Parm Singh worked through his early twenties in a blue chip pharmaceutical company but soon realised that an office job was not for him. In September 2010 Parm made the biggest step towards leaving an office job for life when he opened his first gym.
truGym the company Parm has started last year, is aimed at the masses that want a simple low cost gym without having to pay high monthly/yearly subscriptions for gym's with facilities that they do not use. When carrying out the research for this venture Parm found that only around 25% of gym members actually use the add-on services such as swimming pools and saunas.
truGym dispenses these add-ons and offers a Gym only, meaning he can charge lower prices. A pre-paid membership starts at £9.99 a month and pay-as-you-go from £14.99 a month. With price being one of the main put offs when thinking about joining a gym, truGym will attract the interest of many people.
Since he opened the first location in Maidstone they have seen the maximum capacity of memberships filled, gaining 3,000 memberships.
truGym now has 6 members of staff including personal trainers, receptionists and an in house web designer.
Parm is on the verge of opening his second location in Peterborough which is scheduled to open in May. He also has plans for another in Medway soon after. He hopes to have 5 locations by the end of the year.
When it comes to funding Parm largely self funded the first gym while the rest was invested by lenders. "We were fortunate in that we actually had several lenders offering us finance as they could see the potential for our business and the strength of the management." Says Mr Singh. The first gym in maidstone has been so popular that initial projections were exceeded and the company is already profitable.
The concept is not the first of it's kind. In 2008 The Gym group was started and they have had great success rapidly opening up over 15 locations in 2 and a half years. truGym has a lot of potential and Mr Singh has his work cut out but he is up for the challenge.
Parm says, "If you have an idea, research it and test it from all angles. You need to prove that your idea can generate sales and has a big enough margin for sustainable growth."
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