Going Pro...need lots of advice!!!

[JiveMaster]

I recently quit a well paid job knowing that instructors don't make much money at all, I'm just looking to make enough to eat and put some sort of roof over my head... This was not what the question was about. The question was about how to go about my training, where to do my training, and how to do it all while traveling around!!!

 

[rawls]

Some dive resorts offer diving internships. Do a search...divng internships...and check out places that offer them where you wish to go. It seems to me to be what you may be looking for.

 

[jdubz]

I know its not what you want to hear, but you should keep diving your hobby and maintain a good paying job in order to live. What I would reccommend doing is contacting many of your LDS. My OW diving instructor is a sheriff during the week, but every weekend he teaches dive classes. This has allowed him to rack up over 700 dives in the last 7 years--most have those have been on the dive shops tab. The dive shop takes a chartered trip to Cozumel about every 3 weeks during the summer and walla, he is the divemaster for these trips.

 

[Karibelle]

I think keeping a job at least until you've reached the divemaster level would be a good idea... it's hard to earn money at your new profession before you're at a level where there's actually any money to be made. As others have stated, you also need lots more diving experience, and it's sometimes hard to get dive experience without paying for dives.

kari

 

[CJ Waid]

Hey bro, I am in DM right now, and getting ready to start IDC within the next month, I am on the zero to hero program too. Don't let people knock you based on your current # of dives, I have dived in freezing water, under ice, in the dark mirky great lakes, during 6' surf (small craft advisories on the great lakes), and I have seen a lot of guys that have been certified for 1000 years and have 100000000000 dives and guys/girls that are going through Open Water and are more comfortable in the water.

I know my personal short comings, I am fearless, so sometimes I don't think as slowly as I probably should (that is my problem I am working on, but it only affects me, I think slowly and carefully when I am with others).

I have already had my own runaway ascents due to faulty equipment, low air at depth, NO AIR (lost my reg during a training dive WHILE simulating an out of air situation, in 38 degree water, diving in a wetsuit for over an hour and a half)...

Dude, its all about experience... Not numbers. If you are perfect and make no mistakes, then... well... chances are you haven't experienced anything outside of relaxed recreational diving, if you have, congrad's you are a dumb guy just like me.

Anyway, my point is I have asked questions on this board before, poorly worded at times (thinking that some people can understand a little slang, guess not everyone though).

Anyway, what I am getting at is don't let anyone's negativity towards what you are doing hold you back, and YES you can make a fortune as a recreational diver, whether DM or instructor... You just have to give it an equal effort.

My friend is JUST finishing up her Open Water, she has already took to the dive shop, and she is helping there... She has created a Scuba Day camp with the assistance of our course director, they are filling up 6 weeks or day camp (same thing as a regular cert course, except it targets specific age groups and for another $50 you get lunch provided)...

Anyway, 6 weeks at 8 students per week is thier minimum goal... She has met with 10 schools that are allowing her to come in and PROMOTE this, she will have met with 15 schools within the next couple weeks.

I expect them to have to run two classes per week, that is what it is looking like.

That is almost a 100 open water students produced over the course of the summer.

I personally will be distributing Lead Boxes, and calling up people that sign up for the 'grand prize' and inviting them to try a free discover scuba (of which I expect to land at least 1 student PER discover scuba).

AND, I will be hanging out at the beaches with some gear, offering people to go scuba diving (discover scuba) in a confined area of the lake that meets the standards for a discover scuba for $25 a pop... hang out all day and you will sign up 2 or 3 people, START ASKING PEOPLE to try it while they walk by you and BAM you will sign up 2,3,4 times as many, OR MORE.

Its just like anything else, its marketing.

It is the same thing whether it is selling scuba diving, insurance, personal training, pet rocks, cars, whatever....

So DON'T let anyone discourage you, start looking at ways to MAKE it work..

I had one guy tell me (on a forum) that he was certified as an instructor for 3 years and he only certified half a dozen people... so there is no money in being an instructor... MY ANSWER TO THAT is that there is NO MONEY in BEING THAT GUY. If someone doesn't make money, it has nothing to do with the industry (that is a cop-out), it has to do with that persons approach.

SO, good luck. Maybe we can share info some time. I will be happy to tell you what we are doing, and how it works out.

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

Hi Jivemaster (Great ID, by the way!)

Thailand is definitely a great place to do an full-on internship to become a dive instructor. But don't think you need to restrict yourself to a CDC for this. While we here at Aquanauts will, in fact, become a CDC by the end of May, you can "go pro" in either a CDC or IDC. The acronym is not as important as the quality of the training and the center's track record in producing quality instructors.

Here at Aquanauts in Pattaya Beach, we offer all-inclusive Open Water to Instructor internships that last 4 months. During that time you get unlimited diving with most interns logging 200-240 dives during that time. And it's not all the same type of dive in the same sites and the same conditions. We have 22 different sites in the area. Some deep, some not. Some with good viz, some not. We've got 3 wrecks, drift dives, wall dives and deep diving (for techies) up to 92 meters.

At Aquanauts, you work every single day with "real world" tourist customers. At larger "instructor factory" programs, you get pushed off onto "intern boats" and simply do practice scenarios on other interns. Our program is built on Personalized Training, so you work individually with IDC Staff and Master Instructors and our two in-house Course Directors.

The internship includes everything for one price: courses, books, new equipment, full private accommodations, all your PADI certification and testing fees, plus unlimited diving. We also offer a written Guarantee that you will pass the Instructor Exam your first time or we pay for another exam for you. Finally, if you enroll early, you also get your choice of 3 sets of free bonus courses.

Finally, while you can do similar internships elsewhere, also consider your on-shore environment. If you're going to be in one place for four months, you need a certain level of modern conveniences and creature comforts that isolated beach islands like Koh Tao really can't offer. Pattaya is Thailand's 3rd largest city and offers such amenities as 2 world class hospitals, 2 deco chambers, 3 large shopping malls, 2 multiplexes, bowling alleys, a range of water sports, a full-on water park and more.

Full details on our program and our location are on our website at www.divinginstructortraining.com.

 

[EvaL]

Some good advice above. I used to DM part-time (occasional nights and weekends) for free in exchange for discoounts on gear, while holding a full-time job. I have no plans to go pro because as I see it, it won't make me enough money to survive unless I teach tons of students, something like 15 a month (if the dive shop can supply enough). I decided it was not for me as a full-time job (consistent supply of students, responsibilities for the lives of students, uncertainties in the industry, competition from other stores). For your case, I highly recommend getting enough dives and work on becoming a DM (60 dives?) and don't take those 1 week DM courses, do it through your dive shop is better. Then work for a good diveop - find out the details of what makes a good op, how they survive in this business, talk to instructors, attend tradeshows like DEMA, dive industry-sponsored events and get more training (asst instructor, O2 provider, servicing scuba equipment and then IDC). Diving might seem cool as a leisure activity, but when you make it a profession, it may become very different. You switch from consumer and service seeker to service provider and teacher. My advice is Don't commit till you've tried it out and thought it over carefully.
Good luck and dive safely.