Fuel & Friction

Every company wants innovation yet knowone really wants to change. This is the core problem that all innovators face when trying to bring a new idea to life. This week I was reading The Human Element by Loran Nordgren and David Schonthal (highly recommend) who introduced me to the concept of Fuel vs Friction and how for any new idea to succeed it needs to address both.

Fuel is the central value of a new idea that makes it attractive plus the marketing effort to spread the idea. In the fitness world we see new fuel popping up every day (17 day diet, 21 day challenge, Cold Therapy concepts, rowing sudios, cycling studios, running studios, etc) and all of them promise to help us with our desire to be a happy, healthy people. So why with SO many options to help us be fit is our population increasingly unhealthy?

The answer is friction.

Frictions are the real forces that are getting in our way that must be addressed in order to for a new idea to succeed. Immediately my brain focuses on nutrition as we (Self Esteem Brands) purchased a nutrtion company (StrongerU Nutrition) last year. I believe that most people want to be healthy and a big part of being healthy is eating a good diet. I also believe that if you asked most people to fill a basekt with healthy food, they can.

So what are the friction points that we might need to address?

Inertia. People are busy and it’s natural to stick with what we know. Which means we need to offer choice and make it a simple as possible to say yes based on their current behaviors.

Effort. Changing how you eat takes alot of effort. Some people might be willing to change everything, take the Whole30, where you eat exactly what they say for 30 days and don’t really eat out at all. But that’s a ton of effort and we must have lower effort options for people.

Emotion. Food is emotional for most people. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard…don’t take my wine away ;-)

Price. Real food is more expensive than junk unless you have time and skill to cook.

Reactance. It’s our natural impulse to be resistant to change and more data doesn’t always help. Are carbs good, bad? Can I have sugar? We need education but the more information that’s out there the more complicated it is to take action.

Success for us depends on how we can position this great company with amazing nutrition experts to successfully address the friction points that our potential customers are facing.

I would love to know what other frictions you might be facing when it comes to eating better?

Let me know and consider checking out www.strongeru.com

Cheers,
Jason