After earning his first certification, he went to work for an underwater construction company and later started numerous diving businesses that focused on everything from boat maintenance to salvage work and training.
Mr. Friedland, 50 years old, traveling on a fake United States passport, quickly became a highly successful owner of five scuba diving businesses and lived a life that exalted his success and comfort.
The Diving business markets deep-sea diving and swimming equipment to professionals and private individuals.
Mr. Clarke shared his home in Colombo with his friend's brother, Hector, his partner in the diving business; Hector's wife, Valerie; and their three daughters.
From running a successful scuba-diving business on Cyprus, the mother-of-two found herself catapulted into a world of grief, unable to even visit the ornate, two-storey villa the couple had bought on the island.
She closed the scuba-diving business and decided to move back to the UK, taking "a huge hit" on their four-bedroom house in Cyprus to sell it: the property went on the market for €230,000 and sold for €183,000 to a cash buyer, with half of the money paid in euros and half in sterling.
And when she's not off creating marketing plans and diving into businesses, you can find her chasing after her toddler, or indulging in really good gelato and the occasional Netflix binge.
In fact, I studied philosophy in college before diving into business and marketing, which led to roles in product management.
Thomas M. Siebel, chief executive of Siebel Systems, a maker of e-business application software, compares sky diving to taking business risks.
"There were so many people my age who wanted to bring this change," said Hassan Hameez, 39, who runs a diving and tour business.
It represents a tectonic shift in Apple's business model: Diversifying from hardware such as iPhones and MacBooks and diving headfirst into subscription businesses like cloud storage, music, movies and television.
