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!
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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