Dive Industry Association, Inc.

Starting Your Own Business Series
The Exit Strategy
by Gene Muchanski, Executive Director
Dive Industry Association, Inc.

If there is one topic of conversation in the business community that is not thought about seriously or is completely ignored in business planning, it is the exit strategy.  There are many reasons for that, some logical and some totally illogical.  When entrepreneurs are thinking about starting a business, most of them myopically focus on the start-up, growth, and success of the business.  No one really wants to plan for going out of business, but that is only a small part of what the exit strategy is all about.   We know that bad things happen, and they usually happen unexpectantly.  We also know that all good things must come to an end, and when they do, we all hope to be prepared for that type of ending.  So, let’s look at the exit strategy in a new way.

Let’s think about our exit strategy as “Contingency Planning.”  Our contingency planning chapter will be written as part of our business plan, in the days before our start-up.  By doing this we can think about the various options we might have available if our business does not do as well as we had planned or if our business meets or even exceeds our expectations many years down the road.  Our exit strategy should reflect what we want and do not want out of the business and when.  It is also a reflection of how much we want out of our business.  An exit strategy can be as short and simple as you want to make it or it can include as much detail you may need to be comfortable with your future options.  A good exit strategy starts with setting your limits.  Usually those limits are about time, money, and manpower, but they can also be about your physical and psychological health limits.

The worst-case scenario is that your company does not do as well as expected.  If it is unprofitable, how long are you willing to work at it?  How much time and money are you willing to lose before you cut your losses and close the business?  Your contingency planning options should include what to do when you close your business, sell your business, or file for bankruptcy.  Because a business is a legal entity, you should consult with your attorney, tax professional, accountant, business consultant and if you own property, your real estate agent, before you begin the closing process. Undoing a legal entity is a process you must go through to clear your books and tie up loose ends with local, state, and federal government agencies.

If your company is profitable but is not what you want for yourself anymore, then maybe letting go is the best thing to do for yourself and your loved ones.  Regardless of your reason for making your exit, if your company is profitable and running well, that buys you time.  Some of your exit strategy options for profitable businesses include passing the business on to your children, bringing on a management team and retiring from the business, or selling the business outright.  If you plan on selling the business and taking your equity in the form of cash, then you have to have a business that is worth something and is liquid.  By liquid, I mean easily sold for cash.

The best way to sell your business is to plan for it in the future.  Think about why someone would want to purchase your business instead of starting their own from scratch.  Build those reasons into your exit strategy and start preparing for your last day the minute you open your doors for the first time.

Create a Business:  The first thing you need to do is create a business, not a practice.  A business is a legal entity that can be run successfully with or without the owner present.  A business has employees and managers doing the things that businesses must do to sell programs, products, and services to a customer base that is acquired, retained and recaptured if necessary.  A business uses modern tools and technologies to achieve the most profitable outcomes with the least amount of inputs.  A business is an organization run by people who have a vested interest in its success.  If someone were interested in purchasing your business, the first thing they would want to know is if your current employees would be willing to remain with the new owner after the sale.

A practice, on the other hand, is what we refer to as an owner – operator situation, also known as a Sole Proprietor.  When the owner is away from the business, the business usually comes to a halt.  That means, if the owner is the only one teaching the diving classes, doing the dive trips, and selling the equipment, it is unlikely that activity will continue after they sell the business.  Same thing with a Dentist.  They have a hard time selling their practice if they do not want to continue working for the new owner.  The only thing a new owner would be buying is the equipment and the customer base.  And there is no guarantee that the customers will continue to do business with the new Dentists.  So, the first thing you have to do is build a business that will continue to operate with a new owner.

The second thing you need to do is make sure that the business is profitable.  You do that by keeping good records of equipment purchases, inventory purchases, customer acquisitions, revenues, and expenses.  A good accounting software program will create and maintain your customer database.  Having a profitable customer base is extremely important.  The next thing is good inventory control.  How much inventory are you purchasing?  What is your inventory turn rate?  What is the value of your current inventory and is it new and saleable?  Sales are very important to a prospective buyer.  They want to know your sales history in detail.  Equally important is how you control your expenses.  Are your expenses in line with your sales?  A prospective buyer is going to want to see your books.  Even before you get into any details, make sure your Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Cash Flow is current and accurate.

