I'm a 23-year-old entrepreneur who made $120,000 last year. Here's how I built multiple income streams. (2024)

I grew up in Canada, where I got into competitive figure skating.

After a knee injury, I couldn't train on the ice. My mom found a Barre class nearby, which is a low-impact exercise involving a mix of Pilates, ballet, and yoga. I felt hopeful that I could keep training. When I went to college, I kept up figure skating, but just for fun.

At college, I started struggling with my relationship with food and exercise. I went to the gym a lot and over-exercised.

I started a fitness blog

At the same time, I trained as a Barre and Pilates instructor and started teaching classes as a side gig.

Meeting people who took my classes, who were in their 40s and 50s, helped me reframe my approach to exercise. For them, exercising was about getting stronger or recovering from injury rather than their body image.

I started my blog, "I'm Sweaty And I Know It," where I wrote about exercise, health, recipes, and mental health. I'd post a piece about twice a week, but I wasn't making any money from it.

I used TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to build an email list

In 2020, when we couldn't do classes in person, I moved my classes online. I focused on posting workouts that were tailored to what people needed help with.

Anywhere from 50 to 100 people attended each free class.

I scheduled TikTok live workouts and standard TikToks, where I'd direct people to my YouTube channel at the end of the clip. One of my first viral TikTok workouts was called "Not in the mood to workout, try this workout for unmotivated days."

I started partnering with brands

I graduated from college in 2021, and I started working a nine-to-five in PR and filming my workout videos on the side. Initially, I barely made any money from my social-media profiles. After I signed on with a talent agency in 2021, I started making money from brand deals on TikTok and Instagram.

I only worked with brands where I knew the products or deals that let me try products out first. I had partnerships with athleisure stores like Fabletics and Free People, where I'd wear their workout clothes in my videos or do workout classes in partnership.

For all my TikTok and Instagram posts, I'd add a "call to action" to direct people to my YouTube. I saw it as a funnel for my business. I'd offer my audience free guides in exchange for their emails. I'd grown my email list to 1,000 members by the end of December 2021.

I made money through YouTube ads

When I reached 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, I started making money from AdSense. I made $3,600 from ads on YouTube in 2021. Last year, I had 50,000 subscribers on YouTube, and I made $4,700 from the ads. Now, I have 170,000 subscribers on YouTube, and I've made $16,700 from ads.

In March 2022, I stopped working with the talent agency. I found brands would typically reach out to me, but for some brands I really loved, I'd message them on Instagram or find an email contact to send them my rates. By then, I charged about $3,000 for one Instagram Reel and $1,000 for four to six photos for an Instagram Story.

Launching a paid-for app was daunting

I felt that too many YouTube workouts had clickbait headlines about losing weight. As someone who'd struggled with an eating disorder in the past, I wanted to create a Pilates and Barre app with workouts that were empowering.

I used Arketa, an app-building program that costs $39 a month to store my workout videos and about $200 a month to build and maintain the app. I'd work on the app after work in the evenings for two months.

I was terrified that no one would subscribe because they'd been used to my free workout classes.

I offered subscribers one free month

I started by offering subscribers one month's free access to the app, which automatically renewed at $10 a month unless they canceled.

When I launched my app, Sweaty Studio, in January 2022, I was amazed that 500 people signed up.

I was making about $5,000 a month from the app, compared with $40,000 a year in my PR job. I was also making up to $10,000 a month with my social-media brand deals. In February, I quit my job to focus on the app.

I started with a new year's fitness challenge, introduced monthly challenges, and began leading a weekly live class.

I increased my prices

Six months later, I increased the subscription to $20 a month — but I gave my original subscribers the option of staying on the $10 rate to incentivize them to stay.

This year, I created two subscription tiers: a basic tier for $20 and a $50 premium tier that gives subscribers access to more workouts, including our monthly programs.

The membership rate slowed a little when I increased the subscription, but it was worth it. Last year, I made six figures from my app, and $120,700 overall, after business expenses.

I like structuring my business by taking my energy levels and "cycle-syncing" into account. I have days where I work full nine-to-five hours when I've had a launch coming up, but then I have days where I work two or four hours.