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Pacing the Growth of your Franchise with Chris and Andrew McCuiston of Goldfish Swim School

Chris McCuiston, with the help of his wife and high school sweetheart, Jenny McCuiston, co-founded Goldfish Swim School in 2006 in their hometown of Birmingham, Michigan. Both he and Jenny realized the lack of quality swim lessons in the area and using his degree in finance from Michigan State University, and her background as a U.S. Olympic Trial qualifier in swimming, the two set out to create a swim school that was fun, approachable and focused on water safety. Now with 86 schools nationwide (and one in Canada), following its foray into franchising in 2009, Goldfish Swim School is on track for continued advancement with 119 additional locations in development.

Andrew McCuiston, President of Goldfish Swim School, joined his brother (Chris) and sister-in-law, Jenny, in their mission in 2008. At the time, Andrew was working as a customer service manager for a water bottling company in Southern California. After stopping home in Birmingham on his way back from a business trip to New York, he knew he wanted to be part of his family’s growing business and quit his job 48 hours later. Four months later he was at Goldfish full time and helped to launch the brand’s franchise opportunity in 2009. Since then he’s helped their many locations open through their robust franchise opportunity.

Key Takeaways:

[0:18] Today’s episode of Franchise Euphoria is brought to you by IndyFranchiseLaw.com, a leading resource in the franchise space. Head over to IndyFranchiseLaw.com learn more!

[0:59] Josh introduces today’s guests, Chris and Andrew McCuiston, the franchisors for Goldfish Swim School.

[3:06] Josh welcomes Chris and Andrew to Franchise Euphoria.

[6:51] Currently, the only corporate location is Goldfish’s original location which was opened in 2006.

[8:13] When Goldfish first opened their doors, they had about 500 students enrolled in their programs and they often start kids in their programs as young as three months old.

[11:25] The company that assisted Goldfish with their initial franchising efforts gave them some false expectations for the growth of their franchise.

[13:59] Goldfish has really focused on honing their brand and tweaking it through the years to give off the best image and culture for their clients.

[15:22] One of the main goals Goldfish has tried to maintain is being a premier swim brand while also not being unnecessarily expensive and therefore be inclusive to families of all types.

[17:08] For Andrew, one of the biggest challenges he faced when joining the Goldfish team was operating within a family business to a certain degree.

[21:03] Chris reflects on the benefits of how they stood firm on their beliefs and values through the franchising process which paid off in the end despite some frustrating growth periods where they could have easily folded and made concessions.

[24:13] Goldfish’s current preference is to have multi-unit franchisees that has lived and grown up in a specific market and can build a team within the area.

[25:37] After years of working remotely, Goldfish just established their corporate headquarters which makes business operations easy to carry out and ultimately better services the franchisees.

[27:12] Goldfish currently has 89 locations open with over a hundred more currently signed on to open locations in the future.

[29:06] You can learn more about Goldfish Swim School by visiting their Instagram profile, Facebook page, or their website (all linked below).

[30:32] Thanks for listening, and please, reach out to Josh anytime through email at josh@franchiseeuphoria.com. If you enjoyed this interview, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Mentioned in This Episode:

josh@franchiseeuphoria.com

www.franchiseeuphoria.com

www.indyfranchiselaw.com

Instagram.com/GoldfishSwimSchool

GoldfishSwimSchool.com

Facebook.com/GoldfishSwimSchool

Picture of Josh Brown

Josh Brown

Hi! I’m Josh Brown, franchise attorney and creator of the Franchise Euphoria podcast. I’m just your average guy who loves to golf, eat hibachi, and immerse myself in the ever-expanding franchise world.

My goal is to navigate entrepreneurs and all people interested in the current events of franchises through all the hottest topics and most popular tools for success. Going on four years now, Franchise Euphoria is hotter than ever and ready to help you plan and execute a pathway to success.

Picture of Josh Brown

Josh Brown

Hi! I’m Josh Brown, franchise attorney and creator of the Franchise Euphoria podcast. I’m just your average guy who loves to golf, eat hibachi, and immerse myself in the ever-expanding franchise world.

My goal is to navigate entrepreneurs and all people interested in the current events of franchises through all the hottest topics and most popular tools for success. Going on four years now, Franchise Euphoria is hotter than ever and ready to help you plan and execute a pathway to success.

pardee2003 from United States
11/16/2019
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Great and applicable information from professionals in the franchise world that are doing it every day. I’ve listened to 3 episodes: Gutter Brothers, Woofies, and Cycle Bar. Enjoyed all and looking forward to hearing more.
WTutor311 from United States
8/30/2019
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Highly recommend. Great guests. Filled with tons of helpful information.
Katie Joy B. from United States
7/16/2019
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Josh and his wide variety of knowledgeable guests are truly rockstars! They deliver quality (and free!) franchise knowledge and advice in each and every episode. The great advice they provide, combined with the engaging way they deliver it had me hooked from the very first listen. Thanks for putting out such a stellar show Josh - keep up the great work!
Jordan gross from United States
07/15/2019
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This podcast provides the advice necessary to start building, growing, and scaling your business TODAY! The host asks probing questions of his guests that add value to the listeners in an immediately implementable way!
VPugliese from United States
07/15/2019
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What do you get when you combine business savvy, legal expertice and a great personality? You get the ultimate podcast for franchise owners. Josh Brown brings it all togehter perfectly with Franchise Euphoria. Not only does he possess all of the skills and abiliites above, but he has great guests, asks awesome questions and created the ideal podcast for this niche. If you have a franchise, or are considering it, subscibe to this show and consume all of the content!
Mick James from United States
06/05/2019
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Started listening to Josh's podcast after the wife and I decided to buy a franchise and I quickly went through about 200 episodes on 1.5x & 2x, before signing on to purchase a franchise. Josh's info was an invaluable part of our decision to buy, and after listening to so many episodes, I felt like I knew and trusted him on a personal level, so it was a no-brainer to enlist his services when it came time to review the franchise agreement. Josh was super easy to talk to and very empathetic to our needs, and being first time business owners, we needed all the empathy we could get. Josh helped us negotiate a great deal with the franchisor and we were very happy with his services. Great podcast, great guy, great service to anyone involved in the franchise world!
Dean575 from United States
06/04/2019
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Very interesting discussion. I found the information valuable.
Summieysum from United States
05/06/2019
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I've just completed the legal process of franchising my business and have now begun selling franchises. Just found this podcast and it's an incredible resource! Great content and Josh is a very engaging host. Highly recommend for franchisors and franchisees.
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