Sun Yingjie's column is the third famous running column officially launched by Marathon Assistant. Here, a number of famous runners will exchange running skills, training, recovery and other topics with runners. In this issue, the first column of Sun Yingjie, the national record holder and world champion of the women's marathon, does not talk about the technical problems of running, she wants to talk to everyone about her road of running entrepreneurship.
If you have any questions about running, please leave a message at the end of the article, and we will invite Sun Yingjie to take the time to reply.
Marathon Assistant columnist
Sun Yingjie
World Champion
Chinese women's marathon record holder
After retiring from the army in 2009, the focus of my life shifted to the family, and I held weddings in my hometown of Shenyang and Xining, Qinghai, and I became pregnant not long after. The next year, the child was born, and at this time I didn't think about what I would do after retiring. And neither of our parents could help us take care of the children, so I could only take care of the children with all my heart, so I could say that I couldn't get out of my body at all.
At that time, my husband Wang Chengrong was still working in the Qinghai Sports Team, and I was also with my husband, so my life was basically no different from before I retired, and I was still in the sports circle. The difference is that you don't have to train every day.
1
Life is in trouble,
You need to earn money to support your family.
Later, my husband was suspended by the Qinghai Sports Brigade because of the bonus problem. And after I retired from the army, I have been unemployed. This sudden blow put our family's life in a difficult situation. Although the cost of living in Xining is not as high as in a big city like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it still needs a lot of money to raise a son, so it is suddenly in trouble.
At this time, earning money becomes a real problem that must be considered. Think about the first half of your life is very rich, the second half of your life can not be so obscure, the husband and son of the whole life, should always toss something out. So I found my coach Tao Shaoming, he suggested that I run a running training camp, after all, running is becoming more and more popular in China, use your expertise to teach others how to run correctly, there must be a market.
After listening to Coach Tao's words, I felt that this direction was very suitable for me, but at that time I did not know what the running club was like, and what the needs of the running crowd were.
2
In two years, I went to run races everywhere,
Communicate and share online with runners.
During the athlete period, every race starts at the front and does not understand how amateur runners run. Since 2012, I have participated in some marathons all over the country as an amateur runner, beijing, Shanghai, and abroad.
Experiencing it yourself is on the one hand, and on the other hand, you want to communicate with the contestants and organizers to understand their ideas and needs.
Every time I play, I get recognized by a lot of people and then ask me some questions, like I have a knee injury, what should I do? My running posture is not right, wait. Through communication, I found that many long-distance running enthusiasts do not "run" at all, on the one hand, the performance is slow to improve, on the other hand, it is easy to cause sports injuries.
I was thinking, so many people have needs, and I have more than 20 years of running experience, can I teach them some scientific training methods? There are many people who like to run, but not many can run. It was an idea that came to my mind after participating in many competitions.
In the beginning, an online communication group was established, and regularly communicated with runners online to see how effective it was. At that time, the WeChat group was not yet developed, and it communicated with the majority of runners through the QQ group.
Every Wednesday, it is a fixed day to communicate and share with runners, often as soon as it is online, it can't come down, it's all kinds of problems of runners, and it takes a few hours to talk. Gradually, more and more runners joined the group chat, and several QQ groups were built, and the number of people grew to thousands. Later, weChat groups also became popular, and they communicated with runners through WeChat groups, because they could directly send voice, so it was very convenient.
In addition to understanding the needs of runners, I also communicate with my former teammates and friends about the idea of starting my own business.
When I went to Shanghai to compete, my sister Wang Junxia helped me a lot. She not only answered many of my entrepreneurial questions, but also helped me contact sponsors. My friends Xing Huina and Bai Xue also helped me in all aspects, and I am grateful to them from the bottom of my heart.
3
Sun Yingjie Long-distance Running Club was established,
But conundrum also arises.
It took nearly two years to communicate with runners and discuss with friends, and the idea of starting their own business gradually became clear. It's also time to start teaching offline.
On May 11, 2014, Sun Yingjie Long-distance Running Club was officially established, and Beijing Sun Yingjie Sports Culture Co., Ltd. was registered to promote running culture. The philosophy we advocate is: science, no harm, healthy running.
Everything was difficult at the beginning, the club was established, but how to carry out teaching and operation became a big problem in front of me.
Beijing runners like to run in Aosen, so why don't we set up classes there and the venue doesn't cost money. In order to be closer to where the class was held, I rented a house in Yongtaizhuang near Oxen, but at the cost of the rent being more expensive.
After choosing the location of the training camp, I wanted to customize a unified running T-shirt for the trainees. Just with her husband all over Beijing, the first time to pick out clothes for so many people, different materials, versions, fabrics, colors, prices, see the eyes are spent. Finally decided on a model, from the fabric to the color, I especially liked, but also in line with the theme of our health run - health and green.
The LOGO on the clothes is also specially designed to find someone, printing a T-shirt also costs twenty or thirty yuan, all the costs are calculated, and the cost of starting a business is tens of thousands.
