Living & Working by Default
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

The word Default has two definitions.  The first one has always been “a failure to do something you agreed to do.”  As when you default on a loan payment.  Since the computer age began, Default took on a whole new meaning.  A default is now a pre-selected option that is adopted by a computer or other mechanism, when no alternative is specified by the user.  That means if you decide to do nothing, the computer software will decide for you.  So often in life, and at work, we take no action on an item, and we accept and live with the consequences of the default action that takes place.  Are you living your life that way?  The better question for the industry to ask is, Are you running your business like that?

Dive Industry Professionals who work in the Global Diving Business Network can make a significant difference for their companies and their professional careers.  While not all workers are entrepreneurs, we can teach industry professionals how to think entrepreneurially.  At a university I worked with, we started to teach future business executives how to think like entrepreneurs and we called it Intraprenuership. 

An entrepreneur in the diving industry has a responsibility for the success of their company.  Many successful Dive Industry Professionals get into a sector of the diving industry that they are passionate about, can make a good living at, and feel they can become the best in the industry at.  That passion is the rationale for designing a course of action that brings their USP (unique selling proposition) from Conception to Consumption.

There are many ways to run a business, and it depends on a few different scenarios that the business is organized around.  A major difference in business management is whether the company is run by its founder entrepreneur or an executive management employee.  Businesses that are run by their founders are lead by the passion and drive of their owners and tend to be result action oriented.  Companies run by hired executive management tend to be focused on bringing value to its owners, board members, or shareholders.  Regardless of which group you identify with, the two variables that separate you from the average worker are your passion and drive.

Dive Industry Professionals who have the passion for their work in the diving industry and have the drive to strive to be the best in the global diving business network tend to be action and results oriented.  Action-oriented people don’t sit back and accept default outcomes for their labor.  They create and implement actionable items that have a reasonable probability of achieving positive outcomes to their planned objectives.  They measure the key results of their objectives for effectiveness to see if their actionable items did in fact achieve their objectives as planned.  A true Dive Industry Professional does not stop working on their goals and objectives until they are completely achieved.

The business of diving is simply filling a need that exists in the global diving community.  If you look at your business as an entity that solves a problem or fills a need, you are on the right track.  If you view yourself as being consumer-centric instead of self-centered, you have just successfully defined the second reason for success in running a business.

The most unsuccessful people in the diving industry, who have failed at successfully running their own businesses or careers are the ones who are self-centered.  They learned the hard way that the business of diving is not about their talent or the features and benefits of their programs, products, and services.  The Business of Diving is about filling the needs of your customers with the programs, and products, and services that are created to accomplish that.

Becoming customer-centric is a process.  It is not something that comes automatically to the creators or sellers of diving equipment, dive training, dive travel, or lifestyle products.  The components you have to learn and apply are 1) Awareness, 2) Education, 3) Planning, 4) Action, 5) Analyzing.  When you adopt a 5-point process to running your business, you are living by design instead of living by default. 

Living by Design: The secret to being a successful Dive Industry Professional is living by design instead of living by default.  It’s all about living offensively instead of acting and reacting defensively.  Creating a business that solves problems for consumers is creating a business that fills the needs of its customers.  The secret to creating programs, products, and services that fills needs is mastering the art of conquering cognitive dissonance.

Ideal Self vs Real Self: Whether you are looking to improve yourself or your business, the process is the same.  Picture your business as it is.  Now imagine your business the way you want it to be.  The difference between the two images is your cognitive dissonance.  Your job as a Dive Industry Professional is to change your current business to the way you want it to be.  This change will not take place automatically, through default.  The change has to come from a series of actionable items (inputs) that achieve the changes (outcomes).

Five-Point Process: The first step in instituting change is awareness.  You have to become aware of your current situation.  Where does your company stand now?  Every company should have a current situational analysis on file.  Many don’t.  Your company should also have a current market analysis, a global industry analysis, and a world economic analysis.  I know, that is a lot to ask businesses in the diving industry to have.

Next in the process to achieving outcomes is education.  Once we are aware of a situation that commands our attention, we need to educate ourselves as to the circumstances that surround the subject.  The planning process is an important part of our education and a precursor to any action that may be required.  Planning is the intelligent way to solve a problem or to change a situation.  Proper planning prevents poor results.  A good plan evaluates all of your available options and chooses the ones that will give you the best results for the least investment of your time, money, and manpower.

A well-designed plan will create a step-by-step plan of action that can be implemented when the time is right.  A good Action Plan will contain your final objective, and supported by key results that have to be achieved in order to successfully complete the objective.

The Missing Chapter to Problem Solving: Implementing your Action Plan is not the end of your problem-solving work.  Successful business managers know that their Key Results have to be monitored and measured to make sure they are completed as scheduled.  If your planned actionable items are not achieving your key results, they have to be adjusted in order to have a successful outcome.

Living and working in the global diving business network is all about achieving results by completing your planned goals and objectives. Adopting a 5-point sales and marketing strategy will put you heads and shoulders above your competitors and give your business the competitive edge it needs to grow your business and capture a sustainable market share.

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  

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