Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:37 — 38.5MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | RSS | More
Nathan Boehm – Diventures – Sun Prairie, WI
On Knowing Where to Set the Bar: “Always the goal for the first day is not to cry in the water. You know, set it nice and low..“
Nathan will share with us the fascinating growth story of Diventures from a modest beginning to an enterprise spanning 18 locations nationwide offering an array of aquatic services, including a robust swim school and exciting scuba diving adventures.
Nathan dives into the intricacies of managing such a complex operation, touching on everything from the difference between dry suits and wetsuits to the challenges of teaching swimming techniques effectively. He’ll also discuss the importance of building lasting relationships with clients and how he’s helping the business thrive by fostering a community through swimming, whether they’re four months old or part of the senior citizens’ classes.
Listen as Nathan explains the ins and outs of getting both kids and adults in the pool and learning how to swim comfortably and while having fun.
Enjoy!
Visit Nathan at: https://www.diventures.com/locations/sun-prairie/
00:00 Classroom work then certification vacations to dive.
04:55 Transition ideas from womb to water, baby excels.
07:51 Living in tent after rent increase, job searching.
12:29 “Rewarding aquatics work with special needs children.”
15:23 Comparing strength and swimming technique casually.
16:35 I run the business and have employees.
20:32 Testing water pH using colorful science kit.
24:51 Parents can start swim lessons at age three.
26:26 Free trial swim lessons offered for parents.
30:23 Flippers used for fun and better swimming.
33:57 Coordinate movements, maintain momentum, and express emotion.
Podcast Transcription:
Nathan Boehm [00:00:00]:
You can totally default the doggy paddle. Just make sure you’re not doggy paddling like this. And you want to have your arms out a little bigger.
James Kademan [00:00:04]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:00:05]:
So you can move more water, man.
James Kademan [00:00:06]:
That’s great advice.
Nathan Boehm [00:00:06]:
No, you can’t. You can’t be a t rex and swim, right? No t rex arms allowed. You need big arms.
James Kademan [00:00:11]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:00:11]:
You need bigger. Unless you have a tail. If you have a tail, then you could be a dinosaur. So, yeah, most kids don’t have a tail either, so that’s usually what I tell them. Yeah, if you have a tail, you can totally swim however you’d like.
James Kademan [00:00:22]:
You have found authentic business adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle, stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link. Found@drawincustomers.com we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie, and today I am welcoming, preparing to learn from Nathan Boehm, the aquatics experience manager at Dive ventures in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. So, Nathan, how is it going today?
Nathan Boehm [00:00:50]:
It’s going good. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I was looking forward to this.
James Kademan [00:00:53]:
Yeah, this is exciting. Aquatics experience manager. Tell me about that.
Nathan Boehm [00:00:57]:
Yeah, so, yeah, I handle the day to day operations of the diventures in the swim school side of things, so enrolling people into swim lessons, training the instructors, overseeing the swim program, and making sure everybody’s having a happy and fun time. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:01:12]:
So diventures, is that franchise or is that so?
Nathan Boehm [00:01:14]:
No, we have one single owner. His name is Dean Hollis. He’s a wonderful man. We started in Omaha, Nebraska.
James Kademan [00:01:19]:
Oh, wow.
Nathan Boehm [00:01:20]:
And then when I came on, and I started in 2020. Yeah, you wouldn’t think of like a swim school dive location, Omaha, Nebraska. But people like to travel, so it helps them.
James Kademan [00:01:27]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:01:28]:
And so, yeah, I came in on 20 June of 2020. We had six locations, and now we’re up to 18 locations across the country.
James Kademan [00:01:37]:
Holy cow.
Nathan Boehm [00:01:37]:
So, yeah, it’s a lot bigger than most people think, but yeah, it’s super been super fun and watching the growth of the company.
James Kademan [00:01:41]:
That is crazy, girl.
Nathan Boehm [00:01:42]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:01:42]:
So was the idea. Tell me what the idea is.
Nathan Boehm [00:01:45]:
Yeah, so the idea is we’re just all inclusive for everything. One stop shop for everything related to the water. So I get you in. Young is two months for a baby in me class. If you’re really feeling like you want to do that. Absolutely, come on in. And then we teach you through swim lessons. You can decide to go into the swim team route where we have preps and things like that.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:01]:
Or if you want to go into snorkeling, potentially free diving, and then ultimately maybe scuba diving and traveling with us. Is that so? We try to keep you for a customer, for life.
James Kademan [00:02:09]:
Nice. So traveling. So you take people to different.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:12]:
Yeah. So different part. Yeah. So that’s a different, like, different section of the company. We have a whole travel department that. Yeah, we do, like, 150 plus trips a year around the world.
James Kademan [00:02:20]:
Wow. Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:21]:
And scuba diving. Yeah. All fun resorts.
James Kademan [00:02:24]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:24]:
Concierge level service. Very fun stuff.
James Kademan [00:02:26]:
Very cool.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:26]:
Yeah, it’s been super fun.
James Kademan [00:02:27]:
Yeah. I was thinking dive ventures in Sun Prairie. We have water.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:32]:
Yeah, we’re not. Yeah, we’re not doing a ton. No, it’s more of just, like, to get you the prep work and the basis to then be able to go and explore the world.
James Kademan [00:02:39]:
All right, so tell me about the population that uses this. Let’s just dive into the scuba diving portion of it.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:46]:
Sure.
James Kademan [00:02:47]:
Are there a lot of people that do that?
Nathan Boehm [00:02:48]:
Oh, yeah, there’s a lot. Yeah. People are always just looking for a new adventure and new things like that. Yeah. Okay, so we typically. We just started our scuba program here up in Madison at our Fitchburg location. So we’re doing Triscuba. So it’s just like you to just get.
Nathan Boehm [00:02:59]:
Dip your toes and play in the water a little bit. You’d be able to stand up if you get scared. Nothing too crazy like that.
James Kademan [00:03:04]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:03:04]:
But, yeah, just to get your toes wet, do the classroom work and things like that. And then we can go do, like, we have these things called certification vacations where you can go down to, like, cozumel, Mexico, or down to Florida to get your open water search so you don’t have to, like, dive in, like, lake Menona or Lake Mendota or, like, devil’s Lake. So there’s different options along those lines and things.
James Kademan [00:03:22]:
So you can go there somewhere warm. Exactly.
Nathan Boehm [00:03:24]:
Yeah, that’s the idea. Cold and you can’t see anything. Yeah, yeah.
James Kademan [00:03:28]:
Is the water so cloudy that you really can’t see anything?
Nathan Boehm [00:03:30]:
It depends. It depends on your ability to, like, control your buoyancy so you’re not messing with the bottom and the silt and things along those lines, because if you kick up the dirt, it’s just. It all goes to poop pretty quickly. So, yeah, that was my experience when I learned how to dive.
James Kademan [00:03:41]:
Oh, really?
Nathan Boehm [00:03:42]:
That was my experience when I learned how to dive in Lake Superior.
James Kademan [00:03:44]:
So, yeah, in Lake Superior.
Nathan Boehm [00:03:45]:
That’s crazy cold. Yeah, it was crazy cold. Yeah, I have, I think I still might have the record for coldest dive in the company in a wetsuit.
James Kademan [00:03:52]:
Wow.
Nathan Boehm [00:03:52]:
So it was, like, 46 degrees.
James Kademan [00:03:54]:
Oh, my gosh.
Nathan Boehm [00:03:55]:
No one. Yeah, that’s for a class.
James Kademan [00:03:56]:
Okay. So I don’t know much about as far as what you can sustain.
