The thing with health is that most people think of it in terms of looks — don’t bother with what’s going on inside as long as you look good! So spray-on copious deodorant if you stink, bleach your skin if it lacks the glow, get high you are feeling low, drink away the blues my friends, slog the office hours with bad posture, screw up your sleep and food routine…because you will live it up on weekends! Oh the tragedy of modern living!
Good health comes from keeping your mind stress-free (that deadline is not the end of the world!) and practicing a disciplined lifestyle (no, you don’t have to stay up late to watch the game!). Looks, on the other hand, is simply a positive side-effect of good health — it should not be the goal of your fitness efforts. Our bodies have all the indicators built-in to tell us what’s working optimally and what’s causing imbalance; we just have to listen. Hips & Tips will tell you how to listen to your body and adopt healthy habits by delivering simple daily tips straight to your inbox.
“I was 19 when I lost my mother to cancer”, recalls Duygu Daniels, the founder of Hips & Tips, “She wasn’t a smoker, didn’t drink and ate in moderation. But there was a lot of stress in her life and after she passed away, I became obsessed with trying to figure out why it had happened because I had to look after my younger sister who was 7 at the time.” Duygu started reading a lot of books, journals and articles and took nutrition classes to understand the role nutrition played in our physical, mental and spiritual well-being. But whereas she had painful personal experience as a motivation, her other 20-something friends where not at all interested in listening to her.
The Intrepid Entrepreneur
People either think too much when it comes to health – crash diet and steroids comes to mind – or they postpone thinking about it until they older/sicker. A glut of blogs, journals and articles on health doesn’t make it any easier for people to not get inundated with information and give up. Duygu explains her solution, “We want to be healthy to live our lives – we don’t want to spend our lives trying to be healthy. So considering the time factor, Hips & Tips is the best option. You receive one inspiring health and wellness tip every weekday and, if you want, you contribute by sharing what has worked for you. The newsletter is designed in a way that’s entertaining and not tiring to read”.
Most of the startup covered here on Startup Dope focus on apps but a newsletter based approach is a first. Duygu was in the technology industry for two years and at first, making an app for Hips & Tips seemed like a no-brainer, “After countless iterations and trying to get the app off the ground, I accepted the fact that I couldn’t build a technology-first business without a committed technical co-founder. And then I had an epiphany – if I couldn’t do tech first, I’d do content first. Instead of trying to bring the audience to my product why don’t I just go where we all are – the inbox.”
Having taught herself web development and Photoshop, she had a website and a newsletter up and running in a matter of hours, all by herself! “Now I realize that an app is just a means to an end—it’s a tool. And like with any tool, we shouldn’t automatically assume it’s the right one for the job.”
A Newsletter You’ll Actually Read
The deluge that online health content poses has been tackled by apps and services like Dr. Oz and Yos. Even Pinterest has many health focused boards. But Duygu is confident of her product’s USP, “If you have a health and wellness blog or are a content creator, Hips & Tips is the quickest way to reach your audience thanks to our newsletter based approach.” She is currently experimenting with different ways of monetizing the newsletter for the mutual benefit of the health conscious community and expert tipsters but for now, it is free for everyone.
