Working from home,errrr boat questions.

[ben2go]

How many people work from their boat and what do you do?I am currently doing some affiliate work,blogs,and soon hope to get into writing short e stories and possibly ebooks.Is their any other ideas or things to do while cruising?I'd like to live aboard in 10 years,if my healths improves.Hoping to do the Great Loop in about 4 or 5 years.

 

[Keith]

I live on and work from my boat. I'm in sales, so I combine telemarketing with outside sales and hardly ever go into the "office".

 

[Moonstruck]

Ben, I don't live aboard, but do extended cruising. Since I am still active in business, I do a lot of office work on the boat. I have a custom built fold out desk in the side (guest) stateroom. Extra electric receptacles were installed. Even a remote mic for the VHF. With notebook computer, aircard, WIFI, portable printer, and utilizing some shore side business facilities I can do almost anything that can be done in my land office.

My business is nothing like you describe as I am a real estate developer and builder. We regularly e-mail document files, drawing files, financial report files, and job status reports. We have done closings during cruises. Over night delivery by Fedex is a great thing.

One of the more complicated things we do is the bonding of projects. Much information is sent back and forth. I did one large project while cruising. We started out with it in Jekyll Island, GA. We finished on the West coast of Florida at Boca Grande. When we had it all done, I asked the lady I had been working with to give me the info to wire the fee. She laughed and said that it had been a fun process. That she figures anybody that could do this while travelling on a boat was good for the money. Send it when I get back to the office.

When my late wife was undergoing treatments, we never stopped our cruising. We stopped at towns up and down the coast to get to labs for tests sending the reports back to her doctor. In fact, Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott took us to the hospital in Fort Myers for lab work. That was about 2 weeks before she passed away. Her doctor said that our continuing on as close to regular as possible probably added months to her life.

The point being that you can do much from a boat while living in one spot or cruising. It is very seldom that I will not have some work to do while on the boat. However, it makes working better.

 

[psneeld]

3rd time living aboard...first 2 boats for a total of 6 years I was active duty/newly retired USCG (between marriages).

Now living aboard for 2nd year, work as an assistance tower for 8-9 months of the year and cruise south the other 3-4.

It's nice living 4 slips down from my place of employment!

 

[Dswizzler]

Just finishing up mu 1st year living and working aboard. Working on Data Networking for HP, as long as I have a a internet connection, ( Hard line, wifi, air card) I can work from anywhere. Haven't been in my office in 6 months...come to think of it, haven't had on a pair of long pants or hard shoes for 6 months..WINNER

 

[Phil Fill]

If you are going to do the loop in 4 or 5 years, what is preventing you from living on the boat? With the right boat, marina and slip you can do everything you do on the dirt?

A boat has many hand hold and the distance/space is small so moving around in the boat an advantage, if disabled and/or health reasons. Plus the boat can be moved for a change in scenery/location. My wife was disabled for 3+ years, very seldom left the boat, but being the boat has many hand holds, few steps, and easy access it was a plus for her.

With the smart cell phone, note book/pad PC, and broad band/wifi I can do the majority of my office work from the boat, so my hours are flexible. My wife is retired, which is going to force me to retire in a couple of years, so the question is what am I going to do besides drive my wife crazier?

 

[Woodsong]

We don't live aboard full time but definitely part-time/seasonally. We probably average at least 120 nights a year aboard. This year will be way above that. I run my yacht brokerage firm out of my boat so it is truly my floating office. Give me my camera, macbook, scanner/printer, and a wifi connection and I can do just about anything I need to do. I have closed many a deal while anchored out in a quiet cove just using wifi/air card since so many of our closings are remotely done via electronic email, efax, and wire transfers. Switching to efax a year ago was a huge step forward to freeing me up- don't know why on earth I took so long to do that! Some of our clients aren't super big into email but can fax and efax goes to my macbook or iphone.

 

[marinetrader]

I live aboard full time and work from my boat as a yacht broker. I can do everything via Verizon WIFI card.

Last week spent 4 days on the hook; I worked some there as well. Here is a link to my blog if you are interested.

The life......it can't be beat.

 

[Jeffrey S]

Needless to say, all of ActiveCaptain is run while onboard. For the last 9 years we've lived onboard for about 9+ months each year.

