MyZone & The Tingle In the Toothpaste - Emmett Williams

Emmet Williams came into My Zone with his partner Dave Wright in between 2010 and 2011. The two had been introduced to heart rate monitoring technology and wanted to use that to be an accurate representation and motivator for customers’ fitness and health. 

How did you end up with My Zone?

• It began in the Fitness Industry with a marketing company called Creative Fitness Marketing, it was based in America, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. 
• When Williams was based in Australia, he took equities within that business, when he was 26 years old, and grew it. 
• Williams came into My Zone in 2010/2011 and had a network established around the industry. 
• Williams’s partner, Dave Wright, looked at the heartrate products, which caused Williams to look at it from a genuine perspective. 
• Williams and Wright believed that using this technology would help drive engagement and that would drive retention. 
• The experience of William and Wright managed to apply this concept better than the new technology that was arising in the market. 

My Zone is a combination of both hardware and software, is that right?

• It is a mix of hardware - being a heart rate belt, and monitor - as well as software - which includes club display and the smartphone app.
• The goal is to make the client feel good and keep them motivated. 
• The sense of achievement that comes along with this practice is what keeps the client interested. 
• There is a leaderboard on My Zone that helps build a sense of community. 

Is there any functional fitness or how are you guys applying this to other models? Besides spinning and cycling. 

• Heart rate has been attached to cycling for a long time, and My Zone took into consideration the science and the simplicity of the concept and incorporated that. 
• My Zone aspired to build a point system that is perfect for the gym industry. 
• My Zone looks at your fitness level - such as a gold handicap - which democratized exorcise. It removes who the fittest person is in the room, and levels the exercising in the glass. Each person practices in their fitness level. 
• It does not matter what exercise you are doing, as long as you are doing some form of exercise. 

When a consumer buys it, is it part of their gym membership? Can they buy it independently? 

• My Zones business model is selling to the gym operator, but the waistband can be bought on Amazon. 

Are there any new metrics that you are looking into?

• Heart rate viability is an interesting way to go, but it can be a challenge, and My Zone is not delving into that. 
• They are looking at their heart rate recovery, which will portray how healthy your cardiovascular system is. 
• Heart rate recovery can predict your fitness age and your mortality rate by seeing how healthy the metrics are, and they will be clinically proven to be accurate. 

How is your company building that gamification and community in this new hybrid world we’re in? 

• Williams believes that it all begins with strategy and the operative system. 
• My Zone encourages half-year huddles, which is to review the mid-year mark, and they ask the operators what their strategy is. Often times, they do not have a response to that, which is okay. 
• They teach them a practice that helps establish a strategy to help figure out where they would like to go with the year going forward, and finding your anchors. 
• My Zone is a good fit if one of your anchors is a community, results, and sustainability. It gives you a goal and a status ranking. 
• My Zone strives to position itself as an authority to bring rewards and community to the customers. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you are facing now as an organization? 

• My Zone came into this year with a growth plan and took their existing products and new services into consideration, but that was turned over due to COVID. 
• They want to focus on their existing customers and want to help to reboot them before they concentrate on growth. 
• My Zone has a few products such as the mZ remote, as well as the patented fitness the releasing in the Fall (2020).
• My Zone expanded into Germany and Singapore, and are looking forward to spending more time at improving there. 

Are there any kind of strategic partnerships or collaborations you guys are looking for?

• My Zones API goes out to many vendors and is very happy to show their data. 
• My Zone has a very open mind when it comes to new technologies. 

Is there anything you are reading right now that you would recommend to the audience? 

• Steve Schwarzman - What it takes: Lessons in Pursuit of success.
• Matthew Syed - The power of diverse thinking. 
• Sean Ellis - Hacking Growth. 

Resources:

Website: myzone.org

Emmet Williams Email: ew@myzone.org