From Passion to Performance: How Stronger Strides Found Its Footing
Introduction
Rob at Stronger Strides has been a keen runner for many years and wanted to help people on their running journey. Rob knew people had running plans and could get these off the internet, but he was thinking about being able to adapt these if people needed to scale back their programmes or if they needed to take a break for an injury or ramp them up for an upcoming event. Rob was sure people would want help with advice on running but wasn’t sure where he could tap into the market to add more value.
Rob said “I had an idea to help people run but wasn’t convinced this would be enough for a business idea. I needed to talk about my ideas and flesh them out to give the business real focus.” Recognising he needed more expertise to help turn the business idea into reality Rob turned to Staffordshire County Council.
Next level business support offered by Staffordshire County Council
Rob joined the Get Started & Grow scheme from Staffordshire County Council and the new start-up scheme for Staffordshire, provided by The NextGen to help with marketing and general business advice. Having completed a qualification in the sport of running with England Athletics, Rob knew that he wanted to focus on running for a business but was unsure as to how to develop this idea.
Rob met Richard from the NextGen for an intensive half day workshop, where Rob’s thoughts and ideas and passion for running were explored.
A conversation on sport in general ensued leading to Richard mentioning that he coached a girl’s football team at Doveridge FC. Richard said that the girls and indeed himself had never been taught how to run properly and thought that there could be a demand for sports teams with this, to help their endurance, form and running style and also help with prevention of injuries. The girls started to struggle with their endurance after about 20 mins in a match. It was decided that a review of their running style and then a programme of running exercises and a proper warm up plan could really help. Rob said he could do this for the team. He also said cricket could benefit from this too and Richard agreed and said all sports that had running involved would benefit and hence the business idea was born! A real collaboration.
This would give Rob a platform to develop this with other grassroots football teams and with other sports. It was also suggested that Rob build this into training plans.
Next steps will involve Rob coming along to watch the team to observe their running for an hour and then visit the next week with a warmup plan and exercises to develop their running style. A further review at the end of the new season will be arranged to see how it has helped the girls.
The NextGen also advised that another option is running in schools, Rob could offer running advice in PE or after school clubs.
Rob commented “I found the strategy session with Richard was excellent. We gained clarity on the business idea and looked at a profiling and a needs analysis. The first customer is already booked and the business plan can really take shape from this meeting. The wider concept is all about skills for now and skills for life and providing the children with something extra that they can learn and improve.”
A working testimonial on this project gives Rob something to take to schools and sports clubs and allows the brand and business to develop.