OK everyone i would like to hear some advice since i am one of the younger guys (23) on OSO. I am graduating college next May (2007) as a marketing major and i want to get into a performance boat company. I had two plans in mind.

1. Move to LOTO which is 3.5 hours away from me now, start a business (detailing, boat dealer)....marketing?

2. Move to FL and try to get on with a performance boat CO and use my degree.....?

I am obsessed about boats and my dream was/is to own a 38 TG Cigarette. I really enjoy working outside and i also like to detail. Whats it really take to save up for such a rig (used around 100K), my goal is to own one by the time i am 30yrs old. P.S. i have no kids or strings attached!

move to chicago... become a marketing guru, make millions, then buy cigarette


sorry skip!

Ask yourself if you like cold weather approx 3-4 months of the year. If the the answer is no, go south, way south.

Use your degree and get a good job with a good company that has potential for you to move up. Make your money with your job and finance your boat/hobby. Thats what most people do.

I am in the same delima as you, but I graduate in May '06 with a degree in marine structural engineering... we design oil platforms. I think I have decided to go ahead and use the degree and begin to build a boat company on the side. If the boat thing ever takes hold, maybe I can quit my real job and play for a living. And by the way I'm married and have a baby on the way.

I wouldn't go into detailing just to be around boats... I would use the degree to be around your own boat.

Ernie

btw I'm 25 and boatless right now, but have had them in the past... actually I have a sailing catamaran now but please don't tell anyone

join the club. 22, graduating in may with BS in Mech Engineering Tech.

job + $ = Boat

Seriously though, i have a friend who owns a detailing company. he makes over six figures a year but works his a$$ off 10-12 hrs a day no matter what.

I quit laboring around 7 years ago when I first got my Scarab and it payed off.

LOTO is not your place if you want to get into high performance boats. As much as i hate to say it the cruisers are taking over. If you like the midwest try and find a good marketing job in KC or St. Louis so you can have weekends at the lake.

just my .02

Wild

This makes the most sense if you really think about it.

Find a job you absolutely LOVE...enough that you'd do it free.
You will be glad to go to work in the morning.

Owning a boat company is not easy, very competitive and cut-throat. Most small manufacturers are struggling and hanging by a thread most of the time. There are too many manufacturers going after a small market share. The percentage of boat buyers that are not affected by the economy is small.
I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

Go South. Most people clean their own boats on lakes. In Florida they like them clean when they get there, and there's more of them. LOTO is seasonal like most other lakes. Florida is not!