Guest Blog

It used to be that when anyone went out and bought a boat, regardless of its size, it was a purchase that brought a feeling of significance to the buyer.

Last spring, during a round of 20 Group meetings, I heard many of the dealers complaining about business, the economy, interest rates, new curtailments, the media and on and on. Then, I asked the dealers to switch their train of thought to tell me what was good about the boat business.

By Peter Granata, President, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — As a kid on summer vacation, there was nothing like the two weeks in which the family would trek into the far north of Wisconsin in search of the best fishing. My grandfather was the proud owner of a Johnson Sea Horse outboard engine, and although he ...

As the years move on, it becomes more and more apparent how big of a part the Internet is going to play in the success of small businesses.

Certainly new boat sales have suffered over the past several years, and the current economic recession is inflating the problem. However, there are other, more troubling, undercurrents in the boating industry that will dramatically influence the future prosperity of this industry.

By Peter Granata, President, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — There's a new bandwagon pulling into town, and if you're too busy ducking bullets you may not notice it. If you hang around the boating industry long enough, you're bound to experience a cyclical downturn. This most recent version has to be the worst since 1980, and ...

By Chris Kourtakis, Owner, H20 Limos Marine Service — With the recent announcements of Chrysler closing up to 800 dealers and GM a possible 1,500 dealerships, will this hurt of help the marine industry? More people keep focusing on the negative, but as we all know there is a silver lining to everything. The dealership closings and layoffs could give ...

By Mike Hoffman, owner, Marine Center of Indiana — I used to be in the medical business, and back then, I told people that "I sell something that none of my clients really want, but they all need." Now I own a dealership and I enjoy telling people that, "We sell something that everybody wants, but nobody needs." So as ...

VINCENT PICA, Division Commander, Division-18 (1SR), United States Coast Guard Auxiliary There is a lot of talk these days out of Washington regarding "public-private" partnerships in solving the economic difficulties our economy is in. And it makes a lot of sense for government and business to work together to maximize the effect of programs and policies. There is another public-private ...