Boat Technician

All right, Raymond, thank you so much for putting yourself out there for our veteran job seekers. You know, like we say at Veteran Hiring Solutions, people don't follow companies. They follow leaders. And so as the owner of The Boat Shop, I think it's really important that they get to know you, your background, what got you to this moment so they can understand the company a little bit more. So if you could, you introduce yourself, your background, and kind of the history of The Boat Shop.

Absolutely, Justin Henderson Henderson Henderson. So my name is Raymond Kidd. Myself and my brother Kevin Kidd own The Boat Shop together. We're both very involved in the day to day. We're here every day, shoulder to shoulder with everybody. How it all got started is, and I was born and bred in Zimbabwe, graduated high school, came to the United States, got a job at a dealership, worked for the big dealerships for 8 to 9 years and figured out that I was probably not a very good employee and I didn't like the big dealership feel. We didn't know who was walking in the door till we asked them their name and so on and so forth. So in 2014, started the boat shop. We started off service only. We didn't want anything to do with sales. I'm a technician by background, still work on boats today, as is my brother. So 2014 started with myself, my father-in-law, and that was it. Laptop computer and two white chairs and a table, my toolbox. 2015, my brother came on board as a partner, and we've grown incrementally since then. So, uh, fast forward to 2019, we found out that we actually do need to start selling boats, not only to help the business, but to keep up with certifications and be able to send our people to factory schools and what have you. And then, so today in 2026, we're up to 10 employees. We sell a lot of boats. We work on a lot of boats. We've really carved out a little niche in the industry in our part of the world that we are the premier service industry. We don't, we don't work on just everybody's boat. If you don't take care of your boat, I'm not sure how you can expect us to. And so there is an age limit and what the boat looks like and feel and phone calls. So the long and short of it at The Boat Shop is we don't deal with any nonsense. Everybody is friendly and happy. Generally, people that cause nonsense don't get to come back. And so that we can have a friendly work environment at The Boat Shop, we're selling fun. And again, if we can't have fun while we're doing it, how are we supposed to sell it? So all of our folks are avid boaters. We're not only a work family, but we all hang out on the sandbar and river together as well. I love that. My family fishes a lot. My brother's family fishes a lot. The guys in the back, Dean, one of our technicians, he fishes more than me. Stephen has a camp on the lake and he doesn't just fish, but he hunts and fish, anything to do with the water, really. And so no matter who we go through on the crew, even down to Sterling, who is my office manager, her husband has a boat and he's on the water all the time. She's got a young daughter. They all load up. So again, we don't just— at the boat shop, it's not a matter of working in the environment. We truly live it. We're very fortunate to do what we do. It's fun. Nobody's dying on a table. We're not having to deal with customers that are totally irate because they can't get to work or something like that. It's a luxury product, so we treat it that way. But at the same time, very easygoing. Trying to put this together.

We take— I was going to say, I just like that we say like minds connect, you know, and that's why we do these videos. So like-minded people can feel connection with you, apply and have that. And then you just outlined it that, hey, the entire team is like-minded. And not only are they showing up to work, but they're working on their passion. They're working 100% on outdoor stuff. Their customers are like-minded. And as a business owner myself, it does feel nice to say, hey, listen, you're not the right customer for us. You don't want to do that often. But when somebody mistreats your employees or just isn't respecting the process, it's nice to have that ability to say, no, I want to take care of my team.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Take care of my team as well as take care of the customers. That deserve the right treatment. Often, you know, that 80/20 rule, that the 20% of bad customers take up 80% of the time. And we've really tried to do the right thing to attract the right kind of customer. We get lots of birthday cards and Christmas cakes. And it's so cool that, you know, I get texts with— instead of texts with problems with their boat, I get texts. Just this week, I got a lady that we sold a boat to, her husband, 3 years ago. Well, she's now started to tournament fish, and she's— every month there's a tournament, and she's giving me her progress. So she's, she's third in the Angler of the Year standings, and it's just so cool. Part of being a— again, we're making a living at this, but we're having fun doing it.

I think that's the hardest part, you know, when you transition out of uniform. So much of your life is around purpose, and, and, you know, military is really good at connecting those like-minded people through the ASVAB test. And so when you get out, you're kind of searching for that connection again. You're searching for that like-minded camaraderie. And so that's why I love this for opportunity, because, you know, if you are an outdoor person and you enjoy working with your hands, you know, fixing problems, fixing equipment like this, it's a great job.

