Why can’t I get my friends and family to go skydiving?!?

I started doing AFF jumps and I love it so much! I noticed everyone I ask if they want to skydive that says yes.. usually won’t even book a tandem! I’m not being pushy with anyone either, but I’m starting to realize that most my friends and family won’t be signing up for AFF lol. How many of you started your skydiving journey alone? Any tips to getting friends and others interested in skydiving?

I started out by myself too and tried for I don't know how long to get anybody to go with me. Recently though, I have had much better luck suggesting they try indoor first and that has led to a few making their first tandem jumps. I think once they experience that feeling, it's pretty persuasive.

Not everyone wants to do it. Many folks who say they want to do it won't follow through if invited.

I started in 02, when a bunch of folks I know put together a group to go jump.
That was actually the 2nd year it happened, I didn't hear about the first until after it happened.

This turned into an annual thing. 

This should have been the 20th annual, but it didn't happen.

A good friend of mine and I were the only two people who kept at it and got licensed. He was in on the first one, but didn't really pursue it until the year I started. I landed after the first one, said "I am SO doing that again!!!"
We're both still jumping.

After we got licensed and became members of the club DZ we were at, the guy who started it all kind of 'handed it off' to us, so we were organizing this group every year.

Every year, we'd set the date and get the word out. We'd get anywhere between 30-50 people who would swear up and down that they wanted to do it, and would sign up. 
The number that actually followed through was anywhere between 15 and 3. Yes, the smallest year was 3. 
That's how it goes.

As something of a side note, my buddy ended up getting his TI rating. Every so often, we'd be talking to someone and the fact that we jump would come up. Almost everyone would say something like "Oh, I've always wanted to do that someday", and my buddy would say "Well, I'm a tandem instructor. We can go out to the DZ this weekend and I'll take you". Maybe one or two said 'yes'. Most folks said something along the lines of "No, I meant I want to do it someday, not this weekend."

Don't stop inviting people, but don't expect more than a handful to say yes.

18 hours ago, Highfiveflyer said:

IHow many of you started your skydiving journey alone? Any tips to getting friends and others interested in skydiving?

i started with my brother in law on a static line jump and haven't stopped for long.  he never went back.  as to the 2d question, i have to ask, why would you want to?  i like getting away from everyone and hanging with my sky family. 

Quand on veut, on peut.  When one wants, one can.

Most people think they would want to go skydiving but if they really wanted to do it, they would already be doing it.  

On 10/20/2020 at 5:53 AM, sfzombie13 said:

i started with my brother in law on a static line jump and haven't stopped for long.  he never went back.  as to the 2d question, i have to ask, why would you want to?  i like getting away from everyone and hanging with my sky family. 

Good point. I guess I need to spend more time at the DZ! 

Thanks to everyone who replied! I appreciate you all! Blue Skies!

I made a choice early on that since people knew that I skydived, and later on they knew that I was a tandem instructor, they could come to me to if they had a genuine interest in making a jump.

At the end of the day despite all of the "company lines" skydiving is an unnecessary dangerous pursuit. 

I find it to be an amazing fulfilling experience, but it isn't for everyone.

35 minutes ago, DougH said:

I find it to be an amazing fulfilling experience, but it isn't for everyone.

yes. and it is very expensive, in terms of time and money. you can't expect most people to value skydiving high enough to pay that cost. even skydivers usually eventually find it not worth the cost anymore (sometimes after 5 jumps, sometimes after 50, sometimes after 500, sometimes never it depends)

22 hours ago, DougH said:

At the end of the day despite all of the "company lines" skydiving is an unnecessary dangerous pursuit. 

I find it to be an amazing fulfilling experience, but it isn't for everyone.

Boom.  My ex and I started jumping together. He did about 300 jumps, broke his leg and was done.  I kept jumping for another 20+ years. Talking with him awhile ago and mentioned that I am surprised I made it to my 50th birthday.  When he asked why, I said "Skydiving. That shit is dangerous."  And I meant it.

Jumping is something that I would recommend to anyone interested,  but very few will actually ever go to a dropzone even if they say they want to.  Cant remember how many people I encouraged to jump. Very few actually did it, maybe two did more than a tandem. 

I don't bring up jumping to anyone now.  Not worth the effort for the low possibility that they will ever do it.  Their loss, but at least they won't end up with a dead friends list like most of us have. 

6 hours ago, skybytch said:

...but at least they won't end up with a dead friends list like most of us have. 

Gotta disagree with this.

At 55, I've got a pretty long 'dead friends list'. Only 4 or 5 were jumpers. Only one died jumping.

1st year in sport, wanted to talk to everybody about it and expected most would love it.

