Help someone to live their dream

[scubakiddo]

I love the wonderful man in my life so much I want nothing more than to see him live his dream. He is such a great and well respected padi dive instructor. His passion is diving. He absolutly glows when he talks about all of his wonderful dives whether is o/w class dives with his students or pleasure diving alone. At one point he talked about opening his own shop. I really want to help him do this so I am trying to research as much as possible how to make help invest in this and make this happen. I know we need to get a good location ect. We live in right by West Palm Beach, Fl so the diving here is great. I dont know if he is wanting to stay here or go to more vacation spots livthe caribbean or bahamas but where ever it may be can anyone give advice? I know we need to get a bank loan ect. Should we rent or buy to begin with a space for this business? How much would it cost to get the proper equipment round about figures, like the air compressor and all the necssary things to get it going? Thanks for any help
!!

 

[Arizona]

Just a thought, but what about buying and existing business?

 

[TASims]

i would talk about it with your hubby. its a big step and the econimy isnt to hot. lot of shops in florida and i now a lot of shops are closing all around.

if still going for it id do what Arizona said and buy a shop. at the shops near me there is a lot to learn to do and gear to buy, i wouldnt go in it till i learned all about it

 

[ucfdiver]

If you start a new shop, PLEASE bank 32% and charge by the cu/ft (not tank). That seems to be a new trend, and it's one I like.

 

[bfw]

People joke about how non-lucrative the dive business is, but in all seriousness, the best thing you can do to help him is establish yourself is a good solid, secure career that pays enough to support the two of you and has full benefits, and have him incorporate in such a way that, no matter how badly it goes, the two of you can bail on it and still get by on just your income. He's not going to make any money at first, and the failure rate is high. It'll be far less stressful on both of you, and he'll be more likely to retain his love of what he does if he's not torn between that and pressure to support the two of you. Even with that safety net, he may come to hate diving instruction when the logistical, financial, managerial, and other responsibilities of a dive shop are added in. If it's instruction he loves, he might be better off finding a large enough established business that he can become head of instructional programs, either in house or as a contractor - a friend of mine did that for a shop, and he really liked it - he didn't have to deal with inventory, accounting, etc., he just had to teach and manage instructional programs.

That, and buy a lottery ticket every week.

 

[ScubaSarus]

First step is to write a business plan and do some brainstorming on whats needed. Just realize, a google search shows quite a few shops in the Palm Beach area so competition may be stiff. Maybe some of the present store owners can answer some of your questions but dont let them know you plan on openening close to them.

 

[fisherdvm]

I think Thal said something about to be a thriving dive business, you'll need to be doing about 300 OW dive certification a year. That means alot of foot traffic through your shop. I can't see running a full time shop, plus OW cerfitication without hiring instructors and helps, plus owning your own boat, or have a lake that people are willing to complete their dive training in.

Seriously, I think the SSI model requiring instructors and divemaster to be aligned with a shop helps dive shops survive. I see independent PADI instructors working for LDS's taking students away from the shop. They meet the student, invite them to dive with them, and tell them about the classes they can do...Then the shop lose business. SSI instructors and divecons are more likely to be faithful to the shop.

The other key to success is to keep inventory down. The most successful diveshop in our area sells only scubapro with air2 BC's, scubapro regs, and a very limitted inventory. They will only service scubapro. All instructors wear the same gear as what they sell. And they are on the most busy street within 3 miles of the wealthiest suburb. Which means big money for the space - but with retail it isn't about hard work or personality. It is about location, location, and location.

If you want to be successful, you'll need to pay a highprice for the location. Which is a hard thing to bite when you'll be hundred of thousands in debt (or willing to cash in on your pension and take a penalty for it).

 

[--tom--]

This is a question that will take a couple of years to answer completely. While the scuba industry is a tough business to do well in, it isn't impossible. Start by learning business, writing a business plan is a great idea, but before that, visit SBA.gov. Go over the small business planner tab and know all of the information cold from "get ready" to "close officially". If you get stuck, contact SCORE (it's an acronym) for help. Understand marketing, especially guerrilla marketing. Get up to date on e-tailing and web site management. What I am trying to say is: your business model and execution is more important than the product/service you intend to sell. Listen to bfw & figure out how to build a safety net, all this improves the odds of success, it doesn't provide a guarantee. Recognize that a new business will not provide an income for some time.

Set the business up well, run the business well, market the business well, and you will have a lucrative, satisfying endeavor. Ignore the advise and all you will do is buy a job where you hate the boss.

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

I'm hesitant to give any advice, because I really don't know much about the dive business. Yet, I feel like writing, so I'll just say this little bit, which could very well be totally off base.

It's my impression that a lot of people open up a dive shop because they love diving and they want to get into the dive business. But instead of getting into the dive business, they mistakenly end up in the retail sells business. Then they are left to wonder, if all they were going to do was retail sells, they could have kept their old job and dived on the weekends.

So it is entirely possible that your husband could open up a successful dive shop. But if owning a dive shop turned out to be more about retail sells then about diving, would he be happy? I guess what I'm saying is that he should make sure that he is doing the type of business he wants, rather than just the type he thinks may be successful, in order to avoid a pyrrhic victory.

 

[scubakiddo]

Thank you for all your replies. He has been instructing for some time now and although he is not the "manager" by title he is if you get what i am saying. He runs all the trips, inventory, inputs on hiring and firing ect. the shop would fall to pieces if he wasent there. He works everyday whether it be physiclly in the shop or out doing dive trips or instruction. I think since the gining of this year he has had 5 total days off. He still loves it. He is already got a good taste of how to run it and all since he pretty much runs the shop hes at now. I have a strong enough income thave our saftey net so thats no problem. Once it becomes sucessful I will merge over and do nothing else but shop work and instruction as well....(im on my way up the ladder now). We have our own boat and were thinking about turning it into a live aboard also. We have tossed arounf ALOT of diffrent ideas and scenarios....im just trying to find out the steps of the business. Thanks for all of your help everyone!