YOUNG DISRUPTOR
Phoenix: Rising from the Ashes
Timothy Wakefield, CEO, Dead Calm Seas Marine Services
Tito Ramirez Rivas has been quoted as saying, "It's another world, what the sea gives us. It's a paradise." This vision of “Paradise” drove Mr. Wakefield to continue to build his company, the Dead Calm Seas Marine Services (DCS), during the COVID pandemic. In the past 3 years, he has leveraged his military experience to create one of the industry’s safest and most reliable ecosystems for divers in the marine construction field. At 31 years old, Mr. Wakefield has experienced more grief than most HUBZone owners -- having friends departing this world too early, either by suicide or deployments. Thus, he is on a quest to live up to his potential by running a HUBZone business that matters.
Much like the mythical phoenix, which rises from the ashes of its dead predecessor, DCS is the true story of a HUBZone business being birthed from the ashes, bringing hope to this Trailblazer. In 2019, Mr. Wakefield’s good friend became one of the many fatalities that occur each year in the commercial diving industry. This Trailblazer personally gave his friend CPR as the DMT (Diving Medical Technician) for close to 2 hours, doing everything possible, until his friend was pronounced dead at the hospital. Grieving the loss of his friend as well as an employer who would rather not take responsibility for the tragedy, Mr. Wakefield was left with just ashes. At this point, he decided that he would rise from the ashes and launch DCS. He was lucky enough to have a group of guys that believed in him and came with him on this journey. Mr. Wakefield said, “I didn't have a family to support and had some money to initially bankroll DCS.” It took DCS almost a full year before it made any money, with resources dwindling to nothing. But then they began to rise, and by the end of the first year, DCS had made almost $2M.
Swimming: Where You Are
Ignorance is not bliss. Mr. Wakefield stumbled upon information about the HUBZone Program at a Veteran’s conference in Florida. To his amazement, DCS was in a HUBZone with the necessary 35% employment, but completely unaware of the advantages a HUBZone certification could offer. He Photo Source: DCS
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believes that encounter and subsequent certification have opened doors for subcontracting and priming with the federal government. The message he gives businesses in his community is “to get HUBZone certified, you don’t have to be able to dive like DCS, you can swim with the big fish right where you are.”