Uncommon Freedom
Ready to join the movement of people choosing to build a life of Uncommon Freedom™?
Join hosts, Bekah and Kevin Tinter, to maximize your potential, skyrocket your impact, and live a great life while you make the world a better place.
Learn from inspiring guests who have made the decision to lead the life they want, instead of accepting the life they were given. Discover how to embrace the prosperity with a purpose, making an eternal impact to change your corner of the world. It’s time to design a life where you have the options to do what you want, when you want, and with who you want. That's Uncommon Freedom™.
Join us on this journey and unleash your full potential today!
Uncommon Freedom
Leadership Lessons from the High Seas: A Conversation with Captain Spencer & Erica Gallagher
Step aboard a yacht for an intimate conversation with Captain Spencer and Erica Gallagher, as they share their remarkable journey from young maritime enthusiasts to respected leaders in luxury yachting.
In this unique episode, filmed in the stunning Exumas, the Gallaghers discuss:
- Building a successful career in yachting from age 17
- Navigating the challenges of working together as a married couple
- Creating exceptional experiences through passionate leadership
- Managing crew dynamics and building effective teams
- The importance of family support in unconventional careers
- Real stories from their years serving diverse clientele
- Insights on maintaining relationships while living at sea
From Spencer's early start as one of the youngest captains of a 100-foot vessel to their current role managing luxury charters, the Gallaghers offer authentic perspectives on leadership, relationship building, and pursuing your passion with purpose.
Subscribe and tell a friend!
Get my book "The Seven Disciplines of Uncommon Freedom" on Amazon!
Visit bekandkev.com today to sign up for our email newsletter.
Access our Free health assessment HERE
Well, hey everyone, welcome to the Uncommon Freedom Show. Today is the most unique setting we've ever had and well, hopefully not I'll ever have, because I hope to be back. But today we are aboard the Chanson, so if you get seasick and you're watching, you might want to switch to the audible version or audio version. We are aboard, we're in the sky lounge of the Chanson yacht and with Captain Spencer Gallagher and his lovely wife Erica hey guys, welcome to the show. It's a pleasure to be here, it's awesome to have you both, and of course, we're not mic'd up, so you're going to have to turn up the volume a little bit. But I wanted to first of all just kind of interview this amazing couple because we've had this is our second epic vacation. They're absolutely amazing and learn a little bit about how you got into yachting, what it's like, what it's like working as a couple aboard very tight quarters. I'm sure that's quite an interesting experience. And then we also have some cool stuff to talk about.
Speaker 1:I'll just tease it For those of you who have ever heard of Fyre Fest. You're looking at the couple that actually was in charge of the yacht where they did all the promotional videos. So it's just a crazy coincidence. Quite an adventure that was. Yeah, quite an adventure. So Cat Spence. First of all, how did you get into yachting?
Speaker 2:Well, I must say I was very fortunate being raised in a water-loving family. Multiple generations, grandfathers, uncles, my parents, everyone I knew pretty much had a boat on the Great Lakes. Certainly we tried to get every little bit we could out of those Michigan summers, which are not long. As you know, being from Ohio, we can try what we can to get what we can out of a season. But we certainly did enjoy that and I found a passion in sailing and being on the water.
Speaker 2:We were very fortunate also to be going down to Florida and traveling down there and seeing all these big yachts in Harvard. And when it came time to make a decision on what to do after high school, my old man pulled out the Chapman School of Seamen book and said hey, you know, this is a great opportunity for you to go to school and really hone in your talent that you naturally have. And boy, fast forward a handful of years and I met Erica cruising along and we started a really unique charter program where we tried to bring on board guests like yourselves, show them, their family, their friends, a pretty amazing adventure out in these beautiful waters. Yeah, so behind us if you can see, it is the Bahamian Sea.
Speaker 2:That's right, and we're in the Exumas portion of the Bahamas, which is probably the most beautiful part of the Bahamas, at least in my personal opinion, as you can see the turquoise blue waters with the emerald, I would say, of the world.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've been to some other pretty places, but this length of gorgeous clear water is tough to come by.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hesitate. I don't want too many people to know how beautiful it is. You can't give away. Where exactly? It is Exactly, but it is. I mean, becca and I have been blessed. You guys have traveled the world, we've traveled the world and there's some incredible landscapes, but there's no place where the water looks like, if that's here.
Speaker 2:It's a very unique spot to be. Certainly, most of my time spent in Yachting has been out here. It's a very challenging part of the ocean to transit. It's very shallow, it's treacherous waters, filled with reefs and sandbars, and not too much knowledge as far as data, as far as chart input. A lot of it's local knowledge. What's changed?
Speaker 1:from storms. It's a pretty unique spot to travel around in, yeah, and real quick. Rewinding back to how you got into actually yachting and being a captain, you went to essentially a trade school, yes, and you were what?
Speaker 2:what was it? 17? Yes, for Estrella High School. Pretty much, and definitely the youngest in the class, I think by a couple decades, maybe even Wow, but a very unique experience. I had a lot of support from my family.
