Know you’re busy filming movies & saving franchises, conquering social media thanks to your 2.85 million Twitter fans & 6.6 million Facebook fans, returning & owning wrestling, and working out a ton. I get it— that’s the life of a kick-butt celebrity!

Buuut I’ve been working to reach out & ask if you’d consider adding one more thing to your gargantuan-sized plate: investing in a health startup.

I run Greatist.com, a health & fitness media startup that aspires to simply make better choices easier for people. We want to build the world’s first truly-trusted health and wellness brand and business, something truly on the people’s side. And we’ve been pretty good at it so far. We’re the fastest-growing site in the space, approaching 1 million unique visitors this month, 30% average growth for the last 6 months, and have been mentioned in everything, from TechCrunch (“Greatist Wants To Build a Brand Around Non-Sucky Content“) to Urban Dictionary. We’re doing it through extraordinarily high-quality content, content you’d be proud to share: every fact in every article is cited by a PubMed study and each post is approved by at least two experts from our incredible expert network.

…Or that’s the pitch, at least. A lot has gone right. But a lot has also gone wrong. A year ago, I started this with no real clue what I was doing– and I still feel mostly the same way. I’d never really hired someone. Never really fired someone. Never incorporated a company in Delaware. Never managed my own P&L, spent days accounting in Excel, saved a crashing site, signed an office lease, paid the IRS, negotiated with a potential acquirer, or been responsible for six people’s paychecks. But those things could always have been figured out. The biggest challenge, instead, has been personal. And, on that level, it’s never been harder. I’ve never been so busy, so behind, so unsatisfied with how much I can accomplish with the limited amount of time I have each day (just 24 hours– really?!). Of course, at the same time, I’ve never been happier. I’ve never been more optimistic, more knowledgeable about what I’m trying to do, and more excited for what can be achieved. I’ve never been able to genuinely say I love every second of what I’m doing. Now I can.

Through this past year, I’ve struggled & succeeded as a leader– failing time and time again, earning trust & respect the hard way, and (I’d like to think) learning business skills and realities through “mistakes well handled.” I reinvent myself as a ceo & founder one week at a time. And every week I’m better than the last. Every week I know more than I did and, at the same time, recognize how much more I actually have to learn. So here are 8 mostly random lessons I’ve learned this past year, with the hopes of helping those who are considering starting something, are in the exciting early stages, or are already underway and curious whether there’s something in here that they, too, can learn (or did already):

1. Starting something for the first time is really, really hard.

It’s not all hoodies, flip flops, and Justin Timberlake. It’s not even all conferences, craft beer, and swanky open lofts. Imagine the hardest thing you’ve ever worked on. Now imagine that thing is the most important thing you’ve ever done. Then imagine you have no idea what you’re doing. Voila– instant startup! Most startups are different and most founder motivations & ambitions unique for sure– but no matter what it is, if you think it’s going to be easy, you’re wrong. I definitely didn’t think it’d be a walk in the park (nor am I complaining one bit), but this experience has been way harder than anything I’ve ever been challenged with. I love that challenge. It’s awesome to try to conquer. I recommend it to anyone who can stomach it. But a startup is a to-do list with infinite scroll. It’s true that it’s never been easier to start a startup, but that doesn’t mean that starting a startup is remotely easy.

2. Sometimes you just have to make mistakes for yourself.

There’s an unbelievable amount of brilliant, experienced entrepreneurs/investors/male models regularly sharing advice on the web (Vin Vacanti, Fred Wilson, Mark Cuban, Chris Dixon, Ben Horowitz, Albert Wenger, Rob Go, Bijan Sabet, Brad Feld, Jason Goldberg, just to name a few of my favorites). Those + Quora can answer nearly any question. You can (and should) read them all. But you’re going to fuck up anyway. I recognized that it was likely I’d make a lot of mistakes, so I worked for a startup out of college because I thought that if I could see someone else make the mistakes, I’d make other ones instead. That made sense to me, at least in theory. But the truth is I’ve realized I had to make an awful lot of them for myself. Example 1: knowing that you should fire someone who isn’t working out because they’re hurting the team’s culture quickly is much easier than actually fully realizing that’s what’s happening and then acting on it. Example 2: sticking to your core mission and integrity in any circumstance is extraordinarily hard when that circumstance can keep you from going bankrupt. I knew, but I didn’t really know until I felt the taste of mistake in my mouth. And it tastes salty.

