Meet Trailblazer Laura George

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura George.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Laura is the founder and owner of Little Flippers Swim. When I was pregnant with my first child, 11 years ago, I started swimming for exercise. I fell in love with how I felt in the water, the challenge of trying something new and to top it off, I had a great time with the people in the class. Being in or around the water was not new to me. I grew up in San Diego, California and we had a backyard pool and, of course, the beach was close by! Our house was a revolving door with neighbor kids coming over to swim. I may have even played a game of “lifeguard” back in the day.

After I had my first child, I transitioned out of a full-time career in sales. I started thinking about something I could do part-time and swimming kept popping up. I was a new mom with a baby and a new perspective. Drownings were on the news too often, so I began exploring how my new passion for swimming might meet an important community need. I looked into various techniques, swim schools, talked to moms and began searching for the right fit. Then, a friend introduced me to another swim school owner. I met her, watched her teach and asked her to train me! I trained with her for two consecutive weeks, five days a week, for as many hours a day as she was teaching! I was a sponge! The training culminated in the launch of Little Flippers Swim in 2008. However, my training didn’t end there. I taught a few kids immediately after I was trained and came back the next summer for additional training. Since then, I have added, shifted, and adjusted to find a style that works best for me and for the kiddos we teach.

From 2008 – 2014, LFS was a very part-time endeavor. We offered classed for only four-six weeks in the summer and I was the sole instructor. During these early years, I had a part-time job at my local church. The community provided an incredible support team for LFS. From strategic planning, marketing ideas, launching a website, graphic design and dreaming big, God planted people in my path to support me on this crazy journey. In 2015, the dream for Little Flippers Swim grew and I was ready to take it to the next level. We grew from 26 students in 2014 to 74 students in 2015. In 2016, we added our first additional instructor and grew to 156 students. In 2017, we were given an opportunity to expand to a second location in Chandler, AZ and now had the ability to offer lessons on a year-round basis. Our current team of six instructors is humbled to teach, encourage and equip upwards of 450 students a year to be safer around the water!

Has it been a smooth road?
Has it been a smooth road? No way. I had physical and emotional obstacles. My first major physical obstacle was a body of water. I needed a pool! At the time, I started LFS, I didn’t have a backyard pool. I would rent friends’ pools for four weeks each summer when I first started. But that obstacle proved easy compared to the lack of confidence I had. I didn’t come from the “swim world” and never swam competitively. This was a whole new world for me, and I questioned if I was in the right industry. My background had been in “people” through sales and customer service not in aquatics. I would never have described myself as any type of teacher. Besides, I didn’t work with kids, I worked with adults. So, this truly was a whole new experience for me. What I found early on is that I had a passion and ability to equip parents/caregivers while accomplishing the goal of getting these kiddos safer in the water. The two objectives worked together beautifully.

My next big obstacle came as we began to grow the team of instructors. It was challenging to shift my thought process to “managing” and not “doing.” I was learning how to duplicate myself and brand Little Flippers Swim, in other words, move away from Laura George with Little Flippers Swim. It has been so rewarding to see our team grow and fuel their passion for connecting with swimmers and their families! I love it when an “instructor request” comes in for them and not for me!

What advice do I have for a young woman starting her journey? Find a circle of people that you can brainstorm with, dream with and fail with. Through this process, I learned to embrace how God wired me and not try to be someone else. I know my areas/gifts that I excel in and I certainly know where my weaknesses are. I have sought people that can help me in those shortcomings, but most importantly, I have a safe group of women who soar and fail right alongside me.

We’d love to hear more about Little Flippers Swim.
We are a survival-based swim school that offers lessons from 6 months to adults. Our primary focus is to get your swimmer, whether a child or adult, safer in and around the water. Little Flippers Swim is unique in that we offer two different types of experiences. We offer a residential and commercial experience through our two locations. With the two locations, are able to offer weekly, year-round lessons in addition to intensive (four or eight days) consecutive classes on a seasonal basis. Although we specialize in survival-based swim lessons, we do offer private and group classes for adults as well as swim camps. This past summer we launched TEC Camp, our swim camp focused on cross training for athletes in their “off-season.”

What am I most proud of? Our personal connection! We love our swim families and we take pride in knowing your swimmer’s names and connecting with your family. As an active instructor, I love spending time meeting our families and personally having a hand in the training process with our instructors. Making our swim school family experience is our top priority!

Which women have inspired you in your life? Why?
This is a tough one… I’d have to say that it’s the small group of women of faith that love me unconditionally, challenge my thinking and don’t let me stay in the same place without growing. We are moms, wives, sisters, friends who meet weekly. They inspire me to be the best version of me while providing a safe, authentic place where I can be real, honest and transparent.

Contact Info:

• Website: littleflippersaz.com
• Phone: 480.244.8669
• Email: info@littleflippersaz.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/LittleFlippersAZ
• Facebook: facebook.com/LittleFlippersAZ

Image Credit:
Sarah Bel Gray, Amy E Roberts, Erin Norlander

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