Changing a lifelong battle of the bulge to a 60-second solution
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
10:24 AM
When 57-year-old Carolyn Allen decided to change her life's direction, she went First Class all the way.
First Class being the "center for lifelong learning" that for years has offered noncredit workshops in everything from soap-making and flirting to public speaking and getting ahead at work. Not just one but two of these seminars led Allen to become an entrepreneur with a worldwide audience.
At the turn of the millennium, the Brigham Young University graduate was a Springfield mother of five, a former legal secretary in downtown D.C. who had struggled with extra pounds since adolescence. Using WeightWatchers, Allen finally reached and sustained her weight-loss goal and became a WeightWatchers meeting leader in 1999. She was honored as a leader of the year in 2003.
One practice that made her popular was that, at each meeting she led, she shared healthy living tips, affirmations and a recipe.
"Thirty minutes wasn't enough," the bubbly Allen says, so in 2001 she began e-mailing her members a weekly newsletter. "Members started forwarding it all over the country," she says, "and at every meeting someone would say, 'Are you writing a book? I want it!'"
Such reactions began coming from strangers, too. "If people say you should write a book, you'd better figure out how," Carolyn's husband, Bob, told her. Remembering First Class from her time in downtown D.C., Allen signed up for self-publishing expert Dan Poynter's seminar in 2003, which she describes as how-to guidance mixed with a pep talk. The course was an eye-opener, she says: "I thought, 'My book is already half-written, and I have the best-seller in this audience!'" Realizing her family needed extra income, though, Allen shelved the project while leaving WeightWatchers to transform her newsletter into a Web site and charge daily readers a small fee. She contacted First Class "Magnetize Your Website" instructor Sally Strackbein, who also offers phone and in-person consultations.
Only after the site - myweightlossfriend.com- launched in 2004 did Allen review her notes from Poynter's class. Her first book was a downloadable document called "Rainbows for Today: Comfort, Hope, and Inspiration for Weight Loss Success" in October 2005. It came with a CD, made by KeySignature Music in Burke. But "my readers, mostly middle-aged women, want something to hold in their hands," the author says.
So, Allen worked with Rainmaker Publishing of Fairfax and a printed version, which came out last May. She changed the title to the more salable "60 Seconds to Weight Loss Success" and added 101 business-size cards with uplifting thoughts.
A year ago, Allen met with a Home Shopping Network official for advice about readying her products for major sales. A "self-discovery journal" titled "Write Away the Pounds" and a downloadable photo scrapbook called "My Weight Loss Journey" will be followed this year by a paperback version of "101 Scriptures for Weight Loss Success."
"Think about it," Allen says: "The first problem in Genesis was whether Eve should have something to eat - the apple!"
Fame may be ahead. With her original book, CD, and cards packaged as the "One Minute Weight Loss Inspiration System," Allen drove to Philadelphia on March 29 to compete in Oprah's Big Idea Product Search. Oprah Winfrey's company and QVC will call 10 finalists to appear on her TV show in May, when the audience will choose a winner.
"I have a passion about my online business, and it is quickly becoming a full-time income," Allen says. She's shipping books to Amazon every week, selling others' products on her site, promoting her own on others' sites, and exploring the speaking circuit.
"First Class paid for itself multiple, multiple times," says Allen.
The benefits have come full circle of late: She's begun teaching at First Class as well as through Fairfax County adult education. Her course? What else? "60 Seconds to Weight Loss Success."
First Class (takeaclass.org), based in Dupont Circle, offers some 100 live classes and 300 online classes every two months. Most of them last two to three hours and range from $29 to $39.
ELLEN RYAN