The True Meaning of a Network –
by Gene Muchanski
Editor, The Dive Industry Professional 

Dive Industry Association is a true Global Business Network in the Recreational Diving Community.  We designed it 20 years ago to unite the industry to a common purpose.  The common purpose has always been to bring Buyers & Sellers together to grow the recreation.  Industries don’t grow if working Industry Professionals are not engaged in active commerce and operating their businesses professionally, productively and profitably.

I look back on the diving industry’s history and I can see that our recreational industry started to grow in the 1960’s.  We made major gains in the 1970’s and I believe our decade of explosive growth was in the 1980’s.  You may remember that our industry started to decline in the 1990’s and in the past 20 years has been a mixture of growth, decline, consolidation, acquisition and outright confusion and fragmentation.  The recent economic turmoil in the world’s economy was the breaking point in the recreational diving industry as we know it.   The pandemic is causing serious after-effects on the way we do business in our recreation.  I believe that we are being forced to look at the way we currently do business and change our business models and paradigms accordingly.

Recreational diving businesses are seeing the value in belonging to a global business network like ours, in order to link up with like-minded businesses that share the same goals, aspirations and challenges.  Our Global Network brings Dive Industry Professionals together as a group to unify their focus and sharpen their skills as Sellers of diving equipment, training and travel products.  As an active marketing network association we are actually focusing our marketing programs on bringing qualified buyers to our selling members.  

The big difference between our association and others is that our annual fee is used to acquire and master modern marketing tools to bring our members more business.  We are not a vendor who charges you an annual fee just to sell you more products and services.   We understand that you will never succeed by only buying more products from your vendors.  You will only succeed by selling more products and services to your customers.  Our mission in this industry is to expose and refer you to the people who will become your customers.  What is a referral worth to you?

Let me quickly explain the logic of our Mission  Focus before my life gets threatened as an enemy of the major vendors.  The success of the Recreational Diving Industry comes from the sales of diving equipment, training programs and travel products.  As a Global Networking Association, our Mission is to bring Buyers and Sellers together.  We take that mission very seriously and we make it all inclusive from product conception to product consumption.  I have worked for equipment manufacturers, training agencies and travel companies.  I fully understand their agendas, priorities and current sales focus.  I was also a dive store employee, manager and owner for ten years.  I know the importance of working with  professional vendors who treat you like a sales partner instead of those who treat you like a mere customer with a big check book.  As a Dive Store Retailer I always sought out vendors who not only helped me buy sellable products but helped me to resell them to my customers.  The more I sold, the more I bought.  Not, vice versa.  That’s what makes retail stores successful.

In this post-covid time frame, the Dive Industry Association is reaching out to Buyers and Sellers worldwide to offer you membership in our Global Business Network.  Let us help you identify quality vendors who will work with you to complete the sales of diving equipment, training and travel goods and services.  Let’s work together to identify and reach qualified buyers for you.  Let us help you to rebuild your businesses and restart this wonderful recreational business community.

For more information about Membership in the Dive Industry Association, go to www.diveindustry.net   

For more information about this article, contact Gene Muchanski at gene@diveindustry.net 

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