“Rotary Swing Golf founder Chuck Quinton talks about the one main key that every entrepreneur must take to experience and maintain the 25% annual growth his company has managed even through this economic downturn.”

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Master Rotary Swing Tour Instructor Chuck Quinton has taught and done research on the golf swing for over 15 years. His obsession to dissect and understand the mechanics of the swing and the learning process have developed into a very successful business that literally started from nothing.

Rotary Swing Golf was the first to bring online golf instruction to the world. We offer the world’s first completely objective look at the golf swing based on science. We have an advisory panel composed of a Ph. D. Biomechanist, several orthopedic surgeons and learning experts that have validated the research of founder Chuck Quinton. Utilizing research into physics, biomechanics, anatomy and motor learning, RotarySwing.com has developed a following of over 36,000 members worldwide.

MO: How did you come up with the concept of Rotary Swing Golf?

Chuck: Like most great business ideas, it happened out of two things: necessity and accident! I saw a need for people to discuss and learn more about the golf swing in an online format. When I first published my message board, I had no intentions of ever turning it into a business. But, the members kept asking me for an instructional video or DVD because they liked my responses on the forum. Because there was demand, I decided to take a risk and put out a DVD and see what happened. The response was overwhelming and that got the creative juices flowing.

MO: Can you talk about the process of taking your initial concept to developing it into the first online golf instruction. What were some of the early challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

Chuck: Once the DVD was done, I decided to put together a short game version similar to the full swing DVD that I had just done. It’s success was lukewarm, which was a great learning experience. The DVD was more than twice as long as the much more successful full swing DVD and much better produced, but the first DVD sold 10 times as many. In the end, I learned the age old lesson of “give them what they want.” So, I knew the direction I was going to go was full swing. So, the question was what was the best avenue to make a business out of this little burning ember I had with the sales of the first DVD. It didn’t make sense to me to keep producing DVD’s, so the only logical answer was to explore how to put instructional videos online.

This was back in 2004, so streaming large video files over the internet created a lot of problems. So, I had to work through the format issues, bandwidth issues, disk space, etc. As technology improved, I moved along with it, each iteration becoming more sophisticated than the last. You don’t have to get it perfect the first time, you just need to be nimble enough to evolve as opportunities present themselves. We went from tiny 640×480 low quality clips to now streaming full HD quality videos around the world.

MO: What are some of the advantages of using Rotary Swing Golf? What can a first time user expect?

Chuck: RST is a systematic approach based on objective science. It gives you step by step instructions on how to create ideal movement patterns and works you through this process in a program. You aren’t just thrown into a mix of a “bucket of swing parts” that you must try and figure out whether or not you need to work on in your swing; rather you are given Step 1, followed by step 2, and so on. This is done through the aid of instructor feedback as part of your membership on videos you submit of your swings. You’re not left to determine on your own what you need to do next with your swing, you’re told by a Certified RST Instructor who reviews your swing personally and sends the exact videos you need to work on next. This is similar to getting an in person lesson, but about 80% less expensive!

MO: What’s the best advice that you’ve ever been given?

Chuck: It’s an old Zen saying, “He who wants nothing, has everything.” It takes hard work to build a successful business, but more often than not we get in our own way and make the journey a struggle because we want success so bad. As soon as you let go of those wants, the process seems to flow.

MO: Your website was launched in 2004 and has grown into over 36,000 members worldwide and continues to grow 25% per year. How have you managed to gain traction and how do you plan to keep the momentum going?

Chuck: The key here is learning when and how to step aside. That’s the hardest thing for any entrepreneur and the MOST vital for ongoing growth and success. You must learn to hire people to replace yourself in the many day to day operations so that you can become more efficient and focus on guiding the ship. We’ve grown from just myself putting in 16 hour days for the first year or two to now having 4 full time employees and numerous subcontractors. It’s always scary spending money that you could put in your pocket to hire someone to help grow your business, but it’s the most important leap of faith that every business owner has to take at some point.

MO: What’s the most exciting thing on the horizon for you personally or professionally?

Chuck: Financially, we’re very close to hitting financial goals that seemed like a pipe-dream when I started the business. When we hit that number, I think I’ll take all my employees on a little golf trip to the Bahamas as a reward. After all, what good is financial success if you don’t have anyone to share it with? It’s much more fun when everyone around you has the financial resources to enjoy some finer things in life than having a lot of money all to yourself.