It really is. We're also on the forefront of a bunch of technology, which is so cool. It's a The boating industry, like any industry now, is moving forward so fast that we're having to learn stuff daily. Some of our Garmin electronics right now are just absolutely unbelievable. I mean, we've got boats with $30,000, $40,000, $45,000 worth of electronics and learning how to set that all up and use it correctly to where you can teach the customer. It's a really cool, fun time to be in the boating industry. Stuff is changing so fast. We're not working on old John boats with two-strokes anymore. It's a nice clean job. The, you know, we're not crawling under a Humvee and getting sand and dust in our face. These boats, these boats we've gotta put booties on to get in them. They're that clean. Oh wow. Yeah, no, it is. It's very enjoyable.

You know, that's, so let's get into the roles then since, you know, I think it's a, they have a good idea of like the culture and the type of human and leader you are, which is amazing. Getting into the technician, the one working on the boats, it's interesting because you, you talked about who you let in that I call like mechanics, big hand people, right? Electronics tech, small hand people. Absolutely. You know, and so you have— it sounds like you really have to be a balance now of like, hey, not just working on the engines and chasing wires and anything else that would come around with the boat, but you also have to understand electronics and programming. Well, not maybe like the deep program, but under understanding how that works.

Absolutely. So we do a lot more networking than I ever dreamed of. I'm buying Cat5 cable, 1,000-foot rolls at a time, being precise and making things look neat. So when you get done with the job, anybody can hook some electronics up. It's a power cable and some network cables. Well, that's cool. What we like to do is when it's done and the customer comes and looks at it and they say, wow, how did you do that and make this mount here? And, and so really taking the time to make it look pretty.

Having that pride.

Yeah, 100%. 100%. And so again, in the industry today, we don't work on a whole lot of broken stuff. The industry's got really, really good. The engines are twice, 3 times, 10 times reliable they were 10 years ago. And so now it's— there is some troubleshooting, but it's not a lot of troubleshooting.

We really— yeah. Give me a— give me an average day, an average week of what they're going to be dealing with.

Absolutely. So on the outboard side of things, we've got a bunch of boats in this week that are just in for their annual service. So it's quick, easy work. You can do it well, it pays well. So the way our pay structure works is that the more you do, the more you get paid. And so these, these annual services pay so much better than scratching your head for 3 days on trying to figure out what's wrong with the boat. In amongst those annual services, the boat may come in for an annual service A great example yesterday came in for its annual service. He wanted a 16-inch Garmin mounted on the bow. He wanted the 9-inch Garmin moved to the back. He wanted a tool accessory holder that he had purchased somewhere else installed and a camera mount for his 360. So it's, it's all encompassing, all in one. The other technician, two bays down, He was working on somebody's boat trailer. They're a long-time customer of ours, and he's got his annual trip to Lake Ouachita, which is 4 hours away, and he was repacking wheel bearings. The bay next to him is the guy getting new boats ready, so all he's been doing is getting engines on pontoons, pontoons on trailers. So again, if you are not a person that likes repair, you know, or gets bored with the repeat, repeat, repeat. We don't repeat very often.

There's—

we work on the same thing but in different areas.

Yeah, the nuance, right? Every customer is a little different.

Yeah, absolutely. Now, absolutely. So again, to give you a scale of the, the guy getting new boats ready is Steven. He has gone one pontoon, two pontoons, and then his next two jobs are Vexus bass boats. So we went from hanging engines to installing $80,000 worth of Garmin equipment on two boats.

It is the way technology is moving now.

Oh, it's crazy.

As somebody that grew up fishing his whole life, you know, I almost— I hear those Garmins going, oh man, that's cheating, you know?

Yeah, yeah. It's only cheating if it's against the rules.

So yeah, yeah, of course, right? Hey, and then from capability standpoint, right, it's not like, yeah, there's boats in the military but it's not like they're the same. What are the capabilities? What are the skills you're looking for somebody? I would assume, you know, wire chasing, fault chasing.

Wire chasing. Have a very, very good understanding of the 12-volt circuit. A lot of our issues because of all this technology is to do with loose grounds and connections. And so having a wonderful understanding of 12 volts will get you through just about anything because we are such a family-oriented and small shop. There's always somebody in the building that can help you through something you don't understand. That being said, we can't be helping you with every single thing. But if there's something that you need a helping hand, we're not a shop where Steven, our most veteran technician, is going to get upset because he's helping you because he's losing time. We're all in this together. I'm still very well versed in a lot of it. And as the business owner, probably don't spend enough time at my desk. I'm in the shop and I'm listening through my office door right now that there's a Mercruiser running outside, and I know whose boat it is. And so it— again, there's always a, a safety net. We're not going to leave you out to hang to dry and say, well, figure this out, and if you don't, you're fired. There's, there's lots of safety nets.

