Starting a career as a private swim instructor can be lucrative if you market your services well. Build a portfolio that gives clients information on such things as your competitive swimming history, life guarding, water safety training and aquatic certifications. Prepare business cards and flyers, and you are ready to advertise. A large market will likely be parents who want their children to learn how to master the pool, so concentrate advertising efforts on this particular population.

Visit Neighborhood Pools

Canvass your area for private community pools. Many of these are in neighborhoods with a homeowners' association, so speak to the president of the group about your services as a private swim instructor. Do not be daunted if the pool has lifeguards who provide lessons for a fee. You may be able to teach as well, unless an aquatic company provides lifeguards and implicitly states that only its guards can charge for lessons. Meet with the entire HOA board, if possible, to stress your credentials: experience, certifications, maturity, kid-friendly style or whatever sets you apart from a teenage summer guard who might have as little as three-weeks training. Offer to teach adults as well as children to expand your client base.

Target Apartment Complexes

Visit apartment pools, which are generally smaller than neighborhood pools and often do not have lifeguards. Speak with the apartment complex manager and ask if you can go door to door with your fliers and business cards. If this type of soliciting is discouraged, request that the manager display your flier in the office and ask if you can spend a day or two on the pool deck speaking with residents who could be receptive to swimming instruction. Offer a free first class to those who express an interest in your service.

Join Community Initiatives

Become known in your area as a swim instructor by speaking with persons visiting sports stores, recreation fields and public pools, Advertise with business cards and fliers at community festivals such as waterside Fourth of July events. Market your private swimming program in community papers you find in local libraries, schools and online. Make appointments to speak with agency representatives that serve local youth, such as government programs devoted to child welfare. Ask these professionals if they would be interested in hiring you to teach water safety skills and swimming to underprivileged children in the community.

Lecture About Water Safety

Give lectures on water safety at various venues. Your best bets will be local schools, preschools, recreation centers and community meetings in areas with private and public pools. Request night lectures to attract the most adults. Stress the importance not only of learning to swim but of taking safety measures when families and children are near bodies of water. Talk about valid flotation devices vs. buoyant items that are not dependable in an emergency. Lecture about what to do when a drowning or near drowning event occurs. Reassure parents that the best way to help themselves and their children avoid the dangers of water is to learn how to tread water and swim efficiently. Explain your program of private instruction, give out literature with your contact information, and answer questions.

Attend Local Swim Events

Attend local high school swimming events and USA Swimming age-group events. While many of the children at these events will be participants in swimming clubs or teams, they are likely to have siblings that parents might wish to get started with some private lessons. Also, families may be interested in obtaining one-on-one attention for children who already compete to improve their strokes and strategies in races. Practice scouting at these events. Talk to individual parents after you watch their children swim. Pinpoint areas in which they are strong and where they can improve, and then give them information about your private sessions.