Wellness 360 (Round 2)

OPPORTUNITY 

In today’s society, there is a lack of knowledge about how to be healthy. Individuals know that being healthy would include participation in behaviors such as exercising regularly and eating nutritious meals, however, many individuals do not have the education and resources required to properly implement these behaviors. With all of the diverse diet and exercise information floating around the media, much of which is false or without evidence to back it, health has become confusing for those who have not studied it. Individuals are seeking out a healthy lifestyle, and are searching for the resources that can help them achieve it. This opportunity is created by the shift in society towards health, brought on by the younger generations that are thinking futuristically. Also, with America’s obesity issue, individuals are eager to take preventative measures or to turn their lives around if they are already experiencing health deficits. Customers are currently satisfying their lack of knowledge in the field of health by conducting personal research, hiring professionals, or joining fitness centers that have amenities such as fitness coaching. The opportunity to provide the resources and knowledge needed to live a healthy lifestyle is great because there is increasing awareness for the consequences of poor health and desire to live healthier lives. People who do not have an advanced understanding of fitness and nutrition have this unmet need, they are in need of a convenient and reliable way to improve their health.

INNOVATION

To address the unmeet needs of customers who are seeking a healthy lifestyle but don't know where or how to start, I am proposing a wellness center that focuses on providing the knowledge and resources necessary to embody an all encompassing health. This center will consist of the resources that can be found throughout a community, however they will be combined and made available under the same roof to provide convenience for customers. This center would mostly be a full sized gym where members could work on their physical health with the assistance of personal trainers, but would also have rooms for teaching sessions that would cover information regarding other elements of wellness such as nutrition, self-care, life improvement, etc. The center would also include an activity room primarily used for yoga classes. Because yoga relieves stress and increases positive energy, yoga is a beneficial amenity for mental health. Because fitness can be intimidating, and many don't know how to approach it: I will incorporate a class into the schedule that walks members through the resistance machines and helps them become familiar with them and feel more comfortable and confident when entering the gym. This wellness center would work by providing unlimited access based off of membership, although on day trials would be allowed for prospects. In summary, I am selling access to a gym, workout classes and consultations with personal trainers, various educational classes covering diverse topics in wellness, interactive activities/sessions between members of the center. In order to turn profit, I would start membership at a lower cost in order to spread awareness of my business and create a feeling of immediacy for potential customers.  This promotion would be for the first set number of members to join and would allow me to quickly accumulate paying customers. This early bird special would be around $40 a month, after which, prices for all-inclusive membership would increase to around $50 a month. In case customers really like the gym within this wellness center, I will offer a limited membership offer for $20 a month which allows them access to the gym alone. 

VENTURE CONCEPT

My innovation: a wellness center, will solve the opportunity I identified: lack of knowledge and resources needed to be healthy. My concept will be affective because it will provide resources such as a gym, a personal trainer, and a nutritionist along with brief classes that members can attend that will increase knowledge on fitness, nutrition, etc. to make individuals more independent in their fitness journeys. I believe customers will switch to this new service because it can take the place of all of their combined efforts towards healthy living, such as: a gym membership, personal training costs, visits to a nutritionist, workout and diet programs, etc. Because people are drawn to new ways to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle and ideal body image, it won’t be difficult to bring in customers. People are eager to find an innovative program or center that will help them achieve and sustain their health goals. Competitors are surrounding fitness centers, although they are already established with their members, they lack the well-rounded approach that my concept has; although people have memberships to these gyms, they are still walking around confused about how to approach fitness and wellness. My business will provide an all-inclusive membership with no additional costs for amenities. In order to get my wellness center running, I would need at least one full-time personal trainer, one nutritionist, and 10-15 part-time employees to work the front desk and monitor the center throughout it's hours of operation. 

Minor Elements 

1. My most important resource for this business will be exceptional customer service. Customer service will be of top priority in this company and will be engrained in the mind of all individuals taking part in the mission. Keeping customer service in mind, member interactions will always be handled with patience, respect, and empathy. The positive experience members have when they enter this facility, is what will set it apart from competitors. 
2. With the abundance of knowledge and experience that would be present in my wellness center, the next product that could expand our offerings would be a book or instructional guide which would include the most important information for living a healthy lifestyle. This book would be a summary of all the lessons we teach at the wellness center. Another possible expansion for my company would be opening an adjoining juice bar or restaurant that serves healthy and fulfilling meals; this would allow for a convenient and goal oriented post-workout meal for members, it could also draw in people who are then exposed to the facility. 
3. Assuming I launched this business, in five years I would want to see a profitable wellness center that has not only been successful in terms of membership and revenue, but also in terms of it's purpose: to improve the lives of others. As an entrepreneur, I would always want to pursue things I am passionate about. My vision is to positively impact the lives of as many people as I can in whatever ways I am able to. 

FEEDBACK

Overall, the feedback on my venture concept was very positive and supportive. My peers liked the idea of making an all-encompassing and non-intimidating wellness center where members could gain the necessary knowledge and have access to the necessary equipment needed to cultivate a healthy lifestyle. During the "What's Next" activity, there were some ideas and emphasis on certain aspects that should be included in my facility. Participants reacted very positively to the idea of incorporating an orientation class that walks members through all the equipment and explains how to use each machine. The younger generation loved the idea or potentially including a juice bar or some sort of cafe that served healthy and fresh meals, they also emphasized the importance of incorporating yoga. 

CHANGES

In response to this feedback, I added some small sections to my venture concept. Because my peers' reactions were positive for my first venture concept, I didn't remove anything, I simply incorporated new recommendations that I acquired through the "What's Next" exercise. I explained my class that would be incorporated to introduce new members to the resistance machines and cardio equipment. I also added in the idea of an multi-purpose activity room that would be used by the facility for yoga classes and open at other times for members to workout in. For a possible expansion idea in the future, I added in my idea of opening an adjoining, healthy cafe, so that members not only learn about making nutritious decisions at my wellness center, but can actually partake in that decision making conveniently. 

Final Reflection

Reflecting on the assignments from this course and all that I have learned from them, the most formative experience I had throughout the duration of the semester was practicing my elevator pitch. This task really intimidated me at first which is the main reason I didn't complete the first two, however, once I had finally tackled it on round 3, I realized I learned a lot. Public speaking is certainly not easy, and although this assignment was conducted with video, it was intimidating and put a lot of pressure on presenting an idea smoothly, without hitting mental blocks. This elevator pitch was also the assignment I am most proud of completing, that is because I don't do well recording myself talking and oftentimes lose my train of thought when performing under pressure. The assignments I most enjoyed completing were definitely the book reflections, I love reading in general but I found the books that I read throughout this semester both informative and inspiring.

Although this class has taught me many things about entrepreneurship, I don't necessarily see myself as an entrepreneur. I think that I lack the creative mindset and willingness to take risks necessary for entrepreneurship. With that being said, I have moved a lot closer to an entrepreneurial mindset. When I see problems now, I evaluate them as opportunities and think of how businesses may solve them in the future. I now have a much better understanding of what goes into entrepreneurship and see it as the complex field that it is.

For future students, I recommend persistence. Like in entrepreneurship, there will be many times throughout this course that you simply want to give up. Even when you want to cut corners or skip out on assignments, it's crucial that you stay dedicated. In order to foster this mindset, I would recommend students keep themselves motivated by reflecting on how this class is helping them get to where they are trying to go in life and keep an open mind about the vast amount of knowledge and experience that they will gain throughout this course; although it is a lot of work, it is extremely rewarding.

Free $$$

Strategy
For this exercise, I wanted to try out a few different locations so that I didn't look too strange or suspicious in one certain area. Because I wanted to catch someone walking and carrying on with their day, I waited in my neighborhood back home until I saw individuals heading to their house from their parking spot or walking their dog. I also went to the corner store for this activity in order to interrupt people while they were shopping. Before venturing out to complete this assignment, I decided that I would approach people who looked approachable/friendly so that the encounter would not be too invasive or awkward. My plan was to start the conversation by stating that I was sorry to bother them followed by asking them how they were, I would then explain that someone had passed the dollar on to me as an act of kindness so I decided to keep the chain going by passing it on to them, and that they could do what they pleased with the dollar. While reading the instructions for this assignment, I was confident that I would be able to give away all five dollar bills.

