Heather Alexander

“

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.

Heather Alexander”