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113 A Taste of Influence

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In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast we learn about how deliberate practice can make you a powerful influencer.

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

So I know many of you are not going to DEMA. So today I would like to give you a taste of my upcoming presentation entitled Become a Power Influencer: A Unique Way to Attract More Customers.

Now, more than ever, consumers seek the advice and recommendations of others when making purchasing decisions for products and services. However, who to listen to is changing. No longer is it the most popular people or those in power positions who are sought after. Instead, the modern influencer can be anyone, as long as he or she is trusted. And being trusted is all about being authentic.

Now, we sometimes dismiss the role of someone of influence. Today I want so show you one of the top strategies that influencers employ – deliberate practice.

Items In This Episode

  • Dr. Mischel’s marshmallow experiments
  • Dr. Ericsson’s performance experiments
  • Deliberate practice is essential for being a person of influence in any given area

Episode Sponsor

If you find this show adds value to you as a dive pro and you’d like to help support the show, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It’s only $4 per month – that’s only $1 per episode. When you become a supporter of The Dive Locker you’ll get a shout out from me on the next episode after you join. You will also be listed on the Patrons of Dive Locker Podcast webpage. And you will receive 10% off any ScubaGuru Academy course at the Patron level, and 20% off at the Rockstar level. And of course my undying appreciation for helping support the show.

https://www.patreon.com/thedivelocker

Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com . There you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

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112 Reporting Standards Violations

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In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast we look at reporting standards violations in the diving industry.

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

Last week on the movie set of Rust, staring Alec Baldwin, an alleged prop gun was handed to the actor to rehearse a scene. As Alec swung the gun around and aimed at the camera, the gun went off when he pulled the trigger killing “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. I’m sure you’ve heard this story.

But here’s where the problem lies. This was not supposed to happen. After decades of similar accidents like this, the movie industry has gone to great lengths to ensure that these accidents don’t take place. Prop guns and special positions called armorers are put in place to ensure safety. But not this time.

It is now surfacing that the armorer is an inexperienced 24 year old, and has had safety issues in her past. There are also reports that there were enough concerns on the movie set that the regular crew walked off and other inexperience crew came on. The same inexperienced crew that was plinking – that is shooting aluminum cans nearby that morning with what is believed to be the same prop gun.

So why am I putting this story in this podcast? Because standards were violated and systems that were put in place to address such violations were not followed. Because of that a young mother is dead. Now what will happen. Hand slaps to the armorer and assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin the gun, others may be brought under scrutiny. But, the insurance company will payout from a negligence lawsuit. And you won’t hear about it again.

Folks, this parallels so closely tragedies in the diving industry. I want to point out in this episode that you not only have a voice, but you have a professional ethical duty – to report standards violations when you see them. And that is what we are going to discuss today. How and why we must report standards violations.

Items In This Episode

  • You witness a standard violation, how do you know it’s an actual violation? eg swim test
  • You witness a standard violation but you don’t know what training agency it is, what do you do?
  • Should you just confront the instructor yourself?
  • What if a standard violation is told to you by someone and you did not witness it?
  • Who do you report to and how should you?

Episode Sponsor

If you find this show adds value to you as a dive pro and you’d like to help support the show, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It’s only $4 per month – that’s only $1 per episode. When you become a supporter of The Dive Locker you’ll get a shout out from me on the next episode after you join. You will also be listed on the Patrons of Dive Locker Podcast webpage. And you will receive 10% off any ScubaGuru Academy course at the Patron level, and 20% off at the Rockstar level. And of course my undying appreciation for helping support the show.

https://www.patreon.com/thedivelocker

Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com . There you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

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111 Handling Scuba Cylinders

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In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast we look at handling scuba cylinders the right way.

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

Days ago I saw an Instagram post from PADI. It was of a female divemaster carrying tanks through the water on a beautiful beach. The caption was something about how carrying tanks makes you feel like a bad ass. Well, it is a cool Instagram post, in fact it got 11,000 likes.

But at the same time I looked at it and cringed. The photo is technically not safe. The young lady is carrying one cylinder on her shoulder and the second cylinder is at her side, but she’s holding the valve improperly.

If I put my 1980’s divemaster hat on, I can remember schlepping 60 tanks on and off the dive boat each trip, then filling them and getting em out for the next trip. I was not really focused on how I was handling them. But when I put on my modern day instructor and risk manager hat on, well there’s a potential air embolism in the hand, and neck-spinal-back muscle or disk injury with the high and low weight distribution – and in soft sand and thigh deep water.

But I’m not alone, others in the comments mentioned this. In fact divingwithbubbles says “Can I have permission to use this picture in my next talk on tank handling and compressed air injuries?”

And nocrs0659 said “Not the best pic to use to demonstrate tank carrying technique. Especially her right hand.”

So, I realized that perhaps there’s not a lot of PSI/PCI Cylinder Inspectors /Instructors out there that routinely teach hazmat handling of scuba cylinders. Yep, a scuba tank is technically a hazardous material. Anything over 40 psi of compressed air is called a high pressure container and falls under OSHA guidelines for hazmat.

Because of this I wondered how many are teaching proper handling of tanks to students and demonstrating it properly. So for this episode we’re gonna talk about handling scuba cylinders safely, especially teaching students how to handle them safely. It’s short and sweet and hopefully, you come away from this episode with some new facts and figures and techniques for your students.

