Skip abed - Owner-operating SANTA BARBARA SAILING CENTER with over 40 boats and over 20 different revenue streams

Skip Abed (00:00.462)
Whatever you want to go do in your life, go for it. You're going to get a lot of people that are going to resist you. They're going to tell you, you're never going to accomplish it. Why are you even wasting your time? Take those people and make them push you even more.

Anne McGinty (00:22.158)
Welcome to the 15th episode of How I Built My Small Business, the show that is dedicated to sharing the insight that entrepreneurs have about how to start and grow small businesses. Join us as we unravel the stories behind their entrepreneurial journeys. I'm Ann McGinty, your host, and today we'll be chatting with Skip Abed about buying the Santa Barbara Sailing Center at 27 years old on April Fool's Day, 2000.

Skip saw vision for the myriad of ways he could improve the Santa Barbara Sailing Center. And over the past 23 years, he's gradually put them in place. His business has been named the American Sailing Association School of the Year twice now. And he is passionate about making the sport of sailing accessible to everyone. You can find a link through to his business in the episode's description.

Anne McGinty (01:20.238)
Thank you to our listeners for being with us today. Skip, welcome to the show.

Skip Abed
Thank you. Glad to be here.

Anne McGinty
Can you tell us the story of the point at which you decided to leap and purchase the business? How did that all unfold?

Skip Abed
Well, I'll go back a little bit before starting to work here in 1992. In 1991, I graduated from high school up in the Bay Area in East Bay and Walnut Creek at Northgate High School. My summer was...

a paid internship in Manhattan working at Herzog, Hein and Godewel, which was a stockbroker firm down at 26 Broadway. And I spent the summer in this broker house and gosh, back in 91, they still could smoke indoors. And these guys were just so high strung. At the end of the summer, I interviewed for a job in the World Trade Center at Canter Fitzgerald and I got accepted the job. But I just was sitting in this room and the actual statue of the thinker.

was in this office at the top of the World Trade Center. So I'm sitting there, looking at the statue of the thinker, thinking about my summer in New York, going, is this the career path that I want to go down? And the offer was very tempting, but my gut just told me, this isn't what you really want to do. So I declined the job and moved to Santa Barbara and got a job working here at the Santa Barbara Sailing Center. And I think I was getting paid cash and under the table and less than minimum wage.

And my dad told me I was the biggest idiot. So I said, well, I'm enjoying this. I'm loving working on boats and teaching people how to sail. And I slowly grew through the company of working here and became a kids camp instructor, became a charter manager, the sailing school director. So I worked in all these different areas within the business. Back then, it wasn't as large of a scale. So we had about three larger boats and

small fleet of the Victory 21s, a couple of Solings, two J24s, and that was kind of about it.

Anne McGinty
So it sounds like about 10 boats or less?

Skip Abed
Roughly, yes. And I wanted to figure out a way to buy my boss out. So I started to pursue it. And it took probably six and a half years of trying to get this guy to sell his business. And he didn't actually know it was me. I hired a business broker that was actually trying to attempt to purchase the business.

(03:40.59)
So I was working here and feeding my business broker with all these certain numbers and he was giving us different numbers and it was just kind of a fun insider job, so to speak. At the end of it, he ended up finding out it was me. I was very happy about that. And I was 27 years old when I bought the business and I've loved it. I really have enjoyed working here and growing the company. And we've grown the business from six figures to seven figures. And...

Working with my team, it's been a really amazing experience.

Anne McGinty
And how many boats do you have now?

Skip Abed
A bunch. I stopped counting.

Anne McGinty
How did you finance the purchase of the business?

Skip Abed
I mean, I was 25, 26 when I was trying to put the whole deal together. I mean, it'd been going on for a while, but when I got close to purchasing it, I was around 25 and 26. I mean, I had a Honda Civic wagon.

I was paying rent, you know, I didn't have property or anything like that. So the banks weren't going to loan me money. So you need to find an investor. And I think if you're passionate about it and you're hardworking, there are people out there that will help individuals. I actually had a couple of investors that were interested, Ricardo Fonseca and Jack Byers, who owns a big construction company here in town. I met with them initially and they were going to be the people that I was going to ask to finance.

the business and they wanted to be partners in the business because they were avid boaters and loved the ocean and loved the harbor. And I really didn't want a partner. I just wanted to pay them back with whatever interest they wanted. So that didn't happen. And my mom and dad gave me a loan. And back then interest rates were like seven and a half percent or something like that. So they gave me the same kind of interest rates too. And I paid off that loan and now own the company, but they gave me the opportunity to.

be able to purchase the business and that I've been growing the business ever since.