3. Asking others for help and meaning it is super important.

I’m the worst at asking for help, but I’m getting better. A year ago, I couldn’t have imagined how important this was. Entrepreneurs are, by nature, usually confident, positive, and optimistic. That’s awesome– and clearly can be useful at times. But if success in startups is the outcome of a million random factors, inspiring help from others is among the most important. Asking for help is humbling. It’s scary and hard and makes you vulnerable. But I’ve found the minute you genuinely eat your pride, tell it like it is, and share what you need is the minute things can change. I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by wise and gracious mentors, inspiring friends, brilliant entrepreneurs, and awesome team members. But until I ask for their help, not as many of those great adjectives show. If what you’ve built is truly meaningful and impressive, let your guard down. Share your hardest challenges, your biggest worries, your scariest fears. And people will help if they can. Because if you surround yourself with good people, good people want to help– just like you would want to help, right? This lesson has been among the hardest for me to learn and I’ve still got a long way to go, but has been immeasurably helpful, especially these last few months.

4. Surround yourself with friends who will remind you you’re awesome when you need it & shit on you when it’s time.

In my experience, entrepreneurship is sort of like a see-saw: sometimes it seems like everything is falling apart at the seams and, at others, like that huge thing you’ve been working to achieve may actually be possible. Friends can be an escape, sure (and you need escapes, big time), but they can also be the external support you need most. When a buddy shoots you an email, out of the blue, that something from your product made them better today– that can cure the lowest lows. And when you’re a million miles in the clouds, talking about a million this and a million that, a former roommate of yours can suggest you to take a breather, eat some humble pie, and remind you of that time you did that thing in that place with that person that we do not speak of any longer. It’s hard to keep up with friends regularly when you’re starting a company, but each time I do, I’ve been working increasingly hard to allow them to push me in the way I personally need pushing (and, by the way, try to do the same right back!).

5. Sharing what you’ve learned with others can pay back in a million different ways.

I’m not a teacher, but I love teaching. When I built an organization in college to last that has actually lasted, I worked with the Office of Student Life to share those lessons and build them into the curriculum for students starting new organizations. I did it purely because I figured it made sense to make it easier for others to do meaningful things and, honestly, haven’t thought all that much about whether it’s made a difference or not since then. But, with Greatist, I’ve found putting the time into teaching others has paid me back many times over. I started a class with Skillshare mostly because two awesome buddies, Peter Boyce and Scott Britton, asked me to. I taught How to Grow from 0 to 250,000 Organic Uniques in Under 6 Months with no expectations… and have since taught two more (with two more on the horizon). They take prep time and kill a valuable evening. But each time I’ve been shocked by how much I’ve learned. From the people who take the class. From the people who follow up afterwards. I’ve made great friends, started major brand partnerships, been introduced to some remarkable people, and brainstormed amazing ideas with others because of them. I’ve also found, much like with the gmail productivity tutorial I teach to every new team member at Greatist, that I fine-tune, consolidate, and organize my thoughts in incredibly valuable ways just in preparation. It makes sense, but never expected it to be so true and so relevant.

6. Literally schedule in specific time to think & be creative– you need it.

Emails, meetings, sleep, repeat… and suddenly a week has gone by without time to think. This might sound a little silly, but put time blocks into your calendar to just think. I do this with writing (sometimes don’t even publish it), too. And this has been huge for me. I’m obsessed with always being more efficient with my time (whether great at it or not, I’m always trying to improve)– and I think most entrepreneurs, self-experimenters by nature, are the same way. So, at least for me, sometimes that spills over into over-optimization and I forget to think. There’s never any time for “I’ll do that when I’ve got a moment free.” So I’ve literally just started scheduling “thinking time” on my calendar at regular intervals. And  beg everyone on my team to do the same. The other thing I’ve learned is that a lot of my most creative ideas come from doing, seeing, experiencing something else entirely. It’s easy to stay in the tech/industry/startup news bubble– but some of my best ideas have come from seeing a random movie, attending a jazz concert, or taking the time to explore somewhere new and then placing old ideas into new contexts (or finding new ideas to place back into old ones).

