Precision Diving

I’ve been receiving many emails and have seen advertisements for PADI’s Go Pro program. Basically, PADI is encouraging more and more people to become Divemasters or move up to Open Water Scuba Instructors. There might even be some kind of reward for instructors and stores to certify more dive professionals. Is this program beneficial to the diving industry or is it doing more harm than good? I feel that this program may be the final nail in the coffin for the diving industry. (more…)

I’ve been an independent instructor for three full years. During this time, I’ve learned quite a lot about the diving industry. As each year passes, I learn more and more. So I’d like to give a few tips to people who are, or contemplating becoming, independent instructors. These are just a few dos and don’ts that I’ve learned to help you become a successful independent scuba instructor. (more…)

Like many Americans, this year has been very tough for my family. Last year I lost my job as a business manager at Motorola. I became a stay at home dad for our two daughters. This year, my wife lost her job as a career coach at Deloitte and Touche. As of this writing, neither of us have found a steady job yet. I’ve been teaching college classes part time for some extra cash. As Christmas approaches, we have had to make hard decisions as to what kind of gifts we will get the girls. As a parent, you want to give your kids everything, but many times that just isn’t possible. As I’ve thought about Christmas for my kids, I’ve thought about other people who are in a similar, or worse, situation than me and how this affects their diving Christmas season. (more…)

“We don’t make any money on our open water classes. We hope that the open water students will buy equipment from us once they are certified.” I first heard this type of statement was during my PADI IDC when we were discussing course pricing. As a business person, this didn’t make much sense to me, but I could understand the rationale that a business uses a product or service to drive sales of other products or services. That was six years ago. I’ve had plenty of time to think about this and the more I ponder it, the more I have realized that this mentality is slowly killing the scuba diving industry. (more…)