---
title: "Chris DeJong"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/b282654a-c57f-41ca-8cba-841e665455d8
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/life-drives-success-episode-7-big-blue-swim-school-co-founder-and-president-chris-dejong-2709659
category: "General"
published: 2019-04-10T01:20:29.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:32:16.080Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/286e210452a06b0da3bf92aec19d6f216487.jpg
---

# Chris DeJong

**TL;DR:** Chris DeJong, a competitive swimmer, is now growing Big Blue Swim School through franchising after missing the 2008 Olympics. Nick Powills, CEO of No Limit Agency, interviews DeJong on his podcast Life Drives Success.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-04-10. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/life-drives-success-episode-7-big-blue-swim-school-co-founder-and-president-chris-dejong-2709659).*

## Story

Life Drives Success is a podcast hosted by Nick Powills, author of "Sticks & Stones: Building Entrepreneurial Success from Life's Struggles."

The way Powills sees it? People are born entrepreneurial, it's not a trait. We all possess this internal drive, however, life works in such a way that not all of us get the chance to capitalize. For Powills, lemonade stands and baseball card sales were the early manifestations of that innate entrepreneurial spirit; it was the bullying he endured at an early age, however, that served as that first point of motivation to succeed.

As the CEO of content marketing agency No Limit Agency* and publisher of digital content hubs 1851 Franchise and ESTATENVY, Powills funnels his creative energy into telling the stories that move people. Life Drives Success is a vehicle to satiate curiosity, explore new ideas and connect with others in a way that generates motivation, getting to the heart of that entrepreneurial spirit that exists within us all.

On this week's episode of Life Drives Success, Nick interviews Chris DeJong, an entrepreneur who got his start in business after losing to Michael Phelps. A competitive swimmer at the University of Michigan and ranked fifth in the world in backstroke and fourth in the U.S., Chris DeJong trained under the same coach as Phelps. For the 2008 Olympics, DeJong finished behind Phelps and missed qualifying by just four-tenths of a second. Now, DeJong is using that experience to fuel the growth of Big Blue Swim School, which is now expanding through franchising.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- franchising (topic)
- Nick Powills (person)
- Big Blue Swim School (company)
- Chris DeJong (person)
- podcast (topic)
- entrepreneurial success (topic)
- competitive swimming (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/life-drives-success-episode-7-big-blue-swim-school-co-founder-and-president-chris-dejong-2709659). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/b282654a-c57f-41ca-8cba-841e665455d8).