Lezlee P. Bellanich

I happen to have a very sunny personality, and it suits the hospitality industry. I love welcoming people on board. I'm an entertainer at heart, so I look at everything as entertainment, and yacht chartering is entertainment. People call me and they're in a great mood because they're trying to plan something fun - their birthday party, their milestone event, their retirement, their corporate event - and I take that very seriously. I love making people happy and giving people joy through a unique experience they don't always have, that is not an everyday thing. I'm finding in Jacksonville, so many people come on my boat with tears in their eyes saying they've never been on a yacht like this, ever. It's a rare experience, something that I have always felt grateful to be involved in. I feel even more grateful now because I'm in this new market where they have not had this - regular people and companies have had to go to Tampa or Miami or New York. We happen to be the first in 10 years.

Keep going. Don't dwell much on things. When something happens in your world that feels like the end of the world, sometimes it's just a shift, and it's your teacher. I really try to tell myself when we have challenges, which everyone will, that's our time to stretch and learn. The mistakes are our teachers. The hard times are hard, but then when you have good times, you're so much more grateful that you had to go through those hard times. You have to go through it, can't get around it. We have gone through a lot of hard times, and people say all the time, God, you look so young, you look so energetic. You have to pivot. You have to constantly be adjusting to your new situation, whether it's competition that comes into the situation. You have to stay in your lane and just, yes, be aware of what's happening around you, but you do the best you can with what you have. That's it.

Learn everything you can. Be open to different jobs. You're gonna learn something from everything. I feel grateful that I've had so many different types of jobs over the years that have taught me different skills that I'm now able to put together. Try to say yes as much as you can. Even if a job seems lower level than you think you should be doing - you gotta learn from every little job you do. I'm 58, I'm picking up trash if I need to, and I'm clearing tables, and I do what I need to do to make the operation go and work as a team. A lot of people get so specialized - well, that's not in my job category, and I'm not supposed to be doing that. You'll be noticed more if you pitch in and you're enthusiastic and you have a great attitude. Just be nice and be willing to go above and beyond. It's the same advice that my aunt gave to me years ago - it's hard to be the janitor or the lowest level, but you do that job with as much enthusiasm as you can. No person is above another person. We have different roles with different responsibilities, but you have to treat people with respect, whatever they're doing in that organization.

Cash flow in general is always a challenge because our expenses are so high in this industry - between insurance, fuel, maintenance, and Coast Guard requirements. Every other year, a yacht of our size gets pulled out of the water and the Coast Guard has to check the bottom, and you really don't know what they're gonna find until you're in the shipyard. You're always on pins and needles wondering. Insurance is off the charts - too damn much. Most of the time they don't want to cover much of anything, their deductibles are incredibly high, but you need it, you can't operate without it, so you have to play ball. Then there's crew - it's like you've got to have business to support the crew, but you've got to have enough crew to support the business. Crew will leave for other opportunities if you don't give them enough work, but there are busy times and slower times, and we have to have the cash flow to support all of it. It's one of the hardest things in an industry of this nature. On the opportunity side, we have an opportunity now being the only, and I mean only, luxury dinner yacht in downtown Jacksonville to establish a new norm. Jacksonville is changing, there is so much investment coming in downtown, and we are right on the cusp. If we can get through this first year, which we will, the response is tremendous.

Quality over quantity - we're not interested in going out every day of the week. We'd rather go out less often and have excellent cruises than run the boat non-stop. I want teamwork where we're all in flow and everybody knows what they're doing and we have fun doing it. This business can be high stress, but there's also a lot of fulfillment that goes into it. I value that feeling of joy that you feel serving people and watching people having fun - that makes me happy. When I see people dining and dancing and sightseeing in a luxury yacht environment that's clean and fully renovated, and people appreciate that, especially here - it's the full joy of watching strangers become friends, colleagues become collaborators, and friends become family aboard yacht charters. Those are my values, those are the important things. Because then we have given all the hard work that we've put into rebuilding our vessel and connecting with the clients before, during, and after the cruises, and it shows that all the hard work is paying off. The cost has to match the value, and if we give a good value, then people don't question the cost.