Meet Annette Tomina Bommarito of Aqua-Tots Swim Schools

Today we’d like to introduce you to Annette Tomina Bommarito. 

Hi Annette, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I started working in franchising for another Franchisor after repeatedly getting laid off as a Social Worker in the non-profit industry. I worked in Social Work for a few years but due to budget cuts, I would repeatedly get laid off and re-hired every few months, which was very frustrating. I wanted to try something new, so I went to work for a friend of mine who had started a franchise. When I started with him, he had 11 locations, and when I left, he had 200 locations and I had worked my way up to be his VP of Operations. I began consulting for small local franchises that were trying to scale their businesses larger here in the Detroit market. From there, I found myself so busy with clients that I was unable to take on any new clients or grow in any way. My clients made it very clear that they only wanted to work with me and I knew that would be very difficult, so I began to look into franchising opportunities for myself. I initially was interested in Goldfish because I loved their program and think that swim lessons are a lifesaving skill that every child should have. Unfortunately, at the time there was no opportunity for me to get involved in it without having to relocate, which I did not want to do because I love living near my family. By chance, I happened to be visiting a friend of mine in Arizona shortly after and she mentioned Aqua-Tots Swim Schools to me, which I had not heard of. I went to lunch with one of the co-founders, Paul, while I was in visiting in Arizona and was just love at first sight with the company. After that, I visited several of the Aqua-Tots franchises around the country and just fell in love and I knew that it was going to be Aqua-Tots for me. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road at all, I cried every day for one year when I opened my first Aqua-Tots location. Nothing in life is easy, and I wake up every single day ready for the challenge. I love what I do with all my heart and my passion for this job has been what has driven me for the last 10 years. My first major challenge in this journey was finding funding to open my first Aqua-Tots location. No bank would give me a loan because the Aqua-Tots franchise was still so young at the time and was not a proven concept yet. The first struggle for me was having to ask for help from my family, and the second was how scared I was to lose their money that they put up for me to be able to open my first swim school. For the first 6 months, we lost money, I did not take a paycheck, and every day I was petrified that I was going to make my family homeless. Then we finally started doing well and from there we have been able to build the business up to what it is today and I could not be more thankful. Today, as the world has changed, we face an entirely different kind of struggle, which is staffing. Like many local businesses, it is something that we struggle with every day. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Aqua-Tots Swim Schools offers comprehensive swim curriculum for children as early as four months old. Our most popular service is our 30-minute group lessons, which are a 4:1 student-teacher ratio. Our main focus is safety, so our class levels are based entirely on skill instead of age after a child reaches 2.5 years of age. We are proud to offer year-round, indoor swim facilities with a pool heated to 92 degrees where children can become safe and confident swimmers by completing the proven Aqua-Tots curriculum. Our program has 8 levels, followed by Swim Club for swimmers interested in competitive swim. We don’t consider any child to be a safe swimmer until they graduate through Level 6, and we also offer 1 on 1 lessons for children with special needs. 

One thing that sets us apart from other franchisors is that as an owner, I work side by side with my team and do all the same tasks that I expect of them. No task is too small. A lot of people think that franchising is an easy thing to do, you just get the keys and open the doors and expect the business to come. I have so much love for what I do and that passion drives me to work in my businesses every single day. I am most proud of my staff that has been with me for years and have worked alongside me in this journey. We are a small, local, family-run business. We love our staff. We love our customers. We love what we do and we always try to continue to grow and be better than we were the day before. 

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Find a mentor or two to guide you! A mentor can be so helpful in many ways. They can keep you humble, grounded, and sane. Starting out can be very scary, but my biggest advice would be to just jump in feet first and do it. 

Pricing:

• 2 Group Lessons per week- $208 per month
• 3 Group Lessons per week- $307 per month
• Sibling Discounts available
• First Responder Discounts available

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aqua-tots.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aquatotsmi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AquaTotsBerkley
• Other: https://linktr.ee/aquatotsmi