Elevate Your Game: The Power of Personalized Meditation with Walker Ferguson

Freddy D: 00:02:08

Today's guest is a powerhouse of leadership, innovation and resilience. Wake Forest University student, athlete and entrepreneur Walker Ferguson.

As a safety on the football team, he demonstrates the discipline and focus required to excel at the highest level of college sports.

Off the field, he's the co founder and president of Ascend Meditations, a cutting edge wellness app that leverages AI to make meditation accessible and engaging for users worldwide.

Balancing a rigorous athletic schedule while pursuing a degree in economics with a minor in communications, Walker brings a unique blend of determination, creativity and business savvy to everything he does. With a background in real estate and an unwavering passion for personal growth, he's on a mission to transform how we approach mental well being.

Get ready to hear how he's building Ascend from the ground up, inspiring others to prioritize mindfulness and staying motivated on and off the gridiron.

Freddy D: 00:03:08

Welcome Walker from Ascend Meditation to the Business Superfans podcast. How are you this afternoon, Walker?

Walker Ferguson: 00:03:16

I'm doing great. I'm honored to be here.

Freddy D: 00:03:18

We're excited to have you.

So tell us a little bit about your story of where you came from and how did you come up with the idea of Ascend Meditation as an app and helping people deal with challenges and improve their sleep?

Walker Ferguson: 00:03:31

Yeah, no, for sure. I'm from Richmond, Virginia. Lived in the same house my whole life and growing up I played anything with the ball.

Football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, like you name it. And then I got to high school and then I kind of really just shifted towards football and lacrosse. Those are my main two sports.

And you know, when Covid hit ended up not playing lacrosse in college because roster spots went from like 12 to 4. So I kind of shifted my full focus towards football when I ended up going to play football Wake Forest.

I'm still here now, senior majoring in econ and minoring in. Com. But that was like the greatest blessing of my life thus far.

co founder. In the summer of: 2021

Do we want to open a restaurant? Do we want to do this right? And nothing ever stuck.

But we knew we were going to do something together after school because of the synergy we had right away. Our moms were both realtors, dads, both came from farming families in the middle of nowhere. Mine in Virginia, his in Georgia.

And you just couldn't write it Any better, right? So we get a sophomore year and things really haven't change. Still on scout team, he's the same way.

Not traveling, not playing things on the home front. Went great and got out of a for a relationship. He was going through some things in his own life as well.

And we were like, at these low points together.

But no, being able to take a step back and have this cultivation of, like, gratitude, just be like, wow, like, I'm really playing, like, Division 1 football and ACCA Wake Forest right now. Like, that's a blessing in of itself. And that's kind of like when I learned how to breathe for the first time.

It was either in the past, depression, the future, anxiety, but I was never like, really in the present moment. And that's where I learned how to meditate and the power of meditation.

I'm a Christian guy too, so I would like meditate on scripture and really get in the Word. He took the stoic approach and we were kind of like growing in our own paths of meditation.

We also had used this app, Calm, as student Athletes Wait for us.

We had a free subscription to Calm, and we liked how they gave base meditations based sleep stories, but nothing felt personally for me like what I was going through for the individual user. So, long story short, Hampton transfers to Georgetown after sophomore year and he's just growing tremendously. And he calls me and he says, February.

I say, January of: 2024

He's we're going to create a meditation app, uses artificial intelligence the right way to give people personalized meditations, sleep stories, and then what we call meditation plans.

But essentially the differentiating factor is the fact that you can get meditations for you that are catered individually for you, like on the spot for whatever you're going through. And that's really like the need that myself and Hampton had in that time when we didn't want to talk to somebody.

Having a resource that could help us with our situation was instrumental. So right after that we knew we were going to do. We ran up our vision board. And I really say life's all about relationships because it's so true.

And I met so many people along the way and really formulated a beautiful team. A lot of things fell together and that's where we are now. We did our beta testing in September and we got on the app store on November 1st.

And we're about A week and a half away from the Google Play Store. So that's how the idea formulated.

