episode 0017- from fitness trainer to social media sensation: the journey to becoming an influencer with ben barker

How does a person make money online? How does one become a social media influencer? Do they have one video go viral and their whole life turns upside down? Or do they decide they are going to get off the couch and make it happen? For Ben Barker of Ben Barker Fitness, it was mostly the latter.

When Ben decided to start taking social media seriously, his following grew exponentially until he had a big enough following to monetize his platform. Was that the initial intention? How does he make money today? Is it as lucrative as people think? We discuss it all on this episode of the Witness Business Podcast.

Show Highlights:
1- How did the influencer journey start? (5:40)
2- Ben discusses some of the heartaches and mistakes he’s had to learn along the way. (10:05)
3- Ben’s journey of learning to use social media as a business. (13:45)
4- The transition out of posting just for the locals and into becoming more well-known everywhere. (15:00)
5- Ben discusses his original monetization plan when coming off his job. (17:10)
6- How to learn how to do what you don’t know. (17:55)
7- What are your current sources of income? (20:10)
8- What are your biggest takeaways from 18 months of hard knocks? (21:50)
9- Ben discusses the success of running ads vs. organic leads for his subscription website, and how he gets brand deals. (23:05)
10- What’s your advice for someone looking to build a following and thinking they’re going to have automatic success? (28:55)
11- What’s the going rate for an Instagram post when you’re working with a brand? (30:25)
12- The ups and downs of being ADD, and pouring energy into one income source vs. spreading it out amongst several. (33:55)
13- How much effort is the subscription model; how do you program the workouts that you sell? (37:35)
14- What are your revenues broken out by each income stream, and how much time and effort go into each? (40:35)
15- We discuss the validity to saying: there’s trillions of dollars in circulation, so it’s easy to go out there and grab some for yourself. (42:40)
16- What it’s like to sell yourself as a brand, and how much of yourself do you put into it? Where are you headed as an influencer? (46:20)
17- Listener question: How do you get back out there after posting something that you think will be a big hit and go viral, and it bombs? And how do you respond to hatred in the comments section? (50:30)

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Follow Ben on Instagram: @benbarkerfitness

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