Jazzercise? Job-ercise?

“I was teaching in the morning, which tends to be a time when a lot of stay-at-home moms take a class. They would come and take a couple of classes and then I’d never see them again. I wondered what in the world was going on. I went and talked to some of them and they said they like it but they said I was teaching it like they were going to be professional dancers. They didn’t want that, but they did want to look like professional dancers.”

That is Judi Sheppard Missett on the How I Built This podcast.

There are a few ways to find the JTBD. One is to talk to current customers. Another is to talk to previous customers. Bob Moesta says to talk to both. What the previous customers told Judi was that they wanted to look great and have fun doing it.

The whole episode is good because it highlights a systemic need: non-weight lifting exercise. People wanted a thing, and as is often the case, couldn’t articulate it.

Everything in our life seems obvious now but there’s always a change around the corner. Phil Knight wrote in Shoe Dog that runners were considered weirdos. Nobody exercised. There was a need there, and Knight and Missett both filled it.

Moesta says that he likes to see things as sets. Jazzercise then might be the set between fitness-fun-novelty-and-groups. Whatever your customer’s set is, follow Judi’s steps and go ask them.