Anne McGinty
I know of other people who help aspiring entrepreneurs by providing down payment capital in exchange for a silent partner equity stake in a business that is ultimately financed by the SBA. So I know there are options and it sounds like you were searching for alternate financing and knew you could improve the business. So when you took over, what was it like? What were the initial challenges that you faced?

Skip Abed (06:03.534)
There were so many and it was this business in the past, the owner really just didn't have, I don't know if it was the management skills or the vision, but he really kind of ran it like a place where employees lived on their boats here at work. So it was taking up space where we could actually have boats that would make us money. They wouldn't show up to work if the surf was good. They came to work with their dogs everywhere and the dogs were biting the customers or they were.

you know, doing their business in the office or what have you, it was just, it was just kind of a mess. And it was a very relaxed atmosphere. And being here in Santa Barbara and catering to some of the clientele we have, I felt like we needed a higher standard. You know, we really needed to have, you know, employees in uniforms and have a structure of, okay, we're opening at this time and we're closing at this time. And these valuable slips are going to be designated for boats that are going to be offered for our students and our.

club members and the general public so they can rent them and enjoy sailing along Santa Barbara's coastline with the American Riviera in the background. So there was a lot of resistance to that kind of change. But all of that came with other fun benefits. People started to make more money. They were getting better tips because people looked at these individuals and had just a higher respect for their job and what we offered. And we were able to charge more too. So all those things helped us.

grow the business and create a more professional environment, at least in my eyes.

Anne McGinty
And you saw this. So you were in your 20s and you already noticed the potential for the business to be improved in that way.

Skip Abed
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, from working here for eight years on and off, and I must have quit eight times too within those eight years. But hearing feedback from club members and sailors and people coming down there and.

I mean, one time he hosted a chamber of commerce meeting and literally the dock was so wobbly that it tipped and about 20 people fell in the water all in their suits and what have you. It was just like, really? You know, we need to build better docks and have a better structured facility than these kind of rickety old docks. We rebuilt all these buildings around us. I'm sitting here literally floating in my office. I have the only floating office in Santa Barbara.

Anne McGinty (08:27.054)
Amazing.
And how has growth been?

Skip Abed
It's good. Every year it's just been this nice little ladder. Last year was a little flat, little down. Just we had the first two quarters in California and we needed the rain. We got a lot of it and it just rained and rained and rained. And we had so much sediment coming from the mountains into the ocean that the sand filled in the harbor at low tide. Last year, you could actually walk across from the sand spit here on the breakwater to the pier and about three feet of water.

Anne McGinty
Oh my gosh.

Skip Abed
It was that shallow. So our fleet was grounded until the Army Corps of Engineers came in and did an emergency dredging and cleared out the harbor. So that really affected our business and having the rain day in and day out for so long last year. I our reservoirs are full. It's great, but it really affects our business.

Anne McGinty
Yeah, it would. Wow. That's crazy that the sandbar got that shallow. Could any boats cross?

Skip Abed
At a high tide, some of the power boats could get through, but it wasn't safe for our keel books. It just wasn't worth it.

Anne McGinty
So beyond improved facilities, what other changes did you make to expand your operations?

Skip Abed
Well, we've expanded the fleet. We added kayaking and paddle boarding and added a whole dock system out there, which is really a white glove service where it's just we have a lower dock for paddle boards. So you can literally just step from the dock onto the paddle board in calm waters, not having to go through surf zones or sandy beaches or what have you. We have a kayak launch. We have

recyclable docks that are UV resistant, so it's not hot for people's feet in the summertime, and then no one will get splinters in the bare feet. We have a paddle membership for kayaking and paddle boarding. We get unlimited usage, so they can go out from sunrise to sunset as much as they want for just 60 bucks a month. And we have a tier system, too, so if you get more people, it can get down to 25 bucks a month per member. So that was an expansion. We expanded our day sail or boats, the Capri 22s. We have a fleet of those.

