The Business of Diving
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Every business has, or should have, their own unique selling proposition.  Some people call it a unique selling point.  Probably because they can’t spell proposition.  A unique selling proposition is a short statement that defines your company’s uniqueness.  It’s what makes you different or better than your competitors.  If you haven’t given USPs very much thought for your company, do yourself a favor and scan the youtube channel for some interesting videos on USPs.

Our industry trade magazine, The Dive Industry Professional has been around for twenty-five years.  First as a newsletter and then as a magazine in the last four years.  Our Unique Selling Proposition is that we are dedicated to bringing Business of Diving issues to Dive Industry Professionals across the globe.  To give relevance to our articles about the business of diving issues, we often have to include content from the vast array of diving issues from the global diving community.  Hence, our readership tends to be very diversified in terms of their diving industry education, experience, and interests.

The global diving community is an integrated organizational matrix of every type of diving and diving related discipline with the common denominator being diving activity, which grew out of the original skin-diving activities of the 1950’s.  To be clear, we are not talking about or including board diving or skydiving activities.  What we now define as the global diving community includes diving activities such as skin diving, free diving, scuba diving, CCR diving, surface-supplies diving, tech diving, and mermaiding.  It’s also interesting to note the high degree of interest this group has in swimming, general watermanship, health and safety activities, marine and environmental issues, as well as adventure travel and exploration.

Definition of Diving: Diving is an activity.  Divers participate in it as a hobby, profession, job skill, occupational requirement, or as a business.  Diving is used in the recreational, commercial, military, academic, scientific, environmental, or public service sectors of the economy.  The way we employ diving activity in these different situations can be on a personal level, a trade level, or in the conduct of business.

Definition of The Business of Diving: When we discuss business of diving issues, we are referring to the manufacturing, distributing, buying, and selling of diving equipment, training programs, travel opportunities, and lifestyle products.  The two major players in this equation are buyers and sellers.  The buyers make up the Global Diving Community.  They are the market for diving and diving related goods and services.  They are the people we serve.  The sellers make up what we call the Global Diving Business Network.  They create the programs, products, and services the market needs to actively engage in diving and diving related activities.  If you work in the Global Diving Business Network, you can function as a business owner, employee, or private contractor.  Of course, private contractors are really business owners in their own right, but they perform for and are paid by other business owners.  Technical point.

Managing a Global Diving Business Network: Our Purpose for creating the Dive Industry Association was to build a better, more sustainable industry capable of further growth and advancement.  An industry that is unified, professional, progressive, innovative, integrated, profitable, and attractive to talented professionals as a suitable career opportunity.  We are the stewards of the Global Diving Community’s future resources and reputation.  Our Mission is to bring Buyers and Sellers together for mutual benefit.  Our ultimate Objective is to build, service, and grow a sustainable global diving community.  To achieve our goals and objectives for a sustainable global diving community we need to research, analyze, work with, and promote the Global Diving Business Network that produces, distributes, sells, and services the diving and diving related programs, products, and services, divers need.

Managing an industry is just like running a business.  Someone has to work in the business, doing what the business does, and someone has to work on the business to ensure it stays in business.  It’s the same with an industry.  Specifically, the diving industry.  While equipment manufacturers are building diving equipment, training agencies are creating training programs, and travel businesses are operating dive resorts, the industry needs a trade association helping its members navigate the world’s economic landscape.  That is the Business of Diving.

The Business of Diving is not about diving.  It’s about running a business.  If you want to go diving a lot, get a job and pay for your diving.  You’ll probably go to more exciting dive destinations and do a lot more diving.  With the exception of dive instructors who work at exotic dive resorts or liveaboards, too many Dive Industry Professionals are diving the same location every weekend.  I know.  I’ll show you my log book from the 1980’s when I was teaching openwater classes at Corona del Mar, California, every weekend, for years.  That wasn’t diving – that was work.  I didn’t make a thousand dives.  I made one dive, a thousand times!  Now, after many years of doing it wrong, we are focusing on the business of diving issues by showing diving instructors and store owners how to balance their activities and implement smart hiring practices so they can get the job done and make some time to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Working 80 hours a week in a dive shop and not having the energy or time to go on fun dives is not the answer.  Neither is closing the shop so you can hang a sign on the door saying – GONE DIVING.  There is a better way and the better way is to take the business of diving issues more seriously.  I do want to caution Dive Industry Professionals about advice they get from dive business consultants who are often just salespeople for some kind of marketing tool or technology.  Business professionals use business tools to get their business work done quicker, more efficiently, and more professionally.  It’s about running your business better – not so you’ll have more time to go diving.  Capturing your customer’s sales history and contact information is absolutely the right thing to do, but if you don’t take the time to use the data to generate more business, it does you no good at all.  The business of diving issue is not just about creating a customer list.  More importantly, it’s about how to effectively use one.

Better run businesses do a better job at serving their customers.  You don’t go into the diving business so you can go diving more.  You go into the diving business so other people can go diving more.  It’s all about making the activity safer and more enjoyable for your customers.  If it also helps you, that’s great too, but it should not be your main goal.

Become a Member of our Global Diving Business Network: Annual Membership in the Dive Industry Association is $125 and includes placement in a number of Trade Directories and websites.  Our organization uses websites and directories in advertising and marketing campaigns to refer business to our members.  By joining our network, you are becoming part of a network that works actively on your behalf to bring buyers and sellers together for the benefit and growth of the Global Diving Community.  Download a Membership Application today.

For more information about the Global Diving Business Network, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL 32904.  Phone: 321-914-3778.  Email: gene@diveindustry.net  Web: www.diveindustry.net

# # #