Want to open a dive shop.

[Akimbo]

... most commercial diving is more like underwater construction work ... it's not at all like a scuba diving experience, nor can it in any way be considered recreational. …

For sure. Posts in the commercial forum aren’t sugar-coated in any way. However, it might be an option that the OP wasn’t aware of. He sounds a lot like me at that age and I am so glad I didn’t go into a recreational diving career.

 

[UrbanJungle1966]

Keep the dream dude. The idea of starting out online is a great idea and you never know. A lot of hard work will hopefully see your dream come alive .

 

[Max Speed]

Get the degree you want or learn a trade. That gives you options. Then work in a dive shop and learn the business. You will have no regrets and it may turn out to be a career.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

My advice to you would be to start now, well sort of..... I will start by saying that many people will tell you that you will probably fail, and that is certainly a possibility. That is not to say that you cant be successful either. I would suggest you create a website selling scuba equipment and/or buy and sell scuba related items via ebay or craigslist. This will give you some real world experience in dealing with customers, keeping them happy, and working with your partner. I am sure one of your parents will create a paypal account for your new venture.

College has certainly been pushed onto society as being the way to "make it" in America but certainly isn't necessary in many cases. Buying and selling scuba gear yourself, creating a webstore that utilizes drop shipping and interacting with customers will give you more business knowledge than a business professor that is a professor rather than running a business, lol. assuming you go to a decent school, you will have the added bonus of having tens of thousands of dollars worth of school debt hovering over your head while you are trying to start and run your business.

Prior to doing any of that, try to get work at a dive shop, volunteer if you have to if you aren't old enough to legally work yet. This will give you an idea of how business run their day to day operations. I doubt you will be given the financial books to study, but you can get an idea of what people are buying and what items the shop is pushing (this could be a clue to the more profitable items in the shop). Ask tons of questions, learn as much as you can, and apply yourself and you can succeed.

Seriously reconsider the whole partnership idea. People are hard to work with over long periods of time. You cant consider every situation that you may face in your new venture, but the chances of you two agreeing on everything are slim to none. No one in this world will take better care of you than yourself. It is easier to do things your way than have to consult your partner for every decision you will have to make in the future.

Set some small goals for yourself and accomplish them. Start out with your Christmas money and buy and sell a few things, find deals on stuff and "flip them" hopefully for a profit. If you are successful, by the time you are 18 you could have enough start up change to open your shop. Understand that not everything is going to happen like you hope it would, you will make mistakes, you will lose money, people will piss you off, its all part of running a business. Try to learn from these bumps in the road and move forward from them.


Use the opinions of those that believe you will fail as motivation. Don't waste your time trying to convince them otherwise, show them with action and results. This is America, you still have some freedoms and abilities to succeed left for now. If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen.

good luck!

What about the liability / warranty issues involved with selling scuba gear? My understanding is that in order to sell regulators you pretty much have to be a regulator technician. In order to sell drysuits you would have to be able to replace and install valves, possibly seals if it is a one man operation. Unless you are Jack of all trades, it would be fairly hard to fulfill warranty obligations don't you think? Other than selling mask, snorkel and fins pretty much everything else would need a certain level of experience. Or am I wrong?

 

[tplyons]

Work at a dive shop first, and then get your DM and see what the instruction side is all about. You may change your mind.

On the other hand, the owner of my dive shop enjoys what he does... but he has to pick and choose the dive trips he takes because he has a business to run. Lots of temptation, and he's commonly working 7 days a week during the summer... Monday-Friday in retail, plus behind-the-scenes taking care of the business, and teaching on weekends.

 

[Carlos Danger]

I'm only 15 years old, but in the 5 years I've been diving, I have logged over 50 dives in places like Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Honduras, Belize, and more. I simply
fell in love with diving and I am extremely knowledgable and experienced at my young age on diving. I have a very close friend who is also interested in opening a dive shop who is a year younger than me. We both have a very strong interest in marine sciences and diving. I recently completed the Baltimore Aquarium's Student Volunteer Program which not only taught me about a field I was interested in, but also opened a lot of doors for me. I plan on going to college and potentially getting a degree in business or a life science. It's one of my dreams to open a dive business somewhere and just live an awesome, fun ass life. My friend and I surprisingly put together a business plan even though we tend to be a bit unfocused haha. Anybody any suggestions?

I admire your spirit, but you will also need a long-term plan!

Pursuing your degree in Business could open a lot of doors, and generally serve you well regardless of what you ultimately choose to do down the road. In the interim, you might consider setting some additional short-term achievable goals that support furthering your knowledge of diving and the dive industry substantially beyond where you are right now. For example; what would you think about maybe pursuing more dive related education and training, with an eye toward an instructor development internship abroad? I'm sure something like this would provide invaluable insight while also improving your skills as a diver and increasing your exposure to the business of diving; not to mention being the adventure of a lifetime. Check out some of the links below, and best of luck to you!


