Niko Tomc is the vice president of Jupiter, Florida’s Poseidon Logistics, Inc., a position he has held since 2021. The role represents an extension of his work as the president and chief executive officer of Poseidon Agencies/Poseidon Shipping and Trading Company. In this role, he manages the sale, operation, and chartering of heavy-lift and project vessels around the world. Niko Alexander Tomc balances his activities at Poseidon with leadership and partner roles at companies such as Red Star and The Number 3, LLC, 960 A1A, LLC, and Guanabanas Restaurant.
Niko Tomc began his career as a South Florida sales representative for S&K Air Power. He subsequently worked in various sales positions, including NVOCC sales representative, and later sales representative II and 807 specialist for Tropical Shipping in Miami.
Niko Alexander Tomc was a National Honor Society scholar and member of both the National Scholastic Surfing Association and student government at Jupiter High School. He subsequently completed an English literature program at Florida State University while working full-time and volunteering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tallahassee.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
If I am at home (Jupiter, Florida), I set my alarm for 5:45 am and return overnight emails while I drink my coffee. I have customers in Europe, so I normally wake up to about 100 or so emails. My twins are seniors in high school, so the weeks that I am in town, I like to make them breakfast and send them off in the morning. After they leave, I normally go for a 4- to 6-mile run/walk at around 7:00 am, and I try to hit the gym two to three days per week as well. I try to return calls and talk to customers/vendors during this time. I normally roll into the office around 10:00 am and work until noon. Lunch with friends or clients, then back to the office from 2:00 to 4:00 or so. I normally cook at home with the family Monday through Wednesday and dinners out Thursday through Sunday. I spend a week every month in Shady Grove, Pennsylvania, where I have an office onsite at the Manitowoc Cranes factory. I normally stay in Hagerstown, Maryland, and set my alarm for 6:00 am and return overnight emails while I drink my coffee. 7:00 run/walk. Pretty much the same routine as home, but since I stay in a hotel, I mostly do dinners with customers or coworkers every night.
How do you bring ideas to life?
When I come up with an idea, the first thing I do is brainstorm. I set my alarm for an hour before I would normally get up and sit in front of a computer and start a Word document and just write down ideas related to my big idea. Then I work on organizing the bullet points and come up with a timeline. I reach out to anyone and everyone that might be able to teach me something about the idea. Then it comes down to action. Diving into it and making it happen.
What’s one trend that excites you?
One trend that genuinely excites me is the rise of small, highly specialized AI tools—not giant general models, but focused assistants designed to do one thing extremely well (like drafting legal briefs, designing floor plans, or analysing medical imagery).
• They are faster and cheaper than big models.
• Accuracy goes way up when a tool is tailored for a specific domain.
• People without technical backgrounds can suddenly do advanced tasks with pro-level quality.
• It shifts AI from being a “general helper” to becoming a whole ecosystem of expert assistants.
It feels a lot like the early days of smartphone apps—general-purpose at first, then rapidly diversifying into thousands of niche superpowers.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
One habit that keeps me productive is starting each day by identifying my top three priorities. I write them down and structure my schedule around completing them. It helps me stay focused on what actually moves the needle instead of getting lost in busy work.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would advise young Nick to minor in business. Or at least take some accounting classes in college. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up, so when I had to declare a major at FSU, I chose English because it was easy. The English major served me well in the field of sales—in fact, I still consider myself a salesman first and foremost—but as a business owner, I rely much too heavily on my accountants.
Tell us something you believe that almost nobody agrees with you on.
I believe that most modern blockbuster movies are vastly inferior to films from the 1970s-1990s in storytelling depth, character development, practical effects, and risk-taking due to franchise formulas, CGI overreliance, and corporate caution.
Today’s hits prioritize spectacle and IP safety over originality or emotional resonance. Even “prestige” cinema often feels hollow.
Almost everyone defends current cinema as “just different” or superior technically, but I think we’re in a creative nadir, and few admit it.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
One thing I repeatedly do—and strongly recommend everyone else do—is prioritize deliberate daily learning. I dedicate at least an hour each day to reading books, research papers, or deep dives into new topics.
This builds compounding knowledge, sharpens critical thinking, and opens unexpected opportunities. In a fast-changing world, continuous curiosity is the ultimate competitive advantage.