Reflections 
I approached a variety of people, mainly women because I felt that I could relate to them without being too awkward. A lot of my interactions went the same, I introduced myself and told them I was sorry to bother them and then explained that I was giving away this dollar that had been passed on to me as an act of kindness. The interactions were a little more uncomfortable for me than I had anticipated but everyone I interacted with was very friendly even though I had interrupted them while they were in the middle of doing something such as walking/talking on the phone/shopping. Like I had predicted, no one that I encountered was rude or unpleasant, some people just seemed confused. My prediction was correct because I was able to give away my dollars on every attempt, I think this is because people felt that it would be strange to question my reason for doing it. I was nervous to approach random people so the conversations ended up being much shorter than expected. Overall, I think this exercise was a bit intimidating but very relatable to the business world and how you oftentimes do have to interrupt people to sell your ideas/products.

Your Exit Strategy

1. My exit strategy would most likely be to grow with my business until it was time for me to retire. Once my business is developed and growing in success, I wouldn't be willing to let go of it in a short amount of time such as five years. If I were to have children that shared the same passion, keeping the center as a family business would be something I would love to see. 
2. I selected this particular exit strategy because once I develop something that I'm proud of, I don't want to let it go. I would want a reminder of the effort that I put in and would want to be an ongoing part of what I worked to create. 
3. My exit strategy has influenced the way in which I grew my concept because I started with a basic idea and threw in ideas that I could add over time once I was more established. I understand that you can not necessarily have everything you envision at the start up of a company, that's why I intend to stay with my business for as long as I can in order to watch it reach it's potential. 

Celebrating Failure

1. Recently I decided to purchase and take a test to become a certified personal trainer. Fitness is something I'm very passionate about and I have hopes of getting the full-time personal training position at the gym I currently work at in the spring when I have my internship. So far this summer I've worked seven days a week, taken three classes, and volunteered a few times a week, because of this I pushed studying for my test aside and decided to take it without much preparation at all. It was pass/fail, and I failed! 
2. I learned that I need to segment my time more wisely and keep long-term goals in mind while tackling my daily endeavors. Although work and school are valid reasons to be occupied, I didn't need to work as much as I did, I just wanted the extra money. I know now that I need to keep the big picture in mind, and always set time aside to work towards it. 
3. Failure is one of the most important things an individual can experience. Whether it be failure in the academic, professional, or personal sphere: it is essential for growth. I have always handled failure rather well, although I may feel embarrassed and even slightly disappointed in myself when I fail, I've always been able to look at it as an opportunity to grow. This class has changed my perspective on failure because it made me realize that I need to stop allowing the fear of failure to determine my actions. If many of today's well known entrepreneurs had avoided opportunity because of the potential for failure, we wouldn't have much of the innovation that we do today. I do believe that I'm more likely to take risks now than I was a few months ago, this is because I realized that it is very rare to be successful the first time around and if you want to accomplish something, you have to be persistent. With that being said, I'm scheduled to take my test again in September! :) 

Reading Reflection No.3

For this reading reflection, I decided to read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams.

1. This book reflects on the journey of author Scott Adams as he moves through life experiencing failure after failure but ultimately ends up successful. This book basically explains the ways in which Adams looked after himself in order to stay driven and healthy while he experienced his countless setbacks; it addresses concepts and tips for taking on a mindset fit for perseverance. 
2. This book connected with what I've learned in ENT because it addresses failure and hones in on systems you can use to make sure you persist through the challenges so that you can reach success in the long run. Persistence is a big theme when it comes to entrepreneurship because it is much more common to fail numerous times before succeeding than to succeed the first time around. 
3. Based off this book, if I had to plan an exercise for this class it would probably end up being very similar to assignment 26A: celebrating failure. This is a great assignment because it actively changes your mindset as you reflect on how failure has helped you grow. Another idea could work off of the topic in the book about creating systems to follow rather than simply setting goals. An activity could ask students to write down goals, and then write an actual plan/system to follow in order to accomplish them. 
4. The biggest surprise that this book brought me was when Adams addressed the topic of quitting and that's because this book is mainly about being able to persist. However, Adams discussed the importance of knowing when to jump ship. Although entrepreneurship is about taking risks, it is important to be able to realize when your risks will only lead you to a dead end, cutting your losses is oftentimes necessary. 

