I met with my personal trainer in Paris this morning. I see him 3 times a week. As I get a little older, I understand the importance of keeping physicially fit as an enjoyable way to a long an healthy life - intellectually also.
But a little more on my personal trainer. He is devoted to his profession, and from a very early age, he knew that professionalism in fitness was his life aim. I envy him having known this so early on. He has led a path of education and personal fitness which has made him, at a young age (he's 31) to be one of the better - I would subjectively say the best - personal trainers in Paris.
Over the past 12 months as I have led the project for EDF in Paris, we have discussed at great length our ideas and dreams. To a point where we were to embark on a partnership that would bring his vision for a premium store - eventually a premium brand - to the streets of Paris.
And until very recently, we were very close. I would provide the strategic management and short-term funding. He would capitalise on his contacts, and in large part provide the vision. He's a classy guy - Parisian, of course. And quite rightly he sees the wealthy, fitness-focused people of the French capital as a market crying out for excellent quality, for which they are willing to pay the price.
However, once I began devising a short and medium-term business strategy for out concept, I realised this was just a little too much for him to cope with. He has the enthusiasm, but not the capacity to see the big picture, nor to pursue it. And we ended this embryonic phase swiftly, and extremely amicably. I know that one day in the future we will once again work on a successful project together. Until that time, he will continue to pursue greatness in his chosen field.
For me however, this led to a very clear focusing of the mind. I have had the opportunity to attempt, single-handedly, the creation of a fitness-related business opportunity. But I did it alone, and due to the pressure to continue working as a software consultant working primarily in another part of the world, I decided to call it a day, happy that I had tried, broken even, and gained a wealth of experience in the process. I had been one of the first companies in Thailand to legally import, market and distribute a brand of whey protein products to the rapidly expanding fitness market in the country.
The focus that came to me, really is the culmination of prior experience, and the fortunate nature of my international mobility over my entire working life. I have the vision and capability to see a niche that is entirely unrealised, and bring it to a market that is crying out for it.
Now however, it is time to be serious. I need the right contacts - the support of a larger organisation, partners who not only have the enthusiasm, but the skills that - when brought together as a team - can fully realise the opportunity.
Today, my vision is still related to the fitness world. I have lived in countries where the maturity of the fitness market is, to the say the least, minimal. Yet I see from afar, the development and maturity of existing organisations, particularly in North America, who have been successful in bringing hard working, fee-paying customers, the products they want and need to make the best of the investment they have made to achieve their physical goals.
Whether it will be bringing an international fitness chain to France for example, or introducing a "brand of excellence" within the nutrition sector to Asia, I can't - and I won't - yet decide. But I know it needs skills - and financing - I don't yet have. But believe me, I've tried.
Working with my personal trainer has given me the confidence in my beliefs, that particularly within the fitness industry, there is a great deal of immaturity in markets around the world. And within those markets, particular niches can operate which will each, individually, bring something to a demographic that will in return make for a hugely successful and profitable business.
I heard recently, for example, that Madonna is launching a very particular brand of gym, or fitness centre, of whatever she would prefer to call it. My immediate reaction? Yes! Let me take your vision, and I will bring it, implement it, somewhere in the world. It needs money, motivation, and a desire simply to do things "the right way".
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