Unavoidable

Faisal Iqbal arrived in the U.S. in 1981 as an immigrant from Karachi, Pakistan. Like most foreigners new to this country, he claims he had dreams of making it big in the ≥land of opportunity.≤ After only few weeks in the country, Faisal realized that things would not be quite as easy as he anticipated. ≥I needed work, and I needed it fast,≤ he told me.

With an extensive background in weight training, Faisal quickly realized that he could use his size as an advantage. His first job, he fondly remembers, was at President and First Ladyπs Gym. He was a personal trainer. The job was decent money, but he hated how it was not a very consistent source of cash. ≥What people donπt realize about the health club industry 20 years ago, was that it was more competitive than most other fields at that time--there were fewer clients, and a relatively large group of people vying for their business. As trainers in the gym, our income was almost solely dependent upon how many clients we could con into using our services.≤

The word ≥con≤ stood out at me. Talking about the past seemed to bring about a change in mood for Faisal, like it was something that he wanted to forget. ≥Things were different back then in the industry. There were fewer people going to the gym, and even fewer people in need of personal trainers. I felt sleazier than a used car salesman, but it kept food on the table. But I never would have believed at that time that there was any real money to be made in the fitness industry.≤

Hearing about his pastãthe struggles and the disappointments- made me more interested in how he went from that, to owning and running a successful business.

≥So when did things start to change for you?≤ I asked.

≥It wasnπt so much a change for me, as it was an industry change,≤ Faisal explained. ≥About nine years ago, the health club and supplement industry began growing really rapidly. Every few months, you could find a new gym opening up in different parts of the country. General Nutrition Centers were beginning to be as common as Starbucks- every town had one. This was when I realized that fitness had come into the mainstream, and that I had a chance to make some real money.≤

Faisal said that it all began in a GNC in the mid nineties, while talking with his training partner of the time, Alex. ≥We stood in line and waited for our supplements. But as we waited, we noticed that there was a constant stream of customers coming into the store. ≥This business is a gold mine,≤ Alex told Faisal. ≥It seemed like they were going to a doctor, and willing to take whatever he prescribed.≤ Seeing the opportunity that lay ahead, they both agreed that they would become partners and open up a supplement store.

≥But we didnπt want to buy a GNC franchise,≤ Faisal wanted to make clear. He explains that because of GNCπs market dominance, they have developed a reputation within the industry of drastically overcharging their customers, while offering terrible service. ≥Although I would buy products from them, I hated the service that I got. All they were focused on was selling as many products as they could.≤ Alex approached Faisal with the idea of opening a discount store. ≥We felt like this was the future of the supplement industry. We thought that as people became aware of GNCπs practices, they would seek out an honest and affordable place to buy their supplements. Thatπs where we could make our money. After all, it seemed like there was more than enough business out there to go around.≤

***

≥I promised myself that I would run this business as honestly as I could,≤ Faisal explained. ≥I knew that many people were misguided when it came to their bodies. They didnπt realize that things donπt happen overnight. I like to give each person the tools to make life changes, not just short term ones, when they come in my store. It seemed like everything was in place at that point. The products were there, and the demand was greater than ever. By the summer of 2000, my business had grown by over 500%,≤ Faisal explained with an awkward mixture of pride and bitterness. ≥I had even hired three new employees. That was a good feeling. Employees to me were the real determinant of growth for a small business like mine. I came into this business so I could make enough money to not have to work, and be able to spend more time at home, and it definitely seemed like this was a realistic possibility.≤

Smaller businesses, those with fewer than 200 employees, are more at risk than larger businesses during an economic downturn. Whether they lack the resources to establish such a fund or just fail to do so, many smaller businesses donπt have the ability to survive a prolonged downturn. In fact, many small businesses would find it difficult to survive a quarter or two of negative results.≤

-Jordan Kimmel: Nationally Recognized Market Strategist

***

After the downturn in the economy at the beginning of 2001, businesses were struggling to stay afloat. The media chose to spotlight large corporations who were laying off a large number of employees. But some of the people who were hit the hardest were in the small business sector.

≥Towards the middle of last year, I started to notice fewer and fewer people coming into the store. After about a month of sales being down about 40%, I knew that I was headed for some rough times,≤ said Faisal. ≥I noticed that I had to be very careful with the customers that did come into the store. For all I knew, they could be my only sale for a few days.≤

≥I would get so excited to have someone come into the store, that I would almost ambush them. Maybe it was a good thing, because it brought back the focus on this being a business. I started moving more products per customer than I had ever done in the past. I made up for fewer customers with just selling more products to each of them that walked in. It all eventually evened out. But you have to realize that I didnπt like being like this. You know meä.I like to talk to each one of my customers and really help them out. But this new way of running the store wasnπt anything more than a survival technique.≤

I passed off an awkward smile. ≥I know what youπre thinking,≤ Faisal said. ≥You think that Iπm doing exactly what they do at GNC. But let me tell you straight up, if my business goes under, my family doesnπt eat. I sure as hell ainπt going to let that happen.≤

***

I came in early Sunday morning, and found Faisal with company. Sitting down on the counter in front of him was his beautiful three-year old daughter Manasi. We spent the next hour or so playing with her. It seemed hard to get Faisal back on topic when he was with his daughter. We continued talking while he gave Manasi a piggyback ride.