It was from, like, a personal need, something that we were going through, some of the struggles we were going through in our lives.

And, like, a solution that we were like, this would have really helped us in our time, and it's still helping us now as we're not student athletes anymore, but really to help student athletes and individuals with what they're going through with that time in their life.

Freddy D: 00:06:43

What is your target market? Primarily students or just anybody?

Walker Ferguson: 00:06:47

Yeah, so right now, that's a really good question, but we're really targeting student athletes. To start.

We're staying within our niche, and we want to target universities and get partnerships with Wake Forest, Ball State, other schools that we have synergy with and we have, like, ins with, because essentially we want the schools to basically pay for the app, like Calm, like Wake does with Calm. And all student athletes get the app for free with their Edu email.

So that's the plan now, is to target student athletes, and then once we dominate that market and then we want to branch on to help, you know, as many people as we can. But we really want to stay specific to our niche. And I got a lot of advice early on through a startup accelerator, we got accepted, too.

Shout out to Mike Buckovich and Stan Parker at Winston Starts.

And through books, I've been reading some mentors that were like, when you're starting off, off the ground, you really need to, like, hammer your home, your niche target. Do ultimate, put all your marketing efforts and all your resources to dominating one market, if that's the right market.

And we conducted a lot of surveys to make sure that was the market that was the right, like, essentially the right market that needed that.

There was the, like, what I call the migraine problem, the problem we were solving, and then the solution we were offering to making sure that's what customers actually wanted, which in this case were the student athletes, the high performers. So once we got those surveys back, that's where we pivoted. And then, yeah, to answer your question, really hammering home the niche of student.

Freddy D: 00:08:01

Athletes, that's an important market that you're going after because they've got the pressure of playing the game. I grew up playing sports as well.

And the pressure playing the game, peer pressure, then you've got pressure of studies and getting your grade and everything else. And then you also want to try to squeeze a life in there as well. So you got a multitude of things going on.

Yeah, it can get overloaded and sometimes people go down the wrong road to offload that overloadedness.

So what you guys have done is you created a platform that people can offload some of that stress through something that's not going to be detrimental to them, but more importantly, more helpful to them, 100%.

Walker Ferguson: 00:08:44

And the other feature, too, that I didn't really talk about too much is with the meditation plans, you can essentially put in a goal. Right. So I could put in the app. I want to become a starter on my Wake Forest football team as a safety my senior year.

I'm doing this and this to achieve my goal. Obviously, the more specific you make it, the better your goal is going to be.

But it'll actually break up a meditation plan for you to visualize your success. Because as athletes, high performers, everyone knows it all starts in the mind.

And when you see it over and over again, that translates onto the field or into whatever industry you have, presentation, job interview, whatever it may be.

And the meditation plan has been helpful for so many athletes because they can go through the specific steps, whatever their goal may be, and see themselves, like, hitting these strides and targets and seeing that success in the mind to translate that into reality, to achieving their actual goal. So that's a really big feature that's really been helpful.

So, yes, to answer your questions, great for mental health, stress reduction, but it's also great for achieving that goal, seeing yourself succeeding in the brain, in the mind, where it all starts.

Freddy D: 00:09:40

Sure. I have a quote that I use is to be terrific, you need to be specific. And if you're specific, you'll be terrific.

Walker Ferguson: 00:09:48

I love it. It's a great quote.

Freddy D: 00:09:50

Thank you. So I came up with it. I was in the networking group, and it was like, okay, what's going to be my tagline here?

And so I played with the words because if you say it too fast, you mess it up.

Walker Ferguson: 00:10:00

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:10:01

All right, so let's talk about how does the app work?

Walker Ferguson: 00:10:04

Yeah. So essentially, you open up the app, right? It will just tell you, you know, exactly what we offer.

Like, basically what I just said, the personalized meditations that are on the go, catered to you, like, for whatever you're going through, essentially, like a chat GPT, you type it in, gives you the meditation, the sleep stories, which are like bedtime, personal bedtime stories. And then the meditation plans, which I just explained, just tells you exactly what those are.

