Absolute Beginner's Stretching series

[Kit_L]

We will also have audio versions of all follow-along programs, also available via the app: once you know an exercise, that's all you need, and you'll just be another person wearing in-ear headphones, rolling around on the floor. 

@SwissDanny: that Miracast will do what I need.

Thanks for all these excellent suggestions; the web app version seems like the way to go. In addition to Absolute Beginner's Stretching, we will make cool-down videos (one will be gift-wrapped for you, SD), we can put all the same material on VOD for those who want to download (download only from VOD; this can be specified); dynamic warmups, and teacher-specific premium sections, as @Olga suggested (Olivia has been considering how all this will become a repository for all teacher training, in time, to be supplemented by face-to-face workshops).

I do not know enough about web-based vs. native; Markus, please point me to some reading on this via email. Web-based intuitively sounds right to me (for an open learning system).

 

[Cherie Seeto]

On 11/1/2017 at 11:21 AM, pogo69 said:

3 x 15 mins of spare time is a lot easier to find than 1 x 45 mins.

I use IG to post beginning, middle and end pose of an exercise. It automatically gets posted to FB. The response has been good, like a weekly advertisement to keep my presence up.

Along this idea, for the new programs, a single type of exercise with a range of beginner variations, then intermediate, then more advanced, for each 15 minute module. The modules are meant to be repeated before moving to a more difficult routine. I feel this deepens the understanding of a particular stretch versus giving too many exercises at once. In the middle of the 10week program introduce integration and progressions of different exercises to produce a ‘flow’ or routine. A Daily V routine on the floor, on a chair (dressed in office clothes), etcetera. For my type of client, more than 15 minutes seems onerous. 

I like Pinterest for fresh ideas. Use this like a big advert to direct people to your videos .

Apps are good IF YOU USE THEM. I have plenty of good apps I struggle to find time to use to full advantage. If there was a ST app I’d use it as a feeder into buying the vids.

YouTube. How can you improve your status there? When I type in Beginners Stretching, it comes up with mostly freakishly skinny flexible females doing yoga.

I’m an avid listener of podcasts. Kit’s interviews there are worth repeating. So get interviewed for video and podcast by people with HUGE audiences.

For example:

Tim Ferris

Abel James, The Fat Burning Man

Brian Rose, London Real. He has interviewed Steve Maxwell and Ido Portal, multiple times. His email is hello@londonreal.tv. 

[Kit_L]

@Cherie Seeto: you will not find beginner's stretches specifically on our YT channel yet, but as soon as we make them, you will. "Absolute Beginner's Stretching Series", as a meta-tag, will find beginner's stretching, once that promotion is up there. 

We are thinking of releasing two different 15' (only a rough guide; some might be shorter, some longer) per week, the idea being that the two workouts target different body parts, for minimal soreness. An example might be limbering HF and bent-leg hamstrings, done at beginner level, and the second program be middle back, biceps, and neck rotation. All the first six or ten programs will be different, but self-contained, and logical blocks. If we do @SwissDanny's playlist idea, these 'modules' can be mixed and matched to suit what anyone needs. Each block will be a mini-flow. 

My vision for the app is watch and follow along until you feel you know what you are doing, then audio only while working out by oneself.

Definitely there will be a variety of daily Vs: spine, hips and legs, shoulders, neck and jaw, etc. A student selects whichever D5 he/she needs. The "Office Daily V" will be there, too.

And as the ideas progress, I had thought to add longer programs as standalone units, and we will do this at some point, but if we use SD's 'playlist' metaphor, then someone can choose one, two, or more specific modules, or I like the idea of being able to choose "whole body" and see what the app returns. Similarly, I want the app to be able to select "I want 30' of programs", and maybe even a "Surprise me" option (30', but the app decides which modules). I want any time duration to be able to be chosen.

1 hour ago, Cherie Seeto said:

Along this idea, for the new programs, a single type of exercise with a range of beginner variations, then intermediate, then more advanced, for each 15 minute module.

