The REAL Worth of a Scuba Dive Business

I had been within the tropical destination scuba diving commercial enterprise for twenty years now and have been involved in proudly owning, going for walks, and eventually promoting scuba dive centers, liveaboards and inns.

Scuba Dive Business

I am scripting this as it seems to be a recurring topic at some stage in discussions with new traders/marketers and commercial enterprise customers into the Destination Scuba Diving Business. Many of these human beings have long diving records, hundreds of dives, and are VERY a success enterprise humans in their “actual lives’

It’s a mistake to base ANY business enterprise on the handsiest of its tangible assets, scuba diving organizations mainly. The size and success of a scuba enterprise and the actual income come inside the excessive nice and simplicity of the lifestyle of its proprietors.

I don’t know ANY liveaboard or dive motel or dive center owner in any tropical vacation spot who determined to start the commercial enterprise (or buy it) because it’d deliver them the excellent ROI financially on their funding. (none of them had been THAT stupid, to position it bluntly). The diving commercial enterprise is not filled with MBA’s and business degrees. The individuals driven to the one’s publications and stages have other matters that make them happy (I wish!).

Now that’s no longer to mention scuba companies do not make suitable cash. That might additionally be inaccurate. Just that an excessive economic ROI of different companies isn’t always the figuring out element in selecting to enroll in the scuba dive business.

The REAL profit from proudly owning a scuba dive center in a tropical destination (I can’t consider that I even have had to influence human beings of this!) is the life within the tropical destination itself. The 2nd aspect is the freedom to dive regularly in case you want. (that final bit is VERY critical!).

Most dive agencies include little more significant than a couple of compressors, a few boats, and few sets of scuba tools inside the Asset Register. Maybe a building (that has been substantially adapted to the professional commercial enterprise and would require sizable funding to transform to something else!), perhaps an automobile or 2, maybe a pier or dock on the sea. The point being, if you add these kinds of upon paper, it does not upload as much as tons in any respect in greenback amounts.

Scuba Dive Business

I see dive centers for sale list all their “equipment” all the time on boards and websites, proper down from having “2 dive boats” to having “16 pink snorkels”. Really? Does anyone genuinely virtually assume that this listing in any way values the dive enterprise? Anyone in the dive enterprise laughs at listing o-jewelry, snorkels, masks, and so on. We realize how plenty we purchase condominium equipment for, especially disposable gadgets like masks and snorkels…

The fee of the commercial enterprise is the BUSINESS itself and the lifestyle it’ll supply the proprietors, and not a sum of its tangible assets. Or, indeed, of its financial stability Sheet or P&L. Now, to ignore the financials might be folly of path. Still, they can’t be the PRIMARY cause to buy any Small/Medium Scuba Business on a tropical island.

I additionally listen a lot approximately ‘increase capability’ in these discussions and income negotiations. This has its execs, but also some predominant cons. To re-iterate why all of us come to stay in Paradise, we did now not come to pay attention to paintings like a work-mad entrepreneur, seven days for years… We come to visit “the life”. Therefore, expanding the agency to have five dive centers may certainly not be a profitable aim, particularly if you call for more extraordinary paintings from you (and we could face it, it WILL!).

The exceptional dive organizations have long-time staff that do all of the heavy lifting and grunt paintings and depart the proprietors to control as and when they pick. You do not need to be in ‘the workplace’ each day, no matter how tons a laugh it’s for the preceding few months. It is YOUR commercial enterprise to supply YOUR lifestyle, Not a job you got inside the tropics.

(aspect be aware in case you do want a job within the tropics, it is conceivable of direction. Head over to the PADI Employment Boards and notice lots of jobs on offer. Again way of life being the riding component, now not income!)

Most of the tropical dive commercial enterprises, unfortunately, do not ever acquire this level. The owners have effectively offered themselves or built themselves from scratch a “JOB”. And now not a clean job with the aid of any reckoning. They are up at 6 am, seven days a week, one year a 12 months. Days off? Ah yes, they don’t forget them within the “actual world” they got here from.

Even a number of the ‘so-known as’ tangible assets inclusive of the online belongings and purchaser database are, in reality, time-earned assets. You honestly can not just throw a variety of money at a struggling or modern-day dive enterprise, and VOILA, there you go! These things take years to accumulate momentum, followers, depended on repute.

Scuba Dive Business

To installation, a new dive enterprise from scratch is relatively clean when you have a little pile of coins… Walk into BAUER or COLTRI, buy a compressor, find a boat owner, get a settlement to use the boat for scuba diving, buy 20 or 30 scuba cylinders from Cramer Decker, and some units of gear from Scubapro. Et voila, instantaneous dive center? Not genuinely, huh? Now you’ve got yourself a small commercial enterprise with no history, no client base, no resort contracts. Then you need to exercise session all of the locations to source higher (or more excellent price-effective) gear, work out the agreeable manner to keep/repair the compressors when they need it (oh yes and in which to get cylinders fixed inside the interim.

Now this “dive center from scratch” sounds amusing to some. And in Sydney or San Diego, I would probably have a blast at it myself. However, we’re talking about a tropical island here, a foreign you. S ., no longer our very own united states of America. Do you speak the language of this island? Do you understand the regulation (ALWAYS exclusive out of your own, agree with me)? Have you ever accomplished business in, we could face it more than probable, a 3rd international us of a.

Read Previous

Thinking With a Business Head

Read Next

Business Success or Failure Is 100% Your Fault