After that, you're prompted to a personal, like a quiz, like a personalization quiz. When you open the app, within that quiz, just give some base information like meditation experience, name, date of birth?

What are your goals for the app? Is it improve focus, reduce stress, whatever that may be?

So then when you open the app, from there, you're prompted to a big blue button that says create meditation. So from there you hit the button, and then you're prompted to a box. Right. So you can type in literally anything I could say.

I'm about to go on this podcast, a little nervous. Could you give me a meditation, help me calm down before my best?

Select the voice of background and spits that and obviously a link for the meditation as well, and it spits that meditation for you out within five seconds. And background noise plays while the meditation gets created.

And the key for that quiz that you took at the beginning is if you don't have anything on the top of your mind based on the information you gave the quiz, it will give you tailored suggestions for a meditation. The process is very similar for the sleep stories. There's a separate page. It's a big blue button that says Create story. Hit Create story.

You can give it a genre, theme, setting, and then key characters. I like to make myself the character of the story. Get your own personalized bedtime story.

Same process, voice, background, length, and it plays out your bedtime story. And then the meditation plans is very similar. It's a separate page. And essentially just typing your goal as specific as you want to make it.

Obviously, the more specific, the better. And then you just select what category that goes for. Is that achievement? Is it mental health? Is that.

There's a lot of other categories of achievement. There's a lot of other categories where that goal. There's five to be specific.

And then after that, you know, it just generates your plan within five to 10 minutes and breaks that up. And then you can go in and select each day, and it locks.

So you have to complete the first phase of your plan before you can move to phase three and then. Or phase two and then phase three.

And then obviously, there's a save your favorite meditation, save your favorite sleep stories, and then the ability to share with a friend. But that's essentially the core app.

Freddy D: 00:12:14

You guys created that pretty quickly.

Walker Ferguson: 00:12:16

Yeah, it's all about the team. I can't preach it enough. You gotta get the right people on the bus. When you get the right people on the bus starts rolling.

And like I said, life's all about relationships and met a lot of really good people along the way and a really good development team that did an unbelievable job.

Freddy D: 00:12:29

This show's all about us creating business, super fans. And so what you've got sounds like you're a super fan of your team. That's where the transformation takes place.

Because a lot of people, you know, in business have the mindset that I'm giving you a job. You should be grateful I'm giving you that job. The reality is, no, that person's freeing you up to do other things.

You should be grateful that you've gotten the right person on board to help you do the things that need to be done so you could be doing other things and scaling your business. I wrote a book called Creating Business Superfans, which is really about transforming what I call all stakeholders.

So it starts with the mindset of the principals.

But then you got your employees, you got your customers, you got your suppliers, you got your distributors, the whole ecosystem, complimentary businesses and stuff like that. You've got to be able to engage all of that in a positive fashion so that they in turn start promoting your business.

Walker Ferguson: 00:13:33

Yeah, that's well said. Got to get the right people attitude. Your attitude is always the best attitude.

Freddy D: 00:13:38

Yep. Well, one of my quotes in the book is people will crawl through broken glass for appreciation, recognition.

Walker Ferguson: 00:13:44

Looks like I found my next book in sports.

Freddy D: 00:13:46

Same thing. You gotta, you can't just chastise the person. You also have to compliment them and hey, great play, great run and all that stuff.

And okay, instead of chastising, let's hey, if you would have done this and that turned left and right. I played football for a little bit myself. Nothing at the level you're at.

We were just a bunch of guys on a Saturday and Sunday playing the two hand touch league. So we would beat each other up a bit, but it was still a lot of fun.

Walker Ferguson: 00:14:14

Yeah, that's awesome. That's the best.

Freddy D: 00:14:15

We all played offense and defense. My job was blocking our quarterback and when it was the other way around, my job was to take out their quarterback. And I did my job very well.

Walker Ferguson: 00:14:27

Yeah, that's awesome.

Freddy D: 00:14:29

Brings back a lot of fun memories. We used to have a lot of fun. Never made it past the second playoff game. We always won the first one.