Even if a business is run professionally, proficiently, and profitably, prospective buyers will want to know if there is growth potential in the venture.  A quick look at your sales history may be all they need to know.  Sometimes they may even have to look at demographic growth data from the U.S. Census reports.

When you operate your business as if it would eventually be up for sale, you will have tendency to look at your business through the eyes of a prospective buyer.  A profitable business that is operated professionally is a difficult thing to start from scratch.  That will always be your ace in the hole.  With such a business, it is even easier to groom a future buyer.  With a good exit strategy in place, you might even make the transition as seamless as possible.

A word of caution when you are selling your business.  When you decide to get out, get out.  Sell the entire business, equipment, fixtures, inventory, boat, customer list, accounts receivable and accounts payable.  Everything.  You can keep your own diving gear, but it’s best to make your exit as clean and simple as possible.  Some sellers think they can keep their mailing list and run trips or dive classes to their former customers after the sale.  Sorry, those customers are now part of the new owner’s revenue potential.  If you are thinking about continuing to teach diving (especially Instructor Courses), then arrange that with the new owner and agree to come onboard as an employee.  No one is going to buy your business if you insist on a side-hustle, that’s not part of the new business.  A smart buyer will ask you to sign a non-compete contract with them if you are not returning as an employee.

I know this last paragraph may seem a little hard but in fact, it is proving to be the best thing for both parties in a number of dive store and dive operator sales.  A good business sale to the right partner or firm will give the former owners a cash payout, release of business ownership responsibility, possibly a full or part time job, and maybe even with their former staff and employees.  What could be better than achieving your lifetime dream of having a successful dive store or dive boat business without all the stress and responsibility of business ownership.  So you see, there may still be life after selling your business.

Congratulations on completing the “Starting Your Own Business Series.”  For more information on starting your own business, as it relates to a Dive Industry Professional Business, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association.  Phone 321-914-3778.   eMail: gene@diveindustry.net

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EDITORIAL – OCTOBER 2022

Creating Your Own Market 
by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Welcome to the October 2022 Editorial of The Dive Industry Professional.  Our focus this month is on one of the most important things a Dive Industry Professional can do.  That would be to create your own market for the products you sell.  If I had to add a second most important thing to do it would be to constantly serve that market.  You see, the purpose of a business is to sell a program, product, or service to customers who want, need, and can afford them.  We’ll call them products from here on and we’ll focus on the needs aspect.  According to what we learned in business school, the needs we have for certain things cannot be created but a market for the products that fulfill those needs can.  Scuba diving and adventure travel fills many needs that people have.  We have discussed this topic to exhaustion at trade shows, dive shows and local bars and beaches, but it may be worth your while to have a round-table discussion with your local peers to identify those needs that can be satiated by what you sell in your community.

The most important way for you to generate a market to sell to, is to create your own.  There is an old saying I learned from a former General Manager at Mares.  “Focus on filling your own parking lot first, before you think about stealing customers from your competitors parking lot.”   That nugget of wisdom has always rung true for me, in my experience.  When you are new in business, you want to establish a reputation of doing things a certain way.  You want to become known for your expertise or what we call your unique selling proposition (USP).  It’s what makes you better than your competition.  So, you venture into your local community and look for people who believe you would be better than someone else, at doing what you do.  From there you can start to build your circle of influence and your current customer base.

The five most important things you can do to create and maintain your market is to:  1) Always be prospecting for new students.  2) Teach people to dive.  3) Sell them their scuba equipment.  4) Take them diving.  5) Keep them active in the recreation.  I can’t emphasize enough, the importance of prospecting for new students.  Even while you are teaching your current scuba class and bringing them through the process of becoming certified divers, someone must be filling the pipeline of new students.  While you are focusing on the current scuba class, someone must be thinking about the next scuba class. 

