The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

Just checked; he's got the Coach in Running Fitness. That's just a licence to be very dangerous

That is a valid point; Ben does not seem to come from a background of great wealth. He lived in a modest flat in London, and I don't think he has children. However, like many people who grew up in the South of England, I have no doubt his family helped significantly with his accommodation.

He is on Linked In. He studied Geography and worked for over a decade in middle-management sales roles (can see him as a Brent type).

For me, Ben represents the archetypal YouTuber/freelancer/coffee shop hustler/photographer. They probably, wrongly, feel above getting a trade, and YouTubing helps them escape essentially a factory job in a white collar wrapping (e.g., sales, estate agency, selling mortgages like Bester and Welsh Runner).

I honestly find it fascinating. I live on the South Coast of England. I know many "creatives" who live in £1million pound houses and seemingly earn very little. Most of these people had large parts - if not the entire - house bought for them. If you don't have a 2 - 4k mortgage then you don't need to earn much! I honestly don't blame them, why work some soul-sucking job, when you can grind a living as an online coach/YouTuber?

Aint we all celebrating???

This might be a down year for shoetubers. Their videos are on the decline.

I feel like there's just too many shoes and they're too expensive. Over-saturation of content.

Nice post. You should be writing in The Guardian not on LRC. Mind you, that nowadays wouldnt pay nearly enough to live in Brighton.

Your Brent analogy imo carries a lot of weight.BP seems to believe, in the brief vid bits I've ever seen, that he is quite witty and somewhat of a character whereas I found him banal and cringey.

The ShoeTuber boom has never really been through a recession before. While we aren't yet in a recession, there are signs of one in the horizon and there were the beginnings of one last year (mass tech layoffs). It's pretty hard to sell a $250 shoe that you can wear for maybe 200 miles when people are wondering how to make rent. So people aren't going to make themselves feel bad by watching some dude (Kofuzi) in front of a wall of $250 shoes he got taking free (sponsored) trips to far-flung marathons that they can't afford. The *smart* content creators will downsize and focus on their local running events and leagues. Things that can be done for $10-$20, or even free (Park Runs) and stop going on the massive trips to remain relatable. Those will be the ones that survive. The success of The Athlete Special's Local Legend series kind of shows that there's a lot of appetite for that. While he takes occasional trips, Michael Ottesen is starting to build an audience because he's relatable (in other words, he does things other than take trips sponsored by shoe companies).

And in tighter economic times, the pension and mutual funds that are the real owners of the shoe companies like Decker Brands, whose stock absolutely crashed in the past month, are going to be asking if sending Thomas from Believe in the Run to Miami and paying five figures for a couple videos that might in the end sell 200 shoes that you might've sold anyway really worth it. The answer is probably not.

A lot of what's done in Silicon Valley and on social media is done because everyone else is doing it so companies think "we need to do that too!" without doing an analysis of whether it really works for them because they see an advantage in being edgy and don't want to be left out. I think the entire influencer marketing scene, including the ShoeTuber industry, is founded on that "we must do it too!" premise and it's why I think the bubble will burst.

Anecdotally, I've been seeing a lot of two and three year old super shoes that you can find on discount for $100-$150 on other runners feet. I've been seeing less of the top of the line shoes. I think the few years ahead will be about value--finding a race that you can do and have a great time at without spending $300 on a big and $500 on a hotel, finding shoes that cost less than an airplane ticket, and finding daily trainers that last.

There's some good that will come out of this too. If it helps local and regional marathons like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Portland, Seattle, Las Vegas, Phoenix/Mesa, Atlanta, etc, survive, then it'll do the sport good. Not everyone needs to run Boston, Chicago or New York. But unfortunately everyone is trying to do so because they see everyone doing it on Instagram.

Ben is more of a "Neil" than a "Brent."

ShoeTubersHaveNoEthics, are you a shoetuber consultant? If not, you could probably make it a successful side hustle. I suspect your analysis of the industry is on point.

No, but I do analysis for a living in a totally different field. One thing we aren't talking about is tariffs. It may be that, as consumers are looking for more value that brands have to raise their price due to tariffs, as most running shoes are made in Vietnam these days. I think that could really hit the industry hard and is probably what's really behind the tanking of Decker stock.

Has Floberg ever actually run his prescribed session? Every session he blatantly disregards his coaching and runs faster, then burns out or is sick the next week.

I was shocked in the treadmill video that his Coach was stoked by his splits and wanted to up mileage! Disaster waiting to happen.

re: Floberg

*inserts pseudo motivational quote which makes it okay*

Ironically drawing up training plans and giving pep talks is the art of coaching.

I'd add that another key was being relatable to the athletes.

Several of my athletes are running competitively at the D1 level. Another won a gold medal for the US at the Olympics.

Ever since they were kids up till this day, their parents praise me for training, pep talks, and being relatable. It is an art, even though there are arguably way more knowledgeable coaches than I ever was by far.

Probably the most important part of the art of my coaching was teaching each kid how to exist/last within the sport beyond just my coaching -- the proper mindset of being a long-term nationally competitive athlete, how to adjust/adapt to other coaching styles, how to detect good coaches, how to recognize bad coaching, etc., etc.

No, the Sweat Elite acquisition fell through, Matt talked about it in his podcast back toward the end of last year

Kofuzi blessing everybody with a picture from Morocco. He's no longer a stay at home dad but a traveling dad that leaves his wife at home with the kids.

You’re right and I raised this. I was told it fell through because a simple Google of his name didn’t return any favours.

Another buyer was mentioned that have a far superior creative team in the space.

Don't forget this is also Nick Bare's coach and they live by their mantra of 'Go One More'.

Yeah, "one more" might be their coach' mantra but he's not talking about interval reps...

Big warning for people running the Austin Half and Full Marathons today's Matt Choi is returning to the site of his original bike crew on the course incident. He's running the half. Be alert for people riding bikes while looking backwards! All races need to ban this guy before he runs over somebody and they get hurt!