Speaker 2:Basically, moving across country from Michigan to Florida was a unique thing and I had full support of my family and friends and still do today to keep that adventure going, which is a bit of a struggle being away from a normal home environment. But being a castaway in South Florida wasn't too bad of an option to have coming from Michigan. So in doing that it was a fairly smooth transition because it was a passion of mine, I just really loved to do it. So it wasn't like I was forced to do anything or, you know, coerced into this terrible, you know educational environment for year in, year out. But it was a pretty quick little run about a year or so and come out with about roughly a hundred ton captain's license. If you have the sea time, they're pretty much ready to get you started as a first mate or something like that. And boy, I think I was 18 when I got my first captain mace job excuse me on the motor yacht, absolutely. How big was that? 100 foot Broward, wow, yeah, and it was a pretty unique experience and the captain back then I owe a lot to because, boy, I was pretty green behind the ears. Even though I had some pretty good sailing experience, I knew nothing about being on a yacht.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think day number two we were thrown into a charter similar to something like this and hit the ground running, shall we say, and to this day actually, eric and I still do business with that yacht owner. Wow, that is how kind of interconnected and tight-knit our industry is and we're very fortunate to make great relationships even from day number one and still be in contact with those guys today and still operate their boats and drive around and have fun dinners with them sometimes. Yeah, well, from all the way back in 2005. So probably a great lesson. There is just the kind of the power of relationships wow, very much wow. I think in this industry, even more than ever, a lot of these yacht owners are pretty interconnected. They run in the same circles. So I think if you do a really good job and show your passion and show that you really care about showing these families and friends a great time you can really exceed and certainly make a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:And just, you're having a great time on the high seas with people who love the same thing as you. It's a pretty fun circle of running. Yeah, erica, how'd you get into yachting?
Speaker 3:I met Spence, I had no idea it existed at all. I'm from small town, north Carolina, wrightsville Beach. I was out there working fresh out of college. I think I was 22 years old when I met him and I was bartending. So I was in the transitional period where you're out of college, you're trying to figure out your career and I had these big plans to go be a food and beverage director at a golf course or assistant at first work my way up, met him randomly and didn't speak for months after we met and then he gave me a call and it was back and forth for six months and then, about, I think, eight months into knowing each other, I moved to Florida and we started working, and that was 12 years ago.
Speaker 1:Okay, did you end up working on one of the ships that he was a captain of, iso?
Speaker 3:I had never worked with any other captain, wow.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Any other captain. It's always been with him. We've always ran a program together. At first it was just him and I. He was a sole crew member On the boat, so he was all positions. It was a 90 footer and he taught me the basics.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute. You were running a 90 foot boat.
Speaker 2:Pretty much yeah. So we did the cooking, the cleaning, the captain and all that kind of stuff. All together it's a fairly small boat at that point.
Speaker 3:It was a different type of program. Everybody's involved Lots of going out to eat, cabin service when they leave.
Speaker 2:Certainly not the cowboy chef you have down there Right. I can whoop up some pretty good stuff.
Speaker 3:He taught me all my early skills. He got a job offer on a 120 and I had been working with him for about a year at that point and he asked the boss that was interviewing him for the job if he could bring me. And then we did a dual interview together and went to Cat Key for the day. For a job interview on a cigarette boat. Took it all the way from Miami.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was our second round in the unofficial NASCAR Yacht Club. And boy, those boys know how to have a lot of fun with their toys, that's for sure. So our job interview was blasting from Miami to Cat Key and looked at each other and said I think this is the job that we could take. This seems like a pretty fun circle it's just fast forward.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and, and that boat that we interviewed on that we're speaking up was the boat that actually ended up hosting the fire fest on okay, all right, very cool, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 2:You may were very fortunate in that some crew members they don't get the longevity and the wonderful connection with some owners that we have, but we have had the great fortune of making great connections and able to really establish a long-term relationship with some of these owners. But we've been on now. We've been on board for seven years now and it's just wonderful to look back on all those years with one particular family and a vessel and all the fond memories that we have made. It's pretty special.
Speaker 1:So you were how old when you had your first yacht captain job. So I was.
Speaker 2:I think just turning 22. It was a 100-foot Broward, it was called Just Right. It was a 100-foot Broward, it was called Just Right. I remember the owner fondly. He took another big risk in bringing me on as a captain. I remember it was such a big risk. The insurance companies had to have a couple of my friend captains go out and prove and write to the insurance company and say yes, yes he may be very young, but he can drive a boat.
Speaker 1:Describe to people who maybe don't have much experience with boats or certainly nothing with like a yacht Like it is an overwhelming amount of responsibility. I did. I told you I did a Captain Catamaran class at Fort Lauderdale, I don't know five, six years ago. I had a great time and what I learned from that? The biggest thing I learned is I will never be the captain of a catamaran like. The amount of responsibility, especially if you're talking about taking your family, is just overwhelming. And here you're, 22 years old. I look like a child.
Speaker 2:I I look like a child. I I hope I wasn't acting like one. I think I was thrust into the right environment, but uh, certainly it was very unique. It was a challenge I was ready to accept, but a challenge nonetheless. But as I said, I think at a very young age I was just kind of under the discipline of being ready and groomed to operate a boat and be able to guide people into great adventures. Certainly, the honed in leadership and organizational skills are still coming along, but being able to naturally guide people on a vessel and naturally have a knack for safety and operation, I think came at a very young age, so that wasn't too much of an undertaking. Certainly, the looks of the guests and the owners when they came on and I said, hi, I'm Captain Spence, yeah, those were the unique things to get over. They came on and I said, hi, I'm Captain Spence, yeah, those were the unique things to get over.
Speaker 3:They looked at me cross-eyed at times I thought, um, I look back at our first picture together as a couple was a captain and a chief student. I think how do these people land in the airport and say, yes, I'm coming with you guys for a week, like with their family?
Speaker 2:it was pretty um, um, certainly our, our friends in the outing industry joke about. You know I was probably one of the younger ones on that size vessel. It was certainly a big boat. You're talking a crew of four or five at that point, somewhere around the 100, 120-ton mark, 20 feet wide. You know, two big monster propellers down there Certainly a lot of vessel to be maneuvering around and that's kind of the easy part of it as well, as the operation of the boat is where it really comes into play. It has to be fluid, managing the crew and all the systems. How did you develop?
Speaker 1:the leadership skills as a 22-year-old. Obviously, the crew you're working with is probably, some of them, quite a bit older than you, maybe a couple decades. Yes, yes, generally that can be a challenging situation. How do you learn the leadership it takes?
Speaker 2:You know it's funny enough. There's, of course, many great podcasts we could talk about that but one of the yes Time is number one. One of the positions I got put into was being in a charter boat captain. I got to be face-to-face with some very unique people in very large leadership roles A week out at sea. You get pretty intimate with these people or at least sometimes we do.
Speaker 2:I started to ask the right questions. I'm sitting here with some of these titans of industry sometimes titans of great family men, with some of these titans of industry, sometimes titans of great family men, picking up all these examples from life, from these wonderful clients that I've had, whether it be owners or charter clients, and being able to listen to them pick up their traits. One of the unique ones was Coach Ron Rivera. At the time he was from the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's a very good leader, and he's a very good leader.
Speaker 2:And boy, we would just spitball hour after hour about leadership skills. He would listen to my radio calls and listen to the response of other crew members and ask me you know how I digested that? And then give his playback on how he interpreted from coach and player on the field. And those examples from that trip in particular lent a lot of examples, for, you know, calmness under pressure. The gridiron brings a lot of pressure, a lot of anxiety, a lot of emotions and so can yawning at times. So those are very good examples and I was very fortunate from that and many others to kind of pick and pull each one of these unique characters out of each one of my owners and or charter guests. It was very helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, first of all, for anyone who's owned a boat you know they have those t-shirts, honey, I'm sorry for everything I said when we were boating, like I mean, we had a boat for about two years and I can totally relate. And then you, you know, you multiply that times four and crew and passengers and your wife is on board.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, exactly, and you're, you know, in charge of her. You know as far as, like, the chain of command goes. So I can only imagine. And then the other thing you mentioned, and I want to talk more about this, but, like in my book, I talk about running with lions and because of the niche of people that own yachts and, as a general rule, are chartering yachts like your entire career has been with people that are lions, I mean, maybe their relationships aren't as good. You know, they might not all be lions when it comes to family, I don't know.
Speaker 2:But, when you're talking about leadership and business. That's all. You've been around pretty much, yeah. So that's an interesting like it's been a great, it's been a great fortune of us.
Speaker 2:Um, we have got to see sometimes the the backside of some of these great fortunes. Um, we, we may see a headline or two about some of our guests and then you see them in real life and you know who they are and you, you get to see that. You know, sometimes a business headline maybe isn't a personality, sometimes it might be vice versa, but we have been very fortunate to see, you know, the true characters of our clients and our owners and to see that sometimes, behind a very strong business titan is a very strong businessman, a very passionate man, a very faith-driven man. A lot of times we see those connections. Sometimes, when we don't see those connections, we see the friend that's maybe the tag along that hasn't quite hit that echelon yet, and we see some of those missing links in their personality. But when you see that the family, the compassion, the faith all combined, you start to see the titans of industry.
Speaker 3:Lots of opportunity for powerful conversation yeah, lots of opportunity yeah, I believe it.
Speaker 1:Um, one of the things that character traits that I see in both of you is passion, um, and it's something that I've kind of really, uh, honed in on in my own life recently. But just talk like I mean your, this is the the fourth trip we've taken, it's the third crew that we've been with and by far you two and your crew have the most passion. Just talk about how that plays a role in what you do and really the quality of service you guys just deliver to your clients.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that number one. I'm very fortunate to have such a great partner that brings out, you know, a better side and fills in the blanks as well here and there. And also to the other crew members. I'm very fortunate to have the crew I have around me as well. As you know, from a guest standpoint, the crew is the most important part really of the operation of the vessel and how your trip goes and, from a captain's standpoint, how my week goes. So if we have a crew that's clicking, we're firing all eight, we're enthusiastic, we're energized. You really see that in the trip when you have just that one missing link, you feel that one missing link.
Speaker 3:It ruins it right away.
Speaker 2:So I must say I've been very lucky. So I must say I've been very lucky. And Erica also has really come a long way in her crew leadership and helping guide them in the yeah, I totally see that.
Speaker 1:Well said, how do you find people with passion? Because one of the things I've learned is that people can present passion in an interview, but then you know, then you see their three months is the expression.
Speaker 3:To the teeth okay, to the teeth it's trial and error. We've we've been with a lot of really good crew in our career, really good people that have grown and we still communicate with. We've been around a lot of different individuals. We get the opportunity to see all types of personalities, from top to bottom, and you're forced to live together and me being the mom of the boat, I absorb a lot of it before it gets filtered to him.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Let's face it, happy captain is a happy boat. We just it's taken time to build what we've built. We're pretty happy with what we have right now. You say passion. In your book you say surround yourself around people that push you forward upstream, not downstream. So I feel like our passion, even if we have a crew member that lacks a little bit, we spill enough over that by time. Certain amount of time with us, they grow in their passion, start ripping off on where they didn't like it.
Speaker 2:It's contagious.
Speaker 3:If it doesn't happen, like I said, roughly that three month mark then we just carry on and try and plug in another piece and see if it fits. Yeah, and that's where we're at now. We've been together for 12 years running this program and we are finally at a space where most of our crew is completely cohesive, a family on the same page.
Speaker 1:We're very lucky. Yeah, yeah, talk about. What are some of the? How do I put this? What are the types of people who own a yacht? Like? What do they do? Oh it ranges.
Speaker 2:We have seen all types. We have seen the guy that makes the toilet paper rolls, the little cardboard inserts. He has a pretty nice little yacht. If you think about how many of those are produced on a daily basis that's quite a few of them.
Speaker 3:We had a guy that created a seed that grows lumber straight and fast through agricultural program and because of that he is one of the largest suppliers of lumber on the East Coast.
Speaker 2:Wow, those trees go faster and a little bit straighter, and so it's more highly valued wood.
Speaker 3:We've had sports players.
Speaker 2:Sports players.
Speaker 3:We've had people that are Rap artists Yep, yep, Charu, Ashanti models.
Speaker 2:We've had everything.
Speaker 3:CEOs of companies.
Speaker 2:And sometimes we have had families, such as the charter guests, who have saved up. You know, maybe they've, you know, dreamed about this for a couple decades. And you know, the, the two or three brothers got together, the two or three friends got together, they saved and saved, and boy, when they, when they get off the boat and we show them their charter video, there are tears streaming down their face. They are just blown away, expectations met and exceeded. You know, and you can just see it, they're overjoyed and we we know for a fact that that joy will spill over for generations for them. They're going to tell their grandkids about it. They're going to show that video to their, you know, their kids and it's.
Speaker 3:It's really special memories for people. Yeah like imagine how you want your core memory right right that's how you deliver it to your guests, yeah.
Speaker 2:And that being said, you know you can find those memories. People want those memories. So you see all walks of life trying to get out here and do it and we have seen people make fortunes from the most unique things, Even some of our close friends. They are, you know, very large earth movers. You know it's amazing what different industries make certain types.
Speaker 1:I think I remember you guys telling me about the toilet paper roll guy last trip and what. What that just reminds me is that there are so many different ways to make a living and to really make a fortune that the American dream is absolutely still alive. Yes, 100%. You don't have to come up with. Like it doesn't have to be technology, it could be something like all you have to do is solve people's problems Purposeful, Exactly, you can make a fortune and be invested in your product, be involved.
Speaker 2:Even these Titans that we see, these are their vacation moments, these are their moments away from the job, but you still see, every once in a while they pop on the computer, maybe send an email or two. We try our best not to let them do it, but hey, let's face it, these guys are still in business. So they are still kind of in mind and in gear. And even when we're talking about fun conversations about this, that or different islands, you may say a little something and in gear. And even when we're talking about fun conversations about this, that are different islands, you may say a little something. You see their ears perking. I'm gonna say oh, what's that over there? You said what?
Speaker 3:and they're always thinking about the next investment or the next little thing they can pull out of their sleeve people that are not product creators. Uh, a good guess that we had was uh, captain sully the plane, yeah, and we had a passenger from that plane and it changed his whole life. He quit his nine to five after that, adopted two teenage children and became a motivational speaker Very successful, wow, interesting yeah.
Speaker 3:Interesting and so products, not always you know, sometimes life experiences or just opinions or things you've gone through in your own life, and sharing that story creates so much for other people.
Speaker 1:That's great. And you talked about families saving up. I can tell you that, like, if we could only take, if we could take a vacation a year, do anything else or save up and do one of these every 10 years, we would pick this. Like we wouldn't have to talk to the kids, like, without a doubt, yeah, everyone would be like, oh, we'll, we'll take, uh, a yacht trip once every 10 years. I mean, hold off on this. That. Yeah, it is like it combines and especially you guys do an unbelievable job of combining everything. I mean mean you're capturing photos, you're capturing video, you're creating these unbelievable experiences. We have access to jet skis, to boats. I mean we're on private islands, like literally every island or every beach we were on, we were on the water, on the water, the hulkous yeah, I mean it's just absolutely unbelievable. Like, you compare this to really the best resort in the world. It's a resort or any type of you know cruise ship or anything there's no comparison, thank you.
Speaker 2:We are really fortunate to show families such an amazing time and we feel it and it brings out the best in us too. When we see the energized looks in the family, when we see the love between the father and daughter and the special moments, it amps us up, it gets us going to the next level. It's like, oh you know, what can we do next to make that very next special moment? It brings up the best in us and I think that's a great characteristic also of a true cruising yachtsman is feeling the compassion of those family moments or friends moments and making them even special, even more special than they could be the next day, which can be a challenge Spence. How can you get better than today? It's like, well, we've got five more days to go.
Speaker 3:I would say one of Spencer's top qualities, other than being hands down, the best boat driver hands down is adventure, and it doesn't stop the adventure. Doesn't matter how tired he is. He'd be missing half of his leg and he's still going to create something great for the next day. It's never going to slow down. Yeah, that's a key factor about a captain. You hear so many captains. They just sit in the helm. They call helm captain, yeah, coffee captains, um, and they just sit and they get the demands on the radio.
Speaker 1:That's two each day, um, but spence is always going to be hands-on till he's 70 years old and getting great I love being out there in the water no, you I mean, that was one of the things that we all noticed is that with you, like, you take a personal pleasure in creating experiences for your guests, and you're out there most of the time. I mean, obviously sometimes you've got work to do and you send the crew, but the crew you know, carries on.
Speaker 2:I'm so lucky. They fill in the void. And that's a great thing about a crew is, if you know, hey, if I can rely on those guys to do the job, and then some, then I'm a lucky guy. It's big shoes to fill Fill in my shoes, of course, absolutely.
Speaker 1:What are for?
Speaker 2:both of you either the one or two most challenging or biggest downsides to the career field you're in. You want to go first, all right. Well, I would think that the biggest challenge or downside, or probably combined, is trying to find that time for your personal family. As I said earlier, you know my passion is for yachting and that becomes almost a lifestyle. This couldn't, this can be a job, but you see the people who make it a job and you see the people who make it a lifestyle and making a lifestyle you see the you know, full-on attitude that you get from us and with that, takes a little sacrifice on the home front and and that is one of the biggest sacrifice we have to make and be on the high seas, much like any kind of military lifestyle that you like to back in your day when you served, um, it is. It is very hard to be away from home, um, you like to. We like family time. I'm a family guy. I I wouldn't be here today without the love and support of my family.
Speaker 3:We have a very involved family. As a matter of fact, my side and his side are friends. They hang out, they communicate. My dad and his dad communicate almost every day. So our immediate family is very, very close. So it's tough for us to be away and miss those special moments. But it is a sacrifice that we do have to make and I have had the full support of my family to make that sacrifice from day one.
Speaker 2:Even as a teenager leaving home at a young age and moving out of Florida, I had the full support to do that. Love, care, they're always there for me and I know that and that's what keeps me able to go on. I think, care, you know they're always there for me, I know that and that's what keeps me able to go on. I think if, maybe, if the family member was a bit jaded or something like that, it would be tough to be out here, you would feel even more homesick to be back with your family if they were not so supportive. So I I'm so blessed in that that I have great support both from family and friends and and the in-laws as well, we have a lot of of in-laws, a lot.
Speaker 2:It's special.
Speaker 1:It makes it easier. You guys are in a unique spot because you're on the same boat the rest of the crew, they have spouses and significant others that they see what once a month.
Speaker 3:Once a month, I would say.
Speaker 2:And sometimes you get lucky at that. Sometimes it might be once a season, once every three months.
Speaker 3:If you're on a busy boat. There's positives and negatives. I mean, as you see, we were together.
Speaker 1:Yeah. All the time yeah.
Speaker 3:Every day, every day together, which is something we remind each other constantly. We're beyond blessed. There's not very many couples We've gone to a marriage counselor, which everybody should take their time to do that for their relationship to make it healthy.
Speaker 3:And we have a healthy relationship. We went just to keep it that way. She looked at us and said your biggest problem is you spend too much time. Yes, which we are fine with. We are totally fine with it. We take a vacation separate from each other once a year and that is it? We yearn for each other's time and space together.
Speaker 2:it's yeah, we're very, we're very fortunate lucky um, if it wasn't that way, being a part and having a wife ashore, or vice versa, having your husband ashore, um, and add on top of that the pressure of kids, yeah, um, it can be very taxing on a relationship, then, even more so than a loving parent. You need a loving wife to really understand what you're going through out here. And let's face it, sometimes they might send home a picture of a really cool sandbar, awesome beach set up, and the ones at home are really just thinking, oh shucks, you know you're having such a blast out there, but it is a job we are working, um, it is paradise. It's probably the best cubicle out there, for sure, um, but to have the love and support of of the shoreside party is is really important.
Speaker 2:It's not easy, um, and it's not easy for the people ashore either. You know we're taking our loved ones away from home. Um, I I see firsthand from a crew member when there's a little home issues going on. I try to get my best to get that person back home and I am very aware of the strain it puts on a relationship and a person to be away from a normal nine to five relationship at home. This is a very unique lifestyle for sure.
Speaker 4:Uncommon freedom is a game changer, not only for the focused leader, but also for the rudderless sojourner seeking direction. When Kevin talks, I listen, I lean in and always leave a better man. As the wisdom of Proverbs 3.13 states, happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. I want to warn you in advance to prepare your spirit for a heart and mind shift as you read this book. I have learned that conviction comes when the heart is open to change. As I read this book, I was moved on several occasions to evaluate my personal life and make course corrections. This isn't just a book. It's a manual for creating godly leaders who we desperately need today and especially as our children walk the earth in, whatever it looks like 10, 20, 30 years from now. Who knows that? We need leaders who embody these things? Because not only do we need people who are healthy and wealthy and have the right heart, but we need people who know where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Speaker 1:What is the best part of what you do?
Speaker 3:Being together. Oh really, I never saw this coming when I first met.
Speaker 2:Eric, I actually joke about. I sat down with her and after our relationship had gone, I said honey, I have to admit I'm already married to that.
Speaker 3:And I said either I join you or I'm out.
Speaker 3:I come from a military family so I know what it's like to have the home and then the nine. Yeah, I always told myself if I marry a guy, first and foremost it is not going to be somebody in the military, because I want to be in my relationship. And then I went and married a merchant mariner, which basically the same go me. But I feel beyond lucky. Like he said, our family, our friends, each other, we, I hold very close the relationship we have. It's it's rare.
Speaker 2:It's really special to be doing this together. Um, I, since I was a young little boy, one of those little you know, second grade little court classes you take, write down what you want to be, and when you grow up, I wrote down I want to find my, my wife, on the beach and travel the ocean. And I've executed it and I'm just so thrilled. It is really special. We get to look out and look at these beautiful sceneries together, hand in hand. Yeah, it's so amazing and know that our hard work has paid off. It has not been easy. We have had our ups and downs. We have tested each other. We have been easy. We have. We have had our ups and downs. We have tested each other. We have, you know, we're stuck in a very small space, together, working out our differences and and inter marriage conflicts and job conflicts, all together in a space smaller than this room we're in right now keep it under wraps you know you're mom and dad of the ship, so your crew is as happy as we are.
Speaker 3:You know, we're not happy, they're not happy. Same for guests. It's immediately apparent when something is going wrong, or in between just any other crew member.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we talked about one experience we had where there was tension among the crew and it made it very awkward for us as the guests. So, uh, you guys, whether, like as far as we're concerned, you're always happy so we are as the crew.
Speaker 1:so you may, you may not be, but as far as we're concerned you are um. All right, let's talk about fire fest. So when I heard about fire fest, my brother told me about it and I was like there's no way, I'd never heard of it. And he told me and I went up, found the documentary on Netflix and I was just like my jaw was dropped the entire time because I could not believe how the thing went down. And then we're cruising with you last year and somehow we're like, oh, firefest. And you're like, oh yeah, I was the captain, we were the crew for that ship. Talk about how that came down and what that was like well, we might do a whole nother episode on this.
Speaker 1:This is go ahead, read the scientist version, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:The, the, the eclipse version. So it was a very unique scenario. As we mentioned the, the first boat that we kind of worked on together, 120 foot broward, beautiful boat was a family-owned boat, multiple owners the two brothers, a couple wives involved and we had a trip on board. We were in Miami at the infamous Art Basel and we were told hey, get the guests off the boat, it's 10, 11 o'clock tonight, put them in a hotel.
Speaker 3:Put them in a hotel.
Speaker 2:We got to drop lines and beeline it to the Bahamas no-transcript or Eminem for others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:It was very. They were very popular hip-hop artists. You were like what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and still are, still are, and so we were fired up. Fire it up, you're ready to go. And then there's this third element of this uh, gentleman by the name of billy who was trying to do this fire festival, and he had this fire app and all this unique stuff. So the box is very intriguing. I thought this was going to be the next best thing, maybe the new, uh, bahama version of coachella it.
Speaker 3:It could have been amazing. It really could have, and the draw for the owner of the boat was just like my boat is kind of the centerpiece of this right.
Speaker 1:It's publicity. At the time it was a great idea.
Speaker 3:It was brilliant up until the second festival the fiasco.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:It was cutting edge, it was moving in a different direction for music and for concerts and music festivals. Like I said, I asked y'all rule why bahamas? And it was to create a safe space for artists that are of r&b, hip-hop, um, and something that's a little more off the charts and exotic, and that is a great idea, but in the Bahamas, you need lots of time to execute anything. Yeah, bahamas, time is a serious right, it's I don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and six months was not enough for conception time. They thought about it and six months later wanted to execute it. You need a two to three years.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're, you're, you're now chartered to host Ja Rule and Ashanti and this entire. For people who've seen at least the Netflix video I haven't seen the Hulu version, but like so I've seen the book I'm going to have to go back and watch it again and be like holy smokes he's in the Hulu one Basically like hosting a film production yes, he's in the movie.
Speaker 2:Basically like hosting a film production.
Speaker 3:They are shooting their marketing material for this very exclusive high end concert on a boat, which is where all the footage for the documentary that you watched, all that footage of him sitting in the dining room making decisions all that was what was filmed that week while we were on charter. That's what created the documentary. Without that film and background footage, the documentary would have never been made.
Speaker 1:And it also created all the hype for all the soon-to-be-disappointed attendees. So that's what we call the real festival.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were at the real festival then, and then, six months later, we were at the fiasco festival.
Speaker 1:So they did a small version with real music artists. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah, lots of famous celebrities came in all the. Victoria's Secret models.
Speaker 2:I think even Kardashians were there.
Speaker 3:I think. I don't know exactly. I don't want to put anybody's attendance that wasn't there. But if you do research there was quite a few big names and when they first came into town, ja Rule and Ashanti were performing at a concert for benefit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Hurricane Relief Okay.
Speaker 1:For.
Speaker 3:Hurricane Relief funds and then after that concert, because they took footage of a concert going on, to create the promotional video. Yes, after that concert, they came to the Outer Islands to film the experience that you're going to have. They've got footage from a concert. You're going to go there. That's the main purpose, but here are little clips and snippets of what your experience is going to be during that ride the jet ski.
Speaker 4:So they cut it together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the full promotional video Okay, a nice villa on the beach.
Speaker 3:So we did island hopping and anchoring, much like we do, with you guys Staying around Normans for the most part, because that's where it was all supposed to go, down Pablo Mascar's Island all that jazz. Right and playing, so any boat related thing, any jet skiing, anything with a yacht. That was us that week. It was eight guests, 12 to 14 film crew and then hair and makeup for six to eight models, so roughly 40 something people during the day On a 120 foot.
Speaker 2:This place was crawling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course, they were on shore as well. They had accommodations ashore, so during the day they would come out for a couple hours.
Speaker 2:We would film and we would have just chaos. It was chaos, controlled chaos, but chaos nonetheless.
Speaker 3:It was pretty wild. Sleeping was just Ja Rule and Ashanti, which are best friends. Ja Rule has been married to his wife. They've been dating since like first grade, second grade, very lovely person. Ja Rule and Ashanti are just friends. She brought her two cousins and then there was the manager Grant Grant is his name, billy McFarland's manager and one other production guy and they were the eight guests in the cabins.
Speaker 1:Okay, when did you see? Did you see any red flags?
Speaker 3:as far as From day one, when we got the phone call, we had no preference sheets and no deposit and we were provisioning for celebrities.
Speaker 2:That was a little bit unique.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:And plenty of chat sheets and no deposit, and we were provisioning for celebrities a little bit unique. Okay, the money, the money hasn't been brought up front, but this guy's moving forward very fast. And now, of course, after we see the documentaries and we know what happened, now it makes sense now it all makes sense.
Speaker 2:But at the time there was also on on our end, there was a lot of you know kind of excitement to be part of this. Yeah, we, we were all kind of fooled as well, yeah, and we were enthralled by his energy, enthralled by his motivation and how fast things are going. Like, wow, this guy just makes things happen. It is strange, it'll be charismatic yes, um, yeah, um and and so um. Fortunately, in the end the expenses did come in, but yeah, we were out as well. We were the ones that got hook, line and sink into the algorithm of his really unique idea.
Speaker 3:At the very end it came to fruition with finances, but you know how important a preference sheet is.
Speaker 3:It's what defines your trip? Also, a chef. A chef gets to cook you know five-star meals for you and serve it to you. None of that existed. It was buffet the whole time. They just had us guess. When we went to the grocery store, we piled up as much as we could, but at times we had 30 people on board eating and snacking, so it was just chaos all the time. And snacking, so it was just chaos all the time. Information given and changed in like one sentence.
Speaker 1:Alright, let's fast forward. You did the promo and then you're on scene again for what's supposed to be the real event.
Speaker 3:This is now six months later. Yeah, so we both knew after that week, in six months, this is not gonna be real. We've been to music festivals. We know what it entails, even as a guest. We know what Bahamas is like. But we get tickets. The crew gets free tickets because they spent a whole week with us. Yeah, and as we stated earlier, we get connected with our people. We were quite connected with them. At the end of the week we get to go to the fake festival and we get there three days early because of weather and all that. I don't know if you remember on the documentary it, monsoon rained the day before, so we had to get there before that storm cell was coming in.
Speaker 3:So we got there Wednesday. Everybody was coming in on Friday and being there Wednesday. We got to meet up with back with all the production people and they're like oh, erica, spence, ocean drive, come on, um, let us show you what we're doing and you can't see from the marina. It's just outside the gates of where they took everyone and it.
Speaker 1:This is that great, great exuma okay, um so the location changed In less than six months. They went from Norma's Key to Great Exuma, Great Exuma.
Speaker 3:And we were there because our boss and crew got tickets.
Speaker 3:And one of the packages for a guest is you can have a yacht as your accommodations for the week, and that always remained from the get-go. Okay, you pay this exorbitant amount for your ticket, you get a yacht and a crew for the week, and that always remained from the get-go. Okay, um, you pay this exorbitant amount for your ticket, you get a yacht and a crew for the week as well. Those people that paid for those tickets still got that week. That week still happened. The yachts just leaved and had a different itinerary. Wow, so they still got those accommodations.
Speaker 3:Um, our boss never came in because we got the boat out. We relocated it and carried on with our program. Yeah, um, but when we were there in the marina, you can't see over the hill what has gone down. So they load us all in the golf cart. They're like we can't wait to show you. They take us to the front gate and they're like, oh, this is, this is our crew, let us in. So we had no passes, nothing. We never physically got tickets, okay, like other people. Yeah, um, and then we crossed the hill in the golf cart and we see all the fema tents and the stage in the back and spence, and I look at each other and we're like oh no, because monsoon rain is coming tomorrow yeah, so the, the organizers literally are telling you you're going to be blown away when you see this, and yet you cross the hill and it's set up with FEMA techs and Port-A-Johns.
Speaker 3:When I reflect on the statements, I'm like were they saying we're going to be blown away because this is a mess, yeah, or look what we've done. I don't know.
Speaker 1:It almost sounds like an Emperor's New Clothes type of scenario where they're like, if they just keep telling you it's amazing, you're going to think it's amazing, that's exactly how Billy works and I didn't personally get to deal with him Spence did, thank God I didn't have to.
Speaker 3:I dealt with his assistant or his manager, grant, who was a very young guy. They just feed it to you. It's the like they try to use the power of coercion and mind bending and all that. They feed it, they feed it they stuff it down your throat. This is amazing. It's going to be amazing. You guys are if they say it enough, you'll believe it yeah yeah, and that's exactly how I guess it was for people that bought tickets. Social media, you know it was on their scroll, it kept popping up.
Speaker 3:The promotional video turned out very nice Well of course, because they had a beautiful week on our yacht. But I would have bought tickets if I wouldn't have known.
Speaker 1:If you didn't have a peek behind the curtain.
Speaker 3:Yes, and watching it. It was heartbreaking. We wanted this for the music industry. Yeah, we wanted this for the bahamas. There was so much to gain if it had been delivered or executed appropriately. Unfortunately, yeah.
Speaker 1:So for you guys, you're here and you can tell that it's not going to go well, it's not going well.
Speaker 3:Um, we see the fema tents. So it's not just the FEMA tents, it's everything inside. Everything was shipped in via Amazon. So the boxes that everything came in is in a mountain on two different ends of the property. The mattresses are ones that you get in the mail and they're all vacuum sealed and you let them go and they're on a cardboard pedestal and then there is like cardboard side tables in the FEMA tent to make it nice, you know oh my goodness um, but when that storm came through the next day, the FEMA tents are just tarps over frames.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was disaster, it was a mass cleanup situation. How can we make this worse situation better? After it just got dumped on by rain like flooded tents, tarp material all over the place, some tents didn't even have their turf material on it anymore and guests are coming tomorrow. Oh my goodness. And we're like I don't know how they're gonna pull this off, but we're gonna watch it. Go't know how they're going to pull this off, but we're going to watch it go down. So Thursday, you know at any point that we wanted to go into the grounds. We were allowed to. So we got in there before the first bus came and we did a walk around and went all the way to the stage, went to the food tents, saw the cheese sandwich and Spence and I look and we're like this is about to be really bad. There's no water, there's just alcohol.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3:And to distract. Have you ever seen the Junkanoo bands that the Bahamas do with their dress-up and the loud band that they always play?
Speaker 1:I've never seen one, but I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3:So they have that going near the stage, I guess, to kind of distract from what's happening, like flashbang. And then we see the first bus come in, and when I say bus, it's not a charter bus with the comfy seats and the tv, it's not even a fancy school bus with the tinted windows. It's like run down the bus that you get out of the junkyard to turn into an rv kind of situation, and they come in and they're all hanging first group of people, they're all hanging out the windows, and then then, in two spots of the property, they have these containers that they are emptying everybody's luggage out of. And, mind you, these people paid, like bare minimum, three grand, five grand for a ticket. So these luggages are not, you know, some random bag.
Speaker 3:It's Gucci, prada, tumi, people's DJ boards, film gear. You know people are. It's a music festival. People bring a lot of stuff to music festivals and they're just throwing it out of the back of the trailer into a pile and the pile is, like you know, really tall and I could have just been like yep that's my bag, oh, that turntable, yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 3:There was nobody there checking like driver's license and labels nothing, wow, referral. And then it just got worse.
Speaker 1:It was going to get ugly.
Speaker 2:Well, actually, vice versa, the boss at the time was fairly plugged in, young gentleman following the social media accounts and different things of that nature, and he called me about five or six in the morning. I said you got to get up and get out of there. This fire fest is a bust. And we had a few signs of that coming, but it wasn't really official, as, as eric and may have went to, you know, we were still hearing it. We're pushing ahead.
Speaker 2:And then the uh, infamous styrofoam container with the bread and cheese image came out. I think it was Good Morning America or something like that was breaking it. Oh wow, oh boy, it was over. And so we were basically concerned that some of these concert goers may have made the correlation between this vessel and maybe the owner of the concert and the production coordinator of the concert. Maybe they would come to the boat looking for food and water. I mean, we were talking about people that are now kind of needing basic necessities. Yeah, they forget the luxury stuff. They're looking for water and just some basic food and some shelter. Um, and so we tried to hide out of there right away.
Speaker 2:It's a very unique place to be in, down at emerald key not the easiest inlet to get in and out of, so we basically paraded all the yachts out of there and ran up to Staniel Key, dropped the hook and had our own little impromptu, little fun fest. It was an absolute disaster on all accounts and you guys may have touched on. The hardest hit was the working class people out there, the Bahamian people down at Great Exuma.
Speaker 2:And even up here in Staniel Key and in Norman's Key. You know one of our great adventure guides here, brad Boy and Wade Nixon. They also got suckered into it. They helped supply boats and different things and those are the people that really need it. You know, extra 20, 100 bucks can go a long way and when they're, when they're out there, gasoline of their boat or whatever it may be for the next day or so, that herd service. So it was, uh, it was really terrible. You know the fact that we got paid was, you know, a small pittance compared to but really the the grander scheme of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's definitely a very, very sad, yeah Kind of a Ponzi scheme, I guess Totally.
Speaker 3:And he's starting another one in the Caribbean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you guys are signing up for that, right, yeah, I thought we'd put our boat forward right away. Yeah, we're just going to donate Right Our time, forget the money we're just going to send it right down All right it.
Speaker 3:In fact.
Speaker 2:Boss if you're seeing this. We're headed down to Firefest.
Speaker 3:I think it was a great life experience. It's a fun story. I know there's lots of loss and sadness connected, even for us. Like I said, we wanted this so bad to be successful for the Bahamas. But on the bright side, maybe it's a blessing in disguise Because, like you said, this place is coveted, it's special and that would have just opened the door for everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sure, A little quieter for the rest of us. We really appreciate it. Yes, we sure do. Awesome. Well, hey guys, thank you for your time. This was fun. Thank you for an amazing week Again. Um, we, I mean this trip. If we don't think about it every day, we at least talk about it every week.
Speaker 3:Almost didn't happen.
Speaker 1:I know, I know that's a whole different conversation. So we really believe that Episode two yeah, I mean the fact that we're here is an absolute miracle. I mean it took so much to make it happen. But we do appreciate you.
Speaker 2:We are so happy but we do appreciate you. We are so happy, as we talked about the uniqueness of our lifestyle, things can change and ownership of a vessel can change and that can change really the whole deal, and I'm so happy we got to put that together in reading your book and in reading about your uncommon path and your leadership and all that. It really goes a long way for us and and you're one of- our people.
Speaker 3:That has taught us big conversations and great guidance and leadership. You're an excellent father, oh, excellent a great wife.
Speaker 2:Yes, so yeah, very, very lucky if there could be an example that we look for in clients, as you say, to pick things from. Those are things that we take from you and your group.
Speaker 1:Are is your very special bond to your family and and to be a part of it is just so special. That's cool, awesome, I think. I think we're just as fortunate. Well, hey guys, thanks for watching. I hope you're inspired, encouraged, and if people want to do a trip, what's the best way for?
Speaker 2:them to. Well, you can email captain spence. We'll put the link in there for you guys to come check us out. Our adventures are numerous and unknown in the future, but please come, follow us and our adventures. We'd love to send out a little blast. Let you know where you can find us on our next adventure yeah, I'll put that contact info in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Thanks for watching, guys, and have a great day. All right, friends, please subscribe to the podcast for more insights on blending entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial mindset with intentional living. You can follow us on social media. We are on Instagram, primarily, and Facebook, and you're going to find daily tips and inspiration from us there. You'll also find us on YouTube lots of shorts as well as our video podcast. And then please, if you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a five-star review and share us, and remember to subscribe on YouTube as well as whatever podcast platform you're listening to us on.