Jumpmunki 0 #1 June 3, 2005 so i've been around skydiving for 2 years or so now, done a bunch of jumps, packing and video and i'm looking at working within the sport. i imagine there are a few ways to go, keep jumping at my local dz, get my freefall time up and become a tandem instructor, - not really my cup of tea.... - i could go for my basic instructor rating, and dispatch people on static line once i get my instructor rating, again, not sure if this is what i want to do, - i DID look at becoming an AFFBI however i don't have anywhere near enough qualifications or airtime, which is a bit of a disapointment. - i LOVE flying camera and already make a small living from shooting stills from the ground as well as portrait work, - i can pack... don't enjoy it but i can pack and would be willing to earn money. my problem is that i am in a secure job, and i need to be able to settle bills every month, however the dream of working in skydiving and earning money doing what i love is a big temptation. - i am a customer care/security officer as a job and i have very good people skills (until they push there luck too far) what advice could you give to someone wanting to take this direction? what skills are the dz's looking for these days? what kind of money can a general videographer/packer make at a dz? how would you coordinate working away from your home country while doing this? cheers for your time guys, PM me if you wish Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashtanga 0 #2 June 3, 2005 Long story short, if you are going to do it, have your AFF rating with maybe 500 AFF jumps under your belt, tandem rating with at least 500 tandems under your belt, and video equipment with lots of tandem video experience. Then maybe you will be successful in the sport. Packing doesn't pay much at all. Example, if it rains one week you will not eat for two weeks and won't be jumping. It sounds like a great experience but it really is more fun to have a good paying job where you can afford to pay bills and skydive and eat when you want. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bodypilot1 0 #3 June 3, 2005 Quotealready make a small living And there ya have it.... Be safe. Edwww.WestCoastWingsuits.com www.PrecisionSkydiving.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dgskydive 0 #4 June 3, 2005 QuotePacking doesn't pay much at all. Depends on where you jump at. At some DZ's the packers make more money then just about anyone. What he needs to think about is where he wants to work at.Dom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #5 June 3, 2005 I would love to make my living skydiving, but I also would love to live in a nice house, with my beautiful wife, and raise a family. Making a living entirely from skydiving is a big choice with big consequences. Notable, it's unlikely that you'll be able to live in that nice house, and raising a family will be very dificult. It's possible, there are certainly some people who pull it off, but those are the exceptions. The only people that I see do half decently at living off skydiving are owners. This means plane owners, DZ owners, tandem rig owners, rigging loft owners, video concession owners. All the workers I see usually live in trailers. Sometimes very nice trailers, but generally - owners live in houses and workers live in trailers. Again, obviously there are exceptions to my generalizations. I'm not being judgemental, either. Some people love living in trailers behind the hangar. I'd prefer a nice house, though. To each his own. If you are going to be a DZ worker, get all your ratings. Tandem/AFF and especially your riggers rating. Riggers are the only people who have work when it's crappy weather. My advice? Find a happy medium. Find a way that you can work that safe steady 5 day per week job, and turn your weekends into fun. I fly camera on the weekends, but usually for myself, for 4 way groups, and big ways. Occaisionally I get pulled in on tandems, but thats rare. I "work" at the DZ by selling the photos I take and having fun jumpers pay my slot and a bit extra. It helps pay for some of the expensive gear I keep buying, but it's also like working for myself. I don't get sucked into the DZ life as much as the people living on the DZ trying to leach a living from the student operation. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashtanga 0 #6 June 3, 2005 QuoteAt some DZ's the packers make more money then just about anyone. Ok. So maybe he will just starve one week and not two. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StevePhelps 0 #7 June 3, 2005 Wayne: You know me (I drew the monkey for ya) -- I make a living out of skydiving (videos) but I have to supplement it with teaching at a 6/7 center, web design, cartooning, pastoring a small church and being married to a legal secretary. I believe the latter is the key to my ability to have so many small paying jobs and still live in a nice new 4 BR brick home, own a couple of vehicles and a Harley. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hooknswoop 19 #8 June 3, 2005 Quotei need to be able to settle bills every month Then full-time skydiving is not for you. Break your leg? No income until you can jump again. Oh ya, no health insurance unless you pay for it yourself. Raining? No income. DZ overstaffed? Little income. DZO doesn't like you? No income. Plane broken? No income. DZO says to take the tandems in the rain? Either jump or look for a new DZ. Being an independant contractor means you can be fired at any time for anything because you are not an employee. Being an independant contractor means you get a 1099 (in the U.S.) and have to pay all your taxes at the end of the year. You have to compete with Instructors that just want to make enough money to eat and live on the DZ in a trailer. You are easily replaceable with a new Instructor that doesn;t yet know the ropes. Forget about raises for being a more experienced/better Instructor. You make the same as a newly minted Instructor. Don't do it. Derek Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumpmunki 0 #9 June 3, 2005 i'm hearing a common pattern here never mind... i'll keep up with my job and make a little extra at the weekends doing video and stills (when i get the experience to have someone WANT me to shoot video for them rather than me harass them LOL cheers for the feedback dudes.