Latest / GEL & Tell / Ep 9 - AnonGymGirl: From 0 to 50K+ Followers, Brand Deals & a 9-5

Transcript

Ep 9 - AnonGymGirl: From 0 to 50K+ Followers, Brand Deals & a 9-5 · GEL & Tell

• G: Welcome back to gel and tell. Nora: Welcome back to Jettyll and Tell, everyone. I believe this is nine, which is wild. We're really doing this. We're being consistent. Look at us. G: We've three-exed the most common place to stop a podcast. So everyone stops at episode three and we're on episode nine, which means that over two months in. Anon Gym Girl: Great. Nora: Yeah. How cool is that? And we've got an incredible guest today. One of our listeners as well, I believe she's been a fan of the pod since we started. But yeah, welcome to the amazing Anon Gym Girl. A bit of an insight into who she is. ⁓ She's incredible content creator, ⁓ primarily the fitness, wellness space. She's also an amazing online fitness coach for women. Anon Gym Girl: legends. Nora: And she's someone that I've known for quite some time ⁓ have watched her grow massively across the last few years. One of my closest friends who has the biggest heart, is beautiful inside and out and is impacting thousands of women across the world with what she's doing. So yeah, I'm super happy and honored to have you on the pod today. Anon Gym Girl: Bro. actually like one of the nicest things anyone's ever said about me. So ⁓ you so much for letting me put that on my CV or something. That's great. No, you. And thank you so much for having me. G: We cannot wait. Nora: ⁓ Yeah, I'm excited to get into this but maybe for anyone who doesn't know you could you give us a bit of a rundown of Who are you? Anon Gym Girl: Hello? Yeah, so I don't know where I start. It's such a simple but actually quite a big question. yeah, a little bit about me. I work full-time job in tech, which is pretty cool. I'm a project manager, technology consultant is my role name and all of that stuff for anyone who actually cares. Alongside that I do social media which I've done for like, I don't know, maybe like five or so years now and I think I've also been in, well, I don't think I have been online for maybe, I think maybe like... route, no I think I want to say four years. So yeah that's a little bit about me on my day to day and what I get up to. Love the gym, do bodybuilding style training, don't think I'd ever step on stage so I am living vicariously through Nora and yeah I just like to try and help people live their best lives, feel good about themselves, be their healthier selves and yeah. Nora: love that. Amazing. mean, ⁓ met through bodybuilding, didn't we? ⁓ we were coached by the same person at one point. we fun fact, we met at the team meetup ⁓ when that coach was doing a team meetup. And I was like, you know, I really like her. ⁓ be friends. So yeah, that's where it all started. But walk us through. Let's go back to like, obviously, social media is what you do and have Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Nora: done for the last few years and with that came a lot of like opportunities, not just with your own business, but also like brands and stuff like that. Like, but I would want to know where did it all start? Cause I didn't know you back then. So yeah, where did it all start? Like how did you start posting content? What got you into that? Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Yeah, of course. I think for like a little bit of context is I went to uni ⁓ was doing an economics degree, but I was also working like pretty much like full time alongside that, like in hospitality, which ⁓ a lot. And anyone who knows about the UK student finance system is ⁓ don't get like, you know, it's very minimal. Like it doesn't even cover your cost of accommodation. And like I was in the cheapest accommodation and... I didn't have any support from like family and things like that, which is absolutely fine. you know, it made me have this experience and made me like into who I am. So I was working a lot, working a lot, obviously my studies, which was a really like challenging degree for me. Like ⁓ I was under qualified for it as I probably should have had a maths A level and like I didn't. ⁓ So was a really, really like big stretch for me. And, you know, I was working a lot. and just get by like doing opening shifts at Costa Coffee at five o'clock in the morning then midday I was going and working in a restaurant um up until like the closing shifts at like 2am and it was a lot and then Covid happened and over just like probably just before I started uni I like I was overweight I was binge eating and I was like I really really want to try the gym so I'd gotten into the gym I was really enjoying it Obviously I was only a few months into my journey and then Covid happened but I got into home workouts and all of that good stuff and then during that time I was like I started to ⁓ I had like a blog at the time it was just like a free blog and I was like writing up random stuff like recipes and ⁓ reviewing things like I was just so random ⁓ I was just posting on social media like as a hobby like mainly to keep me accountable because I was using the Shreddy app at the time and Like it was such a great community and like lots of girls had like just social media accounts to connect and be accountable for. So yeah, that was that was that. So I was posting online and yeah, I've kind of just kept it going ever since then. I did my personal training qualification just because I wanted to learn more for myself. Like I didn't actually intend to do coaching. It sort of just happened after that. But Yeah, I just wanted to learn more like for myself and my own understanding, which is why I did that qualification. And yeah, it's kind of turned into what it is now. So hopefully that answers the question. That's like the very origin though. Nora: No, yeah, 100%. I love that. what kind of