espiritu
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That's priceless :>
What are your salaries as a DM or OWSI?
- Thread starter stephhhhh
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After the cost of the DM Course, Insurance, Membership and expenses(Not including equiptment). I think I made enough for a New Dive Knife (really) last year. It is a nice Knife thou.
I did OK in South Florida and Gainesville as an instructor and DM. It was a great gig for a student. I would work about 3 days/week, including a day during the weekend. The weekend days were 2 2-tank trips. A good day on the weekend paid about $300-400. As for instructing, teaching nitrox was the way to make some money. Four students over a 2 half-day period paid about $300 plus tips. It wasn't much, but it paid for the gear that you pick up at a really good price.
I never would have gotten into technical diving without being an instructor because of gear costs. That is somewhat mitigated by Key-man deals.
Cheers,
Jamie
I never would have gotten into technical diving without being an instructor because of gear costs. That is somewhat mitigated by Key-man deals.
Cheers,
Jamie
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ecudiver:
You bet your sweet :mooner: we do. A lot of us are satisfied if we make enough to cover our expenses, happy if we make enough to actually consider it income, and totally estatic when we get a smile and a thank you
I make $12 an hour teaching. Gear 10% over cost. And don't forget the free air.
codecruncher
Contributor
Since most of these posts indicate you're almost doing it for free, what I don't understand is why you expose yourself to such liability - esp. in a tourist filled "just got my cert last week" or "we dive once a year on vacation" type of area.
Maybe outside the US would be ok, but otherwise I'm always stumped to see the upside given the risk.
Maybe I'm just paranoid. Anyone care to expand on what their insurance rates are and who is actually going to step in and pay for a good defense lawyer prior to a judgement?
Anyone personally been involved or got scared of that situation and backed off the DM duties because of that?
I truly value some thoughts on this - my buddies always want me to get DM and go on, but so far I'm plenty happy to stay at the "unprofessional" level.
And instructors I hear are advised to carry insurance for life even after they stop teaching since prior students that manage to kill themselves can have pretty unhappy relatives.
Maybe outside the US would be ok, but otherwise I'm always stumped to see the upside given the risk.
Maybe I'm just paranoid. Anyone care to expand on what their insurance rates are and who is actually going to step in and pay for a good defense lawyer prior to a judgement?
Anyone personally been involved or got scared of that situation and backed off the DM duties because of that?
I truly value some thoughts on this - my buddies always want me to get DM and go on, but so far I'm plenty happy to stay at the "unprofessional" level.
And instructors I hear are advised to carry insurance for life even after they stop teaching since prior students that manage to kill themselves can have pretty unhappy relatives.
I'm not even a DM yet, but I am going to be an instructor by the end of the summer, I am going to go up to MSD-T and then start teaching on the side.
I think it is all about approach, I am a personal trainer (do pretty well at it) and I plan on wearing dive t-shirts every day, having double sided business cards, and I am recruiting my girlfriend to help put up flyers, etc for the scuba business when the time comes, its all about effort, you can make a million bucks selling pet rocks, but you have to get out there and SELL PET ROCKS...
I plan on having 10 students a month (teaching on Saturdays and one evening a week) One evening a week is make up day, and saturday is THE DAY. No exceptions, etc. I am going to have a very uniform program in place (unlike a lot of dive instructors that catter to the student, just so they can have a student), I am going to get students through personal training, I train people to live active lifestyles, diving is a great activity, just loading the tanks up into your car and heading for the beach and kicking your feet a little is 100 times more than 99% of the population does everyday... On top of that I am going to make arrangements all over town so I can stay busy...
Keep the cylinder full, never worry about Having students, worry about teaching them...
I would think that if a dive master wanted to make money, they would arrange special trips, both local and exotic and advertise them a year in advance and do anything POSSIBLE to book themselves solid... you can't expect someone to hand you clients, if you can make $50 a day as a DM with someone HANDING your clients, then you should be able to make $1,000 a day with a GOOD effort.
I think it is all about approach, I am a personal trainer (do pretty well at it) and I plan on wearing dive t-shirts every day, having double sided business cards, and I am recruiting my girlfriend to help put up flyers, etc for the scuba business when the time comes, its all about effort, you can make a million bucks selling pet rocks, but you have to get out there and SELL PET ROCKS...
I plan on having 10 students a month (teaching on Saturdays and one evening a week) One evening a week is make up day, and saturday is THE DAY. No exceptions, etc. I am going to have a very uniform program in place (unlike a lot of dive instructors that catter to the student, just so they can have a student), I am going to get students through personal training, I train people to live active lifestyles, diving is a great activity, just loading the tanks up into your car and heading for the beach and kicking your feet a little is 100 times more than 99% of the population does everyday... On top of that I am going to make arrangements all over town so I can stay busy...
Keep the cylinder full, never worry about Having students, worry about teaching them...
I would think that if a dive master wanted to make money, they would arrange special trips, both local and exotic and advertise them a year in advance and do anything POSSIBLE to book themselves solid... you can't expect someone to hand you clients, if you can make $50 a day as a DM with someone HANDING your clients, then you should be able to make $1,000 a day with a GOOD effort.
JRB
Guest
3-Ring Octopus
Contributor
Best of luck to you, CJ..
. Seriously...if that works out for you, you will be one of the few.
As far as why people do it...it's got to be about having a passion for the lifestyle. If you don't live to dive, it ISN'T worth all the liability exposure/awful students/bad pay/long hours.
Cheers,
Austin
. Seriously...if that works out for you, you will be one of the few. As far as why people do it...it's got to be about having a passion for the lifestyle. If you don't live to dive, it ISN'T worth all the liability exposure/awful students/bad pay/long hours.
Cheers,
Austin
stepup
Contributor
I think I will just keep selling cars everyday and dive on weekends. And CJ I hope you prove the othe 200,000 Instructors and Dive Masters wrong. But from the looks of things you just have big dreams and maybe it will work out for you but just don't quit your day job.
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