We will not do this, but instead offer Intermediate and Advanced series too, in time. Intermediate will be solo AND partner work (we record the partner version of the module's contents, and immediately record a solo version of that content)—and then offer both versions for sale; a discount if the student buys both versions. This gets over the "I don't have a partner' complaint.

I see the programs will be available for download from Vimeo on Demand, and streaming from the app. In time, we will be offering a subscription option (not sure if this will be the app, VOD, or both) and the hundreds of elements of the Mastery Series will be available this way too, and the App will allow selection of "all hamstring exercises". These can be ranked Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced, in time.

Can you find Tim Ferris's contact? And thanks for the other suggestions, too. 

[MarkusO]

Hi Kit, 

with all these requirements I think some kind of content management system would make a lot of sense. For example, there are platforms specifically for these kind of puprposes (check moodle.org) that can be even combined with your wordpress website (check here) and you could probably even keep the Vimeo. I will dig into these options a bit as well in the next days and keep you posted.

Edit, another one:  https://www.opigno.org/

[Pat (pogo69)]

23 hours ago, Cherie Seeto said:

I use IG to post beginning, middle and end pose of an exercise. It automatically gets posted to FB. The response has been good, like a weekly advertisement to keep my presence up.

Along this idea, for the new programs, a single type of exercise with a range of beginner variations, then intermediate, then more advanced, for each 15 minute module. The modules are meant to be repeated before moving to a more difficult routine. I feel this deepens the understanding of a particular stretch versus giving too many exercises at once. In the middle of the 10week program introduce integration and progressions of different exercises to produce a ‘flow’ or routine. A Daily V routine on the floor, on a chair (dressed in office clothes), etcetera. For my type of client, more than 15 minutes seems onerous. 

Love all of this!  And now following you on IG. 

[Pat (pogo69)]

23 hours ago, Cherie Seeto said:

I’m an avid listener of podcasts. Kit’s interviews there are worth repeating. So get interviewed for video and podcast by people with HUGE audiences.

For example:

Tim Ferris

Abel James, The Fat Burning Man

Brian Rose, London Real. He has interviewed Steve Maxwell and Ido Portal, multiple times. His email is hello@londonreal.tv. 

Ditto.  Podcasts are what make the morning/afternoon commute, tolerable.  Also invaluable while I rehab an ankle injury on the most interminably boring of all inventions - cardio machines.

Kit is very podcast-friendly.  An engaging speaker, with thoughtful insights into a wide variety of topics; paired with a host who knows how/when to ask questions, and when to shut up; is gold for getting the word out there.

[Jonas W]

Aside from the obvious of sharing it on Facebok and so on... if you want to improve the reach to a non-English speaking Community as well, then translations of the stretching instructions to other languages might be an idea. I could translate it to Swedish for example. Even if it's primarily video-based, there could be transcripts of the dialogue to make it more accessible.

[oliviaa]

Thanks to everyone for their contributions to this thread: they are a tremendous help in our planning of our next steps!

I thought it might be useful to make a few comments about our key aims for the ABS series. First, a little history, which some of you here may not be aware of.

For 27 years, concluding in 2013, we ran a Monkey Gym at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. In that period a conservative estimate is that we taught upwards of 25,000 students. We offered stretching classes and strength-acquisition classes – separate streams – Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced level classes in each stream. We encouraged any new student to start in a stretching class – to improve their body awareness and range of movement – before attending the strength stream, and most people did this. We offered 14-week terms – the length of a university semester: really, it was 2 x 7-week terms in that the first half of a term worked through a bunch of material which was then revisited/added to in the second half. Stretching classes were 75 minutes long; strength classes 60 minutes.

I mention this history for the following reason. One of the reactions we receive pretty regularly from people who have come to ST via our online programs is along the lines of "great material, but where do I start, and how do I program my practice?". In contrast, this question never arose when we taught all those semesters at the ANU. Why? Because the 'how to use ST' was taught/communicated in the Beginner course. It wasn't even that every teacher of a Beginner course taught exactly the same content or in a prescribed sequence. Rather, a body of material was covered so that students experienced exercises for the whole body, learned C–R, importance of breathing, etc. etc. Our goal for the ABS series is to reproduce what we did so successfully for all those people in the class setting (face-to-face) in the online realm.

