Diving is one of those things where the more you put in the more you will get back. Giving yourself a competitive edge with initial investment will kickstart your career. Investing from the start in high quality equipment that won’t need to be replaced unexpectedly and completing the additional training that interests you will make recouping your initial outlay much easier.
Completing your specialty instructor ratings right away will give your career a huge starting boost. Being able to teach courses such as Nitrox, Deep and Wreck diving pushes your resume up the pile immediately.
Dive Instructors are in high demand but a stand out resume will let you take your choice of ideal employment opportunities. Compared to other careers your time to recoup your investment should be quite short a range of about 2-4 months is plenty of time for a motivated candidate.