DM Salary

[dherbman]

To "live" is to buy food, pay rent and all your bills and have enough to spend on occasion.

My mortgage is a tad under 5K a month, so I'd have to say no, you can't live off of what a DM makes. I doubt I'll ever draw a dime from my work as a DM, but I will have every piece of gear I desire, do the dives I want to do and be involved with the greatest activity I can imagine to the extent I wish.

When I did this job as a kid, my rent, fuel and food were part of the pay and I didn't need much to live. I didn't have much, but I didn't need much.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

How do you live off $80 dollars a month?? How do people make enough money to live? Do you HAVE to own your own scuba shop to make any money in this business? I can understand having 2 jobs, I have that right now, that doesn't bother me. I guess I just assumed they would make more than .50 an hour. What about instructors? No one has mentioned anything about them. If me and my husband want to make a living off this sport someday how do we do that? Is it possible?

Not really likely. I do better than most and I'm making about 1/2 what I earned as a house painter, and I teach a lot of students.

Own your own business is usually the only way.

 

[Gary D.]

How do you live off $80 dollars a month?? I don't.How do people make enough money to live? Do you HAVE to own your own scuba shop to make any money in this business? I can understand having 2 jobs, I have that right now, that doesn't bother me. I guess I just assumed they would make more than .50 an hour. What about instructors? No one has mentioned anything about them. If me and my husband want to make a living off this sport someday how do we do that? Is it possible?

We are PSD's and in that field $.50 is very high paid. That $.50 is added to our regular hourly rate as Deputy Sheriff's which isn't bad at all.

If I wasn't a Deputy the pay would be ZEROSKI. Diving is a labor of love not a labor for pay field.

Gary D.

 

[Linze1106]

ok, if you can't be just a DM, and say you would want to open your own dive shop. How would someone go about doing that? getting all the equipment and setting everything up.

How is it that someone from the northwest is making more than someone in Fl doing the same job? Both teach, both are DMs, both have their shop they work for. That jsut doesn't make sense to me...

if someone could explain.

 

[ScubaMike14]

I've worked as a DM and did quite well. About $500 a week in salary and another $500 a week in tips. This was in the Carribean, not the states.

As an Instructor, it depends on where and how much you teach. I know Instructors that clear $1000 a week in classes. And that IS in the states where class prices are much cheaper than overseas.

I currently work in a shop as a DM and Manager and make $10.00 an hour, Free Fills and use of the expensive toys (scooters, cave lights, etc) and I get gear at cost.

Mike Rushton

 

[Diver0001]

ok, if you can't be just a DM, and say you would want to open your own dive shop. How would someone go about doing that? getting all the equipment and setting everything up.

Well....this is like starting out any other small business. You invest whatever you have and/or can get from teh bank to get it off the ground and then hope to hell that it flies....

One of the quickest ways to get it done is to buy a complete shop from someone getting out of the game. There are actually quite a few in circulation.

How is it that someone from the northwest is making more than someone in Fl doing the same job? Both teach, both are DMs, both have their shop they work for. That jsut doesn't make sense to me...

if someone could explain.

That's just supply and demand. Nobody wants to teach where Al lives. It's been 3 years since he saw his last fish....

R..

 

[Linze1106]

Im happy to know that it is possible to make a living doing this. I don't intend to stay in the states. any suggestions to the best place to settle down and start this journey.

I have seen a few shops up for sale in mexico and i think a few in the caribbean. I also think that is a good idea. To take over a shop that is already established and is known.

 

[Diver0001]

I've worked as a DM and did quite well. About $500 a week in salary and another $500 a week in tips. This was in the Carribean, not the states.

As an Instructor, it depends on where and how much you teach. I know Instructors that clear $1000 a week in classes. And that IS in the states where class prices are much cheaper than overseas.

I currently work in a shop as a DM and Manager and make $10.00 an hour, Free Fills and use of the expensive toys (scooters, cave lights, etc) and I get gear at cost.

Mike Rushton

You quit working in the Caribbean for 50k a year and took a job in the states for less than 1/2 of that????

Begs the question.... why?

Incidentally, that's outstanding pay for a DM. How did you land that?

R..

 

[daniel f aleman]

Incidentally, that's outstanding pay for a DM. How did you land that?

R..

Side job:

http://www.afn.org/~afn30091/songs/r/roth-just.htm

 

[Diver0001]

yeah, but I thought he said he got tips....not tricks..... LOL

R..