Marine Industry

I just want an opinion from the members as to how wise you think it's to start a business in the marine industry under the current economic conditions.

I made a move (read: got pushed out) from the wholesale (manufacturing) end of the marine business to the retail (brokerage & new) end amidst the 1990 recession/luxury tax turmoil. While I was too ignorant--and boneheaded-- to listen to those who advised against such a move, I was shown the ropes and ended up having a very nice first year.

Go for it, FabianAndrades. And, welcome to YF, BTW.

I own a yacht management business in Fort Lauderdale and do quite well at it. You may have to take on some jobs that you would never do in the future in order to establish business. Miami could use some good Yacht Management companies down there.

Every yacht that I've come across that spent anytime in Miami and having Miami people fix, has been completely island engineered instead of having things fixed properly. I will no longer take on or do any repairs in Miami either, the drive and searching around all day for parts to do the repairs are just not feasible for me. However, if you're from that area, I see that there are a lot of customers looking for people to manage their yachts and a lot of people that could use someone good to take care of their yachts. Keep in mind everything you have to fix on the yachts down there, is going to usually have to be re-engineered back to proper ABYC standards

Welcome to why I don't do business in Miami. It might be time to find a new marina. Nobody in Miami has any sense of urgency with anything. They also are never on time, if they even show up that day. Most things don't get completed totally. Or if they're supposed to come back and finish something else up, it never happens.......

Give Wastebusters a call(out of ft. laud), they have a few pumpout boats that will come to you and pump it out for a nominal fee. I think they go to different area's on different days.

There are billions of ways to chew up your ad money with little result. Starting up in this business I recommend direct mail with in person dock pounding unless you're coming in with a lot of money. Plus, if you're competing with quality, word of mouth is the only way to convey that.
Something that hasn't been mentioned is that most likely few of the miami companies came in with the intent to be mediocre. Why are they like that?

Last but not least, what's the best way to advertise, other than word of mouth and marinas ??

Hi,

A Yacht Forums Banner ad would not be a bad place to start, I know the Admin has reasonable rates so why not give it a shot?

Hi,

Do a search for user YACHTFORUMS and send him a message.

Meeting with people in the marine business is the best way to go. Stopping by in person with business cards and brochures and giving them to Brokers, Captains, Dockmasters, and others in the business works best. I am always as busy as I want to be and have never once paid for any form of advertising. It has always been word of mouth that works for me. Putting a nice brochure on tons of boats has also worked very well for friends of mine.

From what I've seen, there are so many boats in Miami and all of the people down there have a hit the owner hard ($$$$), make a quick score and there is plenty of other business. And with a lot of owners they get away with it for a while. But none of them that I've seen, repair things properly, really take care of all of the things they're supposed to (especially seacocks, strainers, filters etc.) and do things the right way and properly maintain the vessel for a FAIR price. They look at the fortune they could rip someone off for this week.

"I'm afraid to say that it has to do with the fact that a large part of the population in Miami comes from Latin America, and people there tends to take things a little easier than the rest of the world ."
DK that I could stand on the side of the road from dawn in hopes of a chance to wash boats or mow lawns in 100* heat. No, I think it's more that they don't have the skills or knowledge and those who should know and are supervising are too lazy to teach.
With the skill set that exists in Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Beach it's amazing that it hasn't spread south more.

It's not that the skill set does not exist in Miami. The employees do not want to learn, and don't do what you ask them to do. They have the mindset of get the job done (washdowns etc.) as quickly as possible and have the mentality to cut corners, skip areas that appear clean, and make a quick buck.......Not the American ethic of do a really good job and get to wash it next week and the week after that because the owner appreciates the good job that you did.
Not to be racial or generalize, but the general mentality in Central America and South America is to only worry about today and how they're going to buy seis cerveza's at the end of the day, not what they're going to do for income next year or even next week. Total hand to mouth. they make some money, they then go goof off until they're broke and buy junk with it...... not something lasting......You see 42' flat screens in mud huts with no windows down there.....with a satellite dish stuck on the side of it.............

Keep it up K1W1 and I'll put you on commission!

Fabian, banners are reserved for builders and a few OEM's. As K1W1 said, we don't charge much. We're mostly concerned with building a better community. Don't feel bad, we've declined a few Fortune 500 types that would have paid well to be here. But they're simply not the right "fit" for YF.

Good luck with your business endeavor.

FabianAndrades: At the risk of this getting bounced, may I suggest joining the (non-profit) Florida Yacht Brokers Association?
The membership is not only comprised of brokers, but also includes support firms who can advertise in the monthly newsletter and be listed in the member directory. Their 'Third Thursday' get-togethers, which revolves around a bunch of boats and brokers at Bahia Mar, is a networking event.

The Marine Industries Association of South Florida is another worthwhile non-profit with it's own member directory indexed by name as well as business type and is a veritable 'Who's Who' in the marine biz.

By joining Yacht Forums, you already have many people who know who you are and what you are attempting to accomplish. By contributing to this site as a regular, we all benefit.

One of the issues you are going to face is finding a way to differentiate your new business from every other similar business down there. You already know you're going into an area where people have low expectations of the performance of current businesses and their employees.

I didn't get from your original post exactly what kind of service you expect to provide, here's a suggestion. As you network with people in the industry that you would like to work for, try to find out what contractors or companies they are currently using. Then try to find out which they are happy with and which they are not.

If you do this, as you build your list of contractors you hire you will already have names of contractors to work with and those to avoid.

If, for example, you hear of a yacht detailing company that does a good job, contact them to see if you can get them to also work for you.

If your list of contractors that you use only includes good quality people, the word will spread.

I wish you much success in your venture.