Bearing in mind many of your comments in this thread, I think that this can be done with a suite (possibly 20 in total) of short (15-minute max) follow-along sessions which we would release 2/week. When all 20 are available, then we could enable a 'Spotify playlist'-type feature so that people could mix'n'match and build their own programs.

[Florian]

Sounds good. Concerning translations as mentioned by Jonas, I would be pleased to do the german subtitles, if wished.

[SwissDanny]

2 hours ago, oliviaa said:

Bearing in mind many of your comments in this thread, I think that this can be done with a suite (possibly 20 in total) of short (15-minute max) follow-along sessions which we would release 2/week. When all 20 are available, then we could enable a 'Spotify playlist'-type feature so that people could mix'n'match and build their own programs.

That sounds good.  Formats like Whole Life Challenge that have 2-3x per year "course", or what @Craig is doing with his basic ChiGong course that have an element of pacing and personal touch make a difference from "simple content". 

[Pat (pogo69)]

15 hours ago, oliviaa said:

Bearing in mind many of your comments in this thread, I think that this can be done with a suite (possibly 20 in total) of short (15-minute max) follow-along sessions which we would release 2/week. When all 20 are available, then we could enable a 'Spotify playlist'-type feature so that people could mix'n'match and build their own programs.

Love it.

[Kit_L]

Just upgraded the software, so testing it still works! More to come. K

[Kit_L]

On 11/7/2017 at 8:49 PM, SwissDanny said:

Formats like Whole Life Challenge that have 2-3x per year "course", or what @Craig is doing with his basic ChiGong course that have an element of pacing and personal touch make a difference from "simple content". 

@SwissDanny: can you expand on these comments please; we are expecting to see Craig some time in January, but I am not aware of how he is doing his ChiGong course and would love to know more.

[SwissDanny]

Craig Im sure will be happy to talk you through his exact model and experience, but what I was alluding to in general terms that he and others are doing increasingly, it is adding some course structure, progression and guidance to the online content distribution by:

i) running distinct say 6-8 week courses, not anytime access, and creating some buzz around the start of the next course (paid or organic reach opportunity)

ii) not releasing all the material at once, typically with some weekly focus, lesson, progressions etc (increase sticky-ness of exposure)

ii) having some interaction with and between course participants, eg typically closed FB group or forum for Q&A, discussion, form check vids whatever (community).

So really helping people tackle the material and make it habitual.

[Kit_L]

@SwissDanny: this is a message I received today:

Quote

I want to begin a stretching program that I can do a little bit of each day. I work best with videos and want to buy one or more from your site. I've always been athletic though not terribly flexible. The length of some of these videos seems daunting so I want to ask which program would be best for a beginner who wants to spend about 30 minutes stretching on a daily basis and see results. If 30 minutes is not enough per day, can you guide me a bit. 

How beautifully serendipitous! Here is what I wrote on a FB post this evening (talking about the Elephant Walk:

https://www.facebook.com/StretchTherapyKitLaughlin/?ref=br_rs&hc_ref=ARSVfrPcKnz6GSQoxiR12NDmzJ1YqrDhVKrhk9lCKZlq0DvUMLwJFp_R00Exm8PW0nw&fref=nf

"We have been asked many times to shoot this 'little' exercise; I tend to think of it as a limbering movement, but if you are tight, it is so much more than that. The reason we have not shot it and made it available free is simply time: we have literally hundreds of movements like this one, and now the studio is set up, we are close to starting to record the "Absolute Beginner's Stretching" series.

This will comprise 20 fifteen minute programs, all solo exercises and shot 'follow-along' style. A program can be done one by itself or in a series with any other of the programs, once they are all available. Vimeo's "Albums" feature allows a user to select any of the comprising programs and put them together; the next one will play after the first one is done. This way you can make your own playlists to suit any time you have for stretching."

Thus the process begins...

