To "Salefish",

Just to set your mind straight, there is far more mark-up in tackle and related items than there is in boats unless you are selling toy ones. Retailers like us make the largest percentage of the profit on these types of items with few exceptions; so it becomes a matter of volume,high ticket items and customer services etc.

I think you would be surprised if you knew what the net margins on boats is like, especially the really high-priced bass boats.

Then there is this deal called flooring. Other than short periods of the year when flooring is free, you normally only own 10% of the boat and a finance company owns the other 90% on which you make monthly interest payments. Kind of like a credit card if you only paid 10% of the balance due every month. When you sell the boat, you then pay the finance (flooring) company the remainder that you owe, same as when you pay off a boat or vehicle that's financed when you sell it.

You can make a lot of money selling boats if it's done right and if the vast number of potential profit leaks are watched out for. It can be a very time consuming and stressful way to make a living however, unless you have the right people doing the right thing at all times and you are freed up enough to have time to enjoy your life before you get too old!

Personally, I have seen both sides now and I wouldn't trade what I'm doing now for anything. The BASS WORLD WEST that you see now is
only the retail segment of the complete plan which we will hopefully build in about 3 to 4 years. I can't let the cat out of the bag, but it is something that no one is or will be doing and it will totally blow people away.

Working towards a dream like this is what it's all about in my book, and it's a totally different life scenario than knowing what you're going to be doing every day and having to deal with problems caused by people that you have no control over.

JT