7. Saying you know something & proving you know something are different.

I don’t pretend to be an expert. A great friend, Livestrong.com’s Adam Bornstein, calls himself ”a translator,” and I love that. Translating takes research, experts, and experience. And, up until this past January, I didn’t actually know what a “runner” was. I mean, I obviously got the concept. But I wasn’t built to be a runner and so I never ran more than however much you run in a few full-court basketball games. So I decided I was going to run a half-marathon and (with a lot more of my brother’s help than I’d like to admit), I totally did. So now I know what a runner is because, well, I am one. Is it my favorite thing? Definitely not. Am I going to run a marathon anytime soon? Unlikely. But I’m signed up for a Tough Mudder next month, so something went right (or horribly, horribly wrong).

8. The only way to build something different is to do things differently.

Another good friend, Runkeeper’s Jason Jacobs, said in an interview once: ”We have no exit strategy, we have long time horizons. We are digging our heels in and we are going to slog through this over a long period of time.” That’s not how everyone does it in startup land. But the people who do it like everyone does it in startup land aren’t Runkeeper. The benefits of doing a startup are often that purely because you don’t know how it’s done, you do it differently (and often better). But, ironically, I’ve noticed it’s increasingly easy for people in the startup community to become swept up in “that’s just what everyone else is doing.” Just like investors are often driven by pattern recognition, it obviously makes some sense to do what others have done to fit how everyone else defines success. But I’m learning that success, to me, is different. I want to do different things. I’ve definitely found myself, at times, thinking I should do things like raise VC capital, maneuver my way into the popular blogs that everyone reads, and so on less because it’d be right for Greatist, but more because it’s what everyone is doing. That’s dumb. Those things could still be the right path to take, sure. But I’m getting better and better at realizing that to achieve something different, we need to do different things.

Last year, I only knew health & fitness was a space I was passionate about personally. Today, it’s the space I want to make a difference in for the world. Last year, Greatist was basically just sketches in a moleskine notebook. Today it’s helped inform & inspire millions (nearly three million!) to make healthier choices. And it’s not longer just me anymore, but a whole team of people who share the vision of a world where better, healthier choices are easier. And a huge, passionate community of people who believe in us and need us to succeed. This year has been tough. But next year will be tougher. It will be better, too, I somehow just know it. But I’ll need to work even harder, learn even more, and continue to build an amazing team of people that will do the same in order to create a trusted brand, build a monster company, and create something truly meaningful for social change. That– and write shorter blog posts.

Long story short, I’m always working to more efficient so I can do more—and often I tend to test & tweak my way to some cool solutions. Gmail is one of those tools I’ve spent a lot of time trying to master—and, at the very least, have developed some neat “hacks” to share. I teach this mastering gmail tutorial (or, as we like to call it, a “grutorial”) to each new Greatist team member because it really can make a huge difference in productivity—and what’s more important than that (answer: happiness, ice cream)?

Quick caveat: the key, I’ve found, is that everyone does stuff differently. This is what works for me & I’ve heard works for others. But the goal with this, ultimately, is for you to take away a few tips you didn’t know before that you can apply now—so that you can figure out the rest for yourself later.

Zero to Hero: Get To Inbox Zero STAT

The starting point for getting serious about your email inbox is to understand why it’s important to get your inbox to as close to the number zero as possible. But don’t take it from me– take it from productivity pros like Merlin Mann (his famous “Inbox Zero” talk at Google in ‘07 is the best primer) and David Allen (whose Getting Things Done book/method/phenomenon, aka GTD, is a huge influence on this). Buuut, for starters, basically archive everything (if your inbox has over 100 emails, I mean literally everything), filter the shit out of everything else using labels & filters, and then get to work on dealing with anything that’s left.

Filters & labels are the best example of where putting in a little time upfront can save tons of time later. If there’s any sort of repeating emails that doesn’t need to be acted on immediately (popular examples: emails from the same person, emails sent to a large list, newsletters, reminders, etc..), take the time to set up an appropriate filter & absolutely check the box that says “skip the inbox.” Then, go through the labels tab in your settings and set all of them to “hide unless unread.” This ensures you won’t miss any emails, but still de-clutters your inbox! The less emails pop into your inbox, the less time you’ll spend going back and forth between tabs in your browser. If it’s most likely that you’ll never need to answer it immediately, I recommend getting it out of the way. For many of us, gmail has become our de facto to-do list, so be aggressive about limiting who can affect what comes to the top of that.

