Sayantan Karmakar, after getting rejected from 17 companies, finally managed to secure a job as a Programmer Analyst. “I had great hopes of doing something big out of that opportunity, but destiny had planned something else for me.” In a very short period, the work culture became very disappointing for him. “I was not getting the amount of appreciation for my efforts and dedication to the job role.”
With everything on, Sayantan was confused about what to do. But this instance provided him with an alternative career opportunity.
As a gym freak, he was actively associated with intense workout sessions. One day while trying to renew his gym package, he had to wait for an hour as the receptionist was not able to fetch handwritten records.
“This gave me an idea to maintain these records with the help of gym software.”
Eventually, he did make the software, only to realize that he had no one to sell it to. “I made random calls to gyms operating in Kolkata with the hope to get at least one positive response.”
After trying hard for a month, he successfully managed to give a demo of his software to one of the prestigious gyms and even succeeded in selling. “This boosted my morale and kept on trying to sell it to as many gyms as possible.”
There was one point in time when he had to choose between his job and his budding desire to become an entrepreneur with gym management software. “I left my job in March 2018 and started focusing on selling the software -DigifitSoft.
The pathway was full of ups and down wherein I was subjected to severe negativity and criticism from several gym owners.”
Slowly but gradually, he succeeded in selling the software to 250+ gyms. “I was simultaneously running both my software selling firm and the gym center.”
Once I was able to generate a considerable amount of profit from the gym, I went ahead with the decision to invest it into another branch and hence came up with the second one, The Calcutta Fitness Studio Baghajatin.
“There is no alternative to working hard, getting involved in a continuous learning session, and improving,” says Sayantan.
In the beginning, there was no support from his parents. “In a Bengali middle-class family, a parent always dreams of watching their children become a doctor or an engineer.” Things changed as they saw his desperation to come out of the typical stereotypical career.
The operations also included marketing and selling to the clients, of which I had zero knowledge.”
As he was working for an IT firm, he had the idea about software development and all other processes but that was not enough.
The most challenging part for him was to market and do successful sales. “But with real-life experience, I gradually learned how to operate everything”
Today, his venture, The Calcutta Fitness Studio Chain of Gyms which is a luxury and a premium class gym, has 6 branches in Kolkata and West Bengal and 2 more are yet to launch. With such a success, Sayantan feels, he has just gotten started.
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