Nathan Boehm [00:04:00]:
That’s about. That’s about the max. It doesn’t get much. Yeah, that’s where most people are. Yeah, they’re. Most people are like, no, we’re gonna use the dry suits. And all the instructors had dry suits and things like that, so. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:04:10]:
Oh, what’s the difference between a dry suit and a wetsuit?
Nathan Boehm [00:04:12]:
You stay dry in a dry suit.
James Kademan [00:04:14]:
I didn’t even realize you got.
Nathan Boehm [00:04:16]:
Yeah. Yeah. It kind of goes into you. So there’s, like a. There’s, like, a little bit of water between you and the wetsuit that heats up to your body temperature, so then that curates a little buffer between you and the water.
James Kademan [00:04:25]:
Oh, I just assumed you stayed dry.
Nathan Boehm [00:04:28]:
No. Yeah. Well, that’s good. Yeah, yeah, they’re in the dry suit. It’ll be a little more awkward. So they just kind of, like, little movie magic. Yeah. Just casually under it.
Nathan Boehm [00:04:40]:
Yeah. It would work with a dry suit, but, like, it’s not gonna. It wouldn’t be as, like, movie friendly.
James Kademan [00:04:44]:
All right. Yeah. No wrinkles or anything.
Nathan Boehm [00:04:46]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:04:46]:
Ties in place. Oh, it’s funny.
Nathan Boehm [00:04:49]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:04:50]:
So tell me, two months for swimming. That’s a baby that can’t even.
Nathan Boehm [00:04:55]:
They can’t do nothing. Yeah, correct. But so we’re trying to carry the ideas from when they were in the womb into the water. They’ll still have some kind of memory of that, so just being able to transition that into the pool along those lines and. Yeah, I have a baby currently who’s four months that just started in the program a couple months ago, and absolutely excelling. Always the goal for the first day is not to cry in the water. You know, set it nice and low. Baby knocked out of the park and was even doing amazing back floats with help, obviously, but, yeah, by the end of it, at four months, it was super awesome.
James Kademan [00:05:23]:
Wow.
Nathan Boehm [00:05:24]:
Yeah. Still going in the program, doing wonderful.
James Kademan [00:05:25]:
That’s incredible.
Nathan Boehm [00:05:26]:
Yeah, it’s been super fun and rewarding.
James Kademan [00:05:28]:
So you guys sell the equipment to the flippers, snorkeling.
Nathan Boehm [00:05:31]:
Oh, yeah, yeah. So we have. Yeah, we have. We have, like, the snorkeling equipment here in Madison. Absolutely. And then we can always, like, have something brought in or shipped in from us for all the scuba gear, everything related to that, too. There’s some products over at the Fetchburg location as well.
James Kademan [00:05:43]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:05:43]:
There’s, like, fun bcds and a couple other things there you can. Fun. What is BCD’s buoyancy control device? It’s the vest you put on to go scuba diving so you can, like, kind of float in the water.
James Kademan [00:05:52]:
Really?
Nathan Boehm [00:05:53]:
Yeah. So you can either sink or float up. Yeah, I’m here for you. Yeah, absolutely. No, it’s all good. Yeah, it was interesting talking to Bill Baker, because he didn’t tell me that he had, like, a big love of scuba. So when we chatted, I was like, oh, he knows all about this stuff. Yeah, it was super cool.
James Kademan [00:06:05]:
I had no idea. Yeah, interesting.
Nathan Boehm [00:06:07]:
He’s super into it also.
James Kademan [00:06:09]:
So the pool that you have at diventures in St. Prairie.
Nathan Boehm [00:06:11]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:06:11]:
How deep is that?
Nathan Boehm [00:06:12]:
So that’s the caveat. So that’s why we’re just a swim school right now. So our pool is only four and a half feet deep.
James Kademan [00:06:17]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:06:17]:
So it’s not. But deep enough to do great work for swimming. I can teach anybody anything in that pool. And then it goes to two and a half feet, which I do enjoy. Cause most pools are typically three, so it allows those little kids to be able to stand up on the bottom of the pool, which is super fun, rewarding if you’re trying to, like, grab rings from the bottom of the pool or something along those lines. So, yeah, it’s super fun. I like the pool. It’s always 91 degrees.
Nathan Boehm [00:06:36]:
91. Nice and toasty warm. As long as warm as we can legally have it.
James Kademan [00:06:40]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:06:40]:
So, yeah, super nice and toasty. Yeah, it’s like you switching from, like, an insurance between, like, a regular pool versus, like, a hot tub situation. Right. So hot, a pool can only be so warm, and then it switches into, like, a spa and it needs different chemicals.
James Kademan [00:06:55]:
And things grow.
Nathan Boehm [00:06:57]:
Yeah, things grow and do all the crazy stuff in the water.
James Kademan [00:06:59]:
Yeah, got it. All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:07:00]:
Absolutely.
James Kademan [00:07:01]:
How do people find you?
Nathan Boehm [00:07:03]:
Usually. Usually word of mouth is what we’ve been really doing because we’re attached to tallgrass senior living center. I just got bought out. But, yeah, usually a lot of word of mouth. Facebook notifications. We just tried. We’re still working on it with this micro influencer company called Hummingbirds. Okay, so that’s been pretty nifty.
Nathan Boehm [00:07:21]:
Just moms that have a rather large audience, and they come in, we give them a couple free swim lessons and some goggles, and they share love and post about us on their socials.
James Kademan [00:07:30]:
Nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:07:31]:
Yeah, it’s been super interesting.
James Kademan [00:07:32]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:07:33]:
And then they magically come. Yeah. Mostly it’s just word of mouth. We’ve been there for a long time, and we’re just kind of hanging out.
James Kademan [00:07:39]:
So tell me, June of 2020, you said?
Nathan Boehm [00:07:42]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:07:42]:
So we’re talking a few months into the pandemic.
Nathan Boehm [00:07:44]:
Yeah, absolutely.
James Kademan [00:07:45]:
When the world is on fire and all that jazz.
Nathan Boehm [00:07:47]:
Yeah. Correct. I was hiding.
James Kademan [00:07:48]:
How did you end up saying, like, hey, I want to work in a place with a pool?
Nathan Boehm [00:07:51]:
Okay. So, like, it really sounds quite comical. So, like, full disclosure, I was living in a tent voluntarily after, like, my rent went up in May. So I was like, I don’t want to move back home. So I’m just. And I live on the backside of campground, and it was super fun, and I loved it. I was doing, like, random work around the campground during the day, and it was just job searching. And me and my partner that I moved here with were just googling literally best places to move outside of once you graduate from college.
Nathan Boehm [00:08:14]:
And Madison kind of ranked in those top five for most of the searches that we looked at. So we were like, okay, let’s look at it. And then her roommate’s boyfriend, now husband, was here, as well. So we’re like, we already have at least one friend couple. So then, yeah, I found this shop, took a bunch of interviews with them around a campfire, which is kind of fun. And then, yeah, we moved down here.
James Kademan [00:08:33]:
Around a campfire.
Nathan Boehm [00:08:34]:
Yeah, because I was living in the woods, so. So I was like, I had a hotspot, so I was taking interviews and, like, doing the phone calls and stuff. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:08:41]:
Here I am thinking it was an in person interview.
Nathan Boehm [00:08:43]:
No, no, these were all remote. Remote. Because it was COVID time. Nobody was. You weren’t able to talk or see anybody or do anything? Like, we. When I first started, we were teaching with face shields on. Yeah, that was a crazy. Oh, yeah, yeah.
James Kademan [00:08:54]:
Oh, that weird.