The most about the mechanical side, you know, we— I figured the electrical is, you know, wiring diagrams, chasing wires, faults, things like that. What about the mechanical side? Are they breaking down engines? Like, how does that go?

So we're not breaking any engines down. You know, the most truly mechanical stuff we do is we might replace a propeller shaft. It's the way engines are today that we're not having mechanical failures like back in the day. Now we will have to deal with some performance issues and that sort of thing. So the ability to drive a boat— we've got some boats that are 70 miles an hour plus, and if the customer says that it won't do 70, you need to We'll teach you how to drive at 70 and know that it runs well. The, the long and short of it is we just— somebody needs somebody that cares enough that they're going to do everything in their ability to make it perfect. Understanding what perfect is, we can teach you, but if you've got any kind of boating background or any of that thing, you understand that it's the little things, right? I use the story with my guys all the time. I have a camp or vacation spot, whatever you want to call it, about 4 hours from here. My boat stays down there. I don't get to go as often as I like. And this is a wonderful learning experience for me is I went down and I had a very simple problem, a dead battery. It was devastating. I had guests. I didn't have the time. I had to go buy a battery at retail that I know what the cost was, change it out, buy the tools. And so that understanding that the clientele we deal with often have a lot more money than they do time. And when they want to go to the lake, they want to go to the lake. We're not dealing with a customer that's okay with having to change a battery or, oh man, I've got to change a fuel filter. We are seeking nothing but easy perfection for our customers. Yeah.

And what I like about this too is it really sounds like if the person has the passion and desire, the skills can be trained, right? Hey, you've got to have that electrical, you have to have the mindset for it, but the passion and the owning the, the jobs are really what they're most important.

That's what's most important. There's lots of training available after the fact. Um, all of our engine manufacturers have factory training courses that we send everybody to. Garmin has an installer class that we send to we're extremely close with the Garmin rep so that if we have an issue, we can pick up the phone and talk it through it so that the, the, the knowledge and learning is out there. We're just, the mindset is the most important thing.

Yeah. So that, and that's great because we find those people that are just looking for the opportunity, right? Hey, just, I want a leader to see me as a high-performing human, invest in me so that I could be a long-term asset to the team. So that's great. And then you are— we kind of covered it, but there's an hourly compensation and then they get paid per accomplishment, right?

Per, per accomplished job. Yeah. So a quick example of that is you get paid however many dollars to show up and however many dollars you bill. So 100-hour service bills 4 hours, for example, if you get it done in 3, we're still going to pay you 4. You get done it in 6, we're still going to pay you for it. So we're really looking to be efficient. The times are totally fair. And because it's a mixed pay, we don't want you skipping corners and doing the wrong things to make time. So you can absolutely survive on your base pay. The commission dollars or build hours as a somewhat of a bonus at the end of the month. And we— and our guys are very good at it. You know, they're billing an extra, you know, not extra, they bill average billed hours is 70 a month. We've got 2 guys that are 100 and then 1 guy that's a little less than that. So you do the math on 100 hours. It's a great fifth paycheck.

Yeah. No, that's great. And that's really what, you know, these people like me, high performers want. It's like, hey, you know, I— maybe that's why I'm a salesperson. Yeah. Is like, hey, I want to be rewarded for my effort. I want— if I'm performing better at a higher level than others, I think I should be compensated that way. Totally perfect.

We are a group of winners. So everybody who's here, nobody was unemployed before they worked here. Everybody came from another dealership. And we are— it's a group of, you know, everyone watches that. Everyone has watched the movie 300 and they talk about the 5,000 men or 300 soldiers. We are definitely 300 soldiers.

Oh, I love that. Absolutely love that. And that shows your attitude too. That's great. And then we've got the technician role. Is there anything that you want to cover about you, the boat shop, the area, the team, anything that we can give to the community, to the veterans, before we start looking for the right humans for you?

Absolutely. To talk about me that we somewhat— there's a yin and yang at the boat shop. I'll be the yin and my brother can be the yang. I am very direct at times, sometimes a little too direct. My brother is direct but in a much nicer, more even-keeled way. I'm the bulldozer. He is the forklift that can weed through things easier. And we've learned that over the years that depending on the situation, good, bad, or indifferent, Do I need to handle it or does Kevin need to handle it? Because we're going to have a more positive outcome if we choose the right situation. Family-based dealership. So we have got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 kids under the age of 8 in amongst the boat shop family. Texanna is the youngest. That is Sterling, my office manager's daughter, and she spent her first 6 months, 8 months of life in the office doing what she does. My kids are up for summer this year. And so they will be in and out. So very family orientated.

