Skyhawks Sports (the umbrella organization including SuperTots Sports Academy) started as a regional soccer program focused in the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1979 they were pioneers in the industry before franchising in 2012. The popularity of the camps grew as the years went by, and some amazing athletes and wonderful individuals emerged. These soccer-focused Skyhawks camps emphasized critical lessons in life, such as sportsmanship, teamwork, and winning and losing with grace. As the years passed, Skyhawks added more sports and more safe, fun, and skill-focused camps for sports like basketball, flag football, volleyball, golf, tennis, lacrosse and baseball while remaining true to its purpose and vision. Today, Skyhawks offers camps, classes, clinics and leagues in more than 25 US States and Internationally. It is a fast growing franchise opportunity for those seeking flexibility of their schedules and a business model with a very high rate of success – one of the highest in their space. Meet Kim Wakefield – a single mom creating her own destiny in this innovative and rewarding business.
1. What was happening in your life that caused you to want to own a business?
In 2008 when the economy crashed the entire financial industry (and the company I worked for) changed dramatically. The culture shifted, 20% of the 8,000+ employees were laid off (I was not one of them), and it just became a different place to work. I liked the people I worked with, but the decreasing autonomy really got to me. (I was pretty much stuck in the movie Office Space. I even had a red Swingline stapler.) I was in a rut – coming and going and doing the bare minimum which wasn’t like me at all, but I stuck with it because I was raised with the idea that success means getting a steady corporate job, working your way up the ladder, ensuring guaranteed financial stability and a nice retirement package, and taking little to no risk.
When my daughter was about 11 years old, she started having some health issues. Eventually she was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Removing gluten from her diet helped, but she was still having a lot of issues. Her immune system was too busy fighting itself to fight off anything external. We finally found a doctor who thought outside the box and (after a lot of testing including multiple blood draws, two endoscopies, and a colonoscopy) discovered that she also has something called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Mast cells produce histamine, and hers crank it out like crazy. She has multiple food allergies, is on a cocktail of medications to stabilize it, and she still carries an epi-pen because she is at risk of anaphylaxis at any given time. If having a child throws your life into perspective, having a child with health issues does so exponentially more – not to mention the multiple time-consuming doctors’ visits per month that wreak havoc on a traditional work schedule.
There was some overlap between the franchise starting and my quitting my corporate job. I found myself spending less and less time on my full-time job and more and more time wanting to work on this business. The ramp up in my daughter’s health issues coincided with the decrease in my happiness at working 7am-7pm every day plus an hour commute each way. (11 miles. One hour to drive 11 miles.) I needed flexibility and autonomy. So, in 2012 I quit.