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #10 June 3, 2005 Do the best of both worlds....Have a real job and teach on weekends."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumpmunki 0 #11 June 3, 2005 my main problem is that the job i am in is 7 days a week if they need me.. i have to go in .. so this finish on a friday and the weekend is mine doesn't happen... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #12 June 3, 2005 Quotemy main problem is that the job i am in is 7 days a week if they need me.. i have to go in .. so this finish on a friday and the weekend is mine doesn't happen... Find a new job that will give you time off. You were just talking about quitting to skydive for a living, find another job."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hooknswoop 19 #13 June 3, 2005 Quotei'll keep up with my job and make a little extra at the weekends doing video and stills That is the way to go. DZO's tend to treat their part-time staff better than thier full-time staff because if they aren't nice to them, they don't have to work because they don't need the money. Full-timers need the money and have to work. Derek Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumpmunki 0 #14 June 3, 2005 ron, i'd only quit the job i'm in at the moment if there was a job out there available that i would like.... doesn't sound like skydiving as a living would pay off ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zoter 0 #15 June 3, 2005 Quotewhen i get the experience to have someone WANT me to shoot video for them rather than me harass them LOL I hear ya Wayne....but to get to the former ....you have to do the latter ! Get yourself out on some junior 4 way team......your slot is paid and provided they are pretty easy going and generous ( I'm blessed at the moment) you will learn your skills as they learn RW I keep a rule though...I'm prepared to cough up my slot money if I give them video thats not judgeable or have messed up technically.......kinda keeps you on your toes. Never thought I'd say I'm enjoying learning lots with an RW group...but I am...lots and lots about flying me and my cam. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumpmunki 0 #16 June 3, 2005 i did that in spain for a few jumps. also for a few people that were new starters saying if you don't like the video i'll pay my slot .. litterally just jumping for slots.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PurpleBadger 0 #17 June 3, 2005 and one thing that's not really been mentioned, If you were thinking about trying to make a living in the UK by skydiving then you REALLY would need to think about that one again! BTW, the BPA were talking about discarding the AFFBI course because the quality of people coming off it wasn't high enough to complete the AFFI course in many cases and the waiting time to get onto a BI course at the moment i believe in something like a year. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 4 #18 June 3, 2005 QuoteDo the best of both worlds....Have a real job and teach on weekends. I totally agree. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #19 June 3, 2005 Quote Do the best of both worlds....Have a real job and teach on weekends. That was my plan, but it's hard to get your ratings as a weekend warrier. So instead I do photography. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BigSky 2 #20 June 3, 2005 You need a boss like me. On nice days when there isn't a lot to do, I tell my skydiving employee "why dont you get out of here and go jump". Then when I want three day weekends he works for me. It's a beautiful thing.“Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, th Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GravityGirl 0 #21 June 4, 2005 Wanna buy a gear store? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peace and Blue Skies! Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumpmunki 0 #22 June 4, 2005 £3 and a packet of fruit polos that have been in the glove compartment of the car for over 8 months? -- i was thinking about going out to spain to do it, or america... -- i'll stick with what i'm doing for now i think there has been a big change in my circumtances (the 2nd time in 4 months) and i'm thinking that it is someone trying to tell me something.. and that it's time to do something for ME ... ho hum.. off to bed now, been a long nightshift ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #23 June 4, 2005 Or, you could serve your country for 20 years, hook up with an officer and skydive.... I have been told thats a good way."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #24 June 4, 2005 QuoteThat was my plan, but it's hard to get your ratings as a weekend warrier. Why? I don't get that. I managed to get a Static Line "I", a Tandem rating, And an AFF rating. Plus a Regional Judge Rating. as a weekend warrior. The Military helped with another Tandem rating, and a PRO rating. But I know plenty of weekend warriors that have ratings....In fact most people I with ratings I would guess are weekend warriors. A Tandem rating takes one weekend to get. (Strong). The Vector takes a little more time with all the provisionary jumps. An AFF course can be done in 3-4 days. Take a weeks vacation and you will be done. www.skydiveratings.com I HIGHLY recomend Bram and Elly. QuoteNew this summer! we will do all rating courses back to back at chicagoland skydiving center in hinckley,il. the course marathon starts june 17 and ends july 11. we will do a coach, aff pre-course, aff rating course, vector/sigma tandem course and a strong tandem course.see our schedule for details hope to see you in hinckley! This is even at your Home DZ."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,991 #25 June 4, 2005 >But I know plenty of weekend warriors that have ratings.... That's me! Got my SL-JM first, then my SL-I, then tandem, then AFF, then was an S+TA for two years - all just working weekends. It's still a lot of work, but you can do the ratings in long weekends and the occasional week off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