Nathan Boehm [00:08:56]:
We’re not gonna. Yeah, we don’t need to go to that too much. Yeah, don’t do it, James.
James Kademan [00:09:01]:
Don’t do it.
Nathan Boehm [00:09:02]:
Don’t dive down that rabbit hole. Oh, yeah. It was interesting times, but now we’re back to, like, normal.
James Kademan [00:09:05]:
Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:09:06]:
Very fun.
James Kademan [00:09:07]:
So, were you guys open during that?
Nathan Boehm [00:09:10]:
Yeah. Mm hmm. We shut down. I think they shut down for a few months. The owner paid all the staff.
James Kademan [00:09:15]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:09:15]:
During the closure. And then, yeah, we open it back up, I think, in, like, maybe.
James Kademan [00:09:19]:
So you. When you get hired, did you already know the swimming stuff, or did you?
Nathan Boehm [00:09:23]:
I had a pretty extensive background through working through the wise and a couple park districts. I ran a couple outdoor pools and things along those lines. So I always had like, a really aquatics based background and I was working at a swim school and I was like, I need to, like, figure out what the next level is for my life.
James Kademan [00:09:38]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:09:38]:
So I went back to school. I read. Honestly, it’s kind of funny. I read the bio of my major and I was like, that’s what I want to do.
James Kademan [00:09:46]:
Oh.
Nathan Boehm [00:09:46]:
Only school I applied to got in and I graduated with honors. So it was just like that next stepping stone to get to where I was at now.
James Kademan [00:09:53]:
Nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:09:53]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:09:54]:
Well, that’s cool. So you get hired at the place. At that time, had you ever snorkeled?
Nathan Boehm [00:09:58]:
Yes, I’ve snorkeled. I did snorkeling. I took my scuba diving class at Northern. At Northern Michigan University. And then. Yeah, just been swimming a lot. So then I had to go through, like, their versions of swim school, swim instructors and, like, their level programming, the things along those lines and things like that. So that was a little different.
James Kademan [00:10:14]:
Tell me, this guy starts this place and it sounds like what I’m gonna call explosive growth over the course of the last four years.
Nathan Boehm [00:10:21]:
Absolutely.
James Kademan [00:10:22]:
So how does a guy keep stuff uniform but still comfortable for the location that it’s at?
Nathan Boehm [00:10:29]:
Yeah, so definitely each store director kind of has ownership of their own thing. So then it’s kind of like a spoken hub design through that. So everything is kind of pretty much the same, but everybody has that little bit of flexibility to adapt to their clientele and things along those lines. So, yeah, like, even there’s a slight difference between, like, our east location and our west location of Madison. It’s just because just the pools are different, the environment’s a little bit different, staff are different. So you just kind of flex and flow through that. Yeah, I don’t. Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:10:59]:
Yeah, fair.
James Kademan [00:11:00]:
So the west one, do they have a deeper pool?
Nathan Boehm [00:11:02]:
Their pool’s five and a half, is still shallow water pool. So, like, we purchased land in sun prairie with the intentions of building a new pool.
James Kademan [00:11:08]:
Oh, nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:11:09]:
A little expensive. Deeper with everything. Yes. We’re gonna be 12ft deep, so we can do full scuba service and all those things. 25 yards long for like swim team and things along those lines.
James Kademan [00:11:17]:
Oh, that seems like a big pool.
Nathan Boehm [00:11:18]:
Yeah, it’s gonna be a really big pool. Yeah, I’m super excited about it.
James Kademan [00:11:20]:
All right, that’s a lot of water.
Nathan Boehm [00:11:21]:
So where is that gonna be located? You know where sp utilities is?
James Kademan [00:11:24]:
I do.
Nathan Boehm [00:11:25]:
So, yeah, right over. Right next to it or right in front of it? Right on the main street there. Yeah. Right on. Not the main street location. The one over by 151 behind menards.
James Kademan [00:11:32]:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:11:33]:
So we’re right there. So you’ll see it pop up on 151.
James Kademan [00:11:36]:
Okay. Where all the other buildings.
Nathan Boehm [00:11:37]:
Yeah. Correct. Yes. Yes. We’re gonna be. We’re gonna add ourselves in there, and we’ll have the cool building with this diver on the outside or something along those lines, I’m sure.
James Kademan [00:11:43]:
So how do you find out if there’s a market for expansion or something like that? Figure out, like, hey, other people interested?
Nathan Boehm [00:11:51]:
Yeah. Dean has been. He’s really involved in the dive community as a whole, so just reaching out to mom and pop dive shops and things along those lines, and then we just kind of buy them or take them in as an acquisition and things.
James Kademan [00:12:02]:
Oh, really?
Nathan Boehm [00:12:02]:
This is typically how he’s been doing the last few and handfuls along those lines, yeah. All right, so, yeah.
James Kademan [00:12:07]:
So it sounds like he is an owner still really hands on.
Nathan Boehm [00:12:09]:
Oh, yeah. Super hands on. Yeah, he’s in most of the meetings. He was in the meeting this morning.
James Kademan [00:12:12]:
Oh, wow.
Nathan Boehm [00:12:13]:
Yeah. Just hanging out. Yeah. Always in shorts and flip flops, no matter what. Love him. Okay, great. Nice and relaxed. Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:12:18]:
Ready to go. Goes on trips with people. We’ll just pop in along those lines, too. Yeah. Super exciting.
James Kademan [00:12:22]:
I imagine he’s good at scuba.
Nathan Boehm [00:12:24]:
Yeah. Oh, yeah. The best. The best.
James Kademan [00:12:26]:
Gotcha. So how’s it been working for the company?
Nathan Boehm [00:12:29]:
It’s been super fun and rewarding. It’s a safe place, right? Yeah, yeah, no, it’s been super fun and rewarding, and it just, like, allows me to, like, do what I love and I love to help people. So just being able to help people in an aquatics experience in water and doing whatever has been super fun. And then with the help of diventures, I’ve really grown and learned to love adaptive swim programs. So we currently specialize in teaching special needs kids how to swim. So that’s, like, my bulk of what I personally do in the water. It’s two special needs how to kids how to swim, and it’s been super rewarding and awesome. I have a couple on swim teams now in high school.
James Kademan [00:13:00]:
Wow.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:00]:
Yeah, it’s been pretty cool.
James Kademan [00:13:01]:
I was gonna ask you, what are the ages of the special needs kids.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:03]:
That you work with? Honestly, large scale. So we have some that are over 18 years old. And then I think my youngest one, I think I swim with him in a little bit. I think he’s like, five or six.
James Kademan [00:13:12]:
Oh, wow.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:13]:
Yeah, he’s really young. Yeah. Brad range? Yeah. Start him early and we’ll get him comfortable in the water. So nothing. No crazy accidents or anything happened like that.
James Kademan [00:13:20]:
Nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:20]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:13:21]:
So when you. You’re talking to a guy that, when I was a kid, I was deathly afraid of the water. And I would say, even to a point, not a huge fan.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:30]:
That’s fine.
James Kademan [00:13:30]:
Just not.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:31]:
I have. There’s people like you. You’re not alone in that battle.
James Kademan [00:13:33]:
Yeah. I mean, we never grew up on water or even relatively close to water, so all I know is there’s sharks and water drowns you. And outside of that, you have to drink eight glasses a day or something.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:46]:
Something like that.
James Kademan [00:13:47]:
It’s one of those.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:48]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:13:48]:
Like, water’s evil kind of thing. I don’t even know. It’s an unfounded fear.