One thing I repeatedly do—and strongly recommend everyone else do—is prioritize deliberate daily learning. I dedicate at least an hour each day to reading books, research papers, or deep dives into new topics.
This builds compounding knowledge, sharpens critical thinking, and opens unexpected opportunities. In a fast-changing world, continuous curiosity is the ultimate competitive advantage.
Figures like Warren Buffett and Elon Musk attribute much of their success to voracious reading and lifelong learning. It’s simple, free, and transformative.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
When I feel overwhelmed or unfocused, I pause, take three deep breaths, and quickly list my current tasks on paper. I then identify the single most important one, break it into a tiny first step, and commit to just 10 minutes on it.
This clears mental clutter, creates momentum, and restores focus. I’ve found that action—even small—beats overthinking every time. Once momentum builds, the rest follows naturally.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
One key strategy that’s driven my career growth consistently is seeking feedback and acting on it. Early on, I made it a habit to ask mentors, peers, and even clients for honest input after projects. Instead of defending, I would analyze it objectively and implement changes quickly. This accelerated my skills, built stronger relationships, and opened unexpected opportunities—like promotions and referrals. It’s a bit uncomfortable at first, but turning feedback into fuel for improving creates compounding progress over time.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
I started a company (Quetzal Carga) to move personal effects from Jupiter, Florida, to Guatemala. We have a large Guatemalan community of migrant workers in Jupiter, and I wanted to offer a way for them to send clothes, small electronics, dry goods, etc. to their families and friends living in Guatemala. We rented a warehouse, hired a couple employees, ordered these cardboard 55-gallon drums. An entire trailer full of them. The idea was to move everything they could fit into the barrel for a set price. Once we had enough barrels to fill a 40-foot shipping container, we would send the container down, and we hired an agent in Guatemala to handle the deliveries from the customs warehouse in Guatemala City to the small towns. The concept never took off. It turned out that they preferred to wire money to their families then send them products. We sent the few packages that we did collect down to Guatemala at a loss, paid all of our debts, and moved on. From that experience, I learned to do more market research before starting my next venture.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
If anyone out there has contacts in the logistics department at Amazon.com, they should charter a couple containerships and start their own steamship line.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
One piece of software that massively boosts my productivity is Notion. It serves as my all-in-one workspace: notes, task management, databases, wikis, and project tracking in a single, customizable tool. The flexibility to build interconnected pages eliminates app-switching, while templates and quick search keep everything accessible. It scales from personal to-do lists to team collaboration without friction. Since adopting it, I’ve saved hours weekly on organization and focus better on high-impact work.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I have a policy at my company in Pennsylvania: if I get an unsolicited email from an employee at the crane factory we work for (we are an onsite third-party logistics company for a major US crane manufacturer) about one of our employees, I hand that employee a $100 bill the next time I’m in town. On my last visit to Pennsylvania, I handed out $100 bills to five separate employees. It’s amazing how much a simple gesture like that motivates your employees and builds loyalty.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” an ancient Chinese treatise on military strategy, is my favorite book as it relates to my businesses.
It emphasizes thorough planning, self-knowledge, and understanding competitors (“Know yourself and your enemy”) to achieve victory with minimal conflict.
Key lessons include deception for advantage, adaptability to market changes, winning without direct confrontation (e.g. through innovationor alliances), and efficient resource use.
These insights promote strategic foresight, leadership, and outmaneuvering rivals, helping businesses gain competitive edges sustainably.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I loved the documentary “Sour Grapes” for its gripping true-crime storytelling about Rudy Kurniawan, a charming con artist who flooded the elite wine market with millions in counterfeit rarities by refilling old bottles and forging labels. It’s stranger-than-fiction: an unassuming young man bamboozling billionaires and auction houses in a world of excess, status, and blind trust. The best part for me were all the so-called “experts” falling for these fakes, swearing up and down that their bottles had to be real.
Key learnings
- Routines and task prioritization are key tools for productivity.
- Make deliberate daily learning a priority—continuous curiosity is the ultimate competitive advantage in a rapidly-changing world.
- Seeking feedback and expert advice, along with conducting market research, are critical in both idea refinement and execution and professional growth and advancement.
- If you’re undecided about your career path while in college, consider minoring in business or taking a few accounting classes.