Through careful selection, they chose to partner with HTP America Inc., Fein Tools, and Yost Vise. If that wasn’t a big enough boost, the channel reached the popularity level to start generating revenue.

“YouTube does a profit share. Once you reach a certain subscriber total, you are contacted by an agency, and they coordinate ads from companies like Home Depot to play before or during your video. This was all totally new to me, and we had no idea what to do or how to handle it,” Wagner said.

But then came the demand to release more content, faster than either Wright or Wagner was comfortable with. They both agreed that their emphasis going forward, no matter what hits they might take financially, was making quality videos, both in terms of content and production value.

While Wright’s 900-square-foot garage is a hobbyist’s dream, it’s also a place where family and friends have always gravitated.

“This agency told us that we needed more videos, shorter videos. There were all of these stipulations. For Jim or anyone in that generation, it’s about showing a good project and doing something educational, and those things take time. If we were to attempt to do two videos per week, for example, well, that’s a lot harder than people think,” Wagner said.

“We’ve taken a huge hit [financially]. We are generating a quarter of the revenue that we should, but we’ve decided to put quality in front of quantity.”

While that philosophy might go against the norm, it has helped “Jimbo’s Garage” expand to more than 33,000 subscribers.

Keeping It Real

The engaging guy in front of the camera is also the same guy who makes it a point to respond to every viewer question. He’s the same guy who meticulously tracks views and subscribers on loose-leaf paper because, deep down, he doesn’t really trust internet-based tracking methods. He’s the same guy who will help anyone and build anything.

It’s that realness that Wagner believes has allowed Wright to resonate with viewers and gain traction.

“He’s got this great quality of being able to talk and be genuine. The other part on YouTube is you have to be relevant and have something the others don’t. So I’ve always tried to keep the edge on quality, as good as it can be. It was never about being better than anyone else’s [video], it’s just about how good can we make this? How interesting is it going to be?” Wagner explained.

Wright agreed.

“People say they appreciate I am real and make mistakes and admit to them. Nothing’s perfect.”

Standing in front of the camera and talking about a project is still hard, even when he’s the only guy in the room.

“It can take four or five takes. It’s an amazing amount of pressure when you set up a camera and have to know exactly what you’re going to say before you say it,” Wright said. “I wish I could be more natural. The video we just did, I must have done five takes on the simple outro. Thirty seconds long, and it took five or six times to say a few words.”

One of the most important factors that determine success for a YouTube channel is sustainability. Fortunately, Wright’s job as a contractor means there’s never a shortage of topics to cover.

“He always has stuff coming in. This channel is so organic in what happens and he never has to invent reasons to make a video. His ideas come from actual applications. If he’s doing a video about welding a column, it’s because that column is going into someone’s home,” Wagner said.

Not every video is technical. Some give viewers a glimpse into Jim Wright, the dad—a role that outweighs that of star of “Jimbo’s Garage.”

When Wagner was preparing to propose to Wright’s daughter, he asked Wright to craft a heart-shaped wooden box to hold the ring, which eventually became a video. There is also a video dedicated to the proposal itself.

A few years and almost 200 videos later, Wright and “Jimbo’s Garage” is at a place he never knew imaginable, with no sign of slowing down.

But in the end, he just wants to spend time in his garage building things for people, and creating content that helps others do the same.

“I like making videos. It’s fun and challenging. I like making something and then making it for the world. There are people all over the world, in every country, that I get comments from. Other parts of the world do things different, and it’s interesting to see their feedback. As long as I can keep putting out good content, I’m happy.”

Editor's Note: If you'd like to see a video of our interview with Jim Wright, click here.

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