We also, our Catalinas, our cruising yachts that we do corporate team building on. We do day sales, we do our 103 sailing school. We certified people with the American Sailing Association and we're probably the top 20 school in the world that certifies people with the American Sailing Association here in Santa Barbara. And a lot of people come here because it's Santa Barbara, but mostly because of our channel. We got some great winds. Leaving our location here and going to the mouth of the harbor is just a seven minute sail.

(10:54.03)
If you're in Marina del Rey, it can be 45 minutes before you get from the boat out to the open ocean. San Diego, certain places, it could be an hour and a half before you get all the way out to open ocean. So we're really fortunate. We're south facing too. We're the only south facing harbor on the West Coast. So when we stand here on the beaches in Santa Barbara, we're looking actually at Mexico. And then we have the Channel Islands right off our coastline too. So you're crossing major shipping lanes, you're anchoring.

bow stern out at the islands, there are no moorings, the little buoys you pick up and you can just tie yourself up to. So you really learn the art of what they say, staying put with the anchoring system and learning all these different things. So we expanded in the sailing school. Our 50 foot sailing cataract, the double dolphin, we fixed up that bow, we reconfigured the bar and the seating area to have more of an open boat feel instead of kind of more of like a ferry boat feel with rows of seats and what have you.

And it just created a nicer platform for private parties. We do music on the water from Memorial Day to Labor Day where we have a different band or musician coming out or DJ on every Friday on the boat. So we created little activities like that. We have sipping on the sea. We have different winemakers. They'll come on board and pour their wines or a lot of local breweries as well will come out. And that's been a really well received program as well.

Anne McGinty
Wow. You have done so much. This is a big operation.

Skip Abed
Thank you.

Anne McGinty
How many people are on your team?

Skip Abed
It varies. I mean, Santa Barbara is really nice pretty much all year long, but we do have a season. And I would say from tax day, April 15th till November 1st is kind of the real chunk of our busy season. So we'll ramp up on more of our captains, instructors, also our crew. And we have sailing and paddleboard camps as well. So.

We'll have five to six camp goers and instructors on each boat teaching kids how to sail from seven to fifteen. And then we do paddle boarding in the morning as well.

Anne McGinty
Amazing. And so you have to flex up to meet this seasonal peak. I also had a seasonal business at one point, which I sold three years ago. What is your experience like staffing for your peak season? Because I know for us, that was one of the hardest parts.

Skip Abed (13:14.254)
It is. The sailing business, there's not a lot of people that know how to sail, to teach how to sail at this kind of caliber that we expect and make sure that they can deliver. So vetting those individuals can sometimes be difficult, especially on the kids camp. You're getting individuals that may be a lot younger, but they have a lot of sailing experience. So I really don't judge kind of what you hang on the wall. We've had so many people come down and say, I have this license and I have that license. And then I watched them go drive a boat and they're atrocious. Like.

A 12 year old kid could sail that boat better than a 50 year old guy or what have you. So I give these individuals a chance and make sure that they, once they prove themselves, then they're on the payroll. So I think it's some great perks too. They could take out the paddleboards or the kayaks and whatever sailboats we have laying around here. They can go out and go sailing for free. So it's a nice perk for them to do that.

Anne McGinty
What a lifestyle.

Skip Abed
It is. It's fun. It's a fun summer job.

Anne McGinty
Make me jealous. So like, what is your day to day job life like?

Skip Abed
I get down here, open up the office and just start catering to our customers and teaching people how to sail and getting other sailors out in the water. Or I just did a tour for a corporate group coming from Minnesota in May and they're going to be chartering the double dolphin for their group. And we work with a local catering company called the Santa Barbara Cheese Shop that puts together some great food. So they're going to have a nice luncheon with their colleagues out on the double dolphin for three hours sailing down the coastline towards Montecito.

Anne McGinty
How many days a week are you on a boat?

Skip Abed
Not as many as I should. I'm jumping around on boats all the time. I'm helping move boats all the time. I try to go sailing at least once a week, but it's been, it's probably been a month.

Anne McGinty
Oh no.

Skip Abed
I know, I know.

Anne McGinty
So more on the logistics side of the business. What are the expenses like for operating the sailing center? Because boats, I mean, my husband, he wants to buy a yacht and I just keep on saying, let's just rent them because I don't want to.

have the upkeep costs of maintaining a boat. I've also lived on boats. So I just, I know it's a constant thing. What is it like for you, the expenses and is it mainly in maintenance or what are your biggest expenses?