PRO TIP: The @waitingfor label. This is a variation/perversion of one of David Allen’s suggestions, but here’s what I do— every time I send an email I’m expecting a response to I add the @waitingfor label (the “@” is in the title just because gmail then places it at the top of label list, which is typically organized alphabetically— but feel free to call it whatever you’d like). This has become a big habit for me—but it comes quick. Then, once a week, I have a reminder to check my @waitingfor label. I go through every one of those emails, checking back in with whatever that response should have been (or removing the label if the email’s already been answered elsewhere). People are always impressed when, like clockwork, I check back with them every week. It’s simple and works like a charm, removing the worry of ever having to wonder where that email went or the stress of remembering to follow up on something by yourself. I’ve been using this for technique for multiple years and couldn’t recommend it more highly.

PRO TIP: NudgeMail. Imagine if you could use your email to set up a reminder at any specific date and time (“follow back up with Mr. So-and-So April 19^th at 12:30pm”), at a recurring time every week (“send traffic analytics roundup to the team”), or just put off answering an email for a week without having to remember it yourself. Believe it or not (believe it), you can do that right now thanks to NudgeMail, a service (totally in-email) that’s become such a part of my daily routine that I’d pay hundreds of dollars monthly to keep (luckily it’s free— so don’t give them any ideas). To learn how to use NudgeMail, they’ve got a pretty handy dandy how-to guide. It, along with @waitingfor, are the two tools I couldn’t imagine emailing without.

Golden Labs: Learn to Use & Abuse Gmail Labs

Gmail Labs are “experimental new features” that basically act as opt-in plug-ins/add-ons to your gmail experience. And a bunch of them are invaluable. Enable them (here’s how), then poke around.

Here are my favorites:

Undo Send is usually the jaw-dropper. How many times have you clicked the “send” button only to realize you spelled someone’s name wrong? Though Brian probably won’t be offended that you spelled his name “Brain,” Louis might be offended he was called “Shitmuffin,” so luckily… there’s a lab for that! Undo Send allows you to cancel sending within a few seconds after hitting the send button. Seriously. Then you can CC whomever you meant to, remove the reply-all, and delete the copy-paste part you forgot to take out. It’s magical. Enable it.

Auto-advance is less sexy, but it’s a crazy time-saver. Instead of popping you back to your inbox after you delete or send an email, it’ll allow you to automatically go to the next or previous email instead. Shaves off an extra click, spares extra seconds, and I’m pretty sure (I’m no mathematician) saves an estimated 30 kajillion minutes of mine each day.

Canned Responses can be ridiculously helpful if you send super similar emails over and over.

And Background Send can gift you some time as well.

PRO TIP: Multiple Inboxes. Another Gmail Lab, this one’s a little trickier, but can end up being an awesome addition to your mastering gmail arsenal. Apart from my @waitingfor label, I’ve also got one named @doasap. This is a label I add to anything I want to move to the top— and I do that by literally adding an entirely new inbox on top of it. Multiple Inboxes allows you to do just that (you can also add more than one wherever you’d like them, above, below, left, or right)— and they each can link to a gmail search term, a label, or more. I have a multiple inbox enabled at the top that only shows emails labeled with @doasap. If there isn’t any, nothing gets in the way. But if by chance there is, they’re right where I want them.

And Zen: Minimize Your Gear/Task-Shifting

I’m convinced one of the major ways we waste time online is by constantly switching gears, forcing our minds to jump from one thing to another without focusing on anything. I’m definitely not the only one who’ll sometimes cycle through the same tabs over and over again while meaning to be productive.

So, in an effort to minimize this as much as possible, I actually recommend everyone try to remove as many potential inbox distractions as possible. The idea is that the less you look at your inbox, the more you’ll be able to get done, whether it’s doing something else or knocking out 8-10 emails in a row. So, with that, I suggest uninstalling/removing any gmail notifiers. Don’t enable Unread message icon or any similar browser plug-in/add-on/extension that will signal how many emails you’ve got in your inbox. If you’ve got a phone, I recommend turning the syncing refresh intervals to 15 minutes or longer. Sounds crazy, I know, but be courageous. Be courageous for all of us.

