Name of Business: Swimbabes

Your Name and Age: Laura Molloy, 40

Tell us about your family: I live with my husband George – who I run Swimbabes with – and my two children Josh, aged 8, and Eve, aged 6. We live in a little hamlet just outside Holmfirth, Yorkshire.

What did you do before coming up with your business idea and how was it making the transition?

Before setting up Swimbabes I worked as a development consultant for a large property company based in Leeds. After having my first baby, Josh, I soon realised that I wanted to spend more time being a mum than my job allowed and started to look at options to achieve this.

When did you launch?

I launched Swimbabes in October 2003. I had been working on the website and marketing since I started my maternity leave in June of that year but things were a bit hectic as Josh had major heart surgery on the 6^th August 2003 and then Eve arrived on 25^th!

How did you get started?

I had Josh booked in for baby swimming classes in Manchester from part way through my pregnancy and was chuffed when we were told that his heart condition would not stop him doing swimming. So when Josh was just 5 weeks old we started swimming and later that year I had the opportunity to train as an instructor in Manchester. I had loved swimming with Josh so much that I started training and have never looked back.

What research did you do before launching?

I guess I didn’t do a great deal before I started – baby swimming was quite new then and there weren’t many companies outside of London! It was amazing – we had mums travelling from Cumbria and York to attend our sessions in Manchester. I was lucky to have great training and support, and this helped me to set up my company in Yorkshire.

How have you funded the business?

I had to continue with my part time job as well as running swimbabes for the first two years – so all of our own funds to date.

How do you promote your business? What has worked best?

When we first set up we were recommended to advertise with the NCT to target mums with young babies so this was our main area of advertising and we had the website. We still continue to advertise and support all of our local NCT’s but have now extended our advertising to several national magazines and we also have a PR company who arrange all of our external promotion.

What has worked well about your business?

I really love the fact that our business has just kind of evolved – we now have 16 staff, 12 venues in Yorkshire and over 1300 swimmers coming along to our sessions every week. Many of our teachers are mums who did the course and so have a real love of baby swimming and a wealth of understanding and experience from swimming with their own child. I think the dedication and enjoyment that all of our teachers have for their teaching is wonderful to see. It is incredibly fulfilling teaching each and every baby this vital life skill. It’s just so fantastic to see the smile in a mums face when she sees her baby swim.

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?

My biggest challenge is trying to spend the time with my family that I want to. Swimbabes was set up so I had more time to be a mum but within the first year George left his job to join the business and now it has done much better than I expected it to and keeps us really busy. I am getting better with letting other people do things so I get a bit more time but it is a bit like having a third child for me so letting go is a huge challenge.

How do you fit in work with the family?

I am lucky that we have a great team now and George and I are able to share looking after Josh and Eve so we get plenty of time with our children – although not always as a family as one of us is still working everyday. For us it was important to be there for Josh and Eve before and after school and to have family mealtimes – something we could never have achieved in our previous careers.

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?

I do think you need to enjoy being in the water and working with children. Things have changed a lot since I set up and there are now a lot more baby swim companies around the company so I would definitely recommend looking at who else is doing sessions in your area and availability of suitable pools. There are also lots of opportunities to join larger companies like ourselves. We are always on the lookout for new venues and swim instructors.

If you have a flexible working business opportunity, please explain briefly what you offer and how people find out more:

Many of our teachers are mums who work part time. All of our teachers have to undergo quite a rigorous training programme but once this is completed there are lots of opportunities to work with us around Yorkshire. For mums who want to know more they can email us at office@swimbabes.co.uk.

Your website link: www.swimbabes.co.uk

Discount  for Family Friendly Working readers: If you shop online at www.swimbabes.co.uk you can use our special discount code SBNS15 to get 15% off your order. We currently have free P & P on all orders over £50.