Idea needing feedback: keeping people accountable

[Brett Beckwith]

Recently, I posted a thread about an idea for providing some sort of course or e-book about how to workout; it would include anything and everything of how to get into the gym and get started, attempting to make it as easy as possible. There is one big issue with this--everyone and their mom does it. There are so many resources available on how to workout. It really isn't needed. Of course, this was talked about in Unscripted , but I had thought that using my personal reputation as a lifter could separate myself from the others. While this is true to some extent, there are still too many reputable people doing it.

After doing some thinking and seeing this comment on the thread by @Rawseed :

"Instead of the course you want to do, come up with a course, system, process, service, or product that gets people to execute. If you can get people to eat properly and workout consistently, you'll be a billionaire."

my idea completely shifted.

The Revamped Idea

Providing a service / system / process / product that keeps people accountable to stay in the gym. There are plenty of motivation resources available online, and they work to an extent: why else would you see people join the gym at the beginning of the year? That is physical proof that people get motivated at least one time to get off their a$$ and go workout. The gyms are absolutely crowded with people that you will never see again in February. That stems the idea: how can you get these people to stay in the gym past January 31st?

The service / system / process / product that I would provide wouldn't necessarily be just motivation, that is already available, but rather a mixture between motivation and accountability. Other people can get them to the gym, but it's my job to motivate them to be accountable.

Ways To Execute

The main issue here, and one of the reasons why I'm posting this, is to figure out exactly how I will do this. I need your input.

My main idea is an app, of course:

- An app that makes you fill out a questionnaire everyday (or the set days you have to workout, working out every day is not a good way to go about things). It could be a checklist that makes you answer questions, in which some would have a consciously negative feeling to say no to: did I workout? did I try my best? did I eat healthy today? did I get enough sleep? do I feel good about myself? did I make my life better today? do I feel better physically? (the ones in italics could branch off a question, like if you say "yes" to "did I workout," then questions would be the ones in italics, if you say "no," then it could be "do I feel good that I didn't workout? did I get any better not working out? could I feel physically better if I actually worked out today?") Essentially, the purpose would be to make yourself feel good or bad about your decisions for the day.
- You would need to go to the app everyday. To do this, the app could be set to have a vigorous reminder to get on and check. Of course, this won't work with all people since they would ignore it, but it would attempt to make people feel bad for not going on and doing it.
- On top of the reminders, I could include the motivation portion, in which it gives you multiple motivational quotes or reminders to do what you're supposed to do that day.
- A social media system: the app could be connected to Facebook, in which it automatically posts the results of the questionnaire, another way to keep yourself accountable and make sure you answer yes to all the questions. Additionally, you could post progress, varying from PRs in the gym to weight loss charts. This could also be automatic, making you fill out the weight chart, because it's going to post whether you want it to or not. This function could be turned off, but it would take away from the effectiveness. Also, automatically posting on Facebook would be a great way to get the app out there to others. Win-win.
- Some people quit the gym due to costs. IMO, this is a BS excuse for not going to the gym. However, other people will make it. Maybe including tips on penny-pinching a few extra bucks, such as a reminder: "Do not buy your daily mountain dew. It has 79g of sugar and costs $1.69, or $50 a month, nearly enough for 2 months of gym membership." Another win-win, saving money and being healthy.
- Some people fear being judged. It could include more reminders, if you say this is an issue for you, which reminds you that people are not judging you in the gym, they want to see you succeed!
- ~44% of gym-goers have a gym partner they go with. Your gym partner went and you didn't? Well the app told you and BOOM: you hate yourself. I hope you get my point now.

Overall, the app would be largely centered around emotions. If you don't do what you're supposed to do, you will feel bad. Answering no to the questions and having all your friends see that you said no will make you feel bad about yourself, motivating you to be accountable. If you answer yes, you'll feel happy, your friends will see that you did everything, possibly congratulating you on doing what you're supposed to be doing (or congratulating progress), and you'll feel great about yourself, keeping you in the gym to keep those positive emotions. It's all about emotions.

Analytics

So, if I do all this, I need to make sure that I can actually make money off this. I need to charge people, and I need people to charge. After looking at some numbers, they're all weird. It would be unrealistic to throw the numbers together. However, I'll try and provide a perspective.

~55 million gym members, only 18% of people actually truly use them. That leaves 45,100,000 unmotivated people with a lack of accountability. However, it would be ignorant to say that all 45M people are like that, so lets just be considerate and say there are "millions of people that could use the app."

Charging people:

I could make the app free and go off ad revenue (or somehow create in-app purchases, open to ideas), or I could just make people do a one-time purchase (and include in-app purchases, little bit greedy I'd say). I feel a single-charge of $2.99 is fair, but that can vary and is open to opinions.

