Swim University’s Mission Statement: Revisited

I was working at a local pool store in my hometown one day. I was a pool nerd. I helped thousands of people take care of their pool. I tested their water, told them what pool supplies they needed and when to add them, and even helped carry those supplies out to their car.

I was a website designer too. I was in a rock band and designing the website for us and I thought, “what if I could marry these two things together: pool care and websites.”

BOOM! That’s how Swim University was born!

I know I’ve told this story a thousand times. It’s not really that interesting, but since the beginning, my goal was to provide pool care online that everyone could understand.

If there is one thing I hate about the pool industry, it’s the confusion. I use to have customers come into my store completely overwhelmed with pool issues. Maybe their pool was green or they were leaking water. Either way, they thought it was the end of the world because of what someone else or another pool company had told them.

Ugh, Pool Nerds!

Pool nerds, much like myself, tend to talk technical about pool care. It’s a habit that even I’m guilty of. But that’s exactly what I wanted to rid the world of when I started Swim University. If you try to find information on, “How to get rid of algae in your pool, ” or something as simple as, “how to shock your pool,” you get these wild results that sound a little something like this:

Goy, in order to get rid of the algae you must first test the Chlorinetooghighist index and subtract the total gallonizers of your pool volume with the alkalinightyizen reading and then, and only then can you adjust the flipsidesichy of the gigglefritzen. From there, you shock your swimming pool with 40 yen of dried, unpasteurized, solid, powered, ultra-calcium shock that you can only get from our store (because it’s the best on the market)…

Anyway, this is way over exaggerated, but you get my point.

There is an easier way, there always is

I have been screamed at by pool nerds and backyard chemist across the internet for giving away information that is, “dumbed down.” People have even told me that because of this, I am putting people at risk – I kind of resent that. I would never put someone at risk. On that note: DO NOT PUT GREAT WHITE SHARKS IN YOUR POOL!

I was once on a forum talking about how to use pool floc as a means to clear up your pool from algae. I was completely overwhelmed with pool experts cramming how this WILL NOT work and how DANGEROUS it is down my throat. Truth is, it does work and it’s not dangerous. I’ve done it! HUNDREDS OF TIMES. Of course, I don’t always recommend it, but if you have a party coming up and you absolutely need your pool clear and don’t mind doing a little bit of work…then by all means. Just make sure your pool is always sanitized.

The Mission Statement

Swim University is all about providing the very best in pool care information for the average pool owner, beginner or advanced. We strive to take the “scariness” out of basic pool care and pool troubleshooting. Yes, there is science involved, but it’s not ROCKET science. We will continue to make pool care accessible for everyone to understand, not just the overly obsessed nerd or backyard chemist.

The point of owning a swimming pool is to enjoy swimming. When you become overwhelmed with caring for your pool, it can suck the fun right out of it. We don’t want that to happen to you!

In Conclusion

I might get some backlash on this post and I expect it. That’s ok. I want people to know what our goal is with this website. I want pool nerds to take their knowledge and be creative in how they teach it to others. We can really do some good and help simply the pool care process with just a little know-how and a lot of creativity.

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Happy Swimming!