Today we’d like to introduce you to Heidi Burnett.
Hi Heidi, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When I was age 15, I was introduced to infant survival. My twin cousins were enrolled in lessons and learned to rollback and float at 9 months old. At 15, I didn’t appreciate nor understand how important the skills the twins were learning really were, but as they got older, their were incredible swimmers and always floated, I knew nothing different. They didn’t fear water and they always seemed safe because they could swim float swim. Fast forward several cousins, nieces, family and friends throughout the years, I finally had my own children. I enrolled them in lessons and was so intrigued about how to teach it, I then trained and received my certification to in 2001. By 2005, eager to learn more, I trained to become a Master Instructor. This required approximately 160 hours of additional academic training and in-water training with a Senior Master Instructor. This certification allowed me to train adults the methodology so they could become instructors. After 20 + trainings, mentoring over 25 instructors, I was eager to dive in for additional training that allowed me to train instructors to become Master Instructors. In 2010, I completed the certification and became a Senior Master Instructor, while teaching my own students in my community and building my own clientele throughout the years. I left the company I worked with for 12 years and started my own company that is now swimsprout. I currently have 17 instructors and mentor them through their development to be the best version they can be to their community and the children they teach.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Being an entrepreneur is NOT a smooth road. You have to stay focused on your one year, 3 year and long term goals. You have to find a mentor that can guide you through learning curves, be willing to take corrective criticism while knowing that person has your best interest at heart and genuinely wants to see you succeed. You have to be self- disciplined and driven, work behind the scenes when no one is watching to meet those goals. If you do not, there is no one out there who will do it for you. There will be no paycheck, no vacation, no reward until you execute your vision.
Struggles along the way. Growing, evolving and members of your team not growing with you. Accepting the fact that people will come and go and being resilient enough to keep moving forward.
Time management amongst my team members, friends and family. Finding a balance.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My superpower is drowning prevention. I teach infants, toddlers and young children independent swimming and floating skills so if they meet the water alone, they have a fighting chance of survival. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1-4. When a child falls in the water fully clothed, if they have not been taught how to go from a face down position to face up position and float, they drown. Some children live but most die or become brain dead. It is a preventable tragedy that makes me sick to my stomach when I hear or see a child has drowned on the the news.
I love the methodology, I love to teach a child the skills, I love training new instructors to have superpowers. I love mentoring my team and I love teaching the ongoing development and watching the instructors on my team become more effective and efficient so they can reach more children and families.
I am most proud when I hear how my team works together without me being aware. I feel proud when I hear they reach out to one another to troubleshoot a troublesome student and feel they have a support system other than me.
I think what sets swimsprout apart is that I take pride in articulating what I am doing every step throughout a lesson to a client and most importantly, articulating to my team of instructors. When I hear one of them speak to their clients very clear information in Layman’s terms then watching them teach the client how to work with their child and our superpower is transferred from instructor to parent- we ARE winning. Being able to coach a new mom and/or dad through lessons with their child so they walk away from their time with us more educated, sets swimsprout apart from most other swim programs .
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Self – motivated
Disciplined
Dedicated
Stubborn and persistant =)
Pricing:
- Registration Fee- 100.00 for medical review
- Weekly prices vary from 90-100.00 in the Central Florida area
- 28-32 lessons for the average child
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.swimsprout.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swimsprout
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063522551581