Skip Abed
Maintenance is up there. Say labor, insurance, rent. We pay a base rent here in Santa Barbara Harbor and then they have us on a percentage rent as well. So I would say those three, the rent, the insurance is ridiculous and then labor.

(15:37.134)
is probably our biggest. A lot of preventative maintenance, getting things repaired before they actually get to a point where it costs so much more money to replace them has been something that I've learned over the years of doing this and continue to learn.

Anne McGinty
Do you have a philosophy on how often to replace boats, a point at which the cost to maintain is beyond the cost of just buying a new one?

Skip Abed
Really, if you stay on top of it,

they can go for a long periods of time. You know, there's things that get worn like sails and cushions and lines, and those are easy things to replace, transmissions, what have you. So maintaining and hiring the professionals to come through the rigors and the boat mechanics to go through the engines before the season and what have you to make sure they're tuned perfectly. We do all of these preventative measures. So we'll have an idea of what we need to repair and when we need to repair it. So we create that.

put it into our calendar saying, okay, these sales were purchased May of 2024. And then in four to five years, let's start looking at replacing them.

Anne McGinty
That sounds like an organized way to approach the ongoing maintenance. So in an ideal world, what is your vision for the business?

Skip Abed
I'm always trying to grow. I'm always trying to be as efficient as possible. We do really well as a company as regards to

satisfaction of the customer. We like to hear feedback and sometimes it stings, but that's okay. We can't grow and improve unless we find out what's rubbing customers the wrong way. And if it is rubbing them the wrong way and we can explain to them why we do it in that way and maybe they'll understand. Or they'll come to us and say, why do you do this this way? And I'll be like, that's a good point. Why do we need to continue doing this this way? Let's change it. You know, if it's in stone, let's get a new rock and chisel some new rules. So,

Getting that feedback is something I always encourage my staff to do. I work down here all the time and just loving working with my team and devising better ways to make offerings for our students, our club members, the guests that come down. We want them all to feel very special.

Anne McGinty
What is it like combining your passion with your work?

Skip Abed
Well, I love it. It's been the best path for me. I've really enjoyed being able to provide for...

(17:50.99)
our working family down here and my wife and our two daughters and really has provided a great lifestyle for us.

Anne McGinty
Yeah, it sounds pretty dreamy. I know that when we were in French Polynesia recently, there was a guy that was living there at the Marina and yeah, he gets to transport boats between the French Polynesian islands as his living and it just it's it's amazing.

Skip Abed
Wow.

Anne McGinty
If you haven't been there yet, you really as a sailor, you really should go.

Skip Abed
Yeah, I've been to Guam and I've been to the Philippines and I've been to Fiji, but I haven't been to Tahiti yet. It's on my list.

Anne McGinty
Back to the business of the Sailing Center. Can you give us an idea of what the percentage split is like on your different revenue streams? Like which ones are really worth it and are working and which ones are just, you know, helping with the community, but maybe not big income generators?

Skip Abed
I kind of divide the company into thirds. The double dolphin, that is about a third of the business. And then our boat rentals, kayak rentals, is another third of that our sailing school as well. So there are some programs we do from our kids camps to some of our sailing instruction where it's not a big moneymaker, but it's either getting people to then eventually rent boats or they go out and buy their own boat. And it's always funny to see a club member or a student.

learn to sail and then sail with us for a while and then go out there on the boat. They almost feel guilty that they're like betray me that they went out like this is your dream. You wanted to own a boat. That's awesome. Like how can I help you? I know so many vendors or whatever you need. Let me know. This is a great experience and this is you following your dream. You know, so go do that. They always kind of get taken back by that because they think like, oh, I just lost a customer. I'm like, well, no, we taught you how to sail so you could actually then go out and safely operate a boat. And now it's your own boat. So.

perfect.

Anne McGinty
And it is one of the best ways to travel. Really.

Skip Abed
It's pretty phenomenal. So there are certain things that may not be the biggest moneymakers, but it's all about the experience too. And just being able to have these offerings. We just teamed up with a nonprofit organization called the Sea League and they're like, we get these inner city kids that really don't have a lot of money to go out and learn to sail. I would make more money renting the boat. But it's those experiences that

(20:14.222)
may affect a child down the road or open their eyes to something, or if they go out on a boat with someone else someday, they'll feel comfortable doing it or know what to do. Kind of the warm and fuzzy stuff is always good to have too. We do an internship program down here where the kids will come down, they have to be 12 and older, and then they can put hours in towards working down here on the docks and learning how to move boats. And then those hours, we apply towards sailing classes so then they can end up with a certification as well.

