Q1. How did your career journey start? Or Who/What inspired you to start this business/ entrepreneurship? We both had a background in profes...
Q1. How did your career journey start? Or Who/What inspired you to start this business/ entrepreneurship?
We both had a background in professional Dancing and then moved on to fitness. At the time we got married, we both were freelancing, doing various corporate sessions and renting a space in a school. On our honeymoon we got the news that the space would no longer be available as we will have to reapply for permissions and that meant no classes for a month. When we got back, we took the decision to start our own studio, as this was something we both have wanted to do since long. And the thrill of doing this together was also a big motivation. It's been 5 years and there is not a single moment that we have regretted that decision.
We also wanted to have a space where we could not just build our own brand name but also be able to create a space that we could offer to genuine talents. Bringing in quality instructors and innovative forms of dance as well as fitness to Navi Mumbai.
Q2. Kindly share some information about your Business, products and services here.
We are a Dance and Fitness Academy. We were one of the first in Navi Mumbai with this kind of Studio Concept, that amalgamated both dance and fitness under one roof. We cater to a wide array of requirements. Regular fitness classes include Zumba Fitness, Bollybeats, strength and functional training, strong Nation, Pilates, Yoga, Animal Flow. We also provide custom made all natural Nutrition plans.
Under Dance we have Classes for all age groups starting from 3.5 years. We also offer Ballet Classes, Belly Dancing, Hip Hop, Jazz among many other dance forms.
Our Area of expertise also includes various choreography projects like school annual days, Wedding choreographies, Corporate events etc.
Q3. What kind of challenges did you face while starting/doing business?
Like every entrepreneur, the first obstacle was to obtain resources to kickstart our project. But we were lucky to have a very supporting family who helped us Financially and stood by us for every kind of support. The kind of work that we do, people often think it's all fun and dancing but we have our own share of challenges. The biggest challenge is to create a trustworthy team which is a key essential for any business that’s growing and expanding.
We are one of the premium academies in Mumbai and we never compromise on quality, so yes finding people who can match up to our standards is really one of the biggest challenge plus “the trust factor”. We have already suffered a deep loss a year back, when one of our instructors suddenly decided to quit on us after learning all the tricks of the trade and having access to our entire client database. That was a rough couple of months for us. But we both have built ourselves from scratch so we are never intimidated by challenges. In fact this phase really catapulted us to the next level of success.
Q4. Do share with our readers about your discovery period when you were facing difficulties in your business?
During this difficult period, we really opened up to our students. We identified our shortcomings and worked twice as hard on overcoming them. The most important thing we discovered that in our field, the key is connection. Also that no matter what, you can never be complacent.
Q5. Share with our readers about your experiment period after the discovery period?
We started interacting more with our students as well as our instructors. We wanted to understand their needs better. We constantly asked for client feedbacks and made them know that we are always approachable and that they can have faith in us. This has really helped us grow even more. Constant networking and connection along with creating a positive environment is one of the important link to further growth.
Q6. What are your future plans? Or now what is your vision for next five years?
The recent pandemic has pulled back many businesses many steps backwards including ours. Although we are still operational via online sessions, people are still taking time to get used this whole “new normal”. At the same time it has opened up other possibilities too.
Once things are back to normal, of course we plan to reopen our studio but we feel that the online side of it has a lot of potential. So we will definitely continue to explore that horizon.
Our vision is to provide people with a safe and positive space and that's what sets us apart from our competitors and we would continue to build that. I would like to quote a remarkable quote that we read this morning : “A common mistake of the youth today : Defining impact as the size of audience we reach, instead of the difference we make to each person we reach. Meaning comes more from mattering to a few than from being known by many.” And we want to continue to make as much difference as we can to each life we touch.
Q7. How would you advice/suggest new entrepreneurs who want to start & sustain in business?
We would definitely refer to the above mentioned quote once again. I know these days everyone wants a piece of the fitness industry as its thriving right now in our country. People are getting more aware, more conscious. And it's very lucrative right now to want to capitalise on it and there’s nothing wrong in wanting that but at the same time they need to realise that this is an industry where you are responsible for an individuals Health. Similarly with the performing arts, it's the “era of the instant” and I see young talents not having the patience to study and strive for depth in terms of knowledge.
The only advice we would want to give is that anything done with half baked patience, superficial knowledge and for achieving instant gratification will only be short lived. If you want to start something, find the intent behind it (other than just earning money and fame). Anything you do with the right intent will always give you long term returns.
Q8. LinkedIn profile URL linkNA
Q9. Facebook profile URL link
Q10. Twitter profile URL link
Q11. Instagram profile URL link
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Q13. Company website & Company blog URL link
NA
Q14. YouTube channel URL link
youtube.com/channel/UCUU4MmI_tzc808NZp11ufYA/
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Interviewed by: Neha Sawant - Lifestyles Influencer from Mumbai, India.
Published by: Khushboo Chotaliya - Lifestyles Influencer from Mumbai, India.
Both Neha Sawant & Khushboo Chotaliya are students
of YogeshMA's Digital Influencer's Academy.
Kindly follow Neha here : instagram.com/nehasawant.sawant/
Both Neha Sawant & Khushboo Chotaliya are students
of YogeshMA's Digital Influencer's Academy.
Kindly follow Neha here : instagram.com/nehasawant.sawant/
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