Nathan Boehm [00:13:54]:
Yeah, no, absolutely. No. There’s. I even have some adults that still come in, so, like, we’re. We’re one of the few programs that still teach adults.
James Kademan [00:13:59]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:14:00]:
So, yeah, any age, at any stage, I’ll gladly come in. You can come in and teach me. I’ll teach you. You won’t teach me. Lol. But, yeah, super fun. And then, yeah, for you, just. We take it simple.
Nathan Boehm [00:14:09]:
That’s why I love having our small pool nice and shallow. I have a ramp that comes in, too, so we can even just kind of hang out there, start the kids off nice and young in the shallow water.
James Kademan [00:14:18]:
I got taught. I think my wife taught me, and then I took some lessons at this school. Just a few. And it was to the point where I could make a lot of splashes and somewhat move my body. But if I was on the Titanic, I would have died.
Nathan Boehm [00:14:34]:
I mean, the cold water would have got you on the Titanic regardless. So to be fair.
James Kademan [00:14:38]:
Yeah, fair. So anyways, I’m racing my son.
Nathan Boehm [00:14:41]:
Okay.
James Kademan [00:14:42]:
He’s in one lane, I’m in another one, and we’re splash and making whatever. That’s just how I swim. I make a lot of.
Nathan Boehm [00:14:48]:
Yeah, no, that’s really like a diesel truck.
James Kademan [00:14:50]:
I think a lot of noise, but not a lot of motion.
Nathan Boehm [00:14:52]:
You always feel like you’re going a lot slower than water, than you actually are.
James Kademan [00:14:55]:
Well, so this is my point here. This one, there’s a lady third lane over, backstroke, and she’s maintaining with us. And she’s one of these casual. And I look over and I’m just like, what am I doing? She’s got to think we’re crazy.
Nathan Boehm [00:15:13]:
Absolutely.
James Kademan [00:15:14]:
So probably am.
Nathan Boehm [00:15:16]:
No, you’re not crazy. Yeah. No. And it’s all about we always try to practice proper form over just pure muscle and power.
James Kademan [00:15:23]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:15:23]:
You’re not, you know, you’re not a scrawny guy yourself, so. Yeah, you’re just muscling through versus. That lady’s got the proper form and she’s just kind of gingerly. Yeah, she’s going through because, yeah, I’m sure if I slam next to you and you’re swimming like that, I could, like, almost not move at all and just kind of keep up with you and then not be too crazy.
James Kademan [00:15:37]:
Yeah. I was looking at her and I’m like, you could go across the Atlantic and probably not even be out of breath.
Nathan Boehm [00:15:42]:
Yeah, those iron man people.
James Kademan [00:15:43]:
I can’t even.
Nathan Boehm [00:15:44]:
The pool. Yeah, yeah, no, super funny. I can totally help you and just refine those skills a little bit.
James Kademan [00:15:50]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:15:51]:
Yeah. Here for you.
James Kademan [00:15:52]:
So when you are training people to be on the swim team, is there ever. I don’t know exactly how training works for swim teams or anything like that. You say one thing to this kid, you ever get counter from the coach.
Nathan Boehm [00:16:05]:
Most of it is along the same line. So, yeah, there’s. There’s standard set rules that we follow for swim team and we just start those. We just implement those rules at a younger age. So, yeah, there’s usually not, like, too much. We’re like, they say this and I say that. We’re pretty much usually all aligned. I’ve never really had any problems with that.
Nathan Boehm [00:16:22]:
We’re pretty aligned with the storm aquatics as well as the sun prairie piranhas as well.
James Kademan [00:16:26]:
Oh, nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:16:27]:
So, yeah, we kind of feed our kids to both of them depending on what that kid is looking for.
James Kademan [00:16:31]:
Very cool.
Nathan Boehm [00:16:31]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:16:32]:
Tell me about the other people that work there and what they do.
Nathan Boehm [00:16:35]:
So, yeah, I run that, and then I have my employment. Lisa, she is like my number two. She takes care of the water fitness ladies in the morning. Super awesome doer of all the things. And then I have a bunch of amazing instructors and I can rifle them off. I got one of my employees, Anneliese. I have Jen, Abby. I have two abbies.
Nathan Boehm [00:16:55]:
I have Kayla and Olivia. And Steve is one of my water fitness employees. I assume you know him. Steve Stocker. Yeah, yeah. He does my water fitness employees as well as myself.
James Kademan [00:17:05]:
I didn’t know that.
Nathan Boehm [00:17:06]:
Yeah. So he keeps my pool super clean. Great guy. Love him. Always a good member of the community. Always spreading the good word of adventures as well, through everything that he does. Steve is literally everywhere. Absolutely.
Nathan Boehm [00:17:17]:
Absolutely. But he takes really good care of our pool. It is a little older facility, and he just does a great job of doing it.
James Kademan [00:17:22]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:17:22]:
And I’m very fortunate to have him on my team.
James Kademan [00:17:24]:
So this was not a diventurist facility.
Nathan Boehm [00:17:26]:
No. So he got bought out. Right. So they bought out. I think it used to be, like, Madison swim Academy, and then they bought out the owners.
James Kademan [00:17:31]:
Well, I had no idea something was back here.
Nathan Boehm [00:17:33]:
Yeah, yeah, it’s been back there. So, yeah, I have, like, a couple water fitness employees. Water fitness ladies that come in, they’ll be like, oh, yeah, I used to teach my grandkids here back in, like, the seventies or something. Crazy. I took my kids here. Yeah, crazy. So, yeah. But the pool’s been around for a while.
James Kademan [00:17:45]:
All right. Shows you what I know. Oh, good.
Nathan Boehm [00:17:48]:
You don’t know swimming. That’s what you brought me on, right?
James Kademan [00:17:49]:
Yeah, that is very true. Very true. So tell me, how has it been with employees? Because you’re looking at having people that are skilled with both working with people.
Nathan Boehm [00:18:00]:
Working with people as well as.
James Kademan [00:18:01]:
They gotta know how to swim, not be afraid of the water.
Nathan Boehm [00:18:03]:
Yes.
James Kademan [00:18:04]:
And just being in the water, imagine I’m picturing wintertime. It’s all 30 below. Whatever. Outside.
Nathan Boehm [00:18:11]:
You got to keep nice and warm in here. Yeah. Don’t get me wrong. Yeah, no, staffing is definitely. I’ve been told that one of my previous careers, the aquatics industry, has one of the higher turnover rates.
James Kademan [00:18:20]:
Really?
Nathan Boehm [00:18:20]:
So just being able to find the right people is definitely a struggle because it takes, like, 60 to 80 hours for me to train somebody correctly.
James Kademan [00:18:28]:
How many hours?
Nathan Boehm [00:18:29]:
60 ish, roughly through shadowing and online classwork, all the stuff to train somebody. So, yeah, just finding the right candidates and allowing them to keep going. And then as well as, like, most of them are typically high school kids.
James Kademan [00:18:40]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:18:41]:
For their first jobs. So, yeah, just trying to work with them and, like, having, like, building them up to be a proper employee.
James Kademan [00:18:47]:
Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:18:48]:
So communication aspect has been a really key thing we’ve been working on.
James Kademan [00:18:51]:
All right. And how have you found that to be going?
Nathan Boehm [00:18:54]:
It’s going. It’s definitely like a roller coaster, for sure. We have good days and we have bad days. We have good weeks and bad months, so on and so forth. Good months. We’re on a roll right now. We’re doing good. We’ve had all four.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:04]:
We’ve had every goal this month. That’s this year so far.
James Kademan [00:19:06]:
Oh, nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:07]:
From a monetary standpoint. So, yeah, we’re doing pretty good. Pretty happy with them.
