Going Pro

[marsdiver]

Actually, I forgot to tell you...I am from Pakistan living in Saudi Arabia. There are no taxes, fuel is 9 cents a liter, medical insurance is from the company you are working for, you can get a villa for only $7500/year, there aren't too many dive shops so not a tough competition in market right now, people are rich and so on and so forth. There is red sea in west and Persian gulf in east with nice diving spots. The sports is growing here. Riyad, where there is no sea or even a water body within a 400 Km radius has a diving shop.

Anyway, I think I am going to try as an instructor as a sideline job for few years. What the worse could happen? I may loose 3-4 thousand dollars while doing what I love to do. I may get in contact with few more people which I guess is not such a terrible thing.

I think I will get numb about my engineering job in few years, so I will carry on while searching for better options in my current field. I know its not wise to through something away that you have earned after 22 years of study.

Also, even if I go for a 6 month full time instructor job somewhere to get a taste of it, I am not going there after burning my degrees, I can always comeback and join the engineering profession. It will not be the end of life. Also, planning too far ahead never works for me. Shop idea was tossed just to think out loud. I know that setting up a business is not an easy thing. Well, nothing is easy in life, especially if you don't know how to do it.

Oh, and I am 28 years old and living with my spouse.

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

Just move somewhere cool that has good diving and work there in your profession. You'll make more money that way, and have all the time in the world to dive on the weekends and after work.


Signed,

A lawyer who moved to Palau and now dives on the weekends and after work.

 

[leapfrog]

Let’s run some simple numbers.

Your goals are rather modest, you want to net $50.000 before taxes and have $20,000 to cover benefits; you want to work 44 weeks per year.

To teach diving you need a pool. If you can get one for $50/hr you’re lucky. Ten hours per week for 44 weeks is $22,000 (maybe you should build your own pool – but that’s another topic).

To teach diving you need a classroom. If you can get one for $20/hr you’re lucky. Ten hours per week for 44 weeks is $8,800 (maybe you should build your own classroom – but that’s another topic).

To teach diving you need tank fills. If you can get them for $5/each you’re lucky. 44 week long courses each with eight students, each using six tanks, costs you $10,560 (maybe you should get your own compressor – but that’s another topic).

To teach diving you need gear. If your courses are 8 students you will need at least 16 sets, if not more. Each set is about $2,000 … so servicing the debt (there’s no depreciation on the gear I assume you sell it off at the end of the year for what you paid for it) is going to be about $3,000.

Dues, insurance, Con-Ed seminars, advertsing, dive shows, etc, will be about $3,000 per year.

You’ll spend $7,000 in automotive costs

Your costs are $54,360. You need to make $70,000 more to make it worthwhile, so that a required gross of $124,360.

I’m not saying that you can … but if you had 8 students per week and taught 44 classes (that’s 352 students), you’d have to charge a bit above $350.00 plus certs and materials to meet your goals.

BTW: The “magic number” for a dive shop to stay alive is often said to be 300 new students per year.

If you disagree with my numbers, or your expectations are different, or your projections are different, that's fine ... in fact that's great ... plug in your own values and share your conclusions.

A great post, Thalassa, thanks. I think this gives a good answer to the question. What I have done is get myself a deal as an "associate" to a PADI 5 Star Center. They have the classrooms, they have an agreement with local hotels to use their pools. Basically I can use the facilities when they are not being used by the two brothers who own the center. I don't have to pay anything for using the facilities or the pools. I do pay money to the center on certification of divers. I have to pay a rental for equipment for my students. Obviously I help out a lot at the center with their students and divers to put in my part by working.

Having said all this, you have to really downscale your lifestyle. Since I have no dependents this was possible, but it takes a while to adjust.

 

[jviehe]

Seeing as how there are thousands of dive centers and resorts, hundreds of manufactures, dozens of training agencies, and the entire industry brings in billions a year, there is obvisouly money to be made. Im sure you can even make money instructing full time. But you would have to be real smart. And have low living costs. I dont see it happening with a family. Best bet is to make it a side job to start until you can understand the industry more.

