During Episode 118 of the HyperFast Agent Podcast, host Dan Lesniak speaks with Dominic Latella, who has built one of the biggest swim coaching businesses in the DC area, Swim Box. They discuss sales, entrepreneurship, and how to blend your passion with a business that works and helps you serve others.
Episode Highlights:
- Dominic Latella has been a swim coach for the past fifteen years. He started Swim Box five years ago.
- You have to do what you do best. The people that connect with that are going to find you.
- Don't try to be something you are not.
- Authenticity and connection is a big part of how Dominic uses Instagram to promote his business.
- His goal from the beginning with Instagram was to use it to inform people.
- Dominic’s entrepreneurial journey began when he started an energy bar company. That company failed.
- Dan tells us that most entrepreneurs fail at something first and that shapes their success later.
- Dominic shares the mistakes he made with his first company.
- Don't pretend to be bigger than you are.
- Dominic focuses on connection and that can make a big difference in his coaching.
- In college, Dominic had surgery on both of his shoulders because of swimming and this could have been prevented. He wanted to make sure that what happened to him did not happen to anyone else, so he became a swim coach.
- You should have a personal mission statement that reminds you why you're doing what you're doing.
- Dominic discusses his path to starting Swim Box and offering private swim coaching in the DC area.
- He now knows that he will never work for anyone ever again.
- One of his biggest failures with Swimbox was getting people to use wearables. People wouldn't wear them. They'd fall off in the pool. They'd break easily.
- Technology can't be what drives business. It can be a tool that supports business.
- Dominic's solution to recruiting was simply adding a job posting page to his website.
- When recruiting, remember that you can’t teach discipline or passion.
- In interviews, he asks about what people do in their spare time.
- He's looking for people who don't destroy themselves in their spare time. His favorite answer is when people say they play board games.
- Their marketing strategy is very visual. What they do can cross over to other industries.
- Their goal with content creation is to inform.
- They filmed a snippet of some lessons each day. They explain why they're doing what they're doing and how they're doing it.
- Whatever they produce content-wise, they funnel through all their channels.
- Be consistent with putting your content out.
- Focus on documenting and teaching.
- Don't be afraid to repeat yourself.
- There's an opportunity to play with YouTube ads.
- The biggest business mistake Dominic ever made was not defining expectations in contracts with contractors.
- His biggest marketing success was a controversial Instagram post.
- His advice to entrepreneurs is to grind, fail, and pick yourself up.
3 Key Points:
1. Embrace who you are and people who connect with that will find you.
2. Create a personal mission statement that reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing.
3. Make informing people an aspect of your content strategy.
Tweetable Quotes:
- “I have never gained success in anything without failing first.” – Dominic Latella
- “Embrace who you authentically are and communicate that to the client as an advantage.” – Dan Lesniak
- “I only look to connect with my clients. Then I can understand what it is I need them to take away from every sort of lesson or experience we have together." – Dominic Latella
- “I will always make an option for myself, no matter what happens.” – Dominic Latella
- “Consistency actually plays a huge role in gaining followers.” – Dominic Latella
Resources Mentioned:
