This article, translated from wenxuecity.com talks about a man who has turned his fitness hobby into a side business as a ‘running partner’ for hire. The article reflects the growing interest in health and fitness in China, and Lin Nan’s clientele and their motivations for hiring him reveal some of the wider concerns at the forefront of Chinese modern society.

Did you know that you could work part time as a “running partner,” and earn close to 3,000 RMB a month? Doesn’t this sound a little strange? A young twenty something man named Lin Nan from Jiaojiang, Zhejiang has created a successful business off of this concept.

Lin Nan is the owner of a shop on Taobao and his main hobbies revolve around sports and fitness. “I have four or five different regular customers. An hour run costs about 15 Yuan,” said Lin Nan. He said that his customers include his circles on his Weibo micro-blog as well as many of his friends. Due to his limited time and energy he cannot fully meet the demand of his friends and followers for his company during runs. Despite this, he still earns close to 3000 RMB a month as a running partner.

It seem like only a wealthy person would agree to spend 15 RMB for someone to run with them for an hour. However, for Lin Nan, this is not the case. He said that his customers include ordinary civil servants as well as young students. Lin Nan said that his customers are often more health-focused and are concerned about exercise. 

Photo: yoho.hk

Health and Safety

Lin Nan said that one of his customers is named Miss Jiang and that she is an ordinary office worker. She earns not much over 3000 RMB per month and is willing to spend 500 RMB a month in order to run with him. Miss Jiang lives nearby in Jiaojing and works in a nearby hospital in Taizhou city center. Three to four days a week, Lin Nan will run with Miss Jiang back home from her office and add several laps in the nearby public square.

“She used to spend several thousand RMB on a gym membership, but she did not like going to the gym because the space was so small. She prefers to run on the road. Single women often do not have enough time to run during the day. Running at night alone is not very safe, so I accompany her on her runs,” said Lin Nan.

Miss Jiang was also Lin Nan’s first customer. They had been friends on Weibo before they become running partners. Li Nan had constantly posted pictures of himself cycling, running and doing other exercises. Miss Jiang had asked him if he could accompany her on her runs and said that she would pay him for the service.

Lin Nan said that the request was unexpected, but he agreed out of curiosity. He soon began to run his own business. “Although you could go running on your own every day, running can often be very exhausting and it is hard to stay motivated.”

Lin Nan’s Clients Are Mainly Women

Lin Nan’s business grew over the years. There had been a lot of news in the area about violence and abductions of women, and many women became nervous about running alone in Taizhou.

“In the beginning, I did not have any regular customers or fixed runs. By July, I had four regular customers with fixed schedules. They were all women,” said Lin Nan. However, many of the women’s families were not happy about the idea of the young single man running with them.

“Many women do not have very good endurance while running and have bad self-control. You must continue to encourage them,” said Lin Nan.

He said that these things are the main focus of conversation during his runs with his clients. They do not talk about marriage, dating or any other kind of deep or emotional topic.

“I’m afraid of running into a misunderstanding with one of my client’s boyfriends or husband. This would just be unnecessary trouble,” said Lin Nan. However, because most of the clients are in his Weibo circles, he had been friends or acquaintances with them in real life before becoming their running partner. Therefore, he has not had any problems yet.

A New Client Base

Students in China need to pass a sports exam while in school. Parents of these students are starting to seek out Lin Nan as well. Now, his main customer base has begun to shift from women to students needing pass the exam. High schools now have physical requirements from enrollment and many of the students applying are in poor physical health.

“When school is about to begin, relatives and friends all talk about their kids have bad scores on the sports exam. They usually do not have enough time to take their own kids to exercise. I often take the initiative to contact them and offer my services as a running partner,” said Lin Nan.

Currently, many of Lin Nan’s regular customers are older middle school students who are not in good physical shape. Their parents are worried about their test scores on their physical fitness and sports exams.

“Their parents are very busy, they do not have any time to exercise with their children. Some of them do not even exercise themselves. They do not have the willpower to go running with their kids. They are hoping to find someone who can encourage their children to exercise,” said Lin Nan.

These students are very busy studying during the week and usually live on campus at school. Therefore, on the weekend, Li Nan takes students hiking or jogging in the mornings or plays badminton with them in the town square.

“Although many had not exercised in over a month, they improved very quickly. They also slowly came to enjoy activities like jogging and other fun types of fitness. I am confident they will be able to pass the PE exam,” said Lin Nan.

Source: http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2014/10/10/3685845.html

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Keywords: Man starts running business Running partner business in China