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Business: Pure Naples and Marine Team
Generations: Father Lance Julian and son Harry Julian
Succession Plan: Here's the thing that keeps the father-and-son team of Lance and Harry Julian together: They're having fun.
After all, how could they not? The father-and-son team just finished coordinating the water stunts for the latest Superman movie coming out in June. They've worked on other stunning films, including “Titanic.”
“The first and most important thing is we enjoy what we do,” says Lance Julian, 65. “I look forward to dropping off the kids at school,” laughs son Harry Julian, 38.
They're chatting like old buddies inside a tiny cramped office along the Naples waterfront. Besides Marine Team, the movie-stunt business, they have another company together called Pure Naples where they rent boats, Jet Skis and take tourists on fishing and dolphin cruises.
The movie-stunt business is glamorous, but the revenue is inconsistent. The Julians have to spend months on the road, and the future of stunt production is uncertain because of advances in computerized special effects.
So in 2009, the Julians settled in Naples and acquired Cruise Naples, which offered sightseeing and fishing charters from the docks of Tin City near downtown. The Julians expanded the business to include rental boats, Jet Skis and a thrill-ride fast boat. They rebranded it as Pure Naples.
When they acquired Cruise Naples, the company had three boats, nine employees and $1.3 million in annual revenues. In 2012, the company had 18 boats, 25 employees and $3.2 million in revenues. “We've got so much stuff going on outside this office,” says Harry Julian. Adds father Lance: “You can't stand still or you'll go backwards.”
Managing these two businesses and growing them is no easy task, but the Julians say their success so far has to do with mutual understanding. “Part of that is having respect for each other,” says Lance Julian, who acknowledges that he's had to learn to delegate more over time. “Communication is key,” he says.
Another key to their success is involving their spouses in the business. “In my earlier working life I didn't involve my wife,” says Lance Julian.
In fact, Harry Julian met his wife, Libby, on a movie-production set. Libby is a Naples native, and that's the reason Harry and Lance settled here after living in New Zealand and Hawaii.
But involving the spouses with important administrative tasks such as payroll and accounting has been especially crucial when the family is involved in movie-stunt production because of the long separation that would otherwise occur. “The logistics are massive,” says Lance Julian, whose crews can number as many as 100 with a $10 million budget.
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