Names of Companies: Crabbies Restaurant, Midway Marina and Motel
Name of Entrepreneur: Terry Miles
1. Tell us a little about yourself: I am from Maryland originally. I am retired military. I was a Diving Supervisor in the Navy. I married my wife who is an artist. She always wanted a marina so we built one and kept adding on to it (motel and restaurant). We have had the marina and motel 22 years now and the restaurant for eight years.
2. What made you want to open this business? I was a commercial fisherman for some time. She would go with me and kept reading magazines that gave her the idea to open a marina.
3. Did you have prior experience or knowledge of the industry? My grandfather owned Miles Seafood in Crisfield, Maryland which is the crab capital of Maryland. I grew up on the docks, around the seafood plant and have been on boats all of my life. I had a lot of knowledge of seafood too; particularly oysters and crabs.
4. How many employees do you have besides yourself? And how do you select the people that join your staff? I used to have 35 on staff but had to cut back to 11 people due to the economy. And that is not counting my wife or me. We really do not even get paid. We just do what we have to do to survive.
5. What do you like most about owning your own business? I mostly enjoy the compliments on the business; such as practices, cleanliness and good food. People will always tell you if it is not right.
6. What do you like the least about owning your own business? Long hours and no pay. Anyone owning their own business right now is not getting paid or it is very minute due to the economy. Plus we do not have benefits that you might get by working for someone else.
7. About how many hours do you work per day or week (on average)? Last year I averaged 96 hours per week and my wife, 70 hours per week. We cut back though and close for two days a week and only serve lunch on the weekends now.
8. Are there things that you would do or handle differently if given the chance? I would expand if the economy were not so bad. I had the business before the economy went south. Five years ago NC put a tax on diesel fuel. I went from selling 2 million gallons a year to just 61,000 gallons now. That is not even five percent of what we were selling! My grandfather warned me years ago that stocks would destroy this country and NC’s sales tax on fuel is starting to prove him right.
9. Do you have any advice that you would like to offer to potential entrepreneurs? Anyone who wants to do it (open a business), you have to be able to take a beating. And, especially in today’s day and age you need to have capital behind you.
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