Business

Kamil Sattar Levels the Playing Field

Published

3 years ago

September 12, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused rippling shifts in the global economy. With constant disruptions in international supply and demand, the retail industry has been hit particularly hard. Large retail companies have had to take drastic measures, pulling from their deep pockets to mitigate the damage. Many smaller firms, without the necessary emergency reserves, have had no choice but to exit the market entirely.

While disruptions have hit all aspects of the retail industry, the impact has been largely asymmetric. Online stores are faring significantly better than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Despite pandemic-borne challenges, such as supply chain issues and changes in regulations and customer habits, e-commerce firms have proved to be inherently more able to adapt due to their independence from a physical staff and concrete locations. In addition, community quarantine and social distancing measures have brought much of the typical retail activity online. As a result, the pandemic has served to demonstrate the capabilities of e-commerce as well as catalyze its growth into an increasingly significant aspect of the retail industry.

Among the various business models available, drop-shipping is one that fully demonstrates and capitalizes on the potential advantages of e-commerce. Drop-shipping allows a retailer to do business without physical contact with customers or suppliers. Instead, a drop-shipper serves to connect interested customers with the relevant manufacturers or wholesalers. In this manner, drop-shippers serve to take on both retailing and marketing functions. Through this added value, drop-shippers are able to negotiate profit margins depending on their proficiency in moving a supplier’s products. Drop-shipping is also unique in that it has very few barriers to entry, with little need to hold physical stock. These advantages have led to a continuing surge in the drop-shipping industry despite the challenges of the pandemic.

British entrepreneur Kamil Sattar is proof of the potential to be found in drop-shipping. When Kamil was only twenty years old, his companies were already earning a combined revenue of $3,000,000 a year. Aside from his staggering personal financial success, Kamil has also mentored aspiring entrepreneurs in drop-shipping, many of whom have moved on to create their own stores amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the face of these achievements, Kamil wants the latter–helping others achieve their entrepreneurial goals through dropshipping–to be his lasting legacy.

Kamil himself lives in a sort of Spartan austerity, with little taste for personal luxury. Kamil’s primary motivation was and continues to be his family. Seeing his poor immigrant parents struggle financially gave Kamil the spark to do more and to provide for his family a secure and consistent stream of income. Despite his success, Kamil maintains his humble aspirations, aiming primarily to secure a future for himself, his parents, and his future family. Kamil aims to secure his financial future to be able to retire by age 40, dedicating the rest of his time to quality moments with his family.

Kamil’s rough upbringing and the struggles of his parents were the main drivers toward achieving his dreams of financial success. These also drove his desire to in turn help others in achieving a similar level of accomplishment. Kamil wants aspiring entrepreneurs to be offered the same opportunities that helped him reach where he is today. Those with the right entrepreneurial mindset, Kamil believes, would be able to take advantage of these opportunities and reach their own goals.

To achieve his dreams of granting equal opportunity to aspiring businessmen, Kamil offers himself for seminars, interviews, and public speaking events on top of his mentoring business. During the pandemic, Kamil also documented his extensive knowledge in drop-shipping to create mentoring courses, which he released free of charge. Kamil aims to create and release more of these courses annually in order to help those who cannot afford paid courses.

If you want to learn more about Kamil’s story, you can follow him on his Instagram, @kamilsattarofficial. Kamil may be booked for mentorships, seminars, interviews, and public speaking events on his website at kamilsattar.com.

Business

SamBoat Makes Waves in the US

Published

11 hours ago

May 24, 2023

Rosario Farell

The sharing economy’s massive popularity has led to the creation of blockbuster companies like Airbnb, VRBO, eBay, Uber, and Lyft, to name just a few. According to a report by Proficient Market Insights, the size of the sharing economy was $113 billion in 2021 and is predicted to reach $600 billion by 2027.