was there any particular like moment where things took off like in your like, obviously content started going viral, like I think from what you mentioned to me previously, that's COVID was a time where like things started like going viral for you. ⁓ Anon Gym Girl: Yeah, think over whole time I've had my account, ⁓ my probably has been quite ⁓ slow consistent on paper. I've never had huge massive spikes and things like that. Obviously, naturally, you will have spikes and I've had that, ⁓ but definitely been more consistent. But I would say the main thing for me, and this has always been the most important thing, is community and obviously starting and doing like a shreddy challenge. Community was such a big part of that. So I was like chatting to everyone, like encouraging everyone, like posting about my own journey and my own struggles. So I feel like, like, although yes, like I'm not so much, you know, not like a million followers and all of this stuff. It's, I feel like it's the actual people who do me and are there, which is because of that. So it's actually built. like a tighter community rather than like just like a massive load of people who aren't actually interested in you. Nora: Yeah, yeah, that makes complete sense. So you don't think it was like one particular post, it was more like showing up and like showing up for others like engaging and being active on the platform really, because I think a lot of people like use a platform very selfishly, whether they just post and never interact with their audience. But like you are quite interactive in that sense that you do message your followers and you know, you do like respond to every comment on your posts and stuff like that. Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I think if people are taking any interest in you, which that's a lot to ask for, to ask for someone to engage with you and to reply to you is a lot. I'm sure we all go through so many stories a day and it's not as if we're replying to every single one. for someone to do that, I appreciate that. And it's about building those relationships. And off the back of that, I've literally developed friends. for life and that's because all of the connections and the people that I was speaking to were so genuine and it then into us FaceTiming and then being like, like how funny we're doing the same thing, we're moving to the same area, like let's meet up, let's go to the gym together. And like they are now some of like my longest and like closest friends because of that, ⁓ because were always ⁓ genuine which is really nice. Nora: I love that. ⁓ I really think that social media can be a very good place to meet like-minded people. It can also have the opposite effect, right? And I know we'll get into that. ⁓ Online hate is a thing that you've had to ⁓ get used to, but yeah, it's beautiful to see that you have built really genuine connections through not just your community, but you've made lifelong friends as well through that too. So that's really cool. ⁓ what was your approach content? Because you've been posting for years now. Is there any content that you thought, this will do well and it didn't? then obviously we say this all the time. It's like sometimes the content that you spend the most time editing doesn't do as well, but then the content that you don't then goes viral. What was your with continent? Did you focus too much on the metrics? Anon Gym Girl: Yeah Yeah, it's been like so random like over the years. think like I've literally like probably like done it all. Like I've been that person who like only posts workout videos or like I would just like post something like what I eat in a day's and like I've literally done like absolutely all sorts. And I think like probably the main thing for me, which was like a year ago was like I was posting a lot. Like lot of the videos which I was doing were kind of more like gym memes and stuff like that. And they were getting like hundreds of thousands, like millions of views. But I wasn't actually like converting those in to followers because it wasn't like, right. It's just like a video that you see and like, know, like, that's funny. And you scroll past like it, like there's no like substance to it. So I think that was kind of where it shifted to me when like I noticed that the content that I was. posting which was more personal was actually developing that community which is what I wanted to home in a little bit more with and moving it away from like being like selfish content and like about me and like my journey and actually being how I can help people and like having an overall mission which is to help women like feel like happier in their cells and to feel healthier ⁓ homing in on that and knowing that Yeah, like sometimes a piece of content which doesn't get a million views, you will actually gain like way more followers because of that, because it's the type of content that you're putting out that people relate to. And that's what builds community, which I guess obviously you guys work with so many online coaches, like at the end of the day, those are the people who like not really in my case, but in that coaches cases who are gonna like invest in you and trust in you. rather than just like being there and scrolling past that you've got a million views, yeah, but like they're never ever ever probably gonna see you again or like turn into a client. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. G: I think that's really important. Especially like no one who would want a massive following of people that don't care about them, engage with them, like, there's nothing valuable in like just numbers. I think you're so right. It's that all individual humans, hopefully there's some bots, you know, but like, they are people at the end of the day and connecting with them is so important. One of the things that I love so much about your content and some of my favorite pieces of yours are they're like, Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. G: the stuff that like kind of taboo topics. So the things that like, I'm like, ⁓ my God, thank God someone's talking about smear tests, you know, like, having bad skin day or feeling a bit puffy after like, going for a meal out somewhere where you wouldn't normally eat or all these things that like a lot of us experience, but you don't necessarily see on social media. I think, you know, they're so powerful and like always make me feel really seen individually. How you get to that point of being comfortable to share? Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. G: those kinds of things, because that's quite bold and brave. Anon Gym Girl: Yeah, I think, be honest, I think it is so ⁓ and you have to have a lot of self assurance and I think that's the right word. Over last few years, to be this also ties in a lot with my faith as well and trusting my identity within my faith and that is a lot about being loved for who you are ⁓ and of I'm always gonna make mistakes and never gonna be perfect. But knowing that for a lot of the time, and my general mission is to make people feel good in themselves, and I know that that is genuine as a friend, for the people around me, I want what is best for them. And I think as well, it's a bit of a harsh reality that if I post about acne and someone's like, ooh, that's gross, I don't want you on my page, really. Those aren't the kind of people who... Obviously, yes, it would be nice to help them to come to a point where they can also not feel like that towards it. But at the same time, I know the people who I want in my space and they're not going to be the kind of people who are judging others and hating on others. yeah, just knowing that other people will relate and something which can be an insecurity of mine can also help a lot of other people as well. posting with my skin, someone once messaged me who was quite a big influencer and was like, I love that you always post without makeup. And then that started to make me think, ⁓ should I be posting with makeup? ⁓ Why that almost something that is... It was a nice message. There's nothing necessarily wrong with the message. It made me ⁓ is there something wrong with not... Why is that weird? ⁓ Why is that for us to just turn up on a day to day online? and I pretend to be someone else or have to change the way that we look when like we're all literally like just human. We're living for the first time, we've got our imperfections and just being happy with that because that's all surface level at the end of the day and like I think what matters is like the real substance, not to get deep but I hope that answers. G: No, we love it. Yeah, it does. And I think it shows like, you know, your vision, but also like the impact that you want to have. And that is why your audience has grown so much, but also why you've built this incredible community of people that, you know, genuinely care about you listen, share, like, you know, I think that's amazing. And I think it's just testament to the really nice side of social media, as well. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but your page is definitely a very positive space. Nora: you. Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Thank you. Nora: 100%. And I think your page is also very, it is a reflection of who you are in real life as well. And you see the opposite with many people where you see a different side on social media than you meet them. And you're like, oh, you're a completely different person, but that's not the case with your page, which is what I find very inspirational as well. But yeah, I mean, that page has brought a lot of great opportunities for you as well. Obviously, Working with brands is something that you primarily do at the moment, isn't it? In terms of monetization with your page. Do you remember your first brand deal? What did that look like? How did it come about? Do you want to say? Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. can't remember super super specifically the first one but what do love ⁓ is much all of the brands which I have worked with. There's a few here and there but primarily I have ⁓ loved, ⁓ have them organically ⁓ and been customer of. I think that definitely helps with obviously, yes, a brand recognizing you, but then also turning that into long term relationships as well with a brand. Like I remember, like I was vegan at the time and do not encourage this at all. ⁓ was like, this is a separate issue to be honest. ⁓ was eating like so many protein bars, like, Nora: Yeah. Anon Gym Girl: they were vegan, like they tasted great and that was like one of the first like brands that would like send me a box of protein bars and I'd get to review the protein bars the arrived and it was chocolate and banana it was like a banoffee bar ⁓ and they basically we'll send you this bar and like can you just send us like a taste test so there's me like opening these protein bars like absolutely buzzing about getting a box of protein bars for free and it was like the best thing ever but that was because it was a brand that like i loved so much like and it's like just the small things as well so Nora: Yeah. Anon Gym Girl: Yeah, they'd obviously just seen me like over time, like be a very large customer of these protein bars. So it was quite easy for me to just fit in there eventually, which was nice. Nora: I love that. I think that's super interesting what you said about having used the brands before you actually commit to working with them. Cause a lot of people do it the other way around, isn't it? It's like the opportunity comes along, it makes sense for them financially. And then they start promoting a brand and maybe later down the line, find out that they're not really aligned