Teenager in distress!

[ChrisA]

Hey, I'm 15 and a 3 months and I love to dive but I also live in Utah where we are in a serious drought and everywhere near where I live that has water has West Nile around it. I want to get my own gear but my mom said that if I wait till I'm 18 and graduated from high school she will pay $600 of it for my grad present. I plan to make scuba diving my career. My ultimate dream would be to own a scuba shop on Maui but if I can't do that I'd like my dad and sister to help me with a dive shop here in Utah to expand diving awareness. I want to become a Marine Biologist, DM and Instructor.

Anyways, to the question. I'm wondering if any of you could give me a bit of advice as to what to do because I can't dive here and the equipment, should I get it now or wait for my parents to help out with the cost (by the way, it's only 2 years and 9 months till I grad)?

First off, remember that if you want to make a small fortune in the dive industry it helps to start with a large fortune. Seriouly, if there are not many local dive shops in your area the most likly reason is that there are not enough customers. Seriouly if yu want to open a shop you should be studying bussenis and economics. You might know scuba but if you do't know how to run a retail shop and manage emplyees yo will not make eough money to pay the rent.
(I think retail shops may be on the decline with the advent of on-line shopping. Likely in 10 years there will be fewer, not more shops)

being a marine biologist means many years of school and most likey a Phd degree. I assume you would choose a school that is near an ocean. I would wait to buy equipment (other then fins, mask, gloves and so on) until you can use the equipment more then a few days a year. Also the longer you wait and the longer you rent gear the more you will know about gear and what you really want.

The best thing you can do now is get good grades and other things that will look good on a colage application so that you will have a larger choise of where to go. I'd start reading university catalogs now and studying thier requirements. Marine biology is not easy butyou are at the best age to start planning

If you do get accepted into a university near an ocean then it's time to buy some gear as you will e able to dive a couple times a week.
and with frequent diving you will build up experiance enugh to start DM taining..

 

[scuba_chick55]

Seriouly if yu want to open a shop you should be studying bussenis and economics.

See, that is where my sis comes in, she's graduated with her bachelors in bussenis and economics, I already asked her if she would help and she said yes as long as she could help with the diving part to.