Cozumel Dive Academy | Become a Divemaster | Divemaster Internships | Scuba Instructor Training | PADI Divemaster Internships

Cozumel IDC | Where scuba careers are made.

https://www.facebook.com/Divemaster.Internships

GoPro Cozumel | PADI IDC | Cozumel Mexico Scuba Instructor Course Training | PADI Scuba Instructor Training

 

[Phil_C]

Normally I am a go grab what you want sort of guy - but actually this is one occasion I would go with a bit of caution.

There is a vast difference with loving diving and the sea, and loving making a living from it. Sadly you may find diving loses some of the fun when you have to do it on other peoples terms, as a dive professional you are no longer diving for your own enjoyment, but for the enjoyment and education of others, and that isn't always enjoyable.

I would be in the camp that says have a backup plan - dive and learn as much about the industry as you can, do an internship if you can and help out so you can see the real face of the dive industry, and what you would have to do to make it work. You might be surprised about some of the compromises or commercial adjustments that you need to make to have the bottom line work out.

But in the meantime I would keep up the education and go to college, personally I would follow something along the lines of biology, zoology or ecology that way you can have a backup plan that lets you work in a marine environment and dive, but not in the dive industry if you find it doesn't suit you. National Parks Service, Universities, research bodies and many large companies have jobs which involve related fields where diving would be a valuable skill, and can be used. That does not shut the door on running a dive shop if you want, but gives you a fallback if you need it.

I know one guy who did a marine biology degree and now does guest lecturing on cruise ships for six months of the year, gets to travel to great places and sometimes dive, and when he is off he dives for fun.

As was also mentioned above a business degree could open a lot of doors, but wouldn't necessarily give you a job in a related field. Sadly the bottom line is we all need to make our way in life and make enough money to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. If we can do that throughout our lives doing something we enjoy so much the better, but many people don't have that luxury.

So I think I would take some career advice equip yourself to do a job connected with the marine environment and then explore if the dive shop idea will float.

Whatever you do best wishes - Phil

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Dive shop sounds like a major PIA!!! There are so many other careers that overlap with diving in a more interesting way. As a journalist, my job requires me to pursue stories and being a diver, I have been fortunate to have some of my diving paid by my sponsors. I have done documentaries on history of sunken ships and submerged towns, written articles on shark conservation, loss of corals etc. Just like dive shop owners do other things like maintaining gas compressors, retail sales, equipment repairs and servicing, not all my work is diving related either. A lot of the times it involves covering press conferences, editing interviews of some very boring politicians etc but then there are times when I pursue stories that I would be watching if I was sitting on TV. My work has taken me to the Arctic, under the oceans, inside caves etc.

If you pursue a degree in journalism and documentary film making and at the same time work on underwater video and photo skills then that may lead to an interesting career which may occasionally go into diving.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

What about the liability / warranty issues involved with selling scuba gear? My understanding is that in order to sell regulators you pretty much have to be a regulator technician. In order to sell drysuits you would have to be able to replace and install valves, possibly seals if it is a one man operation. Unless you are Jack of all trades, it would be fairly hard to fulfill warranty obligations don't you think? Other than selling mask, snorkel and fins pretty much everything else would need a certain level of experience. Or am I wrong?

Not true as far as I can tell ... I know lots of dive shop owners who aren't reg techs. In our area we have a guy who services regulators for many of our local dive shops.

You don't have to be a service tech to sell gear ... most manufacturers will, however, insist that you take their training if you're planning to service their gear ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[tenacious]

What about the liability / warranty issues involved with selling scuba gear? My understanding is that in order to sell regulators you pretty much have to be a regulator technician. In order to sell drysuits you would have to be able to replace and install valves, possibly seals if it is a one man operation. Unless you are Jack of all trades, it would be fairly hard to fulfill warranty obligations don't you think? Other than selling mask, snorkel and fins pretty much everything else would need a certain level of experience. Or am I wrong?

At 15 years old I would guess the op has a ton of time and very little money. That forces him to think outside the box a little and use what he does have, time. He has the ability to search the internet for deals on stuff that he could flip for a profit I.E. take advantage of some of the black Friday deals and sit on the equipment until Maryland's dive season goes back into full swing, then sell them.
If it is something with a warranty, when he orders it he could request a gift receipt and give that to whoever purchases it so they can register the warranty info and be covered. It would be no different than your wife buying you a new regulator for Christmas.

I would probably start out with used equipment if it were me. search craigslist, and ebay and buy things that are easy to get rid of. I bought a pair of Apollo bio-fins for $20.00 via ebay, so deals are out there if you take the time to find them.

I can promise you that many a regulator and drysuit has been bought and sold on scubaboard's classified section, craigslist, and e-bay by non technicians. I am sure you have seen those little mini disclaimers in some of the adds.... "scuba gear should be inspected and serviced by a professional prior to using.....ETC"

As far as experience.. I never went to college or trade school or worked as a salesman, however I have made a bunch of money buying and selling things via the internet. cars, trucks, boats, jetski's, tools, fishing gear, etc. I am not a licensed realtor, however I sold my house on facebook in 10 days after a realtor failed to do so in 6 months. Life is what you make it, if he wants it as bad as he says he does, he will figure out what works and make it happen. The people with ten thousand reasons why something shouldn't be done see the world differently than me I guess.....