with the brand and so on. Obviously across the years you've worked with some amazing, very big Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. Nora: brands as well, you got the opportunity to work with brands like Gymshark. I know you got opportunities to travel with them as well, which was super cool. Able is another one. brands as well. yeah, what's the reality of working with big brands like this? Like, is it actually what we see on socials? we'll go through that a bit. Anon Gym Girl: Yeah, it's yeah, feel like there's so much that I could say about this. Where do I start? I am passionate about it is what I will say. Like I absolutely love it. Like I've been with Able and Gymshark being my like probably two like primary brands like I've been with for years now and I've not like jumped ship or like you know, just moved around like brands like for the sake of like, ⁓ they're gonna pay me this to do this. And like, it just doesn't like make sense to me to do that. So I've stayed like loyal to these brands because I do genuinely love them. And I mean, working with brands is like, especially brands that you love is just absolutely amazing. And it's something like, I even got a bit emotional about it yesterday because I was like, like the life that I feel like I live, although like I like I I don't think I'm ungrateful, but I think sometimes I could even be even more grateful and just every single day that I come home and there's a parcel, that is just absolutely crazy and something which I'm so fortunate to have. And I think a lot of people will just be like, oh, whatever. that's it. Whereas that's definitely not my attitude towards that. And I think with any relationship and especially relationships with brands, is I do think like honest and transparent communication is really, really important. like even over the years I've worked with these brands, it's always been like, you know, what do you want to see from me? Like, what can I do more? What do you want me to do differently? And working with them. And I think what's nice is because over time, like I've developed that trust with brands is they trust me to kind of do what I need to do. And I really appreciate that. Like I can. I can be honest and like say if there's things that I don't like and what my genuine opinions are. I have that trust with the brands and with my community, which is really, really nice. And, know, there are like, you know, parts of it, which ⁓ that is pressure. And I do think a lot of that is probably more like personal pressure that I put on myself because I want to like perform for myself and like, ⁓ you always like grow and like do better for the brand. And you know, there are of course boring parts like contractually and you definitely have to have like a decent understanding of what you're committing yourself to and having the confidence to go back and say, know, like, I'm not happy with this, like, or we clarify this? Can we adjust that? ⁓ And making sure that you understand what you're signing ⁓ yourself and if it is, if it if it's really what you want, if it's fair and Yeah, that's definitely probably the more boring side about it, but I'm probably a bit of a weirdo, I actually quite enjoy that as well. Yeah, so it's so fun, like overall it is so fun, but there are definitely like harder parts where if you don't know what you're signing yourself into, you could probably get quite messy quite quickly. Nora: Yeah. G: Yeah. For our listeners that maybe don't understand kind of like how sort of implements a brand partnerships work. Would you kind of explain sort of like, what does that relationship look like? What are the expectations on it? How does it like, obviously, you have to go into like monetary value and things like that. But just for someone that is just sort of a general user on social media, sees like, you know, people with a code like Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. G: Could you just kind of explain to us in like really simple terms, what does it mean to be like an influencer that works with a brand? Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, of course. So there's like so many different ways that brands can do it. So like a very common one is like a gifting strategy. So brands will just send out products to like people on social media. And ⁓ typically, they shouldn't really like ⁓ be okay, we're to send you this product for free and you have to post. It should kind of be like on the influencer, like if they want to post. So it's something to be mindful of. G: Hmm. Anon Gym Girl: And if they're being like, we'll send you this, but we want like six posts and we want like seven stories for like, you know, a 10 pound product. It's probably not fair. So that's kind of the first where they will basically send it to you and hope that you will then promote it on your stories or post about it and then get their brand out there. ⁓ there are like more longer term partnerships where ⁓ like an affiliate. G: Nice. Anon Gym Girl: So with an affiliate, will typically get sent like the gifted product, but you will also off sales. ⁓ yeah, that just completely vary from brand to brand. And then that, you you then have that incentive to earn commission, you then want to post about it more. ⁓ And that's a discount code is because when the customer uses a discount code or like a support code ⁓ that then will get the creator commission, but it also will show show the brand that people are invested in you, which is like one of the main like things that it means for me. Like even it was just a support code and now I didn't necessarily get commission. It's still really important because it shows that people want to support me. And I think that's what like means the most to me. And then like the next level up from there is typically paid partnerships. So this is where you'll have set