Spanish model Patxi Areitio rents out seven boats on the app GetMyBoat. Even though it's a lucrative and fairly low-lift gig, maintenance costs are high.
Courtesy of GetMyBoat
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Patxi Areitio, a 34-year-old model and owner of a boat-rental business in Miami, Florida. Insider has verified his $100,000 revenue month with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I moved to the United States three years ago to change my life completely. I was born in Madrid and grew up in Barcelona, then I went to university in England and got my master's in management in Barcelona before moving to China and Chile — I like moving and I like adventure. My grandma lived in Miami when I was a kid and I used to visit in the summer, so I decided Miami would be my next stop.
I didn't know what I was going to do at first, but I appreciate how in the US you can reinvent yourself with hard work and dedication. This is the place to be an entrepreneur.
I also work as a model. All of my modeling gigs disappeared during the pandemic due to COVID-19 restrictions, but at that point I had started a boat-rental business through the platform GetMyBoat that went from being a side hustle to more of a consistent job.
Now, I can make up to $100,000 in revenue in a single month during the high season. Here's how I got started.
I was initially renting my boat out to cover costs like gas, but when the demand grew, I started seeing more of the potential for extra income.
I originally found GetMyBoat through a friend, and I've rented from the platform with my friends. I think it's the most efficient boat-rental platform.
In Miami, you can rent out boats 365 days a year, so I bought a second boat and kept going — and now I have seven identical boats, which are 26-foot Sea Ray sundecks that fit up to 11 guests. They're very spacious and comfortable.
On weekends, the bookings are pretty full. We've clocked 300 hours of bookings per week before, but on a single Saturday, between the seven boats, we've reached more than 85 hours.
Overseeing everything about the business can be hard. I had to learn how to delegate, train, and hire experienced people. The renting is the easy part — the hard part is the maintenance, stock, logistics, and coordination. This is where I need help. Managing more than 20 clients in a day can be hard to do on your own.
We have a one-minute response rate on GetMyBoat, so if you want to rent a boat, someone on my team answers you within one minute. Through this, I've managed to become a "super owner" on the platform and was rated amongst the best of 2021.
We also have managers and captains that we offer through our service, but we don't hire the captains directly — we give the clients a list of captains and they select the captain they want and pay them directly. We're generating work for around 15 rotating captains.
From January to June, we received around 12,000 inquiries, of which we booked around 1,200 — or 200 a month. Sometimes in just 10 minutes, we can get five bookings — and it actually gets to a point where it's stressful.
We can easily make $80,000 to $100,000 monthly during the high season, but there have also been weeks where I've made just $2,000 — or even next to nothing. Net profit for me varies during the high season versus low season. I net $40,000 to $50,000 in my best months.
The winter is a slower season, so we have to make up for it by making more money in the high season during the summer — and it's important to realize the money we make is not all for profit. I don't get to keep all of the revenue. GetMyBoat takes 15% from the owner and 15 % from the customer, more or less. How much we get to keep depends on what we spend on labor for mechanics, gas, and other maintenance issues. I spend around $3,000 each week on gas, and another $3,000 on maintenance, per week, minimum.
But generating cash flow for these mechanics who help us with maintenance feels good to me. Since we all get a percentage of the revenue, the more that we make on the platform, the more everyone makes.
The number of clients who return to us is incredible. We're offering accessible boating, which in the past has been seen as a luxury or a very exclusive activity.
You don't have to be super wealthy anymore to enjoy an experience on a boat. You can rent a boat for four hours in Miami with 10 people for $500, which is just $50 per person, or less expensive than any club or restaurant in the area. You're going to have so much more fun, too, which makes me happy.
Overall, managing my time is the main factor in running this business. Modeling has picked up again, so to keep up with everything I work on my phone. I can be anywhere in the world for a photoshoot and manage to keep it all running.
Whether it's answering clients or having the pieces ready for maintenance, I can confidently say we're one of the most efficient boat rentals in Miami. Now, our next objective is to enjoy life outside of the business, too, because we went nonstop for months this summer.
Do you have a rental business and want to share your story? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
This story was originally published in October 2022.