 

[dabsolute]

we have been living on board our motor cruiser in the uk all summer and only go home once a week to get mail and check on teenage daughter.
its great and we hope to sell up and venture over to the us

 

[BaltimoreLurker]

I have started telecommuting but haven't made it to the boat yet. But I'm getting closer. Here's the view from my new office. Closer to the water, but not on it yet.

 

[Portuguese]

I will rotate and consult about drilling oil businesses for another 2 years after Rainha is ready. 2015 is the dead line for good. After that no more work other than that imposed by common boat maintenance

 

[ben2go]

Thanks for the feed back everyone.I'm going to go back and reread this again.I guess my thread got lost because I quit receiving emails letting me know I had responses.

Ok,here's where I am at.I've been out of work(unpaid) for six years due to health issues.I would really rather not have to rely on a brick and motor job.I'd rather find something that I can do from home or boat or where ever.I have a chance to go back to school.It will be at my local community college.I don't have all the info yet.I went down and got the info to get the process started.I am required to pay a $25 fee to cover registration and assessment testing.I kinda been outta school fur a while so dey wanna make sir I can still wead and rite.LOL After that,they will know what I need to take as far as catch up courses, for the lack of a better term, along with taking the classes to get the qualifications in a field of my choosing.There in lies the problem.I know where I want to be.I just don't know what I should get a degree in.Can you guys,and ladies, give me some ideas or a direction to help me make this decision?The one thing important to me is the ability to be able to work independently from where ever I may be.I do plan to take a refresher writing class.What would be an interesting field to get into?

 

[Peter B]

I have started telecommuting but haven't made it to the boat yet. But I'm getting closer. Here's the view from my new office. Closer to the water, but not on it yet.

Looks nice Darrell. Actually that view could very well have been from one of the islands in out Moreton Bay...

Good plan Portuguese. (Rainha)

Sorry, can't help you there Ben. Very personal decision, that. Only you know what your aptitudes are.

 

[ben2go]

Looks nice Darrell. Actually that view could very well have been from one of the islands in out Moreton Bay...

Good plan Portuguese. (Rainha)

Sorry, can't help you there Ben. Very personal decision, that. Only you know what your aptitudes are.

I think this is going to be a difficult but fun project.I have always been some what of a hands on blue collar work.I guess anything I can do on the move would make me a white collar worker.Never been on the dark side before.

 

[Tony B]

Most liveaboard blue collar cruisers that I know are in the construction industry. They follow the work.

 

[ben2go]

Most liveaboard blue collar cruisers that I know are in the construction industry. They follow the work.

Not quite what my back ground is in.Anything possible tho.My back ground is in industrial mechanics,auto mechanics,motorcycle mechanics,manual machining,upholstery,aviation line service(ramp rat),and I was going for my commercial pilots cert.I have some electrical,plumbing,warehousing,forklift operator,and material handling.For a few years I worked for a lady friend at her temp agency.I filled in for people so I got a lot of experience in many different fields.To bad none of it can be done from a boat.Well,maybe some.i have some experience working on I/Os and OBs.Not enough to go diving into them as a primary source of income.

 

[psneeld]

Not quite what my back ground is in.Anything possible tho.My back ground is in industrial mechanics,auto mechanics,motorcycle mechanics,manual machining,upholstery,aviation line service(ramp rat),and I was going for my commercial pilots cert.I have some electrical,plumbing,warehousing,forklift operator,and material handling.For a few years I worked for a lady friend at her temp agency.I filled in for people so I got a lot of experience in many different fields.To bad none of it can be done from a boat.Well,maybe some.i have some experience working on I/Os and OBs.Not enough to go diving into them as a primary source of income.

Good luck thinking you can write articles...etc.. those guys are a dime a dozen...and many are good writers but don't have the wide background to appeal to the mags. Been there and done that and my resume' is pretty impressive in both USCG/boating/management/repair arena with an in to the mags that appeal to my skills such as Passagemaker. I was asked at one point to write the West Marine Advisor articles for their catalog.

Blue collar skills are always welcome along the oad...catch as catch can....nothing that you can count on but so much of the marine/boating industry is so screwed up you can weasel in along the way....just nothing predictable.

