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Edinburgh

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I joined Swimtime as a franchisee in April 2022 after my friend and colleague, Heather, approached me to join her in a business partnership to purchase Swimtime Edinburgh.I had been working for a local swim school part time whilst also working in a restaurant kitchen. I already knew Heather and she had been teaching for Swimtime Scotland for awhile so she introduced me and I started teaching for them as well. I gradually built up my pool time with them before becoming a franchisee.When Heather approached me about going into partnership with her, it was something I’d already been thinking about and I imagined I’d probably end up going down that road eventually so I thought, “While the opportunity is there why not just do it now?”I didn’t even think that hard about whether setting up my own business over starting a franchise would be better because the franchising opportunity came to me. I wasn’t particularly thinking about starting a business so looking at alternatives to franchising wasn’t even a factor.For me our biggest achievement so far was winning the Personal Development award at the annual franchisee conference after only having been in the business for seven months. I believe it was largely down to having overcome some of my personal challenges so that really meant a lot to me.Heather and I have visions of building our programme in Edinburgh and potentially expanding into other areas together, but personally I am currently training to become an aquatic tutor so that I will also be able to train other people in becoming swimming teachers. This will help us to grow our business even more but also benefits the swimming industry as a whole.If you’re considering starting a business of your own, have a serious look at franchising. It’s not for everybody but there are a lot of benefits that make starting out a lot easier than trying to do everything by yourself. Heather and I weren’t “business people” in the beginning and many people looking to start out may be in a similar situation. Franchising takes a lot of the initial pressure away because you have people to support you and help you learn the things you need to know to be successful.

Franchise partner, with Heather Alexander, for Swimtime Edinburgh.Lewis and Heather are popular, experienced swim teachers who took the plunge and became business owners, running their own Swimtime swim school providing lessons to children and adults in the Edinburgh area.&nbsp; Between them, they have over 40 year’s experience.

I’ve been a Swimtime franchisee, alongside my business partner and friend Lewis Scott, since April 2022.Before getting into the swimming industry I worked in a bank but immediately before starting my Swimtime franchise I was a swimming teacher for another company. I wasn’t very happy with them so I contacted some other swimming teachers I knew and a lady called Marion, a teacher for Swimtime, introduced me to Ian who runs Swimtime Scotland and I started working as a teacher for him.Ian approached me in 2019 to see if I was interested in purchasing the Edinburgh area. I was interested but I turned it down as my personal circumstances didn’t allow for starting a new business at the time. However, during the COVID lock downs I decided to go for it as I knew I wanted something better for myself post pandemic. I went back to Ian and Paul to see if they were still looking to sell the Edinburgh area. When they said yes I asked if they would be open to me approaching another person to buy in partnership, which was when I asked Lewis to join me.I chose a Swimtime franchise over setting up my own business because I didn’t really know much about running a business. Having worked for them for some time, I was familiar with the Swimtime brand and structure and I knew there were a lot of people I could turn to for advice, support and guidance to help us develop our business knowledge. Also, my Dad ran his own business so I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to people about both running franchises and running their own business and franchising seemed the best way to go for me.It's been a great achievement for me to be in a position to see the business from both sides. I’ve had a lot of support from the parents and swimmers I work with whilst making the move from teaching to running the business as well and it’s given me the confidence I needed to be able to grow the business. We also won an award within our first year for personal development which meant so much to me and Lewis.Looking to the future we will continue to grow our programme in the Edinburgh area and would like to look at buying more territories to expand our business further. It’s important to us that people have the opportunity to learn to swim and the best way we can do that is to offer swimming lessons in as many pools as possible.If you’re thinking about joining Swimtime as a franchisee, go for it! It’s the best decision I’ve ever made for myself. I’ve never been so happy; even on the stressful days, I’m so much happier now.

Franchise partner, with Lewis Scott, for Swimtime Edinburgh.Heather and Lewis are popular, experienced swim teachers who took the plunge and became business owners, running their own Swimtime swim school providing lessons to children and adults in the Edinburgh area.&nbsp; Between them, they have over 40 year’s experience.

Swimming Lessons Edinburgh

Swimming Lessons in Edinburgh

Tabitha & Terry Turtles

Polly Prawn

Ethan Electric Eel

Paloma Pufferfish

Rocco Rockfish

Sabina Stingray

Suki Salmon

Barry Barracuda

Tabitha & Terry Turtles

Polly Prawn

Ethan Electric Eel

Paloma Pufferfish

Rocco Rockfish

Sabina Stingray

Suki Salmon

Barry Barracuda

Lewis Scott

Heather Alexander

Stirling Highland Hotel

Village Hotels Edinburgh