deliverables which can be like absolutely anything could be like one post and three stories or like a post a tick tock and three stories and they will give you a salary so usually you'll get paid like amount for x deliverables each month and within that ⁓ you have exclusive and non-exclusive contracts so ⁓ Typically, if you are exclusive, this will mean that you won't work with any competitor brands and usually you will be paid more for that because of course there's an opportunity cost of you not working with other brands. So they'll be paying you a premium for you to be exclusive to them. So yeah, hopefully that's a good summary. G: Mm-hmm. ⁓ that was brilliant. I think that's so, so insightful. Cause I think a lot of us that, you know, don't like aren't in the influence of marketing space or don't, you know, have that, you know, experience wouldn't, wouldn't know. ⁓ and we see a of like people selling stuff online or, know, see it all the time on TikTok and then especially like ads on Instagram. And you kind of don't know always whether, you know, some are they getting paid to do that? How does it work? So I think it's really, really insightful. ⁓ and yeah, ⁓ I also love what you said earlier about. Nora: Yeah. Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. G: you being a customer of the brands that you work with and loving the products, have you ever been sent something as a gift in the post that you hated and you were like, I'm not gonna share this or this is disgusting. you ever just been sent something and been like, what is that? ⁓ Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. mean, there's definitely gonna have been times when the stuff I'm not ⁓ like, ⁓ about ⁓ it's quite funny even like a few days ago, ⁓ got sent these shorts ⁓ like the design on them kind of looked moldy. ⁓ I was just like fully like, I was on my Instagram, my YouTube like guys like, why do these shorts look moldy? And like, I was just talking about it honestly, because ⁓ I can see it like so can everyone else. But then anyway, I tried them on and they literally look, they actually looked really good. So I was like, you know what? I know I've been calling these shorts moldy, but they're actually quite nice. So yeah, I am always honest. And I think a lot of the brands that get it right will encourage you to be honest as well, because at the same time, if you see someone who's like, my gosh, like this is the best thing ever. And then they're like, this is the best. No, this is the best. And they never say, actually like I'm not the biggest fan of this. G: Hmm. Anon Gym Girl: like just know that you're going to say that about absolutely everything. yeah, I'm usually quite honest with what I like and what I don't like, which ⁓ because the brands as well, which is really nice. Nora: Yeah. G: Yeah, that is good. Nora: Yeah, I think it's really good that the brands allow that as well because ⁓ there can be brands that, ⁓ know, don't. Is that right? Or is that something that you had to like, talk about with them before you like felt more open and honest ⁓ with like audience? Like, yeah. Anon Gym Girl: Mm. Yeah, think fortunately the type of brands that like I've been with have been very understanding. So it's never like I've felt like I've had to lie. Like I just, wouldn't do that to be honest. I just doesn't like feel right. So yeah, fortunately like I haven't, but I'm pretty confident that there will be brands out there that like, you know, they wouldn't want you to be saying certain things. Nora: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. mean, I think there's a difference between being honest about how you find a specific product versus like saying something that will reflect badly on the brand itself, right? And like, that's where like, there's a line. So yeah, but I have always like admired how like honest you are. Because you know, at the end of the day, like, especially if there's commission involved and stuff like that, the creator would want to Anon Gym Girl: Yeah, of course. Nora: you know, push for more sales, but like you've never not been honest with your audience about things that you like and don't like. And I think that's yeah, really admirable because not everyone does that in the creator space. ⁓ I think another thing that you highlighted, I don't think you've specifically fully gone into what it takes, but you work so hard for, you know, Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Nora: It's basically another job, isn't it? On the side to your nine to five job. And I don't think a lot of people realize how much work it takes. And I've told you this so many times, like I am so proud of everything that you're doing, because it is not easy. Like so many people see all the benefits and obviously like the money that's involved with like, you know, all the opportunities that you get, but what they don't see is the stress that comes with all the deliverables and all that stuff, you know, and Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Nora: You basically, you know, do ever switch off? Like, how do you do it? Anon Gym Girl: Yeah, this is, yeah, it's hard. Like, and I think with social media as well is like a lot of the time it's not an overnight success. So like I posted for years for free, like with nothing, like it's not as if every post that I do is an ad, like you're constantly posting, you know, with like no monetary gain. And obviously for years, like I did that. even though it's like, Okay, like now, like I'm able to very, very fortunately to be able to like monetize things like for so long. Like I didn't like it. You know, I was working for free technically, but obviously it's always been like a hobby for me to, I don't really see it like that. yeah, managing it is a lot. Like I it's hard as well because you have to be able to like switch your head like being like very