LIQUID ASSETS: A FISHY INVESTMENT

Sometimes, when you dream of being your own boss, you do strange things – like quitting a secure teaching job and starting a fish management business.

At least, that’s what Mark Palmer and Scott Potter did last year. They both quit their jobs as history and biology teachers in Richardson and started Top Cat Farms Lake Management Service. The two men, 32 and 28 years old respectively, were coaching high school football together when they decided that teaching wasn’t for them. They wanted to be their own bosses and they wanted to make more money. Palmer has a business background, and Potter has a biology background, so they pooled their resources and came up with the idea of a fish management and aquatic weed control service. They had $ 1,000 and the idea.

Palmer and Potter quit their jobs in October 1981, but the phone at their new business didn’t ring for a while. Still, they didn’t give up -they knew their lake management service was the only one in this part of the state; and representatives from Texas A&M University had convinced them that there was a demand for their services in the area. (The only similar operation is near Houston.)

Their patience paid off. Last summer, business really picked up. Palmer and Potter now manage lakes for private individuals who live in Dallas but who own waterfront property outside the city. They control algae and other aquatic growths and, if their clients desire, stock and maintain the fish population.

They also keep up the lakes in several real estate developments such as Willow Bend and Prestonwood West. Their biggest corporate assignment so far is Las Colinas, which has 200 acres of water.

Now they’ve begun work for private individuals on public lakes, with the recent go-ahead from the Texas Department of Health and the Tarrant County Water Board. Though they declined to disclose their profits, Palmer says, “Let’s just say it’s better than teaching.”