First of all, if today’s post resounds with you at all, please comment. It can be a simple agree/disagree, something more detailed, or a wall of text. I honestly need as much feedback as possible on this please as it could change my life, and hopefully all our lives.
THE BRUTOR GUIDE
The Brutor Guide to Empyrean Health is almost complete. Once finished, I was going to sell it for a small sum – something to help me out. I’d like to be able to devote all of my time between playing EVE Online and bringing a healthy lifestyle to others. At the same time, I’ve never charged any client for personal training, or advice, or nutritional plans, or workout programs, and I hate the business aspect of the fitness industry, so I’m torn.
Beyond being torn, Fanfest happened. Developers came up to me, thanking me for my inspiration, sharing their weight loss and healthy lifestyle stories. Players opened their hearts and shared how much they’ve overcome this last year due to my “lead by example” attitude. This isn’t about my vanity. If anything it’s the opposite. I was overwhelmed many times with the sheer responsibility of the position I’ve put myself in. I cannot falter now. I cannot go back.
I’ve never been happier.
Now my dilemma is that I want to do more than a single program. A single program will not help everyone. We all have different goals. Some want to gain muscle mass. Some want to lose weight. Some just want to be healthy. Some want to recover from injury. Some want to have a smooth pregnancy and lose the baby weight after. Some want to run marathons. I can’t help those poor souls, lol.
Now I’m looking at building a website. A portal where we can all work with each other. Something more than Roc’s Ramblings, as this is Roc’s blog and has been mentioned before, should remain Roc’s blog. And as much as Roc has motivated me to improve my own life, it’s time for two things for me this year:
- Focus on Roc’s story, ingame and through the metagame, with more relevant fiction, art and music about Roc Wieler
- Branch out as Marcus/Roc and have a separate initiative towards healthy living
My ideas are to start simple. Maybe a site with a member’s area. Maybe put together a few programs for members only. Maybe have a modest membership fee? Or do I sell the supplements from the company I partnered with to generate a small income? Or do I make it mandatory to buy the supplements once and have no membership fee? So much to consider.
So the idea is simple. Share programs. Workouts and nutrition. Have a blog. Maybe let each member have their own blog as well where everyone can track their progress? Maybe progress photos? The ability to mark blog/photos as private would be important too, or do I force people to toughen up and go public? Will that deter some from joining? Would it deter you?
Or do I do the Gym Pact approach? Force people to set a goal, how many times per week they will go to the gym, get their credit card information, then if they don’t go, money goes to me 🙂 (Gym Pact sends it to charity. It’s a great idea)
My dilemma right now is I have so many ideas. Big ideas. Far bigger than I could ever manage alone. I need help. I need some web developers. Or depending on what we come up with I may need mobile developers. Do I start an Indiegogo campaign, raise funds, then hire these people? Or do I rely on the EVE Online community to come through as I always have?
Again, as I started out with, I need your input.
ROC'S RAMBLINGS 
I think its a great idea to branch out with another website devoted to health and fitness. I would follow/pay! I think you are an inspiration and appreciate your bluntness. Thanks again and I can’t wait to see what you do.
I think its a great idea. I agree with Amber. A modest membership fee would be better I think instead of forcing supplements…. However, giving people the option, members or not to be able to buy your recommended supplements is not a bad idea.
Gym pact thing may not work as people may not be truly honest whether they went to the gym or not 🙂
Best of luck
Gym Pact actually works based on GPS and time spent so its hard to lie to it. If you have to go to the gym and be there for 30 minutes to fool it, might as well workout.
What about people who do not have a gym membership? Like myself. I have a tv, free weights, treadmill and bowflex in my basement. How would that work?
I don’t know how that would work for the Gym Pact app. For my idea, it’s no problem of course.
The local swimming pools where I live has a gym. I don’t think the GPS would be accurate enough to tell if I was actually in the gym part or just lounging in the Spa or sauna or doing bombs off the diving board. So it’s not entirely foolproof.
Overall, I think this is a great idea. I’m not sure if I would join, but I’ll definitely think about it
Good ideas! Hmm… I think it would be good if you encourage members to contribute – by showing their results, by doing volunteer jobs related to your site in order to have a smaller fee or no fee at all, yeah they should have their personal space on this site with the option to go private at any time, they should be able to discuss stuff with everyone and so on. If they have great results, they would deserve some of your exclusive programs, climb up the ranks etc.
The challenge here may be in providing a platform suitable and editable enough so that more people can join. And I think profit will be a small reward compared to the social and spiritual benefits of this endeavor.
I’m using the free website editor of wix.com it’s really nice, no coding, just drag and drop to design, but getting a custom domain and better bandwidth seems a little expensive, at least compared to other sites. See what I did here.
http://veskin7.wix.com/blackpearlproject
Their support guys may help with additional stuff I guess. Hope this helps.
Best of luck on what you do, man, its all good!
I heavily suggest that you pick option 2. Keep your Roc persona in Eve. This is workout! A real life workout! And therefore it should be instructed by a real life person, the man behind Roc! You can start introducing yourself as Marcus, the man behind Roc, and then focus more on who Marcus really is, then present the information in the book not as Roc, but as Marcus. It’s easier to relate to as an Eve player.
Actually, ignore this entire thing. I reread the article above and realised I didn’t answer the dilemma.