Expansion

It would be narrow-minded of me to think this is only applicable to the gym-goers. Many people start endeavors, hobbies, or routines and never go back to them. The accountability app can apply to so many more things than just the gym, such as: reading 50 pages of a book today, working on writing your book for an hour, using your teeth whitener you're supposed to use every morning, painting your masterpiece, etc. This app can apply to so many things in life.

How will I go about actually doing it?

- I need to study some neuroscience and psychology. If I'm going to be manipulating people's emotions to keep them accountable, I'm going to need to understand how to do that. In elaboration, I could study certain keywords or ways to trigger certain emotions that make them do things.
- I need to learn how to make an app! I don't have the money to outsource the programming, so I will need to learn some app programming and basic graphic design. I have some past programming experience that I learned fast (engineer), and I have some creativity, so I should be able to do a majority on my own (obviously not going to throw outsourcing out entirely, I will need some help).
OR
- I need to make some money to outsource the app!
- I need to learn how to market an app. I can have the best app in the world, but if people don't see it, people won't buy it.
- I need to be accountable of myself, so I will be posting updates on here and responding to input / questions.

If you have any input, it would be greatly appreciated. If you specifically have any experience in the app market and are willing to help, message me. If you think doing an app is a bad idea and it should be a website with a monthly subscription or something else, let me know your idea! All input is appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

 

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[inputchip]

To me this sounds like pushing a rock up hill.

You need to get to the core motivator. What is their underlying WHY?

It's not going to be an app that gets you out of bed at 5am to go to the gym, it's going to be their doctor telling them they are nearing diabetes, or heart failure. It's going to be their daughter crying at age 12 because she is worried her dad isn't going to walk her down the aisle.

The idea itself has some potential, but I don't think an accountability app is the solution.

Most people do not enjoy working out. It's hard, it's tiring, it takes time and patience to see results. It's going agaist human nature.

What can you do so that people will be drawn to your product even if it is going against their human nature and their desires?

You need to look at the psychology behind the motivators.

Go through these threads and see what truly motivates people:
GOLD! - HOW DO I SERIOUSLY GIVE UP GAMING
NOTABLE! - Manufacturing a FTE (F*ck This Event!)
GOLD! - Does It Hurt Bad Enough?

Go ask @Chitown and @Vigilante what is motivating them.
EXECUTION - "Put Down The FN Donuts!" (A Journey of Getting Healthy)
NOTABLE! - This is what 60 Pounds (27 KGS) Looks Like

 

[Brett Beckwith]

To me this sounds like pushing a rock up hill.

You need to get to the core motivator. What is their underlying WHY?

It's not going to be an app that gets you out of bed at 5am to go to the gym, it's going to be their doctor telling them they are nearing diabetes, or heart failure. It's going to be their daughter crying at age 12 because she is worried her dad isn't going to walk her down the aisle.

The idea itself has some potential, but I don't think an accountability app is the solution.

Most people do not enjoy working out. It's hard, it's tiring, it takes time and patience to see results. It's going agaist human nature.

What can you do so that people will be drawn to your product even if it is going against their human nature and their desires?

You need to look at the psychology behind the motivators.

Go through these threads and see what truly motivates people:
GOLD! - HOW DO I SERIOUSLY GIVE UP GAMING
NOTABLE! - Manufacturing a FTE (F*ck This Event!)
GOLD! - Does It Hurt Bad Enough?

Go ask @Chitown and @Vigilante what is motivating them.
EXECUTION - "Put Down The FN Donuts!" (A Journey of Getting Healthy)
NOTABLE! - This is what 60 Pounds (27 KGS) Looks Like

A common connection I found throughout these threads is that they're all related to a FTE. As you said, I need to draw people to this product, despite its unattractive "hard work." I feel this is more related to the marketing side: how can I make people experience a FTE to use my product? And once I make them experience it, how could I profit off this? There are already too many resources out there on how to lose weight, but nothing on keeping yourself accountable to use the resources. Of course, a FTE provides accountability, but for how long?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

A seriously complicated problem that definitely need a solution.

I'd start by research... in all the times when you did NOT feel like going to the gym, why did you ultimately go?

If there is a pattern in those answers, I'd start there.

Another crazy crazy idea...

TEXT: Are you going to the gym today?
ANS: NO.

If the answer is NO, you send them a fat naked picture of themselves that they uploaded when they created their account. That might get my a$$ off the couch!

 

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[Brett Beckwith]

A seriously complicated problem that definitely need a solution.

I'd start by research... in all the times when you did NOT feel like going to the gym, why did you ultimately go?

If there is a pattern in those answers, I'd start there.

Another crazy crazy idea...

TEXT: Are you going to the gym today?
ANS: NO.

If the answer is NO, you send them a fat naked picture of themselves that they uploaded when they created their account. That might get my a$$ off the couch!

I'll create a list of very specific reasons why one is motivated to go to the gym. Perhaps with this, I can narrow it down to specific categories and build around that.

