How I Started My $20K-a-Month Boat-Rental Business |

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mylène Garot, a 32-year-old business owner about renting out her boats. She is originally from France but now lives in Miami. It has been edited for length and clarity. Insider has verified Garot's Boatsetter income.

I have a master's degree in business development from a university in France. In 2015, I immigrated to the United States and settled in Florida.

I got a job working for Aquajet Miami, a water-sports company. I started as an intern and worked my way up to become marketing director. It was a small five-person company and I helped secure some large accounts.

I was recruited by a Miami real-estate company in 2018 and worked there for two years.

In 2020, I was researching ways to make money. I was Googling platforms similar to Airbnb and found Boatsetter, where boat owners can list their boats for people to rent.

My husband and I thought it could be a good income source. I had experience in water sports and wanted to start a boat-rental business. My husband was a boat captain and managed property — it seemed pretty perfect.

In March 2020, I quit my job in real estate to set up our boat-rental company

I used my savings and purchased a Tahoe 1950 that cost $25,000. We listed on Boatsetter in May 2020 and got bookings within the first week.

To list on Boatsetter, you need a boat with commercial insurance of at least $1 million, which costs $350 a month.

Boatsetter offers insurance underwritten by GEICO. Boat owners can expect to take home between 65% and 85% of the boat's listing price, depending on their coverage plan. Boatsetter deducts the remaining income for insurance costs.

Potential hosts then fill out all the required information, upload photos, decide if they'll offer a captain or let the renter drive, and create their rental calendar. We started renting our boats without a captain.

Miami was the hot place to be in In the summer of 2020 because of the more relaxed COVID-19 restrictions. Everyone wanted to use our boats.

We bought a second boat in June 2020. Since this new boat, a Monterey M205, cost $40,000, we paid it off in installments after putting up a $5,500 down payment from our savings. We immediately listed it on Boatsetter.

Boatsetter helped us pay off our boat and earn income

From June to October 2020, we had 101 bookings and made $45,000 in revenue. During this period, I worked 10-hour days, seven days a week, managing the bookings, overseeing the cleanup and refueling after rentals, and marketing our business.

We rented our boats without a captain. We charged $150 to rent the boats for two hours and we sanitized and disinfected them after each use.

The revenue was growing, but a private renter, renting outside Boatsetter, damaged one of the boats in September 2020.

They drove our boat into a shallow area and damaged the hull. We only noticed the next day when it began taking on water.

It cost $5,500 to fix. We kept the customer's deposit of $1,000 but had to pay the rest out of pocket.

We decided to start renting with a captain and increased our prices

Even before the September incident, we were often stressed about what guests were doing with our boats. We also spent a lot of time explaining how to operate a boat and what to watch out for on the water.

Having captains relieved this stress and gave us back some of our time. Beginning in October 2020, we required renters to use our captains.

Renters pay a starting price of $350 for two hours, which includes the captain. This price increase didn't impact our bookings and we netted 30% after paying the captains and for gas.

In February 2021, we bought a third boat for $79,000. We funded it through a private lender — a real-estate investor I'd met through work. The private lender loaned us the full $79,000. I paid off the loan he gave us within a year with profits from the boat rentals.

We had three boats in the fleet listed on Boatsetter and our private booking website.

March is historically the best month for boat rentals in Miami because of spring break and the start of the high season in the city, and we were fully booked.

We made $70,000 in revenue in March 2021 with 160 bookings.

We bought a fourth boat in cash from our Boatsetter bookings

During three months over the summer, our three boats brought in $188,000 in bookings. We purchased a fourth boat, a Monterey 275SY that cost $85,000, in July 2021 in cash. We then added a fifth boat, a Searay SDX 270, for $90,500 at the end of 2021. We made a $20,000 down payment from our savings and the profits from the other boats and financed the rest.

In January 2022, we decided not to buy more boats because of talk of a recession and how that could affect boat rentals. Our revenue with five boats is close to $20,000 a month on average.

Our team consists of five captains, two assistants, and me and my husband. Three of the captains are on our payroll, and two are contractors. We also use three other captains on an on-call basis.

I handle the maintenance and marketing myself

I maintain the boat lots for all the boats, stay in contact with repair people, and handle any emergencies.

I market our business and answer inquiries on Boatsetter. I try to close deals, get people to book, and check the boats at the end of each day. I hire all our employees. I interact with guests and handle logistics such as putting gas in the boats.

I work around 60 hours a week including weekends and often don't have time off. We have a nanny who lives with us and watches our daughter, so my husband and I can work on the businesses.

You can't be a people pleaser in the boat rental world

To do well on Boatsetters, don't try to be a people pleaser — be direct and make sure your guests follow the rules.

We've had difficult clients but we're always polite — we try not to be confrontational. People have been good about following our rules, but if they don't, they would be banned and reported to the authorities if necessary.

Boat maintenance costs around $40,000 a year for five boats, or around $600 a month. That includes bottom cleaning, bottom paint, the mechanic, electricity, all the fiberglass repair, and the seats.

Our five boats listed on Boatsetters now make $19,800 a month on average. They are helping our family create financial independence.

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How I Started My $20K-a-Month Boat-Rental Business