Was this the same guy that I had known for the last 3 years- the salesman, the gym rat, the hard-ass? This was the first time that I was seeing Faisal ≥the father.≤ While I was there, I noticed a stark difference in his behavior when his daughter was around. Three people had come by while I was in the store that day. Instead of aggressively pursuing the sales, he just let them pick out what they wanted, while he played with his daughter. After a while I realized that Faisal was too preoccupied to talk about anything when his daughter was around, so I got up and left for the day.

***

It was a week later when I got a chance to drive up to Faisalπs store. Today, I walked into a packed place. There were at least fifteen customers. He turned to me and politely stated, ≥Today may not be the best day. As you can tell, its pretty busy today.≤ But I insisted that I could wait. I was even more interested to see how Faisal would handle himself with this type of crowd. Typically when I would go into his store, there would be three to four people at most there. I had never seen how he handled big groups because he seemed to always like to give a lot of personal attention to his customers. I took careful note of how Faisal handled each of them.

The first guy that walked up looked to be in his mid thirties, and said that he wanted to get lean and put on some muscle. After only talking to the man for less than a minute, Faisal recommended that he purchase a fat burner, some protein, some creatine, and some high potency multivitamins. All of these totaled just over $100. What struck me as odd about all of this was that Faisal didnπt even ask standard questions about the guy, such as what kind of diet he was eating, and how often he had been training

After twenty minutes, the store had cleared out. He walked over to me with a big smile on his face. ≥Did you see that? Now thatπs how you make money in this businessä. with days like these.≤ This was probably the happiest that I had seen Faisal in a long time. ≥I probably pulled in about $800 just now. That should keep me in a good spot for the rest of this week.≤

They way he said that had an obvious tone of relief. ≥I bet its days like these that give you a huge rush,≤ I commented.

≥You better believe it. Since business has been so slow, these types of busy days balance out the bad ones. There really is no room for missing opportunities. I need to take advantage of every customer that walks in, like he would be the only one for that day.≤

***

It was Saturday, and I proceeded to go up to Faisalπs place for another meeting. I looked into the door to see if anyone was working. Instead of seeing the drab interior of the store I had just seen two weeks prior, the walls were richly painted in a gold and orange blend. New shelves and posters of bodybuilders plastered the wall. Was this the same store I had been to a few weeks ago? We sat down to talk again. Although I had learned a lot about his past in our previous meetings, the person he was now was who I was interested in getting to know. I felt like we had established a reasonably good rapport, and that I could ask him pretty much anything, so I didnπt feel the need to pull punches.

≥It seems like you run your business differently from how you once did. How do you feel about that?≤

Faisal: ≥I think that that is probably true about any business. But, if youπre asking me whether or not I feel bad, the answer is no. I do what I do because it keeps my business afloat.≤

≥Donπt you feel like youπre short-changing your customers by not doing more consultation work?≤

Faisal: ≥Whether or not I am isnπt the issue. It all boils down to whatπs best for my business. I still sell quality merchandise to them. But if I could make the same money doing consultations like I used to, then I would. But now things have obviously changed. Iπve chosen to focus on moving product. Is that a crime?≤

≥Absolutely not. But, do you ever feel like you will go back to the way things were.≤

Faisal: ≥Thatπs a hard question. If my business didnπt slow down like it did, I probably would still be doing business the same way I did when I started. But thatπs not what happened. Even if business picks back up, I would probably keep it this way. It just feels safer from a business perspective.≤

≥Is there a huge difference between a store like yours and a chain like GNC?≤

Faisal: ≥I sure as hell hope so. I got into this from the beginning to make some money. I think that I went in with a very childish and unrealistic mentality. I bought into the notion that as long as you are offering a good service, people will shop at your store. The wildcard in that equation is what happens when fewer people in general come into your store. When the economy took a spiral, I had to definitely re-evaluate the way I wanted to do business. I had to find some way to keep up with established places like GNC. So I guess in the process, I had to become a little bit like them. You have all these ideas when starting a business, but when it comes down to whether or not you are going to eat the next month, you do what you can to survive.≤

***

That seemed an appropriate place to stop our question and answer session. It reiterated the idea to me that change was inevitable in a business such as his. As I thanked him again for his time and a glimpse into his life, I took another look around the store. The richly painted walls and new posters seemed to resonate the message he had given me regarding the course of his life and business.

Authorπs Afterward:

This article was especially significant to me, because it was an assignment for which I was given liberty to pick the person, and more importantly, the subject matter. I knew that the topic of nutritional supplements would not necessarily interest my readers as it does me, so I had to take extra care in trying to illuminate a theme that was relatable universally. Although the original article was my best writing this semester, I considered choosing another one of my works that had a more prevalent theme. However, the true power of this article in my opinion was the time period it describes, and the current state of economic and social stability. Although the ideas of change and adapting to it are universally felt, the fact that the economic downturn was so widely felt makes it extremely relevant. Overall, it was a satisfying experience to see my writing style evolve so dramatically. In my collection of works this semester, I feel like this has a good mixture of my own personal style, and the journalistic style that I have come to understand during the course of this semester.