His Journey to be a Prince

Everyone is not lucky to be born with a gemstone spoon, a gold spoon, or even a silver spoon in their mouth. Everyone is not lucky to have had a platter of opportunities served to them.

Everyone is not lucky to acquire things on a desirous call. Some people have mediocre backgrounds, yet they dream big. They are never served a platter of opportunities but turn chances into opportunities. They may not acquire things at a single demand but get their desires fulfilled by their will. One such man we know is Mr Prince Dhabuwala.

Prince, a boy from a mediocre background, born and brought up in one of the rowdiest areas of the city, is now a sophisticated self-made man running a gym in one of the prime locations. The muse likes to call life his “biggest mentor” as he has learned from every failure. Every failure helped him pave the roadmap of his life. Discipline and consistency are the two virtues that have always kept him going.

Plunging into Prince Dhabuwala's memories

I went to an all-boys school called T & TV school, where we never studied subjects but life skills, informed the bodybuilder. Prince had always been good at sports and wished to pursue formal training in cricket specifically.

He never took his formal studies too seriously, due to which he failed his 10th board exams. It was unexpectedly a massive blow to his face. After completing the backlog, he had six months before entering the higher secondary. He desired to fool around or play sports, but his father had different plans. He enrolled Prince into a local IT company as an employee, where his task was to service the hardware devices of the clients. Prince had a tough time while running errands for his employer. I might not have learned much about IT, but one thing that I learned the hard way was, if I did not study well, I would end up being a service guy all my life.

His passion for bodybuilding started right after he completed school. He enrolled himself in a gym and approached the guy with the best body in the gym for training. Oh, that proved to be lethal! Yet that did not deter him from taking up the training. His discipline and consistency motivated him to grow stronger, and more passionate towards the same.

While in college, he played sports for the college, and that is when his sports instructor guided him to take up formal studies in Physical Education post-college graduation. He knew he needed to generate income to pay his fees. Hence, he started searching for part-time jobs. Being into bodybuilding, he approached gyms to be a personal trainer but that needed experience. To gain experience in training, he started freelance personal training through home visits. After six months of running around the city for clients, he took up a part-time job at Gold’s Gym, Surat as a personal trainer.

Things went well until he had to juggle between college and work. He took up a Bachelor's in Physical Education at Uka Tarsadiya University, located in Bardoli, a province outside Surat. He hustled from college to home to work. And that became a routine for him.

My journey is a combination of hard work and luck quotes the young man.

Prince knew a Bachelor's degree wouldn't help, and he needed a Master's degree to achieve something professionally. Gujarat has always been an underdog when it comes to good Physical Education training. And Prince never wanted to remain an underdog. Hence, he decided to take up a Master's in Physical Education outside Gujarat. Gwalior, Mumbai, Pune, and Rajpipla are the places that offers a Master's degree, Gwalior being the best of all. He missed the chance at Gwalior due to lesser merit and missed at Mumbai due to its higher budget. All he had in his kitty were Pune and Rajpipla. Rajpipla was never an option for him as it was a Gujarati-medium college with the lowest opportunities. While heading to Pune, he encountered a girl, and a conversation with her made him adamant about taking up admission in Pune. She mentioned everything apart from studies which seemed so fascinating, reminisced Prince

Newer chapter in Prince's life

Taking up English medium studies after years of being in Gujarati medium was a challenge for him. Yet he happily took up this challenge and took up all the blows on his face. Prince mentioned one such blow -

In a class test, our instructor asked a question on ‘lever’, and I answered everything I knew about ‘liver’. My professor mocked me in front of the entire class. I gulped down that mockery and made it a point to be friends with people who knew English.

Six months I managed to survive college by learning basic English from my roommates. Then I came across a different class of friends who were fluent and very efficient in English. He did not have enough allowance to have full meals thrice a day; hence, he started seeking part-time jobs at different places in Pune. Pune being the hub of clubs, he sought a job as a bouncer but to no avail, owing to the pretty face that he had. Eventually, he ended up being a gym instructor at Gold’s Gym, Pune through the recommendation of his employer back in Surat.

Being in Pune was an eye-opener, for he realized that all this while he had the privileges of sleep and eating a good 3-times-a-day home-cooked meal. In Pune, it was not just the studies and work that he had to juggle but household errands. Eventually, he had to give up the job that he had. He had earned enough for survival, and he started enjoying the fascinating life he had heard about from that girl on the bus.

To be in a hub of clubs, and resisting the vices he was surrounded by was a different challenge. He was into sports, and he very well knew the importance of it. The prior requirement of a sportsperson is to remain healthy and away from any vices. In addition, he was well aware of his bank balance which he would rather spend on his basic requirements than on unnecessary distractions.

New Challenge awaits

Prince took up a job as a Physical Education teacher in a renowned school in the town called Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir. Being a teacher was a lot different than being a student. Standing in a class and facing more than 48 intrigued eyes was a challenge. You are judged all the time by those teenagers who are eager to make a joke out of every mistake you make.

The passion for bodybuilding never died in this man; hence, he chose to rejoin his old employer after returning from Pune. The hustle in his life remained with him. Before, it was the juggle between work and studies, and after, it was the juggle between two works. It was now time for him to take up one. He chose passion over the profession and decided to quit his job at school.

Luck has always been by my side. The school was not ready to let go of such an exquisite teacher; hence, they appointed him as a guest lecturer. But Prince was not happy with the progress that he was making, and he chose to quit his job at Gold’s Gym on a good note.

Prince Dhabuwala - CEO of KP Fitness

He came across two crucial people in his life, as he states, Mr Vispy Kharadi and Yazad Bhesania during this time. The trio were the best freelancing trainers in the city and set towards the journey of coming up with their gym. Everything was materialized and well-planned until demonetization hit them in their face. The dream of a gym found its way back to the base. But they never lost hope. A project called Athletica came their way, where Prince managed things very well. An old, lavish, and full-time favorite gym was getting a new owner, and a new owner wanted a new CEO. The new owner of the gym turned out to be the old owner of Gold’s Gym; hence, they approached Prince to lead the gym owing to his exceptional conduct at work. The gym known as KG Fitness has a new name called KP Fitness, with a new leader called Prince Dhabuwala.

As passionate as he is about bodybuilding, he is equally passionate about his job. He took up the challenge of re-establishing the long-closed gym and creating a new identity for KP Fitness.

It is easy to write on a page, but rewriting on a previously scribbled and erased page is a tough job. For that, one must have a good eraser and excellent ink to hide the previous impressions.

Future goals

The quest of owning a gym persists, and with that motivation, he continues to pave his way to his goals. I am a Gujarati, and I believe I will not attain salvation until I do business! Being in a city of food, he plans to open a cafe along the gym, not necessarily a ‘health cafe’

Word of advice for the GenZ

You will never always be motivated enough, so you must always learn to be disciplined. Never get disheartened by the problems in your life, have patience, be consistent, and maintain discipline - you will get through!