Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Mason
Hi Will, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The story of Capt. Will Mason can be summed up in one word. Perseverance. My parents drove two lasting traits into my head at a young age, hard work and moral ethics. I think those two things by far are why I have been able to have some success in my life so far. I’m a 3rd generation boater and followed my father into the boating industry as well. I grew up on North Georgia lakes, the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Keys. Water skiing, scuba diving, fishing, and spearfishing were some of the things I grew up doing on the water with my family and friends. I was operating a 40ft Sportfish boat when I was 8 years old (with a watchful eye of course). Sometimes I wonder what my parents were thinking. I rebuilt my first fishing boat at 20 years old while I was in college and we created a lot of memories on it. My father owned a trucking business where we moved boats around the country. Yachts to 95ft Houseboats via tractor trailer. It’s been an up and down road to get where I am now as a full-time Captain. That was not originally the plan. I went to the University of North Ga and achieved a Bachelors Degree in Finance. The month I graduated I moved to Florida to work for an internet marketing company called “Salt Strong”. These were valuable years and I met a lot of people in Florida. Eventually I moved on from the company and dove back into the Finance world working to become a Financial Planner. I passed all the FINRA licenses needed including the series 7 and 66 which took a ton of time accomplish. While I was trying to build this practice I knew it wasn’t where my heart was. Sometimes you just know it’s not right for you. I was also working some odd jobs including Captain gigs to pay the bills. Looking back I firmly believe it takes some time to find your true purpose and passion in life. You have one. You have to keep grinding until you figure out what it is. Around this time is when I started The Captain’s Coach with a goal of helping people become betters boaters. I wanted to bring my experience over all these years to the table instead of sitting on the sidelines. I knew I could make a difference to some.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I firmly believe in doing right by the customer. Because of this ethical approach to business we have had relatively smooth linear growth over the years. Of course with any small business you have your “slower” times where you follow the roller coaster ride. We do a great job of pivoting and directing our energy into where it’s needed whether that be content creation, management or classes with our clients. Another struggle with this business is the daily grind of being on the water every day. Although this seems like a dream to most it can be extremely draining and exhausting day to day but we always remember our purpose which drives us each day. To put it simply, boating can be hard. If it wasn’t everyone would do it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Captain’s Coach?
I started Captains Coaching on the basis of helping unconfident boaters. Sounds cliché but I was so tired of watching peers and random boaters on our waterways constantly struggle. I’ve been operating all sorts of vessels since I was a kid. I knew I had a knack for running boats and being able to patiently teach people new skills. Naturally I started helping a few people at a local marina. When I started seeing exponential progress in a short amount of time I knew I had a strong syllabus I could build off of for others. I started filming my clients to create marketing content for the brand ” The Captains Coach”. That’s where it took off. Still to this day ,years later, people love watching others learn and gain the skills needed to operate a vessel with confidence. Now we teach hundreds of boaters a year on vessels ranging from 18-100ft trying to “Create better boaters one at a time”. We do this through our video content and 1 on 1 training classes. What makes us different? We have a direct approach. No fluff. We patiently teach boaters what exactly they need to in a scenario and how to do it correctly. We start at the bottom and build you up from there. The goal is to build confidence by the end of our classes. Now Captains Coaching not only helps boaters with training we also are active in Brokerage, Management and fishing consultations. This year we will be setting up “Fotillas” where our customers will travel together in a group to several destinations so they can build the confidence needed to travel on their own. We are trying to help as many people in as many different ways as we can so we can get more people on the water.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I believe in calculated risk with a certain outcome planned out ahead of time. If the actions you can feasibly take don’t directly lead to the outcome you want then generally I don’t take the risk. I do believe risk is the only way to move forward and progress in life. You have to take a calculated risk and give yourself a chance at something great for long haul. I took a risk on building a business that works with people on the water. It was an unknown road but it paid off.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://captainscoaching.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064105356164
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecaptainscoach
