"My Daughter was at the Bottom of the Pool" | Mindy, Baby Otter Swim School #BusinessPodcast

You are now watching the Biz to Biz Podcast with Allen and Justin. Yo, what's up everybody? It's Justin live from B2B Vault, the Biz to Biz Podcast sponsored by Nationwide Payment Systems, hosted by this guy, the John McEnroe of payment processing himself, Allen Kopelman. And in today's podcast, we have a special one for you. Uh, we're going to be talking with Mindy from Baby Otter.

Baby Otter Swim School.

Swim School. I was gonna destroy that. I'm gonna call it Baby Shark Swim School. Oh, that would have been bad. Anyway, uh, so Mindy, uh, it's a great story. She's, uh, entrepreneurship, you know, it's just a great story all around. And so I'm really looking forward to hearing, uh, her story. And, uh, so yeah, man, how you doing?

I'm doing good. You know, you were away, birthday boy.

Yeah, I was in back home in Milwaukee. Uh, I, I can— I'm congested from, you know, flying. I, I, I, I, I don't think I'm gonna be flying anytime soon anywhere.

Flying always— I never— like half the time, like I'll just make sure I take stuff before I fly now.

I was taking Airborne the whole time I was there before I left. It's, it's— I don't Honestly, my mom smokes cigs. I love you, Mom, but I'm pretty sure that's what this is.

Well, sometimes you said you get an allergy, you know.

Yeah, I, I mean, the air, the air was terrible up there the whole time I was there, you know. Was that like 91?

So I hate that when the air quality is so bad.

Yeah, but I got to see my grandkids, got to see all my kids, um, except one, but you know. Maybe next year. All right, other than that, yeah man, life's good, no complaints. It is May 14th, 2024, 3:08 PM Eastern Standard Time. Uh, you want to hop right into it, or—

yeah, let's hop right in.

Let's hop right into it. Without further ado, we'll bring in Mindy. Hey, Mindy!

Hey, guys! You mean, you mean swim right into it?

We're gonna swim right into it.

I like it, I like it. You're ready for the pod. She's ready to pod.

Yeah, Mindy signs off on her email swimmingly.

Swim, seriously, sincerely.

Okay, I like it, I like it a lot, I like it a lot. So yeah, man, well, real quick, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you from? You know, that type of stuff.

Well, born in, born in DC, but been in Florida for over 45 years, so I guess I'm officially a Floridian if you want to say that. Um, yep, raised my kids here. My background is business. It's definitely not aquatics, but it became aquatics really, really fast 40-some years ago. When I found my child at the bottom of the pool, but I was actually there. The problem was that I had asked my child to sit on the chair while I grabbed a towel for my older child, and Stacy decided, nah, I'm gonna just walk down the steps. So that's why it's called the silent killer, because I didn't hear a thing. And when I went to look for her, she was laying on the bottom of the pool facing up. So it took a lot to bring her back. At that time, I joined forces with Marlene, who created this program. Actually, we're going on 49 years. It's created by an educator, so it's based on lesson plans. So no matter where I have a franchise or I have an instructor, everybody's doing the same thing for 5 days. We can teach any child, 9 months to adults— Andre Dawson being one of our graduates— how to swim in Just 5 days. So I got on board. We started building this because I didn't want what happened to me to happen to another parent. And, um, then about 19 months ago, we decided we were going to franchise because we couldn't hit the masses because 11 kindergarten classrooms were not going to be filled because of a drowning. So apparently my team could not get to all of these children. So My background being business, I like to help create entrepreneurs. So the more entrepreneurs that I can create/franchisees, the more children inevitably will stop drowning. And that's what we did. So 19 months, 19 territories, amazing franchisees. They're doing well. So we're going to continue the mission and, you know, to make Florida a zero drowning state.

Yeah. Your daughter is part of the business too.

Sure is the one I almost lost. She is. She's my director of operations. She heads up the ESE program, and she has her own franchise.

Wow. I mean, that was way more of an intro than I was expecting. You kind of— you killed it. You did a great job.

Thank you. That's why Andre loves us, your buddy.

Yeah, you know, I was hoping that he would agree, but you know, You're the creator of this whole thing. You know, Andre Dawson, to me, he's just— he was the reason why I played baseball, whatever, when I was a kid, you know. So I really looked up to him as a role model. I'm from Milwaukee. So during that time, we didn't have that many all-stars like Andre down in Chicago, you know what I'm saying?

You'll get to meet him, I promise.

No worries, no worries, no pressure. You know, I'm glad just to be talking to you. The, the, uh, I have a, I have grandchildren and 6 daughters, so like it's a fear for sure of mine was always of, you know, them in the water. I mean, real quick, my dad taught me how to swim. We were on a lake, we were inside of a boat, and, uh I couldn't swim. I don't know, I was probably like 5 or 6 years old. And my dad says, you still don't know how to swim? And I'm like, no. He picked me up and threw my ass into the water and told me to swim.

I knew you were going to say that. Yeah.

He literally did that to me. And I mean, I started swimming. I started doggy paddling right there on the spot, you know what I mean? Because it's already in our survival mechanisms to not— drowned, you know, we don't want to drown, you know. But yeah, so that's how I learned how to swim. And, uh, I actually love swimming now. Uh, yeah, I usually— I hit the pool every day. Um, that's great. It's a great— it's great exercise, you know.

Yes, it is.

Yeah. But, uh, yeah, that was— that was my funny story about learning how to swim, my dad throwing me in the water. And I feel— and that's kind of an old school, right? That's kind of old school way. I'm sure that's not the first time you heard that, especially coming from a guy.

It's not. But then when I hear, you know, kids, they swim and they have their heads above water and it's a doggy paddle. See, that's literally the drowning, the drowning pose, right? Because they're in the water and their heads are above water and they're doing this as opposed to— when have you ever seen an Olympian with their head above water, right? Kids put their head in the water. We start that as soon as they're— I mean, we've got a ton of babies that are going through the program this week. So the first thing you teach them is head down.

I love your social media because it's like every once in a while, you'll just see the instructor like just push the kid into the pool. Like, you know, it's place to place to get in the pool. And I'm like, yeah, that's how you get it done. You know, like, well, it's like they're— it's almost like you're testing them to see if they're getting, you know, the lessons that you're teaching them. Right, right.

Well, they learn very strategically. It's lesson plans, right? So it's a curriculum. So day 1 has a curriculum. So whether I have my Miami franchisee or my New York franchisee, it doesn't matter. They're all doing the same thing. So by the end of day 1, a child is learning how to put their face in the water and swim to the steps assisted. And that's the lesson plan. Get it done.

Yeah, it's important. Swimming is important. I mean, I grew— I moved to Florida when I was 8. I mean, my parents took us to Victory Park Pool in North Miami Beach, and we all three, me and my brothers, all learned how to swim, you know. And, and, uh, we had a pool, and it's important to learn how to swim, that every child gets— especially in Florida. I mean, you always hear stories about, you know, a child got into a pool behind a gate that maybe they were goofing around and then somebody falls in the pool that doesn't know how to swim.

Yeah, happens every day.

Yeah, it's very, you know, it's very dangerous. And with all— there's pools everywhere in Florida. Besides that, there's rivers, rivers, canals, ponds.

Where I'm from in Milwaukee, you know, there's tons of waterways. That's what we call it, like, you know, and it's really outdoors. So, you know, you could, you could easily make a wrong turn and next thing you know you're, you're inside of a wooded area and then you're exploring and then 5 minutes later you're in the water. I don't know, you know, it's just one of those things. So learning how to swim was kind of mandatory. Well, not kind of, it was mandatory where I was, you know, where I'm from. I mean, I'm sure it's the same way over down here too, you know, there's a lot, a lot of water surrounded by water, right?

We are.

Yeah.

So I always tell parents swimming lessons are as important as— it's almost like putting a child in the car and not putting them in a car seat. So that's how important swimming lessons are. You have to. And, you know, we work with Marriott and Westgate and people come down from up north and their kids have zero exposure to water. And, you know, the drownings happen at resorts all the time. So It's a big problem in our state, but, you know, I know through our franchising we are going to eradicate childhood drownings. I know we are.

I'm sure of it too, because just, you know, the business model alone is just a great— it's just like a great idea, right? Like, so like I have 6 daughters and 2 of them are moms already. So, you know, I've even mentioned to them like, hey, have you checked? You know, I shared your program to them, you know. One of them was a little interested, the other, she's just not, you know, she's already, she's doing eyelashes. So she's got her business already going. Right. So I raised a bunch of entrepreneurs myself. There you go. And so, but I think it's really cool the way that, you know, it could really help, you know, not just stay-at-home moms, right, but like moms in general. Who want to break the cycle of going to work and dropping their kid off somewhere else and them parenting the children and them not having the time to really be the parent that they want to be. I think this opens the gate and, you know, kind of flips stuff upside down, right? Like it's given that— because I mean, at the end of the day, you don't see a lot of women on— well, you see more and more women entrepreneurs now. But, you know, back, you know, a couple, 10 years ago, there was not that many, you know, right? It's like—

it's true. It gave, you know, when I was building the business, it gave me the opportunity to be home with my children. And then in the afternoon, instructors could go out. It's very scalable. So if somebody wants to teach 4 or 5 themselves and then be home when their kids are home at 2 o'clock, they hire an instructor, right? And they make a percentage of the, you know, obviously they make more. And they pay an instructor. And then now the business is continually going on and they're making money while they're still home with their children. And I'll tell you, out of our 19 territories, 6 of my franchisees are teachers because they all gravitated to the lesson plans, the curriculum. So they got it right away. And, you know, some of them are just doing amazing. And very happy because their life is their own.

Yeah, my wife's a Montessori-trained background teacher, so—

oh nice.

When she, when she looked at— I showed her the, uh, you know, your program, and she's actually looking to transition outside of the classroom. She doesn't want to be in— there's— she just doesn't— there's not enough money for it. She's, she's miserable.

Yeah, I understand. We get that a lot.

Yeah, teachers don't make enough money, that's for sure.

So how do you— when some— when someone signs up to be a franchisee and then they want to hire swim instructors, yeah, who— so does the franchisee get— come to Florida for training? Like, how does that all work?

So the franchise training starts here in Orlando, and, um, any, any new instructors that the franchisee has, corporate always trains them because they're new. They don't get to train, we do. And then we set them off. You know, several of my franchisees have instructors. So like, I have a franchisee in Palm Beach, so he's got, you know, in his 10 months of starting, he has 6 territories. He kept buying them in Palm Beach. So now he's got instructors that are handling some of his southern parts of Palm Beach while he's handling the northern part of Palm Beach. And I mean, you know, he's done incredibly well. You know, they all have, to be honest with you. They're all working hard. And, uh, the ones that are teachers were able to take their love for teaching and the children and take it into another aspect, into a pool where they're in charge of their classroom, which is the water.

That's awesome.

No, so it's good because a lot of times, you know, people buy into a business or buy a franchise and there's not, there's not a lot of instruction, you know, like on how to get your business going and to, and get that support, you know.

I was going to say, there's just not that kind of support, right?

There's not that kind of support. Someone buys a franchise for a restaurant, they're just like, okay, they come in, they train you, and then here you go. You know, you're not like that.

Yeah, we're very hands-on. We walk them through. I mean, you know this very well, Allen. We set them up with— we have all of our different people set up and, you know, we introduce them. Everything is ready to go. You can literally run this business from your cell phone. So that's how easy we've made it for them. So, you know, it's just working. So we're ready to go into our next venture of, you know, the next 19 months and, you know, really get some more entrepreneurs out there. And save more children.

I love the, you know, 'cause it's not about just the business, right? It's the idea around the business is what makes the business to me, right? Like for you.

It's the mission, Jules.

It's the mission. Yeah, the mission. It's the mission to save these babies from drowning and to help parents feel more safe in general, right? With their, you know, letting their children play around water.

That's exactly right.

And so it's really cool to, to, you know, one kind of— I don't want to say kind of watched your business grow, but I have watched your business grow, right?

Yes, you have. So has Allen, right?

So it's, it's really, it's, it's interesting, and, and it gives me hope for the entrepreneurial spirit that, that people are, you know, still wanting to start businesses and You know, they, they make money though too, right? Like, let's not say, let's not say like, like they're just starting this business for the mission. You know, the mission is making money at the end of the day, right?

Well, I'll tell you why they make so much so fast is because we are not a brick and mortar. They buy a territory, so they're buying a traveling swim school. So somebody buys a, let's just say a territory, um, Coral Springs and Parkland, which by the way is sold. So they buy Coral Springs and Parkland. No, we bring our school to your pool. Parents are very busy. And, you know, they— the thought of coming home and knowing that an instructor is going to come to your house, it's always the same instructor. We never switch. It's very good, interesting for parents because like I said, they're busy. So the beauty of the franchise is, yes, it is important, even though the mission is important. And most of them, I'm very blessed, got in because of the mission. But again, they want to make money. I mean, my teachers have doubled their incomes, but that's because their overhead is minimal, right?

Yeah, today it's, you know, very acceptable to have a business that's home-based without having a physical location. Where, as you know, I started in credit card processing in 2001, and a home-based business was like unheard of. You know, and today it's, it's very acceptable to run into businesses that are home-based. And sometimes, you know, it takes a little explaining to the banks, you know, this is what their— the business model is, because people want to— the, you know, the banks want to understand what, what is the business model, you know, and how does the business model work and things like that. And that's where, like, I come in and help business owner. I helped Mindy when she first started, and we, uh, you know, we figured out like, okay, this is the kind of system we need and this is how it needs to work. And now it's, you know, it runs beautifully. So well, Mindy's an expert on payment, on payment processing now.

Yeah, I'm telling you, I became an expert in all things that I never thought I'd be an expert in. But, you know, the bottom line is, is that All of them, you know, Melbourne, Florida is open as well. They're doing amazing. So we're spreading out. You know, my goal really, and Marlene's goal, is to make Florida a zero drowning state and to help as many people as possible become entrepreneurs, love what they do, make great money, still be able to be parents to their children and still make a living. Because listen, I know Stacy was an ESE teacher and she did leave the system. Um, many of them did, actually all of them did, but they're so happy because now their classroom is the pool, but they're the boss of the pool.

I love it. I really— I'm gonna, I'm gonna share your, uh, website to my wife one more time to see if I'd be happy to speak with her. And anyway, I think she— because she's like, she is—

for—

it's just difficult because it's like she loves the babies so much, right? Like these babies are her babies in essence, right? Like, and she brings the— she brings all the schoolwork home and, you know, that's all she really talks about. We have so many conversations about all these little boys and girls that, you know, bite her and scratch her and punch her in the face, you know what I mean? But she loves it, you know? And I think that— I think that this would give her an opportunity to actually still have that but maybe even give her the money that she's desperately needing.

So let's say somebody's, uh, wanted to start this business but they were like up north somewhere. So how do you navigate and help them like find pools? Because maybe people don't have pools at their house in, in certain areas.

Certain states we're not going to be selling in, but some of the states that we are going to be selling in, what we do is we partner up with the hotel because we're already, um, you know, vetted by Marriott. And now we have a hotel in New York that we helped one of our franchisees get, or we can secure them with a gym. You know, we help them find an indoor facility. When we were in Chicago, Justin, with Andre, we were at one of the Marriotts, the Westin in Chicago.

Oh yeah, for sure.

We have those connections where they have indoor pools. So obviously it's really good if they, you know, are in a state that's warm all the time, like Florida and Texas. But we actually do, you know, help them secure indoor pools for them during the winter months.

I love it.

Yeah, because that's important, you know, to have—

there's so many different—

well, I'm just saying, as a business owner, you want to have a way to keep your business open 12 months a year. You don't want to be a seasonal— you don't want to be a seasonal business. No, I mean, there's a lot of people in seasonal businesses, and you, you want to try to avoid, avoid that. You know, as best that you can.

Oh yeah, I mean, it goes from outdoor to indoor real quick in Wisconsin.

I'll tell you, my Florida franchisees, I mean, they work hard. This is hard work. It's wonderful work. I love it. But, you know, they really put their all into it for, you know, 10 months or so. And then November and December, you know, they take time with their family. That's what life's all about, right? And they celebrate the holidays. And then as January comes back, they start their marketing and contacting people to— we're opening and this and that. So they love the time down. They need it.

I agree. I agree 100%. So you mentioned that you have some partnerships with Marriott. Do you have any partnerships with like the YMCA or anything like that? Are you looking to establish?

We're always looking to establish relationships, but some of them consider us competitors. We don't look at anybody as a competitor. You know, we tried it once and then people saw what we did and then they didn't want to use what they did. So it was like, you need to go. So it doesn't really work. But yeah, Marriott, we've been with Marriott since 2018 and Westgate, they're like, you know, family to us. They just hosted an event for us 2 weeks ago for kids on the spectrum. We, you know, we got 14 children sponsored and we taught them all. And that's another thing that I love to be able to mention is that we have a very, very high success rate with kids on the spectrum. Very, very big market for the franchisee because so many people don't address those children. But we do because they're amazing. And the reason they're so successful is because it's one-on-one and the program is structured. And that's what those amazing children need. So it works.

Very cool.

So do you also have a nonprofit that—

we do have a nonprofit, Allen Kopelman. Thank you.

We do.

And it's for underprivileged children, foster kids, kids who would otherwise not be privy to these lessons, kids on the spectrum. So we are— we definitely have a nonprofit. Andre's very active with that as well.

Cool.

And everything can be found on our— on our website, which is babyotter.com, and then there's babyotter.org. Super easy to find.

So the babyotter.org is for the nonprofit side of it?

Yes.

Very good.

Very interesting. And you said you've been in business for how long now?

Well, Marlene's coming up to her 49th year and I'm coming up to my 30— I'm 38 and a half years because Stacy's 40. So she almost drowned at 17 months.

And this Baby Otter Swim School has been around for that long?

Well, Marlene started Turn Kick Reach in 1975, and then in 2000, we reincorporated because people thought we were a karate school. So yeah, I don't know. Listen, so we changed it to Baby Otter Swim School, the boss. So that's who we are. So 20, 24 years ago, it changed to Baby Otter Swim School.

Why the otter? Why otters?

Because it's otter. They're otterly adorable. You could do anything with the word otter, right?

Look at Mindy with all the super cool catchphrases.

Yeah, right?

You killed it. Yeah, man, that's awesome. That's really good.

It's otterly amazing.

Allen, all the times we talked about Baby Otter Swim School, he— we've never said boss. And now every time I say it, I'm going to say boss.

There you go.

Never forget it.

So what's the goal? What's your goal for— to end— for the rest of 2024? How many franchisees would you like to bring on?

We're looking to bring on 10. Um, you know, we already have 2 in the pot, so I guess 8 more, and, um, make sure that they're successful. And, you know, we have it down to a science now, Allen, and we, we come in, we do this and this and this, and they've got this and this and Usually within 6 weeks they're out on the road. And I'll tell you, Justin, the beauty of this is also that they're up here training for 2 to 3 weeks, and then we go to their territory with their clients. So we help them secure clients. We, you know, do a soft type grand opening, and anything that they schedule, they keep the money. And then we go to their territory to help them train there.

So they're making money.

Yeah. So they're making money relatively quick. And I'll tell you, this business is so word of mouth because somebody will see a little 12-month-old swimming or a 15-month-old swimming and they'll go, how did that happen? And it's, you know, I couldn't— my kid was in lessons and this didn't happen. So, you know, the program speaks for itself. And then the franchises, you know, I always hope that my franchisees know the kind of support that Marlene and I are very hands-on owners.

Man, it's really—

so is the goal like most of these people in Florida, or are you targeting any specific states like Texas, Arizona?

Yep, those are the three leading in drowning. So I would love to stay in my own state, but, you know, a lot of my team members go, well, you know, you can branch out into Texas and we can branch out into, you know, Arizona. We can branch out anywhere. But again, it's always been a mission to make Florida a zero drowning state. If we take one state at a time, imagine what we could end up doing for this country because it's such a pandemic.

I love that mentality because a lot of business owners like, he wants the whole pot, you know what I mean, at once. Uh, and I think it's really smart that, you know, you, you kind of take over your own backyard first, right? And then you kind of expand. And then you—

believe me, if somebody called from Alaska and they had a big indoor pool, Mindy'd be in Alaska teaching them.