But for whatever reason we always crashed on a second playoff game for was jinxed. I guess, whatever. Maybe we could have used the app back then. Maybe because it was always a jinx.

We always, for several years we played and we always made the first playoff. We. It was back to back playoffs.

Walker Ferguson: 00:14:53

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:14:54

And we never won the second one.

Walker Ferguson: 00:14:56

The second round.

Freddy D: 00:14:57

Yep. Never made it.

Walker Ferguson: 00:14:58

How many rounds were there? Two. Two. Oh, I gotcha.

Freddy D: 00:15:02

But anyway, fun times. Yeah. So let's talk about.

Have you gotten some people that have actually provided feedback and in turn have become really what I would call super fan of the app because it's actually helped transform their life. So can you share a story of how that may have helped transpired?

Walker Ferguson: 00:15:18

No. 100%. I'm reading this book right now called the Lean Startup and it really talks about user retention rate and like really tracking that.

And we're tracking that on Firebase right now.

And once we, once we got past the MVP and got on the app Store, we've seen the user retention rate come back and it's around like 20% for the active users that are using it that are coming back daily, which is pretty good to see because I was significantly higher than the 1% we had before.

But a specific example is on our Instagram, on our social medias, people that want to give a testimonial that are student athletes, we, they sent us a video of like, why they use the app, why they like it, how that's helping them, and we post that on our Instagram. So we have live testimonials of student athletes speaking. One that really is near and dear to my heart is one of my buddies, Jamal Banks.

He played wide receiver in Nebraska and he's about to go to the NFL. He's about to, he's training right now for the NFL draft in the combine.

And he just essentially just talks about, in his video about how the meditation plans really help him, how he's able to visualize his success through different facets and hearing that come from one of like my brothers, like, truthfully, like one of my brothers, he played a week before he transferred to Nebraska. Meant a lot to me because it showed that the product is actually like helping people.

Because at the end of the day for us, it was never about creating a billion dollar company. It was about how can we change the lives and of a billion people and help them live happier, healthier lives. Right. So that was amazing in itself.

Another one too, that today, just because it's on the top of my mind, there was a former gymnast at Auburn named Morgan Oldham.

She basically talked about how the hap absolutely helped her de stress and live in the present moment and have a cultivation with gratitude throughout her day. It's like a tool that she really helps, that really helps her, that she uses daily.

So those are just like two stories from student athletes that have been using the app. Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:16:58

I mentioned before we started recording is I got a friend of mine that's now 93 years old and he started doing meditation and helping people with bad habits. So whether they were overweight and or they were smoking or they were drinking or depression or multiple through different things.

And he created a system where he used hypnotic meditation to help people punch through some of their challenges. And he's even gotten several well known celebrities that he's helped with overcome some of their challenges or their kids challenges.

And I know who they are, but I'm just keep it quiet so the stuff works. I mean it's very important. I had a challenge that I was dealing with and he helped me visualize and understand why certain things were happening.

And it was some stuff in the past because he would really dive back into someone's historical past and find that something happened at such and such an age and you never let go. It carried on all the way through and it's affecting you life today that something happened 10, 20, 30 years ago.

Walker Ferguson: 00:18:11

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:18:13

So what you guys have gotten done is now it's basically on the phone and you got a situation you can reach out and say, okay, I need, like you said earlier, I need to listen to before I get on a show to just get my mind in the right place. So that's a really powerful tool that you guys have created.

Walker Ferguson: 00:18:29

I really appreciate that means a lot coming from a guy like yourself.

Freddy D: 00:18:32

You're welcome. You guys got a great tool. And like I say, I know a friend who's been doing it for decades and he's been on TV where he's transformed people's lives.

And that's what you guys are doing is you're giving a vehicle for someone should they choose. Because you still gotta take action.

You know, you could, you can take the horse to the water and say this is the water, but you can't make it drink it.

Walker Ferguson: 00:18:56

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:18:57

So here's the tap. Now you gotta take action.

