New to Scubaboard and taking on a resort with a dive shop

[Andy Gee]

Hi everyone,
This is my first scuba based board membership and I'd like to introduce myself.
I'm taking on a resort as resort manager in Malapascua and we have a dive shop. While it's not my first management position and we have a dive shop manager, I thought it prudent to get clued up on local and national knowledge of running a dive shop.
The resort we have is run down and about 100m back from the beach but with easy access. All of the tanks are expired and we're replacing quite a bit of equipment, not least of all a dive boat.

Maybe someone here could direct me to the best board to ask a few questions about what to look out for, the best places to shop and where to get our tanks hydro tested.
I'm a novice hobby diver (padi adv ow + nox) but I think I'll be progressing by dives considerably in the near future.

 

[chillyinCanada]

You're brave! May I ask how you came to find yourselfin this position? Seems there's quite a lot of work to be done with a very high learning curve.

 

[Andy Gee]

You're brave! May I ask how you came to find yourselfin this position? Seems there's quite a lot of work to be done with a very high learning curve.

Hi, running a resort is easy enough, I've designed resorts, nightclubs, bars and restaurants from the ground up as well as run them in the Philippines so that side of things shouldn't be any problem - fingers crossed!
Also so we won't be hitting the road running though as it needs some renovation and a lot of marketing. I ended up here because I live on Malapascua Island with firm roots and connections in the island, I just got talking to a guy in a restaurant and over the past 3 months we've made all the arrangements to get started in a week or two.
Learning curves and sheer determination are what I live for too but I'm not leaving anything to chance as preparation is key in every successful business.
It's also not a massive dive shop we only have 40 tanks and 15 sets of equipment and I'll oversee the refitting of a boat with the dive shop manager.
You have a gazillion posts on here under your belt. What piece of advice do you think would be most useful to me in my position - running away is not an option though!
Thanks

 

[scoobydrew]

I would go talk to David Joyce in Evolultion, he's a good guy and I'm sure will offer some advice in terms of where you can source your gear etc.

 

[Andy Gee]

Thanks scoobydrew,
I know Matt Reed quite well from Evolution and a few other dive shop owners here, I'll certainly be bending their ears. I was thinking more along the lines of general advice from a broader spectrum of divers.
It could be something that new dive shop owners often get wrong, some recurring scam to look out for or just a general recommendation. I don't want to pester all the dive shop owners here, they're also pretty busy so I'm here to spread the load on them a little thinner

 

[ram04769]

Hi Andy. I haven't got any advise to give. But, I wanted to congratulate you on your new adventure and wish you the very best and much success!

 

[Andy Gee]

Why thank you ram07769
That's much appreciated.