Freediving Instructor? That’s Not a Real Job
- Anthony Feoutis
- Apr 27
- 6 min read
Updated: May 3
How I Built a Freediving Instructor Career From Zero (And Proved Everyone Wrong)
AIDA & Molchanovs Instructor Trainer
He is the founder of The Depth Collector and VD Freediving Taiwan. With over a decade of experience, he focuses on solving real-world freediving problems, from equalization to depth adaptation, using practical, field-tested methods.
Becoming a full-time freediving instructor is often seen as unrealistic. Most people think you can’t build a real career in freediving. I’ve been doing it full-time for over 10 years, and I’m not stopping anytime soon.
This is how it started.
Why Becoming a Freediving Instructor Seems Impossible
They told me it wasn’t a real job. Mostly friends stuck in 9-to-5 jobs they didn’t even like.
Not always directly, but you feel it. In the pause before they answer, in the way they smile, in the way they ask what you’re really planning to do, as if becoming a freediving instructor could only be temporary.
Like it had to be a hobby. A side thing you do on weekends to escape a life you don’t really want.
“You can’t live from that.”
That one came more clearly. From a very dear friend of mine. I think it hurt a little. It definitely made me angry.
Because… what the fuck did he know about freediving?
But the strange thing is, it didn’t make me doubt. On the contrary, I told him:
“Hold my fins… and watch me.”
Starting a Freediving Instructor Career
From Zero
After my first freediving course, during which I have to admit I was far from gifted, I knew I wanted to freedive for the rest of my life.
Any French national record was out of reach. That was clear.
So I made a decision. I was going to become one of the best instructors in the world. And for that, I was ready to work hard, train hard, and study hard.
“I’ll try and see” was not an option.
I was going to make it work, or I was going to fail trying.
You read a lot online about not having a Plan B, about committing completely. But the truth is, I didn’t even think about that. I never consciously asked myself what I would do if I failed.
It’s hard to explain. I just started walking that path without ever thinking about anything else. And I guess if I had failed, I would have figured something out.
I’m obsessive.
I’m stubborn.
I’m disciplined.
And I think out of the box.
Way out of the box.
So we moved to Taiwan and started from zero.
No students.
No connections with the Taiwanese freediving world.
No income.
Just my wife, also a freediving instructor.
A lot of work.
And an Apnea Total instructor certification that nobody really respected in an AIDA-dominated environment.
We built everything ourselves.
Courses, structure, identity. Testing ideas, adjusting constantly, trying to turn something uncertain into a real career in freediving.
We called the school Vertical Dreamers… because it sounded great.
We just didn’t plan for the fact that it’s terrible for SEO, and that Taiwanese students wouldn’t be able to pronounce it.
So we shortened it to VD.
This opened the door to a lot of jokes.
And for a full year, nothing really came back.
After paying for certifications, gear, insurance, petrol, parking… There was nothing left.
Not low income.
No income.
I even remember one day I took a student for coaching and got a fine because I parked the car the wrong way.
That day, I didn’t just make nothing.
I lost money.
Why Most Freediving Instructor Careers Fail
Not because it’s too hard.
But because it’s uncertain.
You don’t know if it’s going to work. You don’t know if you’re wasting your time.
And that doubt can sit there every day, quietly, in the background.
You open a course.
No one signs up.
You wait. Refresh. Check your phone again.
Nothing.
But I don’t stop. That’s not who I am.
Then one message comes in.
One student.
Then another.
Slowly, something starts to move.
It’s hard. Of course it is.
Counting every cent. Wondering how long you can keep going like this.
But I had one advantage.
When I was younger, I had already been very poor.
I wasn’t afraid of it anymore.
And that changes everything.
At that point, I made another decision. The one that would change everything.
I crossed over to AIDA. In my view, it remains one of the best freediving education systems in the world. At the same time, I joined Molchanovs, a system that was growing fast.
If you want to understand how unprepared I was back then, that’s where my blackout story comes in. (link)
The Reality of Working as a Freediving Instructor
With those certifications, things started to move.
More students. More opportunities.
A normal day looked like this:
Pick up students at 7 a.m.
Drive 45 minutes to the dive spot.
Dive.
Back around 11.
Go to the pool.
Eat fast.
Teach again.
Finish with theory or static apnea training.
Sleep at 10 p.m.
Repeat the next day.
It wasn’t glamorous.
It was just work.
But I couldn’t get enough of it.
When My Freediving Instructor Career Became Real
It took a year.
A full year living on our savings, working without knowing if any of this would actually hold.
Then one day, we paid ourselves for the first time.
300 USD each.
It wasn’t much.
But it felt like 10,000.
That was the moment.
Not because of the money.
300 USD doesn’t change your life.
But it meant one thing.
It worked.
How COVID Changed My Freediving Career
Then COVID hit.
The business stopped. No more students.
And strangely, that became an opportunity.
An acquaintance who owned a building in Xiaoliuqiu was struggling to pay rent and asked if we wanted to take the second floor.
We said yes immediately.
We didn’t even see the place.
We just went.
We moved south.
Xiaoliuqiu.
Freediving paradise in Taiwan.
Building a Freediving Training System That Actually Works
Because people could no longer travel abroad, they started coming to Xiaoliuqiu.
So instead of following what already existed and what everyone else was doing, we built our own system.
A 10-day Master Program.
Longer. Harder. Different.
People told us it wouldn’t work. Too long, too intense, too different. No one would commit.
They were certain.
One year later, they were trying to run the same format.
We kept building.
We created a structured deep diving progression, the Depth Squad. Not just certifications, but actual training for depth.
Then we launched the first No-Limits course in the country.
Thinking out of the box.
Always trying to improve myself and the courses.
Nothing is set in stone.
I adapt. I adjust. I use failure.
That’s the whole game.
From Zero to a Successful Freediving Instructor Career
That first salary wasn’t the end.
It was the start.
Courses started filling.
Students came back, then brought their friends. I like to think they felt it. The passion behind it.
At some point, we didn’t have to explain what we were doing anymore.
The work spoke.
We became instructor trainers.
We started coaching athletes.
We worked with Taiwanese competitors at Vertical Blue.
We built one of the most active freediving schools in Taiwan.
Later, I started writing.
I spent four years writing The Depth Collector series.
Trying to turn everything we learned into something structured.
Something others could use.
Not just experience.
A system.
The Truth About Becoming a Freediving Instructor
People say it doesn’t work.
They’re right, for most.
It breaks when you treat it like a hobby.
It breaks when you wait for certainty.
It breaks when you follow instead of building.
But for me, it was simple.
When people told me it wouldn’t work, it didn’t make me doubt.
It made me commit.
It’s not a real job.
Until you make it one.
No shortcuts.
No perfect timing.
No guarantees.
Just work.
Done every day.
And it worked.
Maybe luck.
Maybe work.
Mostly just refusing to stop.
Looking back, it feels obvious.
At the time, it wasn’t.
And I know this is not the end.
There are many more stories coming.
More risks.
More mistakes.
More things to build.
Because once you start building your own path,
You don’t stop.
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