Anne McGinty
Oh, wow.
I want my kid to do that.

Skip Abed
We're going to put kids in camp this summer.

Anne McGinty
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So what would you say have been the most difficult situations that you've faced as the owner of a sailing center?

Skip Abed
There's definitely an art to working and understanding individuals. In the summertime, we could potentially have up to 60 employees and scheme of things. It's a small, very, very small business. It's my world, so it's big to me.

And working with all these different individuals and personalities sometimes can be challenging and trying to get your vision out and they have a vision. So when I interview people and hire people, I tell my employees that I trust them as family. And if they mess up and they told a customer this and we screwed up, let's just own it. Okay. But customers sometimes will try to turn things around, make stuff up and throw my employees under the bus.

I believe in my team, I work with these individuals every single day. And I'm like, okay, if we did something wrong, let's fix it. We have to refund them or do something, do a comp, whatever, let's make it right. But I let my staff know they're not gonna get in trouble if they do something like that. If we screwed up, we're human, we make mistakes. The boat leaves at 3:30, I told them four, and they come down and the boat's not there.

Now, obviously, if they do it over and over again, then we have an issue. But so one off, they made a mistake. I go to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I'm really sorry. We made a mistake. How can we make it right? So getting employees to wrap their head around that and believe that I'm not going to get them in trouble or anything like that is always a little bit of a challenge with new employees because they're like, is he really meaning this or he just wants me to confess to a mistake so he's in trouble?

Skip Abed (22:34.254)
I was always trying to grow and improve the business. And I've failed in many different ways. Certain policies I had were just silly policies. We had to change them or we upset so many customers and what have you. But we learn from these things and we grow and improve. And that's why I feel like we have a really good formula down here on the docks.

Anne McGinty
What have been some of your most memorable experiences?

Skip Abed
There's been so many, but there's a couple.

We worked with a program here called the Alpha Resource Center, and then I got the group out kayaking, and there was this one girl that just didn't want to get in the kayak. She was worried about sharks and all this and that, and I finally got her into the double kayak with the instructor, and then I couldn't get her out of the kayak. Feeling those experiences, there was a family, a husband and a wife, and two little girls, and the husband and the daughters would go sailing all the time, and the mother would sit up right above our docks with some cement.

benches up there and she would wait while they went sailing. Well, she was blind and she didn't feel comfortable going on a boat and every week they would come down and the father would take them out sailing. So one day I went up and I grabbed her and I said, you're coming with me. So we hopped on a boat and I taught her how to sail and this woman, it was amazing. Like she could hear in the main channel of Santa Barbara Harbor, there's end ties and there's boats on those end ties. And then when the wind

blows the waves against those boats. You can hear a ripple and ricochet off of the hull of the boat. And she's like, is it time to tack? I said, absolutely. I mean, she had it down. So she was tacking. And then we sailed by the family, the husband and the two daughters. And they saw their mom. I'm getting choked up even talking about this, but they saw their mom out sailing and it was just such a, it felt really good. And then moving forward, they all went out as a family sailing.

Anne McGinty
That is amazing.

Skip Abed
We also do a lot of celebrations of life, scatterings at sea for individuals. So we've had some funny ones where the individual was just kind of a character. We had a, you know, a family come down and they left grandpa on the docks, their earn on the docks and they forgot to put it on the boat. And so the boat goes out to go scatter the ashes and grandpa's not on board. Well, apparently grandpa, his whole life was late to everything. So I hopped in a motorboat and took,

(24:57.262)
the ashes out to the family so they could spread their grandparents' remains. And everyone was just cracking up. And I'm like, well, what's so funny? It's like, he's even late to his own funeral. It's like unbelievable, you know? So there's just a little certain funny experiences like that to just turn things around, put a smile on their face and make them cry and laugh at the same time is a really great, great, great feeling.

Anne McGinty
It sounds like such a fun job and world that you are moving through. I've got a little, I got a little jealousy.

Skip Abed
We have a lot of fun down here.