James Kademan [00:19:10]:
And how do you find these kids?
Nathan Boehm [00:19:13]:
I should say employees. Yeah, employees. Arguably, they’re the same thing. Just LinkedIn.
James Kademan [00:19:19]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:19]:
LinkedIn. Oh, no, no, not. Sorry. Sorry. Indeed. Indeed. We had just have indeed job postings and then was advertising on Facebook and things along those lines.
James Kademan [00:19:26]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:27]:
But typically mostly come from. Indeed.
James Kademan [00:19:28]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:29]:
Or word of mouth is another one that comes in because we have a referral program. So, like, one employee comes, and then they have a couple friends come in and things along those lines.
James Kademan [00:19:36]:
Oh, nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:36]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:19:37]:
And now the employees that come in there, I mentioned, they’re part time.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:41]:
Yeah, most of them are part time. Yeah. The only full time employee I have is Miss Lisa.
James Kademan [00:19:44]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:44]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:19:45]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:45]:
So it’s me and her and everybody else is part time. We’re all just kind of hanging out.
James Kademan [00:19:49]:
All right. And you are there, I imagine, all the freaking time.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:53]:
Right. It depends. It depends. It can be. I’m usually there. I’m there when I need to be.
James Kademan [00:19:57]:
Gotcha. All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:19:58]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:19:59]:
All right. And then tell me about the pool itself. How do you make that? I don’t know. Is it chlorine or salt water?
Nathan Boehm [00:20:05]:
Chlorine.
James Kademan [00:20:05]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:20:06]:
Chlorine. So, yeah, we have. There’s a certification that me and Steve both have. It’s called a certified pool operator.
James Kademan [00:20:11]:
Oh.
Nathan Boehm [00:20:11]:
It’s like a weekend class. Serves good for five years. And, yeah, that class essentially teaches you the chemical compounds of the pool and the makeup and what you’re supposed to be looking for, what is proper alignment of the pool and things along those lines. So, yeah, we have to test the pool every morning and then every 4 hours of operations, and then at the night, every day to make sure those chemicals are in line with the pool.
James Kademan [00:20:29]:
And tell me about these tests. It’s like, a little.
Nathan Boehm [00:20:32]:
Yeah, so, like, I’m gonna, like, stick my hand in the water because apparently I learned that you have to go at least to your elbow because the water chemicals on the top surface versus, like, down the water are slightly different. So you gotta dip your hand in the water. And then we have a little cup, and then you put some chemicals in it. It’s like a droppers eyedropper of a certain chemical for a ph. You need to give it a little shake. And then I have, like, a color scale to determine the ph of the water. Kind of like in science class. It’s a little like science class turns purple or yellow.
Nathan Boehm [00:20:59]:
Yeah, it turns purple or yellow. Right. Depending on the acidity or how acidic or basic the water is. And then we do chlorine. And that’s divided up into parts per million. So that’s what we’re looking for. And that’ll go from. I put these, like, two little scoops of white powder in there, give a little swirl, turns pink, and then we try to go back to clear.
Nathan Boehm [00:21:16]:
And that determines how long or how much chlorine is in the pool.
James Kademan [00:21:19]:
Gotcha.
Nathan Boehm [00:21:20]:
Yeah. Super interesting. Fun being able to fix it and all the things like that. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:21:24]:
I imagine when you go in a.
Nathan Boehm [00:21:25]:
Hotel pool, oh, it’s bad. Yeah, no, it’s weird. It’s weird. It’s weird. When I go to other pools, like, I can just tell immediately if something’s off. I bet it’s. Yeah, it’s interesting. And then the other caveat to that is most pools are typically, like, at the y and or, like, the pack and things along those lines.
Nathan Boehm [00:21:41]:
They’re like, 84 to 86, because that’s what good lap swimming pools are.
James Kademan [00:21:45]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:21:46]:
I’m used to my 91 degree pool, so I’m 100% spoiled. So if I go anywhere else, I’m like, well, this pool is cold.
James Kademan [00:21:50]:
I don’t really want to even be.
Nathan Boehm [00:21:51]:
In here anyway, let alone what the chlorine and everything is. I’m just like, I don’t really. This pool’s too cold for me. That’s my big issue. Yeah. Is with that. So you just hang out in a hot tub or something.
James Kademan [00:22:01]:
All right, so you go in the hot tub, and you’re trying to do laps and stuff.
Nathan Boehm [00:22:04]:
Need a couple laps in the hot tub.
James Kademan [00:22:05]:
It doesn’t work out so well. Tell me you’ve been part of the community with the chamber and all that.
Nathan Boehm [00:22:11]:
Yeah, it’s been super fun. Yeah, we started. We joined to do the. I wanted to do the parade for a cornfest.
James Kademan [00:22:17]:
Oh.
Nathan Boehm [00:22:18]:
So, yeah, we just. We started for that and then. Yeah, with that, I got the membership, and I’ve just been very much enjoying being an active member of the community and trying to get the good word out and see how I could help. I did a lot of volunteering as a Boy scout.
James Kademan [00:22:30]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:22:30]:
So joining the chamber of Commerce just gave me another opportunity to keep volunteering in the community. Community. I was able to volunteer for the bowling event, and I had an absolute blast. That was a very fun time.
James Kademan [00:22:39]:
Yeah, the bowling event was super cool.
Nathan Boehm [00:22:41]:
It was very fun. Yeah, yeah.
James Kademan [00:22:42]:
Would have been cool if I knocked more pins down.
Nathan Boehm [00:22:44]:
I mean, that. Yeah, a couple people would say that much for sure.
James Kademan [00:22:47]:
It’s.
Nathan Boehm [00:22:49]:
Or if I won the 50 50 raffle, that would have been kind of cool, too, but, yeah, it’s all good.
James Kademan [00:22:53]:
Yeah. Bowling is one of those where I feel like if I were to throw a baseball or something like that, I could knock them down. Like, it’s straight shot. They’re not moving.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:03]:
Have you heard of the new sport called fouling?
James Kademan [00:23:05]:
I have not, no.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:06]:
Yeah, it’s football with bowling.
James Kademan [00:23:09]:
Oh.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:10]:
So it’s instead of, like, bowling pins, they’re like, more like sticks, and you got a football and you’re whipping it. Yeah. I don’t know if it’s in Madison yet. I was able to check it out in Dallas a couple weeks ago, but, yeah, following.
James Kademan [00:23:20]:
I feel like I could do that.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:21]:
We might be more of your speed.
James Kademan [00:23:22]:
For sure, but I feel like you throw a bowling ball. Straight shot. Smooth.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:27]:
Oh, yeah. And it’s still gonna, like, we should.
James Kademan [00:23:29]:
All be knocking all these down every single time.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:31]:
Every time. Every time. But if you shoot straight, you think they all just magically fall down. Triangle. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:23:38]:
They’re made to fall down.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:39]:
They’re made to fall down. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:23:40]:
Like, if you had to set it on this table, you wouldn’t just set it.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:42]:
You’d kind of set it, correct. Absolutely.
James Kademan [00:23:47]:
It wants to fall.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:48]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:23:48]:
But, yeah, when I roll, they don’t fall.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:51]:
No.
James Kademan [00:23:51]:
I don’t know if they put gum on the bottom or what. It’s not.
Nathan Boehm [00:23:56]:
They bounce off. The bowling ball bounces off. Yeah, absolutely.
James Kademan [00:23:59]:
So tell me about your. The relationship you have with employees. As far as, just, like, I don’t chill hanging out or imagine they do stuff. You do stuff. You’re in the pool training kids.