After a period of preparation, the first training session starts on May 17 and is free. It rained heavily in Beijing that day, and I was very touched by the fact that more than 60 people had originally signed up, and more than 40 people had finally come, and so many people had come under such weather conditions.
Now it seems that organizing such a training camp is very simple. But at that time, it was still busy, from preparing water, food, clothing, team flags, to the training camp course schedule, etc., all of which had to be handled by themselves, fortunately, they had their own husbands to help.
The first lesson mainly teaches them how to warm up, how to stretch, and correct running posture. After the class, many students told me that they had been wrong in pressing their legs.
In fact, this training class also has a purpose, that is, to recruit students for the club, the same day to recruit more than a dozen students, three months of course (four lessons per month, each class is two hours), the fee is 3,000 yuan.
Why charge 3,000 yuan? After my investigation, there are mainly white-collar workers, charging 1600 yuan for four classes a month, and there are also training camps for students with physical education examinations. Finally decided to set their own charging grade in the middle range, which is relatively low in Beijing, four times a year, each period for three months, charging 3,000 yuan.
After the first class, I had a certain confidence in the development of my running club. Because the runners recognize me, the knowledge I teach is the problems and experience accumulated in my decades of long-distance running training, and my strength is to explain the professional theoretical knowledge in the vernacular. I summarize my small-step fast running method as "Sun's running method".
4
Spread by word of mouth,
The club developed very quickly.
Slowly, word of mouth came out, the club's team gradually grew, and the number of students soon increased to more than 100 people.
I found that 80% of the students who came to me had been injured. The most common thing to talk to them is how to avoid injury. For these trainees, I will make a one-week training plan for them. That is, one-on-one personal lessons, those who ran with me for half a year, did not get hurt again.
There are also some students who want to improve their grades, they all have very clear goals, such as what grades to run. In this regard, we have also specially organized the corresponding training camps, such as the North Horse Training Camp, the Horse Training Camp, etc., generally starting training two months before the game.
Individual energy is always limited, and as the number of trainees increases, more coaches are needed to lead the team training. I started recruiting coaches, many of whom were my former teammates, and I trained them before I started teaching.
With the growing of the running club, we gradually opened branches in Shenyang, Shanghai and other places, and absorbed many runners to join in.
5
There are shortcomings in their own ability,
You need to learn more.
I also deeply feel the shortcomings of my abilities. For running, if I simply teach, I am fully competent, but for a club, how to develop and manage a company, it is very difficult for us to retire athletes. In the past, it was all closed training, with less contact with society, and I did not understand operation, management, execution, media docking, collaboration, and planning. There's still a lot I need to learn.
Now, I am mainly responsible for the company's training (corporate running training, school running guidance, running guidance in the army, etc.), events, various activities, as for the daily training of students, mainly to other coaches to bring.
In addition to corporate matters, I am often invited to shoot at some marathons, as well as endorsements. We also work with some travel agencies to do marathon trips, and have led teams through the Athens Marathon, the New Zealand Marathon.
6
In the three years since the establishment of the company,
Income and expenditure are basically flat.
Since last year, I have set up a new company with coach Tao Shaoming, Indovic international sports event management (Beijing) Co., Ltd., which specializes in organizing running events.
The first race to operate was the Panjin Red Beach Marathon in Liaoning Province. A lot of cities want to hold marathons, and if we talk to them, they have concerns about a new company, but coach Tao Shaoming and I will come forward and make them feel that we have an advantage over other companies in terms of experience, ability and brand.
This year we launched a new series of events, called "100 Cities and 100 Scenic Spots", which are held in scenic spots. The first leg of the competition has been held in Zunyi, Guizhou, with thousands of participants. The second leg of the race, which will be held in Zheng'an County, Guizhou, early next month, has a distance of 10 kilometers and is a fun run.
In the past three years of entrepreneurship, the company's revenue and expenditure have been basically flat. There are three major pieces of income: one is the club's cadet fees, but in addition to the cost of water, food, clothing for various trainings, and the cost of coaches, there is basically no profit. The second block is the income of the event, the execution is looking for a third-party company, so to share with them, they account for more, planed the expenditure of various materials, and there is not much profit. The third piece is the income from training, most of the income in this piece goes to the coaches, and the remaining fees are considered to be the licensing fees of the Sun Yingjie brand.
After all, the company has only just started not long ago, although there is no profit, but still engaged in their favorite sports, so there is nothing uncomfortable, but there is definitely pressure.
After retiring from the army, I still maintain the habit of running, getting up at 5:30 in the morning every other day, running 10 kilometers or 1 hour, ending before 7:30, and running long distances on weekends. If you are traveling to a foreign country on business, you will get up early to run.
Now whether you run by yourself or with the students, you are very happy. Unlike when I was an athlete before, I was forced to run and had a strong rebellious psychology. Although it is still very bitter, very tired, and very anxious, I enjoy this busy entrepreneurial life, full and satisfied.