In our industry, the next step toward building your own market, starting with non-divers, is to teach them to dive.  Once you have signed them up for class, you have created a market for the sale of diving equipment and dive travel.  If you don’t follow through with teaching them about scuba equipment and selling your students the necessary equipment, someone else will.  This, in my opinion, is going to be the key talking point in the post-pandemic era.  The secret here is to be the first to get your prospective student’s contact information, enroll them in a scuba class, build a relationship of trust, teach them a quality scuba program that includes teaching them about the equipment they will be using as a diver, and set the stage for a long and successful lifetime of scuba diving and adventure dive travel.  Any gaps in these steps may cause you to lose the market you created.

I learned an important lesson in the early days of my career in the diving industry.  As we saw the industry being built, the certification agencies were coming onboard and defining what was important to them.  They built their own business models based on the strengths of their unique selling propositions.  Some agencies focused on being exclusive, some on quality educational programs, some on making certification easier to obtain, and some on selling only to retail dive stores.  It was easy to see the distinction of their concepts as they created their own corporate cultures in the early days.  It is interesting to see that in the past sixty years, some agencies are still using their original business models, some have changed (and changed frequently), and some have either been sold, acquired or gone out of business.  In today’s market there are over fifty (50) certification agencies, and their lines of distinction are less pronounced.  However, each agency has its own distinct corporate culture and its own operational guidelines, even if their business model is the same or similar to their competitors.   It’s now up to the individual Dive Industry Professional to choose the certification agency that fits their business model, corporate culture, and their desire to create and kept their local market.

Developing your own local market is all about your ability to prospect for new customers.  On average, businesses lose up to 25% of their market every year due to attrition.  Just like universities.  That means you always have to be prospecting for new customers.  Always.  The best method, and least expensive, is a direct referral from a current customer.  If you have done your job properly with your last scuba class, you would have certified them to dive and sold them their diving equipment so they could go diving with you.  You would have taken them diving and gotten them so excited about scuba diving that they are willing to stay active in the recreation.  All you have to do now is ask them to refer you to their friends so they can all go diving together.  That’s how customer bases are built.

Now if you have a strong referral program going you may not have to worry about people in your local community going on-line to seek out a local dive store other than yours and they certainly won’t be interested in other certification agencies other than the one you teach for.  When it comes to buying their diving equipment, history tells us that new customers listen to the advice of their friends and family when it comes to buying their gear.  And when divers think about booking a dive trip to St Somewhere, they are most likely going to go with the people their friends recommend.  Be that person who people recommend.

If getting referrals is important to you, then where you get your referrals from should also be a very important aspect of the mix.  If a referral comes to you from a current customer, the prospect probably is aware of your education, experience, and reputation.  They probably have formed some type of expectation of your services and how they will be treated.  If the referral came from some place else, it probably is coming with the expectations instilled by the referrer.  Will you be able to fulfill or exceed their expectations or will you be at odds with the prospect.  That’s something to think about.

So many of these questions and dilemmas can be answered and dealt with if you have a firm understanding of your business model, corporate culture, and business purpose.  Before you even start prospecting for new customers, make sure you and your staff have agreed on a purpose, vision, mission, focus and goals for your business.  With that, growth plans and opportunities seem to just fall into place.

For more information on creating your own market, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, Inc., at gene@diveindustry.net or call me at 321-914-3778.

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EDITORIAL – SEPTEMBER 2022

The Market Is Big Enough For Now
by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Welcome to the September 2022 Editorial of The Dive Industry Professional.  For many years now, September has been the month when the major suppliers in the diving industry launch their marketing programs for the next season.  The logic behind a September Launch is sound and has paid off handsomely for many companies for at least the last twenty-five years, maybe even longer.  A September Industry Launch works well for the supply side of diving equipment channels of distribution.  For the diving equipment manufacturers, equipment sales agents, and retail dive stores, September is the best month to introduce, sell, and order new lines for the next diving season.    Let’s review a few of the reasons why you need to be in sync with this particular seasonality curve.