We plan to release two a week for the first six–eight weeks, then the rest; or perhaps release the 20 over ten weeks, two pre week, the same way. Once the whole set is released, then we can offer the whole series (like the Mastery Series) to be downloaded; I am thinking that we only allow streaming to that point, but not firm on that.

The affiliate program dimension is a tougher nut to crack IF we only host on Vimeo (they have resisted an affiliate program for Pro users for over six years now). To set up a new platform is an immense amount of work, too.

[Kit_L]

8 hours ago, SwissDanny said:

ii) having some interaction with and between course participants, eg typically closed FB group or forum for Q&A, discussion, form check vids whatever (community).

So really helping people tackle the material and make it habitual.

Excellent idea; need to think on this.

[AshwinT]

On 25/10/2017 at 10:48 PM, Kit_L said:

As mentioned in today's Announcement, we are seeking assistance from everyone on how to promote this important new program to a brand-new audience. We know that most of you here will not use this program (or you might, if you are a teacher, to get ideas on how to work with your own absolute beginners), but we are interested in doing something we have not done before: finding out how to reach those millions of people who need our work, but do not know about it.

 I am talking about the kinds of people who always tell you, "I know I need to do more stretching" (while doing none!), but who find even the usual starting positions too hard.  I am talking about family, friends, and co-workers, who have some idea of what you do for fun. But how do we reach all the other people who need grace and ease in their bodies, especially in the era of Trump? What we are trying to create with this new series is the sort of experience you would have if you came to one of our Beginner classes. No prior knowledge, no required skill set, just a curious person who wants to know how to start stretching.

Hello All,

I've been following this thread or a while and realise that it's drifted into the technical aspects of the program.  I reposted the original request to motivate my post which will step back and try to address the macro question posed above "How do we reach the millions of people who need our work but do not know about it?"

1. There was some discussion of Instagram (IG), Facebook (FB), and other social media.  People build echo chambers around themselves in social media.  That means that your social media circle only contains things you want it to contain and voices you want to hear.  Adding new social media channels may get you a few new students but they are already part of the choir; they are already receptive to the message.  They already know they need stretching.  They are a minority in society.  They are not the ones Kit is referring to above.

2. Let me rephrase Kit's question a bit differently: "How do we reach the millions of people who need our work but do not know they need it?"  In other words "How do we expand the channels of distribution to the general population (those who do not have some exercise/movement/energetic practice)?"  Here are a few ideas.

a. Hospitals: Approach the management of a hospital and ask if you can start teaching there.  Alternatively connect with the physiotherapy centre in a hospital.  This will channel regular folks from their GPs to you.

b. Chiropractic/Physio Clinics: same as a.

c. Community Centres: Start teaching at the local community centre.  Connect with people in your local town hall.

d. Local activities clubs: Running, swimming, cycling, football.  Offer to a do a sport-specific workshop for them.

e. Schools: Start them young!  Approach your local school or school district and advocate for more movement in the curriculum.  Get all the teachers on board.

f. Corporations: Wellness at work is a big thing now-a-days.  All you have to do is sell your classes to the people in the HR/Corporate Wellness department. 

Note that all of the aforementioned ideas involve teaching in-person classes.  Most of the general population simply do not have the energy and motivation to follow any kind of online learning/app.  They need the regular guidance and encouragement of a teacher (80% of my regular students do not stretch at home even though I repeatedly encourage them to do so !!!).

I think the Absolute Beginners Stretch Series (ABSS) will be a success at the expense of the Mastery Series (which is not a bad thing).  I have a lot of students who bought the mastery series and cannot use it because it's too encyclopaedic. They need more direction.  I think ABSS will get a few more irregular stretchers to stretch more often.  BUT, I'm confident it will not reach the people who really need it most - those who just do not have the ability or motivation to follow a program.  Those people have to be reached one at a time in class. 

As a side note: One of my entrepreneurial projects is a healthcare consultancy where I'm trying to solve the macro problem posed above: How can we nudge the general population to live healthier lives?.... it's hard :(.  Still in the infancy phase but I'm doing a lot of research.  Trying to save our National Health Service...

