The secret to Emily Skye’s $32m success
WHEN Emily Skye was named by Forbes the world’s third most powerful fitness ‘influencer’, it left people all over the globe wondering what she was doing right.
Though the Broadbeach fitness queen lifts weights and looks good in Lycra, behind her super fit image is an innate understanding of social media.
Ms Skye, 32, now worth a cool $32 million and about to give birth to her first daughter, has revealed how she made her millions.
This is the story of the Gold Coast’s most successful fitness entrepreneur – in her own words.
RISE TO FAME
When I fell in love with health and fitness I wanted to do something educational so I started a blog before social media was really ‘a thing’.
(The blog) didn’t have a lot of followers but about five or six years ago I started building up my Facebook and Instagram accounts.
I remember (my partner) Declan didn’t really understand it and he’d tell me I should get a ‘real job’ but I said ‘just you wait Dec, this is going to be something big’.
So I started doing collaborations, writing posts, tagging people in things and building up my following organically … I was staying up until 4am most nights working on content and it was building really quickly, like 10,000 people a day.
THE SECRET TO HER SUCCESS
A lot of (influencers) have prioritised Instagram, but it actually isn’t important.
Facebook has always been my focus because you can put a link in all of your posts that your followers then click on to purchase your product.
People still don’t get it. They’re all focused on this Instagram thing and I can tell you from a business perspective that Instagram does not transact as well.
I think of it as a branding thing to get my name out there and Facebook is for business.
Probably 90 per cent of the money I’ve made comes from my plans.
CHILDHOOD
I grew up at Glenning Valley on the Central Coast, and I don’t want to do the whole sob story thing but my sister and I had a single parent and we didn’t have money.
There were years that we didn’t get Christmas presents (and) we had to get taken out of school because mum couldn’t afford the fees.
As a teenager I was really negative and insecure.
For as long as I could remember I never felt good about myself and didn’t really see any point in living.
I went through times when I was suicidal and I had no direction
Instagram followers: 2.1 million
Facebook followers: 10.9 million
Worth: $32 million
or motivation to do anything. I went through bad relationships and boyfriends that were abusive; it was a horrible way to live.
THE LOVE STORY
When I was 24 I met my boyfriend Declan and we’ve been together for eight years.
Declan was a huge part of helping me make some changes and become a better person through health and fitness.
We moved to the Gold Coast about four years ago and now he works with me on the business.