2nd-4th year in sport, loved to talk about it but realized most would never do it.

5th-30th year in the sport, change the subject when someone brings it up, having heard every wuffo  skydiving story and joke way too many times.

5 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Gotta disagree with this.

At 55, I've got a pretty long 'dead friends list'. Only 4 or 5 were jumpers. Only one died jumping.

I wish mine were that short. 8 friends have died jumping (double digits for people I had met but didn't know). Ten jumper friends have died in various other ways. I am also 55.

Maybe it's because I didn't make many non skydiver friends when I was jumping a lot, but my dead skydiver friends list is definitely longer than my dead whuffo friends list. 

16 hours ago, skybytch said:

I wish mine were that short. 8 friends have died jumping (double digits for people I had met but didn't know). Ten jumper friends have died in various other ways. I am also 55.

Maybe it's because I didn't make many non skydiver friends when I was jumping a lot, but my dead skydiver friends list is definitely longer than my dead whuffo friends list. 

 

Fair enough.

It may be because I didn't start jumping until my mid-30s, and I lost a decent number of friends before I ever started jumping. 

It also doesn't help that I have friends that are a wide variety of ages. 
I'm in double digits for friends who have died of old age (more or less - cancer in the 70s or 80s goes in the 'old age' category for the most part). 

My younger brother and I took the first (static-line) jump course together 43 years ago. He made a couple of jumps, then wandered off. The following summer, my older brother made a S/L jump, but broke his ankle on landing. 

Both my older brother and I earned private pilot licenses, but then my brothers moved on to other earthly pass-times. 

I jumped for a total of 40 years and more than 6,600 jumps.

I became a S/L instructor to support my weekend habit. Eventually I earned all the instructor and rigger ratings and worked full-time in the sport for 18 years.

Skydiving's not for everyone.  After waiting 31 years, I joined a group of 16 planning our first jumps...13 backed out.  Second try we gathered 14...11 backed out.  (Common story.)  So I paid for my entire AFF course up front and never looked back.  

Embrace your skydiving community and allow them to do the same for you.  My greatest blessing entered my life through skydiving. 

Blue skies...fly fast, fly safe!

On 10/19/2020 at 11:12 AM, Highfiveflyer said:

I started doing AFF jumps and I love it so much! I noticed everyone I ask if they want to skydive that says yes.. usually won’t even book a tandem! I’m not being pushy with anyone either, but I’m starting to realize that most my friends and family won’t be signing up for AFF lol. How many of you started your skydiving journey alone? Any tips to getting friends and others interested in skydiving?

I've been jumping since 1981.

I've NEVER tried to talk someone into jumping.

Seems like a bad plan

I started with a friend from work. We both got our A-licenses and packed student gear, and were instant dropzone fixtures. We talked a couple friends into making a first jump: one wouldn't get out of the plane, and the other was one-and-done, lol. Those are the *only* friends I've actually managed to talk into jumping, in almost 23 years.

The moral of my story is, you don't need your whuffo friends anymore. You have us now!

These days, I encourage people to try it IF they want to, but I'm done giving the hard sell. I don't want my friends to feel like I require them to skydive, and I spend energy nuturing my earthbound friendships just like I do my skydiving ones.

My take on this subject that every skydiver ever has thought about. Skydiving is expensive, time consuming, and involves a level of risk. Most people simply can not see the point. They would not get enough out of it to make it worthwhile. There are a lot of things that they do that do not interest you. Skydiving is a fringe activity. The herd will never follow us to the edge.

9 hours ago, gowlerk said:

... Skydiving is a fringe activity. The herd will never follow us out of the door.

FIFY 

(sorry, couldn't resist)

On 10/23/2020 at 5:57 PM, ufk22 said:

1st year in sport, wanted to talk to everybody about it and expected most would love it.

2nd-4th year in sport, loved to talk about it but realized most would never do it.

5th-30th year in the sport, change the subject when someone brings it up, having heard every wuffo  skydiving story and joke way too many times.

I have been jumping 47 years and seldom mention it also.  I am tired of the line "why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane"

I keep it as my Saturday Secret.  After working and having lunch for 5 years with the same people I recently mentioned it to them when they asked about my week's holiday.  Had a fun discussion about it, but I have never mentioned it since.  The problem is, after answering the obvious questions the conversation inevitably becomes one sided and potentially boring to them.

So sure, mention it to your good friends once and have a great joke about it but leave it that, if they are interested they will bring the subject up again.

What the O.P. doesn't realize is that his friends and family are already skydiving.  He just needs to meet them.

You guys are all f*cking awesome! Thanks for making me feel at home!