Building your community with a book

By Bill Doran.

 

This month we are looking at another method to build a community around your dive business. Throughout this series, we have discussed ways that you can use to gain and keep a group of diving clients following and joining you.

 

In this edition, we look at the idea of writing a book. Now you may say that you are not an author or, for that matter, even a writer. That may well be true. But first, let us look at “what is the reason for writing books.”

While there may be many possible answers, let us look at two:

1. We write to share our thoughts and experiences with others.
2. We write to entertain the reader.

I am confident we can all agree with the above two statements.

 

Well, what about the person choosing the book? Why do they read:

1. To be entertained.
2. To learn.
3. For an adventure.

Again, I am confident we can agree on these statements as well.

 

So let us ask a question. Why should I write a book?

 

One excellent business answer is:

I could write a book to entertain and educate people on the scuba adventures and experiences that I take people on in my scuba business.

 

The purpose is quite simple. Sharing what you already do can capture the interest and intrigue of the reader. Then perhaps they will want to join you in your adventures! In our case, as scuba instructors, that means sales of courses, equipment and trips!

 

Let us look and one excellent example of building a community with a book.

 

Recently Lee, one of my friends in Curacao, was at a dive site called Tug Boat. Lee runs a great independent shop called Enomis Diving and had on his Enomis shirt and a sticker on his vehicle. Another car pulled up and parked next to him, and two people got out. Noticing that Lee was a local professional, they asked him about the features of the dive site. In his always cheerful way, Lee happily gave them a briefing and invited them to join him on the dive. They did so and had a great dive. Following the dive, the now-new group of friends enjoyed a conversation.

 

By now, you must be asking what this has to do with a book. Well, the man from the other car was Andrej Hrisernik, and he has written a book called “My shallows and my depths” and gave Lee a copy of this book as a thank you and asked him, after reading it to help to promote the book by telling others. Well, as you may have guessed, there was diving involved in the book, so Lee read the book and then mentioned both the book and the encounter to me, his friend and his neighbour. So I read and follow him on social media and have now shared his story and book with you.

 

“My shallows and my depths” by Andrej Hrisernik is available on Amazon and other sources.

It is a fun story for ages ten and up that follows the career of a young diving guide. Check it out.

 

Guess what? If you are reading this, you are part of well over 14,000 people reading our magazine and following our stories. Now that is how you can build a community around your business.