Business swims into success in just 3 months
Pediatric Survival Swim of Hillsborough County
Bay area parents may not realize that last year Hillsborough County ranked number one in the state for child deaths due to drowning. It is a list that no county wants to be on, but drowning is the number one leading cause of death in children ages one to four.
These facts inspired teacher Allison Hogue to open Pediatric Survival Swim with a goal of knocking Hillsborough County out of that number one spot.
“That’s very important to me,” Hogue said. “All four of my kids are great swimmers, and I don’t think I could have said that back in 2014 when we purchased a home for the first time in Florida that had a pool. Those are very scary numbers and real numbers that I don’t think a lot of parents in this area are aware of.”
Pediatric Survival Swim provides survival skill and aquatic problem-solving skill instruction for children ages 6 months to 8 to 10 years of age.
With a background in education, Hogue had the instruction aspect down, but had zero experience in owning a business. So she turned to the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida and met certified business consultant Kyle King who helped her through the process of starting her business.
“It was really easy to utilize the resources available with Kyle and the Florida SBDC at USF,” she said. “They are so helpful and really reach out to me to make sure that all my questions are answered and providing me with those resources to accomplish what I need to really hit my numbers the way I did in such a fast time.”
In just three months, Hogue went from just one client to reaching full capacity.
“I’ve been able to really branch out and hit my max capacity as far as students and helping families in my community. Now I have a waiting list, which is great because that means that we’re helping children learn how to survive in the water,” she said.
Hogue is just getting started, but has big plans for Pediatric Survival Swim and her quest to help knock Hillsborough County out of that number one spot. She plans to continue working with King and the Florida SBDC at USF to create a marketing plan and a business strategy for further growth.
