Yasmine: The Reality of Online Coaching Nobody Talks About
Yasmine's 30, she's got over 100,000 Instagram followers, and a story almost nobody knows. Before she became a fitness coach, she was a fashion designer. Four years of school, degree in hand. It was during fashion school that she got into working out, first at home, then at a gym, until friends started asking her: "Why don't you become a coach?" She didn't even know you could make a living doing that. She got certified, landed an internship at a CrossFit box in Paris, and that's where everything really kicked off.
This episode isn't the shiny Instagram version of online coaching. It's the real stuff: depression, burnout, a shadow ban that lasted three months, days where she had to pick between eating and posting on Instagram, and that brutal question every coach eventually faces... do you want to grow at all costs, or do you want to protect yourself? Yasmine answers honestly, with her actual numbers, her limits, and her unfiltered take on the profession.
If you've ever wondered whether social media's really necessary, whether follower count actually drives revenue, or how to build a coaching business that doesn't wreck your mental health, this episode's a breath of fresh air in an industry that loves to sell the highlight reel.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
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Starting in-person before going online isn't optional
Yasmine jumped straight to online coaching after getting certified, and she doesn't recommend it. Here's why: in-person coaching teaches you to read people. Seeing someone who won't go deep enough on squats, figuring out if it's an ankle mobility issue or just fear of not coming back up... you can only learn that face to face. She puts it bluntly: "90% of the time, it's not an ankle mobility issue. But you only catch that in person." Coaches who skip the in-person phase end up making mistakes that real-world experience would've prevented.
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Followers don't equal revenue
Yasmine has 100,000 Instagram followers. She coaches 25 people. Her max was 30 clients, and at 30, she was completely burned out. Gymkee's data backs up what she's living: past a certain point, the relationship between follower count and revenue actually flips. We've got a coach on Gymkee, Joram, who has 17,000 followers and creates educational content. He's passed 300,000 euros in revenue in just the first months of the year. Meanwhile, high-volume entertainment accounts convert way less than you'd think.
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The real shadow ban isn't what you think
Yasmine went through a real shadow ban. Her account got flagged red, with an explicit notice saying it wouldn't be shown to non-followers anymore. For three months. She cried for weeks. She thought she wouldn't be able to pay rent. That's when it hit her: she only had Instagram. And if Instagram went away, she went away with it. So her takeaway's pretty clear: get on as many platforms as possible, all at once, right from the start. During those 3 months of shadow ban, she reached 20,000 followers on Facebook, 10,000 on YouTube, and 30,000 on TikTok... simply because she had no other choice.
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Responding to DMs is her entire acquisition strategy
Yasmine replies to her messages, even with hundreds coming in every day. People follow her for six months, watch every single story, and then one day they write: "You're so motivating, do you have room for coaching?" She doesn't actively sell. She doesn't reach out to anyone. It happens naturally, and that's exactly what sets her apart from other coaches. She builds a real connection. People feel seen. And it converts, with zero pressure.
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Burnout hits when you try to do everything at once
At her peak, Yasmine was coaching every single day. Group CrossFit classes, scooter rides across Paris, remote programs, building her Instagram all at the same time. Some days she had to choose between eating and making a post. She went through multiple rounds of depression and burnout. She puts it simply: "I was everywhere and nowhere. So I couldn't be great at anything." She gradually pulled back: 6 coaching days a week, then 5, then 4, until she stopped in-person altogether in September to focus on remote coaching, content creation, and upcoming ebooks.
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25 clients is her ceiling, and she owns it
She coaches 25 people right now. Her max was 30. At 30, she couldn't function. Every client messages her daily, she's got to track changes, adjust programs, handle injuries. She's technically available 5 days a week... but really it's 7. She knows her mental health will take a hit if she pushes harder. So her next move is ebooks, which let her reach more people without the weight of one-on-one follow-up for every new client.
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Humor brings followers, educational content brings clients
Yasmine posts a lot of funny content on her channels, and that's what gets shared, what brings people in. But what actually converts to paying clients is when she talks directly to camera. Her scripted videos (yes, everything's scripted, she uses a teleprompter) about wellness, self-belief, and the reality of fitness... that's what creates real attachment. She's "your big sister who's going to help you believe in yourself." And the people who connect with that version of her are the ones who end up asking about coaching.
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ChatGPT to save time, not to replace her voice
Yasmine uses ChatGPT to write her video scripts and descriptions and save time. She stresses: always the paid version, so you don't get blocked mid-flow. But she always layers her own touch on top. Her words, her tone, her way of saying things. AI handles the heavy lifting, she brings the voice. That's what keeps her content feeling like her.
Resources Mentioned
- ChatGPT (paid version) for scripting videos and writing Instagram descriptions
- Instagram as her primary platform, 100,000+ followers
- TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook activated during the shadow ban as backup platforms
- Google Sheets for weekly client program tracking
- Teleprompter for all her scripted face-cam videos
- Joram, a Gymkee coach cited as an example: 17,000 followers, over 300,000 euros in revenue in the first months of the year through educational content and word of mouth
"Sometimes I had to choose between two things. Either I ate, or I made an Instagram post. I went through multiple depressions and burnouts. It was really, really tough."
"That's when I realized: if social media's gone, if Instagram's gone, I'm done. So seriously, get on as many platforms as you can."
"My max was 30 clients. At 30, I couldn't take it anymore. I could take on way more, but my mental health would take a hit."
