It was never a particular ambition of mine to own a dive school. In fact, I was quite happy helping out at my Local Dive Centre (LDC) on evenings and weekends, without any responsibility for it. However, last year that all changed. The owner of my LDC announced that the building the centre was located in was to be sold and that he was going to take the opportunity to retire and close the business. Unless any of the staff wanted to take it on…..
After many meetings, with various people coming in and out of the process, four of us came up with a proposal to take over the training side of the business. This was accepted and, on 1st September 2022, our new company was formed.
As we were not taking on the shop this meant that we quickly had to find premises to store the large amount of dive kit we now owned, as well as sort out all the admin that comes with running a business. It was a massive learning curve! There were also the challenges of having four people trying to work together, who had very different ideas about how things should be done.
Slowly, we learnt how to work together. Utilising the particular strengths each individual has. In some cases we got it wrong….assigning me website development was one. I am the least techy person there is! But generally we muddled along ok. Our core business comes from marine biology, film & media, and engineering students from the local university. The previous owner had put together two diving courses specific to their needs, which involved learning to dive and then moving on to speciality courses related to their degree.This meant that once the students were back in October it was a nonstop round of pool and open water sessions each weekend. Sometimes we would go weeks without a day off, as we’re not yet at a point where we can quit the day jobs.
Since the start of the year we have managed to complete all the speciality courses as well, and are very proud of all of our students. Some of whom have overcome great challenges in getting to this point. That’s not forgetting the Discover Scuba Diving sessions, Skills Review programmes, Advanced Open Water courses, and try dives for a local school we have conducted, including one recent session where we had some fun ‘mermaiding’!
Are we still learning how to do all of this? Yes, we are. Is it going to make our fortune?Most definitely not. Is it all worth it? Emphatically yes. There are some days when you don’t want to get out of bed at 5 on a cold winter’s day, to go and dive in the same quarry for the umpteenth time. But when you see the joy on the face of a student who he’s finally ‘got it’ it’s all worthwhile.
