This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
So many industries have been impacted over the past year, year plus now we could say because of, well, of course COVID-19 and everything associated with it, right? It's not just the virus, it's all of the cascading effects. One of those industries is the fitness industry, right? Like fitness industry has changed and had to change, you know, been forced to change in lots and lots of ways. Something that I noticed, especially during the first few months of the pandemic as everybody was kind of adjusting was that the brands and fitness trainers and coaches, you know, yoga teachers, anybody who works in that space, broadly speaking, those who were already focused on digital or at least had some idea of digital, they were trying to do some stuff, even if, you know, 80 to 90% of their focus was on in-person experiences.
The ones who had some attention to digital before the pandemic, they tended to do pretty well, or at least they were able to adjust a lot quicker than the others who were forced to adjust and were not used to that world. They tended to have a more difficult ride, in some cases, perhaps literally. So today's listener wants to know what we can learn from the winners, especially companies like Peloton and Mirror. Now, those are very large companies with lots and lots of money, you know, millions of users, millions and millions of dollars, probably billions of dollars are close to it at this point. But still, you know, what are the lessons for those of us who don't have, you know, all that money in venture capital, what can we learn from Peloton, et cetera?
How might we be able to apply some of those values or perhaps, you know, a best practice or a lesson learned? Anyway, you'll hear the detailed question from our listener. So we'll talk about it in this episode. What can we learn from companies like Peloton? [Music]
Hi, this is Serena from New York City, and I've been listening to the show for a while now.
Thanks for all that helpful content and advice. Over the past year, we've seen fitness brands like Peloton and Mirror really take off. Sometimes they have 40,000 or more people doing a single workout together. I know that regular people can't compete with those kinds of companies, and I haven't invented a new exercise bike while I've been in lockdown. Still, what can side hustlers learn from Peloton and other fitness on-demand companies?
I'm thinking there are lessons related to community, portability, and convenience. For example, whatever the lessons are, how can we apply them to a project that has zero dollars in venture capital? Thanks again, Chris. - Well, Serena, I didn't invent a new exercise bike during quarantine either, so that makes two of us. But it's a great question.
I made me think about it a bit because, you know, what Peloton and other companies like Mirror, I'm sure there's some others. Those are the two big ones that I think of. What they've done really is amazing. At the high level, you know, these brands have created a fabulous product. It's got very high quality and also high priced, let's say, product, and then melded it with a powerful sense of community.
And I think that's actually more important than the features of portability and convenience. It's just that those other factors become magnified when all of a sudden every gym closes or, you know, becomes greatly restricted and exercise is not what we knew it to be. A friend of mine, Peter Shankman, he tells this story that I always think about when I think about Peloton. You know, he is an avid cyclist and a couple of years ago, he went to a couple of Peloton classes in New York City and he left thinking, well, it was good. You know, I don't know that it was incredible.
But then later he ended up getting a Peloton bike for his home and he said, that's when he got it. Like, that's when he understood why they've done so well, especially in regards to community, which is what I'm coming to. He talked about how, you know, he was just in his living room doing this workout and there was a milestone with somebody else, you know, somebody else who was riding, you know, somewhere else, you know, virtually. It was her 1000th ride or something and the instructor gave her a shout out and he was like, yeah, that's amazing. And he was like clapping for her in his living room, you know, and he talked about that's when he realized, oh, this is so much bigger than what I understood it to be in terms of like the in-person class.
So, you know, as Serena said, what can we learn from these experiences or these companies? We're not gonna go out and invent a competitor then. We don't have hundreds of millions of dollars. But what we can do, I think is, you know, give people a mission. And I think that's what it is.
Like give people a mission, a challenge, a sense of camaraderie, a sense of accomplishment and striving towards something. And anybody can do that in any way. You can do that on your blog today. You can do that on your Instagram posts, like the next post you make. And also the second thing is you give people a mission, first of all, of some kind, like encourage them to be better and greater than they are.
And by that, you know, you're including yourself in that, of course, as well. The second thing is to keep improving. That's also what Peloton and other companies like that have done. Like they keep putting out new features. They keep just raising the game.
And so when you do that, like you're only gonna go from being a winner to being more of a winner. So those are the two things I think about not so much copying a technology or even the factors of portability and convenience. It's more that sense of community, that sense of mission and that sense of striving. Thank you, Serena. And by the way, in case anyone's wondering, Peloton had nothing to do with this episode, either the question or the answer.
That was all me and Serena, of course. If you have a question of your own, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. Thank you so much for listening. You are awesome.
Go out there and do something great, right? Isn't that the point? Go and do something great. Go be better today than you were yesterday. Keep improving, and I will try to do the same.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Sydustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