Nathan Boehm [00:24:12]:
We’re all kind of hanging out together. So, like, I don’t. I’m not one of those. I sit in the office. Like, I have office hours and admin hours and things along those lines, but typically, I’m in the water or I’m on the pool deck talking to parents, just trying to build up those relationships.
James Kademan [00:24:24]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:24:24]:
That’s. We don’t call ourselves in the swim business. We’re in the relationship business. Right. We started two months, and we’re gonna take you all the way up until you’re retiring and going on trips with us.
James Kademan [00:24:33]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:24:33]:
So, yeah, I’m building that. Building those relationships up is what I’m typically doing, and then hopping in as needed for whoever is. Outdoor things along those lines you raised.
James Kademan [00:24:41]:
Interesting segue.
Nathan Boehm [00:24:42]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:24:42]:
You got this four month old kid.
Nathan Boehm [00:24:44]:
Yeah, absolutely.
James Kademan [00:24:45]:
Is the parent in the water, too, or is it just the instructor?
Nathan Boehm [00:24:47]:
Parent is in the water, so, yeah, the parent is in the water up until a kid is three years old.
James Kademan [00:24:51]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:24:51]:
Yeah. And then. So if you’re a parent, and you don’t want to doing the baby me class. Wait till your kids three, and then you can throw them in swim lessons. And they won’t be behind by any stretch of the meat as long as you keep playing in the water. Like, we’re in Wisconsin, so you should probably be in and around a lake.
James Kademan [00:25:06]:
At some point, right? Fair.
Nathan Boehm [00:25:07]:
Just naturally.
James Kademan [00:25:10]:
I have, or had, I should say, a student in a business planning class who has something. A pool for dogs, essentially.
Nathan Boehm [00:25:17]:
Oh, that’s nifty.
James Kademan [00:25:18]:
Yeah. I don’t know if it ever actually came into friction, I should check. But at any rate, interesting thing, there was just her and the dogs in the pool, so no people. But assume maybe that was a sanitary thing. Cause there’s all this fur rolling around. Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:25:32]:
So I’ve done it where I used to run an outdoor pool back in Illinois, and the last day we were open, we would allow people to bring their dogs in.
James Kademan [00:25:41]:
Oh.
Nathan Boehm [00:25:41]:
So all the dogs would come, and it’d be a huge, awesome pool party. But, yeah, the cleanup for dogs and a pool setting is crazy. Those poor filters, like, locked. Like. No, but, yeah. So I’m sitting there with, like, I just sit there with a blowtorch. It’s like a metal screen. Right? And I’m literally sitting there with a blowtorch, just burning it all up.
James Kademan [00:25:59]:
Burning all.
Nathan Boehm [00:26:00]:
There’s nothing. I’m not gonna. I didn’t have any better options. This is gonna be the most efficient way for me to sit here and clean this filter is sit there with a blowtorch and get all the dog hair off. So, yeah, we don’t typically. Most pools don’t typically allow dogs to swim in them, so they must have. If you’re trying to do that, they might have, like, a special filter along those lines, but a typical pool doesn’t. It can’t handle that all the time.
James Kademan [00:26:19]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:26:20]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:26:20]:
Interesting. Do you ever come across people that want their kids to learn how to swim, but they are not that good at swimming as parents?
Nathan Boehm [00:26:26]:
Yes, absolutely. I try to convince the parents to come in and let me teach them how to swim as well. So, yeah, I offer trial classes. So it’s a free half hour session with me, and we’ll see what we can do in that. And then if you want to continue on, we can enroll you into a class and things along those lines. Yeah, but I try to be flexible, so, like, everybody’s got a busy schedule, so if I’m able to just, like, hop in for that half an hour, other kids having a lesson, we just kind of go off to the side.
James Kademan [00:26:47]:
Of the pool things along those lines.
Nathan Boehm [00:26:48]:
Yeah. But, yeah, that’s definitely a concern. A lot of parents, it’s usually, like, one of the spouses will bring up that the other one can’t swim.
James Kademan [00:26:54]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:26:55]:
To me. And the other one, hey, you should, like, talk to so and so. Let them know. Yeah, that’s usually what it is. It’s pretty funny, too. And, yeah. Just back to building those relationships with those customers so they feel like they can actually confide in me and let me know. Hey, I actually can’t swim.
James Kademan [00:27:07]:
Nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:07]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:27:08]:
So do you have a favorite stroke? Swimming.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:10]:
Oh, I really like breaststroke.
James Kademan [00:27:12]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:12]:
It’s just relaxing for me, and I keep my head above the water the whole time.
James Kademan [00:27:15]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:16]:
So. Yeah, but freestyle is really fun, too. Just the easy ones. Freestyle is regular swimming.
James Kademan [00:27:20]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:20]:
That’s what they call it. Yeah. With a side breath.
James Kademan [00:27:22]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:22]:
Yeah. So those two are. Yeah. And breaststroke is that one. Yeah. And you got, like, the frog legs going.
James Kademan [00:27:26]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:26]:
Those are the more standard swims that. Yeah. And, I mean, I always default to doggy paddle. That’s fine. You can totally default to doggy paddle. Just make sure you’re not doggy paddling like this. And you want to have your arms out a little bigger.
James Kademan [00:27:36]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:36]:
So you can move more water.
James Kademan [00:27:37]:
Man. That’s great.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:39]:
You can’t be a T Rex and swim, right? No T Rex arms allowed. You need big arms.
James Kademan [00:27:43]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:27:43]:
You need bigger. Unless you have a tail. If you have a tail, then you could be a dinosaur, so. Yeah, most kids don’t have a tail either, so that’s usually what I tell them. Yeah. If you have a tail, you can totally, somehow, ever you’d like, like a dog if you want, but if you don’t have a tail, I’m sorry, that’s the rule.
James Kademan [00:27:56]:
So the interesting thing to me is I’ve never been taught how to doggy paddle. It was just one of these instincts.
Nathan Boehm [00:28:03]:
Yeah. I don’t know. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:28:05]:
Is that a thing?
Nathan Boehm [00:28:06]:
No, I’m gonna. I’m just. I don’t know. I don’t know. But I’m gonna assume you’ve watched people swim, so maybe that’s where, like, your idea of a doggy paddle would come from. Cause, yeah, if I, like, if I stink an infant in the water, they’re not just magically gonna, like, start doggy paddling.
James Kademan [00:28:21]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:28:22]:
It’s not. And it’s not gonna be.
James Kademan [00:28:24]:
What do they do, like that?
Nathan Boehm [00:28:26]:
Wiggle a little bit. Nothing too crazy. Yeah. It depends on if they’re calm in the water or not. It’s typically how we’re gonna determine that. And things along those lines.
James Kademan [00:28:32]:
All right, well, they flew. Float on their own.
Nathan Boehm [00:28:34]:
No, they will not float on their own. So they need a little bit of help for that. That’s one of the big skills. That’s like the big safety skill we try to learn as well as climbing out of the pool, as well as to be able to try and float on our back. Those are the most two important safety skills that we work on that young of an age.
James Kademan [00:28:47]:
And why is that? Why on the back?
Nathan Boehm [00:28:49]:
Because you can keep your head out of the water.
James Kademan [00:28:50]:
Okay. That’s a good reason.
Nathan Boehm [00:28:51]:
Yeah, absolutely. I’m here for it. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:28:53]:
Is that. Are you more buoyant that way?
Nathan Boehm [00:28:56]:
Yeah. Yeah. So it’s a lot easier to stay horizontal in the water than vertical. Being vertical in the water takes a lot more energy to fight it versus staying, we call it summer’s position, staying horizontal in the water. And it’s just a little easier to stay like that.
