October, 2010

Rewards — Comments Off
28
Oct 10

More Dermstore rewards

The very last Dermstore reward was redeemed on Tuesday at 4:05PM ET (how’s that for attention to detail, haha).  Those moisturizing day creams were in very high demand, and some people even blogged about them.  The good news is that Dermstore is making available another 50 jars of day cream!!  If you haven’t yet treated yourself to this awesome reward, be sure to save up 700 points for it.  You’ll even receive it in a nice gift packaging directly from Dermstore.

Go exercise, get rewarded, you earndit.

Uncategorized — 2 Comments
22
Oct 10

Free Brooks Running Shoes

That’s right!  A free pair of running shoes.  Any pair of Brooks shoes you want!  We’ll be holding a drawing on November 9th, and begin accepting entries on Tuesday, October 26th.  You can enter the drawing by redeeming 200 points, and then you’ll get an extra spot if you tweet or Facebook post about your entry in the drawing (we’ll let you know how to do that once you redeem your 200 points).  You can find more details here.  Good luck!

Company / Rewards — 2 Comments
19
Oct 10

A Guest Post from an Earndit member

Below is our first guest post ever on Earndit.  It comes from Roman Zubarev.  You can see his Earndit profile by clicking here.

Too Good to Be True (but it is true!)

I received my first Earndit reward in the mail just the other day. The Bonobos “B” stamped across the neatly packaged box, I popped it open and lifted the wrapping paper. There it was. My new navy blue polo lay neatly folded inside. Having never owned a $55 polo, I immediately threw it on, curious to see what made this shirt stand out. Most noticeable was the fabric; durable but soft, the kind of fabric girls can’t keep their hands off and compliment. The just-right fit hit me next. Perfect in the shoulders, chest, arms and waist, the shirt felt and looked like it was picked out by a personal shopper. I was blown away.

Rewind several weeks.

Here I was, a new Earndit member, skeptical but eager to get started and get earning. We’re all familiar with credit card reward points, frequent flyer miles and cash back programs, but you have to spend to earn those. So when my roommate Evan turned me on to Earndit, I thought it was too good to be true. Did I really not have to do anything except continue to exercise and link my Nike+ account? I went with it, accumulated the required 500 points and clicked “Earn It” at the $50 Bonobos Gift Card reward page, still unconvinced. To my surprise the unique code arrived 2 days later via a personal email from Chris of Bonobos, who I promptly thanked. Chris responded just hours later and offered his style and sizing advice to assist with my purchase. This was legit.

As you now know, I picked out the polo and it arrived just a few days later. After the $50 gift card, the total purchase cost me $5, shipped. I’m not usually one to buy high-end apparel, but Earndit has helped open my eyes and I’m now sold on Bonobos quality. Recommending Earndit to friends is a great way to help them find the extra motivation to exercise or simply get rewarded for something they already do. Too good not to try.

Exercise / Rewards — 1 Comment
14
Oct 10

An anecdote of why we started Earndit

One of our members was diagnosed with lupus 5 years ago.  For those that don’t know, lupus is a potentially fatal, chronic autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy tissue and causes inflammation and damage to joints & organs.  Those who live with it have my utmost respect for enduring the struggle.  This courageous Earndit member wrote a blog post a couple days ago discussing the different web services used for motivation to be healthy.  We feel honored to be on that list.  You can click here to be taken to the post, or read it below.

“after my lupus diagnosis 5 years ago, and after the crazy side effects from my meds, and after the weight gain and after the blah blah blah, i was in a rut.  i was at this catch-22 of crossroads — i needed to lose weight, but my meds literally made me fat; i needed to workout, but my meds literally destroyed my joints making it impossible to exercise the way i wanted to.  in short, the things that were keeping me “healthy” were keeping me from being healthy.  UGH.  i felt trapped. fast forward to now, and enter social media.  it’s funny how you can’t possibly know what’s been missing in your life until you’ve experienced it.  who knew that foursquare and twitter would change my life?  and for the better!?  (i guess my friend knew, since he basically forced me onto them earlier this year… hehe!  thanks for that, by the way!)

so in flirting with my new-found love of social media, i recently signed up for a slew of online fun to help me stay excited about being healthy.  (so far, so good!!)  my weapons of choice?

  • foursquare – www.foursquare.com – location-based check-in fun.  the monster that started it all.  (for me, at least).  earn “badges” for playing the game of life, real life.
  • earndit – www.earndit.com – every time you workout, you earn points towards rewards like gift cards and discounts!  seriously!  cuz, you EARNDIT!
  • health month, the game – www.healthmonth.com – and i quote, “The game that helps you live healthy, not because you have to, but because it’s fun.”  and it really IS fun!  bonus: you can earn foursquare badges by playing!
  • nike+ active – www.nikeplusactive.com – this takes your real-life workouts and turns them into “nikefuel”, which you use to travel the world in a fun online game.  (requires the use of the nike+ device.)
  • runkeeper – www.runkeeper.com – a great way to keep track of all your workouts, etc.  i don’t run (see aforementioned ruined joints), but it also lets you keep track of walking, bicycling, elliptical-ing and a myriad of other activities.  this one helps you earn foursquare badges, too!
  • twitter – www.twitter.com – most things can now connect to your twitter account, so depending on how much you like to brag about your progress, this may be a good choice for you. ;)   i don’t connect mine, but it’s nice to have the option.

that may seem like an overwhelming list, but the crazy part is that it’s working.  or, it feels like it’s working.  i can sense a shift in my thinking.  instead of sitting around watching tv, i’m trying to plot how i can squeeze in an extra walk somewhere!  i’m turning my friends into my walking buddies!  i’m starting to believe i don’t need to drive everywhere!  what madness is this!

i’m tired of being down on myself for not accomplishing my goals, especially my health-related ones.  lupus really threw me for a loop, but i will not give up my fight to deal with this disease (and everything it throws at me) head-on.  i owe myself that much.  and actually, everyone owes it to themselves to be the best they can be regardless of their situations.

so, here’s to me and you and anyone anywhere that’s trying to do and be better.  i can feel it — this will be our year!

Company — Comments Off
12
Oct 10

Aol covers Earndit!

Aol’s primary health & fitness blog – That’s Fit – wrote an amazing piece about Earndit last week.  The article is pasted below, or you can click here to be taken to it directly.  It’s awesome to see Earndit getting such positive attention!!!

New Site Pays You to Workout
What motivates you to exercise? Maybe you want to have a lean body, a healthy heart or just want to be able to have a few pieces of pizza without worrying about your waistline.
But what if looking and feeling good isn’t quite enough to get you to the gym? You want a reward for your hard work, darn it. And Earndit is here to help you out.
Earndit is a site that provides rewards for your workouts. The premise is simple: You sign up on Earndit using a tracking service such as Nike+, Foursquare, Everytrail, Garmin Connect or, coming soon, Fitbit. These services then help you earn points for workouts.
For example, if you check in at the gym using Foursquare, you get 15 points (unless you’re the mayor, in which case you earn 20 per check in). If you use a service that tracks your distance, you earn a certain number of points per mile based on whether you travel by foot, bike, skate, paddle or skateboard.
Once you’ve earned points, you can exchange them for rewards ranging from coupons to online consultations with a professional trainer.
We love this concept. Hey, even lifelong runners and gym rats can use a little extra motivation! But the site has a little way to go. Of course, tracking systems have to be used in order to keep people honest, but there are a lot of them out there — it would be great to have the option to use more of the apps available on different phones. And we’re looking forward to more companies signing on to provide rewards. We like free jewelry and stilettos as much as the next girl, but we can see this really taking off when people can start earning points toward, say, a free GPS watch or other cool workout device.
And we’d really like to see ways to add to the types of activities that can be counted toward points. If you provide proof you’ve signed up for a race, could that count? Or what about somehow transferring information from, say, the Wii Fit?
It might be a bit of a wait for all this since Earndit is still quite new. The founders admit they aren’t even making any money off it — yet. But we think that will change. This is a novel idea that plays off the popularity of social media, and with the way social media has taken a shine to fitness, it’s a perfect match. Will you be signing up? If not, what’s holding you back?
Company / Rewards — Comments Off
5
Oct 10

Beth Risdon writes about Earndit

Beth Risdon is a well-respected blogger who covers the subjects of running and fitness. She has a loyal readership and it’s for good reason. Her writing style is lighthearted, humorous and endearing. The title of her blog says it all:  Shut Up and Run.

In a blog post yesterday, she had some really nice things to say about Earndit. An excerpt of that post is below:

“Have you ever heard of earndit.com? It’s actually pretty cool. You register your Garmin (or any type of device). Every time you run, bike or whatever you get points. Once you reach a certain number of points, you get free stuff. You don’t have to go to the website every time you run. Anytime you load a workout through Garmin Connect (which I do anyway) and give it a name, it gives you credit on the site. I mean, free stuff for something I do anyway. I’ll take it. Rewards include gift cards, Element Bars and lots of other good stuff. I’m almost up to 300 points and it’s only been a week.”