How I Make Money As A Professional Triathlete

In this video I chat about revenue streams as a professional triathlete.

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Two of the most common questions I get asked as a professional triathlete are how do I make money from being a professional triathlete and am I still single so let’s answer that first question in this Video now you’re probably wondering why I’m sat in my car with a tupperware full of uh jacket Potatoes tuna mayonnaise and some asparagus well I’m actually on my way to Swansea to do a photo shoot with Zone 3 tomorrow and the reason why I’m including this in this video is because it’s worth talking about when it comes to making money as a professional triathlete and this is something I’m

Going to dive a little bit deeper into the reason why I’m actually sat at the service station with this is because I’m trying to make sure I don’t need any more like shitty stuff so as you can see there’s KFC there’s Burger King there’s all that bollocks and uh well because

I’ve had some stomach issues in the past for those longtime viewers uh would know about that um and I’m trying to just clean things up and make sure that because I’m putting in so much effort into the training and I really am working so hard in the training I don’t

Want diet nutrition something like that to slip me up on race day now this is going to be a completely different video but hence the reason why I’ve meal pre so I’m not tempted to get a double bacon cheeseburger and that’s all I want right now but back to

This video we’re on the way to Swansea and one of the revenue streams for myself that has become a little bit more important important now is sponsorships um now these can come in different forms whether that’s product only could just be a discount on product or it can be

Product and financial as well um or just Financial if it’s just a financial company that are that are giving you money now it is by no means my main source of income at all but I have got a really good uh relationship with Zone 3 and um as of this year they’ve decided

To not only give me product s but give me some Financial backing as well now I’m not going to mention how much the financial backing is um because that’s in the contract that we can’t mention that but it definitely helps go towards you know Pro license um travel and

Accommodation at races stuff like that so it’s super super helpful now like I said this is not my main source of income at all however it is something that I want to progress towards um and have more of these Financial financially backed sponsorships because product is fantastic don’t get me wrong the

Products are fantastic but products don’t pay the bills so they don’t pay for obviously life bills like rent uh things like that but they don’t pay for coaching pool hire um travel accommodation Pro license all those things all those things are very very costly um and you need to have the

Finances behind you to be able to obviously do those things I want to become the best athlete that I possibly can be it’s going to cost me a ton of money um to be able to leave no stone unturned but back to why I’m going to

Swansea I’m doing a photo shoot so in return for um the products I’m getting from Zone 3 but also um the the financial backing that they’re giving me I’m then in turn offering them obviously publicity on here but also um going to photos shoot days and stuff like that so

That’s what tomorrow is all about going forward I’m actually in a position now where I really have to think about taking sponsorship on board that doesn’t have some degree of financial backing whether that comes in race bonuses or just like a sum of money to help me out and that

Sounds very arrogant but you have to understand this is professional sport and trying to be a professional you have to have you have to spend money it’s F it’s very very expensive to do triathon I know I’m preaching to the choir here like you guys you guys know that it’s

Very expensive and as a professional you want to have the best equipment but you also need to you need to pay the bills um you need to cover your expenses I’m now in a position where I don’t really or I’d have to really strongly consider taking on a sponsor that doesn’t have a

Degree of money involved with it for example I reached out to a company actually that is all over social media and they sponsor loads of athletes um I’m not going to name the company but they do stuff like products like micronutrients that help you sleep and you know vitamins and minerals and all

That stuff I’m sure you can imagine the company that is um they’re all over the place I contacted them they sounded super super Keen I mean really really keen and I was like oh amazing um and they asked what I was after and I said I’d love product and I proposed an

Amount of money that I would like um in return for promotion you know stuff like that um and they completely ghosted me and so that’s not me like bitching about that company that’s just me saying like there are so many companies out there that aren’t interested in paying you

Because they could just find another influencer I hate using the word influencer but they can just find another influencer that’s willing to do stuff for free um however I’m I’m in a position and I believe that a lot of other Pros are in a position where actually they can’t just do stuff for

Free because they’re trying to make a living from this um and they need to pay the bills essentially so that’s just a little story for you guys and anyway I need to crack on cuz it’s getting on and I need to eat my delicious looking dinner um and I’ll see you guys Tomorrow that’s just to give you a little bit of behind the scenes what we were doing it was really cool to actually try out the new Vanquish suit so I’m sure Zone 3 going to have a lot more detail on that on their social media and their website do check that

Out in the links in the description below um it did mean it was quite a late day so we ended up running over slightly on the filming um and then there was a big accident on the M4 on the way home so I’ve only just finished training and

You can see on the cooker there it’s coming up to 10:00 in the evening that’s uh that’s a late night oh God the next source of income comes from prize money from races now again this is definitely not a massive source of income however it can be a very very big source of

Income if obviously you do well and if you pick the right races for you and that’s kind of why I alluded to the fact that I’m steering more towards full distance because I believe well they’re definitely just is better prize money there actually is good prize money in

Long course triathon I know a lot of people kind of complain about it a little bit um but there is actually really good money out there you just obviously have to do well which is far easier said than done but I’m going to give it a go so that’s kind of the goal

There uh prize money in the past hasn’t been that great for me but I haven’t had that many great results last year it was okay made a bit of money which was really cool um but like I said I want that to become a little bit more

Lucrative and obviously to for it to become a bit more lucrative you need to get better results but you can earn actually a decent wedge from prize money um and that’s fingers crossed something that I’m going to be kind of steering towards in this next kind of year or the

Years to come now I’ve never actually seen my myself as like a proper full-time Pro in some sense that might sound a little bit weird but the reason being is uh is because I I work as a coach to make sure that I can afford to actually do the sport um that’s not

Saying I don’t love coaching I absolutely love coaching it’s actually so so rewarding it’s one of the best feelings is being a part of someone else’s journey and and helping them succeed and being part of their success like it’s so rewarding and I absolutely love it but in my eyes an actual

Professional is someone who wakes up and just does that activity and that Sport and gets paid to do it and actually what I would say is there’s probably 80% of the pro field have to have some sort of side gig or side hustle or job whatever

You want to call it to actually fund their career and I think there’s is that a little bit maybe a misconception people think are professionals like they must be doing pretty well or they just get to wake up and Swim Bike and running and that’s definitely not the case maybe

For like 20% at the top of the sport um but I would probably say it’s for 80% of professionals out there you got to do something else to make sure that you can afford to swim bike and run essentially that’s all I’m saying um but that’s definitely the biggest source of income

For me um and like I said I want to hopefully over the next few years or so as I get better and as I get better results get those other areas a bit more lucrative um and kind of bump that up a little bit um in ratio but yeah those

Are the the revenue streams as a professional triy and I would say that’s probably the same as most professionals out there um maybe the different factors will change within that and yeah I should probably stop talking cuz it’s just gone 10: I need to get some food

And get some sleep before a 30k run tomorrow so I will love you and leave you and I’ll see you in the next video