Although the idea is funny and crazy, it would work for some people! Sometimes all it takes is a quick look in the mirror.

 

[B. Cole]

Collaborate the app with a large gym chain, get them to cooperate and set up a program.

Upon downloading the app, the customer enters their bank account info, any credit cards they own, their personal info, SS#, etc. You have to sign up for a year subscription, terms and agreement style.

And the first time you don’t check in at the front desk of the gym and log your workout, BOOM. It penalizes you by deducting money from your bank account. Like a hundred bucks. You can’t unsubscribe for a year, and you’re required to connect a fitness tracker and check into the gym X times a week, log a certain fitness. If you cancel your bank account, it continues to bill your home address for your missed workouts. When you don’t pay, it goes on your credit, all the way until your year subscription is up.


And there you have it. The number one motivator. Not health, not sex, not love or embarrassment. Money. You could literally go broke from not working out.

Just sayin’. Sounds crazy, but I bet it works.

Now you just have to be aggressive about getting people to sign up. Your campaign should focus on the impulse, new year’s resolution folks. They’ll sign up for it, and you’ll make it very expensive not to follow through for a year.

This might not even be legal -

 

[TheCj]

Have seen lots of different ways businesses have tried to motivate people to stick to a workout plan or diet.. the accountability part from crossfit creating a cult/social group atmosphere to other plans that you pay money ahead of time and then get money back as you lose weight etc...

First thought that came to mind when reading your post was to make the phone lock the user out until the workout task is done.. of course people can just lie to the app unless you had it use its gps or other sensors that it uses for tracking walking etc.. then a person would just remove the app if truly not committed enough...

I find this problem similar to the basic's of personal finance.. Working out is a very simple thing in terms of actual action.. The key is being motivated and accountable to yourself.. A lot easier said than done.. Then you also get into habit building etc..

The fitness "guru's" that seem the most profitable are the ones that sell lots of different specific systems/course.. So someone use's the 3month arm program and gets some results and they are happy.. Then they look for the next program since they got results...

In the end if it actually works, it will be popular...

If can create something that truly helps people change habits can use in lots of areas of life, working out, diet, finance, quitting smoking etc...

Doesn't take much to cancel charges on a credit card...

 

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[Brett Beckwith]

Collaborate the app with a large gym chain, get them to cooperate and set up a program.

Upon downloading the app, the customer enters their bank account info, any credit cards they own, their personal info, SS#, etc. You have to sign up for a year subscription, terms and agreement style.

And the first time you don’t check in at the front desk of the gym and log your workout, BOOM. It penalizes you by deducting money from your bank account. Like a hundred bucks. You can’t unsubscribe for a year, and you’re required to connect a fitness tracker and check into the gym X times a week, log a certain fitness. If you cancel your bank account, it continues to bill your home address for your missed workouts. When you don’t pay, it goes on your credit, all the way until your year subscription is up.


And there you have it. The number one motivator. Not health, not sex, not love or embarrassment. Money. You could literally go broke from not working out.

Just sayin’. Sounds crazy, but I bet it works.

Now you just have to be aggressive about getting people to sign up. Your campaign should focus on the impulse, new year’s resolution folks. They’ll sign up for it, and you’ll make it very expensive not to follow through for a year.

This might not even be legal -

I like that idea. It takes away from trying to fulfill everyone's personal motivation (by the way, I found ~20 distinct reasons why people workout) and narrow it down to one exact motivator nearly everyone has: money. The program could be brought out by explaining the penalties make you come to the gym, and when you come to the gym consistently, you develop a habit. Essentially, people would be paying me to help them form the healthy habit.

This would strongly rely on collaboration with major nationwide fitness centers. If I could connect with just one, such as Anytime Fitness, it could then lead into other centers wanting in. Anytime Fitness could offer new members an offer to my program, nearly taking out marketing. Marketing taken off my hands for a program? Count me in.

They would need motivation to work with me, obviously a percentage of profits. I wouldn't expect them to go any lower than 30% of the profits (from their gym's connection, not from the whole program with other gyms, obviously). If anyone has experience with these types of deals, let me know what numbers are thrown around.

As for the guidelines, I feel that one would need to go 3x every 2 weeks. Not much, but many things can come up in life and interfere. You don't want to penalize them for being in the hospital or going on a trip overseas for a week. There is going to have to be some sort of leniency thrown in: if you physically cannot go to the gym to workout due to an injury or health reasons, you could be exempted from the billed penalties. One would need to provide the gym with physical proof they cannot workout. This responsibility of management would be thrown on the gym. They would have power to use the program to manage clients.

For the actual costs, I feel that a $50 signup fee (less than an average 1 month gym membership) for the annual session would be a fair price. However, it comes with a deal that if you make every 2 week session, you can get $25 back at the end of the year. This way, there is a reward for making it all the way. If you miss a 2-week session, then a fine could be $10, where most of the money would come from.