Walker Ferguson: 00:18:59

Exactly. Yes, sir.

Freddy D: 00:19:01

So what was the biggest challenge that you guys went through to create and put this together and get it to the market? Because I'm sure our listeners, people that are thinking of creating an app, it's not as easy as it looks.

Walker Ferguson: 00:19:13

Yeah, there's a lot. One that comes to the top of my mind right away was me and Hampton obviously aren't comscuys, don't know how to code and finding developers.

At first we were like, what are we going to do? Because we obviously can't build it right. Or even if it was a possibility to use AI to create a meditation app because it hasn't been done before.

But like I said, Life's about relationships, and a really beautiful relationship kind of formed. Hampton and I took Spanish away for us, and we weren't very good in Spanish, to say the least.

And then when he transferred to Georgetown, his credits didn't transfer over it to retake Spanish. So he's like an older guy taking Spanish. And this kid named. Or this man named Colin Grayden, he's a little bit older. He's 29.

Came back from school, worked in the financial services industry for a couple years and was like, really passionate about computer science. And he went and took that Spanish class. And in that class, Hampton and him formed a beautiful relationship.

And Colin is the head of the computer science department in Georgetown. So he. Hampton basically pitched him the idea and he was all for it, and he wanted to build that this summer. So those.

Finding those developers was a blessing disguise, but a major challenge at first because we really had no idea what we're going to do. So, yeah, life's all about relationships there. I think another really big challenge we had for us was obtaining a provisional patent.

Yeah, that one was tough just because we didn't really want to talk about the idea to too many people early on just because of security.

And like the mentors that I did trust to talk to and I really had no idea where to go, called my dad and she asked him around, what would you do in the scenario? And it actually turns out, like two of my neighbors are patent attorneys that I'd had no idea about, which was pretty awesome.

So I met with them and they couldn't really help because they're not really in the AI sector per se. They were both in different fields.

So it was a really long, daunting process of meeting with attorneys, one that was in our budget that we could actually afford, because, as you probably know, attorneys aren't cheap.

Charge a lot by the hour, for sure, but, you know, just putting the nose to the grindstone, we were able to find a firm through the startup accelerator that was able to get us that provisional patent and another attorney that was able to trademark logos. But I think the major challenges early on were putting the pieces of the puzzle together. And I would.

Most people would talk probably about funding and raising capital to start. We were really blessed early on that we didn't have to raise yet percent. But in May, we are going to do our seed round of fundraising.

So I'm sure a lot of fun times will come then.

Freddy D: 00:21:26

early guys. I got started in: 1980

But the important part is the development team.

Because my now wife and I, we had a company several years ago and we had a product and we were talking to a patent attorney and we got funding and so went through all that aspect and we hired an agency that felt and gave us a good presentation. However, they initially looked like they were doing the work. But as we got into it, it wasn't exactly what we wanted.

We had a deadline of a trade show when we wanted to have it so that we could use it on iPads to ask people a questionnaire and then basically would give a result. And they said we didn't develop for iPads, we develop it for the Google platform.

It's like, wait a minute, we talked about this before and then it wasn't fully cooked and we had given them several thousand dollars and we basically just pulled the plug with these guys. And it really screwed us up because that was our sales mechanism to attract people for the services that we wanted.

It would search the Internet, grab some information and the goal was within a minute it would give back a result. And then it was black and white. You need to either do something about this or live with the fact of this is the result you've got.

So you guys are really blessed. As you said, getting that from the first get go the right team because that's everything.

Walker Ferguson: 00:23:15

It really is. We really did have so much guidance when we were talking to law firms.

We had talked to three and the third one really was the person you know was the team. And the guy that actually drafted it was a Wake Forest grad, He was an alumni.

So we had a little synergy there because that's about to be my alma mater as well. Did you guys. Were you guys getting a provisional patent or utility patent?

Freddy D: 00:23:35

We were getting a utility patent. I mean, we were going for the whole thing. Yeah, we had the idea, it was all drawn up, it was workable.