James Kademan [00:29:09]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:09]:
Especially if you’re on your back.
James Kademan [00:29:10]:
Airplane versus a helicopter.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:12]:
Where?
James Kademan [00:29:12]:
Helicopter. You’re trying to beat the air into submission. An airplane. You’re just glad.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:16]:
Yes. That’s a good analogy. I haven’t heard that one before, but, yeah. I like that.
James Kademan [00:29:21]:
I got some pilot friends. One guy was joking about helicopters that they’re constantly fighting.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:26]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:29:27]:
They are beating the air into submission the entire time.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:30]:
But they are pretty cool. I did a helicopter.
James Kademan [00:29:32]:
Pretty cool.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:33]:
I’ve done a couple helicopter ads. Are pretty fun. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:29:35]:
Oh, nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:35]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:29:35]:
Just get out of the water or just to see the water.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:38]:
Uh, not related to. Yeah. Vacation. I went to Alaska. Completely side. Side tangent. But, yeah, we went to Alaska and I did a glacier tour.
James Kademan [00:29:46]:
Okay. It wasn’t like you took a helicopter over water. Jumped out.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:48]:
That’d be freaking cool, though.
James Kademan [00:29:50]:
I don’t maybe.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:51]:
I don’t know.
James Kademan [00:29:51]:
I’ll trust you on that one.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:52]:
Yeah. I don’t know about that one. I don’t know how the gear. The gear would. I don’t know how far you’d have to fall.
James Kademan [00:29:57]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:29:57]:
Because I think, like, the shock of your. All of your stuff landing.
James Kademan [00:30:01]:
Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:30:01]:
I’m sure we’d be fine from like, a 20 foot fall. But, like, my tank and all of my gadgets and gizmos that I would need to use to go scoop it out. It’s gonna hit. Yeah. Or something along those lines. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:30:11]:
Okay. And we’re gonna wanna keep going down.
Nathan Boehm [00:30:13]:
Yeah. Bounce it back up or something along those lines.
James Kademan [00:30:15]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:30:16]:
It’d be interesting.
James Kademan [00:30:17]:
Tell me about the flippers.
Nathan Boehm [00:30:18]:
Do you guys use those so you to teach swimming lessons? Typically, no.
James Kademan [00:30:23]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:30:23]:
So we use them as a tool or as like an incentive piece. Kids like to use flippers. They feel like they’re the speed. You can be a lot of fun, right? Oh, yeah. So typically I let them use them. If I do let them use them at all, it’s at the end of the class, just for fun, practice grabbing rings and just to get the overall better swimming and just enjoy it. As for a teaching tool, it really the best way to use flippers is to cook with straight legs. So a lot of kids will kind of do like this bicycle kicking where it’s a lot of knee bending.
Nathan Boehm [00:30:52]:
And if you have flippers on, the flippers don’t do anything.
James Kademan [00:30:54]:
Oh, sure.
Nathan Boehm [00:30:55]:
So to get the full function of flippers, you have to start kicking with those straight legs. So that’s where I use them as a tool to help encourage those kids to kick with straighter legs.
James Kademan [00:31:03]:
Oh, interesting.
Nathan Boehm [00:31:05]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:31:05]:
All right. Is that universal as far as kicking flippers or not?
Nathan Boehm [00:31:08]:
Yeah, for the most part, yeah.
James Kademan [00:31:10]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:31:10]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:31:11]:
So bicycle kick. No.
Nathan Boehm [00:31:12]:
Bicycle kick. Not really doing it. Yeah. No. Cause you’re just kind of like, you’re like pulling the water with your knees, like pushing it. And you’re kind of like doing two different forces.
James Kademan [00:31:20]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:31:21]:
Then you’re fighting yourself.
James Kademan [00:31:22]:
So you’re moving your body, but not necessarily.
Nathan Boehm [00:31:23]:
Yeah. You’re moving through the water. Correct.
James Kademan [00:31:25]:
Absolutely. Gotcha. So when people come to you, what is something that you wish that they just knew? Cause you’re sick of explaining it or you’re just like, how do you not know?
Nathan Boehm [00:31:33]:
That’s a good question. Most parents I haven’t had this issue worked at other places that you actually. A baby. You have to be in the water with your baby.
James Kademan [00:31:42]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:31:43]:
That one hasn’t come up lately. I have a team that does a really good job at sending the emails and things out. So that’s usually not typically a problem. Or they think that their kid is like a lot. This is. Yeah, this is a good one. They think their kid is like the greatest swimmer in the entire world. So like, hey, I swam at so and so.
Nathan Boehm [00:32:00]:
I need to put my kid on a level two because my kid was a level five over here. So, like, they think their kids are really good. We’re like, let’s just spend a half an hour with Mister Nate and let’s see where we can put your kid and what the proper level is for your kid.
James Kademan [00:32:12]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:32:13]:
So that would probably be my biggest, like, weird thing where, yeah, interesting people think their kid, their parents think their kids are the greatest swimmers ever. And I would say nine out of ten are wrong. But every once in a while, one is right. Like, I had one come in, like, last month. She’s like, my kids are great swimmer, yada, yada. We know all this kid backed it up perfectly, and I was very happy.
James Kademan [00:32:30]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:32:30]:
And it made my day.
James Kademan [00:32:31]:
That makes your job easier.
Nathan Boehm [00:32:32]:
I know. Absolutely. Yeah. I don’t have to sit there and argue with the mom a little bit and be like, hey, no. You said your kid could do this. He can’t do this. We just watched him do this. So we’re going to have to hang out in this level.
Nathan Boehm [00:32:42]:
But what is nice is maybe, like, when you did swim lessons, when I did, there’s, like, sessions we bill monthly, so we continuously are hanging out until we’re ready to move up. So there is no, like, pass or fail.
James Kademan [00:32:53]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:32:53]:
And we just kind of keep hanging in level one until we’re ready to go into level two and then level three. So with that, if Timmy’s, like, super close to being a level two, but he’s not quite there yet, we can hang out in level one for, like, a month.
James Kademan [00:33:05]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:33:06]:
Just to really refine those basic skills, and then we can move right into level two.
James Kademan [00:33:09]:
So can you distinguish the differences? One, two, however high they go?
Nathan Boehm [00:33:14]:
Yeah. So I. In our program, we only have three levels, level one, level two, and level three. But, yeah, within, like, I would say I could have a kid jump in, do a cannonball, and swim back to the water. I could tell you pretty darn close what level he should be in.
James Kademan [00:33:25]:
Oh, wow.
Nathan Boehm [00:33:26]:
Yeah. I’ve been doing this for, like, 1516 years now, so, yeah. Just being able to, like, see the key indicators and kids and things along those lines.
James Kademan [00:33:32]:
And what are the key indicators?
Nathan Boehm [00:33:34]:
Comfortability in the water, being able to put their face in the water, and then just how quickly that kid can get into the swimmer’s position. Just being able to stay horizontal in the water, that’s definitely a learned skill. It’s not something you magically pick up. So that’s going to be a good indicator for me of how comfortable they are staying flat in the water.
James Kademan [00:33:50]:
Oh, yeah. So somebody does cannonball.
Nathan Boehm [00:33:53]:
Somebody does cannonball.
James Kademan [00:33:54]:
What is the right way to get into the swimmer’s position?
