Business Ideas in Romania

Sports center for kids.

• Posted by Cristian on March 15th, 2007 filed in Entertainment, Services

Opportunity: Offering integrated sport services for small children.

I posted an article on Sport center for kids a while ago. Later, while checking up on this, I came across a few sports centers for kids in California. I wrote messages to contacts that I could find asking them these questions:

-how many years did it take to build your business?

-approximately how many kids are attending classes?

-What makes your business successful?

I asked them to read the article I posted and for them to give a few pieces of advice to businessmen from Romania who want to take on such a business.

I only got back one response but, it was a great one…. here it is with her permission:
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Cristian,

It took about 4 years to make my business as big and successful as it wajs. We had to start in a very small space that we leased. As the business grew I leased more space. After 1 ½ years we were doing so well that I bought a bigger space. We had about 1,200 kids attending classes a week. I think we were successful because we offered several activities for kids. If they got tired of gymnastics they could try dance or karate or cheerleading. We focused on having fun! The skills always followed when the kids were having fun. Unfortunately, many of the parents would push to make it more competitive. We did not allow that to happen until the kids were really ready and showed that they wanted it. I think that is why we did so well. We also offered a lot of other activities like Friday and Saturday Parents Night Out. The kids could come play while the parents went on a date. We did birthday parties and summer camp as well.

I think your article is great and will help Romanians to start their own businesses. I just closed my business because I had triplet boys. I want to focus on being a mom for a while. It was a lot of work and required me to be at the business full time. I am not sure if things would be easier in Romania. In California I had to be very cautious of lawsuits. That made the job very stressful and took some of the fun out of it. Land prices are also VERY expensive in California so I did not make a lot of money from the business every month. However, since I bought the building, I made a lot of money when I sold it and closed the gym.

Sincerely,

Christie Abercrombie
Anti Gravity Sports Center

Thank you very much Christie for the helpful information! Building space is expensive in many parts of Bucharest but the lawsuits are not.