We knew some competitors had something different, something similar, but we had a uniqueness and we were patenting that uniqueness and a term with that uniqueness. And the attorney was reasonable, but the problem was we couldn't deliver on a product.

Walker Ferguson: 00:23:59

Let me ask you. It kind of just phased out or it just.

Freddy D: 00:24:02

Yeah, we ran out of money. We got to the point where we Talked with the BlackRock group and you know, the big boys.

Yeah, and they basically said, nice idea, but you're not asking for enough money, so we can't help you.

And then my wife connected me with the guy that invented the gas station TVs, those TVs and the gas pumps, and he sold that for 250 million and team created a VC company and was running around with Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans. I emailed this guy. I got this actual email address. You're talking stupid money people. He emails back and I'm like, holy moly.

And he says, all right, I'm intrigued. Have my people look at it. And so a guy calls me in an hour and sets up a meeting. And I'm like, holy cow.

Walker Ferguson: 00:24:51

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:24:51

And liked the idea, but the bottom line was, I'll put it in English. Okay. Finish building your boat, show us that it can leave the dock on its own power, and we'd be happy to help you scale.

Yeah, well, nice, but I need the cash to finish building the boat, guys.

Walker Ferguson: 00:25:09

Yeah. Hurry.

Freddy D: 00:25:11

So we just. We ran out cash. You gotta make a decision and go forward. But it was still a monster learning episode for us.

Walker Ferguson: 00:25:19

Sounds like it.

Freddy D: 00:25:20

We talked about how you guys got started. Where do you see you guys going in the future?

Walker Ferguson: 00:25:24

Yeah, that's another really good question. I see us getting partnerships with a lot of universities starting in North Carolina. We have a guy on the team at Ball State, obviously Georgetown.

We want to target and really dominate the universities, helping these athletes get these subscriptions. And then from there, we eventually want to branch out. We don't want Ascend just to be like an app. We want to Ascend to have different layers to it.

Right. I'm a Christian guy myself. I want to have an app under the Ascend brand for Christians. We want to have a workout app.

There's a lot of different levels to it to like the long term vision.

But as of right now, really toning in targeting our niche and then expanding to other forms, people that suffer from sleep, insomnia, and other forms of people that could really benefit from the app.

But to answer your question, as a whole, I do see it really expanding and help getting into the hands of as many people as it possibly can to help them live happier, healthier lives. And right now we're really just tog is focusing on our niche, dominating that and then expanding. Yeah.

But to answer your question, I see it grow and I see it really expanding and really taking over the wellness game.

Freddy D: 00:26:25

Yeah. The other thing I'm thinking is you guys could incorporate helping people create a growth plan. So in other words, there might be.

I'm just spitballing an idea here, but incorporating a growth plan to where they could say, okay, like you're saying your friend is going for NFL draft.

Walker Ferguson: 00:26:43

Yep.

Freddy D: 00:26:43

But you know, someone that's not been necessarily playing sports. I'm just thinking from a business perspective because I deal a lot with business people.

Expand it once you get past your initial market is helping business owners deal with their business goals and the challenges of running a business and everything else. And then it's like a diary slash journal.

Walker Ferguson: 00:27:05

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:27:06

Track your outcomes so that you can look back and says, wow, I was going through this period and you know, look, I punched through it.

Walker Ferguson: 00:27:15

Yep. It's funny you brought that up. We're actually.

I wasn't really going to talk about them just because they're not really finalized yet, but there are two new features that are going to be coming out in the next couple of months within the app once we do the complete rebuild.

Because right now we're our UI UX designers completely redesigning the front end of the app just to make the user flow a lot easier and add animations, make it more, you know, premium app feel like a comm and then obviously hiring the voice actors and implementing their voices into the AI.

But to answer your question, there are two features that one is very similar to a journaling feature that you just hit on that will be coming up as well as another feature.

Freddy D: 00:27:48

I need to share them. Yeah.

Walker Ferguson: 00:27:49

People say they'll be sharing for sure.