Nathan Boehm [00:33:57]:
So you just kind of pop up like this. Yeah. So, like, we cannonball in. Right? And then we’re gonna bring her head up, and then the rest of our body’s gonna follow, and we’re gonna use our kicks to kind of get that momentum going back to the wall versus, like, kid who’s not the best, we’re gonna come down, and then we’re gonna pop right back up, and you’re gonna see a face on there, have a face of scared or worriedness.
James Kademan [00:34:15]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:34:16]:
It can also be called the drowning face from lifeguarding. They all have the same face, and that’s gonna be a good indicator, like, you know, maybe we might need a little bit of extra help. And, like, we’ll. We’ll have the instructor grab your things long, though.
James Kademan [00:34:27]:
So what does a drowning face look like?
Nathan Boehm [00:34:29]:
Is it scared, just pale? Yeah, just pure terror. I can’t make it because I. I’m a good swimmer, but, yeah, no, everybody kind of has that face. Yeah. I learned that from lifeguarding, and then I did a lot of tough back in the day lifeguarding. Tough munters and, like, spartan races and. Yeah, a lot of people.
James Kademan [00:34:45]:
You lifeguarded those?
Nathan Boehm [00:34:46]:
Oh, yeah. That was a wild experience.
James Kademan [00:34:47]:
Yeah, I ran a titan.
Nathan Boehm [00:34:50]:
A titan one. Yeah, they’re super fun. I would lifeguard for one day and then run it the next day or vice versa.
James Kademan [00:34:56]:
Oh, nice.
Nathan Boehm [00:34:57]:
So, yeah, I got to just run.
James Kademan [00:34:57]:
Volunteer.
Nathan Boehm [00:34:58]:
Volunteer? Yeah.
James Kademan [00:34:59]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:34:59]:
Sometimes I get paid, like, a $100.
James Kademan [00:35:01]:
All right.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:01]:
But, yeah, most of time was just volunteering. The ability to run it for free.
James Kademan [00:35:04]:
Nice. Yeah, I’m trying to think what? Oh, there was a pool. Yeah, I hated that.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:09]:
Yeah. So the ones I did was it was a dude with a backhoe that just dug a hole in the ground.
James Kademan [00:35:15]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:15]:
And that was, like, the pool.
James Kademan [00:35:18]:
Okay.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:18]:
Because they were just random obstacles. Yeah, yeah, they were just back hold holes in the ground filled with water.
James Kademan [00:35:24]:
Yeah, I think this was a pool, like, a above ground thing, and then.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:26]:
Yeah.
James Kademan [00:35:27]:
Black barrels in it. And you had to go barrel to barrel, and the idea is that you’re gonna fall off.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:32]:
Correct. Yeah. And there’s somewhere, like, you have to go through, like, freezing cold water.
James Kademan [00:35:35]:
Yeah.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:35]:
It’s like dealing with people with hypothermia. There was one where, like, you get, like, you were getting electrocuted as you’re running through it. Just, like, mild zaps. Yeah, that one was wild.
James Kademan [00:35:43]:
I remember running through, like, the strings are hanging.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:45]:
Yeah, the string. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
James Kademan [00:35:46]:
Remember that one?
Nathan Boehm [00:35:47]:
Yep. Yeah, just send it. Yeah, full sand and then. Yeah, the one. It was called the shawshank, and. Yeah, you had to, like, climb up a culvert pipe and then you fell into the pool.
James Kademan [00:35:55]:
Oh.
Nathan Boehm [00:35:56]:
And then you had to, like, swim over to the cargo net and climb out. But, yeah, some people can’t swim.
James Kademan [00:36:00]:
No.
Nathan Boehm [00:36:01]:
Yeah, I had to hop in and save them and. Yeah, it was an experience.
James Kademan [00:36:04]:
Okay. I would have made that face.
Nathan Boehm [00:36:06]:
Yeah. Not a good face.
James Kademan [00:36:07]:
Yeah. I imagine that there are lifeguards at every pool that I’ve been at that are like, that’s the face.
Nathan Boehm [00:36:11]:
That’s the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They all definitely know what I’m talking about. That face. You’re like, yep. You need help.
James Kademan [00:36:15]:
Absolutely. Luckily the pool is only 5ft wide.
Nathan Boehm [00:36:18]:
Yeah, it’s not that big. Yeah, correct.
James Kademan [00:36:20]:
Interesting. So, Nathan, how can people find you?
Nathan Boehm [00:36:25]:
They can find me LinkedIn, I’m there personally. Or you can find us at Daventures. We’re on all the socials at diventures.
James Kademan [00:36:31]:
Okay. Is there diventures, Sun Prairie or anywhere?
Nathan Boehm [00:36:33]:
Yeah. So we have a specific diventure sun prairie Facebook page that you can follow and things along those lines for that. Yeah.
James Kademan [00:36:39]:
Very cool. Well, Nathan, thank you so much for being on the show this week. Yes.
Nathan Boehm [00:36:42]:
Thank you so much, James. Yeah, it’s been a pleasure.
James Kademan [00:36:44]:
I appreciate it. And the swimming thing to me is always one of those like, I wish I could. I wish I could do a lot of things right. Play guitar, speak Spanish, all that jazz. Swimming is one of those that I feel like zombie apocalypse happens. Swimming is going to be one of those things that you wish you knew, right? I don’t know if guitar playing is going to come into play there. Guitar swinging like the zombies will be.
Nathan Boehm [00:37:04]:
Attacking low by them.
James Kademan [00:37:08]:
How do you play freebird here? Something.
Nathan Boehm [00:37:10]:
Yeah, we all swim out to the island and then. Can zombies swim? I don’t know.
James Kademan [00:37:14]:
I would hope not.
Nathan Boehm [00:37:15]:
I’d hope not.
James Kademan [00:37:15]:
I would hope not.
Nathan Boehm [00:37:16]:
But yeah, no, we can totally talk about. Yeah. Get you a little more comfortable.
James Kademan [00:37:18]:
Nice. And if someone was interested in scheduling or checking it out, do they just do that on the website?
Nathan Boehm [00:37:22]:
Yeah, it’s all online. You can schedule a trial lesson or you can schedule group lessons all online now. It’s pretty fancy.
James Kademan [00:37:27]:
Very cool. You heard it here, right?
Nathan Boehm [00:37:29]:
Absolutely.
James Kademan [00:37:30]:
This has been authentic business adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle, stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. And authentic business adventures is brought to you by Calls On Call offering call answering and receptionist services for service businesses across the country. On the web callsoncall.com. And of course, the Bold Business Book, a book for the entrepreneur and all of us available wherever fine books are sold. We are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie. If you are listening or watching this on the web, if you could do us a huge favor, give us a big old thumbs up, subscribe, and of course, share it with all of your entrepreneurial. That’s an easy word to say. Swimming.
James Kademan [00:38:09]:
Non swimming. And I suppose moms, dads with kids.
Nathan Boehm [00:38:12]:
Yeah, yeah.
James Kademan [00:38:13]:
Need to learn how to swim. Nathan is your man.
Nathan Boehm [00:38:16]:
Absolutely.
James Kademan [00:38:16]:
We’d like to thank you, our wonderful listeners, as well as our guest, Nathan Boehm, aquatics experience manager. I love that title. Thank you, diventures. Can you tell us the website one more time?
Nathan Boehm [00:38:27]:
Oh, yeah. Just Diventures.com.
James Kademan [00:38:29]:
It doesn’t get easier than that.
Nathan Boehm [00:38:30]:
No, it does not.
James Kademan [00:38:31]:
Super cool. Past episodes can be found morning, noon and night at the podcast. Think fun@drawincustomers.com. Thank you for listening. We will see you next week. I want you to stay awesome. And if you do nothing else, enjoy your business.