Cheers,

Ashwin

www.stretchtherapylondon.com

 

[Pat (pogo69)]

11 hours ago, AshwinT said:

1. There was some discussion of Instagram (IG), Facebook (FB), and other social media.  People build echo chambers around themselves in social media.  That means that your social media circle only contains things you want it to contain and voices you want to hear.  Adding new social media channels may get you a few new students but they are already part of the choir; they are already receptive to the message.  They already know they need stretching.  They are a minority in society.  They are not the ones Kit is referring to above.

Up to a point, I agree.  Particularly when keeping in mind your rephrasing of the original question, in point (2).

Social media channels are essential, but they are largely limited to communicating to your existing audience, and/or a pool of new potentials that are looking for you.

11 hours ago, AshwinT said:

2. Let me rephrase Kit's question a bit differently: "How do we reach the millions of people who need our work but do not know they need it?"  In other words "How do we expand the channels of distribution to the general population (those who do not have some exercise/movement/energetic practice)?"  Here are a few ideas.

Indeed, an entirely different question.  Again, agreed that this is a very important distinction.  A very important - essential - direction.

11 hours ago, AshwinT said:

2a-f

 

Love all of these.  I think @Kit_L has mentioned that social media channels like Facebook, even with the assistance of paid advertising, are limited in their ability to specifically reach out to specific sectors like these.

I have no idea how to architect a viral groundswell of outreach; but as an observation, it has been interesting to watch Crossfit "infect" the world in the past decade.  I was following the CF WOD and interacting with their now largely defunct forum, over a decade ago, when there were but a handful of "boxes" around.  I am pretty sure at the time - at least when I started out - that there wasn't anyone else in Australia doing it.

Now, you can find a box on just about every street corner.  They do it in gyms, schools, S&C for sporting teams.  Somewhere along the way, it reached a tipping point, and went nuts.

Also:

2g. Aged care facilities

11 hours ago, AshwinT said:

I think the Absolute Beginners Stretch Series (ABSS) will be a success at the expense of the Mastery Series (which is not a bad thing).  I have a lot of students who bought the mastery series and cannot use it because it's too encyclopaedic. They need more direction.  I think ABSS will get a few more irregular stretchers to stretch more often.

Agreed, again.  I think I will use ABSS more than Mastery, and I've known Kit's work for... a very long time.  Distraction rich and time poor means that my biggest "bang for buck" is in picking off the low-hanging fruit and throwing small chunks of time at them.

11 hours ago, AshwinT said:

As a side note: One of my entrepreneurial projects is a healthcare consultancy where I'm trying to solve the macro problem posed above: How can we nudge the general population to live healthier lives?.... it's hard :(.  Still in the infancy phase but I'm doing a lot of research.  Trying to save our National Health Service...

Awesome!  I imagine that most of us have dreamed of such pursuits.  There is so much about "sick care", that should be done better.

[Mark H]

Hi Kit,

Your latest Facebook feed just popped up in my feed, nice. I thought I would share a few things I have learned about Facebook while building up the online side of my business lately. Apparently Facebook are really trying to push video content, in particular live feeds. This makes other video hosting sites their competition. As such, a post with a link to Vimeo will not have the same 'push' as one with video uploaded directly to Facebook. I understand the desire to have traffic move to the vimeo channel but building presence on Facebook is best done directly, so mixing up the two options may be a good idea. As live feeds are pushed the hardest it might be worth while considering them.

I agree with a lot of what Ashwin has to say but I still think (hope) it is possible to meet these groups on line. You could go into the local community health centre and talk to a new mums group, or you could get in touch with the Australian Breastfeeding Association and try to get on their online platform. Not to sell a product but to build awareness, maybe offer a free downloadable PDF on the three stretches every new mum should do, and provide links back to you and then your products. I know it sounds gimmicky but I first met Kit through a free session in the Hobart Botanical Gardens where you said something along the lines of 'every massage therapist needs to do this' before running through some wrist stretches. Said genuinely, and received that way.

