{"id":1261,"date":"2011-11-29T12:36:21","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T17:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2016-10-12T08:28:34","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T13:28:34","slug":"success-in-sails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/2011\/11\/success-in-sails\/","title":{"rendered":"Success In Sails"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The sounds of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young serenade excursion customers as they step aboard The Cat, Jim Trilling\u2019s pearl white catamaran. Like entering the living room of a palatial home at sea, guests hand their shoes to Trilling\u2019s crew. That\u2019s so The Cat\u2019s deck stays spotlessly clean.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to read Trilling\u2019s eyes behind his ever-present sunglasses. What\u2019s not hard to read is the smile that creases this Boston native\u2019s face as he surveys the length of his 54-foot home away from home. As long as guests are having a good time and The Cat is running seamlessly across the Caribbean Sea, life is good for the 64-year-old Trilling.<\/p>\n<p>Two years removed from receiving a kidney transplant, Trilling lets his crew take charge. On this day, Trilling\u2019s job is to make sure his paying guests feel special and relaxed. On today\u2019s six-hour snorkeling excursion to St. John, the goal is to ensure pleasant vacation memories and vivid testimonials.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jim\u2019s big adventure<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 1980, Trilling departed from Boston on what he calls \u201ca world adventure.\u201d After spending five years building his boat by hand, Trilling\u2019s goal was to sail around the world. Four days after embarking on his trip, Trilling and his crew encountered the \u201cperfect storm.\u201d Trilling\u2019s 32-foot Westsail limped into the safe harbor of Hamilton, Bermuda, battered but not beaten.<\/p>\n<p>After a two-month detour rebuilding the boat dubbed \u201cWindsong,\u201d sails were set for the next leg of Trilling\u2019s adventure. Upon arriving in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Trilling\u2019s life would reach a turning point. He concocted the idea of offering six-passenger sailing and snorkeling adventures to the handful of cruise ships that docked in the island\u2019s Charlotte Amalie Harbour. With a business belief that \u201cthe worst thing they could say is no,\u201d the former Brookline High School grad began knocking on doors of ship operators.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Three weeks to \u201cyes\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cI called on cruise ships for about three weeks. Eventually, the cruise director from Costa Cruise Lines agreed to offer my excursion, the \u201cWindsong Sailing &amp; Snorkeling Adventure,\u201d to his passengers. Looking back, I guess this was my business break,\u201d Trilling recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my first customers was a news reporter from WGN television in Chicago,\u201d Trilling said. \u201cI took his group on a sailing and snorkeling adventure on my original 32-foot boat. At the time, this type of excursion was unheard of. The reporter gave a great testimonial about his trip to the cruise line. He also talked about his excursion on the air when he got back to Chicago. Costa Cruise Lines began to regularly book through me from this point on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>A win-win relationship<\/strong><br \/>\nThree decades after his initial success in the boating adventure business, Trilling is firmly entrenched as an entrepreneur and resident of St. Thomas. Today, The Cat, and a second boat named Castaway Cat, are the centerpieces to Fun Water Tours. Trilling built and paid for these twin catamaran purchases in 2010 by continuing to knock on doors. His sales diligence has evolved into relationships that include four of the major players in St. Thomas commerce. Trilling believes these business relationships are the cornerstones for his enduring success.<\/p>\n<p>The Princess, Norwegian and Costa Cruise Lines regularly work with Trilling\u2019s company. The cruise lines see The Cat and The Castaway Cat as a way to deliver intimate island experiences for their customers. Trilling sees his relationship with the cruise lines as mutually beneficial. \u201cThey depend on us to create memories for their passengers, and we depend on them to pay our bills,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The fourth major spoke in Trilling\u2019s business wheel is the Marriott Frenchman\u2019s Reef Resort, located on a bluff directly above the spot where Trilling docks his boat and picks up customers each day. \u201cThis beautiful hotel is a 37-year-old landmark and one of the most famous places on the island,\u201d Trilling said. \u201cThe cruise lines and the Marriott are the reasons I could build The Cats. I\u2019m very grateful to have these relationships. I believe the cruise lines and the Marriott feel positive about the job we do. After an excursion, we return their customers feeling happy and satisfied. It\u2019s a win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>True blue crew<\/strong><br \/>\nTrilling\u2019s business philosophy regarding mutual dependence extends to the feelings and rapport he has with his employees. This devotion came in handy two years ago when Trilling\u2019s health almost capsized from end-stage kidney disease.<\/p>\n<p>In 2009, Trilling headed back to Boston to undergo dialysis and ultimately receive a new kidney donated by a friend. His crew took over the keys to his boats and his business. \u201cMy job is to secure new business, write up contracts and pay the bills,\u201d Trilling said. \u201cMy crew runs the business. They definitely did that when I got sick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The loyalty of The Cat crew runs deep. \u201cI\u2019ve got employees who always show up and rarely call in sick,\u201d Trilling said. \u201cI\u2019m a lucky guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s interesting is the hiring isn\u2019t performed by Trilling. He delegates this responsibility to his captain, Joe Morgan. The Denver native has worked for Trilling since he arrived on St. Thomas five years ago. Yes, on an island that is one of the rum capitals of the world, guests can tell friends they were on a boat navigated by Captain Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>The other key member of The Cat\u2019s team is Becca Lee, a 28-year-old native of Dallas. Lee, The Cat\u2019s snorkeling director and resident chef, showed up in St. Thomas with only the promise of space on a friend\u2019s couch. Lee revealed that networking and finding a job in St. Thomas is done the old-fashioned way: in a bar. \u201cI met Joe Morgan at a bar here called the Rum Shack,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI explained that I had no experience working on a boat. Joe said this business is more about personality and a good work ethic. He said I\u2019d get trained to learn the boat business. That was four-and-a half years ago,\u201d she continued with a smile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s entertainment<\/strong><br \/>\nTrilling offers a different slant on what business he\u2019s in. He believes The Cat and its crew are in the entertainment business. The truth is that life on The Cat isn\u2019t just fun and games. The goal is to keep the Fun Water Tours business buoyant. This often means booking and running up to three excursions per day. So if an evening sunset cruise is on the calendar, the crew arrives home after dark feeling satisfied, yet spent.<\/p>\n<p>The luxurious Cat is Trilling\u2019s reward for surviving his kidney replacement procedure. \u201cThe Cat is the last item on my bucket list,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was on dialysis and working up to receiving my transplant, I decided money doesn\u2019t belong to you until you spend it.\u201d One doesn\u2019t need to see Trilling\u2019s eyes behind the sunglasses to see that he was beaming from this confession.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Living the dream<\/strong><br \/>\nThe story behind how a boat got its name can be revealing. The Cat\u2019s moniker awakened Trilling in the middle of the night. \u201cI woke up one night and the name came to me like it was out of a dream,\u201d he said. \u201cHere in St. Thomas, at least half the new customers will say they want to go on a cat, rather than a catamaran. I figured that for those customers who weren\u2019t sure which boat they wanted to go on, I would have them covered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than 30 years since departing on his \u201cworld adventure,\u201d Trilling is still living the dream. It\u2019s amazing the business you can build, the people you can meet and the life you can experience if you just knock on a few doors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The sounds of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young serenade excursion customers as they step aboard The Cat, Jim Trilling\u2019s pearl white catamaran. Like entering the living room of a palatial home at sea, guests hand <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/2011\/11\/success-in-sails\/\" title=\"Success In Sails\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3677,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/3677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanbusinessmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}