Surprising amount influencer makes on top of day job despite $0 from YouTube and Instagram

An influencer who has gained a large following for getting in shape with his 20 minute workouts has revealed how much money he makes online in a month.

Skye Mackintosh has been getting into shape since 2024 when he saw a photo of himself after a period of weight gain and 'didn't recognise' himself.

At first he tried cutting out all sugar from his diet, and later he realised this was impractical and instead switched to daily 20 minute workout routines.

It seems to have done the trick as Skye looks to be in good shape and has gained quite a following among those who are interested in fitness influencers.

It can be a lucrative side-hustle, or perhaps it could become his main job after Skye revealed how much he makes from his online activities each month, even as he gets nothing from Instagram or YouTube.

The money he makes in a month

Revealing the details for the benefit of 'nosy people like me', the influencer explained that his content on Instagram and YouTube isn't monetised so he doesn't get anything from it.

For the other platforms he's on it's a rather different story, as Skye explained what he received in the month of June from his online ventures.

As he said, it's a big zilch for Instagram and YouTube because he doesn't monetise his content on there, but on Facebook it's a different story as he made $189.83 from the platform last month.

That's not terrible for a side hustle, but wait until you get a load of his other earnings.

The content he puts on TikTok made him $1,125.88, which isn't half bad, but his experiences people can pay for on Skool got him $1,780.

While some of his socials don't directly make him money from his posts, having a large following has allowed him to made a good deal of cash from brand deals as he's made $2,590 in the past month from those.

He also gets $5,572.93 in affiliate commissions through his online work, but the real money he makes is in selling PDFs.

You surely know what a PDF is, and the influencer says he made a whopping $17,887.45 last month from selling the documents which contain his workout guide and challenges.

So for the whole of June he raked in a total of $29,146.09 from his online activity.

He said: "I'm just some dude who's not special, I simply decided to do the thing, post it online, do that repeatedly and here I am.

"I know that talking about money is taboo but I think that we would all be so much better off if we just talked about it.

"Let's just help each other win, there's plenty to go around. I'm not a social media guru but I've obviously learned some stuff."

The 20 minute workout routine

While he mixes up his exercise routines and shares the results online, one of his recent ones involved three rounds of flutter kicks, jump squats, leg raises, jump lunges, and planks.

He uses short exercise bursts to take advantage of something called 'eccentric exercise', which is where the muscles lengthen rather than shorten.

He told Business Insider: "I knew that if I put my fitness journey online, I wouldn't be able to face the embarrassment of not following through on my word.

"I chose 20 minutes because 30 isn't always achievable, and 10 didn't seem to be enough. My wife and I are going to have more kids, and then I'll have grandkids, and who knows where my career will take me. But regardless of what's going on, I figure I'll always have 20 minutes.

"I chose push-ups and jump squats to start with because I wanted to hit the core muscle groups while keeping it simple enough to do anywhere."

Eat like an influencer

Fans of AI will be happy to know that Skye asked ChatGPT to plan his meals, as he eats out for lunch almost every day and uses it to tell him what on the menu he ought to eat.

His day begins with a chocolate protein drink with five servings of liquid egg whites, apparently once you get used to them 'you don't even notice the liquid egg whites'.

Whatever he eats for lunch he aims for between 400 and 700 calories, ideally with some meat and greens, and between 50 and 70g of protein in there.

The evening meal is typically something his wife has cooked, and that's 'typically some sort of meat like beef or chicken paired with my favourite which is sweet potatoes'.

He might have 'broccoli, brussels sprouts or rice' with what he's eating, and he will always let himself have a treat at the end of the day.

Overall his daily diet is looking to hit 2,200 calories and 160g to 170g of protein.