Items In This Episode

Episode Sponsor

If you find this show adds value to you as a dive pro and you’d like to help support the show, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It’s only $4 per month – that’s only $1 per episode. When you become a supporter of The Dive Locker you’ll get a shout out from me on the next episode after you join. You will also be listed on the Patrons of Dive Locker Podcast webpage. And you will receive 10% off any ScubaGuru Academy course at the Patron level, and 20% off at the Rockstar level. And of course my undying appreciation for helping support the show.

https://www.patreon.com/thedivelocker

Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com . There you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

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110 Why Attend The DEMA Show in 2021?

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In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast we learn why dive professionals should attend the DEMA Show 2021.

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

I have a question for you. When you come out of Covid craziness, in your dive business will you do things exactly as you did in 2019? Nope, the world has changed, businesses have changed and consumers have changed. So what’s one way to address changes that are specific to your diving business? In one concentrated period of time? In one location?

Let’s talk about DEMA Show. Yep the DEMA Show is back in person in Las Vegas Nov 16-19. Now I want to share with you compelling reasons to go, my top list. Doesn’t matter if you have been or if it is your first time, maybe your going or your on the fence, I want to share why IMHO this is a must do event every year – especially the rough years.

Items In This Episode

  • Location – Las Vegas
  • Resource Centers
  • Social Events
  • DEMA Sponsored Seminars
  • Exhibitor Sponsored Seminars
  • Booking Dive Travel
  • Latest Products and Technology
  • Dive Training Agencies
  • Equipment Manufacturers
  • Networking

Episode Sponsor

If you find this show adds value to you as a dive pro and you’d like to help support the show, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It’s only $4 per month – that’s only $1 per episode. When you become a supporter of The Dive Locker you’ll get a shout out from me on the next episode after you join. You will also be listed on the Patrons of Dive Locker Podcast webpage. And you will receive 10% off any ScubaGuru Academy course at the Patron level, and 20% off at the Rockstar level. And of course my undying appreciation for helping support the show.

https://www.patreon.com/thedivelocker

Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com . There you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

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109 Digital Marketing Channels With Jennifer Shaheen

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In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast we learn all about the importance of digital marketing channels with Jennifer Shaheen.

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

We all know that marketing is the action of promoting your business and/or selling your products or services. But HOW we do marketing is the real challenge. Well did you know that Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Facebook Creator Studio, Instagram, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Emma Mail, Google Data Studio, WordPress, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook are all digital marketing platforms and tools that can absolutely redefine your marketing and sales and take you to a whole new level of business.

That’s why I’m super excited about today’s show because it has been in the works for quite a while. Many of you have written to me and said how much you would like more on the business side of diving. And my response back was “I’m working on something.” Well today I reveal that something with our guest Jennifer Shaheen of the Technology Therapy Group.

About Jennifer Shaheen

Here’s a little about Jennifer. Expertly guiding business owners through the intersection of marketing and technology for the past 15 years, Jennifer Shaheen has a unique expertise that combines technical prowess, entrepreneurial insight, and marketing acumen. Her marketing strategy, brand development, and small business operations skills have been engaged in the retail, manufacturing, hospitality, health care, and travel industries.

A thought leader and visionary, Jennifer seeks continually to translate today’s digital mysteries into understandable, accessible, actionable information. In addition to teaching at Social Media Marketing University and contributing technology articles to Bank of America’s Community Forum, Jennifer has appeared repeatedly on MSNBC’s Your Money with JJ Ramberg, to discuss entrepreneurial and business management issues.

Specialties:
Marketing Strategy, Data Analysis, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and all Social Media platforms.

I met Jennifer last year when I was her moderator in the DEMA Virtual Show. Her presentation was outstanding. So I checked out her company the Technology Therapy Group and I took some of her online courses. I was blown away by the content and the takeaways. And I realized how beneficial her training programs would be to everyone who listens to this show – whether and independent instructor, charter boat operator, or manager or owner of a dive center – large or small. The specialty area of digital marketing is absolutely critical to any diving professional.

So today we talk with Jennifer and look at the big picture of digital marketing and learn how it can be so transformative to you and your business.

Items In This Episode

  • Technology Therapy Group Affiliate Link
  • Use “SCUBAGURU” coupon code for 10% off online training and membership
  • Why customers words and phrases come in handy
  • The importance of communications
  • Analytics
  • Trend lines: trends.google.com
  • How digital platforms help businesses
  • Google My Business
  • Targeted messaging
  • Audience types
  • Inventory as marketing
  • Return policies as marketing
  • Holiday marketing strategies

Episode Sponsor

If you find this show adds value to you as a dive pro and you’d like to help support the show, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It’s only $4 per month – that’s only $1 per episode. When you become a supporter of The Dive Locker you’ll get a shout out from me on the next episode after you join. You will also be listed on the Patrons of Dive Locker Podcast webpage. And you will receive 10% off any ScubaGuru Academy course at the Patron level, and 20% off at the Rockstar level. And of course my undying appreciation for helping support the show.

https://www.patreon.com/thedivelocker

Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com . There you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

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Welcome Dive Professionals

Welcome to ScubaGuru.com!  The ScubaGuru brand is dedicated to giving dive professionals tools and techniques to be GREAT LEADERS – leaders in the classroom, leaders underwater, and leaders in their diving businesses.  With unique leadership skill-sets, the dive professional can create:

  • Better divers
  • Loyal customers
  • A thriving dive center
  • A flourishing dive industry

See what we mean by Go Beyond the Standard and enjoy the rewards of being truly great at what you do!

Sincerely,

Tec Clark

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