Having been around the Kansas City boat parts and repair business for 30 years, the folks at US Boatworks have learned, sometimes the hard way, that business isn’t all success all the time. Sometimes, a business leader has to recognize a new opportunity, a sea change, and take the reigns to lead the company into the future. That’s exactly what Mike Tracy, the owner of US Boatworks, has done with his company.

Early on, Mike recognized the influence that the Internet would have for businesses like his, which offers specialty and hard to find parts for marine engines. “I saw what was happening, the way people were connecting online and finding all these kind of esoteric niches and I had a kind of ‘aha’ moment. ‘We are an esoteric niche!’ I said. Well, maybe not in those exact words.”

US Boatworks launched an online parts store and never looked back. “We were able to connect with people all across the United States who were looking for these hard to find parts for their old boat motors,” says Mike, “And we feel like we get to show off our stock, like we get to say ‘Yeah, we have that part’ and hear someone’s jaw drop on the other end, someone who’s been searching high and low for this impossible part. So it’s a two way street, it’s beneficial to both parties.”

US Boatworks’ online store has been a success, with a recent revamping providing an even more technologically savvy tool: the ability to purchase a part just by clicking around a digital image of the motor you’re working with. US Boatworks has also been active in the social media world, with a Twitter feed and a Facebook page featuring boating safety tips, online only promotions, and other exclusives.

The combination of being at the forefront of new developments in technology and their years of proven reliability and expertise has proven a good one for Mike Tracy and US Boatworks. “The important thing is that the technology serves as a conduit for the real human connection. And that’s what we strive for,” says Mike.