Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Krystina Fuge. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Krystina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Maritime Maids all came to fruition when wanting to start a cleaning business of my own, but not wanting to continue cleaning vacation rentals. I friend and I were sitting at a dockside restaurant having a cocktail after a long day cleaning and were discussing the idea. I knew I could manage a company on my own but wanted to find a niche! Growing up in Morehead City, NC, and being at the marina with boats all around us, it came to me…what about boats! That was going to be my niche, and I had people in the industry to ask and to make it happen! I thought of names for a long time and knew I wanted this to one day be in a lot of places so I wanted something that could be used widely. Obviously Maritime is a well-known boat industry term and then maids was a no brainer! My stepdad actually was brainstorming with me and said Maritime first but had paired it with another word and then it hit me, Maritime Maids was what I would name the business! It fit perfectly and I was already beginning to brand it by choosing colors, a sailor jerry inspired logo that my college friend drew up for me, and ultimately, the overall image I wanted to portray to general public. It was all the secret sauce to our success!

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?

My name is Krystina Fuge, I am the owner and founder of Maritime Maids! You already heard a little bit about how I started the business and got into this industry so now let’s discuss what we do and how we do it! Maritime Maids is an interior boat cleaning and concierge business. We are the cleaning business for boat interiors! We pride ourselves in our detailed and expertise in boat cleaning, care and maintenance all while using as many natural products as possible. We also offer laundry, provisioning, intermittent stew, and bartending services. Laundry includes washing bedding, towels and blankets and then remaking beds with clean sheets, which we all know is a task! We provide provisioning services such as stocking fridges and freezers for charters and personal trips and excursions. Our intermittent stew services allow you to have one of our girls on staff for a day or overnight to attend to guests preparing lunch, dinner and drinks as well as turn down services for bedding. Lastly, we have added bartending to our list of services so think of us the next time you host a party on your boat!
Since the beginning I have learned that this is a service that people need and love! We play a huge role in sportfishing tournament preparation and clean up and have a team that follows the East Coast tournaments for that reason!
What makes us different than any other cleaner is that we have maritime insurance and that is necessary when being on board your vessel. You are fully covered and so are we!
From working in boatyards, working directly with boat builders, to brokers using us directly and or referring us, we are the go-to yacht cleaning company. Due to our strong social media presence via our own efforts as well as collaborations with large accounts, sponsoring fishing tournaments, participating in boat shows and yacht events Maritime Maids is a well-known business in the industry that is highly used and comes highly referred. We are rapidly growing and are on the rise and I couldn’t be more excited for Maritime Maids’ future! If we aren’t at your local marina yet we will be soon, so keep an eye out for the girls in the red dresses!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Building a business reputation takes time and commitment. I had to learn some lessons in this topic along the way such as not everyone is as detailed as me or cares as much as me, the owner, and good things take time! I had to learn how to price accordingly if a job was going to take longer than expected verses speeding the job up to get it done on time to make a business profit. Doing right by the client was and is our main goal and we always have their best interest in mind when quoting the job to completion.
Our reputation was also built by being at events, sponsoring and supporting them which showed our commitment and dedication to the industry and thus realizing we weren’t just in it for fun and a profit but truly authentically cared about our clients and the community. The boating industry is a big, small world and image and reputation can make or break you! Being hands on handing business cards directly to boat owners, marinas, builders and brokers put a face to the name and a soul to the business and that goes a long way.
We continue to strive in building and maintaining our positive reputation and making our clients and referral partners happy no matter the cost. A lot of our business is return customers so that leads me to believe we are doing a good job at just that!

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Starting and owning a business has been the biggest struggle and at the same time biggest blessing of my life. I have learned more in these four years than I did throughout my 17 years in scho0l. Hurdles come your way, and you are tested daily. When starting this business, I wasn’t rich, I didn’t have a savings, and I was kind of “winging it”. I thought how hard could it be? It wasn’t until I got busy, and the business was successful that I truly started struggling. I had to pay the girls on time and with what money? I hadn’t been paid yet by a few net30 companies and I couldn’t pay out of pocket. I had to go out and get more jobs and do jobs on my own where that money went directly to my staff. I had to fall late on my personal bills to keep business bills paid on time. To this day I still haven’t taken a loan out and the business is in zero debt. It was hard to say the least! I learned quickly though that I needed the help and couldn’t be successful without them, so they were always paid first. I didn’t pay myself for a long time and truly just started to this past year. For a while a had a full-time job that helped support Maritime Maids but when loosing that job in 2022 I went headfirst into entrepreneurship and business owning and made the business my sole priority and source of income. I was struggling but was successful and happy. I knew this wouldn’t last forever and that I needed to keep pushing. In those years I learned the most I ever had about myself and my drive and determination. Now the business is on the rise, and I am finally seeing it all come together, and the feeling is euphoric! I truly believe that without those hard times these good times wouldn’t be so sweet and satisfying. I conquered, learned and grew from those hurdles. I made it, and I did it on my own!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maritime-maids.com
• Instagram: @maritimemaids
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maritimemaids?mibextid=kFxxJD

Image Credits

Isaiah Walker Photography and Austin Davis Photography