Keeping yourself mobile and manageable is a philosophy which has served Kareem Johnson well during his time in business.

For Mr. Johnson, who became one of the youngest Bermudian small business owners at the age of 23 when he started KJ Marine Solutions, has been able to get to just about every job, no matter how big or small, or whether in the dock or on dry land, while intentionally keeping his company small to keep costs such as overheads and administration down.

His business has been covering the whole of the Island for three years now and there are plans to expand it even further in the future.

Mr. Johnson, now 26, first became interested in the marine services industry as a youngster when he discovered his neighbour's racing boat and from there he got a summer job with Johnson's Marine based in Pembroke, became certified and was taken on full-time, before starting out on his own.

"It was initially purely summer work and it basically progressed from scraping barnacles off the bottom of boats to services and getting certified and being a fully fledged mechanic," he said.

"From the initial summer job to when I left was about 13 years."

He approached Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation, where he learned what he needed to do to set up his own company, including drawing up a business plan, which was approved and signed off. "I then got the loan and got my truck and it was all a natural progression," he said. Mr. Johnson, who is from Hamilton Parish, admitted it was not as easy to start out on his own venture than many people who dream of being their own boss would imagine.

"In school, obviously the ultimate goal is owning your own business, but it is not always that practical — you have to have lots of experience," he said.

"It just sort of ended up suiting me though, because I shattered my knee about four years ago and it was the only way I could actually work and make money and still be able to do all of the physiotherapy work I needed to do, so it was out of necessity that I ran my own business.

"I had physio three or four times a week and to continue to have worked while being employed by someone and not being able to put in four full days wouldn't have been possible."

Since he has been in business, he has taken things one step at a time, taking on another fully certified Bermudian member of staff and is looking to possibly employ another, as well as acquiring a truck.

Currently the company works on a range of equipment from inboard engines, outboard engines, stern drives and diesel engines to electrical, mechanical, high-performance tuning and jetskis, including repairing lights and bilge pumps to installing engines and electrics, with the focus being on staying mobile.

"My truck is set up to do pretty much everything mobile in the dock or on dry land," he said. "That is what my business model was set up on — to be mobile and to keep overheads down, without having a fixed office, knowing what Bermuda's real estate market is like for business properties. But who's to say that five years down the road that business model may change?

"I have a pretty good relationship with most boatyards on the island where we can use them to put customers boats in and we have a very large customer base and can do their jobs in local yards which are used for storage."

Despite all the competition out there, Mr. Johnson believes the rival companies make the effort to get on as they are all working to the same end.

"There is quite a bit of call in the industry for this type of work, but it is definitely by no means a cut-throat industry — it is more the case that everyone has a pretty good working relationship together because we know that there is more than enough business out there on the Island and we know that it is an extremely short season between April and September, so we know we have to work as much as we can between those months," he said.

And he said the biggest challenge in the industry at the moment is dealing with the costs and time of administration.

"It takes up a lot of time and it costs a lot of money," he said.

"Many days I sit at my desk for most of the morning doing paperwork along with having to have an accountant in the office a couple of days a week to do the books — that is probably the most difficult thing, not being from a business background myself.

"I tell my technician that if they want to work on boats they should continue to work under someone and if they want to do all of the other stuff like administration, then, by all means, start your own business.

"Being your own boss is definitely not just about fixing boats — I don't get to touch as many engines now as I would like to because I have to do all the admin stuff and if you don't do the admin nobody gets paid."

Mr. Johnson, who gets most of his business by word of mouth, the Yellow Pages and an informative website which allows you to request your service specifications, claims to have seen a lot of changes since he first started out in the marine services sector, mainly in technological advances.

"I would say that one of the biggest changes world-wide in the industry is the new emissions standards have all changed and your old-fashioned motor that anyone could work on is no longer the case," he said.

"Everything is very technical now — you have to have the correct software for the engines and electrics and that makes is expensive — when anything goes wrong it does, ultimately, cost you a lot of money.

"Locally the number of boats has increased around the Island and the season used to be very short, but with all the boats around that has definitely extended the season."

He also works on powerboats and serviced a three-time winner of the Round the Island race, as well as various yachts competing in the Newport-Bermuda and Marion-Bermuda races.

In his spare time he likes to compete in go-kart racing in Southside.

His message to any budding young marine technicians or entrepreneurs out there looking to get into the boating industry is to get qualified and that experience counts for everything.

"I would say, get certified, go to school and get the right education — unfortunately in this business you are going to have to work for someone initially, it is definitely not the industry where you can just come out of school and start your own business straight away," he said.