STRETCH YOURSELF TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS

Helping entrepreneurs launch strong businesses with the flexibility to adapt to change has been part of Startup Queenstown Lakes’ mission over the past few years.

So classical Pilates instructor and studio owner Marco Dingemans is a good fit to be one of its business coaches. Dingemans is celebrating six years in business in Queenstown this month, initially launching in Arrowtown before opening his Contrology Gymnasium in Glenda Drive, where he offers classes and private sessions in a fully-equipped studio.

Marco Dingemans at his Contrology Gymnasium, in Glenda Drive

The Dutchman spent years working high end marketing jobs in London, where he also launched a tourism business, before finding his passion for Pilates. And it’s all that business experience which enables him to provide guidance to people trying to turn bright ideas into successful, scalable businesses. “We’re not business advisors, we’re helping people along the way from our own experience,” he says.

“I’d say preventing them from making mistakes, but perhaps you should make a few mistakes in business”

“We help them answer questions, because everyone has fears over making decisions. It could be ‘I don’t know what I’m doing with this’, or ‘I need to make a decision on that’, ‘how do I budget for this’, or ‘I want to open up in this space’.

Dingemans, who has a Bachelors degree in tourism and marketing, and a Masters in communication science, was living in London with his husband Craig Railton when the couple decided to emigrate to New Zealand. He was working sometimes seven days a week, in his marketing day job and then his own business guiding around London, helping Dutch people, production companies, school groups etc. see a side of the city they might otherwise miss.

He’d started doing Pilates “very simply described as stretch with strength and control” after suffering with sciatica, but was only a client at that stage.

“My husband works as a farmer, or that’s what I say, perhaps ‘land manager’ is better. But what was I going to do? My job didn’t exist in New Zealand, well, maybe in Auckland, but not in Queenstown. “I decided, a bit naively, to become a Pilates teacher and set up my own studio.

“So, I worked my arse off to get as much knowledge and training as possible in the year before we moved. Then I used savings to buy equipment, set up in Arrowtown, started with my first client and it has grown from there.”

Dingemans completed his teacher training at a studio in Auckland. He says Pilates teachers should have at least 600 hours of training, on all the various types of equipment, including the reformer and tower.

“But you never stop learning.  at is one of the lessons I can pass on. I would expect a teacher, well anyone actually in any job, to keep on learning. You invest. Investing in equipment, investing in space, investing in a booking system, so keep on investing in yourself and your business.”

Three years ago, in 2019, he decided his background and experience launching businesses in several countries, adapting to cultural and language differences, could be useful to others. Becoming involved with SQL, which offers 30-minute business coaching workshops with its Kick Start and Lift Off programmes, was a good way to give something more and use his brain in different way.

“Like many people in Queenstown, I wear multiple hats, and this is one of them, and I’ve always had two or three things on the go.” Recently, he’s written content for an on-demand learning platform for SQL, aimed at people who are at the idea stage of the startup pipeline, as focus shifts to continuing to support those entrepreneurs further along in their journey.

Pilates machines feature springs that give feedback to those using them, allowing them to become stronger and more flexible, and Dingemans’ coaching has worked for him in a similar way, helping him in his business.

“It’s difficult to make decisions about your own business because you’re emotionally attached to it, and you have to do it yourself. “

But by hearing other entrepreneurs and hearing what they’re going through, and giving advice, you think, ‘actually, I should do that myself ’, or ‘I hadn’t thought of that, I should do that in my own business’. “It has made my business better, for sure.”

Story created in partnership QT Business Magazine