Just thought I'd drop a few thought here. I'll (hopefully) be getting my instructor rating completed this spring. The others on the board will be far more helpful with your questions but just thought I'd drop a few points to ponder:
Are you willing to move? PA, if anything like OH, probably isn't going to give you the opportunity to make a living as an instructor without a second job. Your interests say "beachbum" so I'm assuming moving to someplace divers frequent isn't a problem.
I knew an instructor who sold gear on his own. His selection was limited because he did not have a store front and some manufacturers require this. Most of what he had was off-brand stuff, while this was great for wetsuits and booties and even masks and snorkels I don't think I would buy my regulators or bcd's from him. His booties were only $35 (and he did make a small profit) for the 1/4 inch neoprene with an nice walking sole, comparable booties sold for over $70 in the local dive shops. This would really seem to be a conflict of interest if you were working for a shop, he was working at a university.
If you had a training facility with no shop you would have overhead that would need to be covered--have you checked out the price of insurance for an instructor lately? You would probably need to own several sets of gear in several sizes (bcd's, regulators, maybe a few masks and fins in case someone forgets theirs) this equipment would probably also need to be insured (that's an option with Insurance Management Services Inc. who I have my Divemaster insurance through). Could you charge enough per student to cover all of that plus things like an air compressor, tanks, and the tons of things I haven't even thought of and still remain competitive price-wise with local dive shops? You could make your students buy ALL of their own gear before the class but I don't think you'll find many that will be willing to do that.
Sometimes in my NAUI publication I see small resorts come up for sale, that might be an option. Here's an idea, I read an article about how some ski resorts cater to people with kids but scuba resorts don't. Maybe you could buy a place somewhere warm and hire qualified child-care people who could come up with child friendly activities that would keep the young-uns occupied while mom & dad dive.
Do you enjoy being a salesman? You would have to sell yourself as an instructor even if you didn't work at a shop. Working at a shop means showing and selling gear, trying to get that "add-on sale" at the cash register and trying to encourage people to make the jump to the next level of diving "A good diver is always training."
Do you have a shop that is willing to hire you in mind? Maybe you could get your Divemaster rating first and get a job doing that. You'd have some control over your wages since you work for tips! Then you could see if the diving industry could support your particular lifestyle.
My advice, if you love to teach and love scuba get your instructor rating and go for it even if you need a second job to cover some of the bills. If you're just looking to make a bunch of money you would be doing your students a disservice.
Hope everything works out for you!
BTW none of the above is meant as a flame in any way, simply food for thought.
Ber
Dave
