After completing the Propeller Dynamics Advance Propeller Course in May 1999 he returned to the East Coast of the United States, where he spent a couple of weeks at WildCat Propellers to get  more propeller repair experience. 

Next he packed his belongings and left for San Diego. Propeller Solutions opened its doors in October that same year. Prop Scan was at this stage well established on the East Coast of the USA but on the West Coast a lot of work had to be done to convince  boat owners that it was worth paying more for your propeller to be repaired the Prop Scan way.

One of Marks initial marketing methods was to point out that his Electronic Propeller Inspection System was more than making up for his lack of experience as it enabled him to repair propellers very high levels of accuracy. In February 2000 his opposition bought a Prop Scan Copy. Now they had both experience and Electronic Propeller Inspection Equipment and Mark felt his advantage had been lost.

However time proved the advantage remained and, one year on he can hardly believe how busy he is. This "inexperienced" Prop Scan Technician is resolving problems in propeller made by some of the most experienced traditional propeller manufactures in both the USA and Canada, much to the delight of the boat owners he is serving. Propeller Solutions is on track for further expansion.

Mark Shotton worked for an air-conditioning company before this and had no propeller experience.