The traditional recreational season for scuba diving and watersports in the United States is generally Memorial Day through Labor Day.  So, while scuba instructors, dive stores and charter boats are busy teaching classes, selling diving equipment and taking divers on dive boat charters, their manufacturing vendors are putting together their new line of equipment for the next season.  By August, their samples have arrived from their OEM’s and these Manufacturers & Distributors are conducting their annual sales meetings.  On the day after Labor Day, while the dive stores are still active and hopefully blessed with a generous open-to-buy budget from the current season, the major manufacturing Reps begin calling on their accounts to show their new lines and take orders for the upcoming season.  For the Retailers, this allows them to put their current inventory on sale (clearance) and begin merchandising and selling next-years line for the Holiday Shopping Season.  For the Manufacturers, a September Launch gives them important sales forecasting data for the next season and ties up their Dealers open-to-buy budgets.  This allows the equipment manufacturers and Sales Reps to focus on seminars, workshops and social events at the annual industry trade show, two months later.

As we enter the post-pandemic era in our industry, the concept of a September Industry Launch is more important than ever.  The number one reason is a declining market coupled with increased competition to capture market share.  Twenty years ago, our industry had 2,400 dive stores.  This year we are lucky if we have 1,200 viable dive stores in the U.S.  So, the wholesale market has been cut in half.  Secondly, the number of divers has to be significantly less, considering the number of baby boom divers who don’t dive anymore because of age or health reasons.  Also, in the post-pandemic era, our recreation is being challenged by government restrictions, travel restrictions and staffing challenges, resort destination closures, and supply chain shortages.  People are diving less.  So, with a declining market and increasing challenges, Dive Industry Professionals have their work cut out for them.  But there is a silver lining in the clouds.

Back in the days of John Cronin, Dick Bonin, and Bob Gray, we had Dive Industry Leaders who knew that unity would create a more manageable small niche market within the larger sporting goods market.  They were Entrepreneurs and they knew that the industry had to be united to develop a large concentration of qualified retail buyers so they could meet in one place, at one time, to maximize sales and communications.  They knew that having a smaller number of exhibitors at a trade show with a higher percentage of divers would be more successful for them than having a larger number of non-diving exhibitors and a lower percentage of divers at a National Sporting Goods Trade Show.    They were spot on.  I remember my first DEMA Show in 1982 in San Antonio, Texas.  With only 182 Exhibitors but a high concentration of qualified retail buyers, the market was big enough and the show was successful for both exhibitors and buyers.  We can do that again if our industry leaders would embrace the concept of unity.

Now I’m going to tell you about the mistakes that are happening in our industry today.  Our industry is more fragmented than it has ever been.  Some of our manufacturers have broken away from our united niche market and have tried to isolate a small sub-niche market for themselves.  This tactic actually costs them more and brings them smaller returns.  Some have even cut services and communications to their dealer base in hopes of selling directly to the consumer.  To justify a larger marketing expenditure for diminishing returns from a declining niche market, these companies are giving up on more profitable trade shows, consumer dive shows, regional sales events, and most importantly, loyalty from their dealer base.   As face-to-face marketing events try to make a come-back after the pandemic, we must not fall into the trap of spreading our marketing budget too thin, in hopes of picking up a small percentage of a non-diving events total market share.  This is another mistake being made by companies who are conducting marketing efforts in unfamiliar markets.  These critical errors in judgement may very well stem from the hiring of recent company management, who are not entrepreneurial in their thinking, but rather hired employees with little to no knowledge of the recreational diving market. 

So, the silver lining in the clouds of uncertainty is that unity works and isolation marketing doesn’t.  It’s easy to see what some companies are doing and realize that many will either fail to attract a sufficient market share, or they will go broke trying.  For you, that is a good thing.  For them, not so much.  The market is big enough for now and we can capture a sufficient market share to succeed and grow.  Yes, in this post-pandemic period, our advice is to circle our wagons and go after the bulk of the market that is centering around our common recreational activities.  The best thing we can do at this point is to recommend that each dive business focus on marketing to their active current customers.  This should bring in the most results from the least efforts and resources.  If you are in need of additional market share, we recommend you next focus on recapturing your former customers, who have not purchased from you in the past 12 months.  Find out why, and then create a strategy to reactivate them into current customers.