PRO TIP: Mute. Gmail allows you to “Mute” conversations under the “More” tab when in an email thread. Mute basically prevents a thread from appearing in your inbox again even if someone else responds after you. Have a list email conversation on a topic you don’t care about? Mute it. Already responded to something that everyone just needs to respond to? Mute it. Mom bothering you with site feedback? Mute it. (Joking! Am I?)

PRO TIP: When signing up for newsletters, add the name into your email address. Adding a “+” after anything within a gmail email address won’t affect what came before it. In other words, I can subscribe to newsletters or join websites with the name Derek+asshatfrankenstein [at] greatist.com and that’ll come back directly to me at Derek [at] greatist.com. Then, you can filter away, spam it, whatever. Typically, the way to do this is name the site (so Derek+amazon [at] greatest.com or whatever). Not sure where asshatfrankenstein.com goes to, but if you try it, you’re a braver person than I am.

Speedy Gonz-email-alez: Send, Read, & Find Things Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

Keyboard shortcuts can be your friend. And gmail makes them super simple— turn them on first if they’re not already (Mail Settings), then key stroke away. My personal favorites are:

j (“older/previous”) & k (“newer/next”)

l (opens “label” pulldown, after which you can just type the label you want to add & press enter, so you don’t have to do it manually)

And e (“archive”). There are tons of others (check them out here), but those are the ones I use most.

Gmail search is something you’re already using more than you know—but yes, it too can be done better. Instead of just searching random phrases, add one of these awesome search operators depending on what (if anything) you remember:

“from:” which allows you to specify the sender

“-“ which lets you exclude messages and keywords from your search

“to:me,” which will just search stuff you’ve sent yourself

And my most-used “has:attachment” for only finding emails that had attachments.

You can also search for date periods and more. Sounds silly, maybe, but I’m guessing many of you didn’t even know any of this was possible.

Graduating from Gmail School: The Really Good Stuff

PROTIP: Rapportive. The extension that everyone should know about (but oddly enough many don’t) is Rapportive: god’s gift to finding anyone’s email address. Sure, it’s handy because it’ll pop up social media stats and a picture of the person you’re sending to or receiving an email from. But that’s kid’s stuff. What it really allows you to do is experiment your way to emailing anyone and everyone. No one has explained the way to do this better than my good friend Scott Britton in his blog post, BD 101: Finding Anyone’s Email Address, so read that for what I mean (he also included an introduction to another tool that’s a regular in my arsenal now, MailTester.com). Rapportive was recently acquired by LinkedIn, which can mean any number of things for its future. So enjoy it while you can? The easier it is to find and confirm someone’s email address, the more time you save (creepiness aside).

PRO TIP: Boomerang. At first, I hesitated to use this— but now it’s become a lifesaver. Boomerang (along with, I’m told, other services like Streak and LetterMeLater), allows you to simply “Send Later” any email you’d like at whatever time you’d like. So, for example, when I’m writing emails at 1am on a Friday night because I’m awesome like that, I can set them to actually send Saturday morning. It’s great for reminders, for impressing your friends with timeliness, and impressing your team members with how on point you are every morning at roughly 5:26am.

These are my favorite mastering gmail tips and hacks. What are yours?

We’ve always believed high-quality content is the highest-quality (and most cost-effective) lead-gen. And we’ve been searching for what’s next. The idea was always to figure out what the space needed, try things, and if they work commit to them fully. Prove ourselves, then iterate. Our business model combines traditional advertising, premium content, & brand sponsorships with innovative tools & services + ecommerce for our users– things and/or products that better help to inspire & inform them to make healthier choices. And we need technical leadership, someone to enjoy the freedom of building out infrastructure and systems, someone with the creativity to take charge and build different prototypes for all the awesome things that can be done in the health & fitness space. It’ll be yours to lead.

Whatever we build with your help in this space, we’re already in an incredibly unique position to do it best (or at least close to it). How? We’ve got the following, the industry experience & connections, a trusted brand people in the space respect, and the perfect team to execute the on-the-grounds work if need be, the non-scalable stuff that we can do in NYC so that we can scale to the world. But all that doesn’t matter if we can’t build it best. All that is shit without building something people love. So let’s do it. Let’s build things people love that will help them, too.

To get there, we need a partner who can build this with us. Someone who’s thirsty and has something to prove. Someone who believes in what we’re doing, but more importantly can share and transform our vision with us. Health & fitness is the difference I want to make in this world. Greatist is the platform I’m going to make it with and continue to for the next 100+ years. We’re building an empire, not a business. We want to build the world’s first trusted health and fitness brand– no one has yet and we will. It’s an epic challenge & an awesome opportunity that I’m looking for a someone technically brilliant to share in, to balance out my weaknesses and challenge my strengths. We don’t have much money to pay, just substantial amount of equity to give (equity, though, that’s admittedly worth nearly nothing yet, of course)– the ultimate startup proposition. I’m not looking for a technical co-founder, I’m looking for a technical leader (but if you want to call yourself a founder and earn it, sure thing).

Interested? Email me anytime w/ anything: derek [at] greatist.com

Not fully convinced? Check out http://www.greatist.com/careers for all our core values & “perks.”

And/or join the discussion on this post on Hacker News.

Unless it’s not. In yesterday’s New York Times, a researcher named Dipak K. Das was charged with widespread fraud by his employer, the University of Connecticut– a case that includes 26 articles published under his name in 11 scientific journals. It’s suspected he may have falsified hundreds of articles, 117 of which focus on the health benefits in red wine, especially resveratrol’s reportedly positive effect on the heart. Yesterday, a journal already printed a retraction and removed Das as co-editor in chief.

In Greatist‘s article on red wine, we cite his research twice. Shit.

Luckily, the New York Times reports his research was “low visibility,” appearing mostly in specialty journals, and ultimately peripheral to its central principles. Though we cite two of his studies, neither are (to my knowledge) under investigation nor the outcome of his research alone (both have at least one other researcher named). Nonetheless, we are working to remove both citations and update the article now. The truth is his work was ultimately peripheral to most of the influential research on the effects of resveratrol and, in fact, the New York Times quotes Harvard Medical School Professor David Sinclair, a “leading resveratrol expert” know for his work on longevity, remarking: “Today I had to look up who he is.”

We cite 7 other studies in the article (whose researchers, I’m assured, haven’t been charged for fraud), all of which confirming the general science suggesting that resveratrol in red wine is, in fact, likely pretty good for you.

So Das’ research may not have been that important, but it hits home an important point: not all studies related to fitness, health, and happiness are well done or reputable. Scientific misconduct or simply mistakes can go undetected– and sometimes even published by legitimate, well-respected journals. It’s the same for any publication. Heck, the New York Times publishes article corrections nearly every day.

So that’s in part why we do what we do at Greatist, going to lengths that are unexpected and unasked to present the highest-quality research we can on a subject or topic. And sometimes it’s true the generally-accepted wisdom on topics changes and shifts dramatically, often rapidly. That’s not the case here (and, hey, I’m drinking red wine as I write this), but it doesn’t mean it won’t be the case elsewhere. But it’s our jobs as both an editorial unit and in general as a team of educated people passionate about this space (who dove headfirst into this to do things the right way precisely because we believe people deserve better than what’s out there now) to do the best we can to summarize the best information that’s available (plus communicate it in a way that’s relatable and down to earth). And then it’s also our job to, if something changes, act fast to adapt it to reflect new circumstances.

There’s a reason we cite every single fact with a PubMed study, link out only to an internally-approved list of high-quality sources, edit every single sentence with a fine-tooth comb (not literally), and have multiple experts (never just one!) approve every single article. And there’s a reason we don’t write articles on topics without the right research, present definitive conclusions when the science is murky, or write irresponsible sensationalist headlines. Not because anyone asked, but because that’s what you (and your body) deserve. I’ll be the first to admit we’re imperfect, we’ve made mistakes and will make mistakes. But we’re working our hardest not to, for the right reasons, doing everything that is humanely possible to produce only the highest-quality content in the health & fitness space on the web.

Ultimately, it’s important to maintain a certain skepticism about everything you read, from scientific studies to celebrity advice (oh really, Kim Kardashian?). It’s why we started Greatist. It’s what we do everyday. And despite the fact that we’re doing our absolute best to give you the highest-quality go-to fitness, health, and happiness resource on the web… sometimes a researcher just goes ahead and cuts & pastes images of western blots to come to fraudulent conclusions . Rest assured we’ll tell you anytime that happens– and what it actually means.