Of course she would. Yeah, I'd be on the next flight. Yeah, but I'm not focusing on it.

I'm not saying turn down the money. I'm just saying, you know, focus on your own backyard first.

Well, where they're close, you know. One time Melbourne had an issue with a little baby, right? They were trained, but they were just a little bit nervous. Literally got in the car and I was there within 2 hours and we fixed the problem. So it's just a lot easier if they're close. And then we have these, you know, events and parties and we go meet with them and grand openings and, you know, we're going to start getting Andre out on the road a little bit more to go meet them all. So it's just a lot easier here in Florida. And, you know, we just brought on a race car driver who's very dear to my heart, and that's Guy Cosmo. He's going to become an ambassador along with Andre. So we welcome him to our team to help us. His kid has gone through my program many times. So I'm super excited for that as well.

Well, you real quick, do you, do you also like train the, you know, teach the kids how to swim in rough water like in the ocean? Or is it just strictly in a pool?

I'll tell you, we've done a couple kids for Ocean water, one of them is— I don't know if you guys know David Rocco. He's an Iron Chef. So he used to come in from Canada all the time. And so in Fort Lauderdale, and then he was like, Mindy, can you take him to the ocean? So we did. And they went from being fearful of the ocean to loving the ocean, respecting it. It's not something that we do all the time, but for those kids that need it, for sure.

Yeah, the ocean is definitely different beast. It's, it's totally— it can be very scary. I mean, I've been caught in riptides before.

I'm, I'm a strong swimmer, and I was just in the ocean not too long ago, and I, I'm like, I got to get out of here because I'm getting tired. Yeah, the current was so strong that day, and I'm like, I have my grandbaby with me, and it's just, we're not— this isn't a safe— this isn't safe for anyone.

It's not that. They don't have the life amount of lifeguards that they had when I was a kid. There was lifeguards everywhere, all over the beach. And today it's not like that anymore, and people are not aware of like what the flags mean and all that down by the beach.

And yeah, I mean, but you know, hey, I don't know, I don't, I don't really remember having that many lifeguards like that. There was a guy in every little post and that's what it was, right?

But go down there now, there's hardly anybody.

I don't know.

Yeah, he's right, he's right. Budget cutting, Allen.

Yeah, well, that's why everybody needs to learn how to swim. So give us your— so give us the, the— so if someone wanted to get a franchise, is there another website or they just go to thebabyotter.com?

Babyotter.com and click on franchise and someone will be in touch with them the same day.

All right, so if anybody out there looking for an entrepreneurial opportunity you know, start your own business in your area, get in touch with Mindy at Baby Otter. We love Mindy and all the Baby Otter franchisees, all the bosses, all the bosses, all the bosses.

I appreciate you having us on and allowing us to speak about the franchise. And listen, I'm hoping that this podcast brings people, whether you're a teacher, you're not a teacher, you know, we've had executives who just really wanted something else in their life. And they're building this and principles and stuff like that. So many people are— feel stuck until they understand that they're not stuck.

Yeah, it's never too late, right? I mean, never.

No, I've always told people, you know, if you want to be— get ahead in life, sometimes you got to take a chance. I always say no guts, no glory. And, you know, being a business owner, you know, and having support around you can help you you know, achieve more than you can sometimes on your own. And, you know, it— those are, those are things to consider when you're starting a business.

Before we hop off, I just, you know, what is the hard— what would you say was the, you know, like the, the most challenging thing for you, um, to get people to take swimming serious? Like What do you think was the— besides the drowning, right, of someone, you know, like, what do you think? What's, you know, what was just the hardest part for you, you know, like, to keep this going as long as you have?

I think the biggest objection parents have is, you know, nobody wants to pay for anything that's worthwhile. That's just true in life anywhere. You know, they'll call me on their $1,500 phones but don't want to spend something for door-to-door service or You know, they're at the nail salon and they don't want to pay for swimming lessons. You know, we just had a parent that called us last year and said, no, I'm not going to use you. You're too expensive. OK, just called back today and said, you know, I've tried it. I've spent so much money and my kids still can't swim. Can I sign up now? Sure. Absolutely.

And it's more expensive than it was last year, by the way.

Right?

Yesterday's price is not today's price.

I'm telling you, that's just the biggest thing. And then when they realize, you know, wow, I've been, you know, here or there and my kid still isn't doing what they're doing now, then they realize, you know, it really isn't expensive because we have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Right.

We have all of our programs. We go all the way up to swim team training are all based on 5 days.

Oh, wow.

Yep. And what made you— so, you know, one of the struggles business owners always have is, oh, I'm going to hire my first employee. Okay, and then she's smiling. When am I going to hire my first employee? People always find that difficult and then, you know, never grow their business. And then to franchise is a whole nother level of, of taking your business. So what, you know, I know the mission, but you know the mission. So like, so what did the— what motivated you to you know, after many years in business to decide like, okay, now we're going to take this to the— we're going to take it up a notch.

Great question.

You know, we couldn't reach the masses. And after 2020 happened, right, it was COVID, whatever was going on in the world. We realized that the only way to— because then the drownings were just absolutely out of control because parents were home. Nobody was paying attention to the kids. That now was the time for us to sit down. We had talked about it for a long time and just do it. And you're right, franchising is an entire different ballgame. It's expensive. It's very, you know, very, very regulated. You've got to follow the rules. But now that I'm in it, I love it. I absolutely love it. You know, I understand it now. I love it. I'm very, very lucky. I have the best franchisees in the market. I just— they're amazing. So I'm hoping that the next group, which they will be, will come on board and be just as happy as the first group. So watching their success, to be honest with you gentlemen, is what keeps me motivated.

So when, when the new franchisee comes on and they're going to hire like a swim instructor for the first time, like, what kind of encouragement do you give them to like take that next step? Because that's always a difficult thing.

I show them a spreadsheet. Here's what your instructor can bring you in. How many do you want? Okay. I had a lawyer call me from North Carolina that said, I've heard about your program. I don't want to be a lawyer anymore. I'm like, okay, I get that a lot. She goes, I want to sell 20 lessons a week. Okay, how many instructors do I need? I said a minimum of 3. She goes, okay, let's talk. So they know what they want to make. You know, each instructor brings you a certain amount of money, and it's a good amount of money. So you have an instructor out on the road, they can bring you $3,000 to $5,000 extra a week depending on how many lessons they're doing. So how many would you want? At least 3, right?

Right.

Well, you know, but someone's coming from like being a school teacher to now all of a sudden supervising 3 or 4, 3 or 4 people, which they might not have ever done before. So that's what, you know, well, it's like a big step in business.

I was joking, I mean, I was doing this as a joke, but it's true. But that's where I come in. That's the part of the business I come in. We teach them how to become entrepreneurs, how to— we, we train the instructors for them. They've already gone through the training, so we help them as far as here's what you need to say to them, here's their schedules, here's how you do it. And literally, we're on call for them all day long for any support that they need. And then they just get it. You know, most of these, most of them are school teachers and they have learned business. Like, I am just so incredibly proud of all of them. I just, their growth is just unbelievable.

Very cool. Yeah, thanks again.

Well, thank you for coming on the podcast. Yeah, even though I bugged you for like a year.

Sorry, I've been swimming.

Yeah, she's been busy swimming, saving babies.

Busy swimming.

Before we hop off, tell them again where to go and how to contact you.

Babyotter.com. Click on franchise and someone will get back to you the same day.

Very cool.

All right, thank you guys so much.

That's it. All right, thank you so much.

Next podcast, Andre, okay? I'm working on it.

Okay, just, just tell them that you met a guy from Milwaukee that literally— I mean, I literally watched baseball and played baseball because of Andre Dawson.

Like, for real, I'm gonna tell him that, I promise.

The Hawk, man. Now, I don't know how many people— I don't know how many people call him the Hawk still, but to me, he'll always be the Hawk.

He's a very big man. You should have seen Marlene and I trying to teach him how to swim, and he has zero body fat, so he doesn't float.

So that's cool, man. All right, Mindy, well, you take care.

Thanks so much. Have a great rest of your day.