[CNBC] JP Mancini II has always been attracted to luxury. He just assumed the barrier of entry was too high.Then, last January, he decided to rent out his $400,000 boat. Upon listing the 37-foot boat, docked in Key West, Florida, on a rental platform called Boatsetter, he booked 11 trips in a month. The next month, that number doubled.
Sensing opportunity, the 32-year-old sales professional began listing his boat on other rental platforms like Get My Boat — and bought a second, smaller boat for rentals in Hampton, Virginia, where he lives. Today, Mancini’s two boats bring in an average of $38,800 in revenue per month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
That’s off only 30 minutes of work per day, spent managing bookings and making sure the boats’ captains — who are hired and paid by individual renters — are maintaining his watercrafts properly, Mancini says.
Over the past year, Mancini says he took home $190,000 after expenses from his boats — about $100,000 shy of what he made at the peak of his full-time sales career, but with far fewer hours worked. Instead of using the money to pay down the $550,000 in loans he took out to buy the boats, Mancini says he plans to funnel it toward more watercraft purchases and other real estate opportunities.
Here’s how Mancini used his sales experience to launch his "mostly passive" six-figure boat business, and what waters he plans to charter next.