Starting a small business for coaching Triathlon Swimmers

Create the business entity, get some advice from a lawyer on this. I don't know what the options are in Ireland. You don't want any of your personal assets at risk. Find some insurance in case someone dies while training or claims it was due to your training. Pay taxes on all the money you'll be making.

What do you consider the nuts and bolts?

Hi,by nuts and bolts I mean,do you know I'm not sure! I was hoping to hear from somebody who carries out such a swimming role for triathletes.
Should I offer a weekly pool session,to correct strokes and improve fitness and supply swim sessions for them to use by themselves,How much would I charge for such an arrangement.

What do you think?

You are wondering what you rbusiness model should be. That's the nuts and bolts, lol. How you'll generate income.

monthly fees for coaching, hourly fee for individual lessons, drop in rates for on-going group sessions...the sky is the limit.

Use Coach Google and start researching what other coaches in your area are offering, and once you've done that, expand outside your area to generate ideas and see what you think you are interested in and what could be developed in your area.

Hi,Happy New Year,hope you had a great holiday.
I am researching coaching rates,pool availability,people to coach etc. What I have in my mind is to have a pool lane for 1 hr per week,have 3-4 people in the lane to coach stroke improvement,turns and to train them as required.Then to provide weekly swim training plans specific for each person.I'm not sure how much to charge.

This is a part time venture not full time.I had thought £20-25 per week per person.I realise you are in the US so costs will vary but how does that sound for a start off? Cheers.

My coach has a swim background and coaches some of the local youth teams. He's recently branched out into triathlon coaching (officially, he's been doing it part time for years). Like others have said he offers individual coaching/stroke analysis but he also offers a masters swim class twice a week and then a triathlon focused swim class twice a week. I know he offers the Tri class at two different times and I believe they are both well attended. There were 12-15 people at our first class on Wednesday and he charges $56. The class will run 2x per week for a month. I know most of the attendees are members of my Tri club and would suggest you contact a local club to assess interest. Hope that helps!

What are your goals - what are you hoping to accomplish with this venture?

Kicking

Tankboy,thanks for the helpful reply.Toefuz,I'd like to combine my love of swimming,help people to improve their overall swimming experience and make a bit of money as well.
For the the other clarts that posted,I hope you all know Gwen.

Are you thinking on deck or remote ? Do you have a critical mass of swimmers locally ?

On deck,I help coach with my local masters club,we have about 6 tri guys who train with us,I hope to use them to spread the word.Also I shall be approaching several local tri clubs.

Left Brain,sorry didnt see your reply.so you know Gwen,good,so Gwen and boil yer head man

Good show ! Were you a swimmer,runner or cyclist before you started triathlons?

There is a local guy here who is a great triathlete, 2x Kona qualifier. His strength is his bike and run and he was always a weak swimmer. He coaches a good number of athletes but wanted to set up something a little different. So he decided to start something in swimming. I was very sceptical.

So first he went and got 'certified' with swim smooth and he uses a lot of their stuff. He promotes their brand and kind of associates himself to it. It seems to create a certain amount of credibility. Everyone love Mr Swim Smooth :-)

He rents lanes and you buy 'tickets' and it's a ticket per workout. There is a limited number of slots per workout and you have to reserve one. If you need to cancel and you can find someone to take it, no problem. There is always a waiting list so it's never a problem.

He does special sessions for CSS testing, special video sessions....all kinds of activities. It's very upbeat and fun. He tests on a regular basis and people are motivated to see their CSS improve. People's CSS and improvements are well publicized.

Yes, it's mostly catered to triathletes. Very little of the other strokes for example. He seems to do quite well with it. There are a lot of people that have tri coaches remotely that need local on deck coaching.

I am not sure he could make a living doing just this. He has his coaching business for the bike and run as well.

Working with clubs, doing special events like camps or video sessions and analysis sounds like a good way to get visibility.

This all relies on having local people and getting pool time.

I ran when I was younger......way too much.  My kids are club swimmers and triathletes. I'm a USA Swimming Official.....which only means I watch a lot of really fast swimming.

Edited by Left Brain 2015-01-09 2:46 PM

My wife was a runner but injury cut that short unfortunately .I have been a swimmer for ages,all my kids,now grown up,still swim,they train with our masters club when they are home,which is nice.I have a lot to thanks swimming for.

I help out at local galas when I can,I really enjoy watching any swimming,from wee tiddlers up to masters.Do you swim?

I am sort of confused you coach age group and masters swimmers currently. I would think you could find out some of the nuts and bolts from those contacts, unless you are trying to keep this on the down low since you will be competing against the masters group from clients.

since you say you only want to do this part time an option may be to work with the owner of the masters club. In my mind if you are running a business there is a lot of hours outside of the actual instruction time. do you want to be organizing, marketing, finding pool time etc or are you only interested in the coaching part?

I'm only coaching masters.The masters club is an off shoot of the local junior club ( most of the junior club coaches are masters swimmers ). i help out at junior club galas but do not coach the junior club.

I will to be spending time away from the pool side,writing up swim schedules,attending races and promoting my coaching services.I wouldnt want to encroach on the masters swimmers as it could cause tensions within the club and would prefer swimmers not connected with the masters club.