# New Potential Captain SWFL



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Hey Nick, good question!

I really recommend not to go all out and break the bank trying to get a high end skiff from the get go, especially if you are trying to break into that business. It's a long row to hoe, as the ole farmer would say. That's the kind of business that takes years to develop and having a good steady source of income in the guiding business is just not a reality when your young and just starting out. Believe me, I know just what you are feeling. I was 6yrs old when I drug my 1st snook home, 1st tarpon when I was 9 and had my 1st boat when I was 11 (lived on the water) and by the time I was your age, I'd caught more snook and tarpon than most fishermen catch in a lifetime (no joke). Us boys and my dad spent so much time in the 10k and the Glades, that we sprinkled my dad's ashes down there in `96 after he past away. I suspect that's where I'd end up too! lol

Here's the point. If you already don't have a skiff/boat, get a good job, work hard, save some $$, look around and get a great deal on a good used skiff of some kind that needs some work and/or the owner is in a distress situation or just doesn't use it anymore and is just sitting around collecting leaves and dust. Those can be smoking hot deals!. Get it, work on it, fix it up, use it and take care of it. As you continue to work your job and then sell it for more than you paid for it. It's called "flipping it!" You can also do that with cars, vehicles, computers, heck even houses! I've even flipped my 1st wife and now I've got a better one!!! ROFLMAO!!! 

Take that money you got from selling that skiff, add some more money to it and buy the best deal you can afford and do it all over again! If you do it right, buy during the off season and sell during the peak season, you can turn a couple of boats per year. If you get emotionally attached to any boat, then the plan will stop right there. If you think of it as a tool and you keep your goal set, flip a few and continue making money on your "real" job, you will help achieve that goal!

During this time, work on your job, work hard, be reliable, get raises and continue to earn more extra cash. Also during this time, work on the side to develop your side business!  Build a website, get connected in the industry, make a business plan and start to execute it little by little. Develop your home waters and become the best at finding the fish and know what they'll eat and where they are at all times. Work your sphere of influences around you and let people what you are doing part time. Offer a reduced rate to get it going and start building a library of people you helped put on fish (hero pics). Develop a blog at what you are doing and get a social media following. Maybe specialize in a niche market of cool young people your age that want to experience what you are experiencing (for a reduced fee) but feel going out with these old dudes is expensive and probably boring! lol .

Start building your credit and eventually one day with enough dough to throw down on a good used high end skiff, you may be able to persuade some finance company to bankroll you on a large portion of the purchase price of a good skiff. But this could take some years to get you in that position. So be patient, be stead fast, persistent, work hard, be social in the industry and know what you do inside and out. If that all happens, you just might make it! 

One thing I can tell you, it is way more work than you think and what most people think! The pre-trip prep and the post-trip work can take just as long and be just as much work as the trip itself! a 6hr trip can be a 12hr day. 

Being a great fisherman is not enough. You have to know people who you can go-to for boat repair and maintenance. Otherwise, you need to know the insides out on motor and boat repair, go to sites like this for good advise and know those local mechanics and glass guys that will help you when you're in a jam.

It's a business. These days, you have to learn business 101 to be in it. You have to learn and understand marketing. You need to learn sales (you are selling your services), you need to have or learn to have great people skills, because there are many great people that will take you up for a fishing trip and there are total a_ _holes that you want to kick off your boat in the middle of nowhere, but for your business reputation, you need to learn how to handle those situations. 

You've got to be a master at problem solving! When your ship is going down (either your business or literally your boat) to need to be able to solve your problem quickly and effectively without getting emotional or confused about it. Otherwise, you are going down! Point is, "know what you are doing!" Plan thoroughly and above all be safe for your sake and the others you take with you. If you are a hot shot and ruin someones day by being stupid, then it will be the destruction of everything you were trying to build.

Long hours, crazy hours, long crazy hours.....  Tough to have a normal relationship with your girl (or any girl), hard to raise kids with that schedule, expenses can bleed you dry if you're not careful and let's not forget the economy. The economy can change on a dime. 9/11 did me and my buddies in with one snap of the fingers! By the time you go get a civilian job and start doing good, the luster of going back out there and dealing with it all over again, sorta wears off. I've had friends that almost gave up going fishing regularly because they were so burnt out on the whole thing and the people.

It takes a special person to stick with it and continue to stay on the platform. You either have to be a super guy and don't let things bother you (letting it roll off your sleeve) or you become callus and rough around the edges (or both! lol) I still know a few who's still in the game after many years in the saddle, and on this site Capt Bob Lemay has one of the best track records for doing just that. There's another guy on this site that lurks but doesn't say much. He's an ole time Fla Keys guide (30yrs worth, 100's of days on the water each year) and has just now retired up here where I live. It'll make you old, hard, tired and callus. But the memories shared with the right person are priceless!

Wow, did I just go down that road or WHAT! lmao!

Now where was I?? Oh yeah, don't worry about the boat thing. Take your time, take it slow, work hard, look for the deals, flip it regularly, don't get too emotional about it, don't get in over your head. Operate within your means and not more than you can afford. Above all, be patient, I'll come!


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## Dawhoo (Oct 27, 2015)

That's some great advice for all of us


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## Nick (Sep 25, 2015)

You could not have been more helpful, obviously a little disappointed though because I wanted it to be a little easier than you made it sound but hey that's life right? I honestly have only considered the captaining job because my highschool coach has offered me a position on his charter in which whatever trips he wouldn't be able to take out on his boat, I'd be able to take on whatever boat I decided to purchase. His buisness is #5 on tripadvisor in the Naples area and has built it up. Hopefully all will fall into place. I understand not to dive in fully yet. I'm still in college and going through mechanical engineering right now. It's just something I look at as a back up for right now to make some extra cash.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Nick said:


> You could not have been more helpful, obviously a little disappointed though because I wanted it to be a little easier than you made it sound but hey that's life right? I honestly have only considered the captaining job because my highschool coach has offered me a position on his charter in which whatever trips he wouldn't be able to take out on his boat, I'd be able to take on whatever boat I decided to purchase. His buisness is #5 on tripadvisor in the Naples area and has built it up. Hopefully all will fall into place. I understand not to dive in fully yet. I'm still in college and going through mechanical engineering right now. It's just something I look at as a back up for right now to make some extra cash.



See, your high school coach is #5 on trip advisor but still has a regular job. 

My advise is to continue with school. Mechanical engineers maybe able to make more $$ than a guide and the income will be more stable, not to mention your working time. In a sense, you may be able to have a normal life as a ME and still have plenty of time to fish and have fun and will make enough $$ to eventually buy that skiff you've always wanted. 

In the short time I've been here on this planet, I've learned a simple rule. "Everything worth getting takes hard work, patience and persistence to get it!"


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