Early on in these posts you said something along the lines of we don't want to reach you (as in the people who already follow you) we want to reach those who need to stretch but aren't. My question is why? I imagine you already have a great contact/client list. Why not meet their needs and develop your advanced and intermediate programs first rather than build a whole new client base?

Hope you are well,

Mark

[Olga]

10 hours ago, Mark H said:

I agree with a lot of what Ashwin has to say but I still think (hope) it is possible to meet these groups on line. You could go into the local community health centre and talk to a new mums group, or you could get in touch with the Australian Breastfeeding Association and try to get on their online platform.

I have read enough about internet bubbles and filters but I did try it and I found it extremely useful for my business and my profession, if not always exactly in the way I expected (I have shared on my own thread about Business Aspects). And I would have not known what I know before if I did not get out there and did it instead of contemplating why or why not. (And I am a one-person business so my time and resources are limited.)

Regarding the reach to special groups such as Mums etc. Allow me give you an example. If you are a new Mum in Vienna (Austria), your sources of information for anything regarding childcare, or your own care are, in order of popularity:

- your own Mum (if available)

- your closest friends with kids (if available)

- Facebook Group Women of Vienna Family Group (1,267 members as of today)

- Facebook Group Women of Vienna (11,419 members as of today)

- some other German-speaking internet portal or Mum's FB group that I know nothing about

- your family doctor

Same was in Hong Kong where I lived before moving here. Would anyone ever go to the Breastfeeding Association website (online platform) if there are a Facebook Support groups for breastfeeding Mums - global and local? What use of going to community centre if I can ask my question at the local FB group and get an instant and comprehensive answer (Women of Vienna is a good example, but you need to be a woman to join it :D). Humans are social creatures and social media is exploiting this fully - how can anyone ignore that?

And while I sit in my GP practice or Physiotherapist I stare at my phone, as everyone else around me does. Can't ignore that either.

So you define your target group and look for social media channels that they are using. For eg I wanted to reach out to more local and younger target group and I started using Instagram for that.

The question is, what specific target groups those "millions" include. What are these "bubbles", the communities of interest, that you want to get into. Then how to get into these "bubbles" using social media channels that they are using.

[Kit_L]

18 hours ago, Mark H said:

Early on in these posts you said something along the lines of we don't want to reach you (as in the people who already follow you) we want to reach those who need to stretch but aren't. My question is why?

Because (we assume) that if you want any of those programs, you will get them without any 'selling' or particular promoting on our part—you already know the way we do things, and like past programs/have used them/etc. I will address all of the excellent points raised by Ashwin and others above once I have returned from a workshop Liv and I are attending today. The core question I posed in the OP remains: what strategies are best to make all those people who need our programs aware of their existence? As a number of you have commented, FB and IG (to a lesser extent) replies on leveraging the groups who already know us. It is the ones who don't that I want to reach, and the consensus so far is that working with the groups who already do know our work is still most likely to be the most effective route. This is my reason for wanting to use a platform that has an affiliate program: to give back to all you people who already help us. (An aside: this is proving to be the hardest nut to crack; we may go live without it if we cannot solve it. Most likely we will make the new programs available at a significant discount for 48–72 hours, like the Mastery Series, and only publicise its existence here so you can all benefit.)

@Olga: FB explicitly prohibits people like me with programs like "Overcome back pain" from posting about the existence of this program to FB groups like "Back Pain". And I cannot see how to refine their 'Boost" target groups with any precision, at all. Way too many people who have not shown any interest in our work are targeted in campaigns like theirs.

