They call it “ONE MORE REP GYMNASIUM”
BY Maryam Maged.Hassan Abouzaid
SERDANG– Starting a business is all about getting the right opportunity at the right time. In 2016, one particular owner failed to manage his business and staff, his customers were not satisfied with the GYM, which has led the owner to sell the place for a low price. Baharin took the opportunity and bought the GYM in October 2016, and named it One More Rep Gymnasium.
M-Niaga: How did all started, is it that you bought the place without planning?
Baharin: Off course before I finalized my decision of buying the gym, I checked the surrounding place, as for a “GYM business” the most important thing is the location, to be easily reached by costumers. The location of One More Rep Gymnasium is nearby by the University Putra Malaysia, and it’s also reachable by many residences.
Another thing I also planned for, is looking for nearby GYMs, so I would know who my competitors are.
I found that other gyms around the area represent no strong competition as not many people go there, which is an advantage for me when opening a new gym that is more sophisticated.
M-Niaga: Who encouraged you to start your own business?
Baharin: First, my older brother had always strongly supported me. Second, having an experience in the world of entrepreneurship also gave me the motivation and courage to start my business. As previously I had managed small businesses, such as selling gym supplements and electronic devices.
M-Niaga: Owning a business requires setting a goal to achieve, what was your goal at the beginning and did it change after two years?
Baharin: Well, anyone who opens a business is aiming for a big profit, so my main goal was to provide people with a sophisticated gym service targeting a high profit, which I did achieve. But now my biggest challenge is to sustain my initial success. In the near future, my aim is to expand the business, as of now, I only have the second floor as the GYM, however, I have already made my first step for future expansion, which is renting the first floor. For the time, I am saving money to renovate the first floor and to get more equipment.
M-Niaga: Talking about equipment, where do you buy it from?
Baharin: Most of the equipment (almost 75%) were sold by the previous owner, other than that, I keep looking for gyms that are about to close, to buy their equipment from them. And sometimes I search for equipment suppliers.
When searching for equipment to buy, I focus on two things, first is the quality and second is the price, therefore, mostly I buy second-hand equipment that are in a good condition.
M-Niaga: Why second-hand equipment?
Baharin: Because the new equipment is highly costly, also, all the second-hand gym equipment that I buy is still in great condition to use. Another reason that motivates me to buy second-hand gym equipment is simply to maintain my monthly profit high through lowering expenses. I gain 20k per month, which I see as a big success for me.
M-Niaga: You mentioned about the profit you get; how do you spend it?
Baharin: One thing I do well, that is saving the money I get instead of spending it. The reason I save the profit is for expanding my business, renovating the place, and buying more equipment. Also, one of my plans is to open a small café within the gym itself, providing healthy food and beverages. Furthermore, for the time being I live in the first floor that I rented to expand the gym, to lower the overheads, for example, rental, electricity, pocket money and other financial obligations I have.
M-Niaga: What service do you offer your customers, and how many staff are under your management?
Baharin: As a gym owner, the main service I offer my customers is the usage of all equipment- supplements for RM 60 per month.
Currently, there are personal trainers who are not working for the gym on freelance basis, then again, one of my plans besides expanding the gym is hiring personal trainers.
When it comes to the staff, currently there are ten part-time workers, each staff work for four hours, so each day eight staffs are working, where in each shift there are two workers.
Lastly, one of the privileges I am offering to my regular customers is giving them special prices if they subscribe to the membership for 3 months to 1 year.
M-Niaga: You have been running this business for around two years, what is the most challenging part for you, and what difficulties you faced?
Baharin: Well, the most challenging part was right at the beginning, when I decided to buy the gym. It was a turning point for me, after having few small businesses.
When it comes to the difficulties I faced, I guess the biggest test was maintaining a good relationship with my customers, so they would come back always to the gym. As the previous owner wasn’t trusted by his customers.
Another difficulty is the competition around, as there is another gym within less than 10 km. A great plan that I followed to attract the customers is studying my competitor operating hours, which is 10 am to 12 pm, then I decided to let One More Rep Gymnasium operates from 9 am to 1 am. This move did attract more customers.
Lastly, I will always keep in mind that providing a sophisticated complete gym equipment with a high quality, paved the way to have more customers.
M-Niaga: How do people know about One More Rep Gymnasium?
Baharin: When I started my business in 2016, I tried few advertising ways to check which way attracts more customers. The first thing I did is buying 10,000 flyers and spreading them with newspapers. I thought that newspaper flyers would attract so many people, but it didn’t, less than 1% of my customers knew about the gym from the flyers.
After that, I used social media, the most successful media platform that attracted a big number of customers was Google. When applying for a business account with Google, a monthly email is sent to the business owner including a customer analysis which shows the number of people who visited the website, googled about the gym and called my number. Other than Google I also use Facebook and Instagram. Try Googling for “GYM Serdang”, and you will find that One More Rep Gymnasium is ranked the first, with the highest reviews on Google.
Another successful advertising method is the banners at traffic lights. Also, posters at University Putra Malaysia bus stops.
M-Niaga: Anything to add, maybe an advice for new entrepreneurs?
Baharin: First, do know your budget, second try to minimize your overheads as much as possible, take me an example, my overheads are almost nothing, I bought my car in cash, and my house is the first floor I rented to expand the GYM. I got the first floor as soon as it was offered for rent so no other people take it, just to minimize my overheads.
One last thing I would like to say,
GIVE US A VISIT AT ONE MORE REP GYMNASIUM, YOU WON’T REGRET IT.