I reccomened reading The Business of Diving.

 

[leapfrog]

I recommened reading The Business of Diving.

Maybe we should get Donald Trump interested in SCUBA diving and then he could write a book telling us all "How to become a SCUBA Billionaire"

 

[Thalassamania]

Seeing as how there are thousands of dive centers and resorts, hundreds of manufactures, dozens of training agencies, and the entire industry brings in billions a year, there is obvisouly money to be made. Im sure you can even make money instructing full time. But you would have to be real smart. And have low living costs. I dont see it happening with a family. Best bet is to make it a side job to start until you can understand the industry more.

I reccomened reading The Business of Diving.

I don't see you quitting your day job. Get real and stop swallowing propaganda, it's bad for your digestion. On the scale of worldwide business, diving ranks below Bocce Ball. Do you know what Bocce Ball is? Have you ever played Bocce Ball? Would you know where to go to buy a Bocce Ball? Do you know any Professional Bocce Ball Instructors?

Diving as a "big business" is a sham ... with the exception of a few manufacturers, by-and-large it's a collection of small business with a few doing well and most hanging on by the skin of their teeth, most all of them surviving by exploiting young starry-eyed newly minted instructors who are only going to last two or three years.

 

[Rhone Man]

I don't think anyone gets rich being an instructor, but it is a much nicer lifestyle (at least if Dilbert cartoons are anything to go by). If you have engineering skills, you can usually leverage those too - every dive shop loves hiring instructors who can help keep the boats running (you didn't mention what kind of engineering you do, but if it is anything mechanical, you probably have useful skills).

But you can always give a go, and go back to engineering if it doesn't pan out.

Just for the record, I went the other way - I became a divemaster and was set to do the OWSI, and then just thought it was too much responsibility and hard work for the money, so I went to law school instead and dive on weekends now.

Ultimately you and your partner have to work out what is best for you and your family. But I wouldn't expect to get rich doing it. As someone once said in an earlier thread: the only way to make a small fortune opening a dive store is to start with a large fortune.

 

[perdidochas]

I have decided to make a career change to scuba diving. Right now I am working on my AOW and hopefully reach OWSI level by the end of this year. I am aiming to eventually reach the Course Director level in years to come.

Though I have made the decision, however, I have some dependents too. So, I want to know how much money an OWSI normally make. I realize that it varies from place to place but I would appreciate a general idea. Also, how difficult it is to break in as an instructor?

I have a degree in civil engineering with a masters in environmental engineering. Can I make a use of that somehow?

My main motivation behind the decision is my love for sea and diving, plus the nightmarte I had the other night when I saw myself sitting in the same office cubical in 2030 staring at computer.:11:

Being a scuba instructor is a hard way to make a living. I would guess it's better than minimum wage, but nowhere near an engineer's salary.

 

[perdidochas]

So basically you are saying that its not a wise move?

I would. It might be a fun thing to do for a couple of years, though. The ideal time for you to have taken a break would have been in between your BS and Master's.

 

[perdidochas]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I think a wiser way to go for it would be to teach on weekends. Atleast that may pay for my scuba diving, otherwise its eating away a good portion of my current pay and I don't want to quit diving because of that.

It's hard for a part-timer to break even instructing.

Does anybody know that these PADI certifications help in getting jobs in diving companies that are doing commercial work? I have heard that pays are good there??
If not PADI, which organizations certify you to do commercial work. I know that commercial diving is not as much fun but probably better than wasting my time writing friggin' useless reports on MS word. I like to be outdoor.

Commercial diving can be lucrative, but it's hard on the body--it's also basically just heavy construction work done underwater (I worked for a day as a commercial diver's tender). Also, most outdoor jobs aren't good paying because people are willing to do them for cheaper. IMHO, the best thing to do if you like the outdoors, is find a good government job that you can work 40 hr weeks on, with plenty of vacation time, and use the outdoors for recreation and not for a job.