 

[CPseudonym]

Not enough to go diving into them as a primary source of income.

How about diving? Cleaning bottoms that is.

 

[Jeffrey S]

I believe the following is a recipe for making money while cruising. It won't work for everyone but it's a model that you can use to create a long-living business on the water and even involving boating.

I've been building companies and products and selling services for my entire career. The moment you step onto your boat and cut the lines the opportunity to "touch" vast numbers of customers reduces - if you need to physically be in contact with them. So businesses onboard and cruising need to find a way to generate a lot of money from the single few prospects or they need to find a way to not have to "touch" the customer. The internet provides the latter solution.

Now I'm not saying that having a service business while cruising is bad. It can easily generate money. But it sure will take a lot of effort because you'll need to make contact with a lot of people to get a few sales. And since the point of cruising is to go out and explore, you're constantly in an environment of explaining what you do individually to other boaters you happen to come into contact with. That's really tough.

If you have a business that is internet-based, you have as much access to the millions of people you'd like to reach as easily as anyone in an office in Manhattan. You'll need internet access and that will limit some cruising areas - it's hard to do a 19 day crossing and run an internet business for example. Still, coastal cruising including the Bahamas and Caribbean is certainly possible. I'm sure PNW cruising will work too although internet might be more spotty.

Here's the easiest model for creating an internet business while cruising:

1. Find something you know a lot about. It's especially appropriate if it's something that cruisers would want - watermakers, chartplotters, anchors, inverters, LED lighting, holding tank vents, hose materials, sealants...it doesn't matter what the subject is.

2. Pick your mountain top and be THE expert in it. Create a web site that is the be-all information source on that one subject. Part of the subject selection process is looking around to make sure you can be THE site.

3. Don't write articles at first for others - write them for your own site. Write lots of them on every aspect of your subject area.

4. Have a place on the web site where you sell the products you talk about. One mistake people make here is to change the articles and information presented on the site based on the products they actually sell. That's a sure way to slit your throat in the short term. Be honest about the products you sell and be 100% truthful about the articles you write - even if it makes a product you sell look less than perfect.

5. Set up relationships with distributors who can drop ship their products directly to the customer. No inventory, no stocking, no return handling, etc. This will reduce your possible profit but a lot of this economic engine is just going to run without you having to touch it. This won't be without hassles. Every business has hassles.


A couple of major, odd things about this that are different from almost every other business and model - something the internet tends to produce:

- Your customer is the person who comes to your site to read your material. That customer might never buy anything from you. It is his needs you have to serve though. If you concentrate only on the people who buy from you, you'll lose the real marketing advantage of attracting large numbers of people. This is a very backwards way of looking at a "store". Most stores hate tire kickers. You have to love them.

- You pretty much have to know web site technologies to make this happen. If you have to pay someone every time you need to make a small change, you're going to eat up all of your profits. Learning html, css, shopping carts, etc. might seem like a lot. There are vast resources and to be honest, it's really not that hard if you have an open mind about it. Think about all of the thousands of web sites you've run across - the people running them aren't all experienced software developers.

- It takes time. It's not going to be like that UPS ad from a few years ago where the website goes public and the counter starts flying with the number of customers served. Any business worth anything doesn't succeed overnight. It takes investment and continuous effort. For most internet businesses like I've described, the investment is your time. Every business requires time or money.


We are full-time cruisers. We've been operating under this model for a few years. We decided in 2006 that the world was going to change from paper guidebooks (that we used and understood very well) to electronic guidebooks. I'm a software developer so our model is slightly different than I described above but it is very similar. Our primary mountain top is that guidebook type of cruising and planning information and the integration and capabilities it can provide. We have a secondary mountain top about mobile phones. See our 18-part article series about using mobile phones on boats - six hundred thousand people have read them. The series was the first ever recipient of a web-based Boat Writers International award. Today magazines come to us looking for information about electronic cruising guides and mobile phones on boats. My point isn't to blow our horn - it's to prove that this marketing technique works with zero budget: (1) be THE expert, and (2) stick with it. Do that and the media (and customers) will come running to you, even if you're on a boat. Heck, especially if you're on a boat - it makes for a better story.

