Please read and answer!!!!

[jtthompson4]

So I in all my travels, I have come to the art of scuba. I HAVE QUESTIONS!!.

I in early 2008 moved to Kentucky and started in an open water course and stopped shortly after because my wife got pregnant. So a few years went by, I was in the military for a time, got out and worked in a factory making decent money. My parents moved to Florida in the summer of 2012. My father called me late 1 evening and invited me to move down so I could take on becoming a PROFESSIONAL DIVER!! So I moved down in early March, with my wife and 3 children now. And I started diving. I have since worked up through 6 specialties and now a PADI Divemaster. Maybe I should have done my research, but I have since come to realize that there really ain't much money to be made, even as an instructor and it seems to be that the money is going to cert agencies and shops, resorts etc etc..... I have spent nearly 10,000 dollars in training and equipment and love diving. But this was to be a career move. So someone be honest with me..... Who the hell is making the money? How do I make the money? Because hearing that DMs make tips and a free boat ride doesn't cut it with me. What's the since in being a PROFESSIONAL at something if I don't make any money. Now don't get me wrong, diving is in and of itself wonderful and I love working with people, but I don't feel I am a professional at anything if I can't support my own family. So maybe a wrong move on my part, maybe I should have looked into it more, but please someone give me an honest and good no bullcrap answer. I would really love an answer from specifically shop owners and such, because they, I HOPE can give me a good answer as to why compensation is so low for a professional in diving.


Thank you

 

[DandyDon]

Howdy and welcome to SB. Sounds like your joining was long overdue.

I'll answer on your other thread tho: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...-read-story-answer-questions.html#post7000924

 

[divad]

So maybe a wrong move on my part, maybe I should have looked into it more, but please someone give me an honest and good no bullcrap answer.

Yes, "wrong move on [your] part, [you] should have looked into it more......honest... no bullcrap."

 

[tech_diver]

Yes, being in the dive business isn't something you do to get rich. Like a poet or male porn star, you do it for love of the art.

More of my inappropriate insights into the dive business...
ScubaBoard - Scuba Diving Forum - Diving Social Network - So you want to be in the dive business…

 

[gypsyjim]

Raising horses and going "professional" as a scuba diver, both are pretty well known as surefire ways to pour money down the drain.

Both are things one does for the love of it, and very, very few people who go down those paths will ever make any real money at those career choices.

 

[Rich Keller]

If you want to become a professional diver you need to become a commercial diver. It takes time and money to get a DM or instructor certification but there is not a lot of payoff at the end. You could spend about the same amount in less time to become a commercial diver.

 

[gypsyjim]

Now you are talking about a "real" professional diver, and not just scuba.