What do you guys think about this idea?

May 19, 2008

This morning I had an idea for an IE business, and that is what I

want your feedback on. Here it goes.

What if there were retail establishments, much like Weight Watchers

or Craig, where people could join, but instead of focusing on

losing weight, they would focus on intuitive eating?

You see, there is obviously a HUGE market of people who want to go to

some kind of center, and receive support to achieve their lifestyle

goals. But, as we all know, diets don't work. Weight Watchers and

Craig try and impose THEIR system on clients. You're told what

to eat, how much to eat, etc... Those programs are about the food,

not the client (and frankly, the food is terribly unhealthy too!)

Instead, what if people came in, and got a comprehensive and

customized program that wasn't focused at all on weight loss but on

learning intuitive eating skills. The focus would be that weight loss

can be a by product of intuitive eating, not a goal. No weigh ins, no

measuring tape. It's about taking your life, the real one that you

actually have, with your meat eater husband, your vegetarian

daughter, and your picky younger kids, and designing a life around

that. People have to find a way to bring out the wholeness and the

goodness in their lives, and that requires looking a little deeper

than how many calories they are consuming and burning in day.

The physical center would be designed more like a home than a clinic.

So, there would be a library, with books and iPods where people could

study personal development. There would be a kitchen, where people

could take healthy cooking classes. There would be " offices " where

people could get coaching and work with an educator to customize life

changes.

I can envision a " studio " where people could take yoga classes or

whatever. Maybe a Zen meditation room or something too...

There would also be an online component, where each client would get

access to online resources and things.

I think you get the idea. So my question to you is, do you know of

any places like this already? If not, what do you think of the idea?

What questions do you have?

Honest feedback is greatly appreciated.

May 19, 2008

While I think the concept is interesting and valid, I can't help but

wonder what the business plan would be? What would be the 'sales' (aka

income) of such a store front? I can see 'on site' coaching and even

access to a library, but in the world where gas is costing enough to

re-think driving TO a place for a single purpose, I wonder how a

store with set hours and overhead could compete with something like

buying books and online support such as this group?

I started to put together an outline for a FREE, in person, type group

meeting but decided that I didn't want to be 1) the 'guru' for

newbies, 2) have to GO to a place at a certain time etc. I ended up

concluding that I preferred online support because it was so much more

flexible and pulled from a much larger person base than I would ever

have a chance with in my area.

Have you considered coaching like what Gillian does? Overhead would be

much less and 'customer base' much larger.

Just some thoughts - Katcha

>

> This morning I had an idea for an IE business, and that is what I

> want your feedback on. Here it goes.

>

> What if there were retail establishments, much like Weight Watchers

> or Craig, where people could join, but instead of focusing on

> losing weight, they would focus on intuitive eating?

>

> You see, there is obviously a HUGE market of people who want to go to

> some kind of center, and receive support to achieve their lifestyle

> goals. But, as we all know, diets don't work. Weight Watchers and

> Craig try and impose THEIR system on clients. You're told what

> to eat, how much to eat, etc... Those programs are about the food,

> not the client (and frankly, the food is terribly unhealthy too!)

>

> Instead, what if people came in, and got a comprehensive and

> customized program that wasn't focused at all on weight loss but on

> learning intuitive eating skills. The focus would be that weight loss

> can be a by product of intuitive eating, not a goal. No weigh ins, no

> measuring tape. It's about taking your life, the real one that you

> actually have, with your meat eater husband, your vegetarian

> daughter, and your picky younger kids, and designing a life around

> that. People have to find a way to bring out the wholeness and the

> goodness in their lives, and that requires looking a little deeper

> than how many calories they are consuming and burning in day.

>

> The physical center would be designed more like a home than a clinic.

> So, there would be a library, with books and iPods where people could

> study personal development. There would be a kitchen, where people

> could take healthy cooking classes. There would be " offices " where

> people could get coaching and work with an educator to customize life

> changes.

>

> I can envision a " studio " where people could take yoga classes or

> whatever. Maybe a Zen meditation room or something too...

>

> There would also be an online component, where each client would get

> access to online resources and things.

>

> I think you get the idea. So my question to you is, do you know of

> any places like this already? If not, what do you think of the idea?

> What questions do you have?

>

> Honest feedback is greatly appreciated.

>

May 19, 2008