One of the newest companies to enter this space, SamBoat, now enables the owners of sailboats and motorboats to offer their vessels for rent. Because yachts are expensive to buyand maintain — in many cases, more expensive than purchasing and maintaining a home — yacht owners can offset some of their costs by listing their craft on the platform.

Those who may not be able to afford their own boat can still experience life on the water, however. No knowledge of boating is required, as many charters include the possibility of hiring a skipper.

The inspiration for SamBoat

When young French entrepreneurs Laurent Calando and Nicolas Cargou met, a friendship, as well as a new venture, was born. Cargou was an avid Airbnb user, and Calando had grown up sailing with his family. Throughout the course of their conversation, they realized that the sharing economy covered a lot of bases, but it didn’t include boating, which they were both passionate about.

The pair sensed an opportunity, which quickly led to action. In April 2014, they officially launched SamBoat in the Bordeaux region of France.

“SamBoat’s marketplace exploded in Europe over the next few years,” explains Robert Harrington, SamBoat’s US Country Manager. The company offers yachts throughout the Mediterranean, Aegean, and other popular travel destinations.

As evidence of the popularity of the boat-sharing model, SamBoat grew by over 70 percent in 2022. Since its founding, the company has enabled more than a million people to take to the seas. Now, the platform is rapidly expanding its listings throughout the US.

Where SamBoat operates in the US

SamBoat has already — albeit indirectly — served its American customers for quite some time, as American vacationers have often rented boats in Greece, France, Italy, or Spain through its platform. But now, the company is beginning to serve Americans on the other side of the Atlantic, right here at home.

SamBoat rentals are currently available in many American ports. The marketplace currently offers hundreds of boats just in the state of Florida, where the fleet extends up the Keys to West Palm Beach, and throughout the west coast, including Tampa, Clearwater, Naples, and Ft. Myers. SamBoat also has many boats in Chicago and Seattle, as well as throughout New England.

In the near future, the company will expand its offerings in San Diego and Los Angeles. SamBoat also plans to open in Lake Tahoe, Lake of the Ozarks, Lake Havasu, and Lake Champlain by mid-summer 2023. It also aims to have fleets available in Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket by the same time.

“Our goal is to offer thousands of boats to rent throughout the United States by the end of the year,” Harrington says.

How SamBoat expands

SamBoat operates anywhere boat owners choose to list their craft for rent. “Just because the marketplace might not already have a whole regatta in a given port doesn’t mean it can’t or doesn’t operate there,” Harrington says. “Listings grow organically, cropping up wherever opportunity calls boat owners to take advantage of existing demand.”

For instance, while SamBoat only officially launched in the United States this past year, the platform was open to US-based boat owners and renters last year. From January 2022 compared to January 2023, the platform experienced a 500% increase in US-based business.

This means that, if you own a boat, you can bring SamBoat to your home port. All you have to do is go to SamBoat’s website, follow a few simple steps, upload photos of your boat along with its relevant details, and respond to rental inquiries.

“Now is the right time for boat owners to get in early and beat the rush,” Harrington says.

The secret to SamBoat’s success

American consumers have responded enthusiastically to SamBoat’s arrival for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the platform offers the very same boats as other companies, yet their prices are on average 10 percent cheaper.

The reason for this is simple: unlike most other yacht and boat rental services, SamBoat doesn’t charge its customers inflated “junk” fees.

In addition, SamBoat makes renting a yacht simple and easy. Generally speaking, other boat-sharing websites outsource customer service to the owners of the listed yachts. They will only answer the phone or attend to you if you are booking something of a high dollar amount, while the average boat rental costs under $1,000. This can lead to a very frustrating process for someone who has questions but can’t seem to get a response from a boat’s owner.

At SamBoat, however, a real human being answers every inquiry. “Sometimes, that person is me,” Harrington says. This makes it much easier for people to rent the perfect boat that will meet their individual needs.

SamBoat fulfills a long-awaited need for sailing and boating enthusiasts worldwide. With the arrival of SamBoat in the US, it’s an even more exciting time for Americans to participate in the sharing economy.