“I like our cartoons to be put together like a symphony. You know, there’s a conductor–I guess I’m it–and then there are the solo violins, and the horn players, and the strings, and a lot of other fellows, and some of them are more stars than others, but every one has to work together, forgetting himself, in order to produce one whole thing which is beautiful. You have to cast artists as you do actors. Some are better at drawing characters and some are best on flowers. Some artists are funny in every line they sketch, where others are solemn. You have to know all about a man to be sure that he is doing the work he loves best.” – Walt Disney

Gyms are a horrible business. For a small time when I was in far away in San Francisco, I seriously considered becoming co-owner of a gym I loved: it was independent, beautifully run, beloved by its customers… but barely broke even (we’re talking single digits). From the research I did then, it was clear that outside of some personal training gyms, a bunch of CrossFit boxes, and a few huge chains (and even most of those are suspect), it’s nearly impossible to make the classic “gym model” work. The reason? I think it’s that the model is sorely lacking in innovation. Its most recent trend, the Planet Fitness-style small cost of $10-20/month for a tiny space and minimal equipment, is just a testament to the fact that ultimately nearly every gym is based on the principle of incentivizing people to sign up for a long term contract, then hoping (or even expecting) they don’t come back. That might make okay business (not that any of these gyms are really crushing it– most success or failure in the gym space has basically fluctuated in step with the economy and expendable income), but not the best business. And definitely not business to feel good about. [1]

For the average consumer, gyms should be places people love to go to, feel good at, and rave about to their friends. I think they should be small, lean, & focused, dedicated to building a community atmosphere and working to keep people around so they can keep spending, stick with the gym, buy other stuff there, and convince all their friends to join.

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to know what will work. My life is 100% Greatist and what we can do to make health & fitness easier for people now on the platform we’re building. But for shits & giggles here’s what I’d look into & try if someone suddenly proposed to fund a massive new chain of brick & mortar gyms:

I’d hire people to work at & represent the gym just like Starbucks hires baristas, based on attitude, interest, & ability. But mostly attitude. The gym should be awesome, a positive, uplifting experience– and that starts at the person who’s at the front desk (if there is a front desk) and ends at the person cleaning the towels.

I’d have a very clear, standardized pricing system– one where everyone pays the same, w/o having to scrounge up random discounts all the time.

OR another option (which I think could really work and potentially be pretty transformative) is to do a Zipcar-like thing where people agree to pay a minimum per month, but really pay per visit (and even perhaps sign up as specifically as the machine they want to use, the weight lifting area, or both– either way, maximizing the efficiency of the equipment, which no one really does right now). They schedule their visits when they’re coming & the visits change prices based on the demand/popularity. This means the gym will never be PACKED (because of a maximum number of slots & because economics will convince people to go work out at another time that’s better). Plus, if people are paying already, they’re more likely to want to go (‘course the whole pay-per-visit thing might also disincentive people from going at all, but then they shouldn’t have bought the package in first place, maybe?)

I’d also offer alternative pricing for: families, coworkers, friends/roommates (switch off going), and one w/ exorbitant pricing that becomes super reasonable if certain goals (pounds, strength, endurance), whatever, are met. If someone recommends a friend and they sign up, they get something (free visits or whatever). Tracking visits, ps, can develop a leaderboard and all that, too. [2]

I’d consider an invite-only gym in the beginning to preserve some specific userbase (or not & instead just be super open & super willing to let people have day passes to check it out).

I’d definitely couple it w/ a small cafe/smoothie/food bar. It’s silly to have so many people leave the gym and then go eat somewhere else when they’d be more than happy to grab something healthy and go. It’s an expense– but if done right (and not half-assedly like most gyms do), it could be a big revenue driver. Has to be done well enough for people to go just for that (“healthy food” but not overbearingly so). For fun, I’d also maybe try a “tax” on bad goods that are offered in gyms. Sure, you can buy that piece of cake… but it’ll be $20/slice. How much do you really want it?

Can the cardio machines generate enough power to fuel the place? Make it cost-efficient if possible. People will love that and it could potentially save a ton of money. If not, invent machines that can (or at least find relatively affordable ones that could).