 

[mahal]

If you have a home that you are selling to move aboard and it is either paid for or you have substantial equity in it, you can use the proceeds to buy an income property. You then hire a management company to take care of the rental and all you do is receive the checks while cruising.

Others rent their homes but you will make less that way. An example is a home worth 500k will rent for $2300 a month but a 4plex worth 500k will rent for a total of around $3800 monthly. Plus a vacancy in a multi unit will not affect your income as much as it would a single family home.

There you have it. Another way to make money while cruising. And if you add one more property,you might be able afford marina to marina cruising instead of being on the hook all the time.

 

[SeaMoose]

I run a digital interactive software company with employees in the U.S. and abroad. On the boat I have WIFI with an external antenna access/point networked to a local WIFI network for multiple devices. If anybody wants to know how to do this, just ask, it greatly extends the range and signal strength.

During the summer we typically run to the boat Thursday night and stay through Monday. The other days I work out of my home office.

Working from a laptop, even a really good one, doesn't give you the screen real estate you get in an office and that does cost you some productivity. It is also going to give you neck and back cramps after long hours. The other challenge is that marine WIFI is generally "recreational" and is not all that reliable, or fast - if you're used to making video Skype calls, you may have troubles.

In my business we transfer a lot of files, artwork, chunks of code, etc. to do this easily I remote desktop into my office to take advantage of the bandwidth.

That being said, it's a real pleasure to be in a meeting where everyone else is stuck in an office, and you're on the boat. I generally don't tell clients where I am

 

[THD]

Sea Moose-you wouldn't want to have clients think that they are paying for your life on a big, luxurious yacht!

 

[THD]

There are many ways to make $$ while cruising as evidenced by the postings. While I practice law & accounting on land, for several years before grad and law school I was a photographer primarily following the PGA tour. I started doing a fair amount of outdoor photography and building inventory with stock photo agencies. That was a lot of years ago when we shot slides and there were many stock agencies. Most are gone and now everything is digital. But the huge stock agencies that remain, notably Getty Images and iStock (now owned by Getty) have literally multiple millions of images on file for sale. They put your images up for sale and pay you a %. Almost all sales now are internet based. So I started again about 7 years ago building up stock. This was looking forward to the day we would be cruising for good. I have built up about 125,000 images in stock now, unfortunately, that is only yielding about $20k per year, but, I keep shooting and building stock. You have to pay attention to what the agencies say they want and work at it. Usually about 1 in 4 images I submit gets accepted. I have also been working on boat photography-interior and action. I hope to market that a bit over the next 5 years as I slow down on law practice.

The good thing is all this is portable and now that it is digital, it is cheap. Other than the cost of equipment ( a big cost I admit), all it costs me to shoot is a $50 5gig memory card. On a weekend I spend shooting, I may shoot as many as 1,000 shots.

 

[Peter B]

Great advice that is....

 

[ben2go]

How about diving? Cleaning bottoms that is.

I'd like to get certified and over my fear of diving.I can swim,but just barely.

I believe the following is a recipe for making money while cruising. It won't work for everyone but it's a model that you can use to create a long-living business on the water and even involving boating.

I've been building companies and products and selling services for my entire career. The moment you step onto your boat and cut the lines the opportunity to "touch" vast numbers of customers reduces - if you need to physically be in contact with them. So businesses onboard and cruising need to find a way to generate a lot of money from the single few prospects or they need to find a way to not have to "touch" the customer. The internet provides the latter solution.

Now I'm not saying that having a service business while cruising is bad. It can easily generate money. But it sure will take a lot of effort because you'll need to make contact with a lot of people to get a few sales. And since the point of cruising is to go out and explore, you're constantly in an environment of explaining what you do individually to other boaters you happen to come into contact with. That's really tough.

If you have a business that is internet-based, you have as much access to the millions of people you'd like to reach as easily as anyone in an office in Manhattan. You'll need internet access and that will limit some cruising areas - it's hard to do a 19 day crossing and run an internet business for example. Still, coastal cruising including the Bahamas and Caribbean is certainly possible. I'm sure PNW cruising will work too although internet might be more spotty.

Here's the easiest model for creating an internet business while cruising:

1. Find something you know a lot about. It's especially appropriate if it's something that cruisers would want - watermakers, chartplotters, anchors, inverters, LED lighting, holding tank vents, hose materials, sealants...it doesn't matter what the subject is.

