How does one get started as a sea kayak operator? This is a question that I was asked by a certain gentleman with whom we went to school together. I happened to bump into the gentleman sometimes last week. Upon meeting him, we exchanged niceties, and then he asked me what I was up to, career-wise. I told him that I am currently working as a sea kayak operator. He found it fascinating. And this is how he ended up posing the question as to how one gets started as a sea kayak operator: a question I will be attempting to answer in today’s blog post.
In my experience, in order to get started as a sea kayak operator, you first need to acquire the necessary skills. You need to be so well skilled as a kayak operator that you can comfortably teach others (namely those who will be hiring kayaks from you) how to run the kayaks safely. You should also ideally have the necessary skills to carry out basic repairs on the kayaks. Needless to say, you also need to have the skills to run the sea kayaking business. In my experience, these business skills can actually end up being more critical than the technical skills required to get a kayak moving in the waters.
Then, having acquired the necessary skills, you need to acquire a suitable base for your sea kayaking business.
Having acquired a suitable base for your sea kayaking business, you need to acquire a kayak, or several kayaks, in order to get started. You can buy the sea kayaks. Or you can opt to rent the kayaks initially, before proceeding to buy yours once the business picks up.
Then, having acquired the kayak or kayaks, you need to create publicity for your business: so that people can know about it and patronize it. There will always be people who need sea kayaks. You therefore just need to advertise the fact that you are a sea kayak operator. You will then start getting enquiries from such potential clients almost immediately.