Mark and Cheri Petersen opened Underwater Solutions LLC in 2013 with their son-in-law. Located around the Iowa Great Lakes, they had noticed a change in aquatic vegetation and saw a need for removal even though it wasn’t recognized. They offer lake front weed removal, dive services, shoreline clean up, ice recovery for snowmobiles, Zebra Mussel scraping and dock side boat gas delivery.
Underwater Solutions LLC was started from the ground up. They created a new type of service for their region and pride themselves with promoting water quality and lake health through this. For the first two years they were only open weekends and starting in 2015 they opened up full time, and currently have three full-time and eight to ten part-time employees. They provide the community with quality seasonal jobs and they find joy in promoting water quality and lake health.
Mark and Cheri stated the most surprising and challenging part of opening their business was learning about the backside of the business: payroll, invoices, maintenance. They encourage other entrepreneurs to never be afraid to ask questions, find the resources you need to help and be prepared for long, long days when wanting to start your own business.
About working with the Western Iowa Tech SBDC, Mark said, “The SBDC was there for us when we needed to make the next step and grow our business. I had no idea the amount of knowledge and resources they have available. People need to reach out to the SBDC from a business idea all the way through an exit strategy!”
Visit: www.underwatersolutionsllc.com or on Facebook.