2. Pick your mountain top and be THE expert in it. Create a web site that is the be-all information source on that one subject. Part of the subject selection process is looking around to make sure you can be THE site.

3. Don't write articles at first for others - write them for your own site. Write lots of them on every aspect of your subject area.

4. Have a place on the web site where you sell the products you talk about. One mistake people make here is to change the articles and information presented on the site based on the products they actually sell. That's a sure way to slit your throat in the short term. Be honest about the products you sell and be 100% truthful about the articles you write - even if it makes a product you sell look less than perfect.

5. Set up relationships with distributors who can drop ship their products directly to the customer. No inventory, no stocking, no return handling, etc. This will reduce your possible profit but a lot of this economic engine is just going to run without you having to touch it. This won't be without hassles. Every business has hassles.


A couple of major, odd things about this that are different from almost every other business and model - something the internet tends to produce:

- Your customer is the person who comes to your site to read your material. That customer might never buy anything from you. It is his needs you have to serve though. If you concentrate only on the people who buy from you, you'll lose the real marketing advantage of attracting large numbers of people. This is a very backwards way of looking at a "store". Most stores hate tire kickers. You have to love them.

- You pretty much have to know web site technologies to make this happen. If you have to pay someone every time you need to make a small change, you're going to eat up all of your profits. Learning html, css, shopping carts, etc. might seem like a lot. There are vast resources and to be honest, it's really not that hard if you have an open mind about it. Think about all of the thousands of web sites you've run across - the people running them aren't all experienced software developers.

- It takes time. It's not going to be like that UPS ad from a few years ago where the website goes public and the counter starts flying with the number of customers served. Any business worth anything doesn't succeed overnight. It takes investment and continuous effort. For most internet businesses like I've described, the investment is your time. Every business requires time or money.


We are full-time cruisers. We've been operating under this model for a few years. We decided in 2006 that the world was going to change from paper guidebooks (that we used and understood very well) to electronic guidebooks. I'm a software developer so our model is slightly different than I described above but it is very similar. Our primary mountain top is that guidebook type of cruising and planning information and the integration and capabilities it can provide. We have a secondary mountain top about mobile phones. See our 18-part article series about using mobile phones on boats - six hundred thousand people have read them. The series was the first ever recipient of a web-based Boat Writers International award. Today magazines come to us looking for information about electronic cruising guides and mobile phones on boats. My point isn't to blow our horn - it's to prove that this marketing technique works with zero budget: (1) be THE expert, and (2) stick with it. Do that and the media (and customers) will come running to you, even if you're on a boat. Heck, especially if you're on a boat - it makes for a better story.

Hummm?I'll have to put some thought and research into that.

 

[ben2go]

If you have a home that you are selling to move aboard and it is either paid for or you have substantial equity in it, you can use the proceeds to buy an income property. You then hire a management company to take care of the rental and all you do is receive the checks while cruising.

Others rent their homes but you will make less that way. An example is a home worth 500k will rent for $2300 a month but a 4plex worth 500k will rent for a total of around $3800 monthly. Plus a vacancy in a multi unit will not affect your income as much as it would a single family home.

There you have it. Another way to make money while cruising. And if you add one more property,you might be able afford marina to marina cruising instead of being on the hook all the time.

That plays into part of my long term plan.I have two properties that I will rent out.A local company that handles the payments also has maintenance staff.

I run a digital interactive software company with employees in the U.S. and abroad. On the boat I have WIFI with an external antenna access/point networked to a local WIFI network for multiple devices. If anybody wants to know how to do this, just ask, it greatly extends the range and signal strength.

During the summer we typically run to the boat Thursday night and stay through Monday. The other days I work out of my home office.

Working from a laptop, even a really good one, doesn't give you the screen real estate you get in an office and that does cost you some productivity. It is also going to give you neck and back cramps after long hours. The other challenge is that marine WIFI is generally "recreational" and is not all that reliable, or fast - if you're used to making video Skype calls, you may have troubles.

In my business we transfer a lot of files, artwork, chunks of code, etc. to do this easily I remote desktop into my office to take advantage of the bandwidth.

