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skyfree

How can I make a career out of skydiving?

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Hi! I am wondering if anyone can tell me how I can make a good career out of skydiving? Skydiving is my passion and I would rather do nothing else besides skydiving. Anyone please tell me!

Another thing! How can people jump seven times a day for the whole year?

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You should fill out your profile! Are you a new jumper?

If you are a new jumper you can pack to help pay for the jumps and training you need to get your ratings.

I think you are better off getting a good 9-5 that will let you get one or two jumps in before sunset, medical coverage, and free weekends.
"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

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Yes - fill out your profile. We don't bite any worse once we know who you are, and knowing what level you're at and where you live may help answer some of your questions.

I think there's several questions - or at least several answers to your questions. Bottom line is that I've talked to DZOs, coaches, instructors, packers and riggers. Not one of them has told me that there's money in skydiving. Many of them have told me quite the opposite - that there's no money in skydiving and if you can make money to support your habit elsewhere, do that and keep the skydiving for fun.

As far as how to be able to do nothing but skydive all day, there are several ways that I can think of:

1. Become rich and live off you portfolio of real estate and other investments and spend your days doing whatever the hell you feel like.
2. Become an instructor and live a meagre existence - I've yet to meet a rich instructor. On the other hand, they usually seem to be cool, happy and well-adjusted people on the whole.
3. Become one of the top jumpers in the world and get sponsored by someone like PD or get yourself on some professional stunt team or something.

#1 will take you a lot of effort outside of skydiving, but once you're there, you can do almost anything. Oh yeah - lot's of people would like to get there, but only a few do.

#2 takes time and commitment to the sport. I'm not one. I've dreamed about it, but at the moment, that's all it is. I've got plenty of other goals to strive for in the meantime. I don't see the point in becoming an instructor until I'm really good at a few things, and that's at least several hundred jumps away, I'm afraid.

Another thing to think about is exactly what do you want to do in the sky. Not everyone wants to teach basic freefall skills or do tandems all day. That could turn your fun past-time into something that feels like a job. That depends on you.

#3 is probably the hardest way to do it, and to be honest, I'm not sure what sponsored guys really get. I've heard that some guys sponsorships are just big discounts on gear, which doesn't really buy your baked beans in the morning. I know Airspeed and other teams like that do a lot of coaching, so I expect that a lot of their money comes from that.

If you want to jump year-round, move somewhere that's sunny, like Florida, Arizona, Southern California, Australia, etc. There are places that do winter jumping up north, but the cold may make you re-evaluate the fun-ness of the exercise and you'll be much more constrained by weather.

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Another thing! How can people jump seven times a day for the whole year?



There are places with good weather year round (not necessarily the same place), it takes me approximately seven minutes to pack, turbine aircraft get to altitude in less than 15 minutes, and you can easily be making a jump every half hour.

Packing and humping arround skydiving rigs gets to be a lot of work though. I've never made it past ten before I felt like stopping. It also assumes that the people you want to jump with are going as fast as you do which may not be the case. It assumes sufficient lift capacity which may not be the case - if it takes two hours to get on a load and double manifesting isn't allowed you aren't going to make many jumps.

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Hi! I am wondering if anyone can tell me how I can make a good career out of skydiving? Skydiving is my passion and I would rather do nothing else besides skydiving. Anyone please tell me!



If you want to actually eat too, it can't be done.
:D:P
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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Hi Skyfree,

You can make a good living off skydiving and have a wonderful lifestyle, but it takes time, commitment, money and passion.

The biggest factor of all is that you have to be willing to travel. Even if you land the perfect position in your home town, you will no doubt get complacent with the benefits and start to concentrate on what is not right. You will have seen what i would describe as, 'Grumpy Tandem Whores' that do not appear to be having any fun at all and are not happy with what they earn? Avoid being one of these at all costs,it will inhibit your progression.

If you really do want a Career in Commercial Skydiving,
then I suggest the 'Diploma in Commercial Skydiving'


www.skydiving.co.nz

I started this course as a lost snowboard bum, with no money at 27 years old. I put all my energy into it and got 96%, worked for free for a couple of months at what was called 'work placement' and worked my way from emptying rubbish bins to packing, to camera then AFF. I didn't get my Tandem rating until 2200 jumps and that was only 3 years after my very first skydive at the (as it was called back then) 'Christchurch Parachute School'. It also took traveling for me to get there fast, at the 'COOL' DZ's there is always a que for the jobs but on the internet there are people that need staff now!.

or

Take a packing Job at a friendly DZ and you will be in the sky at some stage, you just have to show them that you can, this takes time!

The diploma course puts you in a position where you jump under close supervision and full time! for your first 200 jumps. then you are placed in the field at the destination of your choice if it is not chosen first. This is not just a New Zealand thing you can do your placement in any country you want. I've heard some guy did his Empuriabrava!


