What happens when you combine digital marketing skills with a real business challenge during your sabbatical?
Taking a sabbatical can feel like stepping into the unknown, but it also creates the perfect space for passion projects that push your skills in new directions. After wrapping up my sustainability work at the UN, I found myself with time, newly acquired digital marketing knowledge, and an unexpected opportunity right at home. What started as helping my husband transform his swimming instruction career became my most comprehensive project yet during this sabbatical—and taught me more than any course ever could.
My Digital Marketing Journey So Far
Some of you may know that I have been taking courses and apprenticeships on digital marketing for the past year. I had been working on digital campaigns and social media management on my most recent project at the UN. I always loved working on digital campaigns, especially since you can get direct feedback in the form of likes and comments, but you’re really able to see the numbers behind the analytics. I also really like working with the creative side of my brain to bring out the work that my project has been doing, especially with niche topics (like biodiversity—that’s the area I worked on) because it can capture the interest and attention of a wider audience that may not be so familiar with the topic.
I helped set up the social media channels for the project and managed them, including community management as well as creating annual reports on our progress. However, since I got more involved in the project management side of things, I had others on the team take over the communication and social media work. I’ve done communication and social media work on other projects as well, so I have about three years of experience — but I never formally studied communications or marketing, so about a year ago I took the Google Digital Marketing Course, which I completed. I also took an apprenticeship focusing on SEO and PPC. As I finished my work at the UN and went on sabbatical, I moved on to doing some freelance digital work.
An example of a campaign I did while at the UN:
My biggest project became helping my husband with his business. He is a professionally trained and very experienced swimming instructor with ten years of experience and has taught hundreds of students of all ages in Switzerland and France. He has all the qualifications—and he loves his job. Actually, I remember he told me this when we went on our first date and thought to myself, “Yeah right, he loves his job. He’s just saying that because it’s our first date.” But turns out, he absolutely loves it. He has a passion for swimming and he loves to teach his passion to others and can’t wait to get to work, which is quite rare (and lucky, how many people can genuinely say that?).
So when he told me a year ago that he wanted to focus on one-on-one swimming lessons, I wholeheartedly supported his decision. For years he has taught classes and groups, but he realized that each student’s level and needs are completely different when it comes to swimming, and it’s very difficult to address these differences in group class settings. While I wholeheartedly supported him, let’s just say my husband is not a marketing or tech guy. He can barely type on his laptop and barely knows how to forward emails. He’s a hands-on guy, not a tech guy. So when I went on sabbatical, I knew what my next project would be. I wanted him to launch his business and do what he’s best at: swimming and teaching. And I would help him with the setup and promotion.
Starting with Smart Market Research
I started with market research, specifically looking at demand for swimming. Without demand, there will be no business. Surprisingly, for a landlocked country, swimming is the third most popular sport in Switzerland. Switzerland has over 1,500 lakes, including Lake Geneva, which is the largest lake in Western Europe. Lakes are a huge part of Swiss culture, especially in summer when we do water sports and socialize by lakes. I also saw that there’s been an increase in water accidents in the last decade and that parents had huge concerns about water safety. I also saw that while there are quite a few swimming schools and swimming clubs, there are not that many private swimming teachers or coaches within Switzerland, especially at the beginner to amateur level. Therefore, I did see a gap that my husband could potentially fill.
Building the Brand Identity
Next was branding. We wanted to cater specifically to the Swiss market, so we wanted a name that would include “Swiss.” We also wanted the name to reference water or swimming somehow. Finally, we wanted a name that is easy to remember for both English speakers and French speakers. We finally came up with Swiss Aquademy.
Then came the logo. Actually, I used AI to help me come up with some logo ideas. In the prompt, I explained the concept, and while the AI tools gave me some good inspiration, none of the logos were quite what I was looking for. I took some of the ideas as inspiration and came up with a few drafts. I also wanted the font to be bold but also very sophisticated. My husband also had a say on what elements he wanted in the logo. Eventually, we agreed on our final design. We’ve also come up with banners which we put on our cars and laptops. It’s really nice to see the logo in physical form, and it has made us proud of what we created.
Creating Digital Presence
Website Development
Next came the website. I used WordPress to set it up. The difficulty was explaining the various classes (he offers classes for children, open water, improvement of techniques, and for triathlons) in a way that’s easy to understand and addresses the needs of his potential clients. I also wanted to convey my husband’s background and his passion for swimming through visuals and a simplistic layout. And honestly, I’m pretty proud how it turned out! You can also check out for yourself: Swiss Aquademy
Social Media Strategy
Then came Instagram. This has been the bulk of my work. While a website can give you precise information about a business, social media is what gives it life. I wanted to capture through social media what kind of person my husband is and how he offers his classes. I have done quite a bit of video editing, but more for interviews and promotional campaigns for projects, not so much for businesses, so it took some adapting. However, it’s been really fun. I sit down with him to record some segments, and I let him talk, and then I edit them into 15-30 second reels. It’s been difficult to capture what he wants to say in a very limited timeframe, but it’s short, to the point, and effective: Swiss Aquademy Instagram Page
Oh, and did I mention that all the website and Instagram content is mostly in French? Though I do speak French, I’ve never done social media and copywriting in French, so it’s been a steep learning curve—but it’s been really fun to do it in another language.
Current Focus and Next Steps: Optimization and Growth
This whole process has motivated me toward a new aim: to help small business owners transform their businesses to have more robust digital presence. Through a journey of talking with friends who want to launch businesses or have their own businesses, I’ve learned that they have great ideas and they are extremely good at what they do, but they are not necessarily marketers or strong in technology. My strong points are storytelling, creativity, and technology, so I want to use these strong points to help others.
What I learned from this passion project:
- Hands-on experience beats theory every time. All the courses and apprenticeships gave me a foundation, but actually building a brand from scratch taught me things no classroom could.
- Market research is crucial. Even obvious assumptions (like swimming in a landlocked country) can surprise you when you dig into the data.
- Collaboration works best when everyone plays to their strengths. Instead of trying to teach my husband marketing or learning to be a swimming instructor myself, we focused on what we each do best.
- Multilingual marketing opens new challenges and opportunities. Creating content in French pushed me out of my comfort zone but significantly expanded my skill set.
- Small businesses need digital marketing partners, not just service providers. There’s a real gap in the market for people who can handle the full digital strategy while business owners focus on their expertise.
What's Next?
This project has shown me there’s huge potential in helping skilled professionals bridge the digital marketing gap. My next goal is to work with more small business owners who are excellent at their craft but need support building their digital presence.
If you’re thinking about taking a sabbatical, launching a passion project, or need help with digital marketing for your business, I’d love to hear from you! Sometimes the best learning happens when you dive in and start building something real.
And if you’re in the Geneva area or know someone who does who needs swimming lessons, you know where to turn to! : Swiss Aquademy