Anne McGinty
So with so many, I'm assuming thousands upon thousands of people that are coming to the Sailing Center each year and being so close to the ocean and environmental sustainability, how do you make sure that your patrons that are coming are going to treat the environment with respect?

Skip Abed
Good question.

We're a green business and we really follow that closely. And I was pretty impressed to get a green business certificate. You got to go through a series of checklists and you have to make sure that you comply with all those things. And when we went through this long extensive checklist, there were only two things on there that we had to change. So we changed those and we're a green business, but a sailors and ocean going individuals really, I have found have a lot of respect for the ocean and Santa Barbara.

California in general has a lot of environmental awareness and respect for the packing in and packing it out type of mentality, recycling and putting things in the right place and not throwing trash and what have you.

Anne McGinty
That's great to hear.

Skip Abed
Actually meeting this afternoon with Whale Heritage site. We've been designated as a place that the whale heritage will establish as a great place to come and see whales and protect whales. We're also lobbying about 500

hundred tankers pass our channel every week and we're trying to get them to reduce their speeds so they don't hit whales. Also 50 % of Santa Barbara's pollution is from those offshore tankers that are cruising through our channel. So by reducing the speed their emissions will be a lot less and I think I overheard on the news this week it would be like taking two million cars off the road.

(27:20.142)
if they just reduce their speed from 25 knots to 15 knots. So hopefully things will be passed that will enable that to happen.

Anne McGinty
Yeah, I hope so too. Can you tell us about some of the challenges that you've faced as a business owner?

Skip Abed
I mean, took over in 2000 and 2001, 9 -11 hit and that affected the world. And then we've had fires and fires and fires, you know, and then we've had the debris flows and mudslides and Montecito which closed out.

things we've had. The weather and what have you that's affected us, the economic downturn in 2008. So all these things, we've kind of weathered these storms throughout the years. And I always found if we just show up, we open up and get people back out there, they're going to come back and they're going to want to have fun, even COVID too. I mean, I understand we had to have things in place, but we're an outdoor open business and for having them close us down for activities that are outside kayaking and sailing.

It was kind of unfortunate that we had to do that. That impacted us quite a bit.

Anne McGinty
Given you've had such a long time as a business owner and made it through so much, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Skip Abed
I think in order for success, you just really need to dive in and be all in. There's no out of office. There's no, I can't deal with this right now because I'm doing this or anything like that. You need to be able to be on and learn and grow and also fail.

I'm gonna take this from someone who told me this thought. I went to school in the East Coast. One of the students that was in my class was Scott Musburger, and his dad was Brett Musburger. I think he worked for NBC, a sportscaster. And he came to dinner one time and he was sitting at our table and we were all talking to him. And one of the advice that he gave us at the table was like, whatever you wanna go do in your life, go for it.

You're going to get a lot of people that are going to resist you. They're going to tell you you're never going to accomplish it. Why are you even wasting your time? Take those people and make them push you even more. If your family's hosting a Christmas party every year, you talk about it with your family and friends. What do you want to do when you grow up, Skip? Well, I want to own a sailing business. And then you keep talking about it. And then the following year, they'll come in. How's that dream coming for that sailing business? And you keep talking, well, I've done this, I've done that. And you keep talking about it. And you keep.

(29:43.822)
pushing your way through and you make it happen. It doesn't happen by itself. You have to be dedicated and you have to be willing to take time. It took eight years for me to buy this business. And people always say, oh, the kids these days, I think the kids these days have been the kids these days all the time. My generation, there were kids that were lazy. This generation, I've seen hardworking kids and I see lazy kids. I think they're all out there all the time. And I don't think it's...

they're entitled, they're this, they're that, there are all these different sayings. I think there's individuals in every generation throughout history that have those characteristics. But if you have the characteristics and the drive within you and you keep talking about it and acting upon it and focusing on it, you can make it happen.

Anne McGinty
I love that. It sounds very much like what my parents have always said all along. They were immigrants as well. And just if you can believe it, then you can do it.

Yeah, got to go for it. If you could go back and talk to yourself when you're in your early 20s, what advice would you give yourself or what would you say?

Skip Abed
Oh my gosh. Are we allowed to curse on your podcast?

Anne McGinty
Sure.