Not to mention, there would be a high chance that if you worked out that much in a year, an addiction would be developed. In elaboration, a habit is formed from a 3-step process: cue, process, and reward. The cue would be you have to go to the gym or you'll be fined, the process is working out, and the reward is the self-improvement you'll see and $30. If one experiences these three things, odds are the program would develop a habit. This comes from the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

 

[Brett Beckwith]

I like that idea. It takes away from trying to fulfill everyone's personal motivation (by the way, I found ~20 distinct reasons why people workout) and narrow it down to one exact motivator nearly everyone has: money. The program could be brought out by explaining the penalties make you come to the gym, and when you come to the gym consistently, you develop a habit. Essentially, people would be paying me to help them form the healthy habit.

This would strongly rely on collaboration with major nationwide fitness centers. If I could connect with just one, such as Anytime Fitness, it could then lead into other centers wanting in. Anytime Fitness could offer new members an offer to my program, nearly taking out marketing. Marketing taken off my hands for a program? Count me in.

They would need motivation to work with me, obviously a percentage of profits. I wouldn't expect them to go any lower than 30% of the profits (from their gym's connection, not from the whole program with other gyms, obviously). If anyone has experience with these types of deals, let me know what numbers are thrown around.

As for the guidelines, I feel that one would need to go 3x every 2 weeks. Not much, but many things can come up in life and interfere. You don't want to penalize them for being in the hospital or going on a trip overseas for a week. There is going to have to be some sort of leniency thrown in: if you physically cannot go to the gym to workout due to an injury or health reasons, you could be exempted from the billed penalties. One would need to provide the gym with physical proof they cannot workout. This responsibility of management would be thrown on the gym. They would have power to use the program to manage clients.

For the actual costs, I feel that a $50 signup fee (less than an average 1 month gym membership) for the annual session would be a fair price. However, it comes with a deal that if you make every 2 week session, you can get $25 back at the end of the year. This way, there is a reward for making it all the way. If you miss a 2-week session, then a fine could be $10, where most of the money would come from.

Not to mention, there would be a high chance that if you worked out that much in a year, an addiction would be developed. In elaboration, a habit is formed from a 3-step process: cue, process, and reward. The cue would be you have to go to the gym or you'll be fined, the process is working out, and the reward is the self-improvement you'll see and $30. If one experiences these three things, odds are the program would develop a habit. This comes from the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Oh, and I feel this type of program would work much better as a website that gyms have access to than a mobile app, for people wouldn't really need the app past sign-up.

 

[Brett Beckwith]

Have seen lots of different ways businesses have tried to motivate people to stick to a workout plan or diet.. the accountability part from crossfit creating a cult/social group atmosphere to other plans that you pay money ahead of time and then get money back as you lose weight etc...

First thought that came to mind when reading your post was to make the phone lock the user out until the workout task is done.. of course people can just lie to the app unless you had it use its gps or other sensors that it uses for tracking walking etc.. then a person would just remove the app if truly not committed enough...

I find this problem similar to the basic's of personal finance.. Working out is a very simple thing in terms of actual action.. The key is being motivated and accountable to yourself.. A lot easier said than done.. Then you also get into habit building etc..

The fitness "guru's" that seem the most profitable are the ones that sell lots of different specific systems/course.. So someone use's the 3month arm program and gets some results and they are happy.. Then they look for the next program since they got results...

In the end if it actually works, it will be popular...

If can create something that truly helps people change habits can use in lots of areas of life, working out, diet, finance, quitting smoking etc...

Doesn't take much to cancel charges on a credit card...

I had thought of the same idea with locking someone out of their phone until they worked out. But that would come with major problems in regards to when the phone would be locked out since many people have flexible gym schedules.

 

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[Brett Beckwith]

Okay, so I am going through with this.

The current problem I am facing: I have no idea where to even begin.

The first step I believe I should take is actually trying to get into contact with the corporations / franchises. I need to pitch the idea and see if it's something that they will actually adopt. Before throwing any ideas their way, I will be forming an NDA and getting a trademark. Working with them is the most important part to this process, for there would be no other way to keep track of people truly going to the gym and not cheating!

When it comes to actually making the program, setting up payments, penalized billing and everything about it in general, I have no idea in hell. I will be doing a lot of research to figure out how to go about making this a reality. If anyone has experience in developing a service like this or knows of any helpful threads, feel free to reply!

 

[Brett Beckwith]

After searching for a while, I finally found an application in which I can present a service / product to Anytime Fitness, the largest gym franchise there is, but there's a catch: the application fee is $300.

This is where it gets sticky.

I do not have a made service yet, so if I submitted something, it would be a pitch for an idea. So, I would have to risk $300.

