The winner of our bi-annual competition, BizGiver, is Elly Rodrigues – the owner of Ninja Fitness!
For a little over a year now, in the small township of Ruakaka, in the Whangarei District, Elly Rodrigues has been operating Ninja Fitness.
Elly specialises in running full body group fitness classes designed for people of all fitness levels and ages.
Elly said she wanted to start Ninja Fitness because she wanted to share her passion of health and fitness with the local community.
“I saw an opportunity to start a business that will help the community change and improve their lifestyles. I wanted to create a fun, friendly community with a shared goal of getting results and becoming the best version of yourself.”
Elly entered the competition in the hopes of being able to use the grant to help purchase new equipment.
“I love designing new session plans incorporating various pieces of equipment for my clients. Having a variety keeps the classes exciting and fun.”
By winning the grant, Elly says she looking forward to starting the new year with a lot more pieces of equipment which she knows her clients will love learning to use.
When asked what is was that she loved most about her job, Elly said it was getting to know each and every one of her clients at classes and outside classes at events they organise.
“I get to be up close and personal with the front end and back end of my business. This makes me feel I am apart of all the wins my clients achieve – providing a personal experience for them is one of my biggest goals.”
As for how the BizGiver grant will help her business, Elly says that by having more equipment she will be able to have bigger classes and more variety for her clients.
“This will help with growth within the business and help keep my clients happy and engaged. It will help with my expansion plans as I will have more equipment to provide to my employees for the classes they will run in the new locations.”
Elly has big plans for Ninja Fitness, in 5 years time she hopes it will be operating in many other different parts of the country scale – and plans are already underway.
“We have just started our second location in Mangawhai. I want Ninja Fitness to consistently be the go to group fitness classes wherever it is located.”
We asked Elly how winning the BizGiver grant will help her overcome any challenges her business might face. The main one she says is convincing people to commit to a free trial class.
“I am confident that once they have attended they will love to join, but the hard part is just trying to get them there. Having new equipment will make my classes look enticing and fun which will hopefully help draw in new clients.”
When Elly reflects on what some of her biggest achievements have been when running Ninja Fitness, she says she likes to celebrate all the little wins. Be it increasing client numbers, weekly profit, expansion, or winning a business grant.
However, her biggest win she says would have to be creating a fun, motivational community where clients enjoy coming to class to socialise and work hard to get results.
“Having clients tell me they love coming to class because of the personal experience they receive and how it is the best thing they have ever done for their lifestyle makes me extremely happy.”
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