A dive professional faces numerous risks that can impact their business and career, including:
- Financial Risk: Uncertainty in revenue, cash flow issues, and potential losses.
- Market Risk: Changes in market trends, consumer preferences, and economic conditions.
- Operational Risk: Disruptions in business operations due to equipment failure, supply chain issues, or workforce problems.
- Strategic Risk: Poor business decisions, inadequate strategic planning, and failure to adapt to industry changes.
- Reputational Risk: Damage to the business’s reputation due to negative publicity or customer dissatisfaction.
- Cybersecurity Risk: Threats from cyberattacks, data breaches, and loss of sensitive information.
- Competition Risk: New and existing competitors affecting market share and profitability.
- Environmental Risk: Bad weather, environmental regulations, and sustainability issues.
- Human Resources Risk: Challenges in hiring, retaining, and managing employees, as well as labour disputes.
- Legal Risk: Potential for lawsuits and regulatory compliance issues.
- Hidden Costs: Costs to run the business, such as maintenance, printing stationery, and storage space.
These risks are well-known by most professionals, but the most overlooked and often forgotten are the hidden costs and legal exposure that may arise. Dive professionals have busy lives balancing training, running operations, and marketing. Income is tight, so more and more tasks are taken on by the owner/manager. The considered, “Less critical” tasks, such as paperwork, often receive less care. Many training agencies still operate with physical paperwork, which some professionals prefer, but this is not ideal.
Not having the paperwork 100% digitized/online places a heavy burden on the dive professional that few realize. To better explain, let’s break it down using the example of a student wanting to learn to dive. Before the student has even inquired about learning to dive, the dive professional incurs upfront costs and must spend money before they even know if they have a customer. Like
Have the required documents in their printed format ready to use. This could be either printing them or purchasing them. Storage of these documents, requiring file storage and space. The dive professional must purchase the file storage and pay for the space to keep them. There is no free space.
Training paperwork Requirements. The student/guardian must sign documents, which must be checked, correctly filed away, and kept for the next five years.
The checking of the documents and storing them all takes time and space, both of which cost money.
Some may argue that these costs are not significant, but they add up quickly. When combined with all the other costs, they can be enough to close a business.
Dive professionals must carefully consider hidden costs and be wise. Training agencies that provide 100% online training, including all the “paperwork,” save the professional time and upfront costs associated with filing and storage and help with positive cash flow (money in before incurred costs). The time and money saved are enormous for the busy dive professional.
Another overlooked factor is the efficiency of the 100% online system. Dive professionals using paperwork may become complacent, leading to issues such as incomplete dive medicals before practical training, lost indemnities, missing guardian signatories, and lost documents. In cases of litigation, agencies that still require or offer paperwork can deny responsibility if paperwork is incomplete or missing, leaving the dive professional fully accountable, with only their dive trade insurance for support if they have it.
Training agencies that provide 100% online systems, including documentation, offer proactive quality control, ensuring all the “paperwork” is completed and stored. This approach significantly reduces the pressure on dive professionals and should never overlooked as a cost and time saving service.
