Colorado Swim School

Armed with the knowledge that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury fatalities for children under the age of four and the second leading cause in children under the age of fifteen, learning to swim was non-negotiable for Brent and Stephanie Scarbrough’s children. From the time their children were infants, they searched for a swim program that was child-centered, fun and engaging, yet also prepared children to know precisely what to do in the event of an unexpected submersion. Having worked at the renowned Houston Swim Club throughout high school and college, Brent had high expectations for a swim school. As an elementary school teacher with a master’s degree in educational psychology, Stephanie also had high expectations for the caliber of an instructional program. When their children were babies, they enrolled them in the local rec center, but the kids’ lips turned blue as the water was too cold for infants, and the curriculum seemed to lack any purpose other than playing in the water. As their children aged, Brent and Stephanie continued to explore rec center programs, semi-private lessons and summer swim clubs, but they could not find a facility in the north metro area that met all of their expectations. They just couldn’t find the right fit. Eventually, they shifted their focus from the search for a quality program to the need for a quality program. That is when the idea for Colorado Swim School was born.

In the fall of 2012, the Scarbroughs began exploring the north metro area for the perfect location for their swim school, while simultaneously working with their friends at the Houston Swim Club to make their dream of a swim school become a reality. They contacted the North Metro Denver SBDC and connected with an SBDC consultant who was excited about their idea and was supportive and helpful throughout the entire process. Brent and Stephanie encountered many roadblocks along the way and the SBDC was there at every step to offer guidance, suggestions and tools to pave the road to success. The SBDC consultant also helped promote the business by offering marketing strategies as well as connecting Brent and Stephanie with members of the community who helped to keep the ball rolling.

“The SBDC was vital in helping us get our swim school off of the ground. The consultant helped us revise our business plan and secure financing. We are so grateful to have worked with such an amazing group of people,” said Brent.

After countless hours of planning and negotiating, they finally broke ground in March 2013 in Broomfield. On August 12, Colorado Swim School opened its doors for swim lessons. Initially, just ten families were enrolled, but in just six short months there are almost 200 families registered and they are continually hiring new employees.

Brent and Stephanie will continue to promote the Colorado Swim School’s mission, which is to provide a proven learning process where babies, toddlers, children, and adults can take steps toward mastering comfort in the water, learning to swim, enhancing and refining strokes, and more importantly, becoming safer and more aware in and around bodies of water. They are still in contact with the SBDC consultant who turned their dream into a reality and are also proud to admit that both of their children are now avid swimmers and are interested in trying out for swim teams!

303-439-7946
5075 W 120th Ave, Broomfield CO 80020
http://coswimschool.com

JCS Cleaning Services

A strong online presence is crucial to a business’s success, especially in our ever-increasing digital world reliant on technology. For many business owners, the skills needed to create and manage a professional website are daunting and ultimately a barrier to their business’s growth. To address the gap in digital skills, especially among minority business owners, the North Metro SBDC started a website program led by Diego Leyes, Bilingual Digital Marketing Specialist and Spanish Programs Outreach Consultant. The selected client for the first round of the website program was Jorge Torres, owner of JCS Cleaning Services.

Old School Heros

Tom Concannon, owner of Old School Heros, had the business plans set, loans lined up, and was even doing walk throughs to lease a space for his brick and mortar sandwich shop in Thornton, a dream that had been in the making for more than 25 years and one he had been actively pursuing for the past four years. But suddenly all those plans fell away. Sound familiar? As restaurants shuttered across the country, grappling

CEU / Consulting & Education Unlimited

Kristie Ashby – Owner/Founder
A Strategic Path to Growth

Kristie Ashby had been running her business, Consulting & Education Unlimited (CEU), for years, but she lacked a clear strategy to consistently attract clients. While she knew she had a bigger vision for her business, she struggled with how to gain clarity, structure her growth, and develop a plan that aligned with her long-term goals.

Gaining Clarity and Structure

Kristie joined the Strategic Business Planning Program – LEADING EDGE for Entrepreneurs through the North Metro SBDC, seeking the tools and guidance to elevate her business to new heights. Through the program, she gained essential knowledge on strategic planning, client acquisition, and long-term business growth.

Alongside the structured curriculum, Kristie took advantage of one-on-one free advising, where she worked step by step to develop a clear, actionable strategy. She focused first on capturing the low-hanging fruit—immediate client opportunities—before scaling toward her larger vision. Throughout this process, her confidence and belief in her business flourished…

Profound Fitness

Diana Rael is the owner of Profound Fitness, a small, personalized gym and training program for all fitness needs. That sounds like the description of many typical fitness establishments. However, Rael’s program is anything but typical. She serves people with special needs, those dealing with the challenges of aging, and those who are uncomfortable in a gym setting—as well as everyone else. Rael’s background includes early childhood education, science education, martial arts, and personal training.

Mon Cheri Bakery & Bistro

Baking for Cheri Spickard owner of Mon Cheri started as a young child in her grandmother’s kitchen. Cheri loved spending time in Grandma’s kitchen making biscuits and cookies using Grandma’s method of a pinch of this and a bit of that. She did not learn about recipes until age 13 when working with her mother in her mother’s catering business. No one on her mother’s team liked to make deserts so Cheri took out the

Meno

Meno is positioned as a meeting place of meaningful sustainability and appealing design. Jerri describes her motivation saying, “My goal is to not only do things differently but to actually show the industry a fresh business model and approach that can be profitable, all while being transparent for the customers.”