Also, I figured out two ways to go about this:

Give Anytime Fitness the idea and let them implement it into their already existing systems. In this option, everything is taken care by them, but it would be limited to only their franchise. However, they have 3M+ members, so that's pretty damn good in itself.

If I pitched the idea, got an "ok this is good shit," then I would create the service on my own, in which I can then pitch to more corporations. However, I would have to a) learn how to create the damn thing or b) take a loan out to pay for a software development company to make it. The bad part about this is that the service wouldn't be directly implemented into the gym's franchise, so the gym's may not want to be a part of it if it's not their "own." Not to mention, it might not sell as well to customers and would be incredibly difficult to go international.

 

[B. Cole]

I like that idea. It takes away from trying to fulfill everyone's personal motivation (by the way, I found ~20 distinct reasons why people workout) and narrow it down to one exact motivator nearly everyone has: money. The program could be brought out by explaining the penalties make you come to the gym, and when you come to the gym consistently, you develop a habit. Essentially, people would be paying me to help them form the healthy habit.

This would strongly rely on collaboration with major nationwide fitness centers. If I could connect with just one, such as Anytime Fitness, it could then lead into other centers wanting in. Anytime Fitness could offer new members an offer to my program, nearly taking out marketing. Marketing taken off my hands for a program? Count me in.

They would need motivation to work with me, obviously a percentage of profits. I wouldn't expect them to go any lower than 30% of the profits (from their gym's connection, not from the whole program with other gyms, obviously). If anyone has experience with these types of deals, let me know what numbers are thrown around.

As for the guidelines, I feel that one would need to go 3x every 2 weeks. Not much, but many things can come up in life and interfere. You don't want to penalize them for being in the hospital or going on a trip overseas for a week. There is going to have to be some sort of leniency thrown in: if you physically cannot go to the gym to workout due to an injury or health reasons, you could be exempted from the billed penalties. One would need to provide the gym with physical proof they cannot workout. This responsibility of management would be thrown on the gym. They would have power to use the program to manage clients.

For the actual costs, I feel that a $50 signup fee (less than an average 1 month gym membership) for the annual session would be a fair price. However, it comes with a deal that if you make every 2 week session, you can get $25 back at the end of the year. This way, there is a reward for making it all the way. If you miss a 2-week session, then a fine could be $10, where most of the money would come from.

Not to mention, there would be a high chance that if you worked out that much in a year, an addiction would be developed. In elaboration, a habit is formed from a 3-step process: cue, process, and reward. The cue would be you have to go to the gym or you'll be fined, the process is working out, and the reward is the self-improvement you'll see and $30. If one experiences these three things, odds are the program would develop a habit. This comes from the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Exactly. Losing money hurts, it’s a universal resource that can be converted into almost anything, and is very hard to replenish for most of us. People get over guilt, fat pictures of ourselves, and almost anything else, but it’s hard to roll over and accept financial burden that you have the power to stop, especially if it competes with other things that you need the money for. People will even forget about a down payment they made with a promise to get it back at the end once they get sick enough of working out, but continued burden hurts.

This would probably get a lot of attention and mention as the “Evil workout program that forces you to work out”, and people will try it. I remember P90X getting a ton of attention and signups, even though most people wouldn’t follow through with it. People were buying it just because of its reputation of being hell.

And in all of this, it is an attempt at forcing people to do what they don’t want to do, so this is controversial and brave ground to trek. It’s almost in the category of those payday loans that hurt financially irresponsible people more than they help.

It’s kind of sad that money (or loss of it in this case) is the motivator that could force people to work out, when the real incentive to being healthy is more time on this earth, the one thing that money cannot buy. I’m guilty as charged. Good luck man, I’ll be watching.

 

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[TheCj]

Quick google search show's something like Healthywage website, people bet against the site about meeting weight loss goals in set time frames.. Definitely interesting, weight loss bookmaker just matter of time learning customer profiles to create better odds profits am guessing..

 

[Brett Beckwith]

Exactly. Losing money hurts, it’s a universal resource that can be converted into almost anything, and is very hard to replenish for most of us. People get over guilt, fat pictures of ourselves, and almost anything else, but it’s hard to roll over and accept financial burden that you have the power to stop, especially if it competes with other things that you need the money for. People will even forget about a down payment they made with a promise to get it back at the end once they get sick enough of working out, but continued burden hurts.

This would probably get a lot of attention and mention as the “Evil workout program that forces you to work out”, and people will try it. I remember P90X getting a ton of attention and signups, even though most people wouldn’t follow through with it. People were buying it just because of its reputation of being hell.

And in all of this, it is an attempt at forcing people to do what they don’t want to do, so this is controversial and brave ground to trek. It’s almost in the category of those payday loans that hurt financially irresponsible people more than they help.

