Build the Perfect Certification Agency

[boulderjohn]

As boulderjohn will point out... Colorado has the highest percentage of divers of any state in the US. Unless you count the Colorado river... it's about as landlocked as you can get.

It would take me a long search to count the number of dive operators in the Denver metro area alone. I just gave it a few minutes thought and came up with a dozen off the top of my head.

 

[Hawkwood]

As boulderjohn will point out... Colorado has the highest percentage of divers of any state in the US. Unless you count the Colorado river... it's about as landlocked as you can get.

Alberta for us.

Gee, what does that say about demographics.....

We have four dive operators in Calgary alone.

 

[SeaHorse81]

Your problem is the negative association of the word "minimum." That is not what the word actually means, though. No matter how high your standards are, the people who pass it are meeting minimum standards. If you set standards so high that only one person in the world can meet them, that person will still have only passed the minimum standards for the course.

The language PADI uses for passing a standard means the same thing as "solidly has the [skill or] knowledge." If you want people to do better than that, then you are saying you want them to exceed that standard. If you require that they exceed that standard, then that is now the new minimum standard.

Very good point.

 

[Bob DBF]

There is a high turnover of instructors in all agencies I know of. I know instructors who are not making minimum wage for the work they are doing, and they are barely doing enough instruction each year to pay for their insurance and agency membership.

Ah yes, the myth of dive professionals, you have pointed out problem with making everyone a hobby instructor. Unfortunately, with hobby jobs, the money available is spread so thin as to make it nearly impossible to make a living.

If you want to make dive professionals, start by increasing the standards to become a DM and Instructor, raise the cost of maintaining active certification high enough that the hobbyists are dissuaded from staying active and use that money for oversite and enforcement of standards.

As soon as everyone gets off the dream that is sold of having fame and fortune as a dive professional, possibly real professionals can be made and divers in training will be better off for it.



Bob

 

[RJP]

What I would really like is for instructor to talk to prospective divers about the first class will really give then. what class people should take after that and the kind of diving that is available (for warm water , cold, cave tech,......) What skill they will need to improve during there diving life. ......

Actually, in the PADI system this is required part of Knowledge Review #5. Even if the instructor were to break standards and skip it during the class, the student will still have read that part of the manual and complete the knowledge review.

The prospective student won't have done so.

 

[SeaHorse81]

What I would really like is for instructor to talk to proprective diver about the first class will really give then. what class people should take after that and the kind of diving that is available (for warm water , cold, cave tech,......) What skill they will need to improve during there diving life. ......

I think this already happens, but there is variation in the honesty and motivation behind it. I've seen it in two flavors:

The instructor we'd all like to have does those things with an eye toward helping the student pursue the course of training that most fits their personal goals and priorities.

The not-so-great instructor does those things in a way that misinforms the student and establishes a platform for efficient upselling.

 

[Diver0001]

Your problem is the negative association of the word "minimum." That is not what the word actually means, though. No matter how high your standards are, the people who pass it are meeting minimum standards. If you set standards so high that only one person in the world can meet them, that person will still have only passed the minimum standards for the course.

The language PADI uses for passing a standard means the same thing as "solidly has the [skill or] knowledge." If you want people to do better than that, then you are saying you want them to exceed that standard. If you require that they exceed that standard, then that is now the new minimum standard.

This is why I read everything boulderjohn writes.

R..

 

[RJP]

If you want to make dive professionals, start by increasing the standards to become a DM and Instructor, raise the cost of maintaining active certification high enough that the hobbyists are dissuaded from staying active and use that money for oversite and enforcement of standards.

Hmm... assuming all the hobbyists leave, the huge cost burden would be shared by a much smaller pool of instructors... which would cause more to leave... which would cause the huge cost burden to be shared by an even smaller pool of instructors... which would cause more to leave...

Hardly a sustainable approach for anyone involved.

Besides... many hobbyist instructors are phenomenal and many full-time instructors are crap.

But then enforcement of the standards should get rid of many of the crap ones. Although, then the huge cost burden would be shared by an even smaller pool of instructors... which would cause more to leave... which would cause the huge cost burden to be shared by an even smaller pool of instructors...

 

[DaleC]

As boulderjohn will point out... Colorado has the highest percentage of divers of any state in the US. Unless you count the Colorado river... it's about as landlocked as you can get.

Yes, but look at it from a shop/instructor "earning a living".

How do you hook new divers, by selling them on diving in Colorado or somewhere else. So the real revenue belongs to the resort.
Do you do all instruction in house or are many of the water portions done by referral somewhere else. Again losing revenue to the resort.
After you teach OW can you generate income allowing the student to refine skills at that level.. or is the main way by selling advanced courses too quickly.
Few instructors could expect to "earn a living" in a healthy way by providing dive instruction in that arena.

I'm a rehab assistant. In order to "earn a living" I need to go where the sick/injured people are, in large numbers. I could make a few bucks trying to offer my services in healthy locales like but could I really "earn a living"? No, it would be more like a hobby. I could work in the community by referral. Driving here for an hour and there for two; but that's a hard way to earn a living. It's more like part time work. No, if I want to "earn a living" I need to try to get a job at a facility or clinic where many sick or injured people congregate. I show up at 9 and work until 5 with 1/2 hour lunch and coffee breaks. a large number of working hours with little down or set up/travel time.

So, what I am saying is: It would be reasonable to expect an instructor to earn a living in a healthy way if they lived in Cozumel (for example), had a steady stream of clients and worked a regular set of hours. Teaching an evening here and there and on your weekends, traveling two or three hours to and from the water and more hours packing and unloading gear, and catching random groups of potential students is not the way to "earn a living". It's a part time job that leads to premature burnout.

 

[RJP]

Yes, but look at it from a shop/instructor "earning a living".

How do you hook new divers, by selling them on diving in Colorado or somewhere else. So the real revenue belongs to the resort.
Do you do all instruction in house or are many of the water portions done by referral somewhere else. Again losing revenue to the resort.

Here's a big problem in the industry... everyone is so worried about "losing revenue" to someone else that it distracts them from getting any revenue in the first place.

I'm betting the (apparently successful) shops in Colorado look at the dollars in their own cash register as GAINED revenue, and never once worry about a single dollar in a cash register in Cozumel... much less consider it to be "lost" revenue. Hell, the resort in Cozumel is actually HELPING the shop. Imagine how much revenue a Colorado dive shop would lose if there WERE NO RESORTS for their divers to travel to!

Few instructors could expect to "earn a living" in a healthy way by providing dive instruction in that arena.

I'm a rehab assistant. In order to "earn a living" I need to go where the sick/injured people are, in large numbers.

You've missed the point that there are PLENTY OF DIVERS in Colorado. On a percentage basis, the highest in the continental US. That's what's called "a target-rich environment.

Scuba shops and instructors don't need to be where the DIVING is... they need to be where the DIVERS are. Sure, many divers are where the diving is. But many are not.