If you’ve ever wondered how much do fitness influencers make, you should ask an expert. So we turned to Caitlin Spears. When Caitlin Spears started posting on social media in 2018, her goal was to share what she was up to with the world. At the time, she was modeling and traveling. She shared the behind-the-scenes of her life with around 10,000 followers.
After becoming a certified health and nutrition coach, she began posting more content focused on health, wellness, and fitness. Over the past five years, she’s built her Instagram audience to over 150,000 followers and makes six figures a year as a health and fitness influencer.
Spears told Passionfruit that she was able to grow her platform by putting in a lot of hard work and sharing her knowledge about what fuels her life with her audience.
“I truly only share things I believe in and have personally used or do myself,” said Spears. “I want to be authentic and organic and always show up for my amazing growing community.”
Spears Utilizes A Team To Maximize Her Content
Spears spends 7-10 hours a week creating content for social media. She spends that time brainstorming ideas, batching content creation, writing captions, and scheduling posts. She does have a team that helps her with social media management. Working with a team has freed up 50% of the time she used to spend on content creation.
Spears Makes Six figures Per Year Through Partnerships, Courses, and Deals
Over the years, Spears has monetized her social media platforms in a few different ways. First, she does paid partnerships and collaborations with brands she trusts, like IGC Health and Chlorophyll Water. These brand deals include stories with links and tags, photo and reel collaborations, and co-hosting Instagram lives.
She also monetizes her social media through Instagram ads.
“You can get paid to run ads on your page, so the more people who view your page, the more you can make,” she said.
Additionally, she drives traffic from social media to her online course and to in-person wellness and fitness events in the Miami area. She also earns money from sponsors who pay to participate in the event and to be featured on her social media.
She advises other creators to build their social media channels around what they love and what value they can bring to their audience.
“Don’t collaborate with every brand, because not every brand will be the right fit for you,” Spears said. “Stay authentic and your audience will come and stay for the long run, and so will the paid sponsorships.”
How Do Fitness Influencers Spend Their Day?
If you want to understand how Spears makes money, you need to ask questions beyond how much do fitness influencers make. While her days vary, here’s an example of a real day in my life as a health and fitness influencer and content creator who has successfully monetized my platforms.
Morning
6:15 AM: I woke up, got dressed, washed my face, and brushed my teeth before heading to the kitchen. Then I make my morning matcha latte. I also took my dog out for her first trip to the park.
7AM: I arrive at my gym and workout for around 35 minutes. Today, I did a Mat Pilates style workout, which left me feeling refreshed and ready to take on my busy day.
8AM: I quickly eat some breakfast. Today, I opted for two eggs, some yogurt, berries, and toast. Then I shower, do my morning skincare routine, pick out my outfit for the day, and start getting ready. Today I need to record some videos for my course, and I have four client calls, so I will get fully ready, hair/makeup/etc.
9AM: I am now ready to start my day at the office. I head into my home office and log on to my computer. I start by checking my emails, slack channels, Trello board, etc. Today I will spend my first 2 hours recording video content for my new unreleased course launching in October.
10AM: I spent this entire hour recording video content for my course. Re-recording, uploading, and doing it all again.
11AM: I jumped on a call with one of my health coaching clients for 60 minutes. With my 1:1 health coach clients, I take them through my CAIT Method: connect, approach, integrate, and transform.
Afternoon
12PM: I went into the kitchen for a quick healthy lunch. Today I had salmon with salad and some fruit. I also took my dog for a walk to the park and a quick round of fetch. Had a quick 15-minute call with a new potential Sweat Party Sponsor/brand.
1PM: I spent this hour batch recording some of the content my team had suggested on the Trello board, and I changed outfits three times so that the content all looks like it was filmed on different days!
2PM: I jumped on my 2nd client call of the day for 60 minutes.
3PM: I had a mid-afternoon snack, some apples and peanut butter. I also made a second matcha latte. I decided to jump on to my IG and go live for 20 minutes here, engage with my audience and answer some questions.
4PM: Spent another hour filming video content for my course in my home office.
5PM: I had a podcast interview with a creator’s podcast – 45-minute interview. Then took my dog out for a walk.
Evening
6PM: I had my 3rd client call for 60 minutes.
7:15 PM: I had my 4th client call for 60 minutes.
8:15 PM: I had dinner when I jumped off my call. I meal-prepped some chicken and veggies with couscous and that’s what I had for dinner. Then I sat on the couch with my boyfriend and dog and watched 30 minutes of a TV show.
9:30 PM: I started doing my nighttime routine. I rinsed off, did my skincare, put on my PJs, lit a candle, jumped into bed, did my 5-minute journal, read for 20 minutes, and talked and cuddled with my dog and boyfriend.
10:30 PM: put my doggie in her bed, turned my noise machine on to rain sounds, and went to bed. Fell asleep within 10-15 minutes.
What Did Spears Learn Tracking Herself For A Day?
After keeping track of a day in her life, Spears shared she was surprised at all she was able to do in just 24-hours.
“The truth is, I could definitely multitask less,” she said. “I’ve been getting better at batching my content instead of trying to create new things every day. That’s been a game changer for me.”
Sometimes figuring out what to create can be a challenge, but she tried to make content that is fun, educational, and entertaining.
“I like to mix my own ideas, pull inspiration from what I find on social media, or hear ideas from my team,” Spears said.
Being a content creator might seem glamorous from the outside. But when you study how an influencer spends every hour of the day, you realize making six figures as a content creator is way harder than it looks.
We may ask ourselves how much do fitness influencers make and only mean monetarily. But it’s useful to remember creators’ very existence is making things. What they take home isn’t all fitness influencers make.
