Lorna Salmon

I studied sports science and business at university and part of our course was to get involved in different coaching courses, so, I decided to do my swimming teachers course.

In 2002, I started covering swimming teaching for Linda Price, who founded Swimtime with her husband Barry, while she was off doing different things and that is how my involvement with Swimtime started.

I didn’t actually choose franchising; franchising chose me. I started out as a swimming teacher and over the first few years it became very clear that it was going to grow bigger and bigger, so, I was involved in Swimtime's growth into a franchise business from the very beginning. 

I used to travel the country looking for teachers and venues, putting different clubs and teachers in place before franchising was even considered. Then, when we got to the point where we were so busy, Barry decided franchising the business was the way to go to be able to cope with the demand. 

I took on the West Midlands and London franchises for maybe three or four years before taking on my current franchise in Cheshire.

Even in those early days, I knew Swimtime had so much potential. The idea behind it, even when it first started, was just so far ahead of competitors at the time and we are now leading the way in this industry, so, it was just a no brainer from the very the minute I met Linda; I knew this was for me.

The most challenging times can be teacher shortages. Thankfully, I have a great team of teachers that will cover, but it can be tricky finding good teachers that want this as a career and have the same standards as we do.

On the whole I just think the biggest challenge is to learn to grow with the business.

At the time when I took on a franchise, I had a new born baby. He was only three months old and it allowed me to work around him. As a working mom, I feel that I have not missed out on my children's assemblies or important events. It helps that I have an amazing team of teachers and amazing office staff that also allows me to have that flexibility that comes with owning your own business. Having a great office team allows me to work with my venues and the teachers to ensure we are promoting the best service possible and we strive to provide the highest standards of lessons.

I still love teaching most out of everything I do. I only do cover when needs be now, but I do love being in the pools and just seeing the children develop and, even if it is only for a couple of weeks, that is still the most rewarding aspect of this job. Once a teacher, always a teacher.

If you're considering starting your own Swimtime franchise my advice would be to just to go for it! We are the leading name in the industry, we are always striving to be the best and you have got a massive support from the franchisors and the franchisees. So, even though you are a franchise, you are not on your own. Really it is like any business, you just throw yourself into it and you will see the rewards. 

Swimming is a life skill, so no matter what there will always be children that need to learn to swim, so, it is a good business to be involved in.