It’s kind of sad that money (or loss of it in this case) is the motivator that could force people to work out, when the real incentive to being healthy is more time on this earth, the one thing that money cannot buy. I’m guilty as charged. Good luck man, I’ll be watching.

I discussed this idea with my brother-in-law.

In theory, you can do this. However, it could create A LOT of tension with customers. Say if it's issues in which the gym is in the fault, people would be mad because they lost money. Say if it's their own fault and they lost money, they'll still be mad. This anger could be translated to "hey, maybe I should go to the gym," or it could be "this gym is F*cking dumb and it's all their fault." Creating tension with customers is risky. Some may view the system as a motivator for them to get better, and others may see it as a system for the gym to make a lot of money.

Also, one issue is that I would need to create the system. I can not simply sell an idea--it doesn't work like that. I need to provide them with a product or service that can do one of the following:

• Enhance our brand and make it more attractive to members or franchisees.
• Improve the workout experience of a member.
• Increase the revenue of a franchisee’s club.
• Increase the efficiency of a franchisee, or save them time and headaches.

One big problem as well is that this service could easily be implemented into their system. They do not need me to charge customers.

Not to mention, the investment based on my current capital to create this program would be huge. I currently am working on actually creating money from Amazon while only brainstorming this. This may be better to consider at later times when I actually have the money--no point spending willpower and energy on something that I can't even execute to make money, when I should be spending it on learning proper product marketing and other important things.

But, I'll still be posting my thoughts on this accountability/motivation issue. It's something fun to make me not go insane looking for products and communicating with suppliers.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Wellness Challenges with Cash Prizes |

Maybe a spin on Healthy Wage -- user deposits $X and anytime they don't go to the gym, a small amount (at their specification) is donated to a charity of their choice. Then their failure is someone else's benefit -- could make for an interesting marketing angle.

 

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[Brett Beckwith]

Wellness Challenges with Cash Prizes |

Maybe a spin on Healthy Wage -- user deposits $X and anytime they don't go to the gym, a small amount (at their specification) is donated to a charity of their choice. Then their failure is someone else's benefit -- could make for an interesting marketing angle.

That would likely fix any tension people have in their mind in regards to me / a gym making money off them. Also a win-win, clients and myself get some satisfaction of donating to charities.

 

[Brett Beckwith]

Thoughts on how to run the program:

In order to decrease the reliability on the commercial gyms, I figure that utilizing a GPS system, as mentioned before, would work fine. It of course would allow people to cheat easier, but that would occur both ways. In order to decrease the amount of cheaters, I would make sure people remain in the same area (the gym) for a period of time: ~30mins. I feel this would work much better than the key system, so it would not require me to work with gyms.

Going to touch on more thoughts of the program itself later.

 

[Brett Beckwith]

I'm back. Been doing a lot of work, failing a lot, reading a lot, learning a lot.

The idea of finding a solution to keeping people accountable in the gym is certainly underway. I have combined work with people and we are coming towards a solution and making it a reality.

This thread hasn't been updated for a while, but thank you everyone for your input. All input is being acknowledged and considered to being put in the app.

I'll definitely be putting in some more progress updates!

 

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[Brett Beckwith]

Recently, my team took our first shot at receiving funding for the app. The elevator pitch was certainly short notice; we were not prepared enough.

Long story short, we did not receive any funding for this initial pitch. However, we learned a lot and have some more ideas flowing.

In the meantime, I will still be tackling this issue on people not being motivated to go to the gym. To do this, I plan on using a funnel technique to offer people advice on getting into the gym, then selling the typical resources like programs, diet plans, and group coaching.

I am considering offering 1-on-1 coaching; it's certainly not fastlane, but considering funds are scarce, I'm not above the concept considering the $ per hour would be very good. I can always move to hiring coaches to do the training for me, but that would work much better with group coaching / mastermind groups anyways.

I am hoping to build a strong base and community with my email list, then when the time comes for the actual app to be released, it'll be off to the races.

 

[NuclearPuma]

Mini habits is the only long term
solution.

You have to make the workout stupid easy. If they visualize the workout, and it's hard in their mind, they feel that pain and effort as if they are actually doing it. As a result, they don't do it.

So whatever workout it is, it must be one that when visualized, if easy and relaxing.

You have to get the customers to associate your exercise with ease, good feelings, and not sweat and grind.

I would focus on copywriting side of things. How you frame it in their mind. Have them go through some fee good visualization exercise in the copywriting.
It should be visualizing the actual execution of being in the gym and moving, not their desired result of having a 6 pack on the beach.

Crossfit is successful because it turned into a social club. There is peer pressure and also people cheering you on. Good combo to motivate people.

 

[StompingAcorns]

You have to make the workout stupid easy. If they visualize the workout, and it's hard in their mind, they feel that pain and effort as if they are actually doing it. As a result, they don't do it.

So whatever workout it is, it must be one that when visualized, if easy and relaxing.