I’d invest heavily in technology that allows you to go to any of these gyms with a passcode/sign-in or whatever every machine recognizes you & tracks your data (if you want it to). Obviously tracking software/app with the website so people can add diet if they want or whatever. This can be a sticky feature & also be valuable data-wise down the line.

I’d make them small, compact, & everywhere. Working out & traveling sucks. Moving to a new place & finding a gym sucks. They all vary super widely, even within the same chains sometimes. Plus, location is everything– gyms are usually out of people’s way & that’s among the top factors people use as an excuse for not joining one and going regularly. If they’re everywhere, small, and the same– that’d be huge.

I’d pay crazy amounts to make sure the equipment & bathrooms are kept outrageously clean at all times. Think that’s key to the experience. And the extra cost minimal compared to everything else, really

I’d spend the time to recognize & reward great members who are motivating & helping others. Why just have a wall of trainer photos when the regular members are just as important at setting the gym’s pace & satisfaction? What if a gym treated its members like constituents, not customers? [3]

I’d experiment with using the late evenings (or really any non-peak times) as theme nights/events of some sort. Even if it’s just to play a certain type of music. Again, when signing up for times, stuff like that will be clear so people won’t be surprised. But then it can become a truly social place. A place people go to have fun & want to go to.

I’d also 100% do movie nights, sports game nights, big TV show airing nights, where people all come together to watch these games while on cardio machines or whatever. The shared sense of this could be a really interesting alternative to a sports bar or whatever– and there aren’t really all that many alternatives.

I’d try everything I could to hack at the current trainer-client model (right now, group classes & revenue-share with trainers is where most gyms make real profit… so they upsell the hell out of those things, regardless of whether people really need them or if that’s really the best, most effective way). I’d look into how to have trainers teach in classes more (for example, from 12-2pm today, come to the gym and Frank is open & willing to help with anything) and consider having 3-4 person training sessions (where Frank trains them together and sets up circuits or whatever)– these are sometimes called “semi-private training sessions” and definitely not widespread enough. A lot can be done here. [4] People could go back at different times for their favorite trainers.

Find a way to really have the best trainers only. The certification system is basically broken. There are too many– no regular consumer knows which to trust. There’s little to no updating, so trainers could have gotten certified 10 years earlier or whatever. I’d find a way to fix that, make it universal, and then really be able to keep only the best. the truth is most trainers suck, so the fact that they’re certified shouldn’t be enough. Worse, it’s also difficult to figure out who’s bad or good fast, especially if the client is inexperienced. The true solution here, I think, is ultimately some form of government regulation, but that’s a whole different blog post.

That’s a lot of ideas. A lot of random thoughts. And a lot of things I think the industry (and the world) sorely needs– or at least needs someone to try.

Know a gym that does some of this successfully? Have other ways in mind to disrupt the gym business? Share your experience & ideas in the comments below!

FOOTNOTES

[1] An exception, at least to me, are the gyms created only for the hardcore and focused. They exist because the have small (often closed) communities of people who love them, their founders are insanely well-respected, and… almost all of them are entirely on a trainer-client business model (the only model that really works right now). Of those, the ones that come to mind & kill it are Westside Barbell in Ohio, Gym Jones in Utah, Mike Boyle’s Strength & Conditioning in Massachussetts, NorCal Strength & Conditioning in California, and of course Peak Performance in NYC.

[2] My friends Yifan Zhang & Geoff Oberhofer are working on an external product to track some of this with Gym-Pact (and it’s launching January 1st, actually!)

[3] Special thanks to the always insightful Sam Novey for his thoughts on this point specifically.

[4] A lot of innovation in the trainer-client space is happening online right now, mostly with semi-tailored & video-focused programs like the new Daily Burn, GAIN Fitness, Exercise.com, FitOrbit, and others. It’s easy to think of these as the evolved version of Exercise DVDs which, though seemingly silly, is a hugely lucrative market. But the opportunity on the web to include so many other aspects, including real customization/personalization, food & fitness tracking, motivation & reminders, plus nutritionist advice & follow-through can give these platforms an opportunity to no doubt make an increasingly meaningful difference.

More must-read health & fitness news and information at Greatist.

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If you’re in NYC and interested in growing or building a content-driven site, take the class! Or if you want to see Greatist HQ and haven’t before, take the class! Or if you’d just like to do me a smaller favor, don’t take the class and instead spread the news about the class!

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