By Cedar Falls News Hub Staff
The Cedar Falls News Hub occasionally profiles entrepreneurial and inspirational pursuits undertaken by local people in this rubric Up and Comers.
This week’s pick is Michael Spahn. He loves the Chicago Bears, and seven years ago, he created Bears Capital, an Insta blog, as a space to share about the team. Now a UNI student, he works on the blog with the same dedication as when he started. Here’s what we learned from talking about how it all began.
CFNH: You love sports and that love led you to create Bears Capital, a blog which now has over 35K followers on Instagram. How did you come up with the idea?
Michael Spahn: Ever since I was a child I loved two things-football and the Chicago Bears. One summer night in 2018 I got bored. Little did I know that boredom would change the trajectory of my life. That night I created Bears Capital, an Instagram blog centered around Chicago’s most beloved football team. I didn’t think much of it other than I thought it’d give me a platform to talk about the team. I posted every single day with passion, and six years later I reached 35, 000 followers. Not only did my love for the Bears strengthen because of my blog but it helped me realize I wanted to work in sports media down the road.
CFNH: What has been your most successful post and why do you think?
MS: The page started to get traction through one particular post. I was at Chicago Bears training camp with my mom one summer in 2019. During practice, I captured a video of Bears star linebacker Khalil Mack tackling a coach holding a blocking pad. I immediately posted the video to Instagram, not thinking much of it. A few days went on and platforms like NFL Network, Barstool Sports, and Bleacher Report reached out wanting to use my video while giving credit to my page. I allowed it and started to gain a lot of followers on my account. That was the post I realized I might have something here.
CFNH: How did it go from there on? What are some of the challenges you had to overcome?
MS: From that moment the road to success wasn’t easy as It took me a while to create graphics that were up to standard. I would often get hate comments about how subpar they were. Each year, I developed in designing templates and have grown a lot since I started. Another difficulty was the willingness to stay committed to the page all these years. When looking at other pages, I discovered a lot of them were inactive. I made a goal to post every single day of the year. I have rarely missed a day, posting dating back to 2019.
CFNH: What do you do with the feedback you get from your followers?
MS: As a whole, I would often get hate comments. It was something I had to learn how to deal with. To this day I’ve grown a lot in the aspect of not giving those comments any power. I now take a lot of it as feedback and learn what I could do better as a content creator.
CFNH: What are the happy parts of running the blog?
MS: The joys of doing this page is the simple fact of interacting with other fans. We all get to share our love for the team through the blog. Getting to be an ambassador amongst many Bears fans is something I take pride in. Nothing beats seeing a player on the team like a post or giving a follow. My favorite Bears player of all time, Devin Hester, follows my blog which is still surreal to think about.
CFNH: What have you learned from this experience?
MS: This experience has taught me to go after what you love. Whatever your passion is in life— simply enjoy it and pursue whatever that involves. This page is truly a blessing in my life and I continue to enjoy it each and every day.