Gather Round For The Gym Insight Founder Story
More businesses are creating mobile apps to either support their businesses or from which to bring forth a new enterprise and it is helping smart marketers to promote products and services in the most cost-effective way.
The use of any digital offering is an awesome way to bring attention to the core service or product that you deliver. I am sure that you won’t be surprised to hear that what we’ve done here at Gym Insight is a great example.
Because I studied and worked as a programmer and also happened to be an enthusiastic young gym owner I decided to write my own gym management software. Perhaps it was a little less refined than what would be ideal, we learned many things that we applied in hindsight, after the first iteration of the software.
Give Information And Get Connection
That was the foundation of the digital platform that has become Gym Insight. It did duplicate some tools that were already out there but I don’t regret creating it (I was miffed to find off the shelf solutions but we’ve far surpassed them now).
So now this software business has become bigger than our original gym business! When fellow small gym owners started asking to use Insight it became obvious that we were on to a winner. In online search, we have hit a point where the balance of search requests will be made through mobile devices going forward. So you have a definite advantage if you have a dedicated presence on the mobile web (which is now essentially all of the web).
Control The Code
When I started I had the advantage of already having a background in computer science but that doesn’t mean that you are automatically excluded without it. You can manage a software project if you understand the broad principles of system architecture and delegate the programming work in a controlled way.
By producing a simple mobile app for mobile users, either IOS or Android, you can create a search-findable platform that is directly linked into your marketing. The subject could be anything from tracking weights and repetitions to how to stretch and warm up to Paleo diet recipes; just some information and images along with a system for recording data.
Some programming advice: if you hire a programmer to write the entire code for your app or website you may find that they will take the payment and hold the product hostage. Not that they would but it’s a possibility seen in real life. Don’t fall into this obvious trap! Learn enough about the process and architecture that you can control its development.
Some Simple Precautions
Use the following principles as well as your natural common sense to handle your first app project. Apps require programming but once you have created one you can repeat the process.
Break the project up into milestones – At the very least you should understand the process of building your application in terms of architecture and what parts must be built in what sequence they have to be coded.
Hold code on neutral ground – Set up an account on a code repository site such as GitHub.com, where the finished code is recorded and held by a third party. When push comes to shove the repository can give a true and impartial record of what happened.
Give it out in chunks – Assign milestones to different programmers and don’t give too much power or responsibility to one worker.
Put it together carefully – Finally have a trusted contractor put it altogether to create a final prototype.
Take Action But Carefully
Business can be cutthroat but that doesn’t mean that an honest hardworking business owner can’t get ahead. It’s a matter of living by the old saying that you should "trust in the Lord and guard your camels."
In all cases, the stuff you give away should be informative and helpful to elicit a genuine sense of value for the customer. But its main purpose is to gather information that you can legitimately use to market your business to better serve your customers and increase your bottom line.
Bibliography
Fagan, Lawrence. The 3 Most Disruptive Forces In Fitness. April 14, 2015. https://blog.gyminsight.com/3300-the-3-most-disruptive-forces-in-fitness/ (accessed August 24, 2015).
Wikipedia contributors. Comparison of source code hosting facilities. August 24, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_source_code_hosting_facilities&oldid=677656727 (accessed August 24, 2015).