technical like in the day. ⁓ to then maybe having to have some space to read a contract and really kind of understand what that means. And also I think the creativity part is particularly difficult for me because I don't necessarily have a lot of space and time to get creative, if that makes sense. the environment that I'm living in, which ⁓ a lot a more difficult. And I've definitely had my fair share of burnout, unfortunately. And right I'm really trying to... take little bit of a step back and like now I take Sundays well tried to take my Sundays off just like completely to be like you know I might do a few things here and there but like I'm off social media from 8 p.m. because a lot of the time like when you are doing social media like it's not ⁓ like scrolling on social media like just scrolling like a lot of the time like you're looking for inspiration or you know, you're trying to gather ideas or you're wanting to engage, you're wanting to reply to comments. So even though it's not like, you know, really like heavy workload stuff, it's you're still not switching off. And I think it's really important as well to have that time when your mind is just doing something other than being a screen or thinking about what you're going to post or yeah. G: I think a lot of us could learn from not being on social media after 8pm. That's very admirable. So tell us about the brick. This is purely selfish question because I've seen it on your stories, but like, it. What does it do? How does it work? Why do you like Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. Get a brick. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so you know what? This is quite funny because I was sent this as a gift with like not really having to post about it. But now I'm obviously I've been telling everyone about it personally. I keep on thinking I need to post about it because I've really benefited from it. And I'm like I'm thinking I need to put a story up and know shout about it because it is great. basically you set up a schedule where because you know on your your screen time you can just like click off it and you can just go on the app anyway, like it just doesn't work. This, you'll put your apps on a schedule, certain apps, so for me it's like social media and it's on a schedule, so between like 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., I can't like go on any social media apps and if I want to get off the social media apps, I have to get on them and un-brick my phone, I have to go and tap it, but it's... Great, because a lot of the time, like, they sound so lazy, but like, even if you're sat on the sofa, like, it's a lot easier to click a button, like, okay, cancel screen time, then actually get up and go and get your brick to unbrick it. Or even if you go on a walk, you can brick your phone and then obviously you're not at the brick to unbrick it. So great because it's just like having all the screen time limitations, but it's physical. So yeah, it's really, really good to just switch off and like... Nora: Yeah. Anon Gym Girl: put that in place so that you're not constantly on your phone. G: Yeah, that's great. It forces you to go cold turkey. ⁓ I love it. Yeah. You should be on commission for bricks. ⁓ Anon Gym Girl: This is Defo. Nora: I'm Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. Literally, literally. Imagine this is going to be run as like an Instagram ad, like in a few months, like just a video of me talking about how much I love my friend. G: hashtag ad. ⁓ Nora: if you're watching this. G: That was great. It's great though. think a lot of people would benefit from that, especially when you're an online business owner, coach, creator, like we are on our phones so much ⁓ that almost that forcing of don't touch it is huge. Nora obviously mentioned how hard you work, which is incredibly hard given you're balancing a full time, intense tech job, content creation and still a coaching business, right? So managing Anon Gym Girl: Mm Nora: Yeah. Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. Nora: percent. Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. G: How does your day look like? What time are we waking up to be able to achieve so much? Like you're doing more than most individuals combined with their significant other. how does this work? Anon Gym Girl: Well, I've flight for years basically, well actually, little bit of a story. I started getting up early to go to the gym first thing because I was that lazy that my theory was that if I woke up and went to the gym first thing, then I'm already walking to the gym before I've woken up. So I'd be like a zombie walking to the gym because I was still half asleep. So anyway, that's how I got into just waking up super early. I did try earlier this year, well for basically most of this year until a few weeks ago, was getting up at 5am, but then that just wrecked my body because I really needed that extra hour of sleep. So yeah, I get up six o'clock in the morning. It's definitely my sweet spot. I love it. like my gym time because no else has really woken up then, which is great because it means you've just got time for yourself before everyone else is up and your phone's pinging, you've got a million things to do. Obviously my nine to five and then work or like on my lunch break, ⁓ any time that I've got minutes, even like if I'm on a bus or I'm like getting the tube somewhere, that will be like a lot of social media time. Like even when I'm trying to get my steps in, like for my own fitness goals, like I'm ⁓ like editing video or just doing stuff. So I use a lot of like that dead time to things which need to done pretty much. And yeah, the same with my coaching clients as well. Like I have like a block of time on a Monday where like I'll get back to check-ins and then again, like time throughout the week where I've got a minute will be client programs and you know, just I'm always trying to reply to my clients quickly as possible on my phone. So even when I'm out and about like just being there. So yeah. G: Wow, fair play. mean, I love the idea of like the habit stacking and there's just no excuses, you know, which I really appreciate. You just get it done, which a lot of people could take a lot of inspiration and learn from. we hear a lot of, don't have time for it or, you know, oh, I'll get to this next week or I just couldn't have time to post on social media because it's just, you know, it doesn't fit around my schedule and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I think you just prove that. Anon Gym Girl: No. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. G: That's lot of words and you can make anything a reality if you want to do it. You just have to make your schedule work. So yeah, love it. Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. Yes, no defo. Nora: Love that. One thing that I would love to talk a bit about if you feel comfortable would be hate on socials. You have what? Why are you laughing? Why is Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. G: Sorry, I'm not laughing. It was how you paused before the hate. Let's talk about something really important. Hate. Nora: was trying to make it up. ⁓ like, ⁓ think, you know, we got a few like random comments the other day. I was like, ⁓ me, who are you? Why are you commenting on my post being negative? ⁓ obviously you have experienced with the increasing amount of like followers and like you've had quite a few real score, like get millions of views with that comes. Anon Gym Girl: OATS! You Mm-hmm. Nora: not just the good side of social media, but also the more negative side of social media, which personally, I don't understand. don't know how someone has free time in their day to go out of their way to comment something bad, but just comes with the with the parcel of like ⁓ viral, doesn't it? So how have you found, guess, dealing with negative comments and is your approach to them ⁓ now versus when you Anon Gym Girl: Good. Nora: first started, like different, like does it still affect you if it did? Like yeah, what does that look like? Anon Gym Girl: Yeah, I think, like I've never really been the type of person who will get like a hate comment and then like start crying straight away. But I do think it definitely has probably affected me more like subliminally, I suppose. Yeah, like, like said, ⁓ I do not know why anyone would go out of their time to leave a hate comment. I think that definitely helps you put things into perspective. And I think it's almost also one of them where the more that I've got, the more that I just realized like they're absolute nonsense. Like some of the things that people say about me are just absolutely like could not be further from the truth because they do not know me. Like the other day, like someone commented on one of my things basically saying how like stupid I was and like unintelligent because say lots of likes. which is because of where I'm from in the UK is why I say a lot of likes so yeah I don't speak with like perfect English but it's just one of those where like you know I've I've got this is a little bit of a flex but I'm actually really proud of this I've got a first-class economic screw which I worked my bloody butt off for and like I know that I am not a thick human being basically. So this stuff like that just as an example which helps put it into perspective for me where they like so many people will think because you post on social media that like that you're not intelligent well like I have friends who are like doctors, dentists like so so so intelligent and they are big on social media they've been so so successful and the two can 100 % coexist so It's things like that, people just have preconceptions and I think a lot of the time they will be projecting their own insecurities onto you as well. And I think just having like a really like good support network like around me has really helped to put them into perspective and yeah, to be there to support me when things have like been a bit hard. And have also just noticed that if you are going to have a viral video. you're almost like definitely going to get hate with that. And some people even use that as a bit of a metric that like you should actually get a bit of hate because it means that you've been somewhat controversial and you're going to go viral or something, which I don't really know how much I agree with that. But yeah, it's one of those that puts it into perspective. It's almost something that, well, it comes with the job almost. G: Yeah, the nature of the beast. We had a client the other day go viral and it was a, ⁓ was a, like a protein recipe essentially. And the haters will find anything to hate on. Some, ⁓ were literally having an argument in the comments about a recipe, a friendly recipe mind, like, and so was just completely unrelated, but like the, ⁓ the expletives protein pancakes were hilarious. ⁓ Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. Yeah. Nora: Yeah, but like Anon Gym Girl: Mm G: Rewild. Nora: What was even more hilarious was that it wasn't directed towards the creator. They were fighting with each other in the comments. I was like, are you doing? Do people not have jobs? ⁓ Anon Gym Girl: Yeah. G: So they woke up and chose violence. Nora: It was wild. Anon Gym Girl: mean, the creative benefits from that though as well, which is almost like the funny part, like when people are leaving hate and they're arguing in the comments, it's like they're literally helping you to grow, like, which is the funny part. Yeah. Nora: Yeah. G: Good way to see a silver positive lining in it. I like that. Amazing. we close, let's just do some fun quick fire Q and A's if you don't mind. Okay, quick fire, TikTok