Get asked this a lot in different forms - "how do I know if I'll actually make it as a broker.": It's not the person who knows the most about boats. It's not even the most talented salesperson. It's whoever is most reliably there - answers the call they don't feel like taking, follows up when they said they would, shows up to the marina even on the slow week when nothing's moving. Boat knowledge you can learn in months. Sales skill you build with reps. But reliability is a decision you make every single day, and it's the thing that actually separates the brokers who make it from the ones who quietly disappear after six months. If you're still exploring this - that's the real qualifier to check yourself against. Not "am I a boat guy." "Am I someone people can count on."

Been heads-down welcoming people this week and wanted to point something out: this group has a real mix - a Head of Sales at a brokerage, a 20-year Coast Guard vet who's back in yacht sales, licensed captains, and people just starting to explore from Maryland to Georgia to right here in South Florida. If you haven't introduced yourself yet, do it in Start Here - I read every one and there's a good chance someone in here is dealing with exactly what you are.

This is the question I get more than any other, so let's start here. Good news: you don't need a maritime degree or a rich uncle. Yacht sales is one of the last businesses where showing up, knowing your stuff, and being useful still gets you in the door. Bad news: nobody's handing you a desk. You have to make yourself impossible to ignore. What actually works: - Show up in person. Walk into brokerages, walk the boat shows, hang around the marinas where the boats you want to sell are sitting. This is a relationship business — email doesn't cut it. - Know the inventory before you ask for a job. If you can talk intelligently about what's on a broker's docks or on a dealer's lot — the boats, the pricing, why one's moving and one isn't — you've already beaten 90% of the people who walk in cold. - Don't wait on a license to start — you can't get one yet anyway. In Florida the salesperson license has to be filed under an employing broker, so you can't go get licensed on your own and then shop yourself around. Land the affiliation first; the license comes once a broker's willing to bring you on. (Full breakdown in a separate post.) I started off in the marketing world. Having a knack for photography and videography put me in a position to learn, meet people, and be around the whole scene. From there I began my journey as a Yacht Broker. Ask me anything below — where you're at, what's blocking you. That's what this is for.

As someone looking to enter the industry, if you had go back to square one and start your career over what would you do differently? Especially given the rise of social media and internet influence.