Goodwin is the founder and CEO of AquaMobile Swim School, described by some as “Uber for private swimming lessons.” The company is now worth about a million in profit grosses, but it started as an idea Goodwin had while working at Bain and Co., a job she was satisfied with at first only to find her satisfaction dwindle over time. Then, she and an equally dissatisfied friend began discussing possible business ideas, when she remembered a swimming school she first began at age 19 in 2003, while a student at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. She didn’t quit her job right then, though, electing instead to stay on at Bain while managing the company in her spare time – here she explains why she made that decision: It was a challenge for Goodwin to manage her development of AquaMobile while honoring her duties at Bain, but she was also able to make the job work for her. For instance, she says that her job at Bain often required long plane rides, during which she could work on her side business. Eventually, she even took the step of hiring her own staff member part time to take customer calls while she was at her day job. Now, Goodwin doesn’t have to worry about any day job, and in 2010 she quit her job at Bain when AquaMobile was netting her about fifty grand a year. But even then, the company wasn’t getting her full professional attention, so she took that opportunity to get an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in order to fully develop her business. According to Goodwin, it was worth it: So the next time you start to feel your spirit wander while you’re at work, see if you might have a million-dollar idea somewhere in there – if you take the time and care to develop it properly, it might become your full-time job.
