Find Your Trainer App As A Business Model

Source: Find Your Trainer Helps You (Duh!) Find A Personal Trainer

 

In its seed funding stage, it’s going to be interesting to see how well this app does. Why? Because it’s employing a model that can be duplicated to fit other industries.

It’s an app that handles scheduling and payments, but also acts as matchmaker, letting customers choose trainers that match their criteria. The article states that because FYT is a platform with an already built-in infrastructure, the company has already expanded to 300 cities in 10 states.

Let’s apply this model to another industry. How about an app called Find Your Chiro? The app would vett potential chiropractors and then create a directory which lists different techniques, amenities, equipment, prices, and insurance plus other criteria as dictated by industry experts. Customers would be able to choose the right chiropractor faster. The appointment and payment transaction would be handled before the customer walks in the door. Chiropractors would save time and money on  billing and appointment expenses.

Can you think of another industry to apply this model to? The possibilities are endless. Share your thoughts.

Startup Monterey Bay Tech Meetup

Starting a business is hard. A new group started by CSUMB Small Business Development Center hopes to make it easier. Their vision is to create an entrepreneurial environment for all businesses – new, startup or existing.

I’ve been to three meetings and each meeting is progressively more educational, fun and interactive.

Each meeting features two speakers who are either starting up or have an existing business in the Monterey area. Preceded by a short meet and greet and followed with questions. Meetings are building momentum and it seems we need more time.

No meeting in January because the SBDC is working on their annual Startup Weekend Monterey Bay, an intense 3-day collaboration and contest.

 

The monthly meetings resume again in February. Free to attend at Press Club in Seaside.  Juices, wine/beer, coffee and sandwiches or salads are available.

 

Tuesday, Feb 9, 2016, 6:00 PM

The Press Club
668 Williams Ave. Seaside, CA

4 Members Attending

In addition to a featured talk or tech demonstration we’ll have pitches (contact us if you’d like to pitch your idea or business), news about startups in the region, music, fun,and games.Drinks and food are available for sale through Perfectly Pressed Juice Bar ‘N Cafe at The Press Club.Special thanks to our event sponsor: The Monterey County Wee…

Check out this Meetup →

Jumbled options = No Sale

I was in the market for a hosting solution.

I had narrowed it down to Host Gator and Blue Host.

I had both open and was chatting with the customer service about their services.  I decided on Blue Host because they specialize in WordPress.  But after I clicked to order I noticed that I could not really tell the price I would be paying.  Did they mean that I need to pay for a year at a time? And why are all these recommended services checked?  It was confusing and I opted for Host Gator because I know exactly what I’ll be paying for and everything is included.  It may be that I needed the extra “add-ons” or I may have been able to save a couple bucks per month by not choosing some; and I also did not want to post my credit card info and find out I had to pay a whole year in advance.

Bottom line is: make sure you communicate well to your customers and be transparent with prices.

Getting started is the most important step….

My goal for the blog is to report unique business news and comment on other news items about local business.

 

I’ve always  been fascinated by sharing.  How sharing multiplies results.  I’ll look for businesses that are doing some form of collaborating and report how they are doing.  

 

My vision is for Monterey County to become connected through the web-specifically the mobile web.  We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.  There are already several apps, websites and services available – we just need to agree on the most helpful and implement them!

 

Let me share a couple of examples.  Credit card fees are the necessary evil of many retailers and restaurants.  There is one company called Dwolla that charges a flat fee of .25 cents per transaction!  Imagine what a retail unit can save if they signed on to Dwolla?

 

Also, there are several apps that help bands.  One of the best is Reverbnation.  There are already a few local bands using it. What would happen if all of our musicians signed on, and Monterey County residents adapted Reverbnation as their source of info for local live music?

 

But there are other ways to share … How about if several local restaurants banded together and created an online community?  So the next time one venue needed to print out flyers they could work with others to share printing costs.

 

These ideas need to be fleshed out and turned into an organized outline but I am operating on the principle that “the time to act on a good idea is now” and will be formalizing as I write the blog.  By following this blog, you’ll get to see an idea come to fruition…so feedback is welcome and appreciated.

 

There’s too much money to be saved and too much to be gained – I don’t want to wait til the blog looks perfect before starting.

 

The next blog will be about the TedxMonterey conference that happened on Apr 26, 2014.  Watch for that in a few days!

Local, Connected, Successful…….

This blog will focus on Monterey County small businesses.

I believe that there is a lot to be gained from sharing experiece and resources.

I’ll comment on local business news but will also comment on business news elsewhere.

I don’t believe it’s necessary to reinvent the wheel to have a successful business community. There are other successful business communities that Monterey can use as a model.

Just think of a traffic jam. Notice how most cars push to get ahead, blocking other cars from getting ahead. This slows everyone down, including themselves!

Now think of Silicon Valley and the Open Source culture. There have been epic gains created from their culture of sharing….

I will elaborate more on that idea; I haven’t formed the mission statement yet, but I believe it’s necessary to act quickly so I’m starting the blog today.

Join me on my journey!