Freddy D: 00:27:50

Yeah, that's fine. I'd say I software's in my DNA today.

I've been in it since it began, so I think of things, I see things and it's good that you guys are really refreshing interface because it's one of the things that I've always looked at in software platforms is ease of use, easy to figure out.

And I've jetsend more software in my time that was cumbersome, wasn't updated regularly and a pain and not easy to find information out the door and replaced it with something else like that. Otherwise you're spinning your wheels and you're getting frustrated and you're not accomplishing what the software is supposed to help you do 100%.

Walker Ferguson: 00:28:30

It's really well said.

Freddy D: 00:28:31

Thank you. I would also incorporate a feedback loop and incorporate for a new feature list.

So something that your customers can say here's what we would like and then you can turn around and have people vote on it.

And then that in turn helps direct the product because now you're Directing it not for what you think is wonderful and cool, because what you think is wonderful and cool, the rest of the gang may say, that sucks. That doesn't work. So now you become more focused on your audience and providing the tools that your audience seeks.

And now you create a superfans following because, wow, these guys are actually taking our feedback and more importantly, they're implementing it. They came out in this release and update. Hey, that's my idea.

Walker Ferguson: 00:29:20

Yeah, it's funny you actually said that because that's something we are working on is when you open the app and you sign up a little checkbox where you can get emails from us. And within those emails, Hampton and I's calendar links are going to be at the bottom.

So, you know, customers or people that want to get feedback or meet with us one on one can actually sign up and meet. And we're just asking about what they like, what they don't like, what they want improved.

But I do really like that idea of once we get that feedback from the customers, then making it into a voting system to see which ones really would hit the most.

Freddy D: 00:29:49

There's several of them online. I don't can't think of it right now, but you guys can research it to where you can have. This is an interface section.

This is in the meditation section. This is in this and et cetera. And now people can suggest their ideas and then everybody can vote on it.

Then more importantly, what's really important is letting people know that, okay, this is being looked at, it's being in progress, it's completed.

Walker Ferguson: 00:30:18

Love it. Yeah, that's really good advice. I appreciate it.

Freddy D: 00:30:22

Yeah, you're welcome. Because you've just empowered your user base.

Walker Ferguson: 00:30:27

100% so they feel like they're part of. Exactly.

Freddy D: 00:30:30

That's how you create super fans. Because now they're out promoting your app. Hey, this is a cool app. More importantly, they listen to their users.

How many times have you dealt with businesses that don't listen to their customer base?

Walker Ferguson: 00:30:43

Too many times to count.

Freddy D: 00:30:44

Point made.

Walker Ferguson: 00:30:45

Point made.

Freddy D: 00:30:46

So Walker, as we wrap up here, tell us where people can find the app. Learn more about what you guys do.

Walker Ferguson: 00:30:53

Yeah, no, 100%, obviously. Check out our website. Can we just drop the link in the bio? That'd be easiest. Instead of just doing the I'll drop.

Freddy D: 00:31:00

It in the show notes.

Walker Ferguson: 00:31:01

Sweet. And then if you want to reach out to me, It's Walker Ferguson AscendMeditations app.

Obviously, love for everybody to try it out, all your listeners, if you just search up on the App Store, Ascend Meditations. It'll pop up. You can give it a download then. All of our social medias are AscendApp, AI, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

I'm always ready to chop it up with somebody and hear someone's story. So I really appreciate you having me on your show.

Freddy D: 00:31:22

Walker, it's been a pleasure on the show. Congratulations on developing a really beneficial app for a lot of people, especially student athletes, which is your initial target market.

But I see this going pretty big and going way beyond just student athletes, but helping people improve their lives and overcome their own challenges globally.

Walker Ferguson: 00:31:43

Awesome. I appreciate it. Means a lot.

Freddy D: 00:31:45

Thank you much. And we look forward to having you down on the show down the road and see what's happening down the road.

Walker Ferguson: 00:31:51

Yeah. Awesome. Look forward to it. Thanks.

Freddy D: 00:31:53

Thanks.