Long time coming
So, it's literally been almost a year since my last blog post. I honestly hang my head low when I think about how I've neglected my site and haven't been as consistent as I should of been. With that said there have been a lot of major changes to my personal life in the past 2 years. I got married in 2016, and I'm now getting divorced in the weeks to come.
It's been quite the roller coaster of emotions, and so to keep and maintain my sanity I've drawn all my attention back to HIKERCISE. Now don't get me wrong being married is wonderful when you both are infatuated with each other, but is no excuse to stop following your dreams and not drive forward with your goals. I have to acknowledge the reality that things are much easier when your own goals are all you have to worry about.
That's enough about that, what I really want to discuss is the direction HIKERCISE is currently taking. 1st off there was a trademark issue that needed and is currently being worked on. That's right the name "Hikercise", as much as I credit myself for coming up with it, was apparently a shared original idea (unknowingly) that a lady in Colorado also had a few years before I started it up in upstate New York. The good news is, her site hasn't been active for years, and not only that her ownership of the Trademark lapsed. So we here at team HikerciseNY have been doing everything in our power to acquire a trademark attorney to make sure there are no more hiccups along the way on that front.
2nd, while the acquiring of the trademark is the primary goal, it's important to me to have the site reflect the change and growth I personally have been going through. So I have to announce that we will be relaunching the site on a different platform fairly soon (possibly end of April). As much as I love Wix and everything it's had to offer. It's come to my attention that I can do better. I've retained the assistance of a creative director and it's his belief that he can step everything up on a different, easier to use platform that I won't mention on this blog until the launch. Wix has been a great source of development for myself, but with things finally picking up in the direction I want for Hikercise I can't manage the site and run the program at the same time, because fortunately my schedule won't allow for it.
3rd. Traction has been the name of the game. I was currently the main feature of an article released in early March, for "Exercise Timer". It's an amazing app that I use to organize my work out programs for my classes, and private training sessions. If you need some structure to your work outs I highly recommend checking this app out in the Play store (Android users, not sure if it's on Apple as well) and giving it a whirl. It's a game changer. Check out the article on HIKERCISE.
Name recognition and networking are probably just 2 of the most important things when it comes to starting your own business. As I continue this journey I plan to do a article on what I've learned in order to help others who have similar goals getting there foot on the ground. Having HIKERCISE as a focus has been quite the learning experience and Im really proud of it's current trajectory.
4th. With the relaunching of the site, will come photo shoot opportunities. In mid April (when the weather is more tolerable) I will be providing 2 free classes to anyone who is willing to not only work out for an actual hour long class, but be photographed doing so. Any website developer worth his weight in salt will tell you "Images make the site", and it's true. Statistically speaking people are more drawn to certain sites for the pictures they have and ease of it's design, just the way it is. I'm not one to lift my nose at statistics, So a free class and photo shoot! If your at all interested in participating please contact me via email: Hikercisestaff@gmail.com or message me on twitter: @HIKERCISEeR. Be sure to leave your name and email address and I'll send you the waiver and consent forms needed to be signed before joining the class. Photos will be taken here in the city, on Coney Island (Brooklyn) and in Forest Park (Queens). More information will be provided when you sign up.
So those are the 4 big things I wished to talk about, and I'm looking forward to the adventure this year brings. It was a rocky start, so I figure you can only go up from here. So cheers to the goals of 2018, Love, Laugh, and Live!.