 

[Mark H]

14 hours ago, Olga said:

Would anyone ever go to the Breastfeeding Association website (online platform) if there are a Facebook Support groups for breastfeeding Mums -

I use the term online platform to encompass the entire online presence (website, social media, forums, etc).  And new mums was just an example. You could just as easily go into your local mechanics and talk about the benefits of stretching or digitally try and reach them through their unions online presence (including social media). I use the examples of new mums and mechanics because these are the last two people to walk into my massage clinic who needed to stretch but just didn't know it. Don't get me wrong, they had an awesome massage - relieved discomfort and opened up a great window to start making lasting improvement - but the real magic happens with the handful of stretches they left with and the seed planted that stretching is important. And it is not restricted to new mums and mechanics. Teachers, tradies, hairdressers and many others. So how do these people get to know you digitally? My suggestion is introduce yourself via their unions / associations / networks. Not to sell them something, they don't know you from Adam, why should they give you their money? But to let them get to know you and your approach and where you can be found.

Another idea is to re-brand a little. In my experience most people who need to stretch but don't know it, don't really want to hear about it. It is much easier for me to convince someone of the importance of stretching  after 30 minutes of soft tissue work where we have established trust and rapport. These people didn't want someone to tell them to stretch, they wanted someone to address their pain and discomfort (in fact, they were planning on just lying around for an hour). So, to my idea. Create a closed community page on Facebook (much the way the movement culture page is there to sell Ido's stuff). Call it something like 'Overcome Pain and Discomfort'. Link in IG and Youtube accounts of the same name. Have all your current followers / supporters like, follow and share these pages in the same time period so they start trending. Get a digital marketing techie on board to create a bot to comment on other peoples posts (people with an interest in relieving pain and discomfort). The comment doesn't need to say much it's more about dropping your name 'Overcome Pain and Discomfort' - click bait really. They click it, come to your page that already has a thousand followers and decide to take a look. Then it comes down to the content on your page as to whether they stick around.

[Kit_L]

WRT @AshwinT and @Mark H's suggestions: I am not looking or hoping to expand my personal stretching teaching business; all Ashwin's 2.) suggestions would be perfect for someone who (as I did in the past) opened his own clinic and stretch teaching practise. I did do all these things, and anyone who has been to a ST teacher training will recall me talking about the local strategies one can engage in to bring clients in the front door.

But this thread is not about that (and @Olga's is). And (talking about @Mark H's suggestions) that approach is not me, or Stretch Therapy. I engage with thousands of people around the world via email personally, respond to posts on my YT channel, follow up all comments and questions on the Vimeo on Demand channel, and comment here—but I write it. I would never engage a tech. person who creates a bot to do this on a closed community page. And we explicitly are an open learning system. As for the 'click bait' approach: that is not us, either.

I have been in this business for 30+ years; Olivia 20+, we pre-date the internet itself, and we are still around, and still doing it ourselves. We have excellent content and our approaches work. We plan to be around for quite a while yet!

On the other hand, we will use the Instagram (and the auto-push) to FB suggestions. As well, we will take on the suggestions of releasing the programs over time, and we will capture email addresses (our tier in Vimeo on Demand can't do this) by offering free follow-up material that only requires an email address. 

A question to the readers here: how important is it to you to have an affiliate program (when I use this term, I mean you would enrol, and anyone clicking on your link would get the ABS program for the standard cost, but you would get a significant percentage return to you)—would that impel you to really push our new programs out wider and harder than you all already do, or not?

Our desire for an affiliate program is to be able to give back to you all for your real time and help. If not having an affiliate program would not make any differnce to how you treat new programs, then the next step is simplified. We deeply appreciate all the help we have received so far. Anyhow, we are still working all this out, and we really appreciate all the suggestions here.

[Olga]

The affiliate programme is of no interest to me - I happily share your info and links with anyone who listens - and even with those who do not. Online and offline. But thanks for asking!

[Thuc_thuc]

Looking forward to this!

I do not peruse the forums very often (and when I do I do not always log in) but I am on Instagram occasionally because I love looking at cool photos/poses/stances (and puppies) and the development of an app would be excellent. I have often told clients in class to google for stretch therapy when I have limited time and send them a link to videos etc when I get a chance, but an app that I can load up and show a short sequence or something would be hugely beneficial.

So many people I interact with would benefit hugely by stretching but often have no where to go/to start and I can only direct them here (alas I would love to go through sessions with them but time!) 

Sorry not a very contributative post but definite backing and looking forward to see what pans out!

Much love!