I love that.

You know, so close-knit that we all hang out together. I know the names and birthdays of most of the kids in the back. Stephen's son worked for us for 3 years before he went to college. Just a man. We spend more time with each other at work than we do with our family. So let's make it. Let's have fun, enjoy each other. We might poke fun at people sometimes. One of my guys, Jesse, this morning said that sent a text to say, man, forgot to set the alarm. I'm running 15 minutes late. See you in a while. I said, no problem. I like my donuts glazed.

Yeah, right. So that's great. I mean, that's the way we are in military, you know?

Yeah, yeah. You know, we all, we all make mistakes. There's no point in getting fussed about it. When we make a mistake, let's identify the problem and come up with a solution. Just that easy. As far as Shreveport goes, We don't get enough credit in Shreveport for what's going on in Shreveport. We really don't. I was a bit of a Shreveport downer for a second and kind of forced myself to open my eyes and look what's going on. We've got some really cool stuff. So for the veterans, we've got Barksdale is right here. So a huge base. So the camaraderie ship after work and what have you, if you do miss some of the guys that you worked with and want some of that environment, it's here. The VA is just I mean, it's— I could walk to the VA from the shop. If you enjoy the outdoors, the opportunities for hunting and fishing are endless. I can point any degree on the compass and I can be on the water or in the woods within an hour, which is so, so nice. Cost of living and everything too in Shreveport, something we don't talk about enough either. We can really stretch a dollar.

I mean, yeah.

Mortgages and rental rates and stuff, a half or a third of what they are in DFW or Houston. Where I live is South Shreveport. I'm 6 minutes from the golf course, 8 minutes from my kids' school, 12 minutes from the shop, which is just absolutely not bad. Yeah, yeah. I've got all bases covered. So, so there's a lot to be said for small town living, right?

100%.

We don't have any toll roads. You can be from one end of the city to the other in 15 minutes. With no issues. So, so really, really good about that. There's some cool stuff coming to Shreveport too. With everything that's new in the data center world and all of that, a lot of that's coming here. And with that is going to grow our business as well as when that comes, it's going to bring some more nicer restaurants, things to do. And so it's a great time to move in on the upward growth. You're not joining a dying city. It's definitely on the up and up. The news doesn't portray it that way, but it is.

You know, for me, doing this for 20 years, what I know and what I understand is finding the right community is everything. And so, you know, I grew up in a village of 320 people. So like a role like this screams to me, I guess I can go in. I know everybody. I know what everybody's coffee is. I can crack jokes to people, right? He's late. I could send him a text. You know, when he walks in, we can, hey, good afternoon.

Yeah, exactly.

Good morning. You know, all that fun stuff. And that's, I think, what's most important about the job is like, you're gonna feel at home. You're gonna feel like part of a community. You're gonna feel part of a team, and you're gonna be invested in it as a human, not as a data point.

Absolutely a human. You know, we all win together and we all lose together. Yeah. There's times where on a Friday afternoon, that we may have to work a few extra hours if the boats are not getting out. But I can assure you that it's not going to be you working extra time, it's going to be us working extra time.

I love that.

Yeah.

Hey, I have everything I need. We're going to get this information together. We're going to send it out to the veteran community. Once we find those right humans for it, we're going to send them over to you. And I'm just excited to get this process started.

I am too, Justin Henderson Henderson Henderson. It's been great. I really, really think this is a wonderful process. My wife is looking for a job right now and is going through the temp agencies and standard recruiting and it absolutely sucks. Yeah, this whole world we've got into that you never get to speak to the person that's gonna hire you just sucks. And so anybody that's interested, give them my number. I'd love to chat through everything eyeball to eyeball, whatever that, that's my favorite. That's how we can judge somebody's character. We, I just listened to, I just, just listened to a talk that had nothing to do with recruiting, but it had to do with acquisitions and stuff. And just a very simple statement that I thought was great. I said, you can't spend 8 hours in the car with somebody on a road trip. You probably can't work together.

There you go. And that— and people don't get that enough, that they don't understand the human to human is so important. Absolutely. And that's why I love these videos, because Good leaders like you jump into it. Hey, let me get in. Like, let me show, like, let me show how much I care. And bad leaders are like, no, I don't want to show how much I abuse or—

what can we get out of these guys? Yeah.

So it's always, we're creating safe places for veterans and that's what's so important.

Absolutely.

Well, hey, again, Raymond, I appreciate you so much. We're going to get this out there as soon as possible. And as soon as we find the right piece of person, we'll let you know.

Wonderful. Thanks so much, Justin Henderson Henderson. Have a great afternoon. You too. Bye.