It depends on the agency. Or used to. Some agencies traditionally were geared towards independent instructors. The Y for example and it's successor SEI. In the beginning anyway. Then after a few years the old management started pushing shops and shop support. A by-product I guess of being on the DEMA board and those old men who looked at independents as red-headed step kids in an all blonde family.
Many independent instructors I know in the US were like me. Not interested in turning out large numbers and getting crappy meaningless badges, when it came to quality of the those numbers, saying they did so.
All we wanted to do was turn out safe, skilled, educated, and competent divers who could dive without further training. If they wanted to. They had enough knowledge and foundational skills to improve and extend their range over time on their own.
They did not need to have a DM or guide to dive in a new location.
That takes time in the pool, classroom, and open water.
Being an independent at first was tough. Few shops want to offer their pool, rental gear, cylinders, etc and not get a large cut of the class fees. I was lucky to find one who did. All he wanted was the chance to sell my students their gear. And that was fine with me. Even after I became a HOG/Edge dealer. Most of my sales and service were on line so it was no skin off my nose.
He let me use his pool, compressor, classroom, and tanks. My students rented their checkout gear from him which meant I did not need extra insurance to cover that. His did.
And after he sold the shop the new owner did the same.
Very few will do that. They see the independent as competition or even a threat.
But their comes a time when due to all the rising costs, getting older, and interest in other things made teaching less attractive. And when I began to dread thinking about teaching another class after my accident on the bicycle and the ridiculous cost of insurance due to sh!tty instruction that was killing people, it was time to hang it up.
