We recently connected with Brandon Bolic and have shared our conversation below.
Brandon, appreciate you joining us today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?
My hero is my father, Art Bolic. He taught me to never give up. Dad had many setbacks in life. A car accident in the 1970s shattered his knee and the restaurant he owned fell into financial ruin while he spent months recovering from his injuries. The IRS closed his restaurant and liquidated all assets. He always presses onwards no mater ho bad things look. Dad ran a few other restaurants before starting a catering company with my Mom. The company was almost an instant success. You may be down, but you are never out until you give up.
Brandon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Back in 2013, I was working in the IT industry and felt it was just too corporate. I had been living on my boat and sailing it on weekends for the previous three years. A neighbor down the dock offered me an opportunity to sail on an 83′ top sailed schooner called Amazing Grace. There I met my friend Anthony who encouraged me to get my Captain’s License. After a few more years of sailing on several charter and private boats, I had the sea time required to apply with the United States Coast Guard.
Off to The Maritime Institute I went to complete training and testing. I was the only person in my class who took and passed all of the exams offered. The Coast Guard issued me a 50 Ton Master License in 2016 which included Sailing and Assistance Towing Endorsements. It has since been upgraded to 100 Ton credential.
Today I work as a charter Captain, a marine mechanic, a sailing instructor, and a yacht delivery Captain.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
My business was started with some of my savings along with the first round of COVID stimulus.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Word of mouth has been the most effective strategy for me. I take very good care of my clients. If they need something done that I can’t do, then I find them someone reputable to take care of them. I do have a website and several social media accounts, but I have more work than I can handle most of the time. For this reason, I put minimal effort into my website and social media. Total marketing expenditures are less than $400 a year.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.internationaldeliverycaptains.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/internationaldeliverycaptains/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalDeliveryCaptains/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-bolic-6361011b
- Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/biz_info/t5yPMnBiTgigYdSKVuA6aA
Image Credits
Photo credit for the picture of me in orange oil skins with the wave behind me goes to Jeffry Matzdorff. Used with his permission. The rest are all my photos. Taken by me..