We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paul Swartz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Paul below.

Hi Paul, thanks for joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

It took me about 8 years of traveling and putting ideas together. I saw a need for the youth to develop properly. I was on the verge of should I/ should I not when my son was born. The next day my mom passed away. I had a lot of life happen in 24 hours. On one hand, I didn’t want to hold my son to an expectation that I would not uphold myself. On the other side was my mom, she passed away with a lot of regrets. I didn’t want to be on my deathbed and wonder, “What if.”

After that, I moved as quickly as I could to make my dream a reality. When you’re truly motivated and driven, no one needs to push you. You will just need to be shown the direction to run and the rest will follow.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Paul Swartz. I own the Hoosier Shooting Academy.

The HSA is a basketball facility that is dedicated to Player Development. We have a half court, 13 baskets, and 14 Dr Dish’s. The world is overrun with AAU and poor coaching. Saw an opportunity to change that with our facility. You can develop and get your shots up all of them data attract to show improvement

The one thing that I most proud of is that we are fighting a culture of poor character development. We love to see kids get “this is how basketball should work” moment

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When we were building out the facility to contract out the job. I have never done this before, it was a new experience for me. However, the contractor saw an opportunity to take advantage of somebody’s rookie mistakes. At the end of the day, he ended up running with a significant amount of money of mine. I had to go back to the bank and get more money to finish the job. It was incredibly humbling. The second the team started I took them out for meals and made sure they were comfortable working and took the time to get to know each of them. The previous contractor made a comment that he would make sure this facility never opened. The new contractors were a little skeptical that it would get open. I showed up and did everything possible to make sure the team was motivated encouraged and cared for. I had to paint walls, hang drywall, fix patches, and run electrical work, but I was determined that this facility would open, and it did!

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I originally sat down with the bank and pitched my idea about two months before COVID-19 hit. They were skeptical but thought it had the potential to work. I took the next steps and built a plan. There was some apprehension they said no and walked away. I would approach them and ask politely tell me three issues I could fix. I took them and fixed them. A month later I would reschedule a visit, they would say no and give me three more issues. I would go home and fix them again. I did this until they couldn’t poke any holes in the business. I would just set up another meeting to ask again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hoosiershooting.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoosiershootingacademy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoosierShooting/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachpaulswartz/
• Youtube: @hoosiershootingacademy