Notes
Notes for owners of community and sport businesses.
Plain writing about what these businesses are worth, how a sale actually works, and why third places matter. Written for the people who built them.
New notes publish at 9:00 AM Central. Subscribe by RSS to get them as they go up.
Selling your business |
How to Sell a Swim Club: A Founder's Guide to Valuation, Timing, and Deal Structure
Most swim club owners never planned to sell.
Read the guide, 4 min
Valuation
What Is My Swim School Worth? A Guide to Valuing Swim Clubs and Learn-to-Swim Businesses
"What's my club worth?" is usually the first question a swim club owner asks once they start thinking seriously about selling, bringing on a partner, or just understanding their own equity.
| 3 min
Succession
Succession Planning for Swim Club Owners: What Happens When You're Ready to Step Away
Ask a swim club founder what their succession plan is, and most of the time you'll get a long pause. The overwhelming majority of U.S.
| 3 min
Deal structures
Earn-Outs, Seller Financing, and Staged Buyouts: Deal Structures for Selling a Swim Club
If you've never sold a business before, the language around deal structures can feel like its own language.
| 3 min
Non-profit clubs
Non-Profit to For-Profit Conversion (and Vice Versa): What Swim Club Owners Need to Know
A large share of competitive swim clubs in the U.S. operate as non-profits, often because that's how USA Swimming club membership and local tax rules made the most sense decades ago.
| 3 min
Selling your business
Signs It's Time to Sell Your Swim Club or Swim School
Most swim club owners don't wake up one day and decide to sell.
| 3 min
Selling your business
How to Keep Your Swim Club's Culture Alive After a Sale
Ask a swim club owner what they're most afraid of when it comes to selling, and it's rarely the money.
| 3 min
Third places
What is a third place, and why they are worth buying
Neither home nor work. The pool deck, the gym floor, the rink lobby. Why these places matter and why they keep quietly closing.
| 6 min
Operating
The Business Side of Coaching: Why So Many Swim Club Founders Burn Out
Nobody starts a swim club because they love billing software, lease negotiations, and insurance renewals.
| 3 min
Valuation
Swim Club Real Estate and Lease Risk: What Every Owner Should Understand Before Selling
Ask any experienced swim club buyer what they look at first, and most will say the same thing: not the roster, not the revenue, not even the coaching staff, but the facility.
| 3 min
Selling your business
Succession planning for gym and facility owners
Four ways out of a facility you built, what each one actually costs you, and the mistakes that shrink your options.
| 7 min
Selling your business
Buying a Swim Club: What Investors and Acquirers Look For
If you're an owner curious about what a buyer is actually evaluating when they look at your club, or you're simply trying to understand your own business better, it helps to see th...
| 4 min
Valuation
How community sports businesses are valued
Earnings, multiples, real estate, and the handful of details that decide whether your club sells at the top or bottom of the range.
| 7 min