How often do Dive Instructors teach/lead dives independently of a shop?

[northernone]

Students by old fashioned word of mouth and its virtual equivalent Facebook.

 

[Diver0001]

Title prettymuch says it all.

For all you professionals out there, how often do you teach certifications or lead guided dives independently of the shop you're associated with? How well does that pay?

Rarely. I only teach for the hobby and the shop throws enough work at me to keep me busy during diving season. The only times I can remember teaching outside of the shop was for ex-students or people who specifically approached me for specialties and who had their own gear. Otherwise the logistics of it would lead me to asking them to sign in via the shop anyway and just requesting me by name.

As for pay.... *snort*. Where I live the only people I know who can make non-trivial money at this are CD's and a handful of technical instructors. If you're a "dime a dozen" PADI instructor like I am then you can count yourself lucky if you're in the game at all.

R..

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I taught three students through a shop when I first got my YMCA instructor cert. Since then, not one. All have been as an independent and my students come via word of mouth, Facebook, my website, and some from here on SB. I've also gotten referrals from other instructors.

 

[chadnaylor]

Hm. If you guys could get a lot more students signing up, would you want teach independently more?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I teach through a shop. In the Puget Sound, I only know of @NWGratefulDiver to teach independently, but he had a great reputation. I'm still building my reputation. I would like one day to try to teach independently, as I'd spread out an OW course over time. Probably 4 weekends, as I'd want 2 weekends of confined water (4 3-hour sessions total) and 2 weekends of open water (1 dive per day for those in wetsuits). Even though I'd be using a pool farther away (Everett) that costs half or even less than that than pools on the eastside, my courses would probably really limit the number of students. So before I attempt this, I need a pretty darn good reputation before attempting this. I'm happy with the shop I'm teaching with, as they've always been good to me as a customer first and now an instructor (shop manager is super supportive of my ideas), I just would like more pool time and to get an idea of what it will be like to have my own dive op (that I hope to open in the Greek islands).

 

[KevinNM]

Once you get out of the large agencies things change. GUE has a mix of instructors, a bunch of independents, and some who are shop employees or owners. Most classes I've taken had a dive shop involved, but not all. And a lot of time it's a one-time thing when the instructor comes in once a year or something like that. Exactly how the arrangement between the instructor and dive shop works I don't know.

I do known that the final class you have to teach to get approval as a GUE instructor requires you to organize the full logistics of a class, including recruiting students, getting classroom space, confined water and open water site, student tank rentals, air fills etc.

 

[Diver0001]

Hm. If you guys could get a lot more students signing up, would you want teach independently more?

I wouldn't care to. I already have a full time job and having the shop do all the leg-work and logistics means that all I need to do is show up and teach. I like that just fine.

As I said, if someone specifically approaches me then I'll do things with them but I'm not going out to recruit students. If I get word-of-mouth referrals (which is a big compliment) then I usually ask them to sign up via the shop and request me by name.

R..

 

[Bruno Genovese]

My wife needed a lot of patience and attention from the instructor to certify. She had already has two bad Discover Scuba Diving experiences, once with a big outfit that threw her in the water with almost no instruction and once with an independent that tried to teach too many people of too different skill levels by himself instead of getting a second instructor to help.

So, when it came time to certify I found an independent that was extraordinary and had a pure 5-star rating on trip advisor even though he had a pretty good number of reviews. He is especially good at teaching beginners, and those with fears. Even so he didn't do it alone, his wife is also an instructor and he had access to others and DMs if he needed them.

At one point when talking about how he'd made the transition to being an independent he mentioned that he used to work for a shop doing 4 dives a day and at one point he started teaching the odd class on his spare time... and noticed that he was earning the same teaching on two dive days than he earned teaching for the school 5 days a week. So he leaped, and it went well for him. But keep in mind... he is a far above average instructor.

Moral of the story: it is obviously possible, but 8 out of 10 will likely fail to make it. About par for any new business startup.

 

[DevonDiver]

Hm. If you guys could get a lot more students signing up, would you want teach independently more?

Independent instructors have to be quality-focused. We'd never be competitive playing the volume/price game.

That means we need to focus on smaller, more personalised classes... at a higher price point... but still offer exceptional value for money in respect to delivering a lot more.

That said, I'm often teaching one-to-one classes. It'd be nice to regularly run tech classes for 2-3 students at a time. Not just for financial reasons, but also because it allows greater focus on team development.

 

[Clark Fletcher]

Did I read somewhere on the forum that SSI Instructors must be affiliated with a dive shop while PADI Instructors do not necessarily have to be affiliated with a shop? Or did I just dream that?