When Elizabeth Oliveras opened Burbujas Swim School in Puerto Rico, she didn't expect the spots to fill up almost immediately. "From the very first day, those spots were nearly at capacity," she says. What did surprise her was how quickly the administrative load grew, unanswered WhatsApp messages, unidentified payments, and notebooks full of information that existed only in her memory.

A mission that goes beyond sport

Burbujas teaches swimming in a safe and fun way, for kids and adults of all ages. In Puerto Rico, an island surrounded by beaches and rivers, Elizabeth doesn't see it as just a sport: "More than fun, it's necessary."

She started giving lessons at clients' homes with a clear goal of eventually having her own location. When she got it, growth was immediate. And with that growth came a problem nobody anticipates: how do you manage 40 students, their parents, their payments, and their schedules when you're one person?

The before, everything, everywhere

Elizabeth is candid about her limitations: "I'm definitely low tech." And not because of age, she's 23, but by natural preference. "I've always preferred writing things down in a notebook." Her system before Puny was a mix of whatever was available:

The problem wasn't that any of these tools were bad on their own, it was that they didn't connect. "So many things depended entirely on my memory. And that's not sustainable."

The payments problem

One of the most frustrating pain points was ATH Móvil. Without a way to require people to identify themselves, payments arrived without context:

In her words: "I have the main contact saved, let's say it's the mom, but the payment came from the grandma. I don't know who paid me if they didn't write a note."

She always figured it out. But always with unnecessary friction, checking history, sending follow-up messages, verifying one by one. She estimates it happened up to five times a month. "We always caught it, but it took a little more work than it should have."

The breaking point

When Burbujas moved into the physical location and started receiving a high volume of enrollment requests, Elizabeth was also starting graduate school. Two big things at the same time.

"It was pretty overwhelming. I had to find a way to improve this, to minimize the time it was taking, because I wasn't going to be able to show up well for my clients or for my academic responsibilities."

She'd tried other options: doing everything manually (not sustainable), attempting to build more complex websites (never finished one, never liked any enough to publish). "I'm not going to publish something I don't even understand myself. How am I going to help a client if I can't understand it either?"

How she uses Puny today

Today Elizabeth uses Puny in two main ways, and each one solves a specific problem she had before.

Intake forms. Before any long back-and-forth with a potential client, she sends them a Puny link with an intake form. It captures the key info upfront, and then she sends them the relevant information based on their profile.

"Before, it was a flood of different questions that could drag on for days. Now the most important details reach them from the start, and if someone wants to enroll, the process is already clear."

The private shop. This is her favorite move, and the most clever one. Burbujas has a shop on Puny, but it's not public. Only people who have the link can access it. It doesn't show up in any search or on her Instagram profile.

When it's time to renew class packages, she simply shares the link in the parents WhatsApp group. The shop asks for the student's name and phone number. They pay. Automatic confirmation. Done.

The message she sends to the group: "Hi, it's time to renew your package. Here's the link. You have until [date] to reserve your spot." That's it.

The shop also requires clients to identify themselves when paying, which completely eliminated the unidentified payment problem she had with ATH Móvil.

And since her groups are small (three kids of similar ages and skill levels), keeping the shop private lets her control the logistics. "We don't just hand out spots randomly. There's a whole system behind the classes. That private shop gives me that control."

Two services, one link

Before opening the physical location, Elizabeth used Puny in a simpler but equally strategic way: she had a link in her Instagram bio with information about Burbujas, swim classes and lifeguard services.

"Sometimes I'd send the link to someone asking about lifeguards. If they didn't know we also offered swim lessons, they'd see it right there. And I'd get new students from that."

One single link working as both a sales tool and a marketing tool at the same time.

"Before Puny, the business was just getting started. Now we're running."

The results

"There's always a little worry that something might be off. Now it's much less. Much less."

Who she'd recommend Puny to

"Mainly small business owners who are just getting started and looking for ways to simplify everything. But I see value in it for many things, you don't have to run a swim school."

And for anyone still on the fence: "If you're looking for something simple, effective, and local to Puerto Rico, I recommend it a hundred percent. Especially if you're just starting out, this is a great place to begin."

What changed most for Elizabeth was simple: saving steps. She didn't need a perfect or complex solution. She needed something that worked, was easy to understand, and would grow with her. At 23 years old, with 40 students, graduate school, and a swim school consistently running at capacity, it sounds like she found it.

Is your business still running on memory and scattered tools? Start free on Puny and find out how many steps you can save.