New Year, New Life, New Business?

It’s that time of year when everyone is making their resolutions. While many of us are listing things like eating healthier and exercising a little more, some people are making bigger resolutions. Major life changes and planning how to fulfill their desire to work and live a tropical island lifestyle now, instead of waiting till they are ready to retire to make their move.

Belize Business Opportunity

Dive Shop For Sale Ambergris Caye

Kendall Beymer and his family have owned and operated Ecologic Divers for the past 6 years. Kendall moved from Denver, Colorado and a 26 miles workday commute to island life and a 26-yard walk to work. He traded in his windowless square box for an office with an amazing view.

If you do not opt to live as close as the Beymers did (at their Phoenix Resort condo), you can picture yourself driving a golf cart to work smiling and waving at friends along the way. Imagine trading in your stale cubicle for a colorful view of the Caribbean sea as you work.

Think about the joy you will get by helping people learn to dive and giving experienced divers great vacation memories.

Now’s your chance, take it.

About Ecologic Divers and What You Could be Buying

This well-known dive shop has been in operation for over 10 years. Since taking over, the Beymer’s have built a great reputation for safety, service, and pride themselves on ecologically sound practices. Ecologic’s reputation has earned them un-solicited articles from Lonely Planet, Sport Diver, and a few other independent magazines.

In addition to a viable business, you are also buying a community-minded one. Over the years Ecologic Divers has helped many organizations through the donation of raffle prizes. They are an annual supporter of Kids for Clean Water Camp and have collaborated with Oceana in helping with the Caribbean wide beach trash pickup day.

Online Presence

Over the years, Ecologic has worked hard to build their online presence. You have a solid base to easily personalize and keep growing the business from.

• Current website: Ecologic Divers 
• A sample of their Tripadvisor Reviews: “Awesome staff..Great diving..My 2nd time with these guys.” Of the 798 total reviews, 89% are 5 star. 
• You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Location and What They Offer

Ecologic Divers is easily accessible, close to the heart of San Pedro town, about a 2-minute walk north of Central Park. It is located on the first pier just south of The Phoenix resort.

They offer snorkelling, fishing, diving, sailing, mainland tours, and nearly all other marine tours you can think of. Their focus is smaller groups and quality 5-star experiences for everyone that comes their way. (Note some of these options are referral based.)

Amenities Included in Sale

• Brand new pier
• 5 boats
• Brand new building
• Various equipment for all activities
• Dock permit
• Trade license
• Tour Guide Operator license
• Connection with quality vendors of other tours

Specified lists available to interested and qualified parties. For more information please email Kendall Beymer: kendall@ecologicdivers.com

Working in Belize versus the USA

Chances are if you are interested in this life-changing opportunity and have not worked abroad before and you are looking to know more about what it takes. I asked Kendall a few questions regarding his personal thoughts on working in Belize versus working in the USA to give interested people an idea of what the tropical work world is like.

What are some of your favorite parts about life here as compared to life in the States?
Proximity is huge! I love walking to everything, I can easily be at a bank, grocery store, hardware store, bar, restaurant, you name it with in a few blocks. It really simplifies life to not have to plan drive time and cars and such. Just walking over to the shop then the hit Cholo’s for some afternoon beers for the team…not a bad thing.

Do you work less being here than you did in the corporate world?
I’d say I work differently, but not necessarily harder. Since I came down to run the shop there has not been a day that goes by without me working in some fashion. Some days there’s a lot of running and doings of this and that; other days I check emails. I love my business and want it along with the families of our team to succeed, and that clearly means the owner is available 24 hours a day to handle issues; usually that’s just lining up sales on the net. So while I work I also have PLENTY of fun peppered in; I’ve been known to ‘office’ from Lola’s Pub on occasion, or take calls while floating at Secret Beach, updating the manifest from the Cayo jungle. I may work daily, but I don’t feel like I’ve worked since coming here! Kinda feel like I retired at 37.

Do you need to be a Dive professional to succeed at owning a dive shop?
Hell no, I’m not a dive professional. I love to dive, and have a couple hundred dives but only have completed my Advanced – long way to go till I’m a dive pro and not certain I ever will be. You just need to have a passion for hospitality. The owner is the one that has the responsibility to craft the perfect vacation for his/her guests. We look at the desires of people and deploy our resources in such a fashion to make that happen (while paying our bills!). This application just happens to be marine tour focused.

Who is the ideal owner?
Someone that understands they need to put the effort in, and that the return will be in direct proportion to that effort. Most people seem to think if you own a business you sit on the beach, drink beer, and an aid delivers you a sack of cash. No…you have to work for that stack of cash. But there are still lots of perks like beers on the beach, and a killer view from your office.

Best advice for someone coming down to run a business?
You’re only as good as the way you treat people…I mean everyone! From your lead dive master to the person clearing your plate at dinner. If you inject kindness, fairness, and joy into the community then you will be the place that is on their mind when their friends, family, and groups come in. Ambergris Caye is tourism; everyone on this island is involved – there’s no way around it. To mistreat any of them is to cut off a line of potential revenue and therefore limit your potential for success. Treat all business dealings with respect and you will be treated the same.

The biggest difference between doing business in US vs Belize:
So much…to name a few – WhatsApp is not an official business platform in the US, but there are 2 government agencies and 3 vendors I deal with that won’t respond to any other form of communications. Being nice to people overcomes a multitude of paper work deficiency and speeds processes up dramatically. If you forget to pay the power bill and they cut you off, then you pay and they say they’ll be out tomorrow or the next day – tell the dispatcher there’s free beer if it’s done same day…they’ll be there in five minutes with power (you should already have iced the beers). Everyone knows everyone – if you need something ask the team, they know a guy…but sometimes thats not a good thing 😉

Why are you selling if you love it so much?
Well, I’m a sailing man. I’ll avoid the long story and just say we’ve been a sailing family for twice as long as we’ve been a diving family. As much as we enjoyed Belize (still visit and own a condo), Wanderlust set in and we felt it was time to take our catamarans to their next adventure. We’ve got some killer opportunities in Roatan and we’ve set sail to make our next dreams come true.

taco Tip #7

For buying real estate in Belize – Do your due diligence when buying a business questions and make sure you are buying one of quality. Several years back a couple I know were looking into purchasing a business. They were not ready to retire but really wanted to transition to a tropical lifestyle. They had researched well from afar, but when they came to do final checks and balances in person, things were not quite as glowing as they seemed in email. The pair were a touch sad but made the smart choice deciding it was s better to take a pass than to rush into the wrong thing just to make their dream happen sooner than later. Although they did not end up moving to Belize, the couple still vacations here regularly and though it may have changed slightly, they have not lost sight of their dream.

Featured aerial image of San Pedro courtesy of L. Kelly Jones. Most of the others are by Michael DeVaney for tacogirl.com with a couple of mine thrown in.