or Instagram. Nora: Yeah. Anon Gym Girl: Exactly. Of course. Instagram. Nora: Okay, filming at your own place or filming in the gym. Anon Gym Girl: I got my own place. G: What is your biggest ick in the fitness industry? Anon Gym Girl: my gosh, six week transformations. ⁓ G: Yeah, that's that. If Instagram turned off tomorrow, what would you do? Anon Gym Girl: Probably just go to my nine to five. Continue as normal. G: Yeah, that fail safe in place. Nora: What else? G: one thing you would never do again as a creator. Anon Gym Girl: I don't know how to articulate this but a few years ago I was posting like basically only like my gym outfits and I gained loads of followers but they were they were kind of creepy people so that is what I would never do again even though that was not my intention like you know I was just posting my cute gym fit like you know I thought my glutes looked all right you know what I mean um but yeah unfortunately that didn't attract the right people who I wanted to bring to my page. Nora: Mm. Yeah. G: Makes sense. Booty gains will stay away. Anon Gym Girl: Yes. Nora: ⁓ What is one thing that people assume about your life that is not true? things that you're like, that is completely not true? ⁓ Anon Gym Girl: Well yeah, guess the me being absolutely stupid is one of them. Just because I post on social media. Nora: Yeah, that's wild. Yeah, I guess that as well, like I was thinking about it whilst you were talking us through it, I guess like we still live and we don't feel it as much because we are within social media and like it's part of like what we do on a daily basis. But it is very much still early days for like people recognizing social media as an actual job. think when you like YouTubers as an example, like ⁓ YouTube been around for ages, but people actually Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Nora: making it their whole income and like becoming famous YouTubers and like monetizing their videos like if you told someone still I think to this day like if you went and told them ⁓ like I'm a full time YouTuber that'd be like what like is that a thing Anon Gym Girl: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, I think one of the most frustrating things that people comment to me is like, oh, like you like wear a gym set only to like impress the guys in the gym, which is really frustrating because like, I'm not getting ready in like my gym outfit in the morning thinking, oh, yeah, I bet like Brian's gonna love this or like whatever like I'm just stressing because I want to feel good the same way that, you know, guys will wear compression tops like they just want to feel good in themselves as well. know not people don't just I don't get dressed in the morning trying to impress other people so think that's a bit frustrating and it's just not true like I'm not dressing for anyone else. Nora: Yeah. so final And like that's a bit of like your takeaway from ⁓ everything that learned ⁓ across the few years. If someone who's listening to this podcast wants to start growing their platform, wants to create similar opportunities like you did potentially work with brands, what would be your number one advice in terms of what should they be focusing on? Anon Gym Girl: I'd say the first thing, 100 % being community, like not just caring about the amount of followers that you're gaining, but like the type of people that you're gaining and pointing out the type of content that is also going to attract those kinds of people. ⁓ terms of like building ⁓ with brands, I would 100 % recommend the way that I did it, which is just organically being invested in brands ⁓ ⁓ At the end of day, are certain brands that just might not invest as much in affiliates and influencers. So sometimes it can be a bit of a stab in the dark, but I do think you will see the most success when you are promoting brands that you genuinely love and your audience also know that you love as well. So make sure you're tagging them, engaging with other people. I definitely just think being authentic and genuine about it. Like people can see through it. And I know even myself, I kind of viewer, like I do get frustrated when I see people like trying to paint like a perfect life. And I think, you know, just be real, like be yourself. And like at the end of the day, that is technically your only USP. Like there's a million fitness coaches out there. There's a million influencers, but there's no one, there's no one who is you. So show your personality, embrace yourself. Nora: go. Anon Gym Girl: It's almost like, it's not such a good tagline to end the podcast, like, be you! But yeah, that's genuinely what I have to say. Nora: You G: We love it. Nora: I love that so much. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been a wonderful conversation. It's so cool to like, dive into all of these topics that we were both like very new to as well. Like it was really cool finding out how all these brand arrangements work and what do partnerships look like. But yeah, we appreciate you. We love seeing your, your progress and seeing your journey and yeah, we're always inspired by you. So. Anon Gym Girl: Thank you for having me. Nora: Thank you again. Anon Gym Girl: Thank you. G: if anyone is listening and wants to drop you a follow, at AnonJimGirl on Instagram, the, ⁓ goodness me, let me do that one again. Follow at theAnonJimGirl on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Anon Gym Girl: D. ⁓ Omg. I think it's that, I don't actually know but thank you, thanks for the shout out. Thank you, no thanks for having me. G: You're more than welcome. Thank you for joining us as well. You've been incredible and yeah, we appreciate your support as well. Anon Gym Girl: always hashtag number one fan. G: Love you. Hashtag Anon10 for Discipline at Gymshark and Able. Anon Gym Girl: Love ya! Legend. Thank you.