Small Business: Fitness centre boss keeps human connection strong in technological era - Health Quarters

Diego Rosenberg, director and founder of Health Quarters. Photo / Supplied

Former lawyer Diego Rosenberg, director and owner of Tauranga-based fitness centre Health Quarters, explains why his business does not brand itself a gym and why good old fashioned customer service is important in an increasingly digital world.

What does your business do?

Health Quarters is a multi-disciplinary wellbeing centre. It is kind of like a mix of a physio, medical centre with an open studio for activities. We have doctors, physios, osteopaths, massage therapists, nutritionists, and we all work together as a team.

The whole thing came from an idea I had about creating a space where all the needs are addressed rather than trying to sell a particular programme or having a facility where people can use equipment. It was about identifying needs for not only fitness but wellbeing. We look at the four pillars of health; exercise, nutrition, mind fit and recovery.

We have a main space for physical activities where we have minimalistic equipment - we don't have big machines or treadmills - it is mostly body weight and body awareness control; we use boxes, suspension trainers. We run workshops and community events from the space, as well as fitness programmes centred around strength training, reducing body fat and functional movement. We try to give members the tools to keep healthy outside.

I set the business up in 2014 and we've been expanding and including different services over the years. Initially for the first couple of years it was just me doing a reduced version of this.

What was the motivation for starting it?

The motivation was initially when I overcame some health issues when I was younger that I had growing up. Within my family, we have a few family members that suffer various illnesses and I'd seen the frustration of them not knowing where to go, so for me it was a type of self discovery in a way.

How big is your team?

All in all with practitioners and trainers, we are around 14 people, three team members from Argentina. I don't necessarily employ people, I create this space and opportunities and we work as a team but people run their own businesses from within. The fitness side of things is my main, core business but rather than employing people, I always wanted to work as a collaboration.

How was your business funded?

The business started before I opened [this location]. For a couple of years I was just running classes at Mount Maunganui Beach three times a week and then another three times a week I was running classes in the local domain, and so I started to create a database of training people outdoors and saving some money from that then when I expanded out into our bigger facility where we are now I had to use some savings and went to the bank. I started the business with about $50,000.

What were you doing prior to Health Quarters?

I'm originally from Argentina, I've been here for 12 years. I trained as a lawyer over there and then didn't want to work as a lawyer and left and started on my own health journey, which led me to further study sports therapy.

What have the past two years been like for Health Quarters given all the lockdowns?

It's been an interesting time and it has made everyone more flexible and open to different opportunities. We did have a bit of a drop in memberships initially. It hasn't made us reinvent the business but to maintain connections with our members in alternative ways. One of my team members who is very savvy with technology, he created our own HQ app so we could maintain engagement online, so that gave us the ability to stay in contact when people couldn't come but also to keep them accountable. We've used the time to look at different ways to communicate.

We've had to reduce the number of people who can come to our classes to be able to keep up with the Covid protocols and have almost moved into a hybrid version of what we were, for example so of our members we are having to maintain their help online as they didn't have the vaccines so weren't able to come inside. So for me it was not only about how we can keep the business going but everyone healthy.

What does growth look like for your business?

I love the idea of having some satellite pop-up spaces where potentially we can go to Wanaka or Queenstown to do something novelty - not necessarily a branch, not a physical location, but having engagement in different parts of the world - taking the concept and mixing it up. I'd like to keep learning and mixing it up with different services we can offer, while keeping it as affordable as possible - we're not an elitist service.

What are you focused on right now?

Right now I'm working on developing corporate wellness programmes, and I'm in talks with a few companies, not only regionally here but some international ones and we're hoping to have web check-ins and videos through the app to make sure people are able to connect and stay healthy.

How does Health Quarters make money?

I don't take a cut from the other businesses, we support each other. We make most of our money from a mix between the rental sub-lease of the space, for example practitioners that have treatment rooms, and as a practitioner myself I have a pretty hands-on practice.

Why didn't you want Health Quarters to be another gym?

We have about 100 members, it's not a big outfit. Probably my accountant would be happy if I had a slightly business model but we keep the classes small and I'm true to my feeling in keeping everything as personalised as possible. I know the names of all my members and their partners and kids, it's not that you sign up and good luck you won't hear from me for a year until I ask you to renew your membership. If you don't turn up I'm on the phone to you sending you messages.

How important is it to focus on that human touch in such a tech-dominated society?

I 100 per cent believe I didn't lose many members during the lockdowns because of my connection with my members. We literally lost a handful of people and the ones we lost we have gained back. Technology, everybody gets caught up on that, the likes on Facebook, how many followers we have on Instagram, are people talking about us, but I think we lose sight of the importance of human connection, particularly in this industry. Ultimately I need to pay my mortgage and feed my boys but if money was my moral and motive I would have probably pursued my initial goal to become a lawyer.

What advice do you have for others wanting to start their own business?

Be clear on why you are starting and your purpose. Some people just want to do it for financial gain which is absolutely fine, but sometimes if you are just doing it for the money and you don't have the passion then inevitably when the time comes that things will get hard then you might struggle to keep strength and purpose.

Believe in the old school stuff. Technology is great to be able to connect, but don't forget the human connection. Don't forget the human touch and being able to look people in the eye and make sure that you hear them. When you create that physical connection then you futureproof your business by engaging people directly instead of treating them as a number.