Skip Abed
Chill the fuck out. CTFO. Chill the fuck out. I was trying to run a business. I was young, so I didn't have a lot of respect with older individual sailors that come down. I didn't even put business owner on my card until I was

I think 40. Not that I was embarrassed as a business owner or anything like that, but the ways people would treat me because I was young and kind of an industry that's like your grandfather or uncle's sport had been really making sure I was doing everything as right and respectfully as possible, which kind of wound me up a little bit, a lot actually. So just being at this age and having as much experience as I've had over the years.

I'm a lot more confident in my decisions and understandings and interactions with individuals than, you know, this is a 27 year old kid telling them to wear closed toe shoes and not flip -flops. And it wasn't the easiest transition, but it was, it was what I wanted to do. And I'm glad I did it. I had the vision and what I wanted to do. And I got some resistance. I mean, my general manager that was my mentor from the previous company, I had to fire him.

(32:04.142)
after a year and a half and we had been talking for years about how we were going to transform the company and how we're going to grow the company and how we're going to expand and how we're going to do things. And then I started to go do it. I was wondering, like, did he think that I was actually going to be able to carry this out? I had a lot of people that doubted me and that's fine. I think that helped me throughout the whole process of just staying engaged and wanting to purchase the business. But then when I actually did it.

All the support that I thought I was going to get was met with resistance and confrontation. And I was like, you're my barrier to my success. So unfortunately, I have to let you go. It wasn't easy, but one of the best decisions I've made throughout the years. I can't do this business without individuals, but I need support, you know, and I need people that are going to support me. Not when I step away and I turn my back, all of a sudden they're just stabbing me in the back.

I know the boss and me on top, you're always going to get flack and employees are always going to talk smack about you. And I'm fine with that to a limit. But if you're undermining me on every single step of everything that we're trying to do and create, that's not working as a team.

Anne McGinty
Yeah, you do have to make really hard decisions when you're at the top and recognize when a team member isn't working toward the benefit of your business's ecosystem, but hard decisions.

But removing that drag can have so much positive impact.

Skip Abed
We make so many people happy. We're offering people to go out. I mean, right now is whale watching season. I mean, just seeing the families getting off the boats and the kids, their eyes are like huge. Just going, oh my gosh, what an experience. We had a proposal and it was starting to rain and this individual had planned so when he gets seasick, his girlfriend and the two sisters and the mother were going out on our whale watching trip.

and he wanted to approach the boat on another boat and step aboard and get on the boat and drop to a knee and propose. So he had like a photographer on board. And then just before the trip, it started to rain. And I'm like, oh my gosh, we've been planning this for like five weeks. And my captain's like, I think we should cancel the trip. I said, we're not canceling this trip. I said, Zach has worked so hard to put this whole thing together. We're making this happen. So we went out.

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Unfortunately, like the rain had stopped partway through the cruise. So it wasn't that bad. Everyone had a great time and he proposed and she said yes. It was just one of those things that we do down here. That's very rewarding.

Anne McGinty
Amazing that you've touched so many lives in such a positive way. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

Skip Abed
Oh, you're very welcome.

Anne McGinty
If you've made it this far, thanks for being here. If you haven't already, please take a moment to rate the show and leave an honest review to help me reach more listeners ears. 

Today's key takeaways. 

If you notice a business that isn't being run to its full potential, whether it's structure, branding, operations, presentation, and more, there could be an opportunity to purchase that business and turn your vision into reality. 

If you don't have the down payment to secure financing, but are passionate and hardworking, you can seek out an investment partner. They are out there. 

Start talking about your dreams and keep talking about your dreams. And if you have doubters, use that to push you even more. 

Be open to customer feedback. Sometimes it can sting, but you can use the information to grow and improve. 

Understand the value of preventative maintenance of your equipment and stay on top of it. It can end up costing you more in the long run if you let this slip through the cracks. 

And get comfortable with failure. We all fail at some point, but if you learn, grow, and improve, you have the right formula. Maybe you need to get a new rock and chisel some new rules. 

Think of your employees as your working family and build trust. Surround yourself with supportive people and choose employees that understand what it means to work as a team. This also means to make the difficult decision to stay away from people in your circle who put you down. 

And if you get wound up, remember to chill out. Don't let your fears of what other people think of you derail your self -confidence. 

A friendly reminder to please rate and review the show. Thanks again for being here. I release episodes once a week, so come back and check it out. Have a great day.