about being competitive,” she says. “The work is out there. Maybe I am just not hungry enough anymore, but I set my rate and that’s what you pay. If it’s too high and you want to use someone else, that’s OK too.”
Not only are many of the horses that are moving around the country extremely valuable animals, but people care a lot about their animals no matter what the horse is worth. Pat learned pretty quickly that communication is key in this business.
“I contact the horse owner first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening all along the way. Sometimes I think it seems like overkill but owners just love it. The communication technology we have today makes it so easy. Owners just love getting a text with a picture of their horse content in an overnight stall hundreds of miles away with a message saying all is well.”
East Coast has always relied on word of mouth. This is the kind of business where reputation is everything. The company has a Facebook page where owners of horses they have transported post comments, which work as great testimonials for the business. Comments praising East Coast’s service from people in the horse industry who have a wide reputation is the best advertising tool they could have. In over 20 years, East Coast has never done any paid advertising. Pat has never had to advertise for subcontractors, either. “They find me,” she says. With decades of experience, Pat can tell if they will fit into her program by the way their rigs are kept and the way they handle horses. “I call customers and get feedback on their experience with the subcontractor. The key is to rectify any issues very, very quickly.”
She also early on created a fairly rigid contract. “Contracts are very important,” Pat emphasizes. “People change their minds. The contract covers both sides—that we don’t get stuck with a last-minute back out and the contract assures the customer that we do a good job.”
The East Coast contract, which is available to view on their website, requires a 50 percent nonrefundable deposit. Pat felt that the nonrefundable deposit had to be enough that people would feel it if they just backed out. She also understands that these are live animals and things happen; she understands if a horse becomes too sick to travel, but in order to release the deposit she requires a statement from the veterinarian.
And while working with the horses is what attracted Pat to starting this business in the first place, she reminds anyone who might be considering getting into an animal-related transport business that ultimately your business revolves around dealing with people. If you are not OK with that, you will need to find someone to do that part of the business for you.
(seacoasthelos.com)
Bruce Cultrera has been involved in aviation his whole life. His first science project in middle school was about how the wing works. He went to the Air Force Academy. And when he got out, he bought his first plane and flew privately. He’d always been a fixed-wing kind of guy and had never really thought about helicopters.
Seven or eight years ago his wife bought him an introductory helicopter flight for a birthday present. He did the flight and when they landed Bruce was so enthralled he said, “I have been wasting my whole life.”
He had been in the corporate world, an entrepreneur who started several businesses—real estate, management consultant—none having anything to do with aviation. And then Bruce got to that point where he was thinking about his retirement years. He knew he didn’t want to be bored.
While growing up in the seacoast New Hampshire area in the ’60s and ’70s, the small coastal town of Portsmouth had not yet become chic and trendy. After living in many other places around the country, Bruce came back for a visit and noticed Portsmouth seemed up and coming with a huge influx of summer tourists and a revitalized downtown.
“I woke up one day and was done with corporate America. But the day I woke up with no income was terrifying,” he admitted.
Bruce’s wife mentioned “why not something aviation-related” when he spoke of a retirement business, and he started to put some things together. Why not a helicopter business in Portsmouth? Pease Air Force Base had been shuttered and transformed to Pease International Tradeport. The former air base was home to the largest runway in New England and was still serving for military training and attracted some commercial aviation. It seemed a natural site to locate Seacoast Helicopters.
After a year of planning, Bruce bought a little training helicopter. He did flight training and took photographers up along the seacoast. Then he bought a four-seater. The next year his business doubled. Then it quadrupled. He still has a couple of fixed-wing planes in the hangar.
The business does scenic helicopter flights to the tourist sector. They fly corporate clients from seacoast New Hampshire to Manhattan for business meetings; there are numerous helipads all around New York City where the customer is dropped off, the helicopter goes out to New Jersey and hangs out waiting for the call to come in and pick the client up, and back to New Hampshire they go.
After having started several other businesses, Bruce says this is the most complex business he has ever started. “Regulations make it very complex. I am sure I would have failed without all that previous experience.”
One complex aspect to his helicopter business that was helped by his previous experience is putting together proposals for federal contracts. It can be pretty daunting, Bruce says, when the 300-plus-page RFP is dropped on your desk.
Seacoast Helicopters has worked with Great Bay Community College, located on the Pease International Tradeport just down the street from his office, to create a helicopter pilot training program which took 18 months to put together. The business also offers private flight training, in the summer does the scenic tours business, and brings maintenance personnel to remote locations where government-owned towers are often located.
Besides Bruce and his wife, Karen, who is the company’s VP of marketing and strategy, Seacoast Helicopters employs four pilots on the “rotary side” and two fixed-wing pilots. Two of his pilots are ex-military certified mechanics and do the basic maintenance on the equipment. All heavier maintenance is done by Port City Air, also located just down the street on the Tradeport. After every 100 hours of flight, a helicopter needs to be basically torn apart and inspected.
Bruce feels diversity is the key to success in a business like this. “My strategy is to cast a wide net and then eliminate the things that don’t work.” Clearly he has found some things that work!
Bruce’s advice to anyone thinking about an aviation transportation business? “Spend a lot of time in the planning phase,” he says. “Most businesses fail because they did not plan enough.”
He admits to being surprised by the amount of regulation in the aviation industry.
And his favorite part of the business? “No doubt, it is flying,” which, of course, he doesn’t do nearly as much as he would like.
(orcasislantaxi.com)
Orcas Island, a 57-square-mile horseshoe-shaped island in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State, is a tourist’s paradise in summer. Kayaking, whale watching, and hiking, biking, or horseback riding through Moran State Park are just a few of the things that attract visitors to the island. The island has an airport and a ferry terminal and can also be reached by floatplane and via small marinas. Once you land, you need to get to where you are staying.