What's Next?

Existing Market

The market I have identified that would be attracted to my wellness center is female, young-adults, ages ranging from 18-30. This market is ideal for my business because individuals within typically care about their appearance and overall health. This age group is known for trying new diets and fitness programs in hopes of seeing results. From this market, I interviewed my sister who is 23 and two of my close friends who are both 21. 

After interviewing these individuals in my existing market, I found an immense amount of support for my ideas. The girls liked the idea of incorporating nutrition classes into this facility because they were unsure of how they should be fueling their bodies with their current activity levels. One of my friends mentioned that she felt I should incorporate yoga into the fitness class schedule because that helps relieve stress which is a big part of being healthy. My other friend recommended incorporating a healthy food cafe or juice/smoothie bar that members could purchase from before or after their exercises. My sister said that with her busy work schedule, she would look for a facility with a lot of hours of operation so that she could go to the gym whenever she was able to. 

Interviewing members from my existing market reassured me that I should work towards incorporating some of the ideas I had that seemed out of reach such as adding a juice/smoothie bar into my facility. To expand further into this young generation of women, having a cafe before members are required to scan in their key tags could make my facility a place they stop by for lunch or a healthy snack, that would encourage people to check out the whole facility and look into membership. I had considered a yoga studio when originally drawing up this idea, although it seemed like a lot to add in, an activity room in the gym could also act as a yoga studio to target this crowd. Something I looked over was the hours of operation, I think it would be important to have the main gym be available for 24-hour access to allow busy, young workers to go to the gym around their work schedules. 

New Market 

My existing market was targeting the younger millennial generation who has a great interest in health and engages heavily with products and programs that promote a good lifestyle and healthy physical appearance. This new market that I feel would find use in this facility are middle to upper aged adults. Because health is trending right now for our generation, it is something that older generations may have never invested the time into in order to gain understanding and experience. With old age, individuals are seeking ways to feel younger and healthier, which likely leads them to fitness and nutrition. My concept would create value for this market because it would help them play catch-up in a convenient and reliable way. 

To represent this market, I interviewed my mother, and an older man that I work one of my jobs with. From these interviews I learned a lot of important information about this market. They feel a strong need for a non-intimidating environment where they can learn the things that they have not in the past. Both expressed that they fear the gym because they don't know what they are doing and are afraid that those who do would judge them. The older man I work with explained that his doctor recommended that he begin daily exercise to help delay the effects of aging on his body, but he doesn't know where to start because he has never used gym equipment. My mom also expressed that she is unfamiliar with the resistance machines at the gym so she doesn't want to walk around and look "stupid." They both jumped at the idea of including an orientation class that walked individuals through the resistance and cardio equipment to familiarize members with the gym, I think this is a very important resource to incorporate. 

What surprised me the most is that these individuals were so nervous to step foot in the gym because they were not familiar with exercise equipment and did not know how much they should be lifting and the number or repetitions/sets they should be doing. It appears that for this market, of older individuals who do not have much experience with gym equipment, their fear of an unfamiliar situation is the number one reason they are not living an active lifestyle. I do think this market is attractive because there are likely many more people like them that are nervous to appear as if they don't know what they're doing. I do believe that the younger generation is more attractive because of their willingness to spend money on memberships and programs that guide them to a healthy lifestyle. 

Venture Concept: Wellness 360

OPPORTUNITY 

In today’s society, there is a lack of knowledge about how to be healthy. Individuals know that being healthy would include participation in behaviors such as exercising regularly and eating nutritious meals, however, many individuals do not have the education and resources required to properly implement these behaviors. With all of the diverse diet and exercise information floating around the media, much of which is false or without evidence to back it, health has become confusing for those who have not studied it. Individuals are seeking out a healthy lifestyle, and are searching for the resources that can help them achieve it. This opportunity is created by the shift in society towards health, brought on by the younger generations that are thinking futuristically. Also, with America’s obesity issue, individuals are eager to take preventative measures or to turn their lives around if they are already experiencing health deficits. Customers are currently satisfying their lack of knowledge in the field of health by conducting personal research, hiring professionals, or joining fitness centers that have amenities such as fitness coaching. The opportunity to provide the resources and knowledge needed to live a healthy lifestyle is great because there is increasing awareness for the consequences of poor health and desire to live healthier lives. People who do not have an advanced understanding of fitness and nutrition have this unmet need, they are in need of a convenient and reliable way to improve their health.

INNOVATION

To address the unmeet needs of customers who are seeking a healthy lifestyle but don't know where or how to start, I am proposing a wellness center that focuses on providing the knowledge and resources necessary to embody an all encompassing health. This center will consist of the resources that can be found throughout a community, however they will be combined and made available under the same roof to provide convenience for customers. This center would mostly be a full sized gym where members could work on their physical health with the assistance of personal trainers, but would also have rooms for teaching sessions that would cover information regarding other elements of wellness such as nutrition, self-care, life improvement, etc. This wellness center would work by providing unlimited access based off of membership, although on day trials would be allowed for prospects. In summary, I am selling access to a gym, workout classes and consultations with personal trainers, various educational classes covering diverse topics in wellness, interactive activities/sessions between members of the center. In order to turn profit, I would start membership at a lower cost in order to spread awareness of my business and create a feeling of immediacy for potential customers.  This promotion would be for the first set number of members to join and would allow me to quickly accumulate paying customers. This early bird special would be around $40 a month, after which, prices for all-inclusive membership would increase to around $50 a month. In case customers really like the gym within this wellness center, I will offer a limited membership offer for $20 a month which allows them access to the gym alone. 

VENTURE CONCEPT

My innovation: a wellness center, will solve the opportunity I identified: lack of knowledge and resources needed to be healthy. My concept will be affective because it will provide resources such as a gym, a personal trainer, and a nutritionist along with brief classes that members can attend that will increase knowledge on fitness, nutrition, etc. to make individuals more independent in their fitness journeys. I believe customers will switch to this new service because it can take the place of all of their combined efforts towards healthy living, such as: a gym membership, personal training costs, visits to a nutritionist, workout and diet programs, etc. Because people are drawn to new ways to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle and ideal body image, it won’t be difficult to bring in customers. People are eager to find an innovative program or center that will help them achieve and sustain their health goals. Competitors are surrounding fitness centers, although they are already established with their members, they lack the well-rounded approach that my concept has; although people have memberships to these gyms, they are still walking around confused about how to approach fitness and wellness. My business will provide an all-inclusive membership with no additional costs for amenities. In order to get my wellness center running, I would need at least one full-time personal trainer, one nutritionist, and 10-15 part-time employees to work the front desk and monitor the center throughout it's hours of operation. 

Minor Elements 

1. My most important resource for this business will be exceptional customer service. Customer service will be of top priority in this company and will be engrained in the mind of all individuals taking part in the mission. Keeping customer service in mind, member interactions will always be handled with patience, respect, and empathy. The positive experience members have when they enter this facility, is what will set it apart from competitors. 
2. With the abundance of knowledge and experience that would be present in my wellness center, the next product that could expand our offerings would be a book or instructional guide which would include the most important information for living a healthy lifestyle. This book would be a summary of all the lessons we teach at the wellness center. 
3. Assuming I launched this business, in five years I would want to see a profitable wellness center that has not only been successful in terms of membership and revenue, but also in terms of it's purpose: to improve the lives of others. As an entrepreneur, I would always want to pursue things I am passionate about. My vision is to positively impact the lives of as many people as I can in whatever ways I am able to.