The third part of our plan is to prospect for new customers.  Prospecting for new customers is the most costly and time consuming marketing.  This is the part that is best done in unison with your regional diving community or your diving trade association.  Our industry must encourage regional consumer dive shows again and support them.  Regional dive shows have a higher concentration of divers per attendee.  The cost to participate is small in comparison to the possible returns.  Non-diving shows such as travel shows, boating shows, and outdoor shows are not cost effective for individual companies due to high booth prices and low diver concentration of attendees.  They may be cost effective on a shared basis when your trade association represents your local diving community on your behalf.  That is where the concept of unity will pay off for our industry.

And a final word of advice from our forty years of marketing at trade and consumer shows.  A face-to-face show or event is a market that is temporarily created to bring buyers and sellers together.  It is the responsibility of the show producer to do everything possible to bring as many buyers and sellers together as possible.  It is not the responsibility of the sellers to bring their current customers to the event.  If they could do that, they would not need the venue producer, they would simply invite their customers to visit them at their location.    Trade and consumer shows are where we meet new customers.  We vote (support) with our time, money and manpower where there is an opportunity to increase our revenue and our market share.  The Surf Expo has two full-time staff members whose job is to visit Watersports Dealers and encourage them to attend the Surf Expos.  Attendance at Surf Expo for qualified Retail Buyers incidentally, is free.

So, as we enter into the beginning of a new recreational diving season, let us focus on serving our current customers, recapturing our former customers and actively prospecting for new customers.  The size of the industry’s current market is sufficient for now, to make many of our Dive Industry Professionals very successful.  How many?  That remains to be seen, but the likelihood will get increasingly better as we learn to prospect for new customers to add to the total market, as we learn to compete to capture a larger market share for ourselves.  I’ve always said that it is easier to increase the size of a market then it is to compete over a declining market.

For more information on attracting and selling to Dive Industry Professionals, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, Inc., at gene@diveindustry.net or call me at 321-914-3778.

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EDITORIAL – AUGUST 2022

We Need A Better Reason To Go Diving.
by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Welcome to the August 2022 Editorial of The Dive Industry Professional.  I’m in the process of getting ready for another dive trip and thought I would take a break from my packing to get our August Editorial finished before we go.  Hopefully by the time you read this, our team will either be still diving the Sea of Cortez or have just recently returned home.  Like any other dive trip, our reasons for going on this trip were varied.  We wanted to dive someplace we never dove before.  We heard great things about Dora Sierra’s Liveaboard, the Rocio Del Mar, and we heard about the great diving in the Sea of Cortez.   The thought of diving with Sea Lions and Whale Sharks again was enough to make us look forward to the trip, but what got us most excited was photographing and videotaping the experience ourselves.  After seeing Dora’s video on Diving the Sea of Cortez – Midriff Islands, Dana and I both said, “We Have to Go!”

Within a week’s time, we were all booked and scheduled for the trip.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized the importance of deciding what we were going to do on the trip.  The big question that millions of scuba divers ask themselves all the time, is Why are we doing this?  Why do we dive?  Being a certified diver for 55 years now, I have always actively worked at keeping my diving activity fun and meaningful.  For many years, just diving and exploring was good enough.  Diving new sites and seeing new things was always fun and gratifying.  Then, teaching classes at all levels and focusing on giving my students good diving experiences occupied 20 years of my career.  That was rewarding too.  And speaking of rewarding, the diving I did in the U.S. Navy and the Naval Reserves for 24 years, was very special and memorable.  The twenty years I spent diving and testing new equipment after that, got me into tinkering and experiencing new types of diving and new diving equipment.  I have to say, I always had a reason to go diving then.  But for me, when I started capturing my experiences on film and video and then writing about and publishing my diving adventures, it gave me new meaning and purpose to go back again and again.  Maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s the educator in me, but going out and capturing a diving adventure and then sharing it with my diving and non-diving friends, is very rewarding.  And the search for new content is never ending.  I guess that is my new purpose.  My new reason for diving.  And it’s insatiable. 

So, how do you take this concept and make it work for you?  If you are a Dive Industry Professional, it may put a spark, or maybe even a new direction in your diving career.  If you are a certified diver and enjoy diving as a hobby, it will definitely give you more reasons to get back in the water as often as you can.  Keep in mind that your reason to dive is a personal one.  Every person has their own reasons to dive.  Find your reasons based on what makes you happy.

For some people, diving is an end in itself.  They get certified, buy their gear and go diving.  It’s a recreation.  It’s fun.  For some people, diving is a means to an end.  They love to take underwater pictures or video.  To do that you need diving equipment. Same thing with Wreck Diving and Cave Diving.  If we put on our thinking-caps, I’m sure we can come up with a slew of other underwater activities that require the use of scuba diving equipment.  Marine Conservation, Mermaiding, Underwater Modeling?

I bring this topic up for a few reasons.  A few years ago, I spoke with a person in the Yachting business.  He told me that if fishing ever became illegal, the boating industry would cease to exist.  Whether he was right or wrong, his opinion was that not enough people buy expensive boats to just go boating.  Most big yachts like Viking and Hatteras are purchased by people to go fishing.  Think about that.  My question is if underwater photography and videography became illegal, would the scuba diving industry die?  How about if Dive Travel became outlawed permanently, how would that affect our industry?  To put it into a clearer perspective, instead of thinking about activities becoming illegal, what if just the number of participants decreased by a significant number?  If divers lost their interest in underwater photography and travel, how would that affect our industry and specifically, your business?

So, ask yourself, Is underwater photography to the diving industry what fishing is to the boating industry?   If it is, then it would make sense to expand the Image Resource Centers at trade and consumer dive shows many times over.  If a large percentage of activity is concentrated in a specific interest of our recreation, that means it has meaningful economic potential for the industry.  For our industry to grow in a meaningful way, we have to look at the reasons people go diving, what they spend their money on and whether they think of diving, equipment, training, travel, and interests as a means to an end or as an end to itself.

In my opinion, the image making professionals need to get re-engaged in the international diving community and definitely in the Global Diving Business Network. Focusing on select clusters of current customers is safe, but it doesn’t grow the market. On average, businesses lose about 25% of their market share every year through attrition. The customers you lose every year needs to be replaced by new customers. If the diving industry is certifying 100,000 new divers every years, that’s a good place to start your prospecting. I believe you can increase consumer demand significantly by designing a campaign that retains your current customers, recaptures your former customers and acquires new customers. If dive businesses would only use their own expertise in creating and marketing the power of underwater images to inspire divers to take up underwater photography and video making, I believe they will experience business and diver growth like never before. Just think about it. If watching Dora’s video on the Sea of Cortez got us to spend another $10,000 on a dive trip, and more dive equipment and photography equipment (and that’s just 2 people), what would marketing to 100,000 new divers do for your business?

For more information on being a Dive Industry Professional and growing your business, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, Inc., at gene@diveindustry.net or call me at 321-914-3778.

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What It Means To Be A Volunteer.
by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Welcome to the July 2022 Editorial of The Dive Industry Professional.  We are so fortunate to be involved in a recreation that attracts some of the most adventurous, kind, considerate, intelligent, and generous people on the planet.  I have been a water sports person all my life and it has brought me great joy and appreciation.  Appreciation for a healthy environment.  Appreciation for our plant and animal population.  And yes, appreciation for the enviro-friendly recreation businesses I deal with on a daily basis. 

As a lifelong scuba diver, I know that, as a group, we are an adventurous lot.  That’s a given.  You have to have an adventurous streak in you, in order to put on life support equipment and enter a strange and sometimes hostile environment we know very little about.  Just for the sake of exploring and learning something new.  So, we are adventurous, courageous, and curious.

Scuba diving is an outdoor recreation, so we have developed an appreciation for clean air, clean water, and abundant and healthy plant and animal life.  Whether I am hiking on land or exploring underwater, I get that feeling we were designed to be more than custodians of our environment.  We were meant to be good stewards of all the gifts that were entrusted to us.  That means, we don’t just get to enjoy and appreciate a healthy environment, we have to use our abilities and talents to create and maintain a healthy environment for all to enjoy.

Being good stewards of the earth and everything in it means that everyone has a duty and a responsibility to do their part.  Since we were all born with unique talents and abilities, it means that we can volunteer our time, talent, and treasure according to our gifts.  Regardless of your ability, you have something of value that can be used for the greater good.

Volunteering your time, talents and treasures is not just for a few non-profit organizations.  The diving industry has many non-profit organizations that focus on a multitude of needs.  We have environmental groups that work for clean water, healthy reefs, and marine life.  We have organizations that work with people who have physical and emotional challenges.  Some specialize in working with Veterans.  A number of non-profits work with children, or specific minority groups.  Some non-profits are designed to assist small businesses to help them start, grow, and succeed in their calling.  The types of non-profit, charitable organizations are almost limitless.  Finding an organization to volunteer your time, talent and treasures should be easy.  In today’s world, the need is great, but the volunteer workers are few.

Many people don’t realize this, but becoming a volunteer is actually a part of our life cycle.  In his book Start, Jon Acuff tells us that everyone goes through the same five stages in life, and the stages appear to correspond to our age groups.  According to Acuff, the five stages of life are Learning, Editing, Mastering, Harvesting, and Guiding.  See if any of these apply to you.  In our 20’s we are focused on learning.  In our 30’s we are taking what we’ve learned and refining it in order to better serve our purpose.  We edit and use what works for us and we discard what doesn’t.  In our 40’s we spend our time mastering our trade and really digging into the details that makes us more competitive in the workplace and in our profession.  By the time we are in our 50’s we are at a point in our life where we can enjoy the fruits of our labor and reap the rewards of the hard work we’ve done in our lives.   When we arrive at our 60’s, it’s time to guide the younger generation and become the mentors they need.  That’s why volunteering is so important.  Over your lifetime you have developed talents that other people need and can use.  Hopefully you will now have the time to spare, working for a good cause.

To me, volunteering is donating your time, talent or treasures to an organization that does good work.  Work that benefits people, companies, governments, or the environment.  I’ve seen three types of volunteering in the diving industry and other industries as well.  Some organizations recruit general volunteers to do general tasks.  These organizations need bodies.  Lots of them.  Good examples are beach clean ups for the environment and parking or clean-up crews at the local church.  The tasks are general in nature and can be on a one-time basis or on a recurring schedule.  The second type of volunteering is one that uses a volunteer’s specific talent for a specific purpose.  Recruiting a Medical Doctor or Dentist for a doctors without borders program is a good example.  The mission of the organization is specific, and the volunteers have to be qualified and experienced to perform the work. The third type of volunteering is simply giving financial support to an organization.  If you look at the non-profit industry closely, you will see why this type of volunteering is essential for building roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and libraries.  Without your financial support, many non-profits would not be able to carry on doing the work they do for their community or the world.

The diving industry needs all three types of volunteers.  We need the masses for beach clean-ups and environmental projects.  We need generous donations of equipment, travel accommodations, and dollars to keep these organizations solvent.  But most of all, we need the education and experience of the generation of Dive Industry Professionals that came before us, to volunteer their talents and expertise to small businesses so they can start, grow and succeed in the Global Diving Business Network.  Now, I want to distinguish the difference between a volunteer and an advisor with a special talent, because I have had experience as both.  Volunteers get things done.  Organizations ask for volunteers with various professional expertise, like law, accounting, marketing, graphic design, etc.  These organizations know what they want and are looking for talent that is willing to help them on a volunteer basis.  Advisors, on the other hand, lend their expertise on an as-needed basis to help an organization clarify an issue or help make a decision.  An Advisor’s recommendation is not always implemented and sometimes is not even valued by the paid employees of a company.  If you are asked to be an Advisor or a Volunteer, to sit on a committee that doesn’t have the authority to implement their recommendations, don’t just walk away from that situation, run.  Volunteering is a two-way street.  Companies must utilize and appreciate the work performed by the volunteer and the volunteer must be made to feel that the work they do is important, has meaning and is respected and appreciated by the company. 

I’ll close with this suggestion for the diving industry.  We need to recruit volunteers for our organizations, both non-profit and for-profit.  Until we can afford to bring on a paid employee or paid consultant for a specific task, brining on volunteers to help us grow will benefit our companies greatly.  Not only will it help your company, it will give Dive Industry Professionals worldwide, an opportunity to use their talents (or practice their talents) to help make a diving company better at serving its customers.

As we promote non-profit organizations of the diving industry in the pages of The Dive Industry Professional, let us think about ways we can promote and praise the volunteer work of divers and water sports people who work with us for the betterment of the industry.  We look forward to writing articles about organizations and their staff who do good work for the industry as well as the non-paid volunteers who donate their time, talent and treasures to make this a better world.

For more information on being a Dive Industry Professional Volunteer, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, Inc., at gene@diveindustry.net or call me at 321-914-3778.

# TDIP #

Dive Industry Association Members at Scuba Show
by Gene Muchanski, Executive Director
Dive Industry Association, Inc.

The following Dive Industry Association Members are exhibiting at Scuba Show on May 14-15, 2022 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, CA.  Make it a point to visit our DIA Members for Great Show Specials.

Local Dive Media

• California Diving News – Booth 204 – www.CaliforniaDivingNews.com

Manufacturers

• DUI – Diving Unlimited International – Booth 712 – www.DUI-Online.com
• Prescription Dive Masks – Booth 357 – www.PrescriptionDiveMasks.com
• ScubaDoRag – Booth 417 – www.scubadorag.com
• Stream2Sea – Booth 514 – www.stream2sea.com
• Submersible Systems, Inc. – Booth 420 – www.spareair.com
• Tektite Industries – Booth 453 – www.tek-tite.com

Dive Travel Wholesalers

• Dream Weaver Travel – Booth 433 – www.dreamweaverdivetravel.com
• Kid’s Seacamp – Booth 553 – www.familydivers.com
• Roatan Charter, Inc. – Booth 752 –  www.RoatanCharter.com
• Scuba Travel Ventures – Booth 308 – www.scubatravelventures.com

Travel Businesses, Destinations, Resorts, & Dive Operators

• Amazing Adventure Travel – Booth – www.amazingadventurestravel.com
• Beqa Lagoon Resort (Fiji) – Booth 638 – www.beqalagoonresort.com
• Buddy Dive Resort (Bonaire) – Booth 443 –  www.BuddyDive.com
• Cabanas on Clark’s Cay – Booth 235 – www.ClarksCay.com
• Cane Bay Dive Shop (St Croix) – Booth 547 – www.canebayscuba.com
• Catalina Express  Booth 403 – www.CatalinaExpress.com
• Clearly Cayman Dive Resorts – Booth 623 – www.ClearlyCayman.com
• Dive Paradise (Cozumel) – Booth 163 – www.diveparadise.com
• Dream Weaver Travel – Booth 433 – www.dreamweaverdivetravel.com
• Florida Keys & Key West – Booth 552  –  www.fla-keys.com/diving
• Go West Diving (Curacao) – Booth 527 – www.gowestdiving.com
• Kid’s Seacamp – Booth 553 – www.familydivers.com
• Manthiri Maldives – Booth 424 – www.MassDiving.com/manthiri.htm
• Mayan Princess Resort (Roatan) – Booth 752 – www.mayanprincess.com
• Plaza Beach Resort Bonaire – Booth 445 – www.PlazaBeachResortBonaire.com
• Pro Dive International – Booth 221 – www.ProDiveInternational.com
• Roatan Charter, Inc. – Booth 752 –  www.RoatanCharter.com
• Mexico Liveaboards – Booth 305 – www.RocioDelMarLiveaboard.com
• Scuba Travel Ventures – Booth 308 – www.scubatravelventures.com
• Sea Robin Cozumel – Booth 330 – www.searobincozumel.com
• St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures – Booth 560 – www.stcroixscuba.com
• Villa on Dunbar Rock – Booth 235 – www.DunbarRock.com

Non-Profit & Training Organizations

• Diveheart – Booth 632 – www.diveheart.org
• NAUI Worldwide – Booth 503 – www.naui.org