We recently connected with Billy Norris and have shared our conversation below.

Billy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I served in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry officer for 15 years. In 2013 after 5 years on active duty with multiple combat tours, I transferred to the USMC Reserves. In the reserves, you still train monthly, and I continued to go on deployments overseas, however, you also maintain a civilian job. I have college degrees in Marine Science, Oceanography, and organic chemistry, and being from Southwest Florida, I already had a solid familiarity with the oceans and our fisheries here. I decided to start my own charter fishing company from scratch. I didn’t have any savings or startup capital, but I did have a really good older buddy of mine who had recently retired from fishing. As one of the most generous gestures I’ve ever experienced, he gave me his boat to get started. It needed a lot of work, but I put in the time, got it fixed up, and began running my charters. I did however, need a good company name. I went through multiple ideas, until one of my gunnery sergeants from the Marines said…”Sir, just call it Pale Horse Fishing Charters”! Pale Horse was the callsign of the first company I was with in the Marines and is a reference to the 4th Rider of the Apocalypse from Revelations. We took one of our Marine Corps Pale Horse logos, cartooned it up a little bit more so it wasn’t so terrifying, swapped the rifles for fishing rods, and Pale Horse Fishing Charters was born! Now the company is over a decade old, and I have multiple captains working for me, with big brand new boats! But it all started with a donated boat, and a name that came from our Marine Corps callsign!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am 40 years old, originally from Naples, Florida. At 18 I was recruited to play football at the Air Force Academy. Due to an injury, I could no longer play football so after two years, I transferred from Air Force to Florida Gulf Coast University in Estero, Florida. At FGCU I attained my degrees in Marine Science, Oceanography and Organic Chemistry. Upon graduation, I completed Officer Candidates School (OCS) for the Marine Corps, and from there went on to be commissioned a 2ndLt and served as a Rifle Platoon Commander with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2dMarine Division. With 1/2 I did two combat tours overseas. In 2013 I transferred to the reserves and was promoted to Captain. It was also at this time that I started Pale Horse Fishing Charters. It took awhile to build the business to what it is now, and although extremely difficult, the process was both fun and rewarding. From 2013-2022 I served as Company Executive Officer, deployed multiple more times, and was the Company Commander of two different companies. In 2022, I retired from the Marines, and now run Pale Horse Fishing Charters full-time.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Professionalism, courtesy, and overall knowledge of the environment/wildlife were key to success in my business. Although the obvious goal is to catch the most/biggest fish, without a professional and courteous environment, customers will not have an enjoyable experience. I believe this can be applied to a ton of jobs in the recreation field. You can’t just get dialed in focusing on fish, you have to remember that the people are just as happy just having a fun time as they are setting world records.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

At this point in my career, I have a large amount of repeat clients. Some of them have been fishing with me for over a decade now. Whats even funnier is that there are multiple groups that have become even bigger, as over the years the kids have grown up with their own families and now book charters on their own! Touching base periodically via text/email/etc is a great way to keep in touch with clients. This fosters a feeling of friendship more than business associates, and when people feel like part of the family, they will repeatedly come back.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.palehorsefishingcharters.com
• Instagram: @pale_horse_fishing_charters
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/palehorsefishingcharters
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@palehorsefishingcharters4684

Image Credits

If you look at the pictures as loaded from left to right top to bottom…I am in pictures 2, 4, 6 and 7