Career Change

[GADJIT]

Hello everyone,

I am considering a career change. Is it possible to start a dive operation / shop / school, or something dive related and make 75k+ per year?

I have a year or so to prepare, am OW certified with 300+ dives and a passion for the sport.

Setup cost needs to be under 100k investment.

Historically I have been a paper pusher and am now bored with my career and looking for a change.

Any input would be appreciated. And if I am living in LaLa Land thinking about this, please tell me that too!


Thank you in advance

David

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You can do it if you have a second source of income starting out. If you need to make 75K a year the second source should be around 150K a year or more.

 

[El Orans]

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[oly5050user]

Hello everyone,

I am considering a career change. Is it possible to start a dive operation / shop / school, or something dive related and make 75k+ per year?

I have a year or so to prepare, am OW certified with 300+ dives and a passion for the sport.

Setup cost needs to be under 100k investment.

Historically I have been a paper pusher and am now bored with my career and looking for a change.

Any input would be appreciated. And if I am living in LaLa Land thinking about this, please tell me that too!


Thank you in advance

David

Can it be possible?
yes
Is it likely?
No

most likely if really serious to get into the business you would need minimum of $250,000. to set up a location with proper amount of inventory.Thats just inital set up $.What would you have left to live on until money comes in?
Can take 5 years before enough money comes in before you can reliably pay yourself anything.Some open with much less cash and next to nothing inventory, but those people often have an income from elsewhere,do this as a "hobby" and can wait and hope to pay out facilities bills with what the facility makes and little else.Your instructors and staff must be paid before you do.Your landlord,insurance,power bill,telephone bill,broadband bill,suppliers all be paid before you do.For you to take home $75,000. the store would have to
gross around $325,000.-$500,000.or more to be able to pay yourself that.

 

[peterbj7]

I would say that it is impossible, as I have never heard of it happening. I know no-one who has invested in diving who makes anywhere near an adequate return. Most people just steadily work through their capital and end up with nothing. Look at how many dive operations have folded in the last year/few months, and how many "distress" sales there are of dive-related equipment at just a few cents on the $.

 

[Oxy]

If you let me live at the shop and kept me equipped and fed I would be willing to work for air

 

[mikejclark]

*giggle*

 

[fisherdvm]

Can you clean boat bottoms and repair septic tanks making $75K a year?? Commercial diving school? Living on an oil drilling platform for months or maintaining bridges? Search and recovery for cocaine and heroin drops from jet planes... I'll bet there's a demand for that.

 

[Scared Silly]

For you to take home $75,000. the store would have to
gross around $325,000.-$500,000.or more to be able to pay yourself that.

I think you are off by at least an order of magnitude for gross income. $500K in equipment sales will net you maybe $150K, then you get to pay for all the other crap you mentioned. If you meant net then maybe.

 

[bfw]

Hello everyone,

I am considering a career change. Is it possible to start a dive operation / shop / school, or something dive related and make 75k+ per year?...Setup cost needs to be under 100k investment......Historically I have been a paper pusher and am now bored with my career and looking for a change.

So is about 75% of the adult population. Yes, you're living in lala land. If you're a paper pusher, you should have learned enough economics to understand that economics is the science of scarcity. People don't pay people for things they'd do without being paid. If work didn't suck, there'd be no need to pay anyone the big bucks. Work hard, make money, spend it on diving - don't try to mess with that arrangement. Everyone I know who got certified and then got your current inspiration doesn't dive AT ALL anymore - when it was work, they got sick of it, and then eventually had to go get real jobs.