You have to get the customers to associate your exercise with ease, good feelings, and not sweat and grind.

I've recently been using a home video workout (which I like). The related, private FB group kept saying "just push play". I'd skim their posts in my feed every few days, and after awhile, I found myself saying to myself in the morning, "just push play. If you start and are too tired, you can stop" and, of course, I never stopped. But the oversimplification from "get up, get dressed, work out, sweat, get tired, do something hard" - all of which is hard and seems like a lot - to "just push play" - which seems so easy a child could do it - was a tremendous help mentally to get out of bed and get going.

 

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[garyfritz]

Maybe a spin on Healthy Wage -- user deposits $X and anytime they don't go to the gym, a small amount (at their specification) is donated to a charity of their choice. Then their failure is someone else's benefit -- could make for an interesting marketing angle.

There's an even better approach: if they don't go to the gym (or whatever), the money is donated to a charity THEY HATE. Hillary2020, TrumpForEmperor, PeopleWhoLikeToKickPuppies, whatever. That makes it a MUCH stronger motivator.

There are several apps & websites that do this & similar already. Some of them even tie into your FitBit/etc so they can TELL if you're working out. Here are 6 of 'em:
6 Accountability Apps That Will Skyrocket Your Success

 

[MJ DeMarco]

There's an even better approach: if they don't go to the gym (or whatever), the money is donated to a charity THEY HATE. Hillary2020, TrumpForEmperor, PeopleWhoLikeToKickPuppies, whatever. That makes it a MUCH stronger motivator.

Awesome idea!

 

[Brett Beckwith]

Mini habits is the only long term
solution.

You have to make the workout stupid easy. If they visualize the workout, and it's hard in their mind, they feel that pain and effort as if they are actually doing it. As a result, they don't do it.

So whatever workout it is, it must be one that when visualized, if easy and relaxing.

You have to get the customers to associate your exercise with ease, good feelings, and not sweat and grind.

I would focus on copywriting side of things. How you frame it in their mind. Have them go through some fee good visualization exercise in the copywriting.
It should be visualizing the actual execution of being in the gym and moving, not their desired result of having a 6 pack on the beach.

Crossfit is successful because it turned into a social club. There is peer pressure and also people cheering you on. Good combo to motivate people.

I wouldn't consider making the actual workout "easy." Sure, you can get the sale, but that's pretty immoral. The money is of course great, but it'd be a lot better if I can make money and help people on the way; more importantly, actual results will help long term success on my side as well. It's the fitness community--results are extremely important. Not to mention, people can sniff the BS out a lot better, especially considering my target is young people.

However, encouraging visualization practices and other things would be helpful. Copywriting is definitely extremely important here, which is why a lot of my time has been studying copywriting / persuasion. Thanks for your response.

 

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[Brett Beckwith]

I've recently been using a home video workout (which I like). The related, private FB group kept saying "just push play". I'd skim their posts in my feed every few days, and after awhile, I found myself saying to myself in the morning, "just push play. If you start and are too tired, you can stop" and, of course, I never stopped. But the oversimplification from "get up, get dressed, work out, sweat, get tired, do something hard" - all of which is hard and seems like a lot - to "just push play" - which seems so easy a child could do it - was a tremendous help mentally to get out of bed and get going.

Yes, these very subtle mental cues can be extremely helpful. People just need to find the one thing that works for them and gets em going.

 

[Brett Beckwith]

There's an even better approach: if they don't go to the gym (or whatever), the money is donated to a charity THEY HATE. Hillary2020, TrumpForEmperor, PeopleWhoLikeToKickPuppies, whatever. That makes it a MUCH stronger motivator.

There are several apps & websites that do this & similar already. Some of them even tie into your FitBit/etc so they can TELL if you're working out. Here are 6 of 'em:
6 Accountability Apps That Will Skyrocket Your Success

That's an interesting idea. I like it. Will definitely remember this. Thank you!

 

[Brett Beckwith]

As an update to this issue, I've decided on how to go about doing this. I will be utilizing email marketing and funnel techniques, primarily inspired from books by Russell Brunson, to sell my own products in the fitness industry.

Yes, I'll be selling workout plans. How original. In the sense of the product itself, it's very, very hard to distinguish it. All workout plans are in a sense pretty similar.

However, how I go about marketing it, creating my brand, and persuading people that what I'm offering is better than everything else is going to be a very important part of this process. It needs to be different (already figured that out!)

I've reverse engineered competitors in my market and I've figured out how they market the products. It works pretty well while maintaining a positive figure in the fitness industry, despite the sales tactics. I'm going to take those ideas and create my own with a personal touch.

Here's what I've done:

- I figured out what problem people need solved and how I can solve it in a unique way
- I typed up an eBook for Nutrition (surprisingly only took me a few days of work to make 40 PDF pages of pure content)
- Recreated my already existing workout plan to revolve around benefits rather than technical aspects
- Created another workout plan to widen my spectrum of what people need and have access to

What I need to do:

- Create my funnel. Taking my time on this and covering all the basics of effective marketing and salesmanship
- Recreate my website. It looks decent now, but could use some work.
- Figure out one more source of organic traffic (currently only Instagram)

Once I have that done, I can finally start selling and making a difference in people's lives. From here on I can start to widen my product line to cover all the basics of fitness needs. That'll be easy.

Important note: I finally revealed to my parents I do not want to be an engineer or a doctor. I have switched majors to what I'm truly interested in and now my work-load is extremely manageable to focus on business. I've taken the jump to entrepreneurship and now I'm more devoted than ever to make this work—I have to make it work. Very excited to get this ball rolling. I'll keep this forum updated on how things are going and if I'm making money!

 

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[Suzanne Bazemore]

I wouldn't consider making the actual workout "easy." Sure, you can get the sale, but that's pretty immoral.

I don't think an easy workout is immoral. Maybe you don't even need to qualify the workout, just quantify it (length of time). Or maybe have that as an option. I like this app called Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen (recommended to me by a phsyician), and it just has easy radial buttons that I click on if I have eaten that item that day. It was a free app. What I don't like about it is that it doesn't measure my improvement or chart my progress. I would like for it to keep track of my entries and put them on a graph. If you need 3 servings of a food group, then it has 3 radial buttons available. If you eat two servings, then you just click it twice. But for excercise, there is just one radial button for 90 minutes of exercise, so every time I use the app, I feel like a failure. I wish the exercise category had servings just like the food groups, maybe 1 for every 30 minutes.

 

[Brett Beckwith]

I don't think an easy workout is immoral. Maybe you don't even need to qualify the workout, just quantify it (length of time). Or maybe have that as an option. I like this app called Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen (recommended to me by a phsyician), and it just has easy radial buttons that I click on if I have eaten that item that day. It was a free app. What I don't like about it is that it doesn't measure my improvement or chart my progress. I would like for it to keep track of my entries and put them on a graph. If you need 3 servings of a food group, then it has 3 radial buttons available. If you eat two servings, then you just click it twice. But for excercise, there is just one radial button for 90 minutes of exercise, so every time I use the app, I feel like a failure. I wish the exercise category had servings just like the food groups, maybe 1 for every 30 minutes.

So I agree having it be "easy" is better. But let me explain further into my strategy here on what "easy" actually means:

Many workout plans and diet plans encourage extreme lifestyle changes to adhere to the principles of the workout or diet. A really good example of this would be the keto diet. In the keto diet, you are essentially forced in nearly all cases to cut out carbs entirely. Given the negative connotation of carbs (a huge misconception), most people agree that this diet would be "good."

However, they're completely missing out on the fact that 1) carbs are actually very good for you and 2) a "good" diet is one that you can actually stick to for a lifetime and not just a cycle. It's all about the long-term success, and for long term success you need it to be "easy" or something you can actually do for a long period of time.

When you go on a "diet," the norm is that it is temporary. Since you're only "eating healthy" for a temporary amount of time, that obviously means you're going to rebound and gain all the weight back.

Well now you may say that keto or other like diets can be done for an indefinite amount of time. Sure, while that may be true, a very large majority of people are NOT going to be able to stick to such an extreme diet, causing them to go back entirely to bad habits. They won't meet middle ground.

That's why having basic nutritional principles ingrained into your daily routine is crucial to success. Also why I wrote an eBook over Flexible Nutrition—a simple way to approach nutrition without taking extreme lifestyle changes, encouraging long-term success and overall improvement. Emphasizes on applying the Pareto Principle (do what's important) and only being perfect 80% of the time.

The same principles apply to workouts. Many people think that working out to lose fat means hours and hours of cardio. Realistically, you can just eat better, do a little cardio for slight help on fat/recovery and overall health, then lift weights for actual muscle gains (weights actually create more overall metabolic activity than cardio too). This results in an "easy" routine that people can adhere to for life and actually enjoy!

So my goal here with my business would be to show people that other methods out there have essentially poisoned their mind into thinking working out and having good nutrition means no dessert for life and hours on end of cardio.

And as a solution to curing the poison, I want to show them that "working out" is actually not that bad (and even extremely stress-relieving) and "eating healthy" is extremely manageable to work into a permanent lifestyle change!!!

So, my products would then be revolved around giving what I preach, and all marketing/copy work would be entirely revolved around attacking social norms and showing them the truth behind how that bodybuilder eats weekly pizzas (hint: balance is key).

From what I've seen in the industry, people sell similar products, but don't go to enough of an extreme to show how "working out and being healthy" isn't bad at all!

Sorry if this is a little cluttered, just went on a rant. Really passionate about showing people this!