Project Skinny Jeans represents a very exciting venture of its kind and today, The Asian Entrepreneur speaks to Jo Ferguson, its founder, to learn more about it.
Jo how did it all begin?
Project Skinny Jeans was born out of my personal quest to fit in – as you may have guessed – my favourite pair of skinny jeans.
I, like many others, spent my teenage years and early twenties with the ability to keep myself (fairly) healthy and slim with seemingly zero maintenance, diets or exercise. Then life kind of took over with bills, mortgage and work being my priority. And my figure slowly began to change without me really realising.
The big turning point came when I found that my favourite old great fitting pair of skinny jeans didn’t fit anymore (they weren’t just tight – I literally couldn’t pull them up!). I knew I need to change something and take a bit more care and consideration for myself again.
Frustratingly (with hindsight) my quest to fit in the jeans began with spending far too long trying different diets, detox teas and even waist trainers. I would always start thinking I’d ‘found the one that worked’ but always ended up feeling worse, demotivated, and with little to no progress.
I also began to do seemingly endless cardio – running three times a week, going to spinning classes and yoga as I felt that was ‘how to be healthy’ but I was still eating the same as before, if not more, and not really seeing any benefits, and basically just tired.
By far the biggest impact on my progress came through learning and understanding the massive importance of calories in vs calories out to my progress. It was literally life changing and although it seemed far too simple a change to make, the results for myself and everyone since who has used my guides have been dramatic.
In your own words what do you do with Projects Skinny Jeans?
My answer to this is always “I help people realise just how simple controlling your weight can be; and whatever your age, current weight or fitness levels you really CAN get the body you want.”
Could you walk us through your process of developing your business?
I feel that I’m still very much at the start of the process with Project Skinny Jeans. YeS, having paying clients is such a great feeling (especially getting your first one!) but there is so much more I want to do in terms of marketing and developing the business and brand.
Did you encounter any particular difficulties in the beginning?
As strange as it sounds, the biggest hurdle was believing I could actually start something by myself..
Realising that I didn’t need anyone else or the backing of a big company to start was what gave me the kick I needed.
Any tips for achieving success?
Keep going! Understand that you will fail a lot on the journey but the is a lesson in every failure that teaches you something for the next challenge.
I have met numerous lots people who have really good ideas but then quit as soon there’s been a stumbling block or never finish perfecting their product. There will be a lot of work involved, much more than you imagine, but the reward is there to be had.