That being said, it's a real pleasure to be in a meeting where everyone else is stuck in an office, and you're on the boat. I generally don't tell clients where I am

That's good advice.

There are many ways to make $$ while cruising as evidenced by the postings. While I practice law & accounting on land, for several years before grad and law school I was a photographer primarily following the PGA tour. I started doing a fair amount of outdoor photography and building inventory with stock photo agencies. That was a lot of years ago when we shot slides and there were many stock agencies. Most are gone and now everything is digital. But the huge stock agencies that remain, notably Getty Images and iStock (now owned by Getty) have literally multiple millions of images on file for sale. They put your images up for sale and pay you a %. Almost all sales now are internet based. So I started again about 7 years ago building up stock. This was looking forward to the day we would be cruising for good. I have built up about 125,000 images in stock now, unfortunately, that is only yielding about $20k per year, but, I keep shooting and building stock. You have to pay attention to what the agencies say they want and work at it. Usually about 1 in 4 images I submit gets accepted. I have also been working on boat photography-interior and action. I hope to market that a bit over the next 5 years as I slow down on law practice.

The good thing is all this is portable and now that it is digital, it is cheap. Other than the cost of equipment ( a big cost I admit), all it costs me to shoot is a $50 5gig memory card. On a weekend I spend shooting, I may shoot as many as 1,000 shots.

Istock,funny that you mention that site.I started my account with them a few months back.I have a quality PS camera and have submitted a few photos just for giggles.They were rejected because 1) I didn't really pay attention to what they wanted. and 2)I really need a quality DSLR camera.I will most definitely keep your post in mind the next I am going out with the camera.Never know what they may except.I will need to make the camera upgrade tho.

 

[Rambler]

I'd like to get certified and over my fear of diving.I can swim,but just barely.

You don't actually swim while scuba diving. There are lots of other fears to overcome though.

Had a guy I got partnered with on a dive off Bonaire where he sucked dry a 3000# tank between top and the nearly 100' bottom. Everyone else in the group had only burned through 500# maybe. Scared means hyperventalating which can cause problems. Got to the top, he refused to go to snorkle. Hit the wall, tank absolutely empty means no air at all, about 50' from the docks. Kid panicked big time. Then your training kicks in, yanked at his hugely overloaded weight belt to keep the idiot from sinking. Luckily another dive master was on the docks and dove in to the rescue.

If you're going to go into diving, take the lessons seriously.

 

[ben2go]

You don't actually swim while scuba diving. There are lots of other fears to overcome though.

Had a guy I got partnered with on a dive off Bonaire where he sucked dry a 3000# tank between top and the nearly 100' bottom. Everyone else in the group had only burned through 500# maybe. Scared means hyperventalating which can cause problems. Got to the top, he refused to go to snorkle. Hit the wall, tank absolutely empty means no air at all, about 50' from the docks. Kid panicked big time. Then your training kicks in, yanked at his hugely overloaded weight belt to keep the idiot from sinking. Luckily another dive master was on the docks and dove in to the rescue.

If you're going to go into diving, take the lessons seriously.

Oh,I will.Drowning is a fear of mine.I'm sure I can over come that with training and experience.

 

[Capn Chuck]

Susan and I have lived aboard and cruised for over 20 years and did a lot of boating prior to that. For more than 15 years we have been freelance writers for most of the major boating publications. Susan's article on ice cream shops along the ICW is in the current issue of Cruising World. We took a specific need and a major topic of discussions amongst boaters and formed Beach House Publications. Our anchorage book series has just gotten off the ground and the response has been incredible. The idea was born aboard and the books are written, edited, promoted, packaged and shipped using our laptop and some office space set aside in the forward cabin of Beach House. With the publication only a couple of weeks old we don't know when space will require more but we'll handle that as time goes by. We already have alternative support for the times we will be away, like our upcoming Bahamas trip. Will we get rich, who knows, but that's not why we do it. It's to share what we have learned from decades of boating and maybe pay for our fuel and a few meals ashore. We don't want to become a big organization and ruin our cruising but we would like to have a little income to keep our lifestyle going for a few more years. So it can be done and it is being done every day. You have to find a need, fill it and find a formula that makes it all work without becoming work. In today's electronic age, "any fool can do it". And if it can be done from your boat, it should be done. Chuck