Business partners Tracy Townend, 40, and Jo Stone, 38, used their love of swimming to set up Puddle Ducks Franchising (www.puddleducks-swimming.co.uk) in 2002 to teach babies and small children how to swim. They tell Mothers Who Work how they turned around their business after making a loss in the first year.
What was the motivating factor for starting your own business?
T: Being able to manage my own time.? Working in partnership with my friend who also has children the same age.? Having responsibility for all aspects of the business.? The smallest profit is worth so much more than a salary!
J: Being in control of how/when I spent my working time away from my children was important. Also it had been a dream of mine since leaving university that I would run my own business and it seemed the perfect opportunity.
What are the best bits about working again?
T: I enjoy working, but having children was one of the best things I ever did.? To now find myself in a job that is as flexible as this one is great.? I don?t miss any important activities with my children, am able to do most school runs, am able to work from home at times to suit me (I work some evenings and during school hours).? The partnership works really well ? we share the workload, ideas, support each other when necessary and are still the best of friends.? The combination of friendship and a business partnership really blurs the lines between the two so that we often will cook or childcare for each other, go out socially together as well as work together.? Puddle Ducks often slips into conversations when we are out, but home life often slips into conversations when we are working.? Yet we can go on holiday for two weeks together with both families having a great time and the business never being mentioned once.
J: I can?t agree more with Tracy – in the early days, with two small children, working almost gave me a little time off, chance to focus on something different and use my brain again to solve real life problems.
Running a business can be a mixed bag sometimes. What have been you highs and lows so far?
T: We are loving growing our franchise business and seeing our franchisees (currently they too are all Mums) become highly successful running a Puddle Ducks Franchise. seeing our ethos spread (and actually working!) as the company grows is something that gives us a buzz every day.? I still get excited when I get a new customer enquiry from a recommendation from a friend, or a new franchise enquiry.
Although we always turn disappointment around, it is still hard to take.? I think the worst is negative feedback from a customer.? Fortunately it doesn?t happen often and is usually due to events outside of our control, but I always get a sinking feeling when a customer has something bad to say about us.? However, usually after phoning them and thanking them for taking the trouble to contact us I feel a lot better that at least we know there is an issue!
J: The highs have certainly been making it work. Just the smile on the small children (and their parents) as they enjoy the water is so rewarding. When a three year old swims five metres independently with a constant grin,? it creates such a high.
Of course, there are the lows when lots need doing in the business, there is only you to do it, the children need feeding, the house needs hovering etc?but achieving it all is another high.
What is available to mothers now that you wish you had access to when your family was young?
T: I thought I was lucky to be given six months maternity leave by my previous company, but I did have to return to work for six months after that to receive it.? That was a difficult time, even though I only returned part-time.? I think it is fabulous that all new mothers are entitled to 12 months now.? The amount of information on the internet has also exploded in the last seven years and this includes information about all aspects of childcare, activities, support groups etc.? Nobody needs to feel alone dealing with any aspect of raising a child now.
J: I was lucky enough to take one year off from my previous company before I started Puddle Ducks, although I only got paid for the first three months. The extra maternity pay mums get now is fantastic.
How have you managed to stay on top of your career with the demands of motherhood?
T: By choosing a career and a business partner who had the same attitude as me to work-life balance.? I honestly don?t think I could have continued in a large corporation at a level that interested me without far bigger sacrifices to the family.? My children understand what Puddle Ducks is all about, they know the teachers and the office staff and have watched classes.? They even make up songs and ideas for me and as toddlers they would act out being a swimming teacher.? My girls still believe they will take over Puddle Ducks ?when they grow up?.? I have been a better mother, and offered my two girls a role model that I think is better than it would have been if I had either disappeared into a corporate world all day, or if I had just been a stay-at-home mother whose life revolved around their activities.
J: Ditto!
What has been the high point along the way?
T: We keep getting more and more high points!? Our first full class, each new pool, teacher or franchisee, a complimentary email, getting awarded a distinction for quality from a National Governing body.? So long as Puddle Ducks is recognised by staff, customers, franchisees and external bodies as a professional and motivational swim school that offers some of the best lessons in the country, then I am permanently buzzing to think that I am responsible for that.
J: As Tracy says, I can?t add much more, but simply achieving what my goal was (to have a job that fitted into school hours with a good income by the time Katy started school). The icing on the cake is that I see lots of my children, its stimulating, challenging and varied work,? I love it, our staff, franchisees and customers love it. What more can I ask for?
What is your worst experience along the way?
T: Probably the biggest low was when we were kicked out of the only pool we were teaching in, with no notice.? We didn?t know on that day whether we had a business or not!? We spent two evenings phoning and refunding all our customers.? However, we always have believed that ?everything happens for a reason? and we were able to finish the term at another pool who then continued to hire to us.? We learnt some important lessons and now hire from seven different pools.
J: I can?t agree more with Tracy.
Any tips for expectant mums, or mothers who feel that you can’t have a successful career and a happy family life at the same time?
T: My tip is ?do what feels right?.? What is right for me, isn?t right for another mother.? Everyone has different definitions of ?successful career?, different requirements for a ?happy family life? and of course different financial and social commitments already.? As a new parent we get so much conflicting advice and feel so many conflicting emotions.? Finding someone to chat to and working out what feels right for you, is really important.? You can still expect to feel guilty (all mothers do) ? but not all the time!? Children need to feel loved and supported.? I think that each mother needs to ensure that having children has enhanced their life ? whether that means paying for childcare so that they can still work in their current career, or juggling a new and more flexible career and childcare arrangements, or taking a total career break.? No decision needs to be forever ? so stay flexible!
J: Tracy has said everything I believe too. What we have done is built our business up, flexibly changing our working pattern around our children?s needs, which was what we both wanted.? My advice would be to do you want to do, not what you think everyone else wants you to do.
