Best way to become an SSI OW instructor from PADI Rescue diver

[Seaweed Doc]

I see it as a big advantage. I don't have to maintain billing, I don't own the rental equipment or pay for the maintenance thereof, I don't have to pay for the air fills used for teaching, I have a shop to get things from when something unexpected breaks, I have the support of other instructors to help me learn new skills and better ways of doing things. I still teach the classes that I want, when, and where I want. Effectively everything I do is made better by having the support of the LDS and I try to encourage my clients to shop there too.

It's possible to do this with just about any agency. I work with an LDS to supply gear and fills, and they happen to be PADI and SSI affiliated. They've also worked with independent NAUI instructors. The shop is happy to have foot traffic, regardless of instructor agency.

But I technically teach for a University, and don't want to be tied to one shop.

 

[oly5050user]

Hello,

After much thinking about (years and years...)it I want to become a pro and give it a try..

So far I am PADI Rescue diver certified with around 400 logged dives, I want to become an SSI OW instructor (able to teach up to stress and rescue, right?) and may start a small dive shop in a friends resort (after all this covid19 crisis ends). Do not wish to be reach, just enjoy my live doing what I like.
Why SSI ? I prefer the elearning it offers and I also just became interested in freediving (just took SSI level 1 a week ago) so I may end up taking this route too up to Freediving instructor...who knows

Being new to SSI I am a bit confused, do I really need to take the SSI dive guide, science of diving, Divemaster and dive control specialist before? 4 courses? seems like an overkill to me

Correct me if I am wrong but if I become a PADI Divemaster, which is next step from PADI Rescue Diver I can jump straight to SSI OW instructor course so it seems like the best, fastest, cheapest and straight forward route..at least in my case

Thanks

Why SSI, I may ask. It’s a good agency, but if serious about going on to instructor, stick to PADI as you will find more name recognition with them and have more customers. It is easy to find PADI instr on Caribbean islands than other agency’s . I was an SSI instructor now PADI and have had much more work with padi

 

[sabbe]

WOW, I was away for a couple of weeks and did not see all this great feedback; thank´s you all!!

My main goal is maybe start a small diveshop in southeast Asia in the near future; and when I say small I mean it, maybe 4 divers max on some friends resort. I have no interest whatsoever in selling gear, I just want to live in a place I like and get enough money to go on.

However the whole covid 19 situation may delay this so I would not mind getting the certifications here in Europe and work for a while as a freelance instructor. In this case seems PADI would be the way to go , both because I already took that path and and seems easier to jump from PADI to SSI than the other way round.

As it seems we are going to expend the winter inside our homes I will have plenty of time to think about it...

I think boulderjohn had some good points. It's going to be very hard getting business as an independent instructor. You'll have to cover your independent insurance. Learn marketing. Where are your students going to get their gear? While you may not earn as much per student working for a shop they are covering a lot of overhead and stocking the equipment and providing insurance. By working at a shop will gain a lot more students than going it alone.

If you get certified as instructor at one shop then want to work at another expect to go through an unpaid internship. At my shop an instructor new off the street would have to work each different class three times for free before they're allowed to teach that class. Those rules are usually waived for in house instructors they've trained themselves and are familiar with. It's almost always better to get your pro certifications at the shop you're going to work at.

One thing that hasn't been said here is OWSI is not the end if you want to run your own business. New instructors cannot teach the specialties. You need to gain experience (by teaching more) then take additional specialty instructor courses.

Ideally anyone in their own business should be as close to course director or instructor trainer as they can get else you'll have to turn away customers looking for those advanced courses.

I've tried PADI SDI and SSI. I like how well SSI and SDI do elearning and have lower fees. SDI is great for independent instructors. I'm with an SSI shop, primarily because I like the people and they give me lots of work.

The PADI shop I was with left PADI because PADI was stealing all their customers and marketing them directly for PADI travel, cutting the shop off from the customers they recruited.

Sam