How can I monetize my skills??

A youtube channel with product reviews videos, fitness videos...
Offer yourself as personal fitness coach.
Make a Udemy Course. You can also make different courses for fitness, diet...
With Udemy you can also easily get many subsribers/ bigger audience.
On Udemy I think you'll also find free courses on how to make Udemy Courses and get Subscribers.

I've worked (and work) with a few entrepreneurs doing the exact same thing. Developed successfully, it proves to be an incredibly profitable market. I'd be happy to give you some of the basic steps. Perhaps you can then use them as a jumping-off point for further research.

1. Identify your USP (unique selling proposition).
2. Put together a marketing plan (including web development).
3. Design branding material.
4. Develop a blog.
5. Develop a digital and/ or physical product.
6. Develop a coaching program.
7. Integrate eCommerce.
8. Integrate newsletter (freebie, sales funnel, ads, popups).
9. Grow free traffic platforms.
10. Grow free traffic channels.
11. Use the data from (9) and (10) to formulate PPC and media buying campaigns.

That's very much a boiled-down approach, of course, but - as mentioned - perhaps helpful to give you some insight into a working model in this market. The areas of monetization here are vast: cpa, product creation, coaching, ad revenue, self-publishing (ex: kdp). Best of luck!!

Tom

i'd be looking to create a membership site or a plain site with downloadable content for a price as well as an interaction section. Is youtube really mandatory to get it going?

Would I be able to just use facebook marketing to attract customers?

Haddy I had a lot of success with FB, try joining some groups you have common interests in and start building relationships. Throw up a page and share, share, share. It will take some doing and for the love of God please don't start out of the gate with a sale but you will eventually build a brand for yourself. Also look into Instagram and Pinterest, they are often overlooked arenas when it comes to marketing but they work just as great as the big dogs.

If you want to market your ideas and self and you are feeling uncomfortable about being infront of the camera then start off small. And by the sounds of it you have already taken a photo-so that counts as being in front of the camera....you can record your voice and start blogging in order to make a start. Alot of people suggest your own domain name -paid and own paid website and I can see why. But starting out with free blogs and websites to feel your way around is O.K too. Facebook and other social sites as well as health forums would be powerful. It all takes time and you should see it as building it slowly over time and building relationships with your audience. It will be like a new journey as it was when you first learnt how to build muscle. If you have the expertise which sounds like you do ....go for it. Watch and learn what others are doing and understand that over time you will overcome the fact that being infront of a camera with practice will prevail. Practice makes perfect just like building muscles take practice!

Since you already have before and after pictures, I would suggest that you do forum marketing.

Here’s the trick.

Don’t do forum marketing at places where you are not allowed a signature file.

Also, don’t do forum marketing on diet and fitness forums.

It’s just not going to work out.

It’s like trying to sell snow to Eskimos.

I hope you see the point.

9 times out of 10, the people who visit these forums have already seen all sorts of offers.

They’ve already seen all sorts of marketing techniques and shenanigans.

They’re immune to that.

Instead, go to other forums that are not necessarily health and fitness related.

However, these forums should focus on the interest that would tend to make people overweight or lead less than healthy lifestyles.

The first type of forum where it comes to mind is one that caters to people who play video games all the time.

If you play video games all the time, chances are you’re going to have some weight issues.

You need to create a signature account that plays up your before and after picture.

When people click that signature, you should have led them straight to your product.

Again, you don’t want to come off like a scammer.

You don’t want to come off as somebody who’s just out there to promote.

While that is your agenda, you need to use a long, drawn out and convincing approach.

The best way to do this is for your signature lines banner to lead to a squeeze page with a video showing how you went from one body type to another.

The video should work to get people to sign up to your list.

Your list should be an auto responder list where people learn your techniques.

Of course, you’re not going to give everything away.

The aut responder series is simply there to upsell people to your ultimate product.

^^ this is great!! I was also thinking to just help out people for free and answer their weight loss questions to solve some of their problems, etc.

what does everyone think of this idea?: I create a squeeze page that in return will give the customers a FREE 30 day diet that guarantees them to lose a minimum of 10 lbs if they follow the methods sent to them. Once they see the results, if they want to continue further, they would have to sign up to my site for ONLY $2.99/month and this will include further more advanced diets that will help them lose even more weight as well as quick cardio workouts that don't require you to be in the gym too long (maybe 30 mins max).

Another section could also be for building muscle.