The course is subsidised buy the NZ, Australian govornment for the affected citizens and UK students can apply for a Career development loan!
I'm not saying this is the only or fastest way but It sure as hell helped me and I feel like a rich man with how I can live my life these days. After only 5 years I have over 3000 jumps and only 500 of them are tandems. I am also competing at the world championships and world cups with my partner, traveling around the world and earning/saving great money at the same time.

Blue Skies,

Rhys

To those that say you can't be rich from skydiving!

Define rich:P
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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Good reply. Define rich. :)
I make a pittance skydiving (probably about 10 grand a year, but I love what I do. I work other jobs that allow for my "job" as an instructor/vidiot.

While I may not have a big bank account, I'm rich in so many ways.

steveOrino

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Live in your car,if you have one that already paid for,and eat that noodle stuff.

Sorry to be negative but I have seen too many that want to "make a living"in the sport ruin it for those of us that had jobs and wanted to work in the sport and spend the money we made on skydiving.Your passion will turn from skydiving to getting that next working jump at all cost and instead of making that next fun jump you'll be paying rent or buying food.

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live in your car,if you have one that already paid for,and eat that noodle stuff.




Yeah Top Ramen is good. And.....make sure you have good health insurance. One good broken leg and its all over without it. Been there done that.


bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

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To those that say you can't be rich from skydiving!

Define rich:P



Love this reply!

It never ceases to amaze me how much people exaggerate the poverty of living the skydiving life.

My partner and I did it in the States in 2002. I did manifest, he was a packer. We lived in the bunkhouse (which meant we had our own lock-up room with double bed, tv, aircon and shared the kitchen/lounge/bathrooms with the other staff and the transient jumpers). We came over with nothing, worked 5, sometimes 6 days a week (obviously every weekend) and made enough money to jump regularly, upgrade our gear (yay staff rates on jumps and discounts on staff rigs! :)
I've never been richer or happier than I was in 2002. :)
If you want to do it, you will do it.

nothing to see here

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Yeah Top Ramen is good.



Chase it down with a multi vitamin and plenty of water...a balanced meal!

To the OP: If you are not a good saver, you must become one. Check out a book called "Automatic Millionaire" by James Dent (I think thats his name). Its a quick book, and its not a get-rich-quick thing...its a method for organizing your income and investments to help with saving for the future. You will not be a healthy, active, skydiver for your entire life, so you'll need this since you won't have any health care, and some day you'll be too old and frail to work. Learn to do taxes, and don't screw around with paying them. Finding yourself oweing the govt $100,000 in back taxes because you spent 7 years not paying in will really screw your future up.

Good luck!

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First, take a vow of poverty.
Second, buy a trailer or camper to live in.
Third, get on staff at a southern drop zone.
Fourth, have a plan B job.
Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

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Hi! I am wondering if anyone can tell me how I can make a good career out of skydiving? Skydiving is my passion and I would rather do nothing else besides skydiving. Anyone please tell me!

Another thing! How can people jump seven times a day for the whole year?



Consider reading this first...

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2648072;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

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Skydiving is my passion and I would rather do nothing else besides skydiving.



You can get started by selling parts of your body. Renting parts of your body is a more advanced concept and is not possible in all states. For more information on this, listen to Skydive Radio show #63.

Seriously? Some people buy jump planes and then rent them out to dropzones. This is probably easier to do if you have a pilot's license yourself.

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How can people jump seven times a day for the whole year?



A brand new $20 bill, a stack of old $1 bills, a bottle of bleach, and a color copier. WARNING: Misuse of this equipment is a felony.

Eule
PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

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Seeing that You just started, your best bet seems to be to learn to pack quick six bucks (plus tip) a pack job, 40-50 a day adds up.Then you'll have the cash to make enough jumps to do other things. I'd keep one thing in mind, I plan to make this my living toO in 7 yrs when I retire but I'll have a pension and HEALTH INSURANCE!! Good Luck

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Hi! I am wondering if anyone can tell me how I can make a good career out of skydiving? Skydiving is my passion and I would rather do nothing else besides skydiving. Anyone please tell me!

Another thing! How can people jump seven times a day for the whole year?



To make a career out of skydiving:

1. Save tons of money (you're going to need it)
2. Buy a tent (you're going to need that too)
3. Find a DZ that's fun to work for and go for it!

Chuck

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start packing and living on the dz. put money aside, buy gear. keep packing, put money aside, buy video gear. do video, keep packing if your time isnt all taken up with video, put money aside, get your coach rating if you havent done so already. put money aside and get your instructor ratings. get a rigger rating too so you have something to do on rainy days. you can do all of this within four years. a tandem instructor has to have at least 3 years in the sport and 500 jumps, so have fun packing, doing video, and coach jumps.

i have been in the sport four four years and this is the path i am following... however i am a student and it is only a weekend dropzone so the